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

[QUOTE=Ott;48898649]I'll be honest there are times when I don't feel like I'm qualified to give criticism when the song is a genre I'm unfamiliar with.[/QUOTE] in-depth listening and thinking about the song in terms of giving criticism can really only make you feel more familiar with the genre, though. and there are many general items that apply to all genres that are still open for criticism.

[QUOTE=Ott;48898649]I'll be honest there are times when I don't feel like I'm qualified to give criticism when the song is a genre I'm unfamiliar with.[/QUOTE] After reading all this, I feel like I'm not very qualified in giving criticism at all. I genuinely thought I was being helpful but it seems that isn't the case with the rather paltry information I provided. I'm sorry to anyone I offended trying to provide C&C, I didn't mean to.

[QUOTE=Hoyticus;48898491]Well, I meant that people don't show any real interest in other people's work. If you want people to enjoy and truly appreciate your art, you have to do the same for others. If I send a track of mine to a friend and all he says is "it's pretty good, man." then I'm more insulted than if he were to tell me that my music is awful and I should just quit. "pretty good man" just shows to me that he doesn't care about it. Art is one of the greatest ways humans have to express their inner selves, so if you don't care about my art, then you practically don't care about who I am as a human. I mean, I pour hours into the stuff I produce and "pretty good, man" is just heartbreaking. (insert end of rant here)[/QUOTE] If/when you send your music to bigger artists, don't hold on to this attitude.

[QUOTE=Vaught;48898670]After reading all this, I feel like I'm not very qualified in giving criticism at all. I genuinely thought I was being helpful but it seems that isn't the case with the rather paltry information I provided. I'm sorry to anyone I offended trying to provide C&C, I didn't mean to.[/QUOTE] You're still trying though, more than quite a few [editline]14th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=KmartSqrl;48898714]If/when you send your music to bigger artists, don't hold on to this attitude.[/QUOTE] I feel like an entitled priss saying what I have, but I dunno I'm just always hopeful that posting in this thread I can get a bit of criticism that is helpful to me.

[QUOTE=paindoc;48898727]You're still trying though, more than quite a few [editline]14th October 2015[/editline] I feel like an entitled priss saying what I have, but I dunno I'm just always hopeful that posting in this thread I can get a bit of criticism that is helpful to me.[/QUOTE] Don't worry about it :) There's nothing wrong with wanting in depth criticism. The sending to bigger artists/labels thing is just a matter of them getting sent so many tunes that they will almost never have time to do that, so getting a positive response at all is generally a good thing.

[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;48898837]Don't worry about it :) There's nothing wrong with wanting in depth criticism. The sending to bigger artists/labels thing is just a matter of them getting sent so many tunes that they will almost never have time to do that, so getting a positive response at all is generally a good thing.[/QUOTE] Oh. Yeah, I agree. SeamlessR had a good video on the usbject, and it came down to essentially "act like a professional"

Man, inspiration has just abandoned me lately. I can't open FL Studio without closing it 10 minutes after.

[QUOTE=TheDrunkenOne;48898897]Man, inspiration has just abandoned me lately. I can't open FL Studio without closing it 10 minutes after.[/QUOTE] Mash Levels with Poker Face

[QUOTE=TheDrunkenOne;48898897]Man, inspiration has just abandoned me lately. I can't open FL Studio without closing it 10 minutes after.[/QUOTE] Got any physical hardware? Midi keyboards are great for doodling and getting inspiration with, just open a generic piano or synth vst and start playing away and chances are you'll find something worth making. The JD-Xi has been a wise investment in that its practically an inspiration dispenser, a groovebox-type synth is excellent for finding little motifs or ideas to use later. You can still use this time to more thoroughly learn sound design, play with FX, clean up your sample library, make new drumhits and other uncreative but vital activities.

[QUOTE=paindoc;48898906]Got any physical hardware? Midi keyboards are great for doodling and getting inspiration with, just open a generic piano or synth vst and start playing away and chances are you'll find something worth making. The JD-Xi has been a wise investment in that its practically an inspiration dispenser, a groovebox-type synth is excellent for finding little motifs or ideas to use later. You can still use this time to more thoroughly learn sound design, play with FX, clean up your sample library, make new drumhits and other uncreative but vital activities.[/QUOTE] Nah, can't afford any of that til I have a stable source of money. I was in the mood to make some 110bpm but I just can't get anything solid done. [editline]asf[/editline] except harmor/patcher patches maybe

[QUOTE=Hoyticus;48897642]man, the only thing i dont really like about this thread are the people that are just like[/QUOTE] Hey man, if this was aimed at me I was gonna comment on how the mix in the intro to your track felt a bit empty, but I didn't want to upset you and wasn't sure if that's what you were aiming for... I'm not sure what to comment on, you pretty much nailed it 1:30 onwards, this is the kinda stuff I would listen to whilst working or to chill out and to say I dislike the intro would be incorrect, I dig the track. As for the intro, in terms of emptyness I felt like there could be more to to fill in the gaps in the mix... It's hard to explain... I feel like a lot of people just happening upon the track would wanna skip in the first few as there's not a lot of your main idea around in the beginning, and this would be a shame as it gets quite interesting later on. To reiterate, I really dig your track, although the intro seems a bit empty and might not promote enough interest for people to listen to the whole thing...

Best guitar recording mic for a broke college student? Would love it is good at acoustic as well as from an amp

[QUOTE=jaooe;48900725]Hey man, if this was aimed at me I was gonna comment on how the mix in the intro to your track felt a bit empty, but I didn't want to upset you and wasn't sure if that's what you were aiming for... I'm not sure what to comment on, you pretty much nailed it 1:30 onwards, this is the kinda stuff I would listen to whilst working or to chill out and to say I dislike the intro would be incorrect, I dig the track. As for the intro, in terms of emptyness I felt like there could be more to to fill in the gaps in the mix... It's hard to explain... I feel like a lot of people just happening upon the track would wanna skip in the first few as there's not a lot of your main idea around in the beginning, and this would be a shame as it gets quite interesting later on. To reiterate, I really dig your track, although the intro seems a bit empty and might not promote enough interest for people to listen to the whole thing...[/QUOTE] Oh I'm sorry dude, it wasn't necessarily aimed at you. And I wouldn't have been upset by negative criticism, because any criticism is good criticism. It helps me build my art, and it shows that somebody cares. I was just talking about the people on this thread and people who I show my music to in general. I don't really have any bad blood towards you or anyone in particular, I just wanted to let out my frustration about the subject in general. But thanks for the critique, man. It means a lot.

[QUOTE=Hoyticus;48901611]Oh I'm sorry dude, it wasn't necessarily aimed at you. And I wouldn't have been upset by negative criticism, because any criticism is good criticism. It helps me build my art, and it shows that somebody cares. I was just talking about the people on this thread and people who I show my music to in general. I don't really have any bad blood towards you or anyone in particular, I just wanted to let out my frustration about the subject in general. But thanks for the critique, man. It means a lot.[/QUOTE] I don't think poorly of anyone in particular either, and if someone is willing to work on improving their criticism that makes me think much better of them. Its tough, but its something worth working on.

[QUOTE=Vaught;48897080]Digging the melody and overall speed. The kicks and claps lack that punch, though. Feels really soft. Dunno if they go beast mode later on, but thats the only thing I really picked up on. I dig the usage of reverb/echos later on! Real fucking rad, I might add. As for this, I have no idea what I'm doing with it. Not sure if it can be salvaged, I'm kinda..stuck :s [url]https://soundcloud.com/muu-558163172/why/s-ETnfZ[/url][/QUOTE] The bass synths are cool but I'm not a fan of the drums, they don't feel like they're a part of the mix. The leady synth that comes in is a bit too loud at the parts it plays don't make very much musical sense in my mind. My girlfriend likes EDM. I think it's terrible. Hence I present a 20 minute EDM song: [media]https://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/lol[/media] Also if anyone is interested in a neurofunk/somethingy collab hit me up.

[QUOTE=chaz13;48902947]The bass synths are cool but I'm not a fan of the drums, they don't feel like they're a part of the mix. The leady synth that comes in is a bit too loud at the parts it plays don't make very much musical sense in my mind. [/QUOTE] Eh, I'm thinking of scrapping it. It had something and then I had no idea where to take it feels too chaotic/test bed-y. Oh well, tis art; never get too attached to your works.

[QUOTE=jaooe;48891855] Here's something I started last night, if anyone has anything to say that would be cool :buckteeth: [media]https://soundcloud.com/jaooe/ctmrdtb[/media][/QUOTE] I like the rhythm on the "dark" synth, and it plays well with the beepy synth in the higher frequencies. Maybe it would be an idea to mute the beepy synth at some parts to make the track a bit less repetitive - Breaks are often very good to use. I also like your subtle use of white noise, brings a good atmosphere. - I know Ableton Live quite well by now, but here's something I managed to put together in Logic Pro X. I think it's a pretty decent relaxing track, let me know what you think. [media]https://soundcloud.com/thedanielholt/direct[/media]

[QUOTE=shadowdude14;48901380]Best guitar recording mic for a broke college student? Would love it is good at acoustic as well as from an amp[/QUOTE] An sm57 would probably work really well, personally I am a huge fan of the MXL 990 for recording guitar, it's a bit cheaper than the sm57 and really captures the higher frequencies well.

[QUOTE=Adius Shadow;48888072]You should definitely do more stuff like this man Production is clean, I like those shakers at the 3:30 mark or so, sum good percussion there. Overall I am hearing a pretty damn solid track right here. Here's a quick "come home smoke a bowl and make whatever sounds good" track [media]https://soundcloud.com/adius89/sine[/media][/QUOTE] kicks sound like they might be clipping slightly, not at home right now so it could be these speakers, i like the positioning of that snare in the mix though, maybe a tiny clean dupe of the raw sound layered on top very lightly could give a bit of extra crispiness [editline]15th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=jaooe;48891855]Never really posted here but I'm feeling this... I agree with your comment on Prizyms track too. I've tried really hard before to get that kind of sound, it's just a shame it isn't longer. Here's something I started last night, if anyone has anything to say that would be cool :buckteeth: [media]https://soundcloud.com/jaooe/ctmrdtb[/media][/QUOTE] your drums need to be brought out a little more, might need some compression, low end EQ emphasis and maybe some saturation to fatten it out [editline]15th October 2015[/editline] and here's the first track i've managed to finish for a good few weeks, the first thing i've ever produced with ableton too :v: [media]http://soundcloud.com/geogzm/shenanigansei[/media] gotta get back in to my habits

[QUOTE=geogzm;48907434]and here's the first track i've managed to finish for a good few weeks, the first thing i've ever produced with ableton too :v: [media]http://soundcloud.com/geogzm/shenanigansei[/media] gotta get back in to my habits[/QUOTE] i love the polyrhythms in this song, and i think some of the lower quality instruments (reminds me of touhou music) actually work really well in the context of the song the main melody is great too, especially for the type of song it is i could see driving to this song on the radio thx for posting it

[QUOTE=Wingz;48907958]i love the polyrhythms in this song, and i think some of the lower quality instruments (reminds me of touhou music) actually work really well in the context of the song the main melody is great too, especially for the type of song it is i could see driving to this song on the radio thx for posting it[/QUOTE] c:

[QUOTE=chaz13;48902947]The bass synths are cool but I'm not a fan of the drums, they don't feel like they're a part of the mix. The leady synth that comes in is a bit too loud at the parts it plays don't make very much musical sense in my mind. My girlfriend likes EDM. I think it's terrible. Hence I present a 20 minute EDM song: [media]https://soundcloud.com/prizymmusic/lol[/media] Also if anyone is interested in a neurofunk/somethingy collab hit me up.[/QUOTE] Fuuuck, I love this. Nice use of the tropical synth pluck/flute sound. LOVE IT. Great, funky rhythm. I'm picking up tropical house vibes and sure you think its terrible and I love it, but your attempt at a genre you hate is better than my attempts at this genre that I love. You should please expand work on this more. Add more variety in the percussion, use shaker sounds and different/weird percussion you wouldn't normally use. Despite how much you may hate it, working outside your usual genre is an excellent way to expand as an artist :D [QUOTE=Vaught;48904649]Eh, I'm thinking of scrapping it. It had something and then I had no idea where to take it feels too chaotic/test bed-y. Oh well, tis art; never get too attached to your works.[/QUOTE] "In writing, you must kill all your darlings" -William Faulkner. Learning to move on, scrap, or delete things is invaluble. [QUOTE=geogzm;48907434]kicks sound like they might be clipping slightly, not at home right now so it could be these speakers, i like the positioning of that snare in the mix though, maybe a tiny clean dupe of the raw sound layered on top very lightly could give a bit of extra crispiness [editline]15th October 2015[/editline] your drums need to be brought out a little more, might need some compression, low end EQ emphasis and maybe some saturation to fatten it out [editline]15th October 2015[/editline] and here's the first track i've managed to finish for a good few weeks, the first thing i've ever produced with ableton too :v: [media]http://soundcloud.com/geogzm/shenanigansei[/media] gotta get back in to my habits[/QUOTE] The lower quality instruments fit in really well. The drums are nice and flowing, with a good amount of rhythmic complexity. The snare in the intro almost comes through too clearly though, it sounds above the rest of the drums by a very large margin. Not sure if that was intentional. The amount of complexity in this song though hurts my head, trying to think of how to arrange it or critique it though :v: Did you sidechain that organ-sounding instrument in the background? If so, works well. If not, may consider it- would let it stay low in the background and richen the bg and come through when needed maybe? The only thing I notice about this song is it doesn't have a lot of depth in the sound field, could use some white noise, atmospheric sounds, pads, all very lightly used of course but just something that would tie it together maybe. Its the sort of thing you have to A/B to notice, imo. You could also phase that organ thing. Maybe filter sweep or reso sweep the bassline a bit too? A very solid song, btw. Just trying to dig in a bit here. Like it a lot :D I've been sick for two weeks with an absolutely debilitating cold that has knocked me on my ass. Protip: Sinus infections fucking suck. Other protip: Antibiotics are the best. Its finally clearing up and I have interest in things besides sleep, video games, and going to class. Made a little improv jam on my JD-Xi, nothing serious. Just laid out a pattern on-the-go last night and recorded it + did live automation this morning. Its surprisingly difficult, but still fun. This thing is a treasure trove of inspiration, gonna have to import this patterns base architecture for a song for sure. [video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/jd-xi-live-synthwave-improv[/video]

[QUOTE=paindoc;48916491]Did you sidechain that organ-sounding instrument in the background? If so, works well. If not, may consider it- would let it stay low in the background and richen the bg and come through when needed maybe? The only thing I notice about this song is it doesn't have a lot of depth in the sound field, could use some white noise, atmospheric sounds, pads, all very lightly used of course but just something that would tie it together maybe. Its the sort of thing you have to A/B to notice, imo. You could also phase that organ thing. Maybe filter sweep or reso sweep the bassline a bit too?[/video][/QUOTE] what is A/B?

[QUOTE=Wingz;48920033]what is A/B?[/QUOTE] Aren't those the sends in different channels? Iunno for sure to be honest. [editline]17th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=paindoc;48916491] I've been sick for two weeks with an absolutely debilitating cold that has knocked me on my ass. Protip: Sinus infections fucking suck. Other protip: Antibiotics are the best. Its finally clearing up and I have interest in things besides sleep, video games, and going to class. Made a little improv jam on my JD-Xi, nothing serious. Just laid out a pattern on-the-go last night and recorded it + did live automation this morning. Its surprisingly difficult, but still fun. This thing is a treasure trove of inspiration, gonna have to import this patterns base architecture for a song for sure. [video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/jd-xi-live-synthwave-improv[/video][/QUOTE] Really like the synth combinations you have going on here, they feel really balanced, one doesn't overtake the other while in motion. The bass is divine, I'm in love with it. However, the synths feel too powerful, they nearly drown out the rhythm you've got going on in the background. The sidechaining around 2:30 feels weird though, almost unnecessary really. Kinda felt experiment-y, but iunno, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe that's what you're going for and I've no taste :v:. Near the end is when the rhythm and synths work well in harmony without one fighting to be heard over the other. The song is beautiful overall, even for something just thrown out. No one sound feels out of place. It's just that one part at the 2:30 mark that feels like an unnecessary detour. I hope this was somewhat useful critique. Another odd piece of mine that I'm not sure what's happening in. I think I'm getting a little better at this, but I'm ways away from being competent. I feel its mostly empty overall and kinda experimental with vocoder use, but I'm kinda proud of the EQ on the kicks. Dunno if the kicks are fitting though :s: [url]https://soundcloud.com/muu-558163172/good-end-to-a-bad-day/s-XBXy5[/url]

[QUOTE=Vaught;48920079] Another odd piece of mine that I'm not sure what's happening in. I think I'm getting a little better at this, but I'm ways away from being competent. I feel its mostly empty overall and kinda experimental with vocoder use, but I'm kinda proud of the EQ on the kicks. Dunno if the kicks are fitting though :s: [URL]https://soundcloud.com/muu-558163172/good-end-to-a-bad-day/s-XBXy5[/URL][/QUOTE] It's a good base to start from, Personally i'd want a little more going on throughout (a lead melody or some samples) just to keep the brain from focusing on the repetition. As far as the drums are concerned I think there should be some variation, if even within the scale of every four measures/eight measures. Also you're right the kick is some hot trash, replace it! [QUOTE=paindoc;48916491] I've been sick for two weeks with an absolutely debilitating cold that has knocked me on my ass. Protip: Sinus infections fucking suck. Other protip: Antibiotics are the best. Its finally clearing up and I have interest in things besides sleep, video games, and going to class. Made a little improv jam on my JD-Xi, nothing serious. Just laid out a pattern on-the-go last night and recorded it + did live automation this morning. Its surprisingly difficult, but still fun. This thing is a treasure trove of inspiration, gonna have to import this patterns base architecture for a song for sure. [video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/jd-xi-live-synthwave-improv[/video][/QUOTE] I love the lead synth and the melody itself, IMO I'd make everything sidechained to the kick and play the drum beat at half speed (You'd probably not like what I'd do) Otherwise it reminds me of something of Selected Ambient Works, and that's a good thing. [sp] I don't listen to electronic music much at all, take everything with a grain of salt. [/sp] [media][URL="https://soundcloud.com/souls-at-zero/draining-humors-in-the-winter"]http://soundcloud.com/souls-at-zero/draining-humors-in-the-winter[/URL][/media] I wrote a metal song prefaced by two acoustic segments. The second of which was me trying to cram a bunch of instruments into a small space (5 or so guitars, 8 clap tracks, mandolin,banjo, floor toms etc etc) If anyone knows the band Agalloch I tried ripping them off pretty hard.

[QUOTE=TimeBomb;48920186]It's a good base to start from, Personally i'd want a little more going on throughout (a lead melody or some samples) just to keep the brain from focusing on the repetition. As far as the drums are concerned I think there should be some variation, if even within the scale of every four measures/eight measures. Also you're right the kick is some hot trash, replace it! [sp] I don't listen to electronic music much at all, take everything with a grain of salt. [/sp][/QUOTE] Darn, I was actually kinda hoping the kicks were the coolest part. :cry:

[QUOTE=Vaught;48920198]Darn, I was actually kinda hoping the kicks were the coolest part. :cry:[/QUOTE] I had a senior moment, I meant the snare (Or whatever is occasionally popping up). Still I'd use a more traditional kick sound [sp]grain o' salt[/sp]

[QUOTE=Wingz;48920033]what is A/B?[/QUOTE] A/B is a term used for switching between two versions of the same sound, one with an effect and one without the effect. for example, if you have some subtle distortion on drums, you could have one copy of the drum track with the distortion and one copy without the distortion and "A/B" between them to hear the effect more clearly. some effect vsts have it built in, it's pretty useful for really subtle effects that aren't heard until they're compared to the original track without the effect

[QUOTE=paindoc;48916491]Fuuuck, I love this. Nice use of the tropical synth pluck/flute sound. LOVE IT. Great, funky rhythm. I'm picking up tropical house vibes and sure you think its terrible and I love it, but your attempt at a genre you hate is better than my attempts at this genre that I love. You should please expand work on this more. Add more variety in the percussion, use shaker sounds and different/weird percussion you wouldn't normally use. Despite how much you may hate it, working outside your usual genre is an excellent way to expand as an artist :D "In writing, you must kill all your darlings" -William Faulkner. Learning to move on, scrap, or delete things is invaluble. The lower quality instruments fit in really well. The drums are nice and flowing, with a good amount of rhythmic complexity. The snare in the intro almost comes through too clearly though, it sounds above the rest of the drums by a very large margin. Not sure if that was intentional. The amount of complexity in this song though hurts my head, trying to think of how to arrange it or critique it though :v: Did you sidechain that organ-sounding instrument in the background? If so, works well. If not, may consider it- would let it stay low in the background and richen the bg and come through when needed maybe? The only thing I notice about this song is it doesn't have a lot of depth in the sound field, could use some white noise, atmospheric sounds, pads, all very lightly used of course but just something that would tie it together maybe. Its the sort of thing you have to A/B to notice, imo. You could also phase that organ thing. Maybe filter sweep or reso sweep the bassline a bit too? A very solid song, btw. Just trying to dig in a bit here. Like it a lot :D I've been sick for two weeks with an absolutely debilitating cold that has knocked me on my ass. Protip: Sinus infections fucking suck. Other protip: Antibiotics are the best. Its finally clearing up and I have interest in things besides sleep, video games, and going to class. Made a little improv jam on my JD-Xi, nothing serious. Just laid out a pattern on-the-go last night and recorded it + did live automation this morning. Its surprisingly difficult, but still fun. This thing is a treasure trove of inspiration, gonna have to import this patterns base architecture for a song for sure. [video]https://soundcloud.com/nofuchsgiven/jd-xi-live-synthwave-improv[/video][/QUOTE] thanks for the in depth critique! the snare was pretty loud in the intro now that I listen again, I was more worried about the hats to be honest :v: i was going for that kinda lo-fi trap snare for the intro snare and to be exchanged with that other snare which had a little more body going on the shuffle organ isn't sidechained, i think it's just a dabble of compression, can't remember if i layered the octaves at all - i'm thinking a little flanger could add the spice you're looking for there, i noticed something was missing that usually brings the heaviness in to that kind of organ sound, and i think you might've nailed it. filters are probably what i need to add that extra sassy spice there's some electronic noise throughout certain parts of the song but tbh i could've done with some extra ambience like ya say, there's a lot of one off hits that were heavily delayed to fill in noise but your C&C reminds me that a little ambient noise like wind doesn't hurt when applied sparingly :v:

[QUOTE=lawlavex;48921130]A/B is a term used for switching between two versions of the same sound, one with an effect and one without the effect. for example, if you have some subtle distortion on drums, you could have one copy of the drum track with the distortion and one copy without the distortion and "A/B" between them to hear the effect more clearly. some effect vsts have it built in, it's pretty useful for really subtle effects that aren't heard until they're compared to the original track without the effect[/QUOTE] This plus it can be used as a way to describe comparing your track with another finished track to check your mixdown. Essentially A/B means comparing two things and generally carries the connotation that you're switching back and forth between them to make a critical comparison.