Members 6StringSling Posted August 24, 2009 Members Share Posted August 24, 2009 In the interest of possibly proving some points, I'm going to post something in the usual "style" of these types of posts and let you guys have at it for a day or two before I respond: Hey! I just finished my second Guitaraoke backingtrack, Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. Let me know what you think! http://www.tachyonburst.com/music/mp3/backingtracks/dsb.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted August 24, 2009 Members Share Posted August 24, 2009 In the interest of possibly proving some points, I'm going to post something in the usual "style" of these types of posts and let you guys have at it for a day or two before I respond:Hey! I just finished my second Guitaraoke backingtrack, Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. Let me know what you think!http://www.tachyonburst.com/music/mp3/backingtracks/dsb.mp3 I think it sounds, decent... but also a little midi. The strumming just sounds a little mechanical to me. I'm not sure it it's the lack of distortion... Piano and bass... good but I would also add some synth in the verse tracks... the stabs would help to dress it up the background a little more. (MY OWN OPINION)It's hard for me to listen and really think objectively. I play this song in a full rock band situation and well, it's one of the highlights of our set. I sample a fair amount of stuff in a full band situation, yet I still wouldn't use backing tracks in a performance. I understand in a solo or duo situation they are in some cases neccesary. The problem for me with most backing/ prerecorded tracks is that they don't contribute any real energy, heart or passion to a performance. You are led by by click of a track instead of your own instincts of how to attack the song. But I guess that's the point of karaoke in the first place. To pour you heart over a click track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 24, 2009 Moderators Share Posted August 24, 2009 First off, great attention to detail in this endeavor. That takes a good ear to pull that stuff out and get it back in... But, the bass synth part has too much attack in its programming vs. the part on the original recording. Too much squawk. There are no balls in the regular bass guitar part once the "guitars" come in. Needs girth. In order to get any sort of real feel, you're going to need to replay that piano part and not quantize so rigidly. Don't just play in a verse and loop. Play the part and mildly quantize in with a slack percentage. Let it breath. Way to loopy sounding. Play the whole thing and use some dynamics. Go back and take note of when the piano playing is hitting it harder and softer and play to those dynamics. Yes, they are subtle, but they are important. Where's the distorted rhythm guitars? All I hear is clean stuff and faux midi rock guitars. You'll need more balls or just play the things cranked with your rig... All in all, a good job that needs more attention to feel and realistic vibe. *If you're intentionally omitting the distorted rhythm guitars for karaoke purposes, I'd recommend at least playing one panned off to one side so the guy playing along can get a vibe going and do his double tracked panned guitars thing for fun and education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted August 24, 2009 Members Share Posted August 24, 2009 I really liked the vocal parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kramerguy Posted August 24, 2009 Members Share Posted August 24, 2009 LOLZ "In the interest of..." Well, if you were seriously asking for an honest critique, I'd have either not responded, or given it a 2 out of 10, if I was in a good mood hah. Plugging a guitar line into a backing track is one thing, hell.. I do it in my myspace demo of Limelight, simply to demo my guitar skills, and I don't go around asking for critiques, as it's from an effin BT. But... Calling midi BT with no vocals a "demo"?? That's called practice material, not demo material. I'm guessing 69String that the point you are trying to prove is that some demos aren't worth posting, much less critiquing(?); and if so, I'd have to agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B Money Posted August 24, 2009 Members Share Posted August 24, 2009 vocals are way too low, I can hardly hear them. I know that Steve Perry can be tough to cover, but turn 'em up bro. The rest of it sounds very Casio to me, particularly the "guitar" parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lespaul1964 Posted August 24, 2009 Members Share Posted August 24, 2009 I heard 30 seconds or so on my office crappy speakers. From all angles this sounds to me like a midi file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted August 24, 2009 Members Share Posted August 24, 2009 Listen to the original bassline: you're missing a few fills, primarily stabs at the octave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted August 24, 2009 Members Share Posted August 24, 2009 While the "production" was ok to good, I agree with many others. It sounded casio like, midi, computer generated, loopy, whatever term you choose to use. It didn't have the human factor. Guitar tone was especially poor. Were there vocals? I didn't hear them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 Yeah, you do suck. http://www.journey-tribute.com/journey/sounds/midi/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cooterbrown Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 Boo for using an .smf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 Boo for using an .smf You might want to invest in some quality soft-synths and plugins. Alesis Micron is a capable VA for 200 bucks or so used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 Yeah, you do suck.http://www.journey-tribute.com/journey/sounds/midi/index.html If you're saying he ripped off that file....the bassline in your link has the octave fill I was referring to, and the OP's does not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 There are four different midi versions on that page, and many further pages of google results after that. If this turns out to be an original work I will humbly apologize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cooterbrown Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 http://www.journey-tribute.com/journey/sounds/midi/dsb.mid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 Thats some kick ass tracks right there-yesiree. You too can be a star!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Austincowbell Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 just to clarify... did you do the whole thing? Is that what we're critiquing? I'm not trying to be mean I'm just not sure I understand. -and if you had anything to do with the bass synth it needs to be changed to a more warm and smooth tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6StringSling Posted August 25, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 Boo for using an .smf None of the files you guys linked to sound even remotely like mine. And I had to look up .smf - I didn't even know that it meant Standard MIDI File. And on any MIDI file I've ever heard of this song, the bass is way to mushy compared to the original recording which is bright and punchy - to my ears anyway. To begin with, there were certainly a lot of assumtions made with no one asking any direct question except for AustinCowbell. Which is understandable - since I was imitating a typical post of this sort, I provided almost no information. I did create this track myself, all of it. References: The song from my Best of Journey CD, Some drum tabs, Guitar Pro Tabs and Power Tab Editor tabs. The original song fades out, I composed the non-fade ending myself. There are no loopers at all. The Drums:PC Drummer Pro 5 using a custom kit I created myself that uses .WAV samples I gathered from the Internet several years ago. Each piece of percussion was exported out as a .WAV file. The Piano:Hand scored in Finale 2009. Garritan Instruments VST plugin used. Steinway Piano with custom Ambience Filter settings. Exported from Finale 2009 as .WAV. Some tone editing done on the .WAV file in SoundForge 7. The Keys:Tabbed out in Power Tab Editor. The guitar for this transcription used MIDI Synth Strings 1. Exported as .MID. Opened in Finale 2009 and exported as .WAV. Some tone editing done on the .WAV file in SoundForge 7. The Guitars:Tabbed out in Power Tab Editor. The guitars for these transcription used MIDI Acoustic Guitar (Steel). Exported as .MID. Opened in Finale 2009 and exported as .WAV. Some tone editing done on the .WAV file in SoundForge 7. Imported into Audition 3 and filtered with the Pod Farm VST plugin using a patch I creaed on my PodXT Live. The Bass:Tabbed out in Power Tab Editor. The bass for this transcription used MIDI Electric Bass (Pick). Exported as .MID. Opened in Finale 2009 and exported as .WAV. Imported into Audition 3 and filtered with the Pod Farm VST plugin using a patch I creaed on my PodXT Live. Some tone editing done in Audtion using EQ plugins. As you can no doubt guess by now, all the .WAV files were imported into Audition 3 and mixed & mastered. I find the track passable for it's intended use but by no means "good". I am still working on learning to play the backing guitar and bass parts as well as trying to get a decent tone. When I am happy with them I will redo the track with live guitars and bass. While I have access to a baby grand and also to keyboards, I'm not planning on hauling my computer to each location and trying to record them much less learn to play them. This track and Plush are the only two tracks I currently use that I created myself. Everything else I use has been purchased from reputable sources, not downloaded free from the net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 So, if I understand you correctly, you "played" these instruments on a midi controller keyboard using various plug-ins or wav files. You did not loop any tracks and played them in real time? It doesn't sound that way. I thought the piano tone was pretty good. The drums were ok except for the cymbals. Those decayed too fast. The actually notes played seemed right but I've never tried to play that song. The bass tone was tight and focused, like someone playing bass with a pick. But it lacked enough bottom for my taste. The synths sounded a little cheesy. There was no redeeming qualities to the guitar patch. In fact, the "guitar" didn't even sound anything like a guitar and sent the whole production over to the cheesy," listen to me on my Casio" camp. Better to just leave it out until you get a real guitar tone in there. Still not sure of what your point is. Are you attempting to produce a real demo at some point and this is a work in progress? Or are you just screwing with us? What's your reason for posting it anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Austincowbell Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 Still not sure of what your point is. Are you attempting to produce a real demo at some point and this is a work in progress? Or are you just screwing with us? What's your reason for posting it anyway? yeah, this. What's the ultimate purpose of this track? And did you play the keys on a mini controller? I don't know what power tab editor does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 So, if I understand you correctly, you "played" these instruments on a midi controller keyboard using various plug-ins or wav files. No, he entered the notation into software that converts the notation to a midi file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 My apologies. It seems like a pretty accurate transcription of the song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Austincowbell Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 so.. again... what is the ultimate purpose of this song/track? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tucktronix Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 so.. again... what is the ultimate purpose of this song/track? +1000 That's what I'm trying to figure out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kramerguy Posted August 25, 2009 Members Share Posted August 25, 2009 Epic fail on paying attention. At no point did I ever call this a demo or even imply that it was a demo. It is a guitar backing track. Meaning that the main guitar parts have been omitted. Actually I completely nailed it. I called it a BT about 5 times. I assumed it was a demo simply because of your implied asking for a critique (was playing along with YOUR game ..duh) For a BT, it's of the lower quality spectrum I'm used to, and I don't ever buy them. There's tons of good free ones that would have instantly sounded better. But the DIY fail is admittedly yours. Like everyone else, I'm still wondering why you even bothered making this thread, and what the point is, other than a BT can of poor enough construction to be mistaken for a .smf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.