Check out this latin jazz tune

[MX-Z8]

Hey give some feedback on this jazz tune

Click here to listen!

[Kanthos]

Drums are very repetitive, and there are significantly large parts of the song, particularly at the start, where I can't follow the beat. I'm used to hearing and playing Latin rhythms and polyrhythmic jazz, and for a song that ends up being in 4/4, the intro just felt off. There's also very little variance in dynamics, which is a big part of why the piece feels mechanical. Edit note velocities a bit and shorten and lengthen some of the notes to make it feel more humanized; it's almost too precise. The song didn't really feel like it went anywhere to me, but that's largely because of the repetition in the comping and percussion and the lack of dynamics, I think. Groove tunes with simple melodies and simple chord progressions *do* work sometimes (Joe Zawinul is the best example of that), but it's variation and makes it work. A simple composition can be harder to work with sometimes simply because you have to be more creative in the subtle nuances of each instrument since there's less coming from the song itself.

You also need to do a lot more with regards to mixing. I didn't know there was a bass at all until the bass solo, and even then, several of the percussion instruments and the piano overpower the bass.

I'm not meaning to be harsh or mean with my comments. I just listen to a lot of jazz and demand a lot of myself as a musician, and don't feel that I'm doing you any favours by not saying what I feel. If you have enough attention to detail and can put a bit more creativity into the piece (leaving it alone and listening to and playing other stuff for a few days might help you come back to it with fresh ideas), you can do a lot with this. Good luck!

[MX-Z8]

Naw its cool. I agree and disagree with some statements but hey thats how one learns. What did you mean by almost too precise? Thanks again for the honest feedback

[Kanthos]

By precise, I meant that no human hits each note with exact precision in timing, and also that it's often stylistically pleasing to vary the timing of a melody, especially in jazz. Parts of your piece, on the other hand, sounded like you programmed them in by clicking on a piano roll or that they were played in and then quantized. They line up too perfectly, which takes away from the impression that this was played by a human. Whether you did actually play the notes or not doesn't matter. In order to make realistic-sounding jazz remixes, you want it to sound as human as possible. Precision is less noticeable in other genres, but is one of the things that makes jazz as vibrant as it is.