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

Hey all, I never really post in this thread but I've lurked it for some time now. I've played drums and piano for over a decade but I've always had an aversion to finishing my own music and songs. Recently, I just decided fuck it and to be proud of the things I've created and recorded already. I have 400+ recordings between my laptop and two separate phones that I probably won't expand on too heavily. I jumped the gun and compiled a bunch of them together and created this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_5qi3mxUhk&t=384s It's disjointed, it's under-produced, it's personal, it's dirty, it's me and I love it.

does anyone have any tips about finishing songs? I have a soundcloud FULL of 1-2 minute little pieces of music that I am very proud of, but none of them are actual songs and I want to start making them into something full length, but im having trouble connecting all of the pieces of a song together. Like the skill I need to work on is how to connect the 1-2 minute parts that I think of into something that is cohesive. any tips?

not an easy answer to that. I suffer from the same sort of thing. My approaches have either been to step away from music for a couple days and come back with new ideas, or to just power through and try my best to get a full song. Both ways seem to work with similar results. It's a major challenge, especially for people who aren't formally educated in music and just fake their way through things.

I found that I was trying to work backwards when making a song since I'd usually come up with the climax first or something, then having no idea how to get there. I've been forcing myself to write stuff from the beginning and it usually ends up with something pretty cohesive and well developed.

Different strokes for different people personally most of the stuff I do never becomes a full song, I just see it as experimenting with mixing, making sounds and patches and arrays, different combinations of layers etc not everything you do must be finished. you're allowed to fail, you know

Depends on the sort of music that you like, there are different ways to make a full composition. Listen to artists you're inspired by and see how they do it. It could be as simple as adding/removing some different layers, changing the chord sequence, change dynamics for louder/softer sections. Sometimes an idea is better just kept as a 2-3 minute sketch. I find if I just jam the song on an instrument and then improvise and let my mind wander, I'll sometimes come up with different sections that fit in the same sort of mood.

It seems nowadays lots of artists will just have a loop and they'll just loop it until they come up with parts. Like in Drake's gods love you can hear when the drums go away during the "she say do you love me" part that there were drums there originally.

This is actually pretty catchy, but there were a couple things that hit my ear. The higher pitched guitar that comes in sounds a little out of key or pitch, kind of abrasive in the wrong way in my opinion, but you might have done that intentionally. The harder parts sound a little muddy with the mix getting a little bogged down. In my opinion, the instruments need some better definition at these parts to really shine. A couple times instruments cut in and out a little awkwardly. and... ya, kind of edgy, but oh well. Edgy works sometimes. - Just gonna leave this short little thing here. Still just making small beats for a fun hobby, but I think I am honestly getting better at it, and this one is one of my favourites, plus it makes me laugh. https://soundcloud.com/user-229460575/tech-support-trance

This is very unnerving to listen to, atmospheric. Left me fucked up, specially with the ending. Most of your tracks actually just straight up belong to a horror game. Here's some guitar stuff again to break up the electronic vibes. https://soundcloud.com/lamarrmelon/human-nature-tamas

https://youtu.be/EfmL3WvNJA8 if I ever finish this thing this would be track 8 of 9 it's about my friend who committed suicide via through inert gas asphyxiation it's kind of off-key/badly-sung but I dunno if I should keep it that way, since it kind of reflects the theme

Fuck, man. I'm sorry. I feel like the instrumental doesn't fit the lyrics. The progression sounds too happy (I was hoping it would follow the circle of fifths). It would also benefit from a b-part (or chorus or other conventional songwriting things). The song doesn't go anywhere once the percussion comes in. Production-wise, everything could use a little more reverb, piano especially. I think you should focus on a single instrument in your song, and make sure that the track is still interesting with just that instrument and your vocals. Go for depth, not breadth.

I really love this. The way you incorporated typing into it is excellent and works perfectly. It reminds me of how a typewriter is used in the Atonement soundtrack. It's actually quite haunting, in a way, but I used to work in tech support, so haunting fits quite well. :P My track here is pretty crap because I can't sing at all well, but I would appreciate it if anyone could give it a listen. I also fucked up the piano at points, but it is harder to sing and play, so that's to be expected when I haven't touched the piano in a couple of months. https://soundcloud.com/mikehawkbiscuit/reverse-lullaby-draft

about 40 seconds in and i'm already in love with the piano, you're pretty skilled for being rusty a lot of really pretty chords in here as for the singing, you're a little bit nasally but you're alright and you can hit a note, maybe just some more practice to get some confidence though i commend you for going for it, i'd usually just pass it off onto one of my singer friends here's an electronic track i made today after a bout of inspiration between gaming sessions https://www.facebook.com/joshlilio/videos/2051814298168212/

Thanks for the input, that's what I was looking for. I don't really know any traditional music stuff so I don't know how chord progressions really work in that regard. It was heavily inspired by this, I'll admit that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdLPePKLx4E

I really, really love this; especially at the beginning. I really admire people who do music on the computer - I don't have the patience for that! (ADHD.) :P My only critique would be that I think it would be improved by a new chord progression at about the 3 minute mark, as I find that new chord progressions on longer pieces/songs is quite vital for keeping the listener fully engaged. Still, it's great and it definitely created a palpable sensation of sadness. The following is something I did when I was 21, 5 years ago. The end part shows off my piano skills, and in fairness, I probably exaggerated my lack of ability on it, as I can still play the end of this quite well. It's not the best quality, and I was nervous as fuck, but still, it's in front of an audience and they seemed to like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx1cmaz1OMA

I've really been wanting to make future funk and various types of house music but I just lack any sense of confidence and have no real comprehensive idea of how to do anything, from the sampling to mixing to everything. Finding the right guides is frustrating and it almost feels like my questions are too stupid to be bothered to be addressed in the posts.

I do that! Ask me anything.

This is really nice to my ears. The piano and your voice go together very well. Your singing isn't perfect but it's far from bad, and the fact that you can sing and play at once may as well be magic to me. My only suggestion would be that the final few verses could do with more vocal projection. The piano picks up and your voice gets a bit lost under it.

I know I'm a bit late, but I couldn't go without complimenting you on this. This track is pretty diddly dang groovy, if I do say so myself. The bass is pretty simple, but makes you wanna move and my only real complaint is the lead synth that kicks in later doesn't have more to it. Rather than staying within the range of its few notes, I feel the synth should expand a bit and even have a solo an octave up or so. While I'm here, I'll post a sample of a song I'm working on. It's my first actual piece I've written well enough to feel comfortable sharing and asking opinions on. https://soundcloud.com/crazalicious/ring-of-sadness-sample-track

Can I add you on discord/steam/wherever? Prefer discord but it'd be easier for me to do that, unless I can PM you through the forums lol

Sure, I'm Ott#2786

I've been "playing" guitar for almost 10 years now, but I've never actually had a guitar teacher or anything, so I basically have no real knowledge about guitar playing. So I figured I'd get going with re learning the guitar, but I'm not sure where to start and where to focus. Does anyone know of a guide or good online lessons to read/watch? Also, does anyone have any helpful tips on what to do/not to do when learning guitar properly?

Pretty good, with a better sounding digital piano and some small tweaks that could be a decent little number. Overall the melody is fairly good, my only criticisms would be that there are a couple chords that are discordant and not in a good way, and that the melody could use some pauses or quiet space here and there once it gets going in the middle. Also, the little trill or whatever you call that, was a little cheeky. I might try slowing the whole thing down and seeing what kind of effect that gives it. Also, right now the melody feels a little loose or improvised, could use a bit more structure and consistency. Just my opinions, I played music for a long time, but I'm an amateur music maker / composer at best. - Another little experiment, since everything I post seems to be considered spooky / horror-esque I decided to try to embrace it and try out some different effects / sounds. Originally started with a bit of a bigger idea, but I find my inspiration often gets lost when I have to convert things to notes, etc. in the DAW. https://soundcloud.com/user-229460575/the-one-who-knocks

Thank you so much for the comments, I'll try to use them as constructively as possible and try out your suggestions. I'm just about the newest of the new with composition so criticism is very much appreciated. Also, a quick comment on your work, each instrument flows into one another well and for as almost rhythmic as that beat is near the end, it blends in so well. It further gives a sense of real claustrophobia with the way it sounds like a door constantly being banged upon, I enjoyed the piece quite a bit.

Well I always suggest people lead with what motivates them most, so it'd be helpful to hear what styles of guitar you find most interesting and maybe direct you in that direction, but without know more specifics of what you're interested in I'll offer two sites. The first is www.justinguitar.com and it covers a decent range of topics suitable to pick up a regular more directed focus on improving your general skills in guitar. The second is https://mattwarnockguitar.com/), which is way more in-depth and focuses a lot on jazz guitar. I offer that because if you are decent general guitarist, jazz skills and the direction they offer will suit you with almost any other area of guitar playing. Learning jazz chords and theory is a great way to really ascend to another level of guitar playing and fits a variety of musical styles.

We should do that thing where we make a track in 20-30 minutes and have to share it no matter how bad it turns out

Dude this piece is fucking rad! I really like experimental stuff. You should do more like this!

Sounds legit. You could sneak that into the Kingdom Come soundtrack and I doubt anyone would notice, the build up is the best part. It's difficult to make an orchestra sound like an orchestra when you don't have one on hand but a sound library, you managed well tho. https://soundcloud.com/yurek-611427597/works-i First Attempt and draft at a deep-house track. It's pretty rough at the mo' but I like the airy synth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNvpQmAEmJc

That synth is very nice, I really like the overall aesthetic and layering. It almost has an "Under the Skin" by Mica Levi feeling at times, which is something I really like. Maybe I just like rough, but this definitely feels like where I would leave it. Simple and trance inducing. - And now for something completely different. Well, in my exploration of absolute beginner music production I decided to try out a heavier / industrial / metal vibe. I figure that by trying out different things like this I will build up my skills, but also a palette of sounds and instruments. This is really just an experiment, the song kind of came about randomly. If you hadn't guessed yet, I just do this as a fun past-time because I've turned everything else creative I love into a job haha. https://soundcloud.com/user-229460575/consumer