trumps: development of an old sketch

[Frederik]

As the title suggests there's quite an emphasis on brass in this one... (the other instruments are percussion, bass, some strings and electric guitar in places) - I've used some of the edirol trumpets, several instances of saxlab and several soundfonts to reach a dirty brass sound at the climaxes...

All comments and suggestions are appreciated!

bye,

frederik

[kara]

Very convincing sounds Frederick.
Good layering to achieve the result.

k

[Laguna Rising]

Hi Frederik
Mellow track and good efforts arranging all the ensamble, it sounds realistic and enjoyable.
It has an exotic feel, but also experimental at times....
I like it very much, cool thing, not the usual atmospheres.

Cheers

[spirulence]

+I like the layering of soundfonts too, especially the guitar, if that is a soundfont.
+I think you've pulled off the eastern feel very well!
+I like the strings programming.
-IMO the main trumps need to be sweetened with a little more eq somewhere and perhaps some more compression. They seem sort of weak.
-I would personally make the bass a bit more dominant
-and the drums panning from left to right or centered instead of stuck on the right for the whole song.

[Daniel Pompougnac]

Excellent : je danse déjà !
Daniel

[Frederik]

thanks for all your replies, really appreciated!

@ Spirulence: I think you're right with most of your comments, I'll see what I can fix if I ever get to make an update of this track...
BTW: the guitar is a soundfont too, but I think most of the "character" of the tone comes from the amp sim used.

@ Daniel: nice to hear it gets you dancing ;-)

[elwoodblues1969]

Hi Frederik,

A really authentic middle-eastern sound & arranged beautifully.
I do agree with Spirulence that the bass needs to come up a bit.
Also,I think the reverb becomes a little to overbearing with the added reverb with the electric guitar & makes the song a bit muddled & undefined.
Apart from those two things mentioned it sounds great otherwise.

Elwood

[Frederik]

thanks for your reply, Elwood!

Glad you think I captured the middle-earstern ("balkan")-feel well.
Your remark about the reverb is spot on. That is, I already felt something was wrong in the mix; from the moment the guitar enters things get muddled...
Another great tip for a possible future update of this track!

bye,

frederik

[folderol]

Very much enjoyed this. It is refreshingly different from any other music I've been hearing lately - either here or other forums.

I would agree with others the guitar seems to muddy the sound. I would guess that it is putting fairly continuous sound in the same frequency range as the other instruments therefore masking their attack. This is a problem I am well aware of with multi-layered synths. An octave shift might help but then it might be too growly or squeaky

[birdbrain]

good stuff as allways!