First jab at "jungle" + strings with Notion

[KylePoehling]

So here is my first attempt at writing a "jungle" tune using solely Notion....

Any comments are GREATLY apprecitated!

Here's a link:
http://www.4shared.com/file/39324801...re_Lotion.html

Thanks!
Kyle

[Thorolf]

Good things first: As it stands, clocking in @ 1:12, it’s a nice little tune, not so much junglist, but more experimental electronica that brims with good but unorganized musical ideas. Bogdan Raczynski might have released something like this, just for fun.

The downside is the production: If you’re after jungle, you need bigger diversity when it comes to drum sound: Far too onesidedly acoustic, and with too little palette: Just the hi-hat/shaker pattern build up and sound of a jungle tune often comes through as a composition in its own right. The bassline is too modest sounding, with no punch/rip/rumble qualities at all. Generally, the reverb sounds just wrong: Too neutral, yet bluring and taking away zest etc. etc.

What was the sound setup for this? What VST/AU plugs etc.?

Regards

[KylePoehling]

Originally Posted by Thorolf

Good things first: As it stands, clocking in @ 1:12, it’s a nice little tune, not so much junglist, but more experimental electronica that brims with good but unorganized musical ideas. Bogdan Raczynski might have released something like this, just for fun.

The downside is the production: If you’re after jungle, you need bigger diversity when it comes to drum sound: Far too onesidedly acoustic, and with too little palette: Just the hi-hat/shaker pattern build up and sound of a jungle tune often comes through as a composition in its own right. The bassline is too modest sounding, with no punch/rip/rumble qualities at all. Generally, the reverb sounds just wrong: Too neutral, yet bluring and taking away zest etc. etc.

What was the sound setup for this? What VST/AU plugs etc.?

Regards

Thanks so much for the comments!! I would agree that it's a bit "neutered" in relation to traditional jungle, but I tried to keep everything in Notion which is really more focused around composition than sound "tweaking."

Certainly a shorter little "diddy" but as I said just kind of my attempt to compose in a program that would focus more on composition than "knob tweeking" (which I LOVE and do plenty of!).

The whole thing was done on my MacBook Pro and Notion...no external libraries, controllers, or plugs.

Thanks again for the comments!
-Kyle

[VicDiesel]

I agree with Thorolf: cool piece of music, but it sounds just a bit "off" for jungle. Those drums need to be much more aggressive, and the ambience is also too sweet.

There is something else: jungle is very much loop-based, so that vibraphone melody is unidiomatic. It should sound like one (sampled) lick. That initial two-note swell in the strings sounds like it could be a sample, but then the strings go on to do all sorts of other things. In particular you have (*gasp*) actual harmonies. Sorry, no can do.

So it depends on what you're going for. This sounds like great music to me, but the jungle label is not terribly appropriate.

Victor.