Eleven Fifteen (producers and Cubase users welcome!)

Hello! I wanted to share a recording of myself improvising at the keyboard last November (my working title comes from the date) and ask for help with a certain issue. Improvising often feels more honest and pure to me than formal composition where I have time to overthink things, and I feel like I'm handing over a piece of my soul, but at this point the background noise is really my main obstacle from making it public on SoundCloud.

I attempted to use the noise gate in my DAW, Cubase, which either dulled the entire recording down or muted *all* sound for an interval of time. Does anyone have experience with this feature or have other tools/methods to recommend that are compatible with Cubase or can be done entirely on an outside platform? I do not have much experience eliminating noise in recordings. While I've encountered tools to suppress constant low-level noise, here it is in sharp spikes over softer, sustained notes.

I am also prepared for the possibility that not much can be done for it and open to re-recording it if so. 🙂

I look forward to hearing from more experienced editors. Thank you so much!

Hi Gwendolyn,

I click into the soundcloud link but it says the track was not found. Maybe I will check that later😅! Always excited to listen to your new works.

Henry

Hello, Henry! 

I'm sorry -- I may not have pasted the secret link. I tried re-attaching it just now. Please let me know if that works. 🙂

1 hour ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hi Gwendolyn,

I click into the soundcloud link but it says the track was not found. Maybe I will check that later😅! Always excited to listen to your new works.

Henry

 

I just listen to the overall feeling of it as it's an improvisation. The overall feeling is really moody, and I enjoy it very much. Your improvisation skill is really strong. The harmonic color here is so beautiful, as it's so jazzy and advanced for me. The modulation is great to provide contrasting colors, for example the opening is more in flat keys, and around 2:34 it becomes bright C major/A minor. The ending is really nice as it's like a sun shining through the clouds, even though it's in doubt whether the clouds can be swept. (I am sorry that I am just like saying useless comments. I cannot give something critical or something concerning the DAW though😅 I can only say I enjoy it!)

I myself can never improvise, since I always overthink and can never enjoy free flowing in music creation, so I always appreciate those who can improvise! Really great job here and thanks for sharing!

Henry

3 hours ago, MissCello said:

but at this point the background noise is really my main obstacle from making it public on SoundCloud.

Why? I think it gives this piece a bit of charm with the live recording. However, if you're going for studio quality, I'd say try rerecording it. 

You could maybe try a de-noiser as well. Not sure if your DAW has one, but even if it does work, I'm not sure how well it would work, especially if the noise gate didn't help.

1 hour ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I just listen to the overall feeling of it as it's an improvisation. The overall feeling is really moody, and I enjoy it very much. Your improvisation skill is really strong. The harmonic color here is so beautiful, as it's so jazzy and advanced for me. The modulation is great to provide contrasting colors, for example the opening is more in flat keys, and around 2:34 it becomes bright C major/A minor. The ending is really nice as it's like a sun shining through the clouds, even though it's in doubt whether the clouds can be swept. (I am sorry that I am just like saying useless comments. I cannot give something critical or something concerning the DAW though😅 I can only say I enjoy it!)

I myself can never improvise, since I always overthink and can never enjoy free flowing in music creation, so I always appreciate those who can improvise! Really great job here and thanks for sharing!

Henry

 

Thank you so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it and I love your poetic analogy. 🥲 I want to think anyone can improvise but that there is some learning to it in terms of practicing. I am classically trained, and most days it's definitely more difficult for me to flow, so I feel like luck was involved that night. But I also believe that fumbling comes first and if you give yourself permission to fumble around enough you'll start to notice patterns in where the music wants to go, that it has tendencies that are not completely random. That's true of the music you write formally, you have your own voice. A composer will never stop having a voice... Of course it's much, much easier said than done. I hope you're able to experience that kind of liberation at some point. Best wishes to you. 🙂

At any rate, your comments made my night! I like this mutual admiration we've started. 

4 hours ago, MissCello said:

but at this point the background noise is really my main obstacle from making it public on SoundCloud.

You see that in my ( ) there's the school alarm, lol. I don't think it's a great obstacle at all. It only makes the recording more real for me. 

4 hours ago, MissCello said:

I am also prepared for the possibility that not much can be done for it and open to re-recording it if so. 🙂

I actually think that for an improvisation, a re-recording means to have an entirely different piece! You can never play those things again with that certain mood and atmosphere. The moment is captured and you can never change that!

7 minutes ago, MissCello said:

That's true of the music you write formally, you have your own voice. That doesn't just disappear

Maybe I just don't like improvising I guess. I tend to treat composing too serious a matter and can never improvise freely. I know Bach can improvise a 3 part ricercar but obviously I don't have that ability to do so😅.

7 minutes ago, MissCello said:

At any rate, your comments made my night! 🙂 I like this mutual admiration we've started. 

Thank you! You and I are different types of composers and I love to see all kinds of different styles and approaches here!!

Henry

4 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

You see that in my ( ) there's the school alarm, lol. I don't think it's a great obstacle at all. It only makes the recording more real for me. 

I actually think that for an improvisation, a re-recording means to have an entirely different piece! You can never play those things again with that certain mood and atmosphere. 

Maybe I just don't like improvising I guess. I tend to treat composing too serious a matter and can never improvise freely. I know Bach can improvise a 3 part ricercar but obviously I don't have that ability to do so😅.

Thank you! You and I are different types of composers and I love to see all kinds of different styles and approaches here!!

Henry

 

Re: ( ) That's true! I almost felt like I was in the room with you.

Who can do what Bach did, anyway? Haha.

Music is music. 😊 But I have to say that I love that you're helping to keep the classical tradition alive, accessible tonality, etc. -- it's refreshing! 

15 minutes ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Why? I think it gives this piece a bit of charm with the live recording. However, if you're going for studio quality, I'd say try rerecording it. 

You could maybe try a de-noiser as well. Not sure if your DAW has one, but even if it does work, I'm not sure how well it would work, especially if the noise gate didn't help.

 

Thank you for your advice! I might have to post two versions: a new, re-recorded one and the spontaneous original, noise and all.