I bought a cheap macbook on ebay to try out garageband. I'm like 10 minutes into the fiddling around process and I've already noticed something that makes me wanna chuck this thing out the window.
When you press spacebar three times, it doesn't reset. What I mean is, you hit space to play your track, then hit it again to pause, when you hit it that third time it just keeps going from where it left off. So every single change to a song I make that I want to hear, I have to manually move the playhead back to the beginning. That's insane and I almost can't believe there wouldn't be an option to change that.
I really like the sound of the piano off the bat and the way it meshes with the drums is groovy and satisfying though a little halting when the loop repeats, which is interesting, but I'm not sure I dig it. I want the piano sound to stay somewhat central, its one of the more interesting sounds I think, so its a little disappointing when it gets replaced by synths, etc. for me. A trance-y thing focused around that loop would be dope.
It is an interesting tone to it, not really sure it fits great into a specific genre type, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, I just mean that the atmosphere is a little hard to grasp. It sounds like a trap song and a chillwave song mixed together or something. The "hey"s feel kind of silly.
I think you could probably make the whole thing a little more airy, maybe add some echo / delay in some spots, and it could have a pretty satisfying ethereal quality to it.
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Something new and something I'm actually really happy with, turned out so much better than I expected, and though it isn't perfect... I think it might be the first song of mine that I would actually listen to.
https://soundcloud.com/user-229460575/lost-in
yo this is really nice, sounds like a more rougher version of deadmau5's early stuff
id say the drums should be a lot more noticable since they are drowned with all the heavy synths
it also needs a bit of a switch up, it got pretty predictable by the end, would also add some background synths to play off the main ones
I loved this track! The "out of tune" parts were a great detail. If I were you I would play with that idea more in the future... Keep up the great work man!
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Did this track for a cowboy duel in a little short movie... I got Inspired by a lot of cowboy movies and Ennio Morricone's work, but, Im kinda "meh" with this result, cause I have been having a big "writers block". It was excruciating just to finish this track. Anyone got tips or tricks to get out of a rut?
https://soundcloud.com/ernesto-campo-pequeno/old-man
Does anybody know a good set up for a digital loop station? What I'm looking for can be described as like.. VST's have digital versions of the physical interfaces on music hardware because its easy to imagine knobs and wire routing. Is there one of those for loop stations where I can click the buttons they would be pressing? I wanna mess around and do some Marc Rebillit type stuff but I won't have loop station money for a very long time to come.
Well im trying out doing new stuff... thing is it has been excruciating finishing my tracks with a heavy "writers block"... I really dont know what else to do, besides pushing through and just finish the tracks, but its painfull has all hell...
https://soundcloud.com/ernesto-campo-pequeno/pulse
anyone use pocket operators? saw a few video's and they look cool as fuck
I made a guitar wank:
https://soundcloud.com/user-567376538/guitar-fuckery-1
I-It's my first time, be gentle.
Hmmm, I'm trying to understand how to make something feel groovy because my electronic music sounds so flat and I think part of it is that I've framed myself in at a 4/4 and then I basically work with notes that fit in that time signature but when I'm listening to say a blues song or a funk song, I find that I can often count "1 2 3 4" and it feels right but I can focus on something else like a high hat or something and count "1 2 3" ofcourse at a slightly slower rate and it also feels good but everytime I try to actually mix triplets and quartets or whatever you call em it just sounds off.
Could you post an example of how your music sounds flat? I don't think there are notes that don't work with a specific time signature and the instruments in most music are usually playing the same time signature.
As for the "thing," in my experience there really isn't a secret to it and as long as something sounds good, it sounds good. Music theory is descriptive rather than prescriptive - it explains why something works the way it works, instead of creating set-in-stone rules - think of it more as building blocks.
I made another little track, just a looping thing, please criticize:
https://soundcloud.com/user-567376538/guitar-fuckery-2-ft-ableton-drums
been scratching my head for ages trying to make a dance track that samples Average White Band's Pick Up The Pieces. A lot of "decent" club tracks now have a repetitive 2 beat melody, rather than a full bar or two bars; the lick in the song is perfect for it. Initially tried a lo-fi house remix that I fucked up the drums for and now can't recreate - it had such a nice kick Tried giving it another shot.
https://soundcloud.com/instantmix/pick-it-up-draft-1
https://soundcloud.com/instantmix/pick-it-up-draft-1
Can barely hear the guitar - have you maximized the master? I like the tune you've got going, but the guitar IMO is really muffled, I'd love to hear more chirpiness from it. Could do with a nice pad underneath and some other plucky instruments doing a copy of the melody higher up. I don't really know what the drums are doing - maybe a more bonobo-ish deep drum and clap would be a better fit than something 808-y. It's nice!
these sorts of tracks fascinate me, the percussion is really interesting - I can't say I'm the biggest fan of the 4 on the floor with the kick / timpani, maybe going for a more staggered or varied kick might be a good shout. Overall, this sounds really lovely, honestly when it's orchestral stuff like that it's moreso about the panning of individual instruments and trying to make it sound as "large" as possible. It could just be my ears, but I feel like the brass should "slice" in a bit more, they're getting muddied in with the higher horns IMO. Sounds really, really good!
I'm not really into dance, but Draft 2 sounds sort of mario kart 64-ish with the bass or whatever in the background.
I think the tone of the guitar is a wee bit too muddy to work just as it is, have you tried to pan it hard to either channel and let the delay function jump in the other direction? That could probably spice it up and give it a much richer sound, if a single guitar is what you're going after. Maybe some percussive work as well? The idea is nice, it just needs to grow, sort of like baking a bread ; You have the dough and obvious skill in playing guitar, now it just needs to rest and then into the oven.
I've started playing piano, and I have a love for strings so I made a thing that combines those two things. I recorded the rhythm piano first, and then I just played something melodic on top of it to give it more variation.
https://soundcloud.com/skriket/stoppa-upp-ett-finger-och-se-om-det-ringer
I wish I would have saved the ableton session, I just exported it as wav and then closed the program. I had a non-delay track that was in the lower range (like 90hz-200hz were boosted and then everything up to 1.5khz were cut down some with eq) and the delayed part was more in the 2k-3.5k range, you're saying to try panning them apart?
Thanks for telling me I have skill, I've never played in front of anyone other than family so that is good to hear. I know the songs I've made lack structure, do you think a simple drum beat would be enough? All I have for that is the ableton drum samples. I don't do lyrics so are song structures with verses and choruses still relevant?
Yeah exactly, I think it would make the guitar pop out a bit more and create a very cool effect of having one side of the stereo spectrum being without delay, and one having a delay. I think you could actually cut anything below 80hz or even higher since the guitar doesn't really produce anything useful in that register and will only make it sound muddy.
You're very much welcome! I came from the same path as you with just playing guitar and building tracks from that so I recognize a lot of your process in myself, except you're much more skilled in playing guitar.
I think if you want to make a track with just guitar and drums you could work a lot with variations, the human ear likes repetition, the mind however requires changes every now and then to keep it interested though. Drums will enhance your composition for sure since it gives you a steady rhythm to bob your head to and can be used in the arrangement of your track and makes it possible to have a track that has a single riff sound interesting, since the adding or subtraction of drums in certain paths can create a sense of motion.
Something I've learned over the years is that you can always think of a track as a wave ; It flows up and down, and prefereably a track should have that sort of feel as well. You can obviously start wherever you want on that wave, either on the highest high or lowest low as long as it keeps the motion flowing throughout the track.
https://soundcloud.com/user-567376538/purp-bird
I tried to follow an ABABCA form this time
The tempo changes oddly at 0:16, and doesn't really fall back together until the first break from drums. Have you read the original post by the way? It's encouraged to give feedback just as much as you recieve feedback, after all you're asking people to take time out of their life to help you.
This is very intriguing and I am a huge fan of the very slow build-up, the drums remind me very much of in the air tonight the way it sounds and that bass? MMMhmm, creamy and rich :') I'm not sure about the waves however coming at the end, the deeper bass that comes in at the section however? Bloody beautiful, it spices it up in a very subtle way that I enjoy a lot.
(I don't know how to quote stuff properly @Skriket )
Thanks for the feedback! I made this over one afternoon/evening, so it might be a bit rushed.
Just to clarify, you didn't like the waves near the end, but you liked the deeper bass?
I'll most likely make a VIP version in the weekend, fixing some issues like the waves, normalization, some low-pass filter stuff and minor tweaks. I hope to put it on Spotify if possible.
Thanks a lot man! means the world to me that someone listens to my stuff, and wants to hear more!
Yhea I'm strugling a bit on creativity side of things for a wile now... Im still fighting it, and try to put out stuff like the child in your metaphor. (I love the metaphor) xD
Theres a couple of games I have worked on... But they are not avaiable, and I dont think they will be ever... Just small independent stuff, "nothing games"really. All the devs I have worked with, seem to end up loosing interest in finishing their games... So my music ends up in a asset storage somewhere. But if you are curious "Obscuria" (i dont think im even credited cause I was brought in late during the crunch time to finish a level demo) is the only one worth of mention, but development on it has ceased witch is a shame... the game looked good
I would love to do more game soundtracks, but im also strugling with finding ways to offer my services... I havent tried anything serious yet, wouldnt even know where to start really... but im working on a couple of portfolios/demos and see if I can hit any game dev forums maybe...
Anyways many thanks for listening to my music man, you have really made my day!
Thanks man!
Yhea, you on the money there, I use virtual instruments on most of my tracks, I dont have acess to a real orchestra, wouldnt know how to conduct one really, but I love writing this type of music.
Reccording sounds good enough, but it seems that you have to work on your tempo. I cant quite understand what you were going for, and I cant tell if the tempo changes are on purpose, like some jazzy type thing.
The melody and drums are good but I feel like there is a reverb 'mismatch', if that makes sense. Maybe too much reverb on the drums for my taste. The drums and strings together remind me of Dune.
https://soundcloud.com/war_man333/persuasive
Trying some different genres
Thanks! No I completely understand what you're hearing, there's more reverb on the drums than the strings for instance (I've panned most of the strings about 60-80% to either left or right, and then I send it to the reverb channel and panned it in the opposite direction) whereas the drums are completely in the middle with plenty of reverb. The drums themselves are pretty much dead front in the mix as well which makes it even more clear how much reverb is on them. I could definietly dial down the volume and instead bring the strings forward and tweak their volume and EQ Thank you! That's a really big compliment, Toto is one of my all-time favourites.
That's a really nice and fat kick, big juicy direct attack and a very sweet sub-bass tail! How did you create it? It got me bobbing my head and the phasing buildup is hella sweet, it kinda makes me laugh actually (a good thing) since I start to think about the lonely island-skit with the constant buildup and no bass drop. It's uncommon to hear people taking their time to get to the juicy parts of a song, with the constant need to push the chorus as soon as possible. I dig this song, it stays interesting with not a lot of things to go by and that is a very unique talent! I had another listen at your other track and I have to say, the waves actually add a lot, disregard my previous comment about it!
I've tried to work with tempo changes, sometimes abrupt and sometimes slowly building up/winding down.
https://soundcloud.com/skriket/donkey-kong-is-kinda-long
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132317/8ef58eab-60ab-4af3-83bb-68b41666c2ff/image.png
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132317/ca6b551a-a4da-4eee-8220-6e06a3250758/image.png
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132317/3ce63098-1d2d-494e-8c2c-2c29eb3dba44/image.png
I can't really explain it better with words I think. Just a kick and a sub bass combined!
The 'bassline' or whatever we want to call it is a tweaked version of the Harmonizer preset called Hoover GOL. It has some extra effects like reverb, Flanger, Delay (occasionally) and the 'Phaser' effect you hear is Effector's Vox filter with the X and Y parameters being tweaked constantly. Thanks a lot for the feedback, encourages me. I made a mixed version of Spirit Waves but I'm not sure what to do about it, I just want to replace the current version with the VIP version, but you can't do that on free Soundcloud.
I like Donkey Kong is Long. You hold some of the harmonics for quite a long time, how do you manage to do that?
Generally I like the whole song. A bit too much chaos at the end, and the opening/closing high-hat (that feels like it's a bit left-centered?) is a bit too loud for my liking.
I think what I'm missing the most is listening to it in higher quality actually Soundcloud really rapes quality.
Which instruments do you play live and which are virtual? The drums sound pretty good still if they're virtual!
At some point I'll also venture into rock (probably some alternative type) but for now, for production, I'm trying to master some electronic stuff, because I already play guitar as a hobby.
I think my next project will be some sort of liquid drum and bass.
this is probably the best choon I've heard from you, I see you've really improved over the years
Oh awesome, I love seeing how other people produce their sounds because it gives a very rare insight into a procedure so many just sort of take granted, whereas there can be a lot of thought put into it and many paths taken to achieve it.
I got soundcloud VIP or whatever it is called a couple of years ago and I honestly think it is one of the best investments I've made, I ~think~ the quality improves a bit and the fact that you can not only have highlights of particular tracks (up to five tracks) that you feel are your best work is great, and being able to have more than the 2 hours of music available is sweet as hell.
Thank you! I'm not gonna lie, there is a lot of studio magic going on in my music. I'm a huge fan of cutting and copypasting to make things hold out longer than I can possibly make in real life (I have a guitar that's worth probably $40 or so, made of plywood :v). Feedback and delay help a lot too to give an artificial feel of things sounding longer than they actually are.
I can absolutely hear that they're a bit too loud, I'm usually not a huge fan of the sound of hihats (I like the ride a whole lot more) but the way I 'record' the drums means they sadly sound a few db louder than I probably would want them to sound.
I'm always looking to perfect the sound of the drums since I always feel that a steady and groovysounding drumkit is essential to any track you're making
I could probably cool down with all the crazy stuff as well, my greatest weakness is probably wanting to have as many intricate details as possible going on in a track to entice the listener to listen again so that they can pick out the things they like. Your skill of keeping it on the downlow for instance is inspiring!
On this particular track I play the guitar and bass live, the drums I program and later on use the humanizer function to make it more realistic, programmed drums have a tendency to sound incredibly static if they always hit on tempo and if they're never changing in velocity. I usually go in and intentionally make something noticeably out of tempo just to further make it seem more real.
Thank you once again for taking the time to listen and give me your thoughts, you usually get so used to the way the track sounds that in the end you'll lose track of if it actually works and it challenges you to rethink the way you work, since every musician works in their own way.
It's awesome to come back to this thread after a few years and see how many have improved.
Does anyone know how to process midi input with software? I.e. chordifying single notes, arpeggiation, etc. I want to run midi into my laptop then back out to a hardware synth
Nice tune, reminds me of the intermission of some weird physics based indie game where your character is falling from the sky.
Don't get me started on finishing tracks and writer's block.. haha this tune is great though, really love the orchestral pieces in this thread.. If you've played WarFace, it reminds me a lot of the opening menu theme song.
Again, liking the orchestral vibes. Reminds me of if someone made a current-day old school RPG, sounds like this could be the menu music!
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Here's a new track of mine that I made only in a few sittings but my music production has been slacking, and this is one of those tracks you make that just reminds me of how awesome it is to be able to write and produce music.. I went through a lot and lost a lot of things a few years back, but that feeling of overcoming a new track is what keeps me going
https://soundcloud.com/commonmotives/common-motives-well-be
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