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

[Eyefunk]

[QUOTE=Mezzokoko;47458582]
Dropping some of my recent WIP here. Contains three hours of work so far, will probably keep expanding it in the future.
[media]http://soundcloud.com/mezzokoko-wip/2b-named[/media][/QUOTE]

I know this is hard to avoid, but that piano VST sounds very fake and rather distracting from the rest of the piece. The snare that's added in a bit later feels a bit thin, maybe add some more mid / mid lows to it? I really like the pacing of the piece, it keeps that driving beat going throughout with some nice variation with the melody. While it doesn't really stand well on its own, it could be nice if you put a bit more work into the songwriting.
______

Hello. I haven't been making much music lately. I've been focusing on learning piano (for the past 2 months), which I'm still no good at. As sort of a way to fulfill my songwriting needs, my friend and I released a piano improv EP, recorded using a shitty iPhone. If you're interested, you can check it out here: [media]http://soundcloud.com/weeperscurtain/sets/lent-piano-improv-ep[/media]

[chaz13]

[QUOTE=Eyefunk;47469786]I know this is hard to avoid, but that piano VST sounds very fake and rather distracting from the rest of the piece. The snare that's added in a bit later feels a bit thin, maybe add some more mid / mid lows to it? I really like the pacing of the piece, it keeps that driving beat going throughout with some nice variation with the melody. While it doesn't really stand well on its own, it could be nice if you put a bit more work into the songwriting.
______

Hello. I haven't been making much music lately. I've been focusing on learning piano (for the past 2 months), which I'm still no good at. As sort of a way to fulfill my songwriting needs, my friend and I released a piano improv EP, recorded using a shitty iPhone. If you're interested, you can check it out here: [media]http://soundcloud.com/weeperscurtain/sets/lent-piano-improv-ep[/media][/QUOTE]

The quality is quite distracting, but I'll try to comment. It's nice but doesn't flow very well. The chord progression is very atypical and the entire piece is rather atonal, a little too much for my liking. It flits about between being melodic and atonal a bit too much, too, which makes it hard to keep up. The rhythm of the chords is quite basic and samey throughout, you could do with changing it up a little. Keep it up :smile:

Been messing about a little:

[media]http://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/was-ist-das[/media]

[editline]6th April 2015[/editline]

[QUOTE=Mezzokoko;47458582]The base track is pretty chill, but the "wubwub" which kicks in at 1:30 is somehow distracting and unfitting in my opinion. It doesn't really add to the rest, since it doesn't really feel connected to the base track harmonywise. I'd personally leave it out and play something else over it instead.

I love this track, the sounds are killer, the atmosphere is amazing, and I must honestly say, I can't really give any criticism apart from good work there. Obviously got reminded of Hotline Miami here :v:.

----------

Dropping some of my recent WIP here. Contains three hours of work so far, will probably keep expanding it in the future.
[media]http://soundcloud.com/mezzokoko-wip/2b-named[/media][/QUOTE]

Piano VST's can be made to sound way better with a good convolution reverb, very wet. Give it a shot :smile: The open hi hats nearer the end are very jarring, it should come down a bit in the mix and perhaps be a little wetter too. The snare is very weak in the mix. Cool melodies though!

[mezzokoko]

[QUOTE=Eyefunk;47469786]Hello. I haven't been making much music lately. I've been focusing on learning piano (for the past 2 months), which I'm still no good at. As sort of a way to fulfill my songwriting needs, my friend and I released a piano improv EP, recorded using a shitty iPhone. If you're interested, you can check it out here: [media]http://soundcloud.com/weeperscurtain/sets/lent-piano-improv-ep[/media][/QUOTE]

Tyler 1: The bit until ~ 1:40 has a lot of repititions, which could be freshened up with different kinds of variations, maybe try different tonal keys here?

Tom 1: I liked some of the chord progressions at the beginning, but you should reset the pedal inbetween more often and longer, because it really messes up the overall sound. Maybe it helps relying on it less aswell sometimes, as it provides a generally cleaner sound.

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Funfact: I am not actually using VST for my sounds, but this fairly cheap model: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_MM6[/url]

Reworked version of my previous post + bonus (still needs a lottta fillers, but I thought I'd drop it here too):

[media]http://soundcloud.com/mezzokoko/two-minutes-til-deadline[/media]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/mezzokoko-wip/2b-named-001[/media]

[Skeeter]

[QUOTE=Mezzokoko;47473537]Tyler 1: The bit until ~ 1:40 has a lot of repititions, which could be freshened up with different kinds of variations, maybe try different tonal keys here?

Tom 1: I liked some of the chord progressions at the beginning, but you should reset the pedal inbetween more often and longer, because it really messes up the overall sound. Maybe it helps relying on it less aswell sometimes, as it provides a generally cleaner sound.

-----------

Funfact: I am not actually using VST for my sounds, but this fairly cheap model: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_MM6[/url]

Reworked version of my previous post + bonus (still needs a lottta fillers, but I thought I'd drop it here too):

[media]http://soundcloud.com/mezzokoko/two-minutes-til-deadline[/media]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/mezzokoko-wip/2b-named-001[/media][/QUOTE]

This shit got my head bobbing right away! The kick seems to have a pretty nice bounce to it!
I really enjoy the bass that plays, the whole track has a very 80s sound to it, except that it has a very nice clarity to itself. The piano, dear god dude, it is beautiful!
The one thing I think that distracts the whole track is the hihat, I'm not 100% sure if panning it so hard left works since there's not really a lot to balance it to the right, y'know?

Maybe a slight panning that's automated left/right with each beat could work? I'm thinking maybe 20-25% to either direction, that way it shouldn't be too audible but still noticeable.

Still working on this track, some guitars are re-recorded, most of the old ones are still in the track though since I couldn't get the right feel for it.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/skriket/cmoncajon[/media]
I'm planning on getting this released on spotify so any help on how it sounds is extremely appreciated! :)

[mezzokoko]

[QUOTE=Skeeter;47475563]Still working on this track, some guitars are re-recorded, most of the old ones are still in the track though since I couldn't get the right feel for it.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/skriket/cmoncajon[/media]
I'm planning on getting this released on spotify so any help on how it sounds is extremely appreciated! :)[/QUOTE]

Pretty chilly acoustic track. Haven't heard alot of such stuff in some time. The Cajón are pretty nice, had a chance to play them in a music store once, they are hell lotta fun :v:. I feel like the main guitar fades into the background very often, which I personally find a bit frustrating, since ye can't hear the main theme very well, which I find very important for a song to consciously listen to; I enjoyed the bits with the brighter guitar more, since they were more distincitvly audible. The "drop" at 2:23 was probably my favorite part of it all though, mostly to the rich background of sounds. All in all very good work in my opinion.

[Talvy]

I'm a beginner in music (although I took piano lessons as a child) and I recently took up game music practice in FL studio. I was thinking about the tempo.

I matched the tempo of some platformer soundtracks with the metronome, and got tempos like 131, 133 and 141. It weirds me out that composers choose such specific tempos for their compositions; how am I ever supposed to get that precise when I'm already having trouble finding the right tempo in tens?

oh no too much exposure

[Skeeter]

The human body (and mind by default) is pretty damn good at the whole music business

[absolalone111]

[QUOTE=Talvy;47482150]I'm a beginner in music (although I took piano lessons as a child) and I recently took up game music practice in FL studio. I was thinking about the tempo.

I matched the tempo of some platformer soundtracks with the metronome, and got tempos like 131, 133 and 141. It weirds me out that composers choose such specific tempos for their compositions; how am I ever supposed to get that precise when I'm already having trouble finding the right tempo in tens?

oh no too much exposure[/QUOTE]
what skeeter said, also some older consoles forced the composers to work with weird time signatures as well

[mezzokoko]

[QUOTE=Talvy;47482150]I'm a beginner in music (although I took piano lessons as a child) and I recently took up game music practice in FL studio. I was thinking about the tempo.

I matched the tempo of some platformer soundtracks with the metronome, and got tempos like 131, 133 and 141. It weirds me out that composers choose such specific tempos for their compositions; how am I ever supposed to get that precise when I'm already having trouble finding the right tempo in tens?

oh no too much exposure[/QUOTE]

When I start new work, I usually already have a small motive that was created by improvisation on the keyboard. I usually base my tempo on that before starting to record. Since there is no set tempo at which you improvise you pretty much get odd values all the time, which isn't an issue at all though, because it doesn't influence any other parts of a song at all, which is why I never change it at all during composition and after the initial measurement.

[Chris_the_qt]

Tried to fuck around with FLStudio, I don't know what's going on. I tried to chop up the song, and only change the pitch of a single piece, but it changed the pitch for every piece of every track.

[Unreliable]

-snip-

[Timo★]

[QUOTE=Psycho9182;47486050]Tried to fuck around with FLStudio, I don't know what's going on. I tried to chop up the song, and only change the pitch of a single piece, but it changed the pitch for every piece of every track.[/QUOTE]When you chop up a piece of a sample, it doesn't create a new instance of that sample. If you want to change the pitch of a single segment you have to have the sample on the playlist, click the small icon on the top left of it and select "make unique". This creates a new instance of the sample, but not just that small piece, but the whole sample. If you want to separate the little piece you can select "make unique as sample" from the same dropdown menu, that isolates the chopped up piece and creates a new sample out of it

[Skeeter]

My band played a gig yesterday with 3 other bands, and we won* 10 hours in the studio at a pretty nice studio!

*The competition was laid out so that people paid $0.5 in the entrance and then could vote on the band they thought should win, it was possible to buy more tickets in the café. The band who came second then decided where the money should go.

Still, we got a lot of positive feedback when we played, and it was so goddamn fun!

[Grenadiac]

If you could pick any instrument at all to master instantly, what would you pick?

For me - it'd be the pipe organ. That might sound like an odd choice but I find them to be extremely powerful instruments.

[Timo★]

Violin!

[Liam]

maybe like if i was just really good on a hammond b3. actually owning one, that would be a start.

[Hakita]

does singing count as an instrument because that would be handy

[Grenadiac]

That can count :v:

[Hakita]

then singing, and i'm not talking about just any kind of singing, i'm talking about some heavy-weight Attila Csihar type-style shit

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am8VThuLdss[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFIIflFuDzk[/media]

[MilkBagz]

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;47505271]If you could pick any instrument at all to master instantly, what would you pick?

For me - it'd be the pipe organ. That might sound like an odd choice but I find them to be extremely powerful instruments.[/QUOTE]

Shakuhachi flutes, I love the sound of them.

[editline]11th April 2015[/editline]

Or the vibraphone.

[fartparty]

[QUOTE=chaz13;47438238]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/hnnng[/media][/QUOTE]

this is pretty sick, i'm not really a fan of this type of music but i could probably bump this
i'd like it to sound a hell of a lot creepier though, idk how you'd go about doing that but it's something to think about

[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;47444176]
And this is a dancefloor oriented one. It's only a drum rack and a bass synth so far but I'm [I]really[/I] looking forward to playing this one out when it's done already: [url]https://soundcloud.com/sonis/stomp-01b/s-ujvUA[/url][/QUOTE]

bumpin', see previous
+8

[QUOTE=chaz13;47450294]Started a new track to take a break from the cinematic neuro one:

[media]http://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/ice-cubes[/media][/QUOTE]

really neat, what is this type of music called?
i like the drums

[QUOTE=Mezzokoko;47458582]
Dropping some of my recent WIP here. Contains three hours of work so far, will probably keep expanding it in the future.
[media]http://soundcloud.com/mezzokoko-wip/2b-named[/media][/QUOTE]

i like it, but it's a little boring
has potential, love to see where you take it
also others' notes about vst's and whatnot, but i probably suffer from the same shit

and speaking of, now for my contro

[media]http://soundcloud.com/sharkalarm/seven-eight[/media]

[killa101]

[QUOTE=Korpor4l;47454231]After a long hiatus, I finally found the inspiration to make something, and something that I'd like to share. It has an 80's yet modern feel to it, I think the genre is Synthwave.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/araskael/neon-river[/media]
[/QUOTE]

I really like this. I actually want to make music sort of similar as I really dig spacey stabs with long washy tails. And I've always had a thing for wah-wah synths.

[QUOTE=chaz13;47470198]
Been messing about a little:

[media]http://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/was-ist-das[/media][/QUOTE]

I've also been into this kind of stuff thanks to KOAN Sound. Snare and bass are on point for sure! I hear a bit of Noisia in there too :v:

[QUOTE=Mezzokoko;47473537]
Reworked version of my previous post + bonus (still needs a lottta fillers, but I thought I'd drop it here too):

[media]http://soundcloud.com/mezzokoko-wip/2b-named-001[/media][/QUOTE]

Really like the melody and progression in this, I know it's probably a WIP, but the bass feels a bit out of place. Like it has too many mixing frequencies that make it just sound really washy in some of the upper end of its spectrum. It's a problem I face a lot of the time as I too, I love a good gritty synth-bass sound.

~~~~~

So, a little while ago I finished writing my second drum & bass album. I've been contemplating whether I should make a thread for it or not because RIP music section, but anyways, if anyone wants to check it out I would like to hear what you guys think.

Most of the tracks have a unique sound, as I started on a fresh template with each and every one.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/wakethephantom/lastchancetolive[/media]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/wakethephantom/playgroundgames[/media]

You can stream the full album on my bandcamp page:
[url]http://wakethephantom.bandcamp.com/album/afterlife[/url]

And for anyone who still cares, here is something a little different:
[media]http://soundcloud.com/wakethephantom/crossmymind[/media]

[brooklynlord]

[QUOTE=Talvy;47482150]I'm a beginner in music (although I took piano lessons as a child) and I recently took up game music practice in FL studio. I was thinking about the tempo.

I matched the tempo of some platformer soundtracks with the metronome, and got tempos like 131, 133 and 141. It weirds me out that composers choose such specific tempos for their compositions; how am I ever supposed to get that precise when I'm already having trouble finding the right tempo in tens?

oh no too much exposure[/QUOTE]

Don't worry about the tempo. The tempo is more there to give you a feel; faster tends to be more frantic, though it also could be energetic. Slower tends to be heavier, but not necessarily so.

I'm pretty sure the reason why platformer soundtracks lock to a specific tempo is because they're synthesized, hence they tend to choose integers for tempos (and they don't usually go through the hassle of changing it).

But again, the tempo is more of a pace that you can find that fits the feel of the piece and can listen to it over and over again with it sounding normal, if that helps.

[GayIlluminati]

I just found an old mac ii quadra, so I installed Digidesign Turbosynth on it. Holy dicktits!

Waveshapers, timestretching, and sample-to-oscillator as single cycle segments are just a few of the unique things it can do.

[Katamarijr]

Been a looooong time since I posted in this thread.

Anyone here play electric guitar? Looking to source a guitar solo or two for a power metal-esque album im working on.

[Speedhax]

Anyone else miss biscuit boy from the old thread?

[MilkBagz]

[QUOTE=Speedhax;47530047]Anyone else miss biscuit boy from the old thread?[/QUOTE]

rip rediscover too

[Anax]

[QUOTE=killa101;47522985]

[media]http://soundcloud.com/wakethephantom/lastchancetolive[/media]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/wakethephantom/playgroundgames[/media]

You can stream the full album on my bandcamp page:
[url]http://wakethephantom.bandcamp.com/album/afterlife[/url]

And for anyone who still cares, here is something a little different:
[media]http://soundcloud.com/wakethephantom/crossmymind[/media][/QUOTE]

Pretty well produced. Sounded clean and had a consistent style. The only thing that seemed off-putting to me when I skimmed through was a bit of sameyness to the tracks. Might just be my preference in genre though, and I'll give it another listen later. I really liked "Smile"-- cool rhythm and pretty pads. Wish I could muster up the motivation to finish another album.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/anax-1/helping-inems[/media]
Tried a techno kind of style.
[media]http://soundcloud.com/anax-1/fractual[/media]
Playing with synthetic percussion design.
[media]http://soundcloud.com/anax-1/mossy-sunlit-fiberglass[/media]
Recording things.

[hobo4president]

[QUOTE=inebriaticxp;47509247]
and speaking of, now for my contro

[media]http://soundcloud.com/sharkalarm/seven-eight[/media][/QUOTE]

Really love the guitar the quirky synths are also nice.

[QUOTE=killa101;47522985]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/wakethephantom/lastchancetolive[/media]
[/QUOTE]

Really good work man, I think the only problem is the strings sound a bit artificial. Love the bassline.

[QUOTE=Anax;47530123]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/anax-1/helping-inems[/media]
Tried a techno kind of style.
[/QUOTE]

I really like the first quarter it sounds really dark, I think it would be nicer if it stayed dark instead of bringing in the more peaceful synths and instead opening the filters. Also some really saturated off-hats might sound nice.

__________________________________________

Been working on a remix, happy where it is going. The vocals still have some weird warping issues at parts though and I'm trying to fix that.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/weather-remix-3[/media]

[Legion Varus]

[QUOTE=inebriaticxp;47509247]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/sharkalarm/seven-eight[/media][/QUOTE]

Enjoyed it. Really gives me the vibes of something I'd be listening at night on the road.

[QUOTE=killa101;47522985]
And for anyone who still cares, here is something a little different:
[media]http://soundcloud.com/wakethephantom/crossmymind[/media][/QUOTE]

I can really tell you've grown as a musician killa101. This stuff is good! Very chill.

[QUOTE=Hobo4President;47531524]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/weather-remix-3[/media][/QUOTE]

Not familiar with the original, but I like the mix of synths. Sounds like something I might here at one of the local bars in town.

___________________________________________________

So I've been hard at work doing a bunch of music. I recently just got finished writing a soundtrack for a short film entered into a film festival in town. We ended up winning the whole festival. Which is great coverage for me!

Anyways I'm going to post a couple different things. Some of which are self contained pieces and the other is the soundtrack. You can pick and choose what you want to listen to.

Just started working on this and it probably is one of the more well written things I've started.
[media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/legends[/media]

This piece here is something I did a couple weeks ago, but what I did with it is I took a Bach prelude I did as a freshman in college and remixed/worked it into this piece.
[media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/bach-in-a-minute[/media]

And lastly here is part of the soundtrack. Its the last piece in the set and it is by far my favorite.
[media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/bad-memories[/media]