I have been ill for the past 3+ months. Not Covid, but some virus which just tore through me. I still have some good days and some bad, but I have not returned to the day job. Hopeing for beginning of next year.

Now that you feel sorry for me... please don't go easy on me. I need your most critical review of this "un-named piece". This was my home time project through the illness. On one hand maybe just a collection of my favorite VIs. But on the other hand more of me in this music than I typically get.

All midi via Kontakt VIs and a couple tracks of BIAB to give some structure. I am thinking I am done only cause I need to take what I have learned and move on to the next piece. But I am not sure I have learned all I need from this piece at this time. Your help and instruction is greatly appreciated.


https://soundcloud.com/dan-hoch-784636941/name-tbd-mix-1-002?si=1f639bdf1879467eb2e27bb70afc06ed&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Hi, Dan.

Glad you're doing better!

The song is well done, but feels incomplete. It's like listening to a backing track for a song, without the vocal line.

If it was intended to accompany a video, it would be prefect.

But unless you intended to add a vocal track, I'd call it finished and move on.

Dan,
Ok... I liked were you were going with this. It feels like you need another lead vocal(s) on it. I agree and disagree with David above on backing to a "song". Absolutely it doesn't have to be a lyrical composition, and it's not calling for one.

Have you heard of a composer Karl Jenkins? On several albums he used vocalists that sang melodies / phrases in made up language.
Here is one of the most known:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GCsQZSB1gZg

So... Yours right away ranged some Jenkins bells in my head, but without the lead.

I think for such complex composition, your "fade in" at 2:15 was a bit too abrupt. Either a complete release and then tension, or a hit / break...something else might work better.

But I will state again. I like where you are going with it Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

I knew I came to the right place, thank you guys.

Regarding the vocals - great point. My ENT guy says my vocal chords have been damaged by the virus, which is the reason that everyone tells me they don't recognize my voice. I have tried to sing, but the constant cough prohibits it, for now.

I THINK that the lack of "focus" may well be that the lead vocal melody - the female part, moves from centre to left as it goes along in ways that don't seem to reflect anything specific.
When it sits centre after the reintro isn't still a little left of centre in my headphones and seems just a little weak...I'd be inclined to sweep that vocal wav looking for some presence and give that a boost.
Finally, there are lots of strong things in the back ground that need some oomph...perhaps a good compressor on those parts to give them some punch.
Nice work, def. worth putting a little more effort into.

For those who may be interested:

1. BIAB-VSTi - _Soften.sty, Piano, Guitar, Cello RTs – Key Cm - Cm, Gm, Fm, Ab, Tempo 100bpm
2. Scaler 2 – Cm chord progression to match CM loops (Piano, Bass, Ostinato Strings)
3. Kontakt 6 - SplashSound – Epic Percussion 2, #6 War Ensemble
4. Kontakt 6 – Audio Imperia Chous
5. Pianotek 7 – Intro Piano, midi Cm loop
6. Kontakt 6 – NI Appassionato
7. Kontakt 6 – Ostinato-Strings – Cm midi loop
8. Kontakt 6 – Ethera Gold, Atlantic (1 and 2)
9. Kontakt 6 – Guitar NI Sessions Guitarist, Electric Sumburst deluxe
10. EZBass - same chords as BIAB
11. EZDrums3

Good ears, I should be able to do something about that as well as you other suggestions. I too feel there is a collection of good stuff here, my problem is putting it all together to tell a story?

Thanks for the input.

By the way, this piece sounds 10x better on my DAW with Headphones. What has SoundCloud done to this??

Hello Mr. Music Student,

I am sorry you have been ill. Not fun. I will pray for you.

I don't have any technical advice or ways to help, just to new.

But I did listen to your pretty song piece. I like it just the way it is.

When I closed my eyes to absorb your song piece, I saw people dancing in nice flowly outfits free and happy. If you wanted a name that fit the style/ flow, mabye a good title would be
Free to Dance or Freedom Dance.

With all the work you put into it, you should be really proud, it sounds nice. Merry Christmas, cheryl anne

Soundcloud is, like most streamers, happiest with around -14 LUFS at the best quality you can upload - it will apply its proprietary SMASH, mangle and spit out processing. In general terms it's a little better than other streamers but not fabulous. It's often easier to get a better quality return on spending the 10 minutes needed making a quick slide show video and uploading that to Utub or Vimeo etc.
A few forums I've been on have had an MP3 hosting server and while a 320 MP3 isn't fabulous it's often better than streamer screamers. An option you may also consider is uploading the .wav to a downloader like WeTransfer if you want critical listening though many won't be comfortable downloading from an unknown and other not prepared to wait.

I thought it was fine as is, there are several users here who focus on soundscapes and this seems to fit into that category quite well. When that percussion was going strong, it had a Riverdance quality to it. I played it several times and enjoyed it, so you must have done a lot of things right putting this together.

I did some research Re Souncloud requirements:
"We recommend you to upload in a lossless format like WAV, FLAC, AIFF, or ALAC. If you can, the bit depth and sample rate should be 16 bit and 48 kHz respectively.
When you upload a track on SoundCloud, we optimize it for streaming. As part of that process, we resample and transcode it to a high-performance codec. These codecs are highly optimized, but they can increase peak levels, which can cause clipping. We recommend that you leave between -0.5 and -1 dBFS of headroom to prevent artifacts like clipping during transcoding. Make sure to check the resulting stream in the rare case where more headroom is required."
and
Platform Peak Loudness Dynamic Range

Youtube -1.0 dBTP -13 to -15 LUFS >9DR


Soundcloud -1.0 dBTP  -8 to -13 LUFS  >9DR

Reaper and other DAWs have a LUFS meter in the rendering display at the very least.

M.E. suggest getting as close to the LUFS level as possible as the codec used to RAISE level does more damage than that used to reduce a little.

Hey Dan, first off, hope you're feeling better, I'm sure you have your Dr. on speed dial should you need him.

As for the song, I like it a lot, it could easily be part of a film. The only small nit I have (and it's a personal preference thing) is that it ended too abruptly for my taste. But I like the different themes that you wove into it.

Great job man and very creative.

I enjoyed the listen.
A nice "soundscape". Epic Movie soundtrack.
Kept my interest throughout.
Mix sounds good.

That about covers it.

fj

I appreciate you going down the rabbit hole with me on this one. The poor sound quality from SC is really surprizing me.

Followed this as much as possible. Re-rendered to .wav, LUFS -13, 16 bit and 48 kHz. Mixed in Neutron 4, Mastered in Ozone 9 Elements. Sound quality at the DAW - as good as it gets, but once placed on SoundCloud - crap (distortion, wabble, highs are gone). This song just seems to bring the worst out of SoundCloud. I will make a YT video .. still hearing some "artifacts" but I think this is better sound quality. But the artifacts tell me something is wrong. I don't hear them from my DAW, only the recording.

I just listened on a Different computer and I don't hear the artifacts I am hearing on this machine. The upload audio from this machine to the web has problems - well apparently only with playback on this machine. Is that even possible?? Will have to do some googling.

In the mean time I do appreciate the comments.

Since others have already given good technical advice, I'll focus on the song itself.

First of all: I like it. A lot!
As for the vocals, I'm somewhere between you and dcuny. I don't think it feels 'incomplete' without real vocals. But if someone sang after about 1:40, it would really add something to the song.

I read that you can't sing yet, but I would prefer a female singer anyway. I've heard we have some good female singers here

OK, I found the problem with the "artifacts". This 1 month old new computer of mine (Win11) permits different Audio Drivers for different applications. So my DAW played via the MOTU while windows player used the on-board audio device. I turned all that off and set everything to my MOTU Audio Express and that fixed the issues. Who would have known?

Back to the point.

I am going to move on to my next inspiration. The comments here were very helpful in this decision. The current piece is incomplete in my mind, but not something I can fix at this time. I want my music to tell a story with or without lyrics. And I am not hearing that or seeing it with this soundscape. I learned a lot with this piece which will help going forward.

I reserve the right to reuse some of the audio bits and pieces from this unnamed song, in the future, but if I do, they will be packaged better.

Thanks again to everyone.

Marry Christmas,

Dan

Yes, Dan, I like it as is, too. Still, I'd like to hear it with you singing too once you are completely cured. It's a very interesting composition, and your arrangement is good. Of course, all of the advice above is what I live by.

Initially scrapped to the cutting room floor because this scoundscape did not tell or show a story. No story so no title. Add to that, No lyrics since my constant cough did not allow me to sing...

So I had an epiphany*. I have now added the greatest story ever told. Music by MusicStudent, Words by God! I give you, "The Gift"

Merry Christmas.

*Def: epiphany: a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something.