Message Forums
Home > Community > Music & Composition Forum > Need Feedback - Music & Composition Forum

Music & Composition Message Forum

• Need Feedback

Interv Member Since: Sep 28, 2009		Sep 28, 2009 06:13 am Hello, I'm new to the community - looking forward to learn alot here :) -hopefully Anyways, I have been working as a hobby on different songs the past year, mostly went really active a few months ago when I realized I prioritized creating music before computer games (Hell yeah! Finally closed that corrupted door) So anyways! Since you here are most-likely way ahead of me in techniques etc, I would love to hear some feedback on the stuff I have created so far. You can find the music on www . youtube . com /user/djinterv (had to add DJ in front since Interv was used..by me :D - without access to the account / e-mail etc - I'M NOT A DJ) I'm trying various different styles in each song I create. I start up without thinking of what it should become, I just let it become whatever it becomes :) So I hope that's little bit special at least. Hope you enjoy it and that you can provide me with some tips. Since I feel that all my songs become boring / deadclip at the endings... It's like something is missing, but I dunno what. Looking forward for replys! Cheers Interv
Noize2u Czar of Midi Administrator Since: Apr 04, 2002		Sep 28, 2009 07:44 pm Can you make the link complete. I can't get anything to turn up following it now.
J-bot Czar of Employment Challenged Member Since: Dec 04, 2007		Sep 28, 2009 08:08 pm Yeah I can't get anything either. Google suggests a djintern but no interv. Depending on the filesize, you should be able to upload a track or two in your profile here as well. Just sayin'. I'll try looking up the username on youtube proper, and see if I can look you up that way. Edit: Nevermind, I think that was my fault. Think I left a space in the link when I copy/pasted. :P Anyway, my first impressions are that the levels sound good to me, and nothing immediately jumps out at me as out of place in the mixes. You make good use of the sounds/texture, and everything fits with the style of music. Also, while some of the tracks might seem a little repetitive at first, you do change things up and that helps keep the listener's interest. I know higher compression is used on purpose in this style of music, but some of the songs felt like it was just a -little- much. That's the only real crit I have. Anyway, sounds good to me :) For the record, I felt that the DnB remake of Milith were especially well done.
Nightcap Veni, MIDI, Vici Member Since: Jul 02, 2008		Sep 28, 2009 09:39 pm I like it. Good theme and well worked out. I do have issues with the bass. A little too dominant for my taste at times. "Milith" is a true gem in its genre imho. I really like it a lot. All you need is a good video to go with it and you score a hit in my book. But what's up with the abrupt ending? I have to agree with J-bot that going a little easier on the compression would improve the listening experience. Nevertheless, very well done!
Noize2u Czar of Midi Administrator Since: Apr 04, 2002		Sep 28, 2009 10:16 pm Ah yes, I must have mis-typed it or something. This isn't what I got first couple go rounds. Very interesting sound scape's indeed.I"ll have to give them a little better listen's but on first go round they are very nicely done. I'll be a bit more critical when I listen tomorrow.
Interv Member Since: Sep 28, 2009		Sep 29, 2009 03:05 am Hey again. Sorry for the link, I tried to paste it fully by URL but then the forums just splitted it up making a huge space in my post without the link. So I ended up with that. The username on youtube is "DjInterv". But yes, I have to agree on your feedback. My own opinion is that most of the song are somehow "dry". And I'm a huge bass lover, so thats why you hear alot of it dominating the sound :) In all the songs, I kind of get this creative rush at start, just going nuts seeing how things can work together. And then something always happens, I loose creativity and I just cant find a mid plane / ending. This results in the buildup of just adding sounds for it to not sound boring. :S I'm really new into this creating music stuff, so if you have any suggestions on what to think in theory before starting a song. I know that you need to think of a Intro, mid break and then ending. Another thing I have thought of alot is vocals. They add so much to the song. But I'm unable to find any free vocals on the internet - just 1 which is already mixed to death and aint really that good. Nightcap: Yes, Milith was my first song actually that I created. It was truly hit for me aswell. I had to rebuild it 3 times from scratch for it to sound normal. J-Bot: The DNB remake of Milith, I put alot of time and energy on. But now, few months later, I see alot of fail in it unfortanly. For example, the high hats at start, way to sharp for the ears and to be played in such silent. They even sound to electronical in my opinion. Unfortanly, I had a computer virus a while ago, so all my original build-up files are gone, meaning I can do no changes to Milith, milith dnb and klofh. But the rest are open for business. (I'm sorry, I just can't stop going on) What I made at start, was putting a lot of time into finding good sounds and making them cooperate in a fashion manner, with the first songs. As you might hear on Autumn for example, I instead put alot of time into effects and rebuilding the sounds making them very original. I'm right now just experimenting what kind of style I'm going to go for full time. As from what I have seen so far from feedback from different places is that I do a great job on the chillout section and apparently pretty average on DNB. But the rest is pure fail in my opinion. I would really love to make music that makes people move, instead of relaxed. Would love to be one day at a club, and tell my friend "hey guys, you know I made this song?" and see people going nuts on the song... And dreams are targets right? ;) But if I cant find a proper mind-theory on how to do these kinds of music, I will probably have to stick to chillout / trance. Looking forward for Noize2u critics :) Edit: Oh yeah, one more thing. Please don't mention the overdist on Autumn on the bass in the middle of the song :P I dont know why and how it happened, as MP3 it was flawless.
J-bot Czar of Employment Challenged Member Since: Dec 04, 2007		Sep 29, 2009 04:25 am Sorry to hear that you lost the original project files. That's a bummer, and I've been there done that, got the t-shirt, screwed-er um anyway, yeah, it sucks. A great EQ guide can be found here: www.independentrecording....ain_display.htm It's been tossed around a few times in various threads here in HRC hehe. Knowing where certain sounds lay within the frequencies is helpful for taming certain areas, and carving out places in the mix for the different sounds to breathe without having things get cluttered or muddy. Youtube probably isn't really the best means of playing back/showing off your tracks. Something in the way they stream the music or something else going on in their end I think. It's like something gets lost in the translation, or they recompress the mp3 to their standards or something. Honestly, a great place to host your music would be something like the sixtyone. www.thesixtyone.com It's a nice site, and there are a ton of indie artists hosting their works there. The site also supports the creative commons licensing act. and that's a plus in my book. Now, on the theory end of things, I tend to have the same problems sometimes. I'm notorious for starting a track, taking the idea and running with it, and having no thought to the form or structure of the tune itself. Sometimes I also have a tendency to have the same dynamic throughout, and it just becomes a same-ish boring mess. I'm trying to improve myself in those regards to become a better composer overall, and I like to think I've made some progress. A good example of what I'm talking about: Listen to this one here: www.thesixtyone.com/jbot/...py+Area)/47495/ I wasn't 100% happy with it, posted it on a WIP forum over at OverclockedRemix, got some great feedback, and thought about how I could restructure it to make things more interesting. Also I felt the tonal structure, and hybrid sound I was going for didn't quite work. I ended up birthing this one next: www.thesixtyone.com/jbot/...py+Area)/62613/ I decided to go pure-electronic, and came up with some ideas to better break up the structure and bring a more organic and cohesive feel to the whole thing. I'm MUCH happier with the newer version. One thing I learned when I started getting into composition (and I took a class or two as an independent study back in college) was start small, and then try to work your way up. Meaning, think of an idea, or a motif, 4 or 5 notes. They could be in a repeating pattern in the bassline, or a melodic motif. Now, think about what can be done with those notes. Think about key-change, pitching the notes up or down, increasing or decreasing the length of the notes, filtering or other electronic effects to add interest in places, inverse the pattern, reverse the pattern, or both. There's a lot of different ways an idea can be changed. If you've got several instruments or synths going, think about dropping a synth, or changing the texture/combination of sounds. Think about the rhythm you want for those 5 notes. How can the rhythm be messed with, but keep the feel of the whole idea? Also, to place a limit on how much you let the idea run, try limiting the time of the track to 3 or 4 minutes and figure out how you can develop the idea within that time frame. Maybe add another contrasting thought to the piece to change things up and transition back to the original idea. Another thought from my instructor, was that you could think of a piece of music as being a conversation. The subject matter can change over the course of the discussion. Other people can enter and leave the discussion, adding their own input into it, and eventually the conversation ends after people have to leave or part ways, or run out of time, etc. It could be a very loud discussion between many people in a large room, say at a convention, with a lot of different things going on at once, or something quieter, more intimate like a chat between lovers. Beyond that, all I can say is listen to a lot of different types of music. Classical, Jazz, Rock, DnB, techno, electronica, rap, hiphop, etc. etc. etc. The more you listen, the more your pool of thought grows. It's kinda a subconscious thing I think, but it's good for helping to generate fresh ideas. Hope that helps a bit! Edit: Whew, this was a longer post than I thought hehe. You know, I've got some old CDs from when I took an education technology course (we had to build a webquest, and mine was for music composition) I should dig those up and post my "webquest" in tutorial form for beginner composers, and flavor it with my more recent experiences. It'd be a good starter guide for my site at least. Hrmmmm.
Nightcap Veni, MIDI, Vici Member Since: Jul 02, 2008		Sep 29, 2009 09:55 pm Wow J-bot, you didn't leave anything out, did ya? LOL Interv, don't be too discouraged about the fact that creative ideas sometimes seem to vanish after the initial idea. Happens to most of us I guess and it surely happens to me. I just save what I have so far and go back whenever I feel like it. It can take months before I work on it again. Like J-bot said, the only way of getting to know all kind of musical styles is listening to them. Not only will it expand your ideas, it will also raise your awareness of how music basically works the same in all genres.
Noize2u Czar of Midi Administrator Since: Apr 04, 2002		Sep 29, 2009 10:44 pm Interv, I am running short of time tonight but will be giving them a listen again for sure. More then likely tomorrow evening after running some errands.
Interv Member Since: Sep 28, 2009		Nov 06, 2009 03:23 am Hey all again. I've just released another song, please give feedback on it also :) Thanks in advance!
Noize2u Czar of Midi Administrator Since: Apr 04, 2002		Nov 06, 2009 11:06 am Nicely done indeed. I think this is my favorite so far from what I have listened to. I can't find anything to really critique in this one. The mix seems pretty well done and the arrangement is well put together and flo's nicely along.
Quincysan I'm probably wrong but... Member Since: Nov 11, 2007		Nov 06, 2009 03:52 pm You listen to much Ulrich Schnauss, Interv? You would probably dig "A Strangely Isolated Place" cd. Blumenthal is a great track from that one. Sounds good!
J-bot Czar of Employment Challenged Member Since: Dec 04, 2007		Nov 06, 2009 04:22 pm Just gave it a quick listen here too. The mix really sounds great. Really well done, and pretty balanced from what I can hear. Great use of sounds, and they fit together very nicely indeed. I think the arrangement is put together pretty well, and you have enough changes and things happening that it doesn't get old or stale. So yeah, great job on this one man. Definitely think this is your best yet.
Interv Member Since: Sep 28, 2009		Nov 09, 2009 05:40 am Thanks for the positive feedback :) Its good that its getting better and better ;) Quincysan: Thanks for that link! I got the chills on that - really! I don't know what it's called in English, but the straight translation from my language would be "I got chicken skin" from listning to that song :))) Though didn't have the pleasure of hearing it in good quality - but that artist really seems someone worth looking into! I'm going to start another chillout song.. getting the feeling that is what I'm best at and have the feeling for. Though I would really wanna do faster bpm music, for clubs etc... but ahwell. If it's not ment to be, it's not. No point in avoiding the enevedable :)
Runicen Mason Jar Czar Member Since: Jun 01, 2007		Nov 16, 2009 05:17 am Gave a listen to Dasha. Haven't had a chance to check out your other material on Youtube yet... What I hear is something that would benefit immensely from a good vocal performance. I'd say female, but that's all in whether or not you know a good female singer. If not, find someone who can project without sounding like Ronnie James Dio and see how it fits. It has a very uplifting, inspirational sound to it. Maybe something that David Sylvian would sing over or something of the like. Just a thought. Musically, it's solid, but I think outside of a club environment, it's going to need something more going on over the top of it to be an engaging composition.
Interv Member Since: Sep 28, 2009		Nov 17, 2009 11:42 am Hello Runicen, thanks for your reply. Yes I have considered this already since my second song. I feel the emptyness also. But it's kind of hard for me to find someone... Anyone have a singer in their backpocket? :D Another issue is a microphone without background buzz :|
Quincysan I'm probably wrong but... Member Since: Nov 11, 2007		Nov 17, 2009 02:14 pm Hah! I never knew what those lyrics meant. "I have chicken skin..." That's some strange symbolism. Ulrich's A Strangely Isolated Place has the same effect on me, he seems to create so much anticipation in the verse...then the chorus is always so satisfying. Very emotional listening experience in my opinion.

Home > Community > Music & Composition Forum > Need Feedback - Music & Composition Forum

If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.

[ Home ] [ Search HRC ] [ Help Support HRC ] [ RSS/Feedburner ] [ Contact Us ] [ Advertise on HRC ] [ Privacy Policy ]

Home Recording Connection is hosted on HostPC servers, the best web hosting available.
Reproduction of original content within this site without permission is prohibited. All content copyright ©2009 Home Recording Connection.
Home Recording Connection is owned and operated by dB Masters Multimedia. All rights reserved.