Hi there,

in the dim and distant past I've been involved in song writing/music production with a few guitar/rock bands but over the years music became more of an occasional hobby than an overwhelming obsession.

However I have recently discovered the joy of producing my own music on a PC. I don't have a studio as such and all I have left from the instrument collection is a battered old electric guitar. So most of what you hear is VST instruments, but I've enjoyed making it and it would be nice if someone out there got some pleasure from it.

I cringe slightly as it's a long time since I've gone public with my music and the tracks I'm offering for comment are a whole new musical direction for me. So I am feeling feel a bit like the first time I played my guitar in public, which went OK but scared the hell out of me.

Point you browser here: www.itdoesntworklikethat.co.uk/media/

and you should see two folders, one with WMA and one with MP3 versions of six tracks. There were only five to begin with but I thought I'd throw in the early 'sketch' of the first track from the next collection that I'm currently working on.

Well that enough waffle, let me know what you think, and if you could suggest what genre it fits into that would be really handy as people keep asking 'what kind of music do you make?' and I don't know!

Cheers,
Adrian

Hi dude,

Saw this post slipping away down the board without any comments, so I thought I bump it up a bit.

I listened to Dutch Tumbleweed and Smoke and Mirrors, quite nice, laid back, chilled out electronica.

They follow a fairly straight ahead groove, and they both sound nice. With instrumentals, I often find myself considering them as background music,and these sound that way to me, I could imagine having them playing whilst chilling out, and I reckon some of the herbalists amongst us could probably spend many an hour listening to them on a late summers evening!

I'd love to hear you get a little more experimental with rhythms and introduce some more elements, especially a few more guitar bits.

All in all, these tunes don't break the mould much, but they're nicely crafted.

Well done.

Jim

Hi Jim,

many thanks for the feedback, I have to confess the first two tracks were somewhat herb influenced , as a result I couldn't disagree with the background/chill description.

I probably should have mentioned in my post that everything gets much more up tempo from Voices onwards, with Purple and 400 being my personal favourites.

I do struggle a bit with the rhythm end of things and have spent a lot of time working on the bass, which I hope shows through more on Purple and 400 but drums/percussion are my main stumbling block at the mo.

Thanks again, and if I can twist your arm to have a go at Purple and 400 I'd like to hear your thoughts!

Cheers,
Adrian

'ello,

Yeah, ok, consider my arm officially twisted!

I had a listen to Purple Paisley, interesting combinations going on there. It starts in a slightly 80's feel, from the drums, but then the funky wah guitar sort of takes it to a more disco-orientated sound, and it goes a bit 70's cop show theme! All in all, nice tune, no real suprises but smoothly done.

400 years is definately a more downtempo, darker piece. Being from Bristol, I won't dwell on the whole trip-hop influence, just to say theres elements of it there. Some good atmosphere, underpinned by the haunting piano, and a bit of funky wah thrown in for good measure. Like the string melodies too. I thought this was more in the film soundtrack style, theres enough tension for it to be the theme to a dark thriller movie, perhaps.

Both tracks were competently put together, playing and mixing seems sound, but obviously, as is the case with a lot of instrumentals, the way they drift by, definately also puts them in background music category, for me at least.

Nice work.

Many thanks for the feedback, realy like your recent post by the way. So, vocals/more of a song structure is looking like a definate must! Hmm... never been much of a one for words and definate problems with the singing, I'll have a think on it

Cheers,
Adrian

Hi dude,

Its not essential that you move from instrumentals to full structured songs. If you enjoy writing instrumentals then thats what matters.

I always find it hard to write about instrumentals or long ambient chillout type music, because if its well played and produced, as your tracks are, then my thoughts on the actual structure and style are just matters of personal opinion.

The vocal question, well, scientificly speaking, a song will always attract more attention as it involves a human voice - its how people communicate, so it works on a more direct level.

I myself am a very reluctant vocalist, although, I'm finding that I'm making progress with writing songs, phrasing and the actual singing, over time and with practice. Plus, theres always things you can do to flatter the sound of slightly dodgy vocals!

Alternatively, maybe you need to find a collaborater, a singing songwriter who you can work with, if you really want to go down the song route?

Jim