Opinions sought on our track please (ambient content!)

benmurray85

Hope this is allowed? If not I'll gladly remove.

Basically the background is that me and my mate have been doing this sort of stuff for years, purely for the enjoyment of making music together. However I happen to think we come up with some semi decent stuff and think we should take it a touch more seriously. However I may be too close to the whole sorry affair to be seeing this clearly so I'm chucking this up here for honest opinions. I appreciate this sort of stuff isn't to everyones taste so please don't be expecting 70's riffage. This is pretty "boring" drawn-out ambient stuff. Anyways here goes, have a listen a give us a shout with any opinions +ve OR -ve. Thank you

IMC1980

I like it, it has a sort of modern Albatross by Fleetwood Mac feel to it. Very nice guitar melodies and the reverse delay is put to good use. I have only listened to the track on earbuds, so it is not the best for gauging a mix, but I can hear what sounds like an electrical hum throughout the track (probably from one of the guitars). You can hear it at points throughout the track when the guitars aren't playing. Apart from that, it sounds good. How are you going to take it more seriously?

benmurray85

@IMC1980 mate thank you for the kind comments! In regards of the noise, yeah I should point out this was initially recorded probably two years ago now and was literally just us messing about in my attic (or at least it stemmed from that) and Ive since found out that the wiring in my house makes my amp hum like crazy so now I record anything here in the dark!

Re. taking it more seriously its not something we've even really thought about yet. I guess initially I just mean in terms of actually putting the music out there for people to listen to, I guess this was the first step. As you point out though if we do that we need to put more effort into the recording of it. Luckily the other guy is a lot more talented in that area than me! Anyways thanks again for your response. 

Flink_Poyd

Ambient is a tricky one. On the face of it it appears pretty straightforward to make, no real constraints like verse/chorus/verse etc and concentrate on the feel as opposed to the overall structure. That said it's difficult to make something that stands out given that it's so laid back and in a way made to be background music, it's not meant to be hard to listen to so you dip in and out of it. 

 Your track is OK, it's nothing new (not a criticism BTW) if anything it seems a bit short. I like stuff like Boards Of Canada, Aphex Twin, some of Enos stuff but fell away from listening to it for a while as I just started to hear new artists recycling the old ideas (as we all do)

I'd be interested to hear more as I'm thinking about getting a keyboard again to tinker with. 

IMC1980

No worries @benmurray85. You should definitely look at putting stuff out, ambient music does well commercially; my friend has been approached by advertising agencies asking to licence some of his tracks, he does ambient spacey kind of stuff. Here is a link to one of his tracks:


It is more electronically based, but still in the ambient genre. As long as your friend is up for it, you should get going. Even if your friend isn't up for more of a commitment, do it on your own. Pick up a cheap DAW and teach yourself via YouTube and the Internet. I started about 3 years ago with a Boss ME-25 that came bundled with a light version of the ancient Sonar 8.5. I am still very much learning and in the amateur leagues, but it is very rewarding to see the improvements in your recordings and mixes.

benmurray85

Guys, seriously thank you for your comments. All constructive and none taken negatively at all.

Snap

I like it, very mellow, please keep it up, would love to hear more stuff. particularly like the big low drones.

Snap

Flink_Poyd said:

Ambient is a tricky one. On the face of it it appears pretty straightforward to make, no real constraints like verse/chorus/verse etc and concentrate on the feel as opposed to the overall structure. That said it's difficult to make something that stands out given that it's so laid back and in a way made to be background music, it's not meant to be hard to listen to so you dip in and out of it. 

 Your track is OK, it's nothing new (not a criticism BTW) if anything it seems a bit short. I like stuff like Boards Of Canada, Aphex Twin, some of Enos stuff but fell away from listening to it for a while as I just started to hear new artists recycling the old ideas (as we all do)

I'd be interested to hear more as I'm thinking about getting a keyboard again to tinker with. 

we sound like we have v similar tastes!

Brian Eno's latest album, Reflection, is brilliant - just one long track of loveliness, for about an hour.

I am taking it you mus surely also love Stars of the Lid, and A Winged Victory For The Sullen???

benmurray85

I took delivery of an arturia drum brute today so knocked this up tonight more as a lesson in how to use the brute than anything else. Again its short and isn't exactly filled with ideas. I also cocked up in the middle with the mental shaker action.