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

[cinoisP]

[QUOTE=Minelayer;48756950][media]https://soundcloud.com/riftskan/dubss-4[/media]

I like where it's gone.[/QUOTE]
Sounds pretty good. You could go for a Hotline Miami-ish type tone with a darker ambience. Also might sound better if you bring the drums a little bit to the forefront of the song.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/cinoisp/soar[/media]
First song ever taken somewhat seriously. I have mixed feelings about it. Be as honest as possible please. Also I know I probably could've been more varied in the drums. I'm going to be tweaking it a lot more.

[Vaught]

Spent like an hour on just...one part of something I'm working on. And the whole thing is only 40 seconds. This is harder than I thought :<

[QUOTE=Xgamer921;48763884]Sounds pretty good. You could go for a Hotline Miami-ish type tone with a darker ambience. Also might sound better if you bring the drums a little bit to the forefront of the song.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/cinoisp/soar[/media]
First song ever taken somewhat seriously. I have mixed feelings about it. Be as honest as possible please. Also I know I probably could've been more varied in the drums. I'm going to be tweaking it a lot more.[/QUOTE]
A very melodical, chill song. Really nice to listen on a rainy day. It does sounds really quiet overall. The kick and the synth later on could use a little boost, right now you kinda have to jam the volume up to hear them. The structure of the song is great though!

[paindoc]

Just managed to pick up a JV1080 with the orchestral card included, plus a pile of midi and 1/4in balanced patch cables, for $200 off ebay. Considering most of the 1080's go for about $180 shipped and the cards are $60-70 I feel I got an okay deal :D

Unbelievably hyped. Gonna pick up the orchestral II card when I get paid, and I ahve the vintage card on my birthday list. Rackmount unit like this should actually fit at my tiny desk, which I have no set up to give me a little nook like setup. Behind me are all my teas and coffees, and soon an espresso machine for the late night study sessions and late night music sessions. YAY

[MrJazzy]

[QUOTE=Minelayer;48756950][media]https://soundcloud.com/riftskan/dubss-4[/media]

I like where it's gone.[/QUOTE]

I think you gotta EQ the shit out of that, try lowering the lower-mid frequencies on some of the instruments and if you have a reverb on the base either remove it or make it very small, very damp, turn down the decay and volume. Also maybe play around with tweaking the delays on the reverbs but keep them very short or on 0.

Here's something I'm playing around with atm
[url]https://soundcloud.com/messier-51/core2/s-j10mP[/url]

[llamalords]

[media]https://soundcloud.com/user-546421060/minimoog-organ[/media]

Not quiet the stuff you guys have been posting but I love playing with synths. What do you guys think?

[Hoyticus]

Aint nobody readin the damn rules up in this thread

[paindoc]

[QUOTE=Hoyticus;48770675]Aint nobody readin the damn rules up in this thread[/QUOTE]

Reading is hard.

Also turns out I didn't get a great deal on that rackmount synth. Fuck.

[killerteacup]

[QUOTE=Llamalord;48769356][media]https://soundcloud.com/user-546421060/minimoog-organ[/media]

Not quiet the stuff you guys have been posting but I love playing with synths. What do you guys think?[/QUOTE]

I think that before anybody provides feedback to you you should provide feedback to someone else, as per the rules of this thread, thank you :)

[MrJazzy]

[QUOTE=Hoyticus;48759958]The mix is pretty good, but that glitch-y sounding percussion that comes in a little bit after 1:00 is a bit too sharp. Maybe some more compression on it, and some stereoization definitely wouldn't hurt, cuz the hard mono is kinda jarring. I definitely dig the ambience, though. Would probably get stoned and listen to this. Those atmospehic noises at the intro and around 4:15 or so are pretty awesome, great job on that. Overall, a really nice ambient relaxing track. Not sure what it has to do with spilling coffee, though, hah.

I made this track a couple months ago. It's supposed to be sort of a rap kind of drake style beat or whatever. I made it before I knew about encoding, so the bitrate is pretty low quality, but I still use this beat as my flagship beat if someone is ever interested in working with me on rap and they want to hear some of the stuff I've made.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/thehoyticus/rebreathe[/media][/QUOTE]

I would go a little easier on the panning of the small hat/snap percussion and center it a bit more. It's a really nice beat though and chill synths.

Funny I made like a 40 sec snippet today in the same key, altho I'm going for as 80's of a feel as possible :v:
[url]http://vocaroo.com/i/s1vPdvd4gSni[/url]

[paindoc]

MrJazzy your cheesy 80's funk inspires as always ans is legitimately jsut the kick in the pants I needed to actually make music today. I hope you expand on this a bit, love the bass sound. Maybe throw a touch of delay on the lead, or chorus/flange it heavily to take the cheese to the next level? Toms are perfect, lol.

I've been making a cheesy 80's thing of my own:

[video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/retro-ftw-bass-and-intro[/video]

after giving up on this because I can't get the melody to work rhythmically:

[video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/even-more-tryin-melody-base[/video]

I've felt really off lately though and have had a hard time getting much of anything done

[editline]edit[/editline]

jk still just as musically barren as I have been. Have been completely unable to produce anything and just feel disinterested and disenfranchised with music. Struggle to make anything, not even struglging with "sounding good". Can't even do non-composition tasks anymore without getting dreadfully bored or distracted. Doesn't bode well for classes starting in 3 days :v

[Akvai]

[QUOTE=paindoc;48773693]

after giving up on this because I can't get the melody to work rhythmically:

[video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/even-more-tryin-melody-base[/video]

[/QUOTE]

You could try and sincopate some of the accents in the melody, my two cents is that the kick is too overbearing for a melody with that kind of a flow.

Anyhow, here's my first attempt with incorporating synths into my mostly guitar-oriented music. Still obvious post-rock/psychedelia influences, but I am trying to simplify my compositions. Any criticism on the composition/production will be immensely appreciated!

[video]https://soundcloud.com/haharijs/woodland-critter-disco[/video]

[Unkle Dada]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/2yw5ATf.jpg[/img]
Oh yeah baby.
Waterfall keys are like the best thing ever. I can't get used to weighted keys for anything other than piano sounds, but I'm tired of playing on plastic springs.
Playing organ, synth and clavinet sounds feels great on this one, and it even works for electric piano sounds too, at least better than the plastic keyboard I was using before.
Now I feel like making some progressive rock music with a distorted B3 sound in place of guitars.

[Vaught]

[QUOTE=CupUp;48778992]You could try and sincopate some of the accents in the melody, my two cents is that the kick is too overbearing for a melody with that kind of a flow.

Anyhow, here's my first attempt with incorporating synths into my mostly guitar-oriented music. Still obvious post-rock/psychedelia influences, but I am trying to simplify my compositions. Any criticism on the composition/production will be immensely appreciated!

[video]https://soundcloud.com/haharijs/woodland-critter-disco[/video][/QUOTE]

It starts off really well! Gotta admit, this is a pretty chill track, although those snares are like gunshots :v: . Even without the synth, it could do pretty well. The synths really do it justice around the 1:40 mark, but then the off-beat part at the end sorta...clashes with the groove of the rest of the song. Overall, great song, but that ending is kind of hard to adjust to :<

Also I think I managed to finish a piece of my own. A retrowave sorta thing. Unfortunately I don't know if I wanna upload it or not. It uses the basic things that come with Albeton with a bunch of fucking around with audio effects, no additional plugins or the sort, so I'm hesitant. Still, I'm happy I got something done! Now I have no idea what to do next.

[paindoc]

[QUOTE=UnknownDude;48782972][img]http://i.imgur.com/2yw5ATf.jpg[/img]
Oh yeah baby.
Waterfall keys are like the best thing ever. I can't get used to weighted keys for anything other than piano sounds, but I'm tired of playing on plastic springs.
Playing organ, synth and clavinet sounds feels great on this one, and it even works for electric piano sounds too, at least better than the plastic keyboard I was using before.
Now I feel like making some progressive rock music with a distorted B3 sound in place of guitars.[/QUOTE]

I got a new midi keyboard as well with aftertouch and a apparently the best synth action ever and it's glorious. Aftertouch is awesome for nearly everything, a whole extra layer of expressiveness. Rocks on strings, pads, and funky leads are a blast to play too. A good keyboard is one of the best additions, halofreak got my old one and has been having a blast afaik

[Akvai]

[QUOTE=Vaught;48783950]It starts off really well! Gotta admit, this is a pretty chill track, although those snares are like gunshots :v: . Even without the synth, it could do pretty well. The synths really do it justice around the 1:40 mark, but then the off-beat part at the end sorta...clashes with the groove of the rest of the song. Overall, great song, but that ending is kind of hard to adjust to :<

Also I think I managed to finish a piece of my own. A retrowave sorta thing. Unfortunately I don't know if I wanna upload it or not. It uses the basic things that come with Albeton with a bunch of fucking around with audio effects, no additional plugins or the sort, so I'm hesitant. Still, I'm happy I got something done! Now I have no idea what to do next.[/QUOTE]

Haha, shit, you're right about the snare sound. Maybe it's time I started working with samplers instead of virtual drumkits, there's only so much you can tweak on Superior Drummer snares. Thanks for the feedback, anyhow! The ending part was kind of a heat of the moment kind of thing, I get how such a section can be off-putting after the whole song is, like, straight 4/4 groove. This is probably where composition skills come in to play, which I probably seriously lack, still. :v:

And do post your retrowave thing, I think this really is a place to "test" your pieces on other people.

[Vaught]

I would, but there seems to be some kind of black magic involved to upload things from albeton to soundcloud. Might have to manually convert it to wav or mp3 to get it uploaded, but its proving to be more painful than I thought. :surrender:

e: finally got it to work! Of course, I'm not just gonna throw up all willy nilly just yet, because rules, but I got it up there, thankfully.

[paindoc]

[QUOTE=Vaught;48788912]I would, but there seems to be some kind of black magic involved to upload things from albeton to soundcloud. Might have to manually convert it to wav or mp3 to get it uploaded, but its proving to be more painful than I thought. :surrender:[/QUOTE]

Accidental dumb, protip posting and rating on mobile on a bumpy bus doesn't work. You need to export the audio, check "upload to. SoundCloud" and it works from there. Use 24bit 44100 and consider normalizing and dithering the preview, but when preparing for mastering DONT normalize and dither and export 32bit 96000hz

[chaz13]

[QUOTE=CupUp;48778992]You could try and sincopate some of the accents in the melody, my two cents is that the kick is too overbearing for a melody with that kind of a flow.

Anyhow, here's my first attempt with incorporating synths into my mostly guitar-oriented music. Still obvious post-rock/psychedelia influences, but I am trying to simplify my compositions. Any criticism on the composition/production will be immensely appreciated!

[video]https://soundcloud.com/haharijs/woodland-critter-disco[/video][/QUOTE]

This is cool! The mix is not bad but it could do with a little work. Everything feels a little too wet for me, if there's reverb on the drums and it's not due to the recording conditions I'd recommend reducing it because currently everything is very background-y and there's no real main elements. The drums could be this element and it'd help drive the song more too.

I'm finally back home after 3 months away so I can do some music stuff again. Just bought a scarlett 2i4 too yay.

Neurostep thing:

[media]https://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/neurostep-wip[/media]

[Minelayer]

[QUOTE=chaz13;48804431]This is cool! The mix is not bad but it could do with a little work. Everything feels a little too wet for me, if there's reverb on the drums and it's not due to the recording conditions I'd recommend reducing it because currently everything is very background-y and there's no real main elements. The drums could be this element and it'd help drive the song more too.

I'm finally back home after 3 months away so I can do some music stuff again. Just bought a scarlett 2i4 too yay.

Neurostep thing:

[media]https://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/neurostep-wip[/media][/QUOTE]

The intro part gets kind of loud; hurts my ears a bit.

The rest sounds pretty cool though; it has a good beat. Never heard of neurostep, but it vaguely reminds me of one of the combat themes in Borderlands 2.

[MrJazzy]

[QUOTE=chaz13;48804431]This is cool! The mix is not bad but it could do with a little work. Everything feels a little too wet for me, if there's reverb on the drums and it's not due to the recording conditions I'd recommend reducing it because currently everything is very background-y and there's no real main elements. The drums could be this element and it'd help drive the song more too.

I'm finally back home after 3 months away so I can do some music stuff again. Just bought a scarlett 2i4 too yay.

Neurostep thing:

[media]https://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/neurostep-wip[/media][/QUOTE]

I don't personally agree with the intro part being loud, but maybe you could turn it down a little bit. Yeah it's pretty dope.

[editline]2nd October 2015[/editline]

[QUOTE=paindoc;48773693]MrJazzy your cheesy 80's funk inspires as always ans is legitimately jsut the kick in the pants I needed to actually make music today. I hope you expand on this a bit, love the bass sound. Maybe throw a touch of delay on the lead, or chorus/flange it heavily to take the cheese to the next level? Toms are perfect, lol.

I've been making a cheesy 80's thing of my own:

[video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/retro-ftw-bass-and-intro[/video]

after giving up on this because I can't get the melody to work rhythmically:

[video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/even-more-tryin-melody-base[/video]

I've felt really off lately though and have had a hard time getting much of anything done

[editline]edit[/editline]

jk still just as musically barren as I have been. Have been completely unable to produce anything and just feel disinterested and disenfranchised with music. Struggle to make anything, not even struglging with "sounding good". Can't even do non-composition tasks anymore without getting dreadfully bored or distracted. Doesn't bode well for classes starting in 3 days :v[/QUOTE]

First one sounds really cool, and I really enjoy the strange melody/bassline. I would maybe sidechain the kick to the hat(s) and put a limiter/compressor just a tiny bit to get the kick and snare more in the center but not too much to ruin the 80s feeling.

Second one I think you may have gotten confused in what beat/rhythm you want the song to be in, but if you got somewhere with it it would sound good.

I feel you man, I'm glad to not have school tbh. Here are two tracks I've hastily worked on.

[url]https://soundcloud.com/messier-51/going-on/s-FiUGd[/url]
[url]https://soundcloud.com/messier-51/aight2222/s-6uuJz[/url]

[Vaught]

[QUOTE=chaz13;48804431]This is cool! The mix is not bad but it could do with a little work. Everything feels a little too wet for me, if there's reverb on the drums and it's not due to the recording conditions I'd recommend reducing it because currently everything is very background-y and there's no real main elements. The drums could be this element and it'd help drive the song more too.

I'm finally back home after 3 months away so I can do some music stuff again. Just bought a scarlett 2i4 too yay.

Neurostep thing:

[media]https://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/neurostep-wip[/media][/QUOTE]

After turning it down a bit, it's actually pretty dang good. Gritty as fuck, enough bass to make an earthquake blush. First time I've heard of neurofunk but if this is what it is then I gotta say its got a kick to it. My only complaint is the overall loudness.

Oh yeah, my retrowave thingy. Keep in mind I have no extra plugins or anything, just things straight from the box.
[media]https://soundcloud.com/muu-558163172/beeps-and-boops[/media]

[chaz13]

Realised I had a limiter with +10dB after my mastering chain :v: I'll reupload in a while.

EDIT: Done

[paindoc]

[QUOTE=Vaught;48805662]After turning it down a bit, it's actually pretty dang good. Gritty as fuck, enough bass to make an earthquake blush. First time I've heard of neurofunk but if this is what it is then I gotta say its got a kick to it. My only complaint is the overall loudness.

Oh yeah, my retrowave thingy. Keep in mind I have no extra plugins or anything, just things straight from the box.
[media]https://soundcloud.com/muu-558163172/beeps-and-boops[/media][/QUOTE]

Sounds pretty good, especially for a first attempt. The lead doesn't really fit, notewise, with the song. Maybe up the resonance or make it seem more retro with some detuning, lowpassing, and modulation maybe. Tons and tons of tutorials on how to use starter vst's to make intro sounds, a Kavinsky style lead synth might work? The drum is just right and the backing sequence fits nicely, but the lead synth just seems off somehow. I can't quite describe. Good job in general with the percussion again though, kick is nice and I like how it seems you did a slow filter sweep with it. The sound at 2m mark works a bit better than the other lead synth, but at this point you should add a bit more variety to the bassline. Try playing with [URL="http://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/essential-transition-fx-technique-masterclass/"]more transition sounds[/URL], and add more motion in the sound with light effects processing like delay, panning, phasers, chorus, etc.

Overall, nicely done. I look forward to hearing more from you and hearing you improve more, you have a hell of a lot of potential.

I made a thing I also don't hate as well, just an intro and WIP as fuck so very little automation and mixing work, but I do really intend to finish this. Just won't have time for a few weeks, probably.

[url]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/hey-look-this-is-okay-i-guess/s-d1nCm[/url]

Also anyone else use a Xenyx 1204USB mixer? It seems to really ruin the audio whenr ecorded through USB. It just sounds very low quality, and muffled with a lot of the richness of the sound missing. This was recorded with the Orchestral 3 patch also heard [URL="http://synthmania.com/Roland%20SR-JV80-02%20Orchestral/Audio/177%20Full%20Orch.3.mp3"]here[/URL], but it sounds so much worse:

[url]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/orchestra/s-oKREV[/url]

[Vaught]

[QUOTE=paindoc;48807122]Sounds pretty good, especially for a first attempt. The lead doesn't really fit, notewise, with the song. Maybe up the resonance or make it seem more retro with some detuning, lowpassing, and modulation maybe. Tons and tons of tutorials on how to use starter vst's to make intro sounds, a Kavinsky style lead synth might work? The drum is just right and the backing sequence fits nicely, but the lead synth just seems off somehow. I can't quite describe. Good job in general with the percussion again though, kick is nice and I like how it seems you did a slow filter sweep with it. The sound at 2m mark works a bit better than the other lead synth, but at this point you should add a bit more variety to the bassline. Try playing with [URL="http://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/essential-transition-fx-technique-masterclass/"]more transition sounds[/URL], and add more motion in the sound with light effects processing like delay, panning, phasers, chorus, etc.

Overall, nicely done. I look forward to hearing more from you and hearing you improve more, you have a hell of a lot of potential.

I made a thing I also don't hate as well, just an intro and WIP as fuck so very little automation and mixing work, but I do really intend to finish this. Just won't have time for a few weeks, probably.

[url]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/hey-look-this-is-okay-i-guess/s-d1nCm[/url]

Also anyone else use a Xenyx 1204USB mixer? It seems to really ruin the audio whenr ecorded through USB. It just sounds very low quality, and muffled with a lot of the richness of the sound missing. This was recorded with the Orchestral 3 patch also heard [URL="http://synthmania.com/Roland%20SR-JV80-02%20Orchestral/Audio/177%20Full%20Orch.3.mp3"]here[/URL], but it sounds so much worse:

[url]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/orchestra/s-oKREV[/url][/QUOTE]

Yeah, I was really just fucking about and was trying to find my niche. Retrowave is nice, but I don't seem to have the right tools to get that sound I need. If I do, I don't know how to make it sound right. I'm a fan of the deep bass-y tools, so more bass is no issue for me. Also, your transition sound article seems to be just about Massive, but I use Ableton. Not sure if the two have any overlap :s

Your first track starts off kinda..ear-splitting. Like that entire first 30-40 seconds is really hard on the ears, but then it transitions into something beautiful. I'm not sure of the term, is it the chorus? The second track sounds like it should have more of that echo instruments have, but they sorta...cut each other off. Kinda sounds like something you'd hear from early to mid 2000 medieval games. Probably the result of that mixer you mentioned. It sounds pretty amazing, but you're right in that its very neutered. Hopefully that gets fixed somehow, I really wanna hear the unbonked version :c

[paindoc]

[QUOTE=Vaught;48807510]Yeah, I was really just fucking about and was trying to find my niche. Retrowave is nice, but I don't seem to have the right tools to get that sound I need. If I do, I don't know how to make it sound right. I'm a fan of the deep bass-y tools, so more bass is no issue for me. Also, your transition sound article seems to be just about Massive, but I use Ableton. Not sure if the two have any overlap :s

Your first track starts off kinda..ear-splitting. Like that entire first 30-40 seconds is really hard on the ears, but then it transitions into something beautiful. I'm not sure of the term, is it the chorus? The second track sounds like it should have more of that echo instruments have, but they sorta...cut each other off. Kinda sounds like something you'd hear from early to mid 2000 medieval games. Probably the result of that mixer you mentioned. It sounds pretty amazing, but you're right in that its very neutered. Hopefully that gets fixed somehow, I really wanna hear the unbonked version :c[/QUOTE]

Nearly all of that will transfer, yes. A lot of it is fairly common as Massive is just a synth. Noise sweeps are the easiest and involve automating the pitchbend. Here's a nice way to make a neat white noise riser, its how I made the one in that latest snippet:

1. Get Ableton analog in a rack all by itself, if you have it. Otherwise find any other vst. Deactivate all the osc's except the white noise osc. Get it to a reasonable volume and draw in a note around mid-C. Extend this so it lasts about 15 seconds.

2. Route it simply through one filter and the main amp, disable the filter envelope and volume envelope. Just have the noise go instant full on. Then, click the filter frequency so it shows up as a parameter you can draw automation for. Lower the frequency until you can barely hear the noise, note this level, than move it a bit lower and use this as the starting point.

3. Draw automation so that at the culmination of your transition the frequency is fully open and unfiltered, then pull it back just a touch- two or three beats should work. Listen to it, and yuo should get a noise sweep that slowly seems to raise in energy.

4. Right click what you just made, and click freeze track. Let this freeze, then right click again and flatten. You now have an audio file. Right click, reverse. Choose a reverb setting you like, something with a large decay time. Don't set it quite to 100% wet, but make sure the effect is apparent without killing the original sound.

5. Freeze, flatten, reverse again. Now you have a neat noise riser with a reversed reverb effect. Bam.

[Vaught]

Not gonna lie, you lost me for a lot of that :s. I just got to the point where a white noise filter exists. Thats it.

e: oh wait, I think I accidentally did it. I'll play around with this again when I wake up tomorrow.

[Hoyticus]

Hey, if anybody wants FL studio for free, i gotchu

[chaz13]

[QUOTE=Hoyticus;48815330]Hey, if anybody wants FL studio for free, i gotchu[/QUOTE]

If you're talking about a spare license that'd be awesome...

[Vaught]

I remember the first time I used FL. It was like being in a candy shop and the owner was no where to be found :v:

[Hoyticus]

i can email you a pirated copy of fl studio 11 producer edition if you want

[highlight](User was banned for this post ("warez" - postal))[/highlight]