found the reverb a little heavy especially on the drums. Not sure if you can change things or it is just a remixing. The drums sound rather non stylistic in both the sound and the manner played. Synth you modified the drum track, perhaps you can. The toms sound quite deep for jazz drums. The ride is rather lacking in body. The hihat which in jazz is usually louder than the kick which is another unusual thing in that there are no kick hits at all. In jazz they feather the kick drum so you can and they do play the kick drum alot and it doesn't get in the way. I probably wouldn't double the bass but a few accents here and there. and quieter than the ride but you can barely hear it. Part of the reason is that it sounds so far away. The way the ride is programmed sounds a little synthetic. The motion a jazz drummer makes at that speed is basically one motion down on 2 and 4 using the fingers to bounce the notes of and 3 + and 1 so basically the loudest accent would be on the 2 and 4 with a little decrease in loudness as the bounces from the one motion occur. It isn't that drastic as the fingers help with the consistency but you should definitely be accenting the 2 and 4 more.

I also thought that the panning also sort of made mix less cohesive. I would center the drums a a little more and perhaps have the ride and hihats a little to the side. The bass I would definitely centre and place the other instruments around the stereo field depending on which voices are passing the melody so you dont get weird stereo effects. I find Addictive Drums and the jazz expansion rather good. Here is a something I started working on the other day. Nothing much to show but I wanted you to listen to the drums. http://www.zshare.net/download/829002746c35b387/ its actually my first attempt at jazz but I played drums for about 8 years in my middle and high school and I 50% of what I worked on was jazz. I will admit its probably rather hard to program realistic drums if you don't actually play them as there are just small things that you only learn if you spend time at the instrument. I suppose that is like all instruments.

i meant the

(and) a 3 where the accent is on 2
(and) a 1 where the accent is on 4

The bouncing is purely a mechanism of how drummers play the ride cymbal. They don't attack each note especially at that speed. There are only two wrist or arm hits if you will. ON 2 and 4. The rest is done with controlled bouncing of the stick.


The problem is that it sounds quite untraditional how you have it programmed. I wasn't suggesting changing notes at this point, just velocity and if possible your actual kit.

Marko first I like the composition...nice stuff.

Jazz is somewhat my thing......so I feel a little qualified to make comments although take what I say with a grain of salt. It is whether it sounds good to you that is the main thing.

Like William said, I can hear that these are samples obviously but it does not bother me much, as the composition almost lends itself to that. It is a quirky little piece with lot's of possibilities.....I hear portions of this composition in a film soundtrack, spread out over a scene....good stuff.

To my ear, the drums....all the elements of the kit..... and bass need attention to the space they occupy as far as separation, panning and EQ and reverb. The drums, bass etc all seem to be sitting dead center fighting for the same space.

For me you are right about the bass. It definitely needs remixing.....it is too loud and the tone of it needs help, a bit too boomy. Roll off some lows, maybe grab some mid's and take it back in the mix a little. It sounds more like an orchestral double bass rather than a jazz double bass if that makes any sense at all? Maybe since an upright in a jazz band is likely to be close mic'd or even have a pickup...or both. This would allow one to really dial in the EQ on it so it sits better in the mix. I might be way off base, forgive me if I am.

Overall the sound of the entire kit does not represent a good jazz kit to me. I really like the intro drum part and the sound of the kit really suits that.....but less so when the full band is going. Again this is just my taste here...ignore me.

As mentioned the hi-hat needs help. It should be crisper and more present.....whatever it takes....perhaps less reverb on it....anything so it is a bit more up front in the mix. This is where the listener will latch on to the groove. That "and" of every 1/8th note beat needs to really cut.

There are some cymbal decays that end abruptly...one stuck out, a crash at :48 and then a fast sticked cymbal part at 2:34.The sound of the ride cymbal bugs me a little......I prefer a ride that has a nice thin crisp sound and perhaps even a sizzle in this case. It has a little too much bell sound for me as if it were a small cymbal. I like those big rides so I really hear those "tings" off the stick tips, real nice and separated and sitting in a space where they are not fighting anything else.

To me if you lose the boom in the bass, drop it back in the mix, change that hat sound and bring it up....and see what you can do to calm that ride down.....it will be a killer little track. As someone suggested...maybe look at the reverb. I gather MIR is a convolution reverb.....if it is new to new are you perhaps overusing it or could you re-evaluate what sort of space you want to use?

Just thoughts here, I doubt I could even do 1/2 way as well as you have. All I know is what I like to hear after 40 and more years or so of listening to music.

Again, I really like the overall song, nice writing. I like the harmonies. I am sorry if I went too far with my suggestions....just stating my opinions and the track to me is real close...the writing is solid, nothing needed there, just some small EQ and mix things and you are home.

What library did you use BTW or if individual VI's which ones, drums, bass etc?

after many large paragraphs of my own dribble I figured I could use some html tags. use the "br" tag and make sure you use the open triangle and close triangle to enclose the command. Check out html commands for more info.