February 28, 200818 yr And a little jazz from me. www.nikolas-sideris.com/AGS/ed.mp3 Piano, bass, drums, sfx: nikolas. Pianoteq 2.2, Manytone Upright bass, DFH Superior, a swing with proper audio treatement, respectively :D Trombone: Our very own Robin, to whom I'm completely thankful, and he did a GREAT job! Thank you Robin! :)
February 28, 200818 yr jazz is not my 'expertise', so i won't be able to give you any relevant feedback, composition-wise. first of all, i like that the upright sounds nice and punchy, very warm sounding still. the ongoing synth sounds (the e-g notes) i found distracting, sometimes they added atmosphere to the songswhile at other times they drew too much attention (sometimes they tended to sound like a far-away-piano with very little or no attack in the tone). your drums sound well in this song, they seem to 'fit' better (the programming i still don't agree with, but that aside). as i said, i'm not into jazz (i know my way around, but it's not my main genre), but i couldn't really grasp the concept of 2 'solo-ing' trombones, very distracting that both have the exact same timbre (also, they didn't really sparkle). the natural reverb on them also don't make them mix well with the other instruments. the 'simplistic' piano playing in the beginning is king, this adds so much to the song. in the rest of the song the piano adds another level of low freqs which makes the overal spectrum in the 'louder' part (starting from 0:45) very full and warm. the drums could've been a tad bit louder here though. the solo of the trombones don't really cut through the mix, i know they don't naturally have the high freqs the trumpet has, but you could've given it some more high freqs which probably helpen in making them cut through better. i felt you could've really lenghten the song for the end doesn't really sound like it should've been ended there (i know this sometimes is a 'jazz-thing', but for instance, the drums don't really end well). one thing though, an instrument distrorting a mic (or preamp) is never acceptable (1:18). not to diss anyone, but this is how i feel. it doesn't fit the song (either make it distort all the time (including the other instruments), which makes it sound like a crappy early 20th century recording, or just don't, period). great song to listen to though! it's awesome you two 'collaborated', nothing beats real instruments :D!
February 28, 200818 yr plus: it sounded drunk to me and dizzy(that i liked). minus: but still like an excerpt, not a complete/full song. plus/minus ratio + 7,5 ;)
February 28, 200818 yr Author robert, love your new avatar! :D Thanks for the lengthy review. It isn't proper jazz and I don't know jazz either! I never knew, never tried it before... :S The concept of 2 trombones (there are 3 at one point) is that I was waiting for a long time, for a cellist to provide his parts, but I got tired of waiting so I had to go through with it! :D No real idea about proper soloing, etc, just audio tracks that I choped and pasted here and there. The distortion is actually on purpose. There is a tiny bit of distortion and compression on the... right (I think) trombone, so at 1:18 it gets a bit louder and thus apparent. I like this "faulty" sound in there. :) Drums, can you specify what you don't like about the programing? I did try for a long time this time! Any tips would be great. In all thanks for the lengthy and in depth review. :) pliorius: It's from a computer game and it's the right length. I have never ever graded anyone in here and don't give a scraggy about grades. Thanks for listening however.
February 28, 200818 yr Thank you so much Nikolas for including me in this project! It was fun for me - and eye-opening as well. ;) I'm glad it turned out so well! I particularly like the layering effects of the multiple solos. It's neat to hear how they complement and interact with each other - nice work from Nikolas on that front to assemble an interesting patchwork from the limited material! :thumbsup:
February 28, 200818 yr ah that explains a lot. don't get me wrong, i think this is a great piece of work. about the drum programming: while i do think the current programming fits the song very well, i feel it seems a bit repetitive in the 'louder' part. to my feeling, the drums seem to drag the song along, which is very fitting in this scenario. while i'm not very experienced with playing jazz, i'd make the drums more versatile, and more off-beat. also, i would've chosen brushes instead of sticks, but that's more of a personal preference. oh btw, i really like that you've included the toms in your programming as well. great job. -- ..and props to robin for his playing, which is remarkable. i'm glad you like my new avatar :P
February 28, 200818 yr Author I think it was brushes actually :$ I'll be damned! I have to check... (they do sound like it?????!?!?!? Not really...) There was a bit of copy pasting... It was very tiring make drums like this for the first 16 bars, so I... copy pasted 8 bars... Doesn't show too much really, because it was a whole phrase, but it does show. And now I know what you mean! :) And Robin did a GREAT job!
February 28, 200818 yr Hey! Even if it isn't 'proper' (?) jazz, as Nikolas said (and I don't know jazz well, too, only some theory behind it), this didn't stop me to enjoy and like what you've done, so let me say: great job! Pianoteq is really nice, congrats for using it! And a question to Nikolas: I am curious about your approach here. I mean, did you do it the classical way (you are in certain key and see notes outside the key as alterations) or the jazz way (the chord-scale approach), where you think what scale will work on what chord ? Thanks for these 100 seconds of music. :)
February 28, 200818 yr pliorius: It's from a computer game and it's the right length. I have never ever graded anyone in here and don't give a scraggy about grades. fukc me, nikolas, do you have some sense of humour ? :w00t:
February 28, 200818 yr That was great! It gave off a kind of New Orleans marching band style with the trombones soloing over each other. The bass blended very well with the drums and I could hardly tell that the drums were looped. The piano was the only thing I thought was a little repetitive. Maybe it could have been a little more sparse? Or maybe it could have started to solo with the trombones toward the end? There is no such thing as "proper jazz". Jazz was never "proper" to begin with. The term of proper jazz is only used by traditionalists who think there is a right way and a wrong way to play jazz. So I think its a good thing that this isn't a "proper jazz" piece. By the way, Robin, you are a terrific trombone player! I would love to play with you sometime (that would be hard though considering were I live).
February 28, 200818 yr fukc me, nikolas, do you have some sense of humour? :w00t: It was actually not that obvious... Anyway to the piece. I find this very different from all the other pieces I have heard from you. Truly interesting! I do not have much constructive criticism to give, but I can say that I have had this looped for something over 30 min :w00t: Nice job guys! :D
February 28, 200818 yr By the way, Robin, you are a terrific trombone player! I would love to play with you sometime (that would be hard though considering were I live). :blush: Thank you. I hope ...nay, I'm SURE eventually our paths will cross. ...I'm due to make it BIG, and should be touring the world any day now. ;)
February 28, 200818 yr :blush: Thank you. I hope ...nay, I'm SURE eventually our paths will cross. ...I'm due to make it BIG, and should be touring the world any day now. ;) Well in that case, I will see you on the world stage!
February 29, 200818 yr Author fukc me, nikolas, do you have some sense of humour? :w00t: Obiously not your kind of humour! But certainly I have good taste in sex so I will pass on loving you! :PKamen: Thanks for listening and posting. I don't know jazz either and don't have ANY CDs towards that general genre. Not even one! Just a 20 year old tape of Miles Davies, that's all! So I always hesitate to name any of my pieces "jazz" in fear that someone will appear and go "this is not jazz. Jazz is..." etc... I started with the chords in the piano. I had the rhythm in my head, added drums and bass and then passed it to Robin to do his magic! WaxyD: Piano could be a tiny bit more sparse, but the piece started out without the trombone, so I had to fill it in somehow. And no there is no proper jazz except for the close minded, in which case I cover my back really! And Robin ROCKS! Saiming, kind of you to listen, great of you to loop it around, and awesome to not understand pliorius humour. In all honesty I didn't get it either and felt bad about forcing Robin to something deserving 7.5 :D:D (kidding here). Anyhow, it is different I try to vary myself...
February 29, 200818 yr Obiously not your kind of humour! But certainly I have good taste in sex so I will pass on loving you! In all honesty I didn't get it either and felt bad about forcing Robin to something deserving 7.5 (kidding here). hopefully you have, but if it's the same kind of understanding as with humour, then it's not so good - so i'm happy not sharing the bed with you :) the guy just got white-hot, ''cause someone ;) said - hey, it's + 7,5 :toothygrin: ok, to be honest, i thought of 6,9, but that's such a beautiful number...i leave that to myself :D
February 29, 200818 yr hopefully you have, but if it's the same kind of understanding as with humour, then it's not so good - so i'm happy not sharing the bed with you :)the guy just got white-hot, ''cause someone ;) said - hey, it's + 7,5 :toothygrin: ok, to be honest, i thought of 6,9, but that's such a beautiful number...i leave that to myself :D just drop it, emo kid..
