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

[QUOTE=Smallheart;46990355]Is this mixed okay? [media]http://soundcloud.com/christian-sparks-4/soundtest[/media][/QUOTE] Everything about it is bad because you never left feedback you little butthole

Sorry, my mistake.

[QUOTE=Smallheart;46990762]Sorry, my mistake.[/QUOTE] There are plenty of tracks here right now - if you were to post feedback on them even after you'd posted your song we will tell you if your mix is ok

Now that this is a single thread I think the feedback rule should be a bit more lax unless you're specifically asking for feedback. Frankly the whole "I want to post my track so nice bassline man!" minimal feedback isn't really that useful anyways. I'd rather only have feedback when something really jumps out at someone enough to make them want to say something about it than get a bunch of forced 5 second feedback. I want to share stuff I've done but I'm not looking for critique on it most of the time because I'm posting stuff that's finished already. I used to just make threads for that, but that doesn't quite feel right to do in GD. [editline]22nd January 2015[/editline] NAMM 2015.. Holy shit... Roland aira mixer looks sick. Bigger arturia beatstep looks sick. Sequential circuits prophet 6 looks sick. Way too much cool shit announced this year.

[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;46990970]Now that this is a single thread I think the feedback rule should be a bit more lax unless you're specifically asking for feedback. Frankly the whole "I want to post my track so nice bassline man!" minimal feedback isn't really that useful anyways. I'd rather only have feedback when something really jumps out at someone enough to make them want to say something about it than get a bunch of forced 5 second feedback. I want to share stuff I've done but I'm not looking for critique on it most of the time because I'm posting stuff that's finished already. I used to just make threads for that, but that doesn't quite feel right to do in GD. [editline]22nd January 2015[/editline] NAMM 2015.. Holy shit... Roland aira mixer looks sick. Bigger arturia beatstep looks sick. Sequential circuits prophet 6 looks sick. Way too much cool shit announced this year.[/QUOTE] Fair enough but the above two people were sort of looking for feedback so really... Essentially with tracks posted though, I would like to see reciprocity. So what if the only feedback someone gives your track is 'nice bassline man'? its an acknowledgement that they've listened to it. If you want feedback, you should give feedback to another person. In the same way, if you want people to listen to your finished track, you should still reciprocate by listening to someone else's track and at least saying something about it even if it is just 'hey nice song dude'. I think its just rude to not give someone else a bit of your time to listen to something they've made when you're essentially asking people to do the same thing and it takes like a couple of minutes depending on the track so its not a big deal really [editline]23rd January 2015[/editline] and I don't even get people's habit here as well - we ask them to post feedback before receiving any and some people just outright snip their track and don't even bother. Is it really that hard to listen to somebody else's music and say something nice about it

Not saying it shouldn't apply when people are specifically asking for feedback like those two, just speaking in general. I do see your side. I often listen through tracks on here and just don't have anything to say. There's only so many times you can say "I like this" or "This isn't really my style of music but it's well done" without it being kind of pointless haha. That doesn't mean I'm not still checking stuff out though :) [QUOTE=killerteacup;46991152]Is it really that hard to listen to somebody else's music and say something nice about it[/QUOTE] Feedback shouldn't just be about saying something nice for the sake of saying something though, should it? Just my opinion of course, but circlejerks aren't really productive

[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;46991571]Not saying it shouldn't apply when people are specifically asking for feedback like those two, just speaking in general. I do see your side. I often listen through tracks on here and just don't have anything to say. There's only so many times you can say "I like this" or "This isn't really my style of music but it's well done" without it being kind of pointless haha. That doesn't mean I'm not still checking stuff out though :) Feedback shouldn't just be about saying something nice for the sake of saying something though, should it? Just my opinion of course, but circlejerks aren't really productive[/QUOTE] Of course not. But if you're posting a finished song and not looking for feedback at all then why would you be concerned about the responses you get being more than "I like this"? I don't know if there's a perfect system for dealing with this but the way we have it now does work better then before. I don't want to go back to having a thread where people just post their music in a big line and it just fills out pages because noone bothers to listen to it, and i'm sure everyone agrees on that front at least. [editline]23rd January 2015[/editline] and even if its a finished track people could still do with feedback. Its important stuff.

The only system that could work for actually promoting people giving feedback is probably to take a mental note of the people who post a lot of feedback and try and give them feedback whenever they post their music.

Got my pro tools 'User' certification today :) Watch out resume's !

[QUOTE=Number-41;46987678]At 0:24, the way you sing the beginning of the note, I'm not a huge fan of it. Also around 0:50 there's some intonation issues in the vocals. The sax around 1:05 seems also a tad high, maybe pull out the mouthpiece a little (or bite less). At 1:57 the trill should be more in time, it wanders too much and it kinda kills the groove. Apart from that it's very nice, nice ideas, uplifting melody, neat drums. What would also be nice is a guitar solo with this kinda sound: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z27tdogalGA[/media] Don't know how you'd achieve it, lots of treble and a chorus filter? [/QUOTE] thanks man, singing and playing sax are not things a do a lot of so i appreciate the feedback. it's funny you should bring up that paul simon track 'cause i have been really digging that whole album for a few months now. it's definitely affecting my output (in a good way)

[QUOTE=redBadger;46991882]Got my pro tools 'User' certification today :) Watch out resume's ![/QUOTE] hey good one - how long did it take you

[QUOTE=killerteacup;46992100]hey good one - how long did it take you[/QUOTE] Thanks! The 101 (first level) course is 3 days - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10am to 5pm. Test on Thursday around 4pm. The 110 (second level) course is the same format. I learned a shit ton, definitely worth the $1100 imo. There is a sub level 130 for Game Audio specifically which I am very interested in taking as well. My teacher said he was pushing to get the rights to teach it at my school, so I am very anxious to see if it goes through.

[QUOTE=Ghille;46975162]I really love the sounds in the backround in both, they're so interesting sounding. Look forward to the final versions. Production has been slow for me, and all I've really been doing is playing around and making crappy "ambient" stuff. [media]http://soundcloud.com/ghille556/ghille-the-day-inside-died[/media] (not sure if I posted before in the old thread) I made this weird evil sounding bassey thing with a bunch of reverb and I thought it sounded cool: [media]http://soundcloud.com/ghille556/the-basement-cabinet[/media] Despite production being slow, I've been playing more guitar recently, so that's all good n fun.[/QUOTE] First track's good, but I agree with the others that said it could use some low end. If you threw in some really low, warm bass, I think it would contrast the bright sounds that you have in it now nicely. Second track's fine as it is. I like that higher, metallic-ish noise. [QUOTE=Mysterious Mr.E;46987535]I love how nobody ever bothers to look at tracks from the previous page. Just my luck... I'm posting it here now and I did leave feedback on the last page. [media]http://soundcloud.com/corn-mouth/nothin-but-luv[/media][/QUOTE] Something sounds weird about the way it's mixed, to me. Whenever you have the distorted vocals or that weird, flanged/phased/whatever noise playing alongside the drums & bass, it all sounds sloppy together, but it's alright when it's just the drums & bass.

[QUOTE=Waffler;46978539][media]http://soundcloud.com/ohsabi-official/tove-lo-habits-stay-high-my-num-jum-edit[/media] This one is a midtempo/glitch hop edit of Habits by Tove Lo[/quote] I'm gonna disagree with the person who said to lower the vocals. On my headphones at least, it sounds fine. One thing though is that the ending is kinda bugging me because the track fades out with the vocals still going. Might just be me, but the vocals fading out makes it feel unresolved. [QUOTE=Waffler;46978539][media]http://soundcloud.com/ohsabi-official/im-a-boss-original-mix[/media] This track is a dubstep track made from chopped up samples! I have still yet to get Massive on my production computer.[/QUOTE] I'm sure the stuttering sound of the instruments is intentional, but it sounds really odd. Also, around 30 -40 seconds, the percussion and synth sound out of sync from eachother. [QUOTE=eligrand1;46985340][media]http://soundcloud.com/eligrand-one/eligrand-one-adventure[/media][/QUOTE] I like this. You said it was originally for a video game, and it still sounds like it could be in one. Sounds like a higher quality version of some SNES RPG game. I don't know much about orchestral instruments, but some more bass instrument presence would be nice I think. Here's something I started working on today. Feels like it's missing stuff, and I have no idea how to mix at all. I've googled it a bit, but if you guys know any specific guides it would be much appreciated. [media]http://soundcloud.com/p-a-h-b/falsky[/media]

The new MakeNoise modular stuff from NAMM is making me and my wallet sweat uncomfortably.

[QUOTE=Little Donny;46992073]thanks man, singing and playing sax are not things a do a lot of so i appreciate the feedback. it's funny you should bring up that paul simon track 'cause i have been really digging that whole album for a few months now. it's definitely affecting my output (in a good way)[/QUOTE] Yeah intonation is very hard, especially when it comes to recording, because then it becomes very apparent. I have the same issue when I try to record harmonized parts with my sax, it sounds pretty bad. Actually when it comes to recording, all the problems you ignored or didn't notice during practice become apparent (timing, intonation, tiny details that are actually pretty distracting, shitty articulation, ... ) . It's very confronting. It's also a problem with a long-term solution because you can't just "fix" intonation in a day, it requires quite some practice. Playing along with in tunes seems to help and is more fun than just playing a single note and looking at a tuner (which does nothing actually because you don't have a tuner while you're playing something).

[QUOTE=killerteacup;46990579][img]http://i.imgur.com/qlFuRED.jpg[/img] I mean come on this rule is like 6 months old now why do people still not get it[/QUOTE] Oh right good thing all I said was "hey man listen to my track" and not actually ask a question. I'll make sure to remove my track so that people don't just see the link and instantly rate me dumb.

[QUOTE=killa101;46994660]Oh right good thing all I said was "hey man listen to my track" and not actually ask a question. I'll make sure to remove my track so that people don't just see the link and instantly rate me dumb.[/QUOTE] It doesn't work like that. You aren't the exception to the rule. Just do someone a favour and listen to their track and say something about it. It's not that hard. You're asking someone to listen to your work, yet you didn't show any sign of bothering to listen to anyone else's work before doing so. Why are we the ones at fault here when you're asking us to take time out of our day for you but you won't do the same for somebody else in this thread :/ [editline]24th January 2015[/editline] I don't know why everyone seems to have a problem with this rule all of a sudden as it served us quite well in the old section - even a rating would do on somebody's track. But if a majority of the thread would like the rule changed somehow then I'm not going to try and stop that. [B]Rate:[/B] - Agree if you want the rule to be that all people posting music need to at the very least give some small acknowledgement that they've listened to somebody else's track first. Feedback is still compulsory if asking for it. - Friendly if you think the rule should only apply to people asking for feedback, and if you're just looking for exposure then you're free to just post your track (Maybe in this case people needing feedback should specify) - Disagree if you think the rule should be done away with all together and we just post our music and if we want feedback we see who comes up with some or we don't, like how we used to [editline]24th January 2015[/editline] Depending what happens I'll update the OP thingo accordingly

yeah i dont get the whole "no guys i didn't ask for feedback i was just posting my music here!" thing like why not just take 2 minutes of your time to help a brother out come on guys

I'll gather results sometime tonight or tomorrow morning (its currently midday here so I will give it say, 24 hours) Also edgar froese just died. Might make some sort of tangerine dream song as tribute.

[QUOTE=FalseLogic;46993755]I'm gonna disagree with the person who said to lower the vocals. On my headphones at least, it sounds fine. One thing though is that the ending is kinda bugging me because the track fades out with the vocals still going. Might just be me, but the vocals fading out makes it feel unresolved. I'm sure the stuttering sound of the instruments is intentional, but it sounds really odd. Also, around 30 -40 seconds, the percussion and synth sound out of sync from eachother. I like this. You said it was originally for a video game, and it still sounds like it could be in one. Sounds like a higher quality version of some SNES RPG game. I don't know much about orchestral instruments, but some more bass instrument presence would be nice I think. Here's something I started working on today. Feels like it's missing stuff, and I have no idea how to mix at all. I've googled it a bit, but if you guys know any specific guides it would be much appreciated. [media]http://soundcloud.com/p-a-h-b/falsky[/media] [/QUOTE] Overall: 1: Doesn't seem to have enough bass (the bass drum isn't low enough and i don't think it's loud enough, and the repeating motif is too nasal/high in overtones to really be used as a bass (has too much of an attack)) 2: Before something different comes it at around 23s, the first bits seem have a LOT of repetition. I typically say that it's okay to repeat if you're adding instruments and changing things up, but I don't think the repeat before the entrance at 23s is really necessary (seems to be a bit much). From there on it still seems pretty repetitive; just try to cut down unnecessary bits (because there doesn't seem to be that much difference from 46s to 1m 33s other than minor decorations on the loudest synth part (melody i guess)). Now I'd like to go a bit more in-depth. The style of composition that you have seems more related to chiptune than electronic IMO; there's no chord progressions (and you can take that as a good or bad thing). The only thing that comes close to the melody is the synth that comes in at 46s, and even that could be considered accompaniment as it generally resides on one note. I think it'd be beneficial for you to explore chord changes and experiment with melodies that don't start on notes that sound perfectly right. On that note, because the 'melody' that comes in at 46s stays mostly on one note, I think you can probably add another melodic line / melody to that. (also, yes i think the melody sounds pretty loud compared to the rest of the instruments) Here's an example of two melodies play at once under a decorative topping (skip to 2m 27s) [QUOTE][video=youtube;IeTKY5S48jo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTKY5S48jo&t=2m27s[/video][/QUOTE] It starts with the strings having the first melody, then the woodwinds starting their decoration. After that, the first melody is played by the top trumpet while the second melody is played by a lower trumpet. After they play that once, it switches to the horns playing the second melody while the timpani have the first melody (with other instruments). You don't have to always stay within the 7 notes that the natural minor scales gives you; you have 12 tones to work with. Go and experiment :v: But yes it does feel like it's missing something: the middle part feels sparse; All I hear is the repeating motif, lots of percussion, the top choir-y tone and the melody. You can add a lot more accompaniment to this to fill up the empty space. If you don't want to add different things, then you can double parts at the octave (pretty much have two instruments playing the exact same thing but one higher/lower than the other). However, do be a bit careful as this tends to really emphasize that part. I also feel like I'm making too big of an assumption of the sparse nature of the piece to say that you're reluctant to create complexity; it could be a stylistic choice. But I'd say you're far from stravinsky's inksplatters in the Rite of Spring. However, the repetitive nature of your piece emphasizes its scarcity which may be why I'm rambling about it.

For those interested: [url]http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsFirst/[/url] Pro Tools is releasing a free version of their software, albeit limited, but not as much as you'd expect. 16 total tracks I think they give you [editline]23rd January 2015[/editline] And it looks like they give you a lot of the good stock plug-ins

[QUOTE=redBadger;46998828]For those interested: [url]http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsFirst/[/url] Pro Tools is releasing a free version of their software, albeit limited, but not as much as you'd expect. 16 total tracks I think they give you [editline]23rd January 2015[/editline] And it looks like they give you a lot of the good stock plug-ins[/QUOTE]Yeah I saw that, definitely gonna try it out at least

[QUOTE=redBadger;46998828]For those interested: [url]http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsFirst/[/url] Pro Tools is releasing a free version of their software, albeit limited, but not as much as you'd expect. 16 total tracks I think they give you [editline]23rd January 2015[/editline] And it looks like they give you a lot of the good stock plug-ins[/QUOTE] does this still require an ilok? i tried downloading the demo a while back for a producing project and it was really disappointing that i had to drop $50 for one of those things just to use a free demo

[QUOTE=lawlavex;46999207]does this still require an ilok? i tried downloading the demo a while back for a producing project and it was really disappointing that i had to drop $50 for one of those things just to use a free demo[/QUOTE] It'll more than likely require one of those shitty things.

[QUOTE=brooklynlord;46998364]Overall: 1: Doesn't seem to have enough bass (the bass drum isn't low enough and i don't think it's loud enough, and the repeating motif is too nasal/high in overtones to really be used as a bass (has too much of an attack)) 2: Before something different comes it at around 23s, the first bits seem have a LOT of repetition. I typically say that it's okay to repeat if you're adding instruments and changing things up, but I don't think the repeat before the entrance at 23s is really necessary (seems to be a bit much). From there on it still seems pretty repetitive; just try to cut down unnecessary bits (because there doesn't seem to be that much difference from 46s to 1m 33s other than minor decorations on the loudest synth part (melody i guess)). Now I'd like to go a bit more in-depth. The style of composition that you have seems more related to chiptune than electronic IMO; there's no chord progressions (and you can take that as a good or bad thing). The only thing that comes close to the melody is the synth that comes in at 46s, and even that could be considered accompaniment as it generally resides on one note. I think it'd be beneficial for you to explore chord changes and experiment with melodies that don't start on notes that sound perfectly right. On that note, because the 'melody' that comes in at 46s stays mostly on one note, I think you can probably add another melodic line / melody to that. (also, yes i think the melody sounds pretty loud compared to the rest of the instruments) Here's an example of two melodies play at once under a decorative topping (skip to 2m 27s) It starts with the strings having the first melody, then the woodwinds starting their decoration. After that, the first melody is played by the top trumpet while the second melody is played by a lower trumpet. After they play that once, it switches to the horns playing the second melody while the timpani have the first melody (with other instruments). You don't have to always stay within the 7 notes that the natural minor scales gives you; you have 12 tones to work with. Go and experiment :v: But yes it does feel like it's missing something: the middle part feels sparse; All I hear is the repeating motif, lots of percussion, the top choir-y tone and the melody. You can add a lot more accompaniment to this to fill up the empty space. If you don't want to add different things, then you can double parts at the octave (pretty much have two instruments playing the exact same thing but one higher/lower than the other). However, do be a bit careful as this tends to really emphasize that part. I also feel like I'm making too big of an assumption of the sparse nature of the piece to say that you're reluctant to create complexity; it could be a stylistic choice. But I'd say you're far from stravinsky's inksplatters in the Rite of Spring. However, the repetitive nature of your piece emphasizes its scarcity which may be why I'm rambling about it.[/QUOTE] Wow! This is far more than I expected. Thanks I intentionally limited myself to as few notes as I felt like I needed for this because I wanted to make something as good as I could without making it too complicated. I find that when I work on music, I tend to overwhelm myself so I wanted it as simple as I could. As far as the repetitive nature of the track as a whole, that is simply because I didn't know where else to go, and you really helped with that. The synth sound that I chose was somewhat inspired by the strange sound you hear in Four Tet's "She Moves She" which comes in just after 1:35 or so: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWTAOwgTbu4[/media] Basically what I'm getting at is that when I try to do too much, I feel like each individual part of it gets lost or everything just clashes, so I'm trying to work myself up to the point where I figure out things that sound well together. I have to say you've definitely given me a lot more than I could have asked for to help me move forward. Seriously, thanks for that. I'll go back and try removing a lot of the repetition and see what else I can add to it to make it more interesting. I might also go and record a different bassline with my electric bass instead of using a synth to see how that works out.

I think you guys might like this. My brother's band released a single recently - the first real piece of music they've put out in a while, actually - and it's actually really damn professional-sounding. [url=http://sexoffice.bandcamp.com/]Check it out.[/url] They're a sort of fusion of prog, R&B, and electronica. And for kicks, a repository of little [url=https://soundcloud.com/cheeseandgrapes]ditties[/url] he's done over the years; some quick real-instrument segments mixed with some goofy stuff he made years ago in FLStudio.

[QUOTE=VinLAURiA;47002908]I think you guys might like this. My brother's band released a single recently - the first real piece of music they've put out in a while, actually - and it's actually really damn professional-sounding. [url=http://sexoffice.bandcamp.com/]Check it out.[/url] They're a sort of fusion of prog, R&B, and electronica. And for kicks, a repository of little [url=https://soundcloud.com/cheeseandgrapes]ditties[/url] he's done over the years; some quick real-instrument segments mixed with some goofy stuff he made years ago in FLStudio.[/QUOTE] Read the OP.

that's a tricky one as its not his music he's posting, so maybe that should be okay? idk. so complex Anyway guys, I updated the OP to include some free resources that I lifted from the resource collection thread which is actually still open. I've got a big bunch of drum samples there but they're all for electronic drum machines, really vintage ones too. Any other drum packs you guys know of?

Whoops! Sorry about that. I didn't know where exactly music would go these days since the forum merge; I just saw a thread that looked vaguely like "post self-created stuff" here so thought this was a place to share it. I'm not a musician myself so I wouldn't have any real critique to give, unfortunately.