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

[QUOTE=Ott;52369569]You should make a thread for it. It worked well for that metal guy whose name escapes me.[/QUOTE] darkslicer/caynug? question: can i ask what mics you guys use? do you have multiple mics for recording different instruments, or just one versatile mic?

[QUOTE=Pat.Lithium;52370028]darkslicer/caynug? question: can i ask what mics you guys use? do you have multiple mics for recording different instruments, or just one versatile mic?[/QUOTE] I use one Zoom H1 for when I occasionally record. It works for my purposes, but I don't record much.

i've wanted to start making music videos for bands and songs i like but it never comes up right in the timing department from other people, so im trying to make my own music to start producing them. This is my first attempt. Self taught and all, as you all i guess. [video]https://soundcloud.com/user-465827605/melanoma[/video]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/PkIcdAf.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Ott;52373039][img]http://i.imgur.com/PkIcdAf.png[/img][/QUOTE] oh, im sorry. Will do in a minute. EDIT: to be honest this rule should apply to other threads like social advice and such

[QUOTE=Splarg!;52364519]Hey guys, I've been working on a track that uses a single hardware synth to do all the parts for a while now, knowing that at some point I'll have to confront mixing it. I'm happy with the content of the song and like the way it sounds, minus the fact that it's a bit deep and busy because it hasn't been cleaned up at all, but I need to know where to start with this shit. I've experimented a bit but I'm afraid that I'll waste a lot of time just shoving the E.Q. and compression around and not really fix anything. I have a good ear but I haven't yet learned what to try out to fix each problem.[/QUOTE] I mean what hardware synth are you using? I rented a minilogue for a week and mixing it was easy. I mean EQ is an effective way of making sure the frequencies are balanced. I don't really know what to tell you with such an ambiguous question.

[QUOTE=autodesknoob;52372810]i've wanted to start making music videos for bands and songs i like but it never comes up right in the timing department from other people, so im trying to make my own music to start producing them. This is my first attempt. Self taught and all, as you all i guess. [video]https://soundcloud.com/user-465827605/melanoma[/video][/QUOTE] isn't that a yeezy sample youre using for the snare? also reworked my song and boosted the eq. trying to sound less nasally. its gonna be a while before im happy with it but its fun to work on. beats having friends. [media]https://www.soundcloud.com/expensive-socks/pieces-lie[/media]

[QUOTE=poopdeloop;52377009]isn't that a yeezy sample youre using for the snare? also reworked my song and boosted the eq. trying to sound less nasally. its gonna be a while before im happy with it but its fun to work on. beats having friends. [media]https://www.soundcloud.com/expensive-socks/pieces-lie[/media][/QUOTE] did you make all that on your own? D: also..you mean yeezy as in.. kayne?

[QUOTE=autodesknoob;52379500]did you make all that on your own? D: also..you mean yeezy as in.. kayne?[/QUOTE] yes and yes [media]https://www.soundcloud.com/expensive-socks/stuft[/media]

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, those are reversed guitar chords going throughout most of the song. Good point about making the part come back, I sometimes get so carried away with a composition that I forget it should have a melodic concept, a reoccurring theme etc. [QUOTE=Clovis;52380870] And well, here's my music I guess. [/QUOTE] I really like how this develops! The structure is quite classic post rock, but to be honest - you can't really go wrong with that if the mood/melodies are good, and they are! It grows smoothly and doesn't seem tedious or repetitive, which is crucial for this genre. This would make for a very engulfing experience if played live! As for any critique - since the development of the mood is totally up to you and what you want to convey, I can't really talk in absolutes. Maybe if you layered a higher guitar (similar to one that comes in at 5 minutes) when the open hi-hat starts, and used it to build throughout 4:30 to 5:00 until the crashes, culminating in the high guitar that already is there, it would make the piece a bit more engaging. But that's just my personal taste. As for the production - I don't claim to know a whole lot, but here's a tip you may or may not know. If you have a lot of guitars, it can make things muddy real fast, especially if the signal is fairly wet. A good way to start managing this is putting a high pass filter on the instruments in the 50-150khz zone and playing around with uncluttering the low end. It can take away from the character of the sound, but if there's layers and layers of wet guitar, it's worth giving it a shot. Also, when the culmination starts, the crash cymbal sounds like white noise at some points and drowns out most of the other instruments. Maybe using a second crash sample and interchanging them would help with this? Either way, I really like the mood this sets and the consistency of it. Would see it live if given an opportunity!

[video=youtube;v8vaAwvnxAc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8vaAwvnxAc[/video] This is wonderful and I need it.

I bought it [vid]https://my.mixtape.moe/aavhia.webm[/vid]

[QUOTE=Speedhax;52374566]I mean what hardware synth are you using? I rented a minilogue for a week and mixing it was easy. I mean EQ is an effective way of making sure the frequencies are balanced. I don't really know what to tell you with such an ambiguous question.[/QUOTE] Yeah I know it's pretty general. I'm using an Oberheim Matrix-1000. I have some pretty rich pads and stereo tracks going on. Although the mix is not nearly as bad as I made it seem, everything is just sort of deep and far away overall. I guess I'm wondering if there's a good resource to learn what frequency ranges to play with on certain types of sounds and that kind of stuff. Recently I was listening to a few tracks by someone else I know and everything was really tight and up front in the mix, but then again I'm not sure how much of it is preference and how much is good mixing, because I'm going for a sort of soundtrack vibe that might need a deeper sound.

[QUOTE=Clovis;52380870]And well, here's my music I guess.[/QUOTE] It's great but needs more polishing. I like the atmosphere created by guitar and the chord progression. I guess you should experiment with EQ a little more and try to make guitar sound sharper and less blurry. The melody needs more variation because the song gets repetitive quickly. Speaking of repetitiveness, add more progression before drums come in. I encourage you to mess around with filters and automation clips (or their equivalent, idk which DAW you use). I enjoy drum samples, but the rhythm structure needs work. Firstly, reduce amount of hihats (or remove the delay if you used it). Secondly, snare needs to be more punchy and interesting in my opinion (reducing delay on it would help too). Stacking two or three samples on top of each other can give you interesting results. Right after fifth minute the track is a bit ear-rapey and cymbals are certainly too loud. The distorted guitar shouldn't have low frequencies at all. Make it 2-3 times more silent. Alright so my turn. I decided to make some mainstream drum'n'bass with a friend of mine. I know the tracks sound really cheesy and I'm doing my best to come up with our original sound. We got a couple of songs so far. After making 20 tracks or something we're planning to start sending some demos to labels. Finished this one today. Give me honest opinions, send it to your grandparents and friends. [url]https://clyp.it/51dvv2m1?token=66f34fb46f6062293c1a73ad13becb44[/url] This is older one (needs tweaking, I know): [url]https://clyp.it/my3cdndw?token=e0709e0289881152a483693d3ec28d12[/url] --- Unrelated stuff - my soundcloud profile I trashed quickly. Attempted to make vaportrap but sounds like techno: [url]https://soundcloud.com/sempiro[/url] See you around!

[QUOTE=Clovis;52380870] [editline]20th June 2017[/editline] And well, here's my music I guess. [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX1lE-A7qhk[/media] Preemptive before criticisms: This is the best I could do at mastering with my current knowledge. I have a lot of layering going on and I did my best to keep it how I wanted it to sound overall, and tried to just make sure no parts were too loud/too quiet. Theres also bound to be a couple mistakes in the actual guitar playing as well but I'm actually not a very good guitar player so I did the best I could. Everything except the guitar is programmed, so considering the drums are programmed they probably leave a lot to be desired, but if i were to ever publish this as a proper song as part of something official I'd definitely just get a real drummer to do drums for me, so i didnt spend too much time on the drums - theyre more there as an indication/representation of what drums I wanted there and I tried to make them sound least grating as possible. I'd just like to hear what people like/dislike about the song, if theres anything too overbearing/convoluted or whatever. I've shown it to a few people already and I've heard lots of different things so I wanna know what you guys as music creators think[/QUOTE] Dude, my biggest piece of advice for you is not to preemptively crticise your own music. I know it's one of the hardest things to ever but you need to stay strong and not do it. I used to give disclaimers for everything I did. "The vocals are only temporary", "I need to rework all this stuff", "It's not mixed well yet". When in reality you're just kind of scared of showing anyone your work. But at the same time you wouldn't be showing anyone if you weren't proud of it in some way. It's your art man. It's not important really if someone else likes it. Just keep working and improving. ---------- I'm going to start finishing some old works and dumping them up here. I don't know how long I'll keep them on soundcloud and by the looks of my current projects my style is moving away from what it used to be a lot, but even a little bit of feedback would be appreciated. [media]https://soundcloud.com/viyres/dun-dun[/media]

[QUOTE=Clovis;52404163]It's not that I'm subconscious about it, I just don't want people saying 'the drums need to be improved' when its something I'm not going to be focusing on/be able to improve. I'm proud of what I did but I'm looking for criticism other than what I've said there, aka how I could improve it structurally or what people think of it in general. Not 'the drums are shit' cause they're programmed drum samples, it's irrelevant to me if someone dislikes programmed drums because that's not really surprising to me [editline]26th June 2017[/editline] If I improve everything else, then I can actually have a reason to go back and replace the drums with real ones by using a real kit and/or real drummer, and also if i had all these good sounds going it would finally be worthy to invest in good production/mastering whether I devote more time to learning it or actually got someone else to help with it[/QUOTE] Most people don't notice the tiny things you do. You wrote the song. I can hear when I'm the tiniest bit flat when singing and it makes me physically cringe, yet I'll show people the track and they'll just enjoy it. No sign of discomfort at all. Your track was good, there are people out there who would actively listen to it for sure. I'm not saying don't critique yourself. I've just learnt over the years that you've got to keep your critique seperate from everyone else's.

Anyone have any tips on how to get the tunes to sound more punchy and give them more of an edge? Feels like I lose so much dynamic especially considering I generally use low-pass filters on all my synthesizers. I know panning and stereo enhancing helps, as does compressors, but I still can't really get that oomph in my kicks, bases and leads. Maybe I need to experiment more with EQing and be a bit bolder by turning up frequencies rather than just turning others down.

I personally try to give kicks and bass more headroom to give it's punch, for example all the sounds in the song should only go up to -20dB so that the real bass and kicks can do their job all the way to the limit. Dunno if that's actually a good or recommended way but it works for me. [editline]27th June 2017[/editline] you could also try sidechaining

[QUOTE=MrJazzy;52406613]Anyone have any tips on how to get the tunes to sound more punchy and give them more of an edge? Feels like I lose so much dynamic especially considering I generally use low-pass filters on all my synthesizers. I know panning and stereo enhancing helps, as does compressors, but I still can't really get that oomph in my kicks, bases and leads. Maybe I need to experiment more with EQing and be a bit bolder by turning up frequencies rather than just turning others down.[/QUOTE] [Sp]Sausage Fattener[/sp] Sidechaining really helps. I usually put all my melodic elements into a bus that gets sidechained behind my kick drum. Also for percussion, a compressor with relatively high attack time will let just the transient through, which helps with punchiness.

I do the sidechaining and it helps, but there's something about the sounds, the frequencies rather than volume wise that I feel like I'm not getting right.

[QUOTE=The Janitor;52403998]I'm going to start finishing some old works and dumping them up here. I don't know how long I'll keep them on soundcloud and by the looks of my current projects my style is moving away from what it used to be a lot, but even a little bit of feedback would be appreciated. [media]https://soundcloud.com/viyres/dun-dun[/media][/QUOTE] Overall I'm really liking this. I wasn't expecting where the track went after the intro [i]at all[/i]. When it changed it was a little jarring, but I liked that about it. I also really liked the use of vocals in there There's not much I'd really change, but the arpeggio around 1:26 in the background kind of makes that part a little overwhelming to me, and the synth kind of reminds me of a mouse a little. Maybe that overwhelming feeling was intentional though, so it might not need anything. Other than that, the kick that comes in at 2:43 sounds a little too loud for what's going on at that part. Still though, one of my favorite tracks I've heard here. And from what I've heard, the quality of everyone's work seems to be getting really good right now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [media]https://soundcloud.com/nicely_done/rity-cuins[/media]

[QUOTE=FalseLogic;52409429]Overall I'm really liking this. I wasn't expecting where the track went after the intro [i]at all[/i]. When it changed it was a little jarring, but I liked that about it. I also really liked the use of vocals in there There's not much I'd really change, but the arpeggio around 1:26 in the background kind of makes that part a little overwhelming to me, and the synth kind of reminds me of a mouse a little. Maybe that overwhelming feeling was intentional though, so it might not need anything. Other than that, the kick that comes in at 2:43 sounds a little too loud for what's going on at that part. Still though, one of my favorite tracks I've heard here. And from what I've heard, the quality of everyone's work seems to be getting really good right now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [media]https://soundcloud.com/nicely_done/rity-cuins[/media][/QUOTE] Really slick track! Found myself listening to it while working and wondering where it was coming and had realized it was the track you made! It was quite nice, loving the mix of acoustic instruments with super funky sounding synths, great job [media]https://soundcloud.com/tropicalgod/beverly[/media] Here's something I did, my first real attempt at songwriting that actually led to a completed track

[Quote]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [media]https://soundcloud.com/nicely_done/rity-cuins[/media][/QUOTE] Dude! Keep making more of this. That was awwwwwesome! Really reminds me of some futuristic 80's world. [QUOTE=Colteh;52421250] [media]https://soundcloud.com/tropicalgod/beverly[/media] Here's something I did, my first real attempt at songwriting that actually led to a completed track[/QUOTE] You have a pretty good voice my dude. The chord progression was a little wonky, but I think it works okay. My biggest criticism is the lyrics were kinda ehhh. It started off really well, but the part where it's "Can't do this, Can't do this, Caaaaaan't, Can't do this, don't try, don't try, need to keep my senses," just felt lazy. Especially the Caaaaaan't part. But honestly its not bad at all for a first real attempt. _______________________________________________________________ Here's a track I've been working on for the Portal 2 mod, Portal 2 Repercussions. Mastering still needs to be done and I really need to fix the ending violin tremolo. The dynamics of that are not good and I'm thinking the instrument itself may need to be changed there. Void - [media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/void[/media]

[QUOTE=Rich209;52421408] Here's a track I've been working on for the Portal 2 mod, Portal 2 Repercussions. Mastering still needs to be done and I really need to fix the ending violin tremolo. The dynamics of that are not good and I'm thinking the instrument itself may need to be changed there. Void - [media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/void[/media][/QUOTE] What did you use to make that, if you don't mind me asking? Sounds awesome once the violin kicks in.

[QUOTE=Colteh;52421250]Really slick track! Found myself listening to it while working and wondering where it was coming and had realized it was the track you made! It was quite nice, loving the mix of acoustic instruments with super funky sounding synths, great job[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Rich209;52421408]Dude! Keep making more of this. That was awwwwwesome! Really reminds me of some futuristic 80's world.[/QUOTE] Thanks! It's probably my favorite track that I've made. btw, the only acoustic instrument there was the drum sample, the rest was all synths. _______________________________________________ [QUOTE=Colteh;52421250][media]https://soundcloud.com/tropicalgod/beverly[/media] Here's something I did, my first real attempt at songwriting that actually led to a completed track[/QUOTE] Synth work sounds pretty good, but as Rich said, sometimes the progression/note choices there sounds a little funny. Other than that, the lyrics were kinda repetitive. [QUOTE=Rich209;52421408]Here's a track I've been working on for the Portal 2 mod, Portal 2 Repercussions. Mastering still needs to be done and I really need to fix the ending violin tremolo. The dynamics of that are not good and I'm thinking the instrument itself may need to be changed there. Void - [media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/void[/media][/QUOTE] I really like this. Very ominous. What are you using for the orchestral instruments?

I used East West Composer Pack Gold (specifically within it symphonic orchestra) and I used East West Hollywood Strings Platinum. They're huge file sizes so I run them on two separate terrabyte hard drives.

so I still haven't payed for reaper even though its been bugging me to pay for it just like winrar does should I actually support the devs and give them money for great software I've used for a long time now?

[QUOTE=The Janitor;52403998] I'm going to start finishing some old works and dumping them up here. I don't know how long I'll keep them on soundcloud and by the looks of my current projects my style is moving away from what it used to be a lot, but even a little bit of feedback would be appreciated. [media]https://soundcloud.com/viyres/dun-dun[/media][/QUOTE] The lead that comes in at 1:26 is good, really epic. Also the 'reverse?' ambient thing is nice too. I've never liked the standard dubstep snares though, also think the growls are kind of weak. [QUOTE=FalseLogic;52409429] [media]https://soundcloud.com/nicely_done/rity-cuins[/media][/QUOTE] This is cool, the percussion is on point. Also really digging the synths, especially the 90s west coast rap sounding one, good mix of styles in those instruments though. I think it could use a strong bass at points but other than that it's sounding great. [QUOTE=Colteh;52421250] [media]https://soundcloud.com/tropicalgod/beverly[/media] Here's something I did, my first real attempt at songwriting that actually led to a completed track[/QUOTE] Agree with Rich you got a pretty nice voice. That said the melody your singing isn't doing your voice justice. [QUOTE=Rich209;52421408]\ Here's a track I've been working on for the Portal 2 mod, Portal 2 Repercussions. Mastering still needs to be done and I really need to fix the ending violin tremolo. The dynamics of that are not good and I'm thinking the instrument itself may need to be changed there. Void - [media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/void[/media][/QUOTE] As always it's sounding great. I always struggle with orchestral samples to stop it sounding digital. [QUOTE=Clovis;52380870] And well, here's my music I guess. [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX1lE-A7qhk[/media] [/QUOTE] I really like the guitar, super post-rocky. I think the drums could use some work, they sound a bit robotic. The distorted sound that comes in at 3:15 is really nice, gives it way more power despite being quite atmospheric. Went and listened to your other track "Drowning", same criticism, really nice melodies and great sounding guitars but the drums sound digital (actually liked it even more than the one you posted). If you fixed up those drums you could have some great sounding tracks, good job. ________________________________________________ Working on some minimal techno thing [media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/wipwipwip[/media] And another techno thing [media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/macro-1[/media]

I don't like any of the drum samples that are included with FL, they just don't work in the songs I'm working on and making a drum sound myself takes too much time. Are there any free sample kits some of you would recommend?

[QUOTE=Plaster;52435877]I don't like any of the drum samples that are included with FL, they just don't work in the songs I'm working on and making a drum sound myself takes too much time. Are there any free sample kits some of you would recommend?[/QUOTE] The FPC plugin that comes with FL has some decentish drums. If you want complete breakbeat samples that usually loop well: [url]http://rhythm-lab.com/breakbeats[/url] And the bedroomproducers site linked in this thread's OP has some good sample resources: [url]http://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-samples/[/url]