Calum

Really good stuff - i like how to have allowed for people with shit speakers as that was something i was going to mention. Also the inclusion of SFX (police sirens etc) was a really nice touch into the soundscape - i did wonder whether they would be suitable in the soundtrack as you may move into an indoors level and it'd be strange to hear that BUT obviously for the purposes you've presented here - it's brilliant. I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be the winner - it's very subtle and that's why it's so effective. Good luck, man.

Hmm it's true that with re-harmonisation of a familiar tune it's difficult to accept the melody in it's new setting. I am warming to some of the harmonies but we'll see. I thought the organ harmonisations were particularly strong and didn't make the melody seem too out of place. It's difficult to leave the harmonic baggage behind of the original! But yeah you should post it all in this thread - or set up a tumblr/blogspot/something free and just have each one as a new post with a 'lil commentary. I know how it is about just getting stuff out there - i'm doing the same kind of thing with a pokemon project - i'm writing new music inspired by each of the 150 original pokemon. So far i've done 2... plan's not going so well but it's good just as an incentive for me to write stuff!

Raising it an octave doesn't change the harmonic nature of the chord - it's the same chord in a different register. What i was suggesting would be interesting is if you change the chord itself. Though that's up to you.

I like the live feel - great assortment of instruments. Interesting harmonic re-interpretations (although i think some of them don't quite succeed -1:10 in particular). Looking forward to more! Is there a website where you're planing to collate them all?

an ostinato is a repeated riff - the piano phrase which you repeat. I simply mean that I would find it more interesting if you changed the notes of the phrase so that it is based around a different chord than it is and this could be a milestone in the piece.

Interesting - the longboard is back in the competition. I'll search for a xp30 but before xmas this may not be too likely. I should say for what purposes this is. This is for the purpose of occasional gigs but mostly midi control. The main issue is playback out of the keyboard - which the longboard delivers. I'm writing music for a play so going to the rehearsals and playing along will be a lot easier with this than say a full set-up of laptop/amp/speakers etc. However i don't want to lose out on midi control too much and i'd love for the keys to be weighted to some degree.

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a very portable keyboard of atleast 61 keys with mod/pitchbend wheels and sustain pedal ports (additional midi controller knobs are more than welcome) - however i also want it to be able to play out without having to be mediated by a computer. I've looked at the EMU Longboard, M-Audio Prokeys Sono 61 and the CME UF60 Classic but i'm not completely satisfied with anyone of them. My budget is up to £250. Can anyone offer any suggestions? Calum

I think there are some timing issues - perhaps the original tempo and your track's tempo weren't locked. As towards the end the off-beat side-chaining seems to be slightly off and it disrupts the rhythm. I was really impressed otherwise but the loss of synchronicity towards the end spoilt it for me. http://soundcloud.com/aires/micheal-jackson-air3s-electro here's the link you wanted i think.

Trying to get a sims vibe - i'd be interested in hearing what people's thoughts were on my production - i feel it's a little loose - i would love it to be a bit more tight. Also i think it's slightly under-tempo. SO YEAH, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/may-i-take-your-order-sir

Like it! Definitely agree with others - lay off the reverb a lil'. Pretty great arrangement - i'm ashamed I didn't recognise as much as I expected myself to.

gotta agree with comment below - it all sounds good but there's just not much musical material. Some of the delay'd synth sounds suggest they a slight melody but aren't distinct enough to be hummable. This is certainly stealthy etc. - think about altering the two chord structure to create some drama and further tension. The strings seem like they've been generally used well. Perhaps you could change the drum pattern or build up more percussion parts also. Also you could think about including another harmony instrument other than just the strings as at 0:58ish it sounds very bare. Perhaps a pad in the background.

consider altering the main ostinato's harmony (you make small alterations to the figure itself but not the harmony) - it got boring to me very quickly. I find that the best thing about having a long sustained repeated figure is the semi-orgasmic moment you change it. Perhaps you weren't going for semi-orgasm though. There's a strange thing at the start - though you're probably aware of it - just a glitch on the export. Perhaps adding some reverb to the piano as it sounds quite synthetic in the upper register - just a tiny bit. The drums also could do with a tiny bit of reverb maybe - also the drum pattern you have exposes the samples - each snare hit sounds exactly the same as it's all the same velocity - consider altering the velocity of the 3rd and a half beat and the 4th beat. I think that'll bring some life into it. Traditionally the 3rd and a half beat would be quieter and the 4th as loud as the 2nd beat. Hopefully that makes sense. The whole piece felt a little meandering - i think you could really find some structural interest by adding a second chord which you go to perhaps halfway or 3/4 of the way through - this would heighten the sense of drama. At the moment you're achieving tension and release by adding loops of flutes/synths/drums etc. but think of this change of chord as a landmark in the dramatic structure. Keep working on it. Calum

Like it a lot! Although I like the harmonic altercations, sometimes I feel like they're a little weak and don't suit the melody lines that much. e.g. 0:42 - i would have stuck to A major or C#minor instead of C#major. I wasn't a fan of quite a lot of the harmonic choices of o come all ye faithful - 2:04 - nice playing but you made all of the chords major when in fact the second chord sounds odd to me as a major (should be Gminor). Also 2:27 - 2:50 - it seemed like you used the same chord as the melody note and moved in step - so everything was moving together. In the original same chord is actually sounded far more frequently (with different inversions). Though of course you weren't attempting to recreate the original, these are just harmonic choices i would have made differently. Other than that I was way impressed.

It seems you've come quite a long way although (as always) there's an awful long way to go and that's the fun of it. I would suggest (and this is a personal preference I suppose) moving away from 4 chord repetition progressions which only use traids - i find that most of your songs are essentially pop-songs with piano/strings/whatever else - i was most struck by this in Wizard's Mirror. Try using coming at a piece from a different perspective of "here's some chords - i'll repeat them and put a melody on top." Think about having longer phrases or less repetitions - my main issue with your musical material is repetition - and the harmonic content is uninteresting to me - try integrating extended chords - just experiment with adding extra notes to the triads you're already using. Try spreading out the harmonies a lot - don't have sections with just one note - it makes everything sound so thin. (I noticed this in aquatic base) I think White Factory #2 is a great improvement from the first one though.

http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/happy-street-wip I've posted this a while back but here's a new version - hopefully subtle but effect mixing changes can be heard and I changed the melody instrument - previously it was those awful trumpets!

back in the day. http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/remembrance

This is a new music ensemble i'm in at university. The recordings are terrible - done on an iphone - and most pieces are way under-rehearsed (particularly mine, haha ) as we have only met twice. However, I hope you enjoy the compositions and it's interesting to hear new music regardless of poor quality recordings and some bum notes http://soundcloud.com/usnme

Yeah, magical8bit is nearly all i got on the chiptune front! Thanks for the super detailed comments - hmm, i like the disjointed chords! The progression came out after studying some stevie wonder and sticking some of his progressions together! The first section if Fm7-Ab/Bb-Ebmaj7-C9, the second section is Fmaj7-E7b9-Am7-D9 if that means anything to you. Mmm yeah the pulse wave thing does sound a little lame and stationary at the moment - i could definitely liven that up in the ways you've suggested. Ah, yeah i wasn't very happy with the note at 1:41 but i needed a way to prepare the listener for the new chord sequence which started on a Fmaj7 instead of Fm7 so I played an E natural (maj7 instead of Eb which is minor7) BUUUUT maybe i could have left all that anyway because it does sound strange. At the end i was going for a bit of a james bond thing - i felt like A was the right note but I could have gone to any and many and i tried a few for the end! To me, the F# (minor third down) or C# (major third up) form the last note sounds even stranger! P.s. chiptunes more... YES! I love 'em too - i'm trying to improve my dance music productions and techniques + chips are the best... It's actually a homecoming doing more chiptunes - https://8bc.org/members/Chocobowen/ about 4 years ago I had a nanoloop and give it my best - forgive me for they suck! @syllix Thanks so much! I'd love to go to magical places!

and another: http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/rainy-day

http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/shall-i-pick-you-up-at-8 This one is quite montage TV style - also pretty funky, slightly retro. http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/the-white-house It's pure presidential orchestral - this is just a title screen cue.

Very true. Don't mean to be a pain but p.p.s jus' incase you didn't see: I inboxed you.

I enjoyed this. Although my feeling is that sometimes the huge bass at around 2.00 was a little out of time - it came in just after the 2nd beat but a little too soon. Also in terms of the timing, the section around 1.26 where you were glitching and playing around with the timing, i didn't feel like it stayed in time - although I could be wrong. I felt the sense of time was lost at this point - perhaps make it more rhythmically defined. Also the bit at 1.36 only came in ONCE! That's my fave part of the original - I'd love to see it return at the end perhaps. I'm certainly not a house expert but these were the things that struck me. Calum

according to this it's 45-18,000hz - although i didn't read the whole page all the way through I couldn't find anything that said it cuts at 300hz? Was that the graph diagram? It looks like it but i'm not clear on what the dotted lines are and the normal ones... OK i think i get it - i can pick up between 45 - 18,000hz but because it almost pre-EQ's out the bass (300hz and below) those lower frequencies aren't really heard. Ah OK - so because it cuts all the boomy low end, it'd be good inside a bass drum to get the click/more high end of the kick and perhaps you'd mic it slightly outside with a mic with more low frequency response? This is all interesting - here was me thinking the RE20 is the king of all mics - at least blindly following what our tutor said - but I see it has quite a few limitations.

Thank you!! This is brilliant advice - a great resource for recording. So it seems the C414 is the top choice (out of the selection) for cello & clarinet (i will bare that in mind when i'm next in the studio). It's very interesting what you say about most of these mics. The tutor (although i'm not studying music tech - so i'm not sure if he's an ultra expert) seemed to say that the RE20 is good for everything - failed to mention the bass cut. I thought the 421 sounded good on the clarinet but i'll try a 414 next time and consider the position as well - it was more straight in front of the player so perhaps that made the tone less bright. I was told some stuff about these mics but it's great to get a second opinion! Thanks fishy. p.s. did you get to listen to my new wip for FF9 prima vista band?

Thanks for the feedback . Yes, I do find it difficult to write for groups as small as three players as there's the obligation to "fill out the chord with each note etc." and you don't want it to sound empty. So I ended up with constant writing. Although it was a bit of a rush job to have something to record in the studio I would certainly considering letting the piano relax a little if i were to re-do this piece - got to get the idea that every note must be played all the time out of my head. I did want to avoid overly difficult or demanding parts for the others as we didn't have much time to rehearse/record. Mmm, I agree on the cello - the player was far from a virtuoso - I even tried some pitch shifting/autotuning to sort out some of the issues - but yes, more time dedicated to practising that section may have reaped better results. Thanks for the detailed feedback, I appreciate it! I will take all of these things into consideration when next writing and mixing for a small ensemble