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

[Hakita]

[QUOTE=VinLAURiA;47002957]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.[/QUOTE]
this is the thread for self-created stuff, but we have to have this ruleset because otherwise it's just people dumping their music and leaving, which sucks for everyone involved

[VinLAURiA]

I understand. Again, it not being my own personal creation, I wouldn't exactly be able to do anything with any criticism given to it so I didn't think to ask. Just didn't see anywhere else I would have put it and I wasn't gonna make a whole new thread when post-merge GD is filled with megathreads.

[killerteacup]

[QUOTE=VinLAURiA;47002985]I understand. Again, it not being my own personal creation, I wouldn't exactly be able to do anything with any criticism given to it so I didn't think to ask. Just didn't see anywhere else I would have put it and I wasn't gonna make a whole new thread when post-merge GD is filled with megathreads.[/QUOTE]

It's all good, thanks for being so understanding about it - I'll check out your friend's band after breakfast :). You could even post it in the music chat thread as well

[GayIlluminati]

I suggest you add this to the OP because it is the finest set of 808 samples I've heard.
[url]http://trashaudio.com/2010/01/roland-tr-808-sample-pack/[/url]

[brooklynlord]

[QUOTE=FalseLogic;46999557]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:

[video=youtube;CWTAOwgTbu4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWTAOwgTbu4[/video]

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.[/QUOTE]

Hmm...
Yes, I'm aware that the synth was inspired by that music but I'm going to point out a few key differences in usage:
The part in 'She moves she' sounds more like it was cut and randomly flickers in. This is due to two reasons: One is the lack of an 'attack' (the characteristic sound of an instrument beginning its note. It actually makes a huge difference in how we perceive the instrument's tone), which makes it sound flickery. The second big difference is that it's almost always played started on an off-beat. This helps to emphasize its random nature, along with the fact that even though it has repetition, it's not very obvious (a combination of repeat length and only repeating about 2x before changing it up).

Even though your synth has qualities similar to the first by having little attack, the predictability of it coming down on the strongest beats (1&3) makes it not seem as random as the flickering part in 'She moves she'.

This part is going to be a bit of music theory and education and stuff but it's rather important in figuring out notes that sound good and ones that don't.

In one chord, you typically have 3 notes. Let's say they are the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of a scale (the most basic chord: Tonic root position).
The most common note for the bass to play is, by far, the 1st note. The 3rd note comes second, and the 5th note is rarely used. Each of these are called the inversions; first and second. Each of these has its own characteristic sound because the bass note decides all of those overtones (you can look at my previous post for that).
Now, it shouldn't be a surprise that you can build 3-note chords on any of the 6 other notes in the scale (though the chord whose lowest note is the 7th note of the scale is typically never used), and each of those 3-note chords have 3 variations to them: Root position, first inversion, second inversion.

The reason why 3-note chords are the most common in classical music is that they sound more 'perfectly' than all the others: the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of most scales are typically consonant with each other which makes them sound like a whole.

Now, 4 note chords are almost guaranteed to have some sort of clash in them. The Diminished 7th is one built all on minor 3rds, the dominant 7th is built on a major 3-note chord with a slightly lower 7th note. This slightly lowered 7th note will instinctively clash against the first note of the chord, which is only one whole tone apart.

That said, a lot of beauty in music is actually in the clashes.
[QUOTE][video=youtube;izQsgE0L450]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450[/video][/QUOTE]
Try to listen to the bottom note and the top note; Even though they are very far apart (more than an octave), if you shift the bottom one up the octaves to play them beside the top note, you'll find out that a lot of the times they won't sound perfect with each other.

That said, the distance between the lower and upper notes also makes a big difference in our perception of clashing and non-clashing. Generally, you can afford to have less space between notes the higher you go. If you play the 1st note and the 5th note of a scale very low on the piano, you can easily hear how muddy it is. If you play it higher and higher, it'll tend to sound more and more sparse. This is because the overtones don't clash as much with each other.

edit:

That said (again), a chord can sound vastly different depending on what precedes the chord itself and when it takes place. That bit takes a bit of experience to get used to, though it's also very helpful as a puzzle to work yourself out of if you manage to write yourself into a corner with all the chord changes. It's like minesweeper; finding a good path out of the quagmire.
(fixed video)

[killerteacup]

[QUOTE=GayIlluminati;47003199]I suggest you add this to the OP because it is the finest set of 808 samples I've heard.
[url]http://trashaudio.com/2010/01/roland-tr-808-sample-pack/[/url][/QUOTE]

On it!

[source]

here's the completed solo based on feedback:

[media]http://soundcloud.com/sourcegamer101/solocomplete[/media]

thanks to those who gave me better groove ideas

[Number-41]

I like it. Also good job on having a recurring motive.

[Smallheart]

[QUOTE=FalseLogic;46993755]
[media]http://soundcloud.com/p-a-h-b/falsky[/media]
[/QUOTE]

I like the overall sound to it, it's layered nicely, but some variation in volume at different portions of the song might help it keep the listener engaged, maybe some crescendo envelopes for some layers, and maybe another double-time beat to signal changes/additions to layers. The end is really cool tho, very impressive.

[QUOTE=sourcegamer101;47004166]here's the completed solo based on feedback:

[media]http://soundcloud.com/sourcegamer101/solocomplete[/media]

thanks to those who gave me better groove ideas[/QUOTE]

Dude, where is the rest of this song, sounds sooooo good. I'd really like to hear more.

Is this an okay mix? It's not intended to be a complete song, just trying to make sure I have a decent mix. Thank you in advance for any insight.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/christian-sparks-4/soundtest[/media]

[source]

[QUOTE=Smallheart;47005543]

Is this an okay mix? It's not intended to be a complete song, just trying to make sure I have a decent mix. Thank you in advance for any insight.

[URL="http://facepunch.com/"]Listen to Soundcloud recording[/URL]

[URL]http://soundcloud.com/christian-sparks-4/soundtest[/URL]

[/QUOTE]

The drums need a bit of work, they are too loud overall, but the snare is too quiet at the DUN NUN parts at 0:05, and the crash cymbals are too prominent overall. It kinda sounds like they've been put through a compressor. The bass could be more varied and turned up too. I'm a bassist, and it's necessary for the song to have the driving force in the back help keeping the beat for songs. I've heard too many music, even mainstream, where they push the bass to the back of the mix and it's buried by the rest of the instruments. It's really depressing.

Other than those things, I really like the chord progression, it's very memorable. The song is very "in your face." That's what I also like as well. It's a preference for me

[MilkBagz]

[QUOTE=Smallheart;47005543]I like the overall sound to it, it's layered nicely, but some variation in volume at different portions of the song might help it keep the listener engaged, maybe some crescendo envelopes for some layers, and maybe another double-time beat to signal changes/additions to layers. The end is really cool tho, very impressive.

Dude, where is the rest of this song, sounds sooooo good. I'd really like to hear more.

Is this an okay mix? It's not intended to be a complete song, just trying to make sure I have a decent mix. Thank you in advance for any insight.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/christian-sparks-4/soundtest[/media][/QUOTE]

Where's the low end?

[source]

[media]http://soundcloud.com/sourcegamer101/goin-deep-solo[/media]

here's a different song I'm working on by the way. The low end and solo were all done on a bass guitar.

Does anyone know other places I could go with this groove? The first thing that popped in my head while listening was slow, melodic and anthemy

[killerteacup]

if you're posting a new song feedback would be appreciated :)

[MilkBagz]

[QUOTE=killerteacup;47006181]if you're posting a new song feedback would be appreciated :)[/QUOTE]

I think I just fucked up his merge though, he did post some above that.

[killerteacup]

i am a fool

[lawlavex]

[QUOTE=sourcegamer101;47005704][media]http://soundcloud.com/sourcegamer101/goin-deep-solo[/media]

here's a different song I'm working on by the way. The low end and solo were all done on a bass guitar.

Does anyone know other places I could go with this groove? The first thing that popped in my head while listening was slow, melodic and anthemy[/QUOTE]

hmm, i'm pretty much thinking slow, melodic, and anthemy too. maybe after a breakdown you could jump right back to a new solo or something. it's sounding great so far though!

i've been participating in a challenge where you have to post a song every single week, and so far it's been giving me some great results. forcing myself to meet a short deadline makes me work on the big parts first instead of trying to fix all the little details right away. here's the latest song, what do you guys think?

[media]http://soundcloud.com/monsieurangry/space-out-owot-3[/media]

[brooklynlord]

[QUOTE=lawlavex;47007605]hmm, i'm pretty much thinking slow, melodic, and anthemy too. maybe after a breakdown you could jump right back to a new solo or something. it's sounding great so far though!

i've been participating in a challenge where you have to post a song every single week, and so far it's been giving me some great results. forcing myself to meet a short deadline makes me work on the big parts first instead of trying to fix all the little details right away. here's the latest song, what do you guys think?

[media]http://soundcloud.com/monsieurangry/space-out-owot-3[/media][/QUOTE]

Just wondering, what genre is this in?

Mostly because I can't decide if it's supposed to be ambient or something more electro or techno or something else. To me it seems like it lacks a clear melody; you have some pretty up-front percussion at bits, soft background chords, then at times heavy electro-bass, etc.

Then there's the comedic whistle thing (that i forget the name of) right at 3m 41s. Heh. It does serve to lighten up the mood at the end.

The thing is I think the percussion and the bass have too 'hard' of an attack, which makes them (imo) too prominent for ambient music. Or perhaps too loud.
Adding in a melody will change the genre of the entire piece, and I don't know if that's the kind of thing you're trying to go for.

[lawlavex]

[QUOTE=brooklynlord;47007730]Just wondering, what genre is this in?

Mostly because I can't decide if it's supposed to be ambient or something more electro or techno or something else. To me it seems like it lacks a clear melody; you have some pretty up-front percussion at bits, soft background chords, then at times heavy electro-bass, etc.

Then there's the comedic whistle thing (that i forget the name of) right at 3m 41s. Heh. It does serve to lighten up the mood at the end.

The thing is I think the percussion and the bass have too 'hard' of an attack, which makes them (imo) too prominent for ambient music. Or perhaps too loud.
Adding in a melody will change the genre of the entire piece, and I don't know if that's the kind of thing you're trying to go for.[/QUOTE]

i'm not completely sure myself, but because of the pace of the drop near the ending i think it would fall into the category of neurofunk. i was going for something that mixed styles with heavier drums with ambient atmospheres and also had some sort of melody that i could go back to in the softer parts.

as for the whistle thing, i found it lying around in my house and thought it would be fun to record. but now that i think about it i probably should have left it out haha

[KmartSqrl]

[QUOTE=brooklynlord;47007730]Just wondering, what genre is this in?[/QUOTE]

It's drum and bass.

[Legion Varus]

[QUOTE=Smallheart;47005543]
Is this an okay mix? It's not intended to be a complete song, just trying to make sure I have a decent mix. Thank you in advance for any insight.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/christian-sparks-4/soundtest[/media][/QUOTE]

I like your rifts there, but it really sounds like you need something on top like a melody or lyrics to go along with your piece. I also think if your going to use that much cymbal you need to turn that down some, it was distracting. Overall a good start.

[QUOTE=sourcegamer101;47005704][media]http://soundcloud.com/sourcegamer101/goin-deep-solo[/media]

here's a different song I'm working on by the way. The low end and solo were all done on a bass guitar.

Does anyone know other places I could go with this groove? The first thing that popped in my head while listening was slow, melodic and anthemy[/QUOTE]

I'm not really sure where you could go with it, but I like the groove you have here. Especially at like 0:12 that was sexy in my opinion.

[QUOTE=lawlavex;47007605]
i've been participating in a challenge where you have to post a song every single week, and so far it's been giving me some great results. forcing myself to meet a short deadline makes me work on the big parts first instead of trying to fix all the little details right away. here's the latest song, what do you guys think?

[media]http://soundcloud.com/monsieurangry/space-out-owot-3[/media][/QUOTE]

Good work. I really like some of your transitions in there. Now one thing you may want to consider is adding some variety in the rhythms your using for the drums. They sometimes got a little stale for me, like 2:00 to 3:00 the back drum rhythm never changed. Just a thought.

___________________________________________________

Here's a piece I've been working on. I've been listening to a lot of the Battlestar Galatica soundtrack and decided I wanted to make an arrangement of one of the pieces on the album. Unfortunately there isn't a midi of this piece so I mostly had to do this from scratch, but thankfully I had some sheet music I could refer to. Normally this is a solo piano piece, but I added some strings to it because I thought the main melody would sound nice with a violin playing instead of a piano.

Anyways

Battlestar Sonatica - Bear McCreary (Arranged by me) - [media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/battlestar-galatica-battlestar-sonatica-arrangement[/media]

[Timo★]

Has anyone tried [url]https://splice.com/[/url] ? It's a collaboration platform for music, looks like something that you could do with dropbox and notepad notes, I guess its just the convenience

[editline]26th January 2015[/editline]

I haven't tried it so I don't know how it actually works, if anyone using FL 11 want to try to make something with it PM me or smthn

[chaz13]

[QUOTE=lawlavex;47007605]hmm, i'm pretty much thinking slow, melodic, and anthemy too. maybe after a breakdown you could jump right back to a new solo or something. it's sounding great so far though!

i've been participating in a challenge where you have to post a song every single week, and so far it's been giving me some great results. forcing myself to meet a short deadline makes me work on the big parts first instead of trying to fix all the little details right away. here's the latest song, what do you guys think?

[media]http://soundcloud.com/monsieurangry/space-out-owot-3[/media][/QUOTE]

I love this, that sub bass is just insane. Teach me your wizard skills!

[quote][url]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/battlestar-galatica-battlestar-sonatica-arrangement[/url][/quote]

This is very nice. I haven't heard on the original so I can't comment much on the arrangement, but it sounds very decent. I feel like the strings sound slightly too dry, a touch more reverb would be nice I think.

Just chucked some neurofunk together, I'll decide if I want to make a song out of it tomorrow!

[media]http://soundcloud.com/awesomesaucee/neurofunk-wip[/media]

EDIT: Added a lot more to it.

[source]

[QUOTE=chaz13;47015133]

Just chucked some neurofunk together, I'll decide if I want to make a song out of it tomorrow!

[media]http://soundcloud.com/awesomesaucee/neurofunk-wip[/media][/QUOTE]

the bass is vibrating my ears, it's soothing in a way. The only 'off' thing IMO is the synth at the start is a bit too "scratchy". That's really it

[Zero Ziat]

I am aware of the rules, and I am certainly not a musician, but I do not want to come off as a dickwad to you guys.
Is it okay to post one my friend's tracks here? It's for a contest.

[chaz13]

[QUOTE=Zero Ziat;47020667]I am aware of the rules, and I am certainly not a musician, but I do not want to come off as a dickwad to you guys.
Is it okay to post one my friend's tracks here? It's for a contest.[/QUOTE]

Why not tell your friend about this thread and have him post some feedback and his song? We could always do with new contributors.

[Zero Ziat]

I am actually doing this as a favor for him, he saved my life, and is barely fluent while redacting in english. Thanks for the reply though!

[killerteacup]

[QUOTE=lawlavex;47007605]hmm, i'm pretty much thinking slow, melodic, and anthemy too. maybe after a breakdown you could jump right back to a new solo or something. it's sounding great so far though!

i've been participating in a challenge where you have to post a song every single week, and so far it's been giving me some great results. forcing myself to meet a short deadline makes me work on the big parts first instead of trying to fix all the little details right away. here's the latest song, what do you guys think?

[media]http://soundcloud.com/monsieurangry/space-out-owot-3[/media][/QUOTE]

I do a similar challenge sometimes - but mine's just a 2 hour challenge so I have to make an okayish song in like 2-3 hours. Gets you familiar with your interface pretty damn quick after a while.

I really like this - sort of ambient with elements of dubstep and in the soft part you have a really nice chord progression going on. Love the whistle too. Keep it.

I would suggest adding some more things with a bit of high end towards the end here and there for some variety maybe but considering you're on a short deadline this is sick. Good work.

Speaking of challenges this is one i did this afternoon. Haven't recorded anything for like 4 months so it was nice to get back into it at least for a little bit.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/teacarp/killing-time[/media]

[Healthpoint]

[QUOTE=Rich209;47009971]

Battlestar Sonatica - Bear McCreary (Arranged by me) - [media]http://soundcloud.com/russiangodfather/battlestar-galatica-battlestar-sonatica-arrangement[/media][/QUOTE]

Oh man, I'm not familiar with the original, but this is super nice. Great job!

[QUOTE=chaz13;47015133]
Just chucked some neurofunk together, I'll decide if I want to make a song out of it tomorrow!

[media]http://soundcloud.com/awesomesaucee/neurofunk-wip[/media]

EDIT: Added a lot more to it.[/QUOTE]

Lovely warm bass. I'd add some ghost notes/snares in there though, because the snare starts to give it this mechanic sound the longer it goes on like this. Maybe experiment with having a shorter envelope on the volume of the snare for certain hits or something.

[QUOTE=killerteacup;47025633]
Speaking of challenges this is one i did this afternoon. Haven't recorded anything for like 4 months so it was nice to get back into it at least for a little bit.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/teacarp/killing-time[/media][/QUOTE]
Very chill atmosphere you got going on here. I like the contrast of the dry clicky percussion and the washed out atmosphere on the guitar. I can picture some big noisey snare (drowned in reverb) come in eventually though.

As for me, I started working on this last night:

[media]http://soundcloud.com/strange-arrival/thought-pool-wip[/media]

I can call it done, but I think I might add another minute or so.

[Mr. Bleak]

I've been wanting to play drums since I was probably 10 but my parents would never let me get a kit. Now I have some money saved and I'd like to get a basic kit to start learning. Sure, I'm 20 but it's never too late to get a hobby right?

Dude at the music shop said it'd be like $900 minimum for him to order one in which sounds like bullshit to me. I want to play stuff like Sunny Day Real Estate and Brand New so I don't think I'd need anything too extravagant. Any recommendations?

[Skeeter]

[QUOTE=Mr. Bleak;47027507]I've been wanting to play drums since I was probably 10 but my parents would never let me get a kit. Now I have some money saved and I'd like to get a basic kit to start learning. Sure, I'm 20 but it's never too late to get a hobby right?

Dude at the music shop said it'd be like $900 minimum for him to order one in which sounds like bullshit to me. I want to play stuff like Sunny Day Real Estate and Brand New so I don't think I'd need anything too extravagant. Any recommendations?[/QUOTE]

Do you have a spot where you can play drums, or are you looking at getting digital drums?

$900 is a lot of dough that'll get you a good kit, but you can easily get something old&used for less than that or even a brand new kit.