[Background] Lone Piano (Mp3)

[bad2989]

a piano on its own can be a nice thing... but I rather back it up with some synthpads.
Hard to keep the drums interesting though... anyone suggestions?

Lone Piano here!

Yours,

Bad2989

[Sam_Zen]

First plus : Echoes are in the right tempo of the piece.
Making the drums more interesting is relatively easy. A matter of panorama.
Now all drum sounds, except the backwards cymbal, are tight up in the center, and quite 'modest'.
So a 'wider' production of the drumkit could be an improvement.

But I wondered more : can the piano be more interesting?
Now, it plays all the note very decent, and repeats the same melody through the song, but that's it.
So to me the piano sounds like it's accompanying something more, which isn't there.

[bad2989]

Sam_Zen, I really appreciate that you take your time and really listen to the stuff people post!
With "wider" did you only mean panning, or also a broader selection of percussionary instruments? I will work on the panning anyway.

I too feel that the piano is supporting something that isn't there (hence the stylename: background). I tried putting in more melody, but it just doesn't come naturally in this one. Everything only seems to clutter and to be too much...

Thanks again and enjoy the holidays

Bad2989

[Sam_Zen]

I indeed meant a wider panning, so 'spreading' of the instruments, not the addition of more.
I was aware of your 'background' indication, so I didn't mean to make 'more melody'.

But as soon as one repeats some sequence later on in a song, there's the opportunity to make it slightly different.
One can in fact still repeat the basic melody, while one note of it is transposed to a fifth, octave up or down, for example.
The harmonics will stay intact.

Other variations in coding of the notes are possible though.
This depends on how strict you wanna be about a piano sound. Should it just be able to act like the real one ?
Or do you make use of the coding possibilities, and add some vibrato to a specific note, or use portamento between two notes?
The first one I would call the classical approach, the second one is the electronic approach.
The second one offers more freedom in expression, so it also needs to be used with discipline and precision.
If overdone, it just becomes an effect, like a guitar with the same distortion in all songs.

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Quite a good track. It definitely fits into "Background". I'm not so sure that the drums need to be more "interesting" in terms of changing them all the time. I think you have a great opportunity for a bass solo in this track, if you do want to add more "interest".

That being said, though, you could probably also shorten it down a little. If you cut it to between 3.00 and 3.30 minutes, you wouldn't struggle so much with "interest". Most pop songs tend to be in that sort of range, so it's what most people are used to listening to...

Overall, I like the track. Keep up the good work!