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

[splenda]

[QUOTE=paindoc;50940668]uughhhhh halofreak keeps facebook pm'ing his new songs and I feel bad because I forget to listen, mostly out of guilt since I've not made music or opened my DAW since I finished the film score. I got really busy, then got a dog and got busier, and then we got more contracts at work so shit got EVEN busier, and all I wanna do is sit down and play out some tunes.

But I only have a midi keyboard, so I can't do that. And once I'm on my computer I get too stressed about everything I"m not doing, and the moment passes. Before I got a dog, my original plan was to save for this beast: (since its not an analog jupiter the price has plummeted and this used market is good yay)

[t]https://static.roland.com/assets/images/products/main/jupiter-80_top_main.jpg[/t]

since it can do everything I want to do and this way I can ditch all my other hardware. I don't like having to open my DAW, as great as the infinite well of in-the-box sound stuff can be sometimes I just want to open a grand piano patch and jam away like I used to :/

but no monies now, so no push 2 or jupiter 80 or any music stuff since my doggo is eating (sometimes literally) all my money up

also splenda you should listen to 90.3 KEXP. its a local radio station that plays tons and tons of varied music, but they have an online stream and tons of worldwide fans. I feel you'd dig it. Its been good for inspiration and ideas.[/QUOTE]

I listen to KEXP every now and again but I am already affiliated with a different radio station so I try not to step on their toes too much (also the one I am affiliated with is my favorite radio station I have heard so it works out in the end.)

I've always heard mixed things about the new Jupiters. On one hand, using the Jupiter name on a digital synth seems kind of weird, but on the other hand, it still sounds really good. Most of the people I have talked about it with are in the camp of "it's not a Jupiter 8 so I don't even want to acknowledge it" but those who have played with it say it's pretty cool. Regrettably I have never played one, the synth shops I peruse cater more towards the analogue or not as workstation-y digital stuff, so I cannot comment firsthand on it's build quality and stuff.

Also probably the best that you didn't buy it because Roland is announcing like 30+ new products on 909 so at the very least the price of the Jupiter 80 will probably drop. Also that new Behringer synth looks neat too, but if I got one I would probably elect to cover up the logos in some way because I'm vain like that...

[paindoc]

[QUOTE=splenda;50942445]I listen to KEXP every now and again but I am already affiliated with a different radio station so I try not to step on their toes too much (also the one I am affiliated with is my favorite radio station I have heard so it works out in the end.)

I've always heard mixed things about the new Jupiters. On one hand, using the Jupiter name on a digital synth seems kind of weird, but on the other hand, it still sounds really good. Most of the people I have talked about it with are in the camp of "it's not a Jupiter 8 so I don't even want to acknowledge it" but those who have played with it say it's pretty cool. Regrettably I have never played one, the synth shops I peruse cater more towards the analogue or not as workstation-y digital stuff, so I cannot comment firsthand on it's build quality and stuff.

Also probably the best that you didn't buy it because Roland is announcing like 30+ new products on 909 so at the very least the price of the Jupiter 80 will probably drop. Also that new Behringer synth looks neat too, but if I got one I would probably elect to cover up the logos in some way because I'm vain like that...[/QUOTE]

I should've figured you'd heard of KEXP. I don't like everything they play, but I still sometimes listen to it anyways since listening to things you don't intensely like is hardly bad for you.

I've heard similar things about the two new Jupiters. The Jupiter 50 gets some flak for its awful screen, but they all sound lovely and have expansive libraries that can be further expanded with Roland's online stuff. The string patches are especially lovely, Roland seems to excel at creating warm harmonic-rich strings that always sound wonderfully full and dense - [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10WEuRwxGRU"]a skilled player can do some neat things with em[/URL]

I haven't had my ear to the ground when it comes to synth news, so I'm glad to know they're releasing new items. Have there been any vague teasers of what to expect, or what product lines will be seeing expansion?

edit: another option is to just got with the Integra 7, nearly identical sound palette and half the price for a used unit. I really just want a modern-ish synth/workstation keyboard, a module would be my last resort and only if its something thats easy to turn on and play with

[splenda]

[QUOTE=paindoc;50942509]I should've figured you'd heard of KEXP. I don't like everything they play, but I still sometimes listen to it anyways since listening to things you don't intensely like is hardly bad for you.

I've heard similar things about the two new Jupiters. The Jupiter 50 gets some flak for its awful screen, but they all sound lovely and have expansive libraries that can be further expanded with Roland's online stuff. The string patches are especially lovely, Roland seems to excel at creating warm harmonic-rich strings that always sound wonderfully full and dense - [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10WEuRwxGRU"]a skilled player can do some neat things with em[/URL]

I haven't had my ear to the ground when it comes to synth news, so I'm glad to know they're releasing new items. Have there been any vague teasers of what to expect, or what product lines will be seeing expansion?[/QUOTE]

[url=http://cdm.link/2016/08/roland-releasing-33-new-things-909-september-9/]This is probably the most comprehensive thing about it so far.[/url]

The biggest speculations right now are there will be a system-8, so just an upgraded system one that can also hold more plug-outs, and, for some reason, a 909 clone. Then again, this is all speculation so they could just be putting out 33 new tshirt designs and usb cables.

I never been a big workstation guy myself but that is mostly because of the music I make. All of the acoustic stuff I use is usually either found sound-esque or just simple stuff I can play on my bass or guitar. If I ever am really jonesing for violin or something, I usually do not want big orchestra sounds so I just ask a friend if I can borrow their instrument for a few hours. I remember I played a few gigs with someone who was way into their korg workstation and she got really good sounds out of it so I'm sure roland's offerings are just as good.

Also workstations do not have cv outs so they are useless for me and my ever growing pile of modular stuff. Apparently on friday I get access to my school's full collection of synths so maybe they will have a jupiter 80 I can test (though even if there is one I'll probably just be glued to my school's buchla modular to notice.)

[editline]24th August 2016[/editline]

Also on your edited bit about the differences between rack units and keyboards, there really is one. My blofeld does not get nearly as much love as it should but that is just becuase in order to play it I need to connect a keyboard, while stuff like my moog has a keyboard on it and my modular is something I use for more atonal sounds so a keyboard defeats the purpose of its intended sound palette. Just being able to sit on a couch and play a synth with nothing else around is a very nice feeling.

[Skeeter]

[QUOTE=splenda;50935398]I have released a few albums and eps in my time so maybe you can follow my structure. I treat albums as an overall story, and the songs are chapters. While this is a bit less obvious with electronic music, it still helps to have some sort of theme (so like don't go from harsh noise to a pop song.) Like even using the same equipment per song really helps glue an album together (for example in my latest ep the only delay I used was a space echo and all the bass was a combination of my moog and my fender jazz bass with flat wound strings.)

If you want to follow the traditional album flow too your last song can be a bit of an outlier, kind of like how bunch of rock albums end with stripped down intimate songs. Then again, there are no real rules.

In terms of song quality, I am a perfectionist when it comes to what I put out, so I'm pretty stringent. Like my last ep was 5 songs, but I made around 15 full songs for it. I did not go into the ep as "I want a 15 song album" but rather "I want to put out 5 songs." Don't take this to mean I only made 5 good songs out of the 15, but rather I felt like those 5 worked the best together and added to my overall arch of the work. I even cut songs people liked more than the songs I kept, but I felt keeping those songs would mean less emotional impact from myself even though the reward would of been more "bangers."

Take it this way, there is a reason there is a difference between greatest hits compilations and albums. Albums are like a full meal, while comps are more of grocery store food samples. Then again, the top selling album ever is a greatest hits comp, so maybe I'm totally wrong.
[/QUOTE]

I like your way of structuring it :) Personally I'm way too much of an "Ok so I'll just doodle til I find a riff I like, expand and then I'll add more shit until it sounds good". I try to capture as much raw emotion as possible which means I try to capture the rhytmic guitars in as few takes as possible.
I never really spend hours recording my guitar, instead I hit record and try to nail it in <10 takes. If I can't capture it, then I'll either try another day or just go with whichever has the grit I'm after.

This doesn't mean I'm not trying my best when I record music, just that I feel that if I can't capture the raw emotions I try to convey, it isn't worth it. I'm a huge fan of the punk aesthetic of just doing shit in a heartfelt way and I know that this is the way music works for me, either it works fast or I'll spend way, way too much overthinking and analyzing shit.

And that never turns out good.

The tracks I've written now I think works pretty well together, all of the songs are pretty wild and fast (The slowest is 160bpm, fastest is 240 and most of them are >180bpm) but I've been really trying to get a sense of dynamics because that's the kind of stuff I dig about music.

I've been doing a lot of thinking thanks to your own insights and thoughts about albums (great metaphor by the way <3) and I feel confident enough to say that the current tracks (beyond a lil something something) progress nicely together, trying to kickstart the album with what I feel are two of the strongest songs (and most uptempo) and then slowing down,to end with about the same energy as the first track (they're almost the same, structure-wise).

Here's the whole shebang, 32 minutes of some really fast, melodic Techno Punk. :)
[url]https://soundcloud.com/skriket/sets/techno-punk-the-definitive-collection-1/s-uOqSX[/url]

[Ott]

[QUOTE=Skeeter;50942829]Here's the whole shebang, 32 minutes of some really fast, melodic Techno Punk. :)
[url]https://soundcloud.com/skriket/sets/techno-punk-the-definitive-collection-1/s-uOqSX[/url][/QUOTE]

That first song sounds like Newgrounds synth-vs-guitar stuff :v:

It just seems a little flat when the synth has no decay and full sustain level.

[editline]24th August 2016[/editline]

No song really stood out. They all more or less sounded the same, although Goblins had more unique rhythm.

[editline]24th August 2016[/editline]

There was no song structure. It just didn't let up and it felt like it went nowhere.

[splenda]

[QUOTE=Skeeter;50942829]I like your way of structuring it :) Personally I'm way too much of an "Ok so I'll just doodle til I find a riff I like, expand and then I'll add more shit until it sounds good". I try to capture as much raw emotion as possible which means I try to capture the rhytmic guitars in as few takes as possible.
I never really spend hours recording my guitar, instead I hit record and try to nail it in <10 takes. If I can't capture it, then I'll either try another day or just go with whichever has the grit I'm after.

This doesn't mean I'm not trying my best when I record music, just that I feel that if I can't capture the raw emotions I try to convey, it isn't worth it. I'm a huge fan of the punk aesthetic of just doing shit in a heartfelt way and I know that this is the way music works for me, either it works fast or I'll spend way, way too much overthinking and analyzing shit.

And that never turns out good.

The tracks I've written now I think works pretty well together, all of the songs are pretty wild and fast (The slowest is 160bpm, fastest is 240 and most of them are >180bpm) but I've been really trying to get a sense of dynamics because that's the kind of stuff I dig about music.

I've been doing a lot of thinking thanks to your own insights and thoughts about albums (great metaphor by the way <3) and I feel confident enough to say that the current tracks (beyond a lil something something) progress nicely together, trying to kickstart the album with what I feel are two of the strongest songs (and most uptempo) and then slowing down,to end with about the same energy as the first track (they're almost the same, structure-wise).

Here's the whole shebang, 32 minutes of some really fast, melodic Techno Punk. :)
[url]https://soundcloud.com/skriket/sets/techno-punk-the-definitive-collection-1/s-uOqSX[/url][/QUOTE]

Such kind words. :smile:

In regards to your album, I feel a little bit how Ott feels. Full disclosure before hand though: I'm not that big of a fan of fast electronic music, infinite solos, most progressive music stuff, or chiptune/videogame music so I am probably 100% not your audience. While I'll try to view these as objectively as possible, I'm still a human so obviously my tastes will get in the way. Individually the songs are fine, there were a few points of criticism I have but I'll get to them, but as a whole it feels too much of the same. Like even while writing this I am going to need to periodically go back to the songs in order to tell which one I'm commenting on because they are all nearly identical in structure and timbre, i.e. super saw lead overtop chiptunes, metal tone guitar, rock drums, and then each song had the same break of just the chiptune part. It was one of those pieces where I felt the need to stop it for a moment in the middle because my auditory cortex was treating it all as a mush, since it was the same stimulation the whole time even though the rest of my brain knew it was multiple songs.

Segwaying to the songs, they all had weird volume issues. In some songs the overall dB got noticeably louder than the rest, so much so that I had to turn down my volume levels for a bit until it got better, and at other points the songs were too quiet. While this wouldn't be much of a problem if it felt more structured, I really didn't get the sense it was overtly deliberate. Also some of the effect fills were kind of awkward, especially the one where you reversed the whole part. Like it was a good concept, but when your brain has already reached the "ok this is progressive chiptune-y music" and then you get kind of athymic and not doing standard scale stuff it's kind of jarring. At the same time though, my experimental background enjoyed it because it broke up what was all a blur and made me react to it. Also was that long pause in your last song intentional? Felt kind of weird since you can't really trick people with secret parts of albums anymore since the runtime of songs is always visible.

Don't take this to mean your music was bad, it really wasn't. Albums are a lot harder to make than just a single song because you need to grab someone's attention for longer. If you put all these songs out individually, I would think they were all pretty good for what they are. Since you liked my other metaphor so much I'll give you a new one: If someone who was way into the societal complexities of rats in southern Beijing talked to you for 5 minutes about this subject, you would probably find it quite easy to stay alert, since it is probably something you never actually thought about. Instead of that 5 minute talk it was actually a 4 hour lecture, you would probably remember absolutely nothing about the rats or their culture, or even where the rats were from, since your brain would of shut off after 30 minutes.

I decided that I would fuck around and make a house song that is not really from any era (takes cues from old school and new school.) Have not made house music in years so it's probably real rusty and stuff but I guess I'm kind of proud of it. The one thing I ask is after you finished the song [sp]Did you feel the part at around 3:00 was too jarring? I felt like the key hit need to change up but I don't know if I did it in the right way. At least I made a random number generator that is surprisingly funky.[/sp] Also this is my first song to really use the whole "loudness war" school of mastering so I have no clue if I did that right. Just basically very softly clipped the master going immediately into a multiband compressor and then all the other junk, and finally put a really angry limiter on it.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/user101912311/ive-never-been-to-chicago[/media]

Probably just a one off thing because I can't do my standard "down everything in tape delay and springs" with safe house music.

[editline]24th August 2016[/editline]

Also house music is too fast for my own music making tastes. I live in the 80-110 bpm of dance music.

[AuntJimmy]

Are there any kinds of basic plugins that should exist, but don't? I'm trying to teach myself plugin development, it's been fun but I have no idea what to do with it. I mean, I can make another distortion plugin, but there are only about infinity other distortion plugins out there that do the same thing. I know just enough signal processing to be sort of almost competent at this stuff.

Or maybe I can try to make a 303 clone
The filter won't be hard to implement at all, right?
[img]http://www.timstinchcombe.co.uk/synth/diode_18_24/10p_tf.gif[/img]

[i]right?[/i]
[img]http://www.timstinchcombe.co.uk/synth/diode_18_24/tb303_laplace_model.gif[/img]

[MrJazzy]

[QUOTE=Adeptus;50925960]Hell, that's very nice man. Very clean. I think it'd be better not to change the tempo on the distorted pluck at 2:30. I get what you were going for but I think it doesn't fit well enough. Maybe try variating it a bit slower?
And I feel sometimes the vocals are a bit too over on the volume. Besides those two issues, which I can consider personal things with the song, it's pretty much perfect. Great job mate.

[editline]21st August 2016[/editline]

I've been cooking up this on the afternoon. I've been trying as of lately of doing something besides Trance music, or any other rave music. I've gone to something I think is a little bit deep housey, I think. Any c&c? Forget the mix for now, I'm working mainly on the melody.
[media]https://soundcloud.com/federicofelau/wip-deep-house[/media]

[editline]21st August 2016[/editline]

dang that snare sounds awful[/QUOTE]

I love it, you got the synthwave sound down great, I'd experiment with building up the song and turning up the cutoff on the lo pass filters at some point to get a bit more life but at the moment you got a really chill retro groove going on.

[splenda]

[QUOTE=halofreak472;50944289]Are there any kinds of basic plugins that should exist, but don't? I'm trying to teach myself plugin development, it's been fun but I have no idea what to do with it. I mean, I can make another distortion plugin, but there are only about infinity other distortion plugins out there that do the same thing. I know just enough signal processing to be sort of almost competent at this stuff.

Or maybe I can try to make a 303 clone
The filter won't be hard to implement at all, right?
[img]http://www.timstinchcombe.co.uk/synth/diode_18_24/10p_tf.gif[/img]

[i]right?[/i]
[img]http://www.timstinchcombe.co.uk/synth/diode_18_24/tb303_laplace_model.gif[/img][/QUOTE]

Even then good luck getting that algorithm to sound even close to a 303, since every non analogue clone I have heard are so far off from the vibe a real one has. As someone who also codes plugins from time to time, I really code for my own necessity rather than for a specific use. A fuzz is too tone sapping? A delay does not have enough control over what I want changed? My never ending quest to make ableton more like bitwig/modular where everything can modulate everything? These are all problems I have solved myself.

That's not really an answer to your question, but to maybe push you in a direction, how about thinking of plugin development differently. For example, many popular plugins are just recreations of vintage analogue gear, but there is nothing stopping you from just not doing that. Modern computers have more power than even the most advanced otb equipment, so try coming up with something revolving around that. For example, I have made 100+ oscillator per voice synths before just because I wondered what it would sound like. Even then, why use traditional architecture. The only reason additive and subtractive synthesis are what they are is because there were preexisting components to do those in circuits. What is stopping you from having a signal path of osc->some form of convolution->resonator+vca combo? It might sound really bad, or you might be the next dx7 in terms of revolutionary tech. Making another 303 emulation at this point is pretty pointless though since there are 2947474849 of them and hardware clones are stupidly cheap nowadays.

[Skeeter]

[QUOTE=Ott;50943043]That first song sounds like Newgrounds synth-vs-guitar stuff :v:

It just seems a little flat when the synth has no decay and full sustain level.

[editline]24th August 2016[/editline]

No song really stood out. They all more or less sounded the same, although Goblins had more unique rhythm.

[editline]24th August 2016[/editline]

There was no song structure. It just didn't let up and it felt like it went nowhere.[/QUOTE]

I've never really thought about the synth but I do agree, it is kinda flat with the current sound it has.
Thank you for listening and giving me your thoughts, I really appreciate the effort <3

[editline]25th August 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=splenda;50943625]Such kind words. :smile:

In regards to your album, I feel a little bit how Ott feels. Full disclosure before hand though: I'm not that big of a fan of fast electronic music, infinite solos, most progressive music stuff, or chiptune/videogame music so I am probably 100% not your audience. While I'll try to view these as objectively as possible, I'm still a human so obviously my tastes will get in the way. Individually the songs are fine, there were a few points of criticism I have but I'll get to them, but as a whole it feels too much of the same. Like even while writing this I am going to need to periodically go back to the songs in order to tell which one I'm commenting on because they are all nearly identical in structure and timbre, i.e. super saw lead overtop chiptunes, metal tone guitar, rock drums, and then each song had the same break of just the chiptune part. It was one of those pieces where I felt the need to stop it for a moment in the middle because my auditory cortex was treating it all as a mush, since it was the same stimulation the whole time even though the rest of my brain knew it was multiple songs.

Segwaying to the songs, they all had weird volume issues. In some songs the overall dB got noticeably louder than the rest, so much so that I had to turn down my volume levels for a bit until it got better, and at other points the songs were too quiet. While this wouldn't be much of a problem if it felt more structured, I really didn't get the sense it was overtly deliberate. Also some of the effect fills were kind of awkward, especially the one where you reversed the whole part. Like it was a good concept, but when your brain has already reached the "ok this is progressive chiptune-y music" and then you get kind of athymic and not doing standard scale stuff it's kind of jarring. At the same time though, my experimental background enjoyed it because it broke up what was all a blur and made me react to it. Also was that long pause in your last song intentional? Felt kind of weird since you can't really trick people with secret parts of albums anymore since the runtime of songs is always visible.

Don't take this to mean your music was bad, it really wasn't. Albums are a lot harder to make than just a single song because you need to grab someone's attention for longer. If you put all these songs out individually, I would think they were all pretty good for what they are. Since you liked my other metaphor so much I'll give you a new one: If someone who was way into the societal complexities of rats in southern Beijing talked to you for 5 minutes about this subject, you would probably find it quite easy to stay alert, since it is probably something you never actually thought about. Instead of that 5 minute talk it was actually a 4 hour lecture, you would probably remember absolutely nothing about the rats or their culture, or even where the rats were from, since your brain would of shut off after 30 minutes.[/QUOTE]

I would like to start with thanking you for taking the time and effort to write all of this, I truly, truly appreciate the feedback!

I agree with you that it all is very much the same, I probably took the whole "I want to make music that has a coherent theme running along with it" to the extremes. This is probably a big problem for an album if you feel that it might've just been a whole long song instead of a selection of songs. I would definietly be interested in figuring out how to make the tracks more dynamic and interesting, would you have any tips on how I would go about doing such a thing? :)
The long pause is intentional, maybe it is a bit too much though.

The changes in volume are deliberate, I read an article some time ago from some producer I now can't recall, who said a great tip for making choruses pop out even more were by doing volume automations on verses, bridges and well, choruses. I tried to emulate that by dipping verses 1-2 dB, and either have the chorus sit at +0dB or even +1,5dB. All without having the track clip of course. Again, might've overdone it. I've been listening so much to them during the past few weeks that I've grown accustomed to the change in volume that I don't really catch it :(

That is another great metaphor, maybe I should just release the songs individually in single format (and do some re-arranging in the meantime so that it isn't as if I just released the same song in different keys) and keep working my craft (and tweaking synths and stuff so that future songs are the same, but more different)?

Once again, I am truly grateful that you took time out of your life to give me your thoughts and criticism (which I appreciate) on my music. It is always awesome to hear what other people think, especially when as well put as your text. <3

I'm in a bit of a rush so I'll get back to your track later!

[Ott]

[QUOTE=halofreak472;50944289]Are there any kinds of basic plugins that should exist, but don't? I'm trying to teach myself plugin development, it's been fun but I have no idea what to do with it. I mean, I can make another distortion plugin, but there are only about infinity other distortion plugins out there that do the same thing. I know just enough signal processing to be sort of almost competent at this stuff.

Or maybe I can try to make a 303 clone
The filter won't be hard to implement at all, right?
[img]http://www.timstinchcombe.co.uk/synth/diode_18_24/10p_tf.gif[/img]

[i]right?[/i]
[img]http://www.timstinchcombe.co.uk/synth/diode_18_24/tb303_laplace_model.gif[/img][/QUOTE]

[i]Please[/i] make a [url=http://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/39356/a-filter-such-that-only-frequencies-present-in-both-signal-a-and-b-pass-through]realtime convolution[/url] plugin that takes one signal and convolves it with another signal (not reverb).

After that, can you make a convolution reverb that's as elegant and small as [url=https://www.image-line.com/support/FLHelp/html/plugins/Fruity%20Convolver.htm]FL Convolver[/url] is? All of the others are either super clunky early 2000s UI or don't support .wv files.

[splenda]

[QUOTE=Skeeter;50945086]
I would like to start with thanking you for taking the time and effort to write all of this, I truly, truly appreciate the feedback!

I agree with you that it all is very much the same, I probably took the whole "I want to make music that has a coherent theme running along with it" to the extremes. This is probably a big problem for an album if you feel that it might've just been a whole long song instead of a selection of songs. I would definietly be interested in figuring out how to make the tracks more dynamic and interesting, would you have any tips on how I would go about doing such a thing? :)
The long pause is intentional, maybe it is a bit too much though.

The changes in volume are deliberate, I read an article some time ago from some producer I now can't recall, who said a great tip for making choruses pop out even more were by doing volume automations on verses, bridges and well, choruses. I tried to emulate that by dipping verses 1-2 dB, and either have the chorus sit at +0dB or even +1,5dB. All without having the track clip of course. Again, might've overdone it. I've been listening so much to them during the past few weeks that I've grown accustomed to the change in volume that I don't really catch it :(

That is another great metaphor, maybe I should just release the songs individually in single format (and do some re-arranging in the meantime so that it isn't as if I just released the same song in different keys) and keep working my craft (and tweaking synths and stuff so that future songs are the same, but more different)?

Once again, I am truly grateful that you took time out of your life to give me your thoughts and criticism (which I appreciate) on my music. It is always awesome to hear what other people think, especially when as well put as your text. <3

I'm in a bit of a rush so I'll get back to your track later![/QUOTE]

I was so worried that I worded my comments too harshly so thanks for understanding! Some stuff you might consider is just slightly changing the sound of the lead per song, putting some sort of long modulation in there (probably something that would sound cool is really drawn out sync sweeps for your lead since it will have that bite that your songs bleed), or even just changing the tone of your guitar/putting some different effects on it per song. Like the song structures are really well thought out, it was just the sameness of everything that got tiring. Like when I got through the first song I was like "wow this has a lot of potential, but halfway through the second song I had to do a double take to make sure that the first song didn't just restart or something weird like that! No need to release the songs all as single songs, since I do agree that the songs do fit the same theme so they would work as an album!!

Something else you might want to consider is using some west coast synthesis techniques in there. I have gotten really gritty/gnarly tones out of my pure west coast modular setup that would feel right at home in your type of music. There are not a lot of vsts that are total west coast machines, the only two I can think of off the top of my head are some of the blocks in [url=https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/synths/reaktor-6/]Reaktor 6[/url] and [url=https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/8123/]WEST//[/url] (also for reaktor 6) but you can still do west coast-ish techniques on most vsts if you think outside the box enough. If you, or anyone else for that matter, wants to learn about west coast synthesis feel free to PM me!!

Also I love helping out people with music stuff, especially those as dedicated to it as most of the people in this thread!! I have a long history of music making and have picked up a lot of skills over the years, so it wouldn't make sense just to keep the bottled up for myself!! I've also felt like just saying "good track dude!" is not really helpful, since it really doesn't tell you anything. If you say "good track dude! I really like how you... and that technique at X:XX was spot on.. etc," it really helps shows someone why there song is good, or where they went wrong, and will lead to better music in the future! Also since I do a lot of high level music projects at my college, writing a few paragraphs on a song is nothing. Once I wrote a 10 page paper on a 5 minute song I wrote talking about every minute detail possible with graphs and charts and mathematical equations for some of the more complex stuff.

[AuntJimmy]

[QUOTE=Ott;50946430][i]Please[/i] make a [url=http://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/39356/a-filter-such-that-only-frequencies-present-in-both-signal-a-and-b-pass-through]realtime convolution[/url] plugin that takes one signal and convolves it with another signal (not reverb).

After that, can you make a convolution reverb that's as elegant and small as [url=https://www.image-line.com/support/FLHelp/html/plugins/Fruity%20Convolver.htm]FL Convolver[/url] is? All of the others are either super clunky early 2000s UI or don't support .wv files.[/QUOTE]

Are you looking for the frequencies at a certain time to be kept in common between both signals? As if the impulse response was being continuously updated so it matched the last few samples of your source signal?

[Ott]

[QUOTE=halofreak472;50947097]Are you looking for the frequencies at a certain time to be kept in common between both signals? As if the impulse response was being continuously updated so it matched the last few samples of your source signal?[/QUOTE]

Yes. Not just "keep it or drop it" but make the final frequency level proportional to the signals'. Think of it like this: A being the input signal, B being the convolution signal, C being the output, for any frequency:

A: 100% B: 100% C:100%
A: 0%   B: 0%   C: 0%
A: 100% B: 0%   C: 0%
A: 0%   B: 100% C: 0

A: 50%  B: 100% C: 50%
A: 100% B: 50%  C: 50%
A: 50%  B: 50%  C: 25%
A: 60%  B: 40%  C: 24%
A: 30%  B: 70%  C: 21%

Basically, if you can get each frequency in terms of 0-1, multiply the two for the output.

[editline]25th August 2016[/editline]

Check out my [url=http://sound.stackexchange.com/questions/39356/a-filter-such-that-only-frequencies-present-in-both-signal-a-and-b-pass-through]stack overflow question[/url] if you haven't already.

[hobo4president]

[QUOTE=NixNax123;50925490]
Not really a complete song, just a hook for something I'm working on. (have no idea how to begin or end it, but I know the verses will be the same beat but with less layers).

[media]https://soundcloud.com/tetramputechture/mystery-beat[/media]

First time really doing anything like this. I really tried getting away from that "I made this in 5 minutes with stock sounds" feel but I feel like some of it's still there. Still sort of happy with the way it turned out.[/QUOTE]

The drums and bass sound good I'm not a huge fan of the lead melody though, the instrument itself sounds fine.

[QUOTE=Adeptus;50925960]

I've been cooking up this on the afternoon. I've been trying as of lately of doing something besides Trance music, or any other rave music. I've gone to something I think is a little bit deep housey, I think. Any c&c? Forget the mix for now, I'm working mainly on the melody.
[media]https://soundcloud.com/federicofelau/wip-deep-house[/media]

[editline]21st August 2016[/editline]

dang that snare sounds awful[/QUOTE]

This is really good man. The bass pluck especially sounds great, very nice choice of notes. The other plucks are really nice and fit in quite well. I think the kick sounds fine but the hats could use some work and I definitely think change that snare.

[QUOTE=halofreak472;50930276]
Made a mix of trance, drum and bass, and jungle
[media]https://soundcloud.com/grandmamax/give-that-back[/media][/QUOTE]

The percussion is great man it works super well with how clean the sub is. I'm not a huge fan of the top synths but they're just not my style.

[QUOTE=Hentie;50932614]
Been a while since I posted here, this is a new song/cover I made:
[media]https://soundcloud.com/kid64/insecurity-guard[/media]

Also a little extra, I've been playing around with Electric Mantis' sample pack and it's so dope:
[media]https://soundcloud.com/kid64/drum-pack-test[/media][/QUOTE]

I definitely prefer the second one it seems a lot more melodic and less chaotic. The drums are good in both but especially lovely in the second. That said 0:44 in the first one is really nice.

_____________________________________

working on some techno kind of stuff

I think it needs a stronger hook so I need to come up with something

[media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/technowip[/media]

[MilkBagz]

[QUOTE=Hobo4President;50959824]The drums and bass sound good I'm not a huge fan of the lead melody though, the instrument itself sounds fine.

This is really good man. The bass pluck especially sounds great, very nice choice of notes. The other plucks are really nice and fit in quite well. I think the kick sounds fine but the hats could use some work and I definitely think change that snare.

The percussion is great man it works super well with how clean the sub is. I'm not a huge fan of the top synths but they're just not my style.

I definitely prefer the second one it seems a lot more melodic and less chaotic. The drums are good in both but especially lovely in the second. That said 0:44 in the first one is really nice.

_____________________________________

working on some techno kind of stuff

I think it needs a stronger hook so I need to come up with something

[media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/technowip[/media][/QUOTE]

dude the delay on that synth is so fucking cool

[NoPartyHats]

So I'm picking guitar back up after a year of giving up due to stress but I'm having a hell of a time working through scales. It's not that I don't get them, I was a concert vocalist and sax player for years so I have a pretty reasonable grasp on theory, I just don't know how to -work- a scale, you know? I know a lot of it is practice, but any pointers in being a better technical writer? I'd love to try my hand at playing some stoner rock shit

[prackton]

No worries, best of luck!

[Smeetin]

[QUOTE=Hobo4President;50959824]

working on some techno kind of stuff

I think it needs a stronger hook so I need to come up with something

[media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/technowip[/media][/QUOTE]

Intro felt a little like DeadMau5, not in a bad way just in case you don't like him. Had a really nice driving rhythm to it. The synth starting at 0:26 and on was a super cool way of adding a little extra rhythm and I really liked the atmosphere it gave. The little drop at 0:46 was seriously bad ass considering how subtle it actually is. I really admire the mellow, yet driving vibe of it. I'll try to make something like this yet when I'm better. I don't necessarily agree that it needs a stronger hook, I think it has a really good 'aesthetic' as is. Very minimal, but effective. Maybe a stronger hook for a bridge or something.

--

Here is something I did today, wasn't really trying to do anything specific, never really am.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/user-229460575/tag_1[/media]

[hobo4president]

nice breakdown of the stranger things soundtrack

[media]http://youtu.be/8vFtEuP5SiQ[/media]

[redBadger]

A good friend of mine was looking for some critiques. You can either post here or comment on his soundcloud, whichever you prefer:

[media]https://soundcloud.com/rhettrepko/on-the-run[/media]

Thanks guys! I try not to advertise anything but my friend is looking for critiques and some exposure.

[Smeetin]

[QUOTE=redBadger;50985043]A good friend of mine was looking for some critiques. You can either post here or comment on his soundcloud, whichever you prefer:

[media]https://soundcloud.com/rhettrepko/on-the-run[/media]

Thanks guys! I try not to advertise anything but my friend is looking for critiques and some exposure.[/QUOTE]

Gotta provide critique on someone else's song before any is going to comment on yours. Part of the thread rules which are on the first page.

[redBadger]

oh my bad I forgot

[editline]1st September 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=Hobo4President;50959824]
working on some techno kind of stuff

I think it needs a stronger hook so I need to come up with something

[media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/technowip[/media][/QUOTE]

I like this. I don't really think it needs a hook. It's got a great ambiance to it. My only suggestion would be to vary the drums up a bit, maybe in the snare/hi hat to make it sound a bit more natural. Don't overdo it, but add just a bit of that flavor to it to bring more character to your music. I enjoyed the whole thing even without a hook.

[splenda]

Anyone else snarky about the loss of the headphone port on the iPhone? The only way they could've redeemed this is if they put a fancy DAC in it, maybe even sell lightning break out cables that had midi in+out and two 1/4" plugs, but it doesn't seem like they did anything of the sort. It's a shame too because iOS is the definitive choice when it comes to on-the-go music stuff, but for obvious reasons if I ever use an iPad or someone's iPhone in a gig I always have it charging at the same time.

Also if you DJ all this means is you need to add another cable to your pre-gig checklist and stop yourself from compulsively checking social media if you want your phone to last until 2am or whatever as a backup to your laptop.

Maybe this will cause Google to finally address their laughable audio latency problems on android, but I don't have much hope...

[Smeetin]

They remove headphone port and then release proprietary headphones, pretty standard Apple money making move.

I think it's ridiculous.

[splenda]

Roland started their 24 hour stream of a bunch of new products. Some of the leaked stuff looked pretty good so it probably is not just 30 d-beam equipped virtual accordians. [url=http://tfr.roland.com/us/]Watch here[/url]

[Levakama]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-u14c_sVFw[/media]

Can I get some feedback here?

[Hakita]

[QUOTE=Levakama;51030239][media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-u14c_sVFw[/media]

Can I get some feedback here?[/QUOTE]
sure, after you give some

[img]http://i.imgur.com/qlFuRED.jpg[/img]

[Warship]

[QUOTE=Smeetin;50980391]

Here is something I did today, wasn't really trying to do anything specific, never really am.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/user-229460575/tag_1[/media][/QUOTE]

Pretty spooky, I like it for its almost-ambient-but-not-really quality. I do find the drums kind of hard to follow, but maybe I just need to listen to it a few times. This track could easily be used in a movie scene if you ask me. The breathing sound is a nice touch (also makes it creepy in a cool way).

[editline]12th September 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=Levakama;51030239][media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-u14c_sVFw[/media]

Can I get some feedback here?[/QUOTE]

(Just because I like Stranger Things and I'm a nice person, I'll give you feedback even though you didn't.)

Great track, I love the bassline and I think it hits the 80's electro-feel quite well (but I wasn't alive then so what do I know). The synth lead works pretty well. However, I think the track gets a [I]bit[/I] boring towards the end...

Here's a track I'm pretty proud of, I think I'm getting better at making melodies with feelings in them. If that makes any sense.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/thedanielholt/july-is-over[/media]

[hobo4president]

[QUOTE=Levakama;51030239][media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-u14c_sVFw[/media]

Can I get some feedback here?[/QUOTE]

It's a nice track with a strong 80s feel. It definitely reminds me of Stranger Things that said I think the percussion and bass synth are a bit hard hitting to really match the soundtrack's sound. That said it's still really good.

[QUOTE=Warship;51038167]
Here's a track I'm pretty proud of, I think I'm getting better at making melodies with feelings in them. If that makes any sense.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/thedanielholt/july-is-over[/media][/QUOTE]

Some of the melodies are really nice in this. The sub adds a bunch to this track and really makes it groove. On note of the melodies they work well in creating a bunch of atmosphere. The kick sounds good, I'm not used to hearing such a hard hitting kick but it works, I think it could use some extra percussion around it I don't think the ride is enough. The break is super nice, the panning on the synths is a nice touch as is the percussive delay.

[QUOTE=Smeetin;50980391]

Here is something I did today, wasn't really trying to do anything specific, never really am.

[media]https://soundcloud.com/user-229460575/tag_1[/media][/QUOTE]

The atmospheric sounds are good, it sounds super dark which I like. I'm not a fan of the hat samples you've used though, I think adding some more hats using different samples and panning them a bit could help create some width in the percussion.
___________________________________________

I finished the remix I was working on

[media]http://soundcloud.com/philmaah/jessamyn-rains-land-of-the-living-phil-maah-remix[/media]