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

[QUOTE=geogzm;48921845]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] Glad you appreciate it! Phasers are my new thing. I must phase all the things. Yeah, that bg noise is something that you don't notice when its there but you do notice when its not there :v: To be clear, I like all the snare sounds. Good choices there, and I did notice the little snare sound-switch. Just wondered if volume levels were intentional. [editline]17th October 2015[/editline] Its really quite frustrating, my JV-1080 has some great bass guitar patches that I've been wanting to use in a nu disco / french house song and the awesome orchestral patches ive wanted to use in generic orchestral hype music, but I can't record anything from it because my mixer is of such bad quality :c

Is it a good or bad idea to have a 1-2-4-8 set up when putting down instruments and channels? Like, between 1 and 2 seconds, bass would be 1 (just a constant tone), snares would be 2 notes between , kicks will be 4, and hihats would be 8. If its good, then great! If not, my ears hurt from redux :s:

That's a pretty deafult setup yeah.

[QUOTE=Mech Bgum;48926202]I like how the kick sounds, but I don't feel it works with the rest of the track. Also lead synth is too quiet/burried in the mix. Some more movement in the structure and melody would be nice. And I really don't know about the bass as the intro, it just sounds odd without any realease compared to the rest of the track. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that's a bummer. Ah well, into the bin it goes! I'll play around with ideas in the meantime. Maybe something will pop up, dunno. I can't really criticize your track since I really liked it. Can't think of anything that needs changing.

So nobody gonna give feedback on heavy kicks then? [media]https://soundcloud.com/corn-mouth/heavy-kicks-collab[/media]

[QUOTE=paindoc;48923690]Glad you appreciate it! Phasers are my new thing. I must phase all the things. Yeah, that bg noise is something that you don't notice when its there but you do notice when its not there :v: To be clear, I like all the snare sounds. Good choices there, and I did notice the little snare sound-switch. Just wondered if volume levels were intentional. [editline]17th October 2015[/editline] Its really quite frustrating, my JV-1080 has some great bass guitar patches that I've been wanting to use in a nu disco / french house song and the awesome orchestral patches ive wanted to use in generic orchestral hype music, but I can't record anything from it because my mixer is of such bad quality :c[/QUOTE] the trappier snare was maybe a little louder than I intended :v: [editline]19th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Ms. Gyroscope;48931523]So nobody gonna give feedback on heavy kicks then? [media]https://soundcloud.com/corn-mouth/heavy-kicks-collab[/media][/QUOTE] holy shit, that cutting and chopping. fucking artwork right here i love this so much kicks are clear too :v:

[QUOTE=Mech Bgum;48926202]I like how the kick sounds, but I don't feel it works with the rest of the track. Also lead synth is too quiet/burried in the mix. Some more movement in the structure and melody would be nice. And I really don't know about the bass as the intro, it just sounds odd without any realease compared to the rest of the track. [video]https://soundcloud.com/mechbgun/beat-4-2[/video] I decided to build on an idea I scrapped earlier. It has a bit of Little Dragon feel to it... I really don't know how I feel about it. I want to believe I'm experiencing plateau effect, but yeah... it just feels like my production is doing much better than actual compositional process, which renders the whole thing kinda pointless, because I'm not much of a sound geek and enjoy emotional part of the music much more over production. Also I'm losing motivation to polish the mix/production because of that. Maybe I should grab myself an acoustic guitar lol. btw i'm in love with Monark, it's sounds so warm and awesome![/QUOTE] I like it, but I feel like the chords are standing out a little too much in terms of volume. Not much else to complain about. Anyway, I did a quick thing in like 4-5 hours. I did it just so I could test out my own synths I've been whipping up lately. It sorta builds on the idea of a future where robots integrate with the population but are still widely discriminated (so kinda like Deus Ex: HR, minus augmented people), hence why all the glitchy/machinery fx. [video]https://soundcloud.com/venadore/cpu-created-programmed-united[/video] idk i get p weird ideas when makin music :v:

[QUOTE=TheDrunkenOne;48935726]I like it, but I feel like the chords are standing out a little too much in terms of volume. Not much else to complain about. Anyway, I did a quick thing in like 4-5 hours. I did it just so I could test out my own synths I've been whipping up lately. It sorta builds on the idea of a future where robots integrate with the population but are still widely discriminated (so kinda like Deus Ex: HR, minus augmented people), hence why all the glitchy/machinery fx. [video]https://soundcloud.com/venadore/cpu-created-programmed-united[/video] idk i get p weird ideas when makin music :v:[/QUOTE] I like it, could use some more sample variety at the midway point though

[QUOTE=Mech Bgum;48935969]I like it a lot! It really shows that you had a concept behind it. I only wish snare was more tight and not acoustic sounding. You know what.. could I possibly remix it? lol[/QUOTE] Of course you can! Just PM me if you need stems/samples. Thanks a lot for the feedback by the way :)

Been playing with more audio effects and I cannot, for the life of me, tell the difference with filters. There doesn't seem to be any real noticeable changes, but a lot of the techniques (mostly from attackmagazine) use them almost religiously. Am I missing something? :frown:

[QUOTE=Vaught;48948703]Been playing with more audio effects and I cannot, for the life of me, tell the difference with filters. There doesn't seem to be any real noticeable changes, but a lot of the techniques (mostly from attackmagazine) use them almost religiously. Am I missing something? :frown:[/QUOTE] Yes. Are you talking slopes or types? Types should be very apparent in their differences. Slopes should be too, but this may take time and experimentation to hear. I encourage you to play with sweeps up and down using 12db/octave and 24db/octave filters, play with the resonance too. You will begin to hear a difference. The harmonic characters and timbres are quite different.

Filters are key to good synth design, play with cutoff, resonance and types of filter over like a single note being played on like a single saw wave oscillator to hear the differences.

Holy crap, FabFilter Pro-Q 2 is so much better than FL's Parametric EQ 2. It's so much more gentle. [editline]21st October 2015[/editline] i wonder why i never looked into it before

[QUOTE=Vaught;48948703]Been playing with more audio effects and I cannot, for the life of me, tell the difference with filters. There doesn't seem to be any real noticeable changes, but a lot of the techniques (mostly from attackmagazine) use them almost religiously. Am I missing something? :frown:[/QUOTE] Change the frequency/cutoff and you'll definitely hear the difference. A lot of filters will default to being fully opened, so if you're not actually doing anything other than adding them to a track you might not hear anything different at all.

[QUOTE=TheDrunkenOne;48935726]I like it, but I feel like the chords are standing out a little too much in terms of volume. Not much else to complain about. Anyway, I did a quick thing in like 4-5 hours. I did it just so I could test out my own synths I've been whipping up lately. It sorta builds on the idea of a future where robots integrate with the population but are still widely discriminated (so kinda like Deus Ex: HR, minus augmented people), hence why all the glitchy/machinery fx. [video]https://soundcloud.com/venadore/cpu-created-programmed-united[/video] idk i get p weird ideas when makin music :v:[/QUOTE] I love the progression. The samplework with the loops and the speech fit very well. I ended up listening to this twice to so I could fully appreciate every part of it, it's just a great flow with really well integrated variety. Whenever I use these samples like these from speeches and whatnot, I just kinda jam it in there as background noise to add to the "atmosphere" or whatever, but you worked with it more and made add to the groove and the beat, which is fantastic. Right on, man. The style's great, and so is the mix. Keep it up, broseph. It's been a little over a year and a half since I started producing my music, and looking at my very first track is kinda hilarious. I knew absolutely nothing about synth patches or mixing and mastering audio, I was just dragging presets and maybe messing with knobs to see what sounds cool. So in a sense, my creativity wasn't held back from standards that I have set for myself in learning about electronic music production, so I don't know if my old style is better or worse than my new style. Still brings back memories, though. So, this was the first track I ever finished. [media]https://soundcloud.com/thehoyticus/slice[/media]

snip

Working on a soundtrack - Will post criticism in a huge batch right after this post! [media]https://soundcloud.com/wauterboi/working-with-snes-synths-for-a-project[/media] [media]https://soundcloud.com/wauterboi/more-snes-stuff-select-a-level[/media] [media]https://soundcloud.com/wauterboi/doom-the-golden-souls-ost-grass-land-of-grass-wip-61315[/media] [editline]24th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Hoyticus;48955426]I love the progression. The samplework with the loops and the speech fit very well. I ended up listening to this twice to so I could fully appreciate every part of it, it's just a great flow with really well integrated variety. Whenever I use these samples like these from speeches and whatnot, I just kinda jam it in there as background noise to add to the "atmosphere" or whatever, but you worked with it more and made add to the groove and the beat, which is fantastic. Right on, man. The style's great, and so is the mix. Keep it up, broseph. It's been a little over a year and a half since I started producing my music, and looking at my very first track is kinda hilarious. I knew absolutely nothing about synth patches or mixing and mastering audio, I was just dragging presets and maybe messing with knobs to see what sounds cool. So in a sense, my creativity wasn't held back from standards that I have set for myself in learning about electronic music production, so I don't know if my old style is better or worse than my new style. Still brings back memories, though. So, this was the first track I ever finished. [media]https://soundcloud.com/thehoyticus/slice[/media][/QUOTE] [url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/965202/Music/my-old-music/729869-5701-525056.asf]This is my first song I ever made[/url] [editline]24th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Mech Bgum;48951164][video]https://soundcloud.com/mechbgun/venadore-cpu-created-programmed-united-mb-remix[/video] Result of aforementioned remix deal.[/QUOTE] The snares on this are too loud. The percussion covers up how good everything else is, and it sounds like the entire track is clipping. If this didn't have it, I'd honestly love it. Also, the synths come in are far too bright and ear-piercing. Otherwise, it's a fun little ditty.

[QUOTE=wauterboi;48976617]Working on a soundtrack - Will post criticism in a huge batch right after this post! [media]https://soundcloud.com/wauterboi/working-with-snes-synths-for-a-project[/media] [media]https://soundcloud.com/wauterboi/more-snes-stuff-select-a-level[/media] [media]https://soundcloud.com/wauterboi/doom-the-golden-souls-ost-grass-land-of-grass-wip-61315[/media] [editline]24th October 2015[/editline] [url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/965202/Music/my-old-music/729869-5701-525056.asf]This is my first song I ever made[/url] [editline]24th October 2015[/editline] The snares on this are too loud. The percussion covers up how good everything else is, and it sounds like the entire track is clipping. If this didn't have it, I'd honestly love it. Also, the synths come in are far too bright and ear-piercing. Otherwise, it's a fun little ditty.[/QUOTE] I really like the intro to the first song, it's mysterious but then the song turns into what sounds to me like a farming kids game which isn't a bad thing since I don't know what kind of style of video game you're trying to produce for. The second song's link is missing. The third song is really groovy and well produced I don't feel at any time the melody sounds off it has a really nice rhythm, I wish I could give better criticism but since it's for a video game I think you know the theme and style you want already. It's well produced and very groovy though! I made this last night, heavily inspired by Animal Collective. [media]https://soundcloud.com/user-546421060/picking-a-fight-with-the-bully-at-the-playground[/media] EDIT: I added some simple percussion underlying the beat, fleshed out the lead's melody more, mixed up the distorted chord section to include variation, and changed the levels of the rhythm synth it sounds much better. Thank you for the suggestions! [media]https://soundcloud.com/user-546421060/playground-bully[/media]

[QUOTE=Llamalord;48980508]I really like the intro to the first song, it's mysterious but then the song turns into what sounds to me like a farming kids game which isn't a bad thing since I don't know what kind of style of video game you're trying to produce for. The second song's link is missing. The third song is really groovy and well produced I don't feel at any time the melody sounds off it has a really nice rhythm, I wish I could give better criticism but since it's for a video game I think you know the theme and style you want already. It's well produced and very groovy though! I made this last night, heavily inspired by Animal Collective. [media]https://soundcloud.com/user-546421060/picking-a-fight-with-the-bully-at-the-playground[/media][/QUOTE] Cool concept. The reverb on the playground sample is really good, the synth that comes in afterward needs a little levelling, it's either clipping slightly or the distortion you're using is not quite right. I like how you put the melody in a lower register, sounds really good. Not sure if I like the distorted chord thing, I think it could use some more rhythm. Some percussion would be nice, something subtle. Just got started on some FM Funk. [url]https://clyp.it/f0uiowpq[/url]

[video=youtube;4JWxRdmEmlU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWxRdmEmlU[/video] thought you guys might like this. I really want one of these synths but as many of you know I have a terrible synth problem as is. the guy is pretty good at being harmonic too. if you want to see more of the boutique synths he has specific demos as well

-snip, moved to post below for critique included-

[QUOTE=NixNax123;48990459]So my friend and I made a cover of the song One More day by Lydia. My friend is on guitar and bass, and I did the drums, vocals, and production. [media]https://soundcloud.com/tetramputechture/lydia-one-more-day-full-band-cover[/media] Tell me what you think. [editline]26th October 2015[/editline] I haven't been singing as long as I have been drumming, you can probably tell, but I'm trying my best to get better, so criticism on that would be really appreciated.[/QUOTE] You have to critique someone else's music to ask for critiques read the rules.

[QUOTE=Llamalord;48995279]You have to critique someone else's music to ask for critiques read the rules.[/QUOTE] Sorry, I have no idea how to critique electronic music as I never listen to it or care for it. But I'll give it a shot when I'm on my desktop.

[QUOTE=NixNax123;48995308]Sorry, I have no idea how to critique electronic music as I never listen to it or care for it. But I'll give it a shot when I'm on my desktop.[/QUOTE] Its not really different from criticizing other music. Break it into elements, melody, chords, how they harmonize, how does the song transition, how is the mix, are there any glaringly bad sound design issues, are the effects used well, etc. I keep saying this. Break it into parts or choose a segment and listen to a specific element, then relisten to it and see how that element works with the large whole.

[QUOTE=NixNax123;48995308]Sorry, I have no idea how to critique electronic music as I never listen to it or care for it. But I'll give it a shot when I'm on my desktop.[/QUOTE] nobody's gonna care about your art if you don't care about theirs

[QUOTE=Llamalord;48980508] I added some simple percussion underlying the beat, fleshed out the lead's melody more, mixed up the distorted chord section to include variation, and changed the levels of the rhythm synth it sounds much better. Thank you for the suggestions! [media][URL]https://soundcloud.com/user-546421060/playground-bully[/URL][/media] [/QUOTE] I really like the fading sample you have at the beginning, really sets the tone for a 'fun' sort of song. The main rhythm is quite simple, but uses that simplicity to its advantage. Not many artists can use a progression like that and extend it through a few minutes, without being repetetive, although it does verge on it (only as a side effect of how long it plays, though). I have a suggestion for the second rhythm that overlays on top (the quarter note progression). Further along in the song, how would it sound if you take out the fourth beat, and add in its place a percussive clap / snare? I think this would add a better feeling of progression to the song, maybe add it when the main melody starts picking up. Or, you can even try having that throughout the whole song, and then modifying the bass drum rhythm to have some compound triplets in there. I feel like that would work very well with the sixteenth note rhythm you have going on. Basically, I feel like if you broadened your use of percussion, there would be so much more depth added to the song as a whole (I'm not saying the song is shallow, not at all, I'm just saying that you could add some more rhythms to make it that much more tasteful). Don't be afraid; experiment. See what sounds good. The cool thing about mixing percussion is that it's easy to prototype basic beats and see how they interact with the body of the song. In my experience, you'd start coming up with stupid beats that don't really make any sense within the context of the piece, but there would be a little part of that beat that makes you think "Hey, that sounds really cool!" And you would have never found that otherwise if you hadn't experimented. And you can build off of that, and make it into something totally unique. Overall, a really solid piece! It tells a story; it has a beginning, middle, and end; it doesn't overstay its welcome. You obviously know how to compose, now go crazy! Mind, a lot of my suggestions are just from listening and thinking of how stuff would sound, so there is a huge possibility that the stuff I said may sound like utter shit. :v: Anyways, here's what I have to offer: So my friend and I made a cover of the song One More day by Lydia. My friend is on guitar and bass, and I did the drums, vocals, and production. [media][URL]https://soundcloud.com/tetramputechture/lydia-one-more-day-full-band-cover[/URL][/media] I haven't been singing as long as I have been drumming, you can probably tell, but I'm trying my best to get better.

What are some Android apps that I can jam with? Looking for something with a drum sequencer, sampling tools (take loops from other songs), and a keyboard.

[QUOTE=Ott;48996195]What are some Android apps that I can jam with? Looking for something with a drum sequencer, sampling tools (take loops from other songs), and a keyboard.[/QUOTE] free: [URL]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.korhaan.sequencer&hl=en[/URL] paid: [URL]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imageline.FLM&hl=en[/URL] [editline]27th October 2015[/editline] i've used the free one before, it's quite intutive to use, however, it does lack a lot of depth you'd expect in a traditional interface. it gets the job done though. doesn't have a sampler though (at least not when I used it)

[QUOTE=NixNax123;48996132]I really like the fading sample you have at the beginning, really sets the tone for a 'fun' sort of song. The main rhythm is quite simple, but uses that simplicity to its advantage. Not many artists can use a progression like that and extend it through a few minutes, without being repetetive, although it does verge on it (only as a side effect of how long it plays, though). I have a suggestion for the second rhythm that overlays on top (the quarter note progression). Further along in the song, how would it sound if you take out the fourth beat, and add in its place a percussive clap / snare? I think this would add a better feeling of progression to the song, maybe add it when the main melody starts picking up. Or, you can even try having that throughout the whole song, and then modifying the bass drum rhythm to have some compound triplets in there. I feel like that would work very well with the sixteenth note rhythm you have going on. Basically, I feel like if you broadened your use of percussion, there would be so much more depth added to the song as a whole (I'm not saying the song is shallow, not at all, I'm just saying that you could add some more rhythms to make it that much more tasteful). Don't be afraid; experiment. See what sounds good. The cool thing about mixing percussion is that it's easy to prototype basic beats and see how they interact with the body of the song. In my experience, you'd start coming up with stupid beats that don't really make any sense within the context of the piece, but there would be a little part of that beat that makes you think "Hey, that sounds really cool!" And you would have never found that otherwise if you hadn't experimented. And you can build off of that, and make it into something totally unique. Overall, a really solid piece! It tells a story; it has a beginning, middle, and end; it doesn't overstay its welcome. You obviously know how to compose, now go crazy! Mind, a lot of my suggestions are just from listening and thinking of how stuff would sound, so there is a huge possibility that the stuff I said may sound like utter shit. :v: Anyways, here's what I have to offer: So my friend and I made a cover of the song One More day by Lydia. My friend is on guitar and bass, and I did the drums, vocals, and production. [media][URL]https://soundcloud.com/tetramputechture/lydia-one-more-day-full-band-cover[/URL][/media] I haven't been singing as long as I have been drumming, you can probably tell, but I'm trying my best to get better.[/QUOTE] 10/10 im away from anything with a real keyboard and actual audio right now but you really delivered on the criticism. Being partially "wrong" is okay, pointing out anything is unbelievably helpful. I'm not even the person who published the track, but thank so much. I really appreciate the effort and it reflects what I'd like to see more of in this thread. Thank you for being understanding. I'll give you some crit later bby <3 [editline]27th October 2015[/editline] technical criticism or artistic criticism/comments/direction are all equally okay, its just the effort that counts.

[QUOTE=NixNax123;48996535]free: [URL]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.korhaan.sequencer&hl=en[/URL] paid: [URL]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imageline.FLM&hl=en[/URL] [editline]27th October 2015[/editline] i've used the free one before, it's quite intutive to use, however, it does lack a lot of depth you'd expect in a traditional interface. it gets the job done though. doesn't have a sampler though (at least not when I used it)[/QUOTE] [img]http://i.imgur.com/FwIupXB.png[/img]