sleepmusic, first attempts !

[bulevardi]

Hi all,

New on this forum and ready to pick up lots of tips and tricks for furture recordings...

Just starting recording some instrumental guitar stuff in Magix Studio since a few weeks.
It has been loooooong time ago since I have been playing guitar again.

But there were some snippets and melodies I had in 2005 which I want to work out into full songs, now I have time again, so I picked up the guitar again!
I don't know anything about mixing/mastering.

Lost perceptions from this point of view [in progress] | Bulevardi

You can choose any song from the above recordings, all of them kind of the same style: sleepmusic/silent post-rock/... for commuters sleeplistening music in the train back home...
Please review the style/tone/technique...
So I know my mistakes and know what I should improve first until I go along recording next stuff?

My setup:
Guitar: Ibanez Artcore
USB-Interface: Sonuus i2m (for audio/midi)
DAW: Magix Music Studio (amateuristic I know, but it works for now)
Amp: Amplitube 3


Happy listening in!

 

[Robus]

Welcome to the Clinic. I listened to your "Citizens of Concrete" tune--odd title, as there little about it that suggests concrete. My first question is, where are you going with this? Will it stay an instrumental? Is a fuller arrangement to come? Do you plan to add vocals? The playing sounds fine, maybe a little stiff in places, but certainly proficient. I'm not sure why we are hearing background hiss in here and there if everything was recorded DI, unless that is part of the amp sim patch you were running. My biggest complaint is the boomy and muddiness of the guitar. Needs some EQ down low to clean that up. The ambiance on the guitar may be adding to your problems. Is there any way to EQ the reverb and/or delay on that guitar, to get rid of some of those bottom frequencies that are smearing together and making mud? If you recorded the guitar signal wet, then the answer is probably no. If you recorded a dry signal, I would do some tinkering on the amp sim patch. Hopefully you can control the frequencies that get the ambiance.

All in all, it feels unfinished. You'll get better advice on the Clinic if you pick one song, work on it until it is as close to finished as possible, then post it in its own thread. Soundcloud is much preferred. I hope you'll take a moment to listen and comment on songs that others have posted.

 

[andrushkiwt]

Hey yo, listened to Pendolino. The later guitars are pretty muddy/unclear. There are also many timing issues. Are you playing w/ a click? Cool variations and arrangements. Also, random thought, but I like the album title a lot.

 

[bulevardi]

Hey yo, listened to Pendolino. The later guitars are pretty muddy/unclear. There are also many timing issues. Are you playing w/ a click? Cool variations and arrangements. Also, random thought, but I like the album title a lot.

Thanks!
Well, no I’m not playing with a click, it even makes me more confused playing music, don’t have any feeling with good timings. But I’m surely aware of the timing issues. Will edit a little further

Welcome to the Clinic. I listened to your "Citizens of Concrete" tune--odd title, as there little about it that suggests concrete. My first question is, where are you going with this? Will it stay an instrumental? Is a fuller arrangement to come? Do you plan to add vocals? The playing sounds fine, maybe a little stiff in places, but certainly proficient. I'm not sure why we are hearing background hiss in here and there if everything was recorded DI, unless that is part of the amp sim patch you were running. My biggest complaint is the boomy and muddiness of the guitar. Needs some EQ down low to clean that up. The ambiance on the guitar may be adding to your problems. Is there any way to EQ the reverb and/or delay on that guitar, to get rid of some of those bottom frequencies that are smearing together and making mud? If you recorded the guitar signal wet, then the answer is probably no. If you recorded a dry signal, I would do some tinkering on the amp sim patch. Hopefully you can control the frequencies that get the ambiance.
All in all, it feels unfinished. You'll get better advice on the Clinic if you pick one song, work on it until it is as close to finished as possible, then post it in its own thread. Soundcloud is much preferred. I hope you'll take a moment to listen and comment on songs that others have posted.

Thanks for the long review!
I’m feeling already lucky getting great feedback here.
When asking my wife or my 3 years old daughter for feedback they only say it sounds good, but nothing more to rely on…
So, where I’m going with this... currently I’m not planning to create a physical album to sell, nor playing live (I would even need multiple guitarists for all the overlapping guitar parts).

My plan is just to convert certain emotions I have into sound. Via small basic melodies on guitar, mostly loops of about a few seconds. I’m just trying to create full length songs glue-ing them together via arrangements.
As my other hobby is photography, I plan to make some artwork in the near future, or for each song a photo or series of photos. Maybe into an audiovisual video someday.

By lack of time, maybe each month a new track, and when I have around 10-15 tracks, a (perhaps free) streamable/downloadable album.
My goal is to find musicians liking the same kind of music, don’t know if any exist. Don’t even know the category/label of this kind of music. And than create music together with these other people, cooperate…

First of all, it’ll stay instrumental, anyway, I can’t sing nor write good lyrics. If somone ever comes up with a good vocal idea, I can give it a try. But these songs are not meant to sing, there’s no verse/chorus/ verse scheme built-in too.
Other stuff I’m open to add: drum backgrounds and synthesisers. Someday I’ll try to do this with midi when I have a midi keyboard someday.

About the muddiness of the guitar: I’m guilty. And I guess it will stay like that I kind of love this kind of sounds, I use a semi-hollow guitar body, and it shouldn’t sound clearer like if it was a solid body, I like mellowness. The effects I’m using are done consciously with Amplitube3, and I added extra reverb/delay, certainly for the fuzzy distorted guitar that buzzes on the background. Anyway, I recorded dry, so I can still tweak the sound further more to my needs.

 

[easlern]

I listened to Katajanokka. Seems a little boomy on my headphones, I probably couldn't fall asleep to it actually. Maybe if you're making it to sleep to you can try eliminating some of the harsh frequencies on the guitar? Soaking it in reverb or something could help. Keep in mind I never heard of sleepmusic till now so take my advice with a bag of salt. . .