Pre-Production Song From My Solo Album....Comments Please....

[Alex Flouros]

hey everybody...
So these days i've been quite away from the forum and the reason is that i'm working on my solo cd a lot...
I chose this song for you for a weird reason...Simply because its way out of the usual stuff you've heared me play...Many clean tones,quite melodic and not so much shred frenzy although it has its shredy bits..http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/biggrin.gif
My goal would be to write "songs" for the album and not just create a guitar wankfest...well..the wankfest can be good from time to time..http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/biggrin.gif

So let me know what you thought about many elements if possible..like:
-composition
-arrangement
-playing
-tones
-overall things..

What i mean when i say pre-production is that these are the songs as they come out of my home studio...This is NOT a final product..
Final forms or arrangements if you like..But the drums and bass are still samples that will be replaced soon by real drums and bass...
I used the Diezel Einstein exclusively on this song...Probably all 4 modes of it...Just dont ask me for settings because i have no clue now..These change a lot..http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/biggrin.gif
All guitars recorded dry with effects added from cubase...And there were a lot of em..http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/freak.gif
So check it out...http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/wink.gif
BTW...the song is called "Sundown"...
Alex

EDIT:guys..keep in mind that this is simply a base for the real recordings...i recorded these guitars direct through a palmer and into a behringer 4 cheapo mixer and again into a sounblaster audio card on 16 bits...http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/biggrin.gif
In a few days i'll have some serious recording tools and start recording the real thing over these tracks...the overall quality will be better....at least i hope so...http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/biggrin.gif


http://www.mv2media2.com/mp3_request.m3u?m=download&id=18403&url=/bank/oepalea/948_Alex_Flouros___Sundown.mp3

[tedm]

excellent playing and tones, but from a song or track point of view, it seems long and there is no recurring hook or theme, which may be ok, but just something that I noted, lots of great playing and ideas in there, probably enough for 5 songs!!

[ari]

A few thoughts:

-Overall production is certainly good enough for a commercial release. Even sampled bass didn't bother me. (though the drums are different story) Guitar tracks are all competently engineered and the performance is excellent.

-The chorus or the refrain section's melody with the clean guitar tone is pleasant, but not strong enough. It doesn't need to be hooky but it should come out and grab you and leave you no question that that's "the tune."

-The song needs more dynamic range. The middle section with just drums and bass are nice change from the rest. The arrangements need to be tweaked so it feels like the song is always "going somewhere" instead of just plodding through one section after another. This is eaiser said than done, but in general starting with sparser instrumentation and adding more layers later in the song works pretty well.

-I'd love to hear big vibratos on those long sustained notes on gainier tracks.

All in all, great chops and production, so I'd say spend a bit more time on composition and arrangements. Good luck!

ari

[johnfindlay]

nice compisition/playin-the string line near the top is dated to me-in tone-why dont you try a slide-or legato fuzz-still in the background as an option.

solos great----!

A real drummer would know exactly what to do and glue it all down!

jf

[Fretmaster]

Alex, I don't think you've ever posted a clip I haven't liked. And this piece is certainly no exception. You're a very excellent player and always record great tones. Having said that I kind of had the feeling I was listening to a medley of 3 to 4 different ideas rather than one congruent piece. Each of the 3 or 4 ideas where excellent. I would be more than happy to listen to a full 4 or 5 minute composition based on each of them. Let me know when your CD is finished and on the market....I'll gladly buy one.:AOK


Steve

[Sub-D]

A real drummer would know exactly what to do and glue it all down!

jf

+1 on Johns comment
I read that you are replacing the bass and drum Tracks in your original post.
I bet that is going to make the track really jump..............
Great playing!

[BluePowder]

Alex I love hearing your stuff as well as watching you play.

I find that the track seems to be lacking some sort of rhythm, I can't really place it but it feels like that rhythm is somewhat forced and controlled. I think it's mostly due to the absence of a real drummer.

But other than that I'm loving it!

Good luck on your cd!

[johnfindlay]

Alex one more idea- if you can use loops you'll get more feel-the grooves are generally "wider" and makes even my worst playing feel/sound/ better .Its not as flexible as programming individual drum hits tho.

Check out the Stylus RMX by Spectrasonics-very flexible tempo & sound quality control. Not grainy time stretching like in ACID.

I've been using it for over a year now-i still do allotta old skool quantize programming too-which is mucho timeconsuming!

J

[Alex Flouros]

hey guys...thank you very much for checking out....
Johnfindlay:thanks for the tip man...but i wont have to do ths since as i said i will have a real drummer playing on this soon...;)


so thanks once again..:AOK
Alex