[linux-audio-user] yet more music

[james at dis-dot-dat.net]

On Sat, 09 Jul, 2005 at 03:31PM -0700, Florin Andrei spake thus:
> On Sat, 2005-07-09 at 12:42 +0100, james at dis-dot-dat.net wrote:
> 
> > http://dis-dot-dat.net/content/music/justtwo.ogg
> 
> Nice! I like the mood and the expression.
> 
> Here comes the exaggerated nitpicking:
> 
> I'm not sure what kind of effects you're using (reverb/chorus/...) but
> they're a bit tight and dark. The soundstage is also a bit foggy and
> crowded. Might be a side-effect of the low bitrate used in the Ogg file.
> But it might be worth the effort to space it out a little bit: give a
> better definition (individuality) to each sound and let the ear-candy
> (effects) breathe a bit.

This is something I almost always forget to do.  Everything is always
centre stage and stereo in my tracks is usually only from reverb.

Must remember to do this in future.  Thanks for that.
 
> I also think I hear something that sounds like nasty distortion. Might
> be amplitude overload at some stage (maybe at encoding to Ogg?) but
> might actually be an effect (limiter?) that sounds like something went
> wrong.
> Maybe that's the desired result, but even so it might be a good idea to
> make it less natural and convincing ;-) (e.g. like the difference
> between a painting and a photo)

Distortion was most definitely used on purpose, but if you think
there's some that sounds out of place, then it could be something I
didn't put there.  Can you be a little more specific?  Which sound,
and where, is distorted?  It could be that some of the sounds overlap
too much in frequency.

> > I starting to think guitar lessons would be a good idea.  I love using
> > them, but since I can't actually play, I have to do it the long way
> > and they always sound a bit too regular.
> 
> Yeah, the guitar sounds strange.
> 
> It would be nice if there was a button in any sequencer to slightly
> randomize a track, not a lot, just VERY gently (more on velocity, less
> or not at all on timing). That might take care of the robotic sound.

Some do, but not mine, unfortunately.  When I used to dabble with VST
and other Windows sequencers, I really liked the randomization and
groove quantization features.  Unfortunately, this isn't something
easily implemented in a tracker.

> Anyway, it also depends on the style. Kraftwerk didn't seem to have
> issues with robotic sounds. ;-)

True, but doing Kraftwek-style stuff now would perhaps be a bit
cheesy.  Kinda like going back to mid-90's rave tracks and just
speeding up some old song or themetune and adding a break-kneck beat.

Although, now I've said it, I'd love to have a go at that.  I have a
real soft spot for the old "bangin' choons".  Where did I put that
Smart E's record?

Thanks for listening,

James


-- 
"I'd crawl over an acre of 'Visual This++' and 'Integrated Development
That' to get to gcc, Emacs, and gdb.  Thank you."
(By Vance Petree, Virginia Power)