First New Song In Almost a Year - "Pavane"

I've just finished a brand new song, and I'd appreciate your help with it. The song is called "Pavane," and it's a classical synth track using nothing but instances of Cherry Audio's new Mercury-6 virtual synth.

I've put the song up on SoundCloud. Here's the link: 

Please do me a favor - listen to the song and post your opinion. I would appreciate all the feedback I can get. Right now, I'm waiting on Cherry Audio to give me their feedback. If they approve, I'm going to release the song as an official single, on Bandcamp and probably through CD Baby!

Thank you for your help!

Really good stuff Lee.

Has kind of a 'mysterious / technological' vibe to it - don't know how to describe the feeling I got from it otherwise.

Could fit a big Gothic hall level, or something as different as a techbase. The song constantly moves forward, which I like too - it does not feel repetitive at all.

Don't know if any of that made sense, I don't know much about music...    :P

2 hours ago, Arrowhead said:

The song constantly moves forward, which I like too - it does not feel repetitive at all.

I was worried about this. Thanks for the feedback here. I was hoping that I had enough disparate elements going in repetition that together they'd sound sort of like a perpetual motion machine, ever moving forward until I stopped it with a *thud* at the end.

Much obliged.

Ohh, new song from Lee! :D 

This is a very enjoyable track, love it! The synths chosen blend quite well. Not much to say from the compositional point of view, amazing stuff overall. I only have 2 nitpicks:

• At around 3:00, both the left and right lead synths make parallel seconds (or 9ths?) and IMO it sounds a little bit off given the harmonic context.
• Sometimes I had the feeling that the main synth could use some vibrato during long notes (e.g. from 1:16 to 1:21). But I'm not really sure, maybe it's worth experimenting with it a little bit?  

Thanks a lot for sharing this, and I'm very happy to see you're back on track composing :)

Pretty interesting minimalist techno song here. Really enjoy the feel of the synths except maybe for the crash cymbalish sound that occurs around the 2 minute mark, I feel it sticks a bit too much out of the mix compared to the other sounds due to its somewhat harsh nature. I feel something softer would work better?

Otherwise, song has a good flow and structure. It really feeds the listener the image of some top secret lab where forbidden experiments are taking place. Part of me would like to see this song having a drum track (I admit I was waiting for drums but sadly they never came) but I maintain this works very well as an ambient piece as well. Well done!

On 4/4/2023 at 1:44 AM, Fernito said:

I only have 2 nitpicks:

Thank you for your suggestions! I made some changes to the mix that might affect the way you hear point #1 (maybe?). As for point #2, I considered it, but I have to admit that I personally like the clean lines sans vibrato. Thanks anyway, though - it was a good idea!

17 hours ago, PsychEyeball said:

Really enjoy the feel of the synths except maybe for the crash cymbalish sound that occurs around the 2 minute mark, I feel it sticks a bit too much out of the mix compared to the other sounds due to its somewhat harsh nature.

You're not the only person. I've remixed and remastered the song to tone down this sound (a snare, BTW) and to make several other changes which I think enhanced it a great deal. The end results are now up on Bandcamp - see below...vvvv

ATTENTION!!!!!

A new version is up on Bandcamp!

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/track/pavane

Please buy a copy this Friday, since that'll be Bandcamp Friday!!!

Here's the single's cover art, BTW:

22 hours ago, leejacksonaudio said:

Thank you for your suggestions! I made some changes to the mix that might affect the way you hear point #1 (maybe?). As for point #2, I considered it, but I have to admit that I personally like the clean lines sans vibrato. Thanks anyway, though - it was a good idea!

Point 1 definitely sounds better to my ears :) Congratulations on the release!

Great track!

My critique lies in the cover art. Why does the piano have such a sharp, jarring blur transition? If you'd like, I can help clean it up a bit.

3 minutes ago, Ludi said:

Great track!

Thank you!

3 minutes ago, Ludi said:

My critique lies in the cover art. Why does the piano have such a sharp, jarring blur transition?

Because I screwed up the source file, and it's too late to fix it. Thanks for the offer of help, though. 'Tis appreciated.

Rats. Track is still sick tho.

I love teh medieval spacey vibe. Like if you can marry these seemingly disparate styles successfully, I've really nothing more to say.

"Pavane" got played during The Cyber Den show on Siren Radio 107.3 FM in Lincoln, England this morning. Yay! UK Radio exposure!

While Bandcamp Friday has come and gone, "Pavane" is still for sale on Bandcamp. Please grab a copy today!

https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/track/pavane

"Pavane" has been approved for distribution to Spotify, Apple Music, and a boatload of other streaming services! It should start hitting around April 28th, so watch for it then! Thank you for making this and a whole lot of future releases possible!

More good news! "Pavane" is tentatively scheduled for play on the Classics à la Carte radio program on San Antonio public radio station KPAC, 88.3 FM, sometime this Friday, April 14th, between 7pm and 9pm CDT. You'll be able to listen to the show through the link below, I believe, or if you have an Amazon Alexa device, simply say "Alexa, play KPAC-FM."

Full disclosure: Classics à la Carte is hosted by my brother-in-law, James Baker. KPAC-FM is a member of Texas Public Radio.

https://www.tpr.org/show/classics-a-la-carte

The "tentative" label has been changed to "definite!" I've been told that my "Pavane" will be played as part of a group of other pavanes during the first half hour. Tune in early so you won't miss it!

https://www.tpr.org/show/classics-a-la-carte

Just got a chance to sit and give this a listen, and I have to say I loved it. The instrument with the crashing/cymbal type sound that kicks in at the 1:45 mark was perfect. I felt the song was starting to feel empty (for lack of better word) and then that kicks in and adds a another layer keeping my ears intrigued. The other highlight for me was at 3:11, the slow warbly instrument that comes in was delightful. I love how layered the track feels, there is always something for the ear to grab onto. Great work as always!

Had the rehearsal with Agony, the Nu-metal band, at their singer's San Antonio home last night, and it was a blast. My thanks go out to Richard the singer, dueling Joes on guitars, Eric on drums, and last but not least, Alan on bass. You guys rock most hard. Also to be mentioned would be Isaac on gear and camera, and my wife on camera as well. Pics to follow when they're ready.

This is so enjoyable and when the other elements start coming in at 1:00 it gets even more mysterious. I like the sounds you've used, I think it's kind of hard to have this sort of riff part run through the bones of a whole song and not get old, but it's not repetitive you've kind of featured it so well and kept the whole thing interesting. 

But yeah think it's darn cool. Nice to make something after a year I imagine. I remember soundcloud was such a cool place, but now you gotta love the constant comment of "DM on the gram to get clout" haha. I get sad on soundcloud nowadays I really do.

I will follow the bandcamp for sure...

Hope you keep going with the tracks!