Cloth ears, incompetence or ambivalence?

[Bilbo]

I have been approached by someone who knows me and who is looking for a piece of original recorded music that they can use for a 1 minute video on their website. The video relates to the services they offer which are nothing to do with music/Jazz or anything that requires the music to be specifically tailored. They just wanted something to provide a suitable but not intrusive soiundtrack to their images (the music is also talked over - you get the point).

Anyway, their approach was to ask if I would write something and my response was to say that I had already written dozens of pieces that could meet their needs and that I would put a selection together to see if there was anything they liked. So, last night, I went through the dozens of pieces I have written and recorded to see what I could find.

Over recent years, most of my recording has been simply putting together mp3s of tunes I have written for my sax/bass/drums trio and which features a dodgy drum machine, my basses or a VST bass and some nasty synth sounds that approximate a tenor, alto or soprano saxophone or flute. It was immediately apparent that, whatever qualities these compositions have as sketches, they are not remotely credible as products. My older stuff, where I have used more sophisticated drums programnming and played real guitars/basses etc and even sung (mostly me approximating a vocal) are all fairly poorly put together (intros that go on too long, poorly edited starts, low recording volume, shaky vocals, flaky intonation on fretless etc etc). What I am left with is, at the most, about a half dozen things that are OK (they have already identified a piece on my soundcloud page that will meet their needs so I am not overly concerned).

I guess the lesson is to do the thing properly, to begin and end things musically, to record real instruments when you can (not programme naff VSTs) and FINISH THE DAMN JOB!! Strangely, I have found the experience quite cathartic and now want to get back to writing and recording to see is I can do it properly and develop my competence in these areas.

[cheddatom]

I find doing it properly can sometimes slow down the creative process. When I'm writing I'm normally in a mad dash to get the thing down before the sounds in my imagination are lost forever!!

[Bilbo]

I think what was driving me, recently anyway, was the preparation of the chart in Sibelius rather than the idea of a recorded version of the composition. Having finished the chart, I would create an mp3 file and export it to Cubase where I would populate the file with better (!) VSTs, sometimes adding a bass/double bass for some reason. The mp3, which was often only a head chart, would be used simply to accompany the written score so the other musicians, who are not expert readers by any means, have a fighting chance of nailing the chart. It is only when I go back to them looking for a usable tune that I realised these are only pencil sketches and not oil paintings. I also think that one of the problems I have is that I am writing Jazz tunes that do not quite lend themselves to VSTs and sequencing the way that a lot of other genres might. My bad, all the way.

[cheddatom]

it'd be nice if you could get VSTs which are good enough!

I keep trying to get a decent string sound but it seems impossible

[paul_5]

Sibellius will route parts through VSTs these days. Still doesn't sound great, but at least it takes some of the donkey work out of it...

[Skol303]

It's an odd compromise for me.

I used to spend [i]ages[/i] working on each track - three months wasn't uncommon - and I'd end up obsessing over tiny details (that only I would really notice) for far too long.

Now, in fact since the start of the Basschat monthly challenge, I tend to produce things more quickly, maybe even more slapdash, but I'm actually enjoying the process more and don't get so hung up on the details.

I've compared my more recent stuff to things produced a year or more ago and there's not a huge difference in 'quality'. That's either disappointing, in that I perhaps haven't improved as much as I'd like - or heartening, in that I'm achieving the same standard of results, only much more quickly.

But yeah. I always think it's best to finish each project as 'properly' as you can and not leave things half baked. Although to paraphrase: [i]"A composition is never truly finished, only abandoned"[/i]

PS: good luck with the ditty, Rob. As you know, Gary (lowdown) is the person to contact on here for any advice on jingle-writing, should you need it.

Edited June 19, 2014 by Skol303

[Dad3353]

If it cheers anyone up, it's not that bad to share company with Schubert, almost as famous for his 'unfinished' 8th as for his Trout and the 9th..!
I'm not the best model, I'm sure, but I like trying out different approaches as 'sketches', which can serve another day as a springboard for a more accomplished piece. I call it a 'toolbox', and have many 'false starts', most of which I will probably never touch again. Some, however, contain the germ of a future work. Some, indeed, spawn several different versions, each in a direction of its own. As an IT programmer, back then, a 'toolbox' was indispensable. Yes, certainly, finish a piece completely if it's commissioned, but having bits and bobs lying about is not such a bad thing, imho.

[Bilbo]

Thanks, Skol. I have a couple of my tracks recorded with proper musicians and the stuff is ok but, to my mind, poorly performed (look for Low Men Dancing on my Soundcloud page - they liked that one but, whilst I like the tune, I am not convinced that the performance is up to par. Having got over the thrill of being asked, I am beginning to think that the professional thing to do may be to pass the offer on to Garry. These guys are connected to me and they deserve to have the best they can afford, even if it isn't me I can give them a link to his stuff and it's up to them then.

[brensabre79]

I think there's a few things to consider whether selling your music for commercial purposes, or even just making music for your own fun and enjoyment.

You can spend months, if not years completing one piece of music by obsessing over details, and re-recording, reworking etc.. and the only person that'll know just how much work has gone into it is you. And it may be disproportionate to what it's worth to anyone in the outside world too.

On the other hand you can bash an idea out and move on to the next. Again, sometimes the only person who'll know just how little work went in is you. thats to say, most people don't think about whether something could have been played better (except musicians), whether the production is a bit crappy, whether you should have used a condenser mic on that acoustic guitar or not etc.. They just listen and enjoy, or not. End of.

A good example of this is something that happened to me recently. Are you sitting comfortably...?

I toiled for a few months on three bespoke 20 minute music programmes for a client. A very reasonable deal was agreed in principle beforehand, based on the time I estimated it would take to get something of reasonable quality (that I would be happy to release anyway). I spent a bit more time fine tuning them because there was the possibility of much more of this work in future, and I'm one of those who can't quite hit the print button without just one more tweak.

When it came to it, the client basically said that he hadn't got the budget for what I'd estimated - because he'd found out that he could buy some Royalty free wallpaper music from a website for about 10% of the price. (he should have mentioned this earlier right?) So that 10% price was all he was prepared to pay me in the end. All the elements we'd discussed that were absolutely essential to the music, and took ages to get right, were of little importance now that he could get a bargain basement option instead.

I told him I could do something for that price, of similar quality to the library tracks, but not for the tracks I had already made. He didn't see the reason he couldn't have these tracks at that price, they were of similar duration after all. In the end I was so annoyed by the ignorance of the man I told him to go to his royalty free site and wished him luck with his venture.

The point being, he couldn't really hear the cavernous difference in quality between the two pieces of music. One lovingly crafted over months with real instruments etc. The other pretty much hitting the first preset on some readily available VST synths and looping [i]ad nauseum[/i]. And I don't think that is unusual either. Non-musicians hear music very differently to musicians.

[RhysP]

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1403189780' post='2480654']
The point being, he couldn't really hear the cavernous difference in quality between the two pieces of music. One lovingly crafted over months with real instruments etc. The other pretty much hitting the first preset on some readily available VST synths and looping [i]ad nauseum[/i]. And I don't think that is unusual either. Non-musicians hear music very differently to musicians.
[/quote]

This is very true.
A good friend of mine (and a fantastic singer) recently recorded a demo of a new song she'd written using GarageBand on her iPad.
The song was very good but, apart from her voice, there were no real instruments on the song at all.

To my ears this was obvious but when she put the demo up on her Soundcloud page she was getting people leaving comments about the quality & the tightness of the playing & how good the musicians were.

[Earbrass]

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1403173051' post='2480416']
I guess the lesson is to do the thing properly, to begin and end things musically, to record real instruments when you can (not programme naff VSTs) and FINISH THE DAMN JOB!!
[/quote]

I would draw a different lesson, which is that recordings are made to perform a variety of functions, and that what is perfectly ok for one purpose may be inadequate for another. If it's just to demo a new tune to your bandmates then it makes sense to use virtual instruments and not worry too much about tidy beginnings and endings and the rest. If it's for a client, then what matters is to take the pragmatic view of whether it does the job they want it to do, not whether it's a musical creation you are going to feel entirely happy with and proud of. If it's for your forthcoming solo album, then by all means lavish endless time and care on it. Not every recording has to be a fully finished work of art. From your post it seems that your frustration with your recordings arises because you wanted to use them for a different purpose from the one for which you originally made them.