Melting Ivory (IceCap - Sonic 3&K)

[BlitzChris]

Hey guys, I have been a massive fan of OCR and the music that has come out of it, I thought it was only fair I start contributing.

I starting working on this during exam time (Procrastination ftw), and also as a way of venting my anger at relationship issues I was having.

Its still a WIP because I'm not sure what else I can do to it. I want to make the sound clearer and more piano like (I use a Casio CTK-900) and I dont know the best way of capturing the sound.

I also feel like its missing something. Feel free to go bezerk and destroy it to pieces or give advice and such

Cheers,

BlitzChris

LINK HERE -> http://www.tindeck.com/listen/huxb

[hewhoisiam]

I'm on a mission to hit the >3 reply posts, so sorry if I'm reviving a dead topic.

I like the piano remixes Sent you a PM with that thing relating to piano covers in general, so I won't go into that here.

As far as a 'real' sound. You're going to need to mic a real piano, or get a midi controller and play right into some DAW software. From that you and effects, such as reverb and ambiance and stuff. There are some great 'getting started' guides here that will point you in the right direction.

As far as ideas for this go, In solo piano stuff that I see, the tempo/volume changes and stuff really stand out because there's only the one instrument. So adding some more there will help. As well as slipping into like half time/double time. Both have a different feel and I hear your tempo change, but no right from half time to 'normal time' so to speak. You might try that to give it some length.

Another thing that I always think is neat and really makes some bits shine and stick out in a piece is going up an octave. It also has the added benefit of letting you repeat ideas that you used before, but would get old if they were repeated as is.

On the musical/theory end of things (my weak point Q.Q) you can do neat things like keeping the chord progression (which I can't identify without the stuff in front of me and lots of time) And change keys. My theory is pretty weak, so I can't tell you a whole lot about 'how' to do this. I just know it's possible.

Hope this helps.

[Skyline Drop]

Two words: sustain pedal. Seriously, a $15 investment in something as simple as this will do you a lot of good when it comes to solo piano work. Even with a kind of cheesy piano sound like you get from the CTK-900, your playing will sound a bit smoother and more professional with some pedaling. If you scour the web for a bit, you'll likely find cheap deals on similar pedals like that, or you can spend closer to $25 dollars for one that feels a bit more like the pedals on a real piano.

Gonna second the suggestion that you record into a DAW so you can easily get some better sounds and effects like reverb and whatnot. I think the CTK-900 does MIDI over USB, so you could just plug it straight into your computer and go to town with something like the FL Studio demo and not spend a cent. If not, you'll have to get a MIDI interface; really basic ones run as low as about $40 dollars, I think.

You can, of course, just record the sound straight out of your keyboard, which it sounds like you did (I have a Casio WK-3800, and they essentially just transplanted the sound engine from the CTK-900 into a bigger case with more keys, better speakers, and an on-board sequencer that, frankly, sucks). In either case, you're gonna need some reverb on that thing to make it sound smoother. I think the CTK has onboard effects, so noodle a bit with those.

You might want to consider changing the left hand up some, too. You play essentially the same arpeggios the entire time, and it gets a little boring. What I would do is use the left hand to play some static chords in the beginning for an intro, moving the whole thing into the higher register and slowing the tempo down a lot. As you pick up to the middle of the song, you can move down to the middle register and play the arpeggios like you do. For the climax, I'd maybe try playing the bass as octaves, maybe stating the melody in the left hand while the right hand does some random noodling over it. Basically, the issue is there's no real forward motion in this arrangement. It's a whole lot of the same over and over again, you know? The easy way to fix that is to use more of the range of the piano. The higher register tends to be quieter than the rest, so you can use it towards the beginning, and emphasize its natural tone by playing softly. The lower register has more strings and is therefore louder and more aggressive, so use that towards the climax. I know that's tough with only 61 keys to work with, but you'll figure something out.

Best of luck

[BlitzChris]

Thanks guys!

I did use a sustain pedal throughout the entire piece. XD

But you're quite right, I did tape directly from the keyboard into a microphone. I have a USB->MIDI interface but havent been able to record a clean/mistake free version. Ive got FL and have managed to get it to record so i'll give that a go.

For the actual piece, I'm glad you spotted the reoccuring left hand Sirius, as I was wondering if it was too repetitive. I havent been too sure as to what I could actually do with it, so i'll be giving your ideas a go asap! Also, hewhoisiam, I'll learn to transpose it up a tone or two tonight. I wrote a little piece for my ex-girfriend for her birthday, and transposing at the end worked well.

[Blackwinged Saron]

i love it. sound quality will have to be improved, and a straight piano mix rarely makes it. Um, but you've used a well know and very loved piece by the members here and we're jaded as shit, why not another ice cap mix! No seriously, that wasn't nice of me to say, but we have a lot of ice cap and we never get sick of it, so...I really like this, it shows talent and good form. It will definitely need some reworking, if only for sound quality purposes.