Send Us Your Tracks – Track 3 ‘Bopspace’ By Senjen

Welcome back to the third in our critiques of our readers’ music. This week we’re analysing quite a funky little number by the name of ‘Bopspace’ As ever we’ll continually add more thoughts and opinions throughout the week, as well as listening to a host of other music that we’ve been sent over the last […]

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Welcome back to the third in our critiques of our readers’ music. This week we’re analysing quite a funky little number by the name of ‘Bopspace’ As ever we’ll continually add more thoughts and opinions throughout the week, as well as listening to a host of other music that we’ve been sent over the last few weeks. So without further ado – here’s Bopspace by Senjen:

Keith Gemmell
I like this – great Weather Report style groove. The short intro with just electric piano bass and drums sets the track up well and the main theme on alto plus sampled horns is excellent. Once the Hammond appears though, to my ears it’s competing with the piano in the mid frequencies, which can be sorted with EQ, stereo placement or both. The overall sonic picture becomes confusing during the organ solo, which is great by the way. Too much is going on and a second organ joining in doesn’t help. The drums could be louder although, that said they don’t necessarily have to be – matter of personal taste. Overall a great track (blow) that’s hard to criticise because it’s very good. Perhaps a little too ‘keys’ heavy – a sax solo would add variety, even a sampled keys-based one. Perhaps there is one after the fade out!

Mark Cousins
A great exploration of modal composition with some real rhythmic interest! As with many submissions, what’s really needed here is an objective ear on the mix, as there’s lots of instruments fighting for our attention. As a broad guide, I think all the lead instruments could come up by 2dB (or so) and everything else down by the same amount. Ensure anything interjecting (like the organ around 0:36) is kept behind the main feature at that point. You could even ‘lock together’ the rhythm section with some buss compression to help sit that separately from the lead instruments, as well as looking critically at panning – making some of the soundstage tighter, some of it wider – to create more distinction.

Alex Holmes
Well, I’ll start by saying this genre isn’t my forte, but I like the track. There’s good use of panning on most instruments, although given how busy the track is, there is a degree of overlap in the mid-range. The volume balance is fairly good, and I really like the live sax, but some of the organ/synth sounds are a little overbearing at times. I would suggest you might be able to get a tad more low-end warmth out of the bass or possibly the stereo buss. Arrangement-wise, you might benefit from trying to shift more focus to specific instruments at certain points, as there are a lot of layers all on top of each other, and this muddles up the sections a bit. A period of more stripped back drums in the middle might also break the track up… I’d love to see this live though, as that would bring a whole new spin on the track!

More feedback to come!

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