The Musician's Gig Room Chat V1 - Songwriting and Sound Design for all! - Creationism Corner

[QUOTE=Ott;51650259]Sure, I'm always trying to figure out what makes songs work.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://fuchstraumer.github.io/resources/ChordProgressionArticle.pdf"]Here you go[/URL]. Hope it proves useful to someone, somehow. It may have typos or mistakes: this was written quite some time ago, and it should be typo/mistake free since it was sent for publishing but things happen

[QUOTE=No Party Hats;51650747]That second one, I love the dark electronic feel of it, the piano line feels a little bit.... disjointed from the rest of the piece though? I really like what you're going for with it, but it feels like a single, stand out element rather than a piece of the bigger puzzle if you get what I mean.[/QUOTE] Yeah, it's kinda a placeholder for vocals right now, I don't have a proper microphone yet really.

-snip, wrong thread-

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUspAlDbl1k[/media] I wish I had some better choir sound thing. I have not composed a lot of songs but I think it's fun to do.

My album is gonna be released on Cock Rock Disco! Same label as Neros Day at Disneyland.

[QUOTE=Smeetin;51562987] Its been a couple months since I tried making anything, so the first thing I did on Christmas break was fool around and try to make a little John Wick 2 inspired thingy. [video]https://soundcloud.com/user-229460575/cqc[/video][/QUOTE] I like the idea of this track, but I'd make the reverb slightly less muddy and maybe give the bass more oomf somehow. -- I finished the EP I mentioned earlier. I decided to see what I could do with minimal resources, a theme, and four weeks. [video]https://soundcloud.com/ghille556/startup?in=ghille556/sets/wanderer-of-the-cyberage-ep[/video]

[QUOTE=Ghille;51677592]I like the idea of this track, but I'd make the reverb slightly less muddy and maybe give the bass more oomf somehow. -- I finished the EP I mentioned earlier. I decided to see what I could do with minimal resources, a theme, and four weeks. [video]https://soundcloud.com/ghille556/startup?in=ghille556/sets/wanderer-of-the-cyberage-ep[/video][/QUOTE] At first I thought you had hid the record button without knowing and was sitting there with your guitar and amp. I like the atmosphere of this alot. The slow build up held my attention really well. I put this little number together today. A little more on the melodic side compared to what I normally write, which is a nice change. [media]https://soundcloud.com/scarletharvest/on-march-the-crusaders[/media]

[QUOTE=4yourmalice;51696684]At first I thought you had hid the record button without knowing and was sitting there with your guitar and amp. I like the atmosphere of this alot. The slow build up held my attention really well. I put this little number together today. A little more on the melodic side compared to what I normally write, which is a nice change. [media]https://soundcloud.com/scarletharvest/on-march-the-crusaders[/media][/QUOTE] I fucks with the ambiance, it's something I try to put into my music, Perhaps this may sound a bit too static, in terms of not changing a lot? I always got criticized for having my shit sound repetitive, but I'm like fuck ya'l. I don't know, you might have the same mindset as me though :^) This is the latest track I worked on, a remix of Danny Brown after I found his acapella lol. it feels like the melodies are almost too overlapping and sound a bit too loud compared to the drums. I always ask a producer friend, and he says my melodies should sound quieter than the drums. Oh well [video]https://soundcloud.com/hyperforcemike/danny-brown-i-will-hyper-remix-1[/video]

[QUOTE=Ghille;51677592][video]https://soundcloud.com/ghille556/startup?in=ghille556/sets/wanderer-of-the-cyberage-ep[/video][/QUOTE] Oh my god it's the windows startup sound ...and nothing else. Very soothing though. [QUOTE=4yourmalice;51696684][media]https://soundcloud.com/scarletharvest/on-march-the-crusaders[/media][/QUOTE] Oh man this has just the right levels of cheese. Try varying your velocities and envelopes so it doesn't sound so hammered. And do some filter sweeps to keep things fresh. It sounds like a 4.26 Newgrounds audio portal submission. At 1:31, the second note of the walkdown is out of scale. This could be a really cool deadmau5 style track with a bouncy bass, house beat, and pluck frequency automation on the supersaw. [QUOTE=Ruso;51696761][video]https://soundcloud.com/hyperforcemike/danny-brown-i-will-hyper-remix-1[/video][/QUOTE] I can't really criticize rap melodies because they're mostly chromatic but the one that comes in at 0:22 jumps around a little too much. The hat could use some reverb tail. The levels sound real fine. I'm liking that drone in the background. [editline]a[/editline] Here's a disco house bootleg I'm working on. The vocals are stolen. Mainly I'd like to know if my mix is good and if my bassline works. [video]https://soundcloud.com/ottworks/caleidoskope-wip[/video]

[QUOTE=Ott;51697434] Oh man this has just the right levels of cheese. Try varying your velocities and envelopes so it doesn't sound so hammered. And do some filter sweeps to keep things fresh. It sounds like a 4.26 Newgrounds audio portal submission. At 1:31, the second note of the walkdown is out of scale. This could be a really cool deadmau5 style track with a bouncy bass, house beat, and pluck frequency automation on the supersaw. [/QUOTE] I appreciate all your comments. I knew this was a very basic idea of the song when I posted it. Just wanted to get the song structure idea out there and polish it after. But you are right it does need some real shining up. You'll have to explain basically everything you said though. How do I vary my "velocities and envolopes"? How do I add filter sweeps? As for the second note being off, I was going for a more atonal sound to give it a darker tone.

[QUOTE=Ott;51697434] I can't really criticize rap melodies because they're mostly chromatic but the one that comes in at 0:22 jumps around a little too much. The hat could use some reverb tail. The levels sound real fine. I'm liking that drone in the background. [editline]a[/editline] Here's a disco house bootleg I'm working on. The vocals are stolen. Mainly I'd like to know if my mix is good and if my bassline works. [video]https://soundcloud.com/ottworks/caleidoskope-wip[/video][/QUOTE] Haha I have no idea what chromatic even means, I just end up making music based on ear, no music theory :\, although I wish i knew. I have an Ableton Push 2, so there's an option for scales, that song was set to C minor. I don't know if that explains much though. When you say the melody at :22, does it just not fit there, or does it just change pitch too often \ have too many note playing making it muddy? Also your track, future funk as fuck! I love it

[QUOTE=4yourmalice;51698656]I appreciate all your comments. I knew this was a very basic idea of the song when I posted it. Just wanted to get the song structure idea out there and polish it after. But you are right it does need some real shining up. You'll have to explain basically everything you said though. How do I vary my "velocities and envolopes"? How do I add filter sweeps? As for the second note being off, I was going for a more atonal sound to give it a darker tone.[/QUOTE] I don't know what DAW you use, but in FL you can right click on a knob and click "create automation clip" or something to that effect. I think in Ableton you have to change the parameter, and open the automation lane and your last-changed parameter will be selected. A filter sweep is when you automate a filter's frequency over some range. It helps to add a sense of movement to your song. By velocities, I meant make some notes quieter than others. There's usually a lane at the bottom of the piano roll with velocities. And by envelopes, I meant to automate your pluck (decay) times and your sustain levels: [t]http://www.garnishmusicproduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/adsr_envelope_in_dance_music_production1.png[/t] I'm pretty sure you already have a low-pass filter linked to your volume envelope, but if you don't find out how to do that in your synth of choice. And also try some LFO filters so things don't sound as static. [editline]20th January 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Ruso;51699348]Haha I have no idea what chromatic even means, I just end up making music based on ear, no music theory :\, although I wish i knew. I have an Ableton Push 2, so there's an option for scales, that song was set to C minor. I don't know if that explains much though. When you say the melody at :22, does it just not fit there, or does it just change pitch too often \ have too many note playing making it muddy? Also your track, future funk as fuck! I love it[/QUOTE] The 0:22 melody jumps around so much it sounds like a computer is playing random notes. It's aural whiplash. Also in some of the later parts it's always playing at the same time as the lead melody. You should give it some other rhythms like playing on the offbeat and some occasional syncopation with a tresillo (n..n..n.n..n..n.) or bossa nova (n..n..n..n..n...n..n..n..n..n...) (n means note, . means not a note). Also yeah, I could totally see my track being future funk if I gave it more of a big band feel and got a slap bass.

[QUOTE=PelPix123;51701880]by the way guys, nintendo uses roland studio canvases for their music gc and later and you can get a lot of the really recognizable sounds by getting edirol super quartet [video=youtube;lI0BMVYjJz8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI0BMVYjJz8[/video] just in case you feel like making some wii menu music [editline]20th January 2017[/editline] it's abandonware so i'm 80% sure I can link it here, i'll pm a mod [editline]20th January 2017[/editline] like roland has formally discontinued it and it's no longer under commercial license, so it should be fine to post links[/QUOTE] Any news on this? I'm super interested in trying this out

Are there any gamelan players in this thread?

[QUOTE=Ott;51697434] [video]https://soundcloud.com/ottworks/caleidoskope-wip[/video][/QUOTE] I like this tune, it's got a great feel-good vibe to it. The bass is nice and funky, I wish I could make a bass like that, nice and fast-paced. In terms of the mix, personally I would enhance the hats a tiny bit, but it doesn't sound bad as-is. I would like a bit more stereo seperation, it sounds pretty shallow right now, but you also haven't used much reverb so that's part of the reason. This one is pretty dark and moody, also quite slow at 60BPM. I think I did a good job with the drums, what do you guys think? [media]https://soundcloud.com/thedanielholt/right-in-front-of-you[/media]

[QUOTE=Warship;51734817]I like this tune, it's got a great feel-good vibe to it. The bass is nice and funky, I wish I could make a bass like that, nice and fast-paced. In terms of the mix, personally I would enhance the hats a tiny bit, but it doesn't sound bad as-is. I would like a bit more stereo seperation, it sounds pretty shallow right now, but you also haven't used much reverb so that's part of the reason. This one is pretty dark and moody, also quite slow at 60BPM. I think I did a good job with the drums, what do you guys think? [media]https://soundcloud.com/thedanielholt/right-in-front-of-you[/media][/QUOTE] There's a part of the percussion that's really high, perhaps turning the high a little down would be good. This track seems almost like an ambient track to a game or a movie. If you were aiming for that kind of a vibe then good job.

I wasn't really aiming for anything, it just happened. Actually, it was originally produced at 120BPM, exported and then slowed down to 50%. I've been experimenting a bit with that. You can download it and try playing it at 2x speed to hear the original, it's basically house at that point. (But since I mastered it after slowing it down, there's not a lot of bass to be heard) Thanks for the feedback.

[QUOTE=Warship;51734817] This one is pretty dark and moody, also quite slow at 60BPM. I think I did a good job with the drums, what do you guys think? [media]https://soundcloud.com/thedanielholt/right-in-front-of-you[/media][/QUOTE] ok I really love the stuff that comes in around the 1:20 mark. MAybe turn down the synths and bring the volume of the drums up maybe. The vibes this one has is really fucking solid. Changed it up enough to make it really interesting without becoming too repatative. Nice work dude! [media]https://soundcloud.com/corn-mouth/head-first[/media] I made this track within the last few days. I was trying to stray away from common breakbeat samples like the amen in order to kinda find my own sound. Id love to know what you think aside from mastering cus im having that much done for me. ;3

That drop at the beginning was immensely satisfying. The bass has no velocity variance though, it sounds very obviously like a midi. I feel like you could do a half-time breakcore thing at 2:00 with just hats. Your breaks are sick and huge. Your melodies still aren't very solid, I couldn't remember any of them once the song had ended. I really think you should take some time to practice writing catchy melodies with no percussion and a discernable chord progression. You should loop a 4 or 8 bar melody and edit it until it sounds catchy. Also, people like familiarity. If you treat it like a normal drum loop (not breakcore) and play the same thing for the first 3 bars and play a variation on the fourth (ABCDABCE), you should get a nice groove going. The numbers don't matter (in fact 4 bars might be a little long), some of the most addicting melodies are ABAC pattern.

[QUOTE=Ott;51758566]That drop at the beginning was immensely satisfying. The bass has no velocity variance though, it sounds very obviously like a midi. I feel like you could do a half-time breakcore thing at 2:00 with just hats. Your breaks are sick and huge. Your melodies still aren't very solid, I couldn't remember any of them once the song had ended. I really think you should take some time to practice writing catchy melodies with no percussion and a discernable chord progression. You should loop a 4 or 8 bar melody and edit it until it sounds catchy. Also, people like familiarity. If you treat it like a normal drum loop (not breakcore) and play the same thing for the first 3 bars and play a variation on the fourth (ABCDABCE), you should get a nice groove going. The numbers don't matter (in fact 4 bars might be a little long), some of the most addicting melodies are ABAC pattern.[/QUOTE] Yeah I was having trouble with the velocity shit. Ill probably go back and fix that before release. But thanks for the advice. hopefully ill get melodies down eventuallyyyy

hi, I'm still alive [QUOTE=Warship;51734817][media]https://soundcloud.com/thedanielholt/right-in-front-of-you[/media][/QUOTE] The whole feel of the track and the way it flows is real nice, but the distorted bits of the percussion are pretty jarring. If I have it playing at a fair volume, those distorted bits still sound sharp and loud as hell. [QUOTE=Ms. Gyroscope;51758494][media]https://soundcloud.com/corn-mouth/head-first[/media][/QUOTE] I'm with Ott as far as the bass goes, it sounds cheap to me. The breaks are very solid, the only thing I wasn't feeling was that the kick (the main one, anyway - the one it starts out with) sounds wider than everything else, like it's got more stereo separation going on than the rest of the drums. As far as the melodies go, they might not be the most catchy, but it seems to me that the track is more focused on the percussion than anything, and the melodies still do their job at supporting the rest of the track. Also, as a side note, you've come a long way since the first few songs I heard from you back in the day. I don't post much anymore but I still listen to everything posted here and your songs are often among the ones that stand out to me. - here's a choon [media]https://soundcloud.com/milk_b/isidis[/media] I still feel that it needs more atmospheric type shit going on in the calmer parts but I'll get to that tomorrow I guess, because I'm drunk. Feedback on the rest would be tight though. [editline]12th February 2017[/editline] ooooo also, before I disappeared from fp, I bought a [URL="http://i.imgur.com/1yKknDg.jpg"]guzheng[/URL] (which is fucking sick) and some nice stereo mics and shit I been meaning to let out some recordings of it in case anybody's tryna make some asian ass shit but I never got around to it because I'm gay. The recordings are nothing special but you can get pretty nice sounds out of them with some work. You can get some from [URL="https://db.tt/YUtyGQgxuT"]here[/URL] if you want. [editline]12th February 2017[/editline] I've got an ocarina on deck too, and a kalimba on the way, so there'll probably end up being more recordings of those too sometime, I just haven't needed to record them for songs yet [editline]12th February 2017[/editline] also native instruments' una corda plugin is tight as shit, I'd recommend it in case anyone's looking for piano plugins k no more edits

So what do you guys say, new collab album?

[QUOTE=Skeeter;51824619]So what do you guys say, new collab album?[/QUOTE] im in may give me a reason to finish mastering my songs

[QUOTE=Skeeter;51824619]So what do you guys say, new collab album?[/QUOTE] Hell yeah

[QUOTE=Skeeter;51824619]So what do you guys say, new collab album?[/QUOTE] This thread dropped off my read threads list, I'm in

hey we're in creationism corner now woo!

woo! Maybe we'll get more people now. [editline]18th February 2017[/editline] Perhaps we should turn this thread into a WAYWO?

Few guidelines then; 1) Completely new music 2) Mastered at -0.1dB. This means, just put a limiter on the track when it is finished at -0.1dB. 3) Be done by [B]March 31st[/B] Anything else? OH, we need album art. Anybody knows what number the latest was on?

Does "completely new" mean we start today?

Just got back from recording drums in the University studio. Goddamn 15 tracks, and way too many cables. Sounds good though. My friend who have been helping out with the engineering also has a Leslie 760, so I've been running some of my old organ tracks through it, and also recorded some new ones. The microphones actually pick up the sound of the spinning horns when you put it in fast mode, so I have to EQ out a lot of the bass range. Still sounds better than the Leslie emulation I've been using. :v: Also I have a Minilogue now.