Mountain Foothills Hotel Vol. 2

[nickture]

Hello everyone! I've just uploaded a new EP to my bandcamp page (https://dreaminflannel.bandcamp.com/alb ... l-volume-2). As always I appreciate the honest feedback - both praise and criticism! I used LMMS to create the vast majority of this EP, and used Ardour for mixing the final product. I have a Korg Volca FM that I incorporated into a few of the tracks too - as I spend more time with this neat little synth I hope to use it more heavily in future projects.

Also, not sure if anyone ever reads the track info on an artist's bandcamp page, but I like to write a really short snippet about each song to give it a little bit more context.

Thanks!

[jeanette_c]

Hey hey @nickture , thanks for sharing this EP. I did enjoy it. I love your pad textures, they way you layer pads and other soft chord elements. I seem to recognise a few Yoshimi/Zyn sounds.
Cove Beach left me with a good 80s feeling. It's the guitar.
The filter sweeps in Longing for return sound really nice. One gets a little bit of those sing-song harmonics.
Moonlight through the blinds is my favourite. Both the pads again and the sax! More please!
Under blanket of stars has a beautiful intro, just the right side between effect and melodic line. Overall, this piece has some nice sounds. Distinct and unique enough to dispell preset-phobia.
The distorted lead in Warm city nights brings out the 80s ambience quite well, on the borderline of cheesy. The synth bass is great. To be honest the atmosphere of this piece, however, is too cheesy and sweet for me.
One thing I did notice, through all but Cove Beach, is a strange mix between the melodic instruments and the drums. They somehow poke out, as if they come from a different production. It could be a matter of volume and balance. Especially with Warm city nights, a touch of reverb to glue the snare in could also help. As much as I am not a fan of the city night drums, it fits this particular tune. I always had a fondness for the Zyn/Yoshimi kit you used in Longing for return. The snare in Moonlight through the blinds seems rather heavy and chunky compared to the rest of the arrangement. Again a little less volume might help. Personally I'd tweak the filter/pitch of the snare as well.
Also, sometimes the pieces appear a little too centred in the stereo panorama. It may partly be due to my rather quiet listening, it is coming up to midnight and there are touchy neighbours. I know that one should be careful with reverb, not to drown pieces, but perhaps a little more reverb and panning of drum elements could widen the sound. This impression wouldn't matter at all, if you didn't have these beautiful, luscious, cloudy sound textures that want to make me take a swim in them.
Thanks again for sharing and remember: more sax please! <3

[nickture]

Thanks so much for the reply and analysis! I'm always looking for ways to improve . Glad you liked the sax parts in "Moonlight Through the Blinds", I decided to throw those in last-minute. Zyn is usually my go-to synth for so many projects just because of how deep its parameter-editing is. I can get lost in there lol.

As far as the instruments vs. drums mix, I think I know what you mean - perhaps better panning and gain balancing would have evened that out. I think I'm also doing too much "headphone mixing" and not enough of through monitors or other audio sources, so I imagine that creates kind of a bias in the sound. That's an area I still feel I'm weak on, so again I appreciate the specifc input. Now I can try to hone those skills in the meantime . Appreciate it!!!

[folderol]

Enjoyed these, and I also vert much liked the sax in Moonlight Through the Blinds

[Michael Willis]

I liked listening to this! You have been really consistent with a new album each year (approximately) since 2019, and it shows in both the composition style and production quality. Both have grown a lot since Love Letters During Winter. You have me wondering if the Mountain Foothills Hotel actually exists.

[nickture]

@folderol and @Michael Willis thank you both for the comments! I'm really looking to incorporate more sax into the current project I'm working on if I can make it "make sense" .

@Michael Willis I have hopes that my production and composition skills improve with each release I put out there - I'm constantly looking for ways to better myself. We have to keep challenging ourselves otherwise there isn't much growth!

Glad you both enjoyed it!

[milo]

The whole album has a nice ambiance. Really good textures all the way through. The chord changes are slow enough that this feels like modal music.

That cover art is nice. It looks like something from my neck of the woods, but I don't recognize the peak.

[psyocean]

Beautiful music! Really so pretty nice!