Comments on: Ocean

Ocean

wheat — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 07:39:00 -0800

"Ocean" is an instrumental track from my recording project, James, Not Jim. It's a smooth, melodic, jazz/fusion piece that features electric bass guitar. Some more extensive recording/performance notes are here. Hope you like it. If you do, there are two more tracks over at myspace.com/wheatdesign.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 08:27:48 -0800

Is there supposed to be so much distortion on the bass?
This is definitely more out of the rock/pop world than out of the jazz world, and would probably be better translated into a pop song (but double the tempo, because as it is now it sounds more like the instrumental track for a Hoobastank song).

By: wheat

wheat — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 09:35:08 -0800

klangklangston. There's no distortion on the bass. There is a touch of fret buzz, which is intended (part of the natural sound of a fretted bass). And there might be some speaker distortion. But the bass itself just has a touch of compression and the mix has a touch of reverb.

As for Hoobastank, I don't see the connection, though I'm not very familiar with their work--maybe there's a particular track you have in mind. As to labels, call it instrumental rock, if you think that suits it better. I think most people would put it in the "smooth jazz" category.

By: unSane

unSane — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 10:12:58 -0800

It sounds like pop/rock because it doesn't use any jazz chords/changes/scales and it isn't swung. There are a couple of blue notes in there but that's all.

By: wheat

wheat — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 11:58:17 -0800

I'd really be more curious to find what people thought about the track itself rather than on how to categorize the genre, though those are certainly worthwhile points.

By: wheat

wheat — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 12:54:15 -0800

[tags adjusted in light of unSane and klangklangson's comments.]

By: unSane

unSane — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 13:04:29 -0800

It feels like it's lacking a counter-melody. The bass part is nice enough but it feels like a backing part. I'm also waiting for a harmonic surprise and don't get one.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 14:16:07 -0800

very, very nice!

By: sjarvis

sjarvis — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 06:24:19 -0800

I don't really want to re-stir the genre/pigeonhole discussion, but I LIKE that it's more rock/poppy than smoove jazzy (to my ears, anyway). There isn't enough good instrumental pop/rock music being made today. This DEFINITELY goes into that category. Good stuff!