woodenboy Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Hi guys I've just posted a new track at my blog here: http://woodenboy.co.uk/?p=29 I'd love it if you could comment on the drum sound (or anything else)! Also, I'm particularly proud of the guitar solo I played at the end of this track It's only a couple of minutes, would you mind giving it a listen? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sayenex Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 first off, the guitar solo rules. nice job. to me the drums sound pretty nice, and very clear, but you can tell they are fake. the clarity might be good for what you're using it for (audition) you can really hear everything that's going on. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 good stuff great playing...both of ya....really like when the piano/pad chord sequence when it 1st comes in great drummer, bad sound (to my taste)...is it v-drum built in sound???? would love to hear it on a real acoustic kit or at least triggering a top dum samples package.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboy Posted January 8, 2008 Author Share Posted January 8, 2008 Thanks for your comments guys. Actually it's using BFD I must be going wrong somewhere on the processing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 trying to put my finger on it the hi-hat and snare don't sound 'right'.....this is of course just my opinion it feels overquantized and i think the hits seem to lack dynamic variation....i do not believe this is a peformance issue, as he's obviously a very accomplished player.... maybe the v-drums themselves don't trigger enough velocity levels...it's this rigidity that make it sound like a drum machine please don't take this as an artistic critique, i really dig the tune.... the more i hear it, the more i feel the problem is with the hats i would mix the drums differently but seeing as it's to serve as a drum demo, drums really have to be this prominent maybe dig into the matrix, screw with the timing and vary some velocities of the hits...see if this helps of course, this is all irrelevant if you (and more importantly) he are happy with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboy Posted January 8, 2008 Author Share Posted January 8, 2008 I think I know what you mean. I'll have a look at the snare velocities - if they're all the same it would explain some of the problem with the sound. Believe it or not, there's hardly any quantisation going on! The guy listens to too much Virgil Donati, hahaha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 fair play....try a snare with less treble possibly....bit more ring (oooo-errr) and see if changing velocity in the hats helps also i'd be interested to hear any revisions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Burris Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Besides just the Virgil Donati vibe noted above, I'm also sensing that someone is a Dream Theater fan? This is pure "Under a Glass Moon" but I'm still loving it. As stated above, props to the guitar solo! With regards to the drum sound: I agree that the hi-hats sound a bit odd. This is extremely obvious around 1:30 when it is just the hats keeping time. Maybe get a bit more air in the hats with a new hat sound? I don't know... Also, the VDRUMS aren't picking up a lot of the intricacies of what this musician is playing, which does make it sound very robotic, a la Virgil Donati - something that (as a college drummer myself) I know colleges don't want to hear. Can you up the sensitivity to better portray the ghosted figures of what he is playing? Poor guy - he really is a talented drummer, but it's just hard to sound good on an electric kit. There is nothing wrong with your mixing nor his playing; technology just hasn't caught up with acoustic drums yet. Overall, this is still an impressive performance by both the drummer and (especially) yourself. The things drummers listen for when they hear electric drums changes drastically from their acoustic counterparts, so the judges of the music school will understand the quandary of electric drums. Hope this helps, and best of luck!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 how about trying to get some studio time to recored some real kit.....money permitting, of course maybe even dubbing over some real hats would give it what it needs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkgross Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 funny..the Kick is what bugs me the most...really thin...I think bussing the entire drum to a nice tight room in Space Designer would help. And yeah, I'd really look into the Velocity Layers of the kit and the v-Drum output to get more dynamics. I've heard BFD sound incredibly dynamic. but the performaces all the way around are pretty damn good!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboy Posted January 11, 2008 Author Share Posted January 11, 2008 Firstly - thanks everyone for your comments, and for taking the time to listen! I agree with everything you've all said, actually. I've tried another mix which you should be able to see at http://www.woodenboy.co.uk/music - it's called drumnbass2.mp3 (I've left the earlier one there too for a bit of comparison). I changed the snare in BFD to something with a little less of a CRACK, messed around with the velocities a bit and lowered the kick drum level as well as the whole drum level in the mix. Hopefully I'm on the way to some improvement.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 sounds much 'nicer' to my ears snare sound is better, kick sits better and the hats will have to do.....i would maybe change the sound of those still however it must be taken into account that your mate is inspired by this virgil guy (whoever he is) and that this maybe the sound that he uses you've also got rid of that hollow sound that emphasises the kick drum....i think it's a good choice.....but who knows if it were for a commercially produced album and i was paying, i'd get him on a real kit in a good studio, but i can see her how this offers much more ease in both recording and mixing....also a previous poster mentioned that the judges will be familiar with the characteristics of a v-kit and adjust accordingly i think the most important thing here is which one your mate prefers....which one of these mixes he feels shows him and his talent in the best light....after all this is the reason for you doing it in the 1st place.... keep us up to date on this....it is clear from this that he is a great player...he would probably 'get in' if he played on pots and pans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 and try with the hat velocities ....oops, just listened closer....you have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikehurst Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Hey, just listened to the track. Nice Work! Sounds like there is a time signature change around 0:41, but I couldn't figure it out. So I went ahead and transcribed all the drums from 0:41 to 0:53. Looks like hes playing in 15/8 ? Gave me a headache trying to write it out. Sounds great though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodenboy Posted January 11, 2008 Author Share Posted January 11, 2008 Haha, yeah we took a quaver out of every other bar. It alternates 7/8 with 4/4, or you could call it 15/8 as you've done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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