composition is lovely! At first I thought you recorded outside

I think experimenting with mic positions is the best bet for seriously improving the sound. Otherwise, masking a bad recording with effects, like tape saturation or other stuff... turning it into something else.

To make it more clear I guess you can try stuff like an expander which is the opposite of a compressor (but I don't know any that sound good and never succeeded in using one). But I think tricks like this are most effective in a multi instrument piece - if you have guitar solo then the original recording is everything.

another thing to try is noise reduction. audacity is free and can do a ok job for minor adjustments. you record just the noise in the same room as the recording, for a few seconds, and audacity can take that noise profile and try to remove it from the rest of the recording (algorithm is called convolution something?). But it also takes away some good parts of the sound, which give it character and realism, so it's not always desirable to remove the noise.

another option is to lean into it and turn it into a Sound. Check out this piece that I discovered (and I sent you on a different channel) by Yamashita https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjOQ69JjTRo - it's noisy as hell but still embraceable.

composition is lovely! At first I thought you recorded outside :D I think experimenting with mic positions is the best bet for seriously improving the sound. Otherwise, masking a bad recording with effects, like tape saturation or other stuff... turning it into something else. To make it more clear I guess you can try stuff like an expander which is the opposite of a compressor (but I don't know any that sound good and never succeeded in using one). But I think tricks like this are most effective in a multi instrument piece - if you have guitar solo then the original recording is everything. another thing to try is noise reduction. audacity is free and can do a ok job for minor adjustments. you record just the noise in the same room as the recording, for a few seconds, and audacity can take that noise profile and try to remove it from the rest of the recording (algorithm is called convolution something?). But it also takes away some good parts of the sound, which give it character and realism, so it's not always desirable to remove the noise. another option is to lean into it and turn it into a Sound. Check out this piece that I discovered (and I sent you on a different channel) by Yamashita https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjOQ69JjTRo - it's noisy as hell but still embraceable.

“What am I doing here?” Making lovely music, I’d say! I love this.

Beautiful piece. I particularly enjoyed all the chromatic walks in the bass, all the chord flavors. Pure happiness….this piece made me smile.

This definitely had a higher noise floor, but I think adding the birds was a nice choice - made it feel like an environmental recording done in the moment.

What kind of mic are you using? I’d love to hear this with a little more high end on it, and with that noise floor a little lower.

“What am I doing here?” Making lovely music, I’d say! I love this. Beautiful piece. I particularly enjoyed all the chromatic walks in the bass, all the chord flavors. Pure happiness….this piece made me smile. This definitely had a higher noise floor, but I think adding the birds was a nice choice - made it feel like an environmental recording done in the moment. What kind of mic are you using? I’d love to hear this with a little more high end on it, and with that noise floor a little lower.

Such a nice composition I do think the birds have the effect of making the background noise less prominent, and just add good vibes (and high end haha). Microphone and mic position are where I'd start as well in terms of clarity.

Such a nice composition :) I do think the birds have the effect of making the background noise less prominent, and just add good vibes (and high end haha). Microphone and mic position are where I'd start as well in terms of clarity.