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-> constructive criticism welcome. Worst thing would be views but no comments..!
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@Vibetronic, when I started all this I decided... I'm not going to gig this, so as a substitute for vocals, I'll build up some layers for that extra bit of texture. So instead of some bland fusion backing track, it's all "bespoke" and I think I could use a sampler pedal to pull it off live if ever needed. @fretmeister did some cracking bass and rhythm guitars for a bunch of tunes, too. I did try to mix it up a bit with lots of themes and clean & electric sounds to make it a bit more "alive" so I'm glad you picked up on the more acoustic-y bits...!
@Cirrus that's good input and I remember you saying similar before. It was initially 14 tracks and it's now 10... and I've been brutal in cutting out bits that aren't catchy or when it drones on too long.. I get your point about too much going on - because of the layers, there always will be, but there are quieter tracks with less going on as "breather" material - point taken, though (in fact, point taken way back when you mentioned this...). The length has also been cut from 72 minutes to 40 minutes as really, how much instrumental can a normal person take... short, poppy, to the point - that's what I'm going for.
Thanks, @merlin! Need to do drums on two tracks, sort some bass out on three, and maybe add vox to one track (though I don't want to ruin things with sub-standard vox) so after that... it'll be ready for mixing/mastering and all that jazz. It'll be such an achievement for me - this has been a lot of work, whether it sounds it or not..! Then it's just how to get it "out there"
Cheers!
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My only doubt is whether it would work as an album, given the range of styles covered in those snippets. You get used to listening to one style and then - bang - next track takes you off somewhere else. I'd probably want to rip them into 2 or 3 separate playlists and then listen to whichever playlist best suited my mood at the time.
But, worth repeating, damned impressive playing Mr Ross. Top work.
Thanks, guys!
@TTony - thank you - I take your point... I'm hoping it's just a case of choosing the correct track order. I've been wondering whether to have the slower / acoustic-y ones all in a bunch, or to spread it out because the more electric songs can be full-on. I'll keep your point in mind so it doesn't sound like a completely disparate set of tracks. The good thing is that nobody has said this is absolute guff!!
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I'm at a loss as to how you manage to find the time for this given everything you've got going on. Guess it's all down to motivation and drive which I clearly haven't got - could go some way to explaining why your playing and composition is leap and bounds ahead of mine.
some of it sounds a little busy for my tastes buuuuuut they’re only snippets so in context that may not be the case.
sounding good though, will be great when we can hear the whole thing!
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Could this be my route to playing the Budokan?
-> nice to be asked anyway
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Sorry Tiggs, I didn't spot this thread. I mean, we talked off-board about your clips, but I'd still have posted here if this thread hadn't been buried by all the other goings-on.
Anyway. I have a monster earworm from that fuzz bass solo in the one tune – which I think is actually you on that shortscale and not @fretmeister. Am I right? It sounds like Dream Theater would sound if I still liked how Dream Theater sounded.
I dont want to be critical really but as you requested constructive input, and as I'd like to help you make this album be as good as it possibly can be...if I was to say anything, it'd be that based on these snippets the mix needs some work to make it sound cohesive. It sounds like a lot of tracks on top of one another at the moment. The drums are too low and seem too 'narrow', and maybe they need a bit more inventiveness to match the energy of the guitars; the bass is too loud and seems to sit badly in the mix, there are some oddities of timing with it too but hard to tell in the context of a short clip, and overall there's not much sonic width or space. Both drums and bass lack cut and presence. I'd agree with some other posters that there is a lot going on but without hearing the full song it's hard to be sure of the context.
All of this can be fixed in the mix though.