the guitar "wash"

[Simes]

Back again!

Shallow End Swimming has another track in the can, and headed in more slightly experimental territory. The track is called "Alright! Tokyo" and can be located @ http://mp3.com/shallowendswimming for your streaming or downloading pleasure. Would appreciate feedback or recommendations for improvements as always....

It's an instrumental piece with no less than eleven guitar tracks blended into some form of a stew of strings. As pre-warned it's fairly experimental but does have some anthemy elements.

Gear:

(Guitars) Les Paul, Line 6 POD, Line 6 DL-4, and some Audiomulch processing.
(Bass) Hartke 5-string, Line 6 Bass POD
(Percussion) pre-recorded drum loops (performed by a buddy), a couple of ambient percussion loops from the Laswell loops thingy (mutated in Audiomulch), and some single hits thrown together in Fruity.
...all edited, mixed and mulched in Cool Edit Pro.

Cheers,

Simon
http://www.mp3.com/shallowendswimming

 

[Eurythmic]

Simes,

My opinion of this track depends a lot on what you intend to do with it. On one hand, a lot of people really go for a "wash over your ears", "ambient without actually being ambient" type sound. On the other hand, it seems like a song that takes five minutes to fall into a groove might be uncomfortable on a CD alongside some of your more straightforward tracks.

I found it to be a highly rewarding song to listen to, but if I hadn't already heard and enjoyed your other material - I probably would have stopped the mp3 after a couple of minutes and said "Okay, next".

That said, here are some of my thoughts. This is an awfully difficult mix to pick apart, so I really don't have a lot to say about that aspect. One thing, though, is that the song overall has a very "lo-fi" sound about it. With the production on your other tracks being so clean, it's quite a stark difference.

I hear three main "sections", and it sounds like the split is about 3/2/2 minutes. The first and longest section is also the least exciting, IMO.

On the other hand, when the new drums kick in around 3:10, it creates a pretty cool "ooh, something different! Wonder what's coming next?" effect. I really enjoy the deep phase shift and "tremolo" there.

But, to be quite honest, I could have done without the first three minutes. The "second theme" could be an introduction of sorts to the third theme, which I really think is the most musical part of the piece. I also thought it was the most enjoyable. I loved the sea of Edge-influenced guitars.

Some disjointed feedback for a disjointed piece of music. Again, I found it to be a rewarding listen. I'm keeping it on my hard drive. But it's easier to admire than it is to love.

 

[Simes]

Eurythmic,

Cheers for the feedback (again!). Your points are interesting, helpful and though-provoking as always. One thing you did touch on that I think kinda sums up my thoughts thus far:

[but if I hadn't already heard and enjoyed your other material - I probably would have stopped the mp3 after a couple of minutes and said "Okay, next".]

My intention with this track is to basically "push-out" a little further in contrast to the other tracks I've done. I don't want this to be too easy to listen to, so I think I hit the mark! The lo-fi'dness is intentional as well - I have an aversion to slick sounding stuff at the moment and the more crudded-up something is, the better

I agree in the context of a single track people will probably scratch their heads and move on. With any luck, some of the "catchier numbers" (sounding like my father here) will hook 'em in enough to give this experimental one a listen.

May yet have more instore for this track, will be giving it another few listens today to see if I can butcher it even more. My sincere thanks for taking a listen and providing great feedback again...

Simon
http://mp3.com/shallowendswimming.