R&B Instrumental

  • Thread starter Thread starter cloudchamber
  • Start date Start date
Hey cloud,

I liked the instrumental. Sounds like some smooth R&B. When the vocals are into I'd like to hear it again.
 
Dress me up, give me a smoke, a haircut, Brylcream, a three piece suit and a scotch, err maybe 3 or 4 scotches, some geritol, send me to a boring party with old people and you might catch me listening to this. I asked my wife for her opinion but she had fallen to sleep, ha. Someday I may acquire a taste for this type of music, just not today. The vocals will obviously improve this but why build a pyramid upside down? This could be a surefire cure for peeps that like to hang in elevators. Sorry for being critical it's what I felt hearing this and one other thing, rhythm and blues? You're kidding right?
 
I appreciate your honesty. I agree its not the most edgy, cutting edge track ever, but maybe you could offer a more specific critique. ie. the drums, the piano, the bass, the pad, the mix. Keep in mind I cant change the chords.
 
It seems to me that the high hat is off timing. At times it seems to follow everything else but then it sounds like its playing another tune, I guess just a wee bit too busy. It clouds up the post big time. Also at the end of the melody parts the piano is playing, it seems to go off post in a few spots. It's like the only way to find the rhythm groove is to listen to the snapping fingers at the beginning but they soon disappear and leave it to the snare which switches to an off beat making it next to impossible to follow. For rhythm and blues I need the song to provide the rhythm otherwise it's like work. This is more like offbeat jazz. As for the piano, keeping in mind I am listening to a cheap set of speakers, it sounds a bit twangy like a midi and not a real piano except for the last passage leaving the song then for some reason it sounds like a baby grand. The bass, hmmm. It sounds fine when it's there but it seems to be missing most of the time, very spotty, maybe by design? Too bad you can't change the chords also, there seems to be a couple sour ones in there. Again I apologize for the criticism, it's not your song, it's me, I just don't like this type of music.. zzz...
 
The song is definitely tight.

It has potential for radio play, once you get the vocals on it.

I only heard a couple of piano keys that sounded sour. :(

It is a nice track, good job!

peace....

spin

p.s. Let us hear it with the vox.
 
you know what,

I am not knoxking nymorningstar, but not everybody can be eclectic and like all kinds of music.

This kind of music has a huge following of people who would not even listen to anything else, it also has a following of people who like other music just that they like soothing r&b better.

hey,

cloudchamber, This track rocks. I can totally hear usher singing on this track

The kick and snare sound a little too alike imho. I would like to hear some more thud and less snap in the kick. I guess the snare is fine as is.

Very fine production. I cant wait to hear the full song.
 
yeah, I know which chords you are talking about. Trust me, thats the way they are supposed to be--it actually works pretty well with the vocal. Its meant to be dissonant. I think the comment about the similarity of the snare and kick was a good one. I hadn't noticed that. Is anyone besides nymorningstar having trouble hearing the bassline? Its in a low register so its probably not coming through on his cheap speakers. Do you guys know how the pros make deep basslines audible on small speakers? How about his comments on the apparent lack of rhythm? Is anyone else having trouble following it?

The vocals are about half done, but I should have something with vox for you to listen to next week, as early as wednesday.

peace

matt
 
I was wondering Matt, could you upload the song to an mp3 somewhere I could download it? I would then be able to take it up to my studio and listen on some good speakers.
 
Again I'll say....... "the song is tight".

You have a winner on your hands. :)

This is perfect for "inner-city" urban radio.


peace...

spin

p.s. Please forgive the double-repetitive. :D
 
see if i´m patient ....some time ago i was at a bar and a girl comes close and start talking about r&b,and how much she liked eric clapton,the hole thing(?)...beeing honest to myself i said to her that eric clapton was just a brit. copycat and a clown of the real roots of the blues,and that i was more into jeff beck,jimmy page,steve ray vaughan,bla,bla..guess what...she didnt have a f...idea about what r&b was ....baaahh!!
now i see people assigned to that r&b like theyr the new....pullese...alicia keys..??anastacia...?george michael on the bill too...???

what is that r&b are you talking about?...
 
NYmorningstar-- here is the link to the webpage. Let me know.

Orange Gangster--I agree, R&B means something totally different today than what it meant in the past. The way I see it, the modern definition of R&B has its roots in the blues and in motown, but its largely unrelated, sonically speaking. The R&B I was talking about is the modern, POP version of R&B.
 
cloudchamber said:
NYmorningstar-- here is the link to the webpage. Let me know.
Click to expand...
Thanx for the reply Cloud but the link didn't make it through. Could you give it another try?
 
Just had a listen to the mp3 on the studio monitors and there was the bassline :) It adds some flavor and makes the tune more pleasing to listen to. It still makes me feel like I'm in an elevator but that's just me I guess.(this could be a deranged compliment that I identify your song with Macy's!) I'm curious now to see if you're going to get an answer on how to make the baseline audible on the cheap speakers. I figure it has to do with EQ or mastering but I am too new at this to really know that answer. I still think the high hat is a bit too busy but now not as noticeable. The bassline certainly adds another dimension.
 
ooooo

this definetly is some nice work, reminds me of a KC & jojo song i once heard. nice work with the gospel, soulful chords, the song is very fast paced, despite a slow BPM, and kinda leaves you breatheless. i'm definetly vibing to it though. dope work. nice work with the percussion, just nice work over all.
 
I really like the track, although, I am curious where you will put the guitar, pads and piano when you add vocals. There doesn't seem to be much stereo separation other than with the drums. The bass was a little too much in front of the whole song to my listening taste (although I wish I could mix my low end that heavy to have the option to cut it - I can't seem to get enough bass in my mixes - I digress). I also think it would be nice if the snaps at the beginning found a place back in the song like when the bass line goes sparse (00:44 sec). The syncopated percussion line are really nicely done. All in all I really like the song, just don't taint it with KC and JoJo sounding vocalists, There are too many of them already out there! :-)


Keep up the good work!

Vice
 
Thanks for the compliments, Mr. Sol and vicevursa. I actually already added a stereo delay to the guitar, so we were on the same wavelength there. The snaps DO come back in at the verse, but maybe theyre too quiet.

NYmorningstar--thanks...I think. ;) I too, am interested to see if I get any suggestions on making the bass sound more friendly to different speaker systems. It seems like its either overpowering or non-existent.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Matt
 
hm ... I followed the link and actually found a preliminary mix with vocals. Very nice. And the Stereo imaging is a lot better ...

-the piano, however, is now very quietly put in the background. This is not bad (good actually) ... it sounds a bit mushy/unclear though. It'd suggest accentuating the higher frequencies a bit ...

-at sec 25 ... there's this dude throwing in a little "no matter what" somewhere in the back at 9'o clock ... listen especially to the "what" - I'm not sure he's hitting things right there.

-for the bass - it seems it has a lot of content in the 20-50Hz range ... maybe cutting that a bit and boosting the 50-80Hz range would make it clearer.

great job
 
Hey I'm keen to hear if anyone's got any tips on that bass issue, I am constantly having that problem, sounds great on the monitors, nice and subby, I also make an effort to boost a notch around 100-150Htz, I pop it in my shitty car stereo and the bass is non-existent.

Also, I usually have the bassline jumping notes sometimes half an octave or more, and the frequencies the bass changes are DRASTIC, on one system some notes are huge, other notes barely audible, on other systems the opposite notes are huge, etc. ec. is there some EQ trick to help curb this problem? is compression on a bassline a good idea?
Thanx
~Tor

www.mp3.com/dutchmac
www.mp3.com/toraudio
 
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