Cool Jazz

[Taylor Pierson]

Hey there I am in the early part of trying to put together a jazz album to submit to libraries. Hoping to get some ears on these, they are barely mixed so mix ideas welcome.

Was thinking of Crucial Music I read on here that they are big on Source Music and thought their jazz area was kind of weak. Other library ideas welcome as well.

https://soundcloud.com/user-812578762/sets/cool-jazz

Im gonna reserve my own personal first impressions for now.

Thanks for listening!

Taylor

[mikevan]

Hi, tracks 2 and 3 sound good while the first one sounds a bit stiff in performance and a bit repetitive, builds too slowly. Also sounds like you’re using drum loops and they’re not sounding great on this track. Overall sound is good, maybe just watch a few ‘booms’ and low freq on the drums but it’s consistent with the style. As far mixing/mastering it probably depends if you want them to sound contemporary and compressed or more vintage, there’s probably a niche for both or you could do different mixes, offer a choice.

[Tmasterp]

Thanks good to know there is a probably a niche for it. Ill keep working on it. Appreciate the feedback!

[johnnyboy]

#3 is the better of them. Crucial is big on authenticity. Real instruments and loop-free. Although that’s only my experience with them. Sounds a bit quantized. If you use any real players, they won’t accept music union players. Crucial always gets upfront licensing, no gratis jobs. Good placements. Good luck!

[Tmasterp]

hmm it is midi instruments but performed in. The drums are loops but they are not quantized either. Does it feel quantized or does it just feel bad?

Also I plan on submitting 10 of these ideally. Are the other 2 not up to par or are you just saying you like the 3rd one the most.

Thanks for the feedback and for listening!

[mikevan]

So double bass IS a VI… Take extra care to make it sound real, especially on high notes where you can spot ìt… The first drum loop sounds stiff and repetitive, the ones on the other two songs sound a lot better and more natural… Use as many variations as you can find, it would surely be easier to get away with it if this was rock or pop… That’s why I prefer to use a good drum library and high quality drum loops, gives you more flexibility. I don’t usually do jazz, though… All in all it’s quite a good job, just focus on those details that may get you in a good library.

[johnnyboy]

I believe all drum loops are quantized Taylor. When I said better, I was referring to #2 & 3. #3 is quite good. Between a real drummer and drum loops… a great drummer is better, but drum loops are better than a mediocre drummer. You’ll only be able to submit 3 tracks at a time. No more till the reviewing process is through. It may take two months before you hear back from them. Then another month before any accepted tracks show-up in their library. Hope you find success at Crucial.

[johnnyboy]

The good thing about Crucial Music Taylor, is they’re all good placements. No reality show crap.

[Tmasterp]

Thanks so much guys thats really helpful! Just curious @mikevan what drum library are you fond of? Again thanks so much.

[mikevan]

I use Superior Drummer 3, great samples and endless tweaking possibilities, like a great studio with all sorts of mic placements, close and far, bleeding options… I use it mainly for rock and pop but there are also dedicated sample expansions for Jazz. You can use midis inside the plug in, from the internal library, your own or buy midi loop expansions for almost every style. They have a few jazz collections that don’t sound bad at all. The thing with midis is you can tweak and mix stuff and take maybe kik and snare from a loop and add a ride from another or write your own fills… Very flexible and sounds quite realistic..

[mikevan]

@Johnnyboy Not all loops are quantised, hi quality loops, even midi ones are not. Or at least not to the grid, they have a feel, a groove, I won’t say they’re not edited at all but they’re not stiff and mechanic.

[johnnyboy]

I’ll take your word for it Mike. But, all the drum loops I’ve heard, sound perfectly set to grid. But I haven’t heard them all.

[mikevan]

@johnnyboy The ones I’m using are not, they are usually ‘programmed’ with a midi drum, actually played not programmed on a keyboard. I often use them as templates for custom quatization. If you open them in a midi editor you can see the single hits fallin before or behind the beat, depending on the groove. Then there’s probably lots of programmed stuff that is right on the grid, little velocity variations or accents, be it drums or other instruments.

[johnnyboy]

Interesting Mike!

[Michael Nickolas]

Taylor,

Sounding good! I think Minor Fire has the best feel and composition of the three. If it helps, here are two jazz tunes I have accepted by Crucial:

https://www.crucialmusic.com/my/searches/699836/tracks
https://www.crucialmusic.com/my/searches/699838/tracks

And here is a 12 song cool jazz album (with a co-writer)we did earlier this year and placed with an exclusive library in the UK:

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