A prog keyboard instrumental...leme just pimp mine here

[keysmania]

 Check out my stuff guys.... bet u keys player will have a tough time with this

https://soundcloud.com/raza-hussain-khawaja/hangover-in-damascus

https://soundcloud.com/raza-hussain-khawaja/asteroid-run-astral-chase

https://soundcloud.com/raza-hussain-khawaja/water-damage-1


 

[Tiko]

Some nice stuff here! I think you'd definitely benefit from studying mixing some more, a better mix would take these to another level. There were some sloppiness in the faster parts but you have some cool ideas in these songs! Good work!

[keysmania]

Thank you so much for your input Tiko, your words about my compositions are very kind i remember i had similar mixing issues when i was pushing my stuff on JR forum, although i have improved a lot since, and you were kind enough to point them out to me even then. Mixing is one area i have defiantly yet to officially cover and i have a good mind to make it my next target. Your experienced comments are highly appreciated, as always:) thanks a bunch

[Tiko]

Thank you so much for your input Tiko, your words about my compositions are very kind i remember i had similar mixing issues when i was pushing my stuff on JR forum, although i have improved a lot since, and you were kind enough to point them out to me even then. Mixing is one area i have defiantly yet to officially cover and i have a good mind to make it my next target. Your experienced comments are highly appreciated, as always:) thanks a bunch

No problem! Most importantly: keep rocking and recording!

[pcs90]

Listening to "Space Concierto". There's some great piano playing in there! The first full unison section after the piano intro reminds me a little of "Over the Edge" from JR's solo stuff. As has been said above, the mix is weird in some parts and there seems to be a lot of clipping. Some parts do sound pretty sloppy, but I feel most of that is actually coming from the drumming. I'm assuming you are playing the drum parts on keyboard, if so, it may be a good idea to play the different parts separately (drums together on one track, cymbals on another, percussion on another). That may help get things cleaner if you are not doing that. As a percussionist / drummer I think that's the biggest issue that I noticed. Definitely keep it up, you have some great ideas, will be checking out your other pieces too.

[keysmania]

Thankyou so much for the kind words Yes i realize i have a lot of problems with the mix, which is admittedly due to lack of man hours/helping hands that i can dedicate to this along with a lack of mixing/mastering knowledge on my own end, hence simply put i merely did the best of what i could...you will find all kinda of JR influences in all of my music as well as other players like rick wakeman, chick corea and even chopin....yes i overlayed the drum parts layer by layer (bass kick and snare first, followed by hi hats/cymbals and finally a third layer of any additional percussion)... if the time presents itself i will get down improving the sound.. although i have experimented a bit with
"astral chase", so let me know what you think of the mix on that one..... and thanks again for the compliments do give my work a few spins im sure as my ideas start to unfold u will enjoy them

[pcs90]

Got around to listening to some more today. The mix on "astral chase" is a lot better, the drums sound a little compressed but overall it's a big improvement. I think the only complaint I can think of would be there are a lot of sections in several pieces that go on for too long or re-appear too often. I'll use "astral chase" as an example, there are long periods of time with the same themes and not a lot of new rhythms, layers or melodies added. I would definitely work on that, for example if you listen to JR's solo keyboard albums, like Feeding the Wheel, if a theme returns it's somehow different each time. It probably helps to have a real drummer too though. I hope this makes sense!

[keysmania]

Thankyou so much for your input it means a lot that you have got the time to critique my work so professionally im ever so grateful for your input! yes astral chase was one of those song i spent a bit of time experimenting with mixing tenchiques, and although far from being perfect or even good, it gave me a little idea as to what goes into getting a good mix...yes  i completely understand what you mean when you say that a lot of sections seem drawn out and repeated, that was done intentionally on purpose to give the song some more structure and repeatability ( i was working under the assumption that repeatable structure creates a more harmonious overall icture of the song in the listeners mind) although i completely agree it could have bbeen approached in a more spiced up/variable way like JR, keeping the same overall harmony and melody but approaching it with a diffrent flavour, or intonations perhaps. that i will admit is something that had not occured to me while i was making the song, however it is a great idea to work with for future songs/ revisits to astral chase. Also as a percussionist, there is not much variety in astral chase as it is more a lead/melody based song and everything else kind of just suports that. as a percussionist i think you will find more variety in the song "water damage". Grateful for your input my freind, thankyou so much it has definatly opened up my mind about how to approach repeating sections and will definatly be something i consider in the future

[keysmania]

Update: New epic egyptian instrumental added: https://soundcloud.com/raza-hussain-khawaja/hangover-in-damascus

[LewisB]

Thought they sounded good, with quite a fe different styles in there.

One question though, somewhat related, are there any prog keyboard players out there that actually want to join bands, because I have been looking for a year or 2 and it seems not?!?

Lewis

[keysmania]

thanks a lot man:) yes i always try to make a mixture of all the styles of music that influence me

im sure there are a bunch of prog keyboard players looking for bands althought i too havent seen a lot of them here in toronto. i myself play in band as well but i guess it also depends on the area and the kind of people that are present, prog keyboard and bass players ive seen are the hardest to come by and also keys guys generally tend to like to work independently aswell