Hiya. As a bit of background, the last few CD's I've listened to have been Paul Oakenfold, Arvo Part, Bright Eyes, Cursive, The Million Dollar Hotel, and U2's War; along with some Ghosts & Vodka and St. Etienne, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and a CD of misc. electronica. The last two projects I've been working on have been Weezer-crossed-with-The-Mr.-T-Experience and my own attempts at a dance remix... So keep all this in mind with my comments.

Now - when the instruments have filled out, about a minute into the song, I think it would be safe to cut out the reverb from the 'bass' track, because it becomes a bit distracting. The length is all right, and I like the use of instrumentation. The main thing that makes me cringe a little with this song is that thing with the bass melody.

Blue Thing - love the voice. ;D It makes the song sound organic, which may or may not be what you want. ;D (It's not the voice itself that makes the organic feel, but the way it sounds. It sounds warm and organic, regardless of the effects you've got it through.) I like the interaction between the keyboards, and how they pan. The reverb on the drums is an interesting touch. On the production side of things, I don't know what I think about it: it wouldn't have been my first choice, same with the drum sounds, but...I don't think it's bad either. The song starts to lose my interest after about 4/4.5 minutes, however. There isn't enough action going on, and the drum beat isn't fast enough to get lost in. But don't worry, Paul Oakenfold does this too, it's a 'feature' of dance music...because, really, you're supposed to be dancing to it not 'listening' to. That's my rationale for a lot of things, "oh, don't worry, Paul Oakenfold does it, it's gotta be ok.."

Where - I like the little feedback sound. The main thing is I think the drums could stand to have more beats stuck in'between. The tempo's good, but perhaps either using, say, 6 or 12 beat pattern instead of an 8 beat pattern, or just adding more 'hits' in each measure would fit in. Nothign loud or overt. Maybe even just a double-time drum track that's a little quiter than the main/lead drums. That's the main thing--the song could just use a little bit more drive.

Moral - fun little song, it's kinda like James Bond gone wrong. If I had mixed it, I would have brought the vocals down and mixed them more behind the electronics.

Man Of The City - reminds me of some wicked mix between the Virgin Prunes and Leonard Cohen, with splashes of The Faint thrown in for good measure. A good example of Fun with Panning! =D Love the drum sounds...this is probably my fave of what you've got posted. Ironically, I think the length and repitition work for it. I might lengthen the delay on this one a bit, on the vox at the end, so that it matches the groove of the song better (ie, like the 'manually-delayed' vocals at the end).

Cool stuff. ;D Thing I can't stand about electronica is how long it takes to program...kinda like the thing I can't stand about 'real' music is how long the bloody stuff takes to write...

Hi GabrielK

Thanks for your feedback, I looked into the things you've noticed. (f.e. On -Now- I feel there's indeed something that isn't quite right, still have to figure out what it is exactly:-)

Feedback like this really helps me a lot. It's difficult to step back from your own music and try to listen to it with a different pair of ears.

Now that I've reread my post, I see my English still isn't the way I want it to be. I asked for (positive) criticism, but I ment to ask for constructive criticism :-)

So thanks again, I hope another pair of ears also wants to give it a try

Cheers

G,
Payback time! Only kidding. I really enjoyed listening to your work. I don't listen to much electronic music. I'm more in tune with artists like John Schofield, Charlie Hunter, Herbie Hancock, etc. But I think I do have something to offer here.

I thought Man of the City was cool. The panning is done very well.

I think my favorite was actually Blue Thing. The drums on this songreally caught my attention. I think the levels are perfect. As a matter of fact, I can't really find anything that I could change for the better in the mix. The composition is good, also. I would personally like to see more movement in some of the pieces. As I said earlier, I'm not very familiar with electronica, but I think some things are universal. I think your style lends itself to presence of a distinct beginning leading to a climax. Maybe you could explore that more.

Again, I enjoyed listening. You are very talented.

~CR

Thanks CR

"talented" ?

"I think your style lends itself to presence of a distinct beginning leading to a climax."
I agree. Two reasons for not doing this:
1. I fail to make a real climax. 2. I succeed making the climax, but then it sounds way too obvious:-)
But yes, it is something I explore.

Cheers

Hi all

I've just uploaded a rearranged / shortened version of Blue Thing.
I'm still working on other suggestions I get of this and other messageboards

Cheers

I took me some time, but I finally agree on removing some reverb from the bass (on Now). Problem was, I only had the reverbed bass as audio... So I recycled it and shorten the amplitude enveloppe decay...
Thanks for the suggestion. 'Now' sounds clearer now ;-)