I've been making music

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ReBob
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I've been making music

#1 Post by ReBob »

After seeing some of the threads others have made about music, like Schradieck and Blayze, and those seeming to be acceptable, I finally decided to make a post about this. Been struggling with the thought recently, whether it was allowed or not, and I guess it is? If not, then cool I'll take this down or have no problem taking a hit from it, I just don't know.

Anyway, I like music and I like my own especially. Getting feedback has led from this - Warning: embarrasingly bad (also ignore the other songs on that channel, another warning) - to stuff like Heartbeat below, and I'd like to continue that progression. So, let me know what you think, good and bad, I'll even talk technical stuff on how I make it so I can learn to do it better if you've got something specific to tell me.

Oh, I better say what kind of stuff this is. It's all digital, electronic, made in FL Studio. No midi, just a mouse and a piano roll. "Raw synths" is something someone said I tend to default to a lot, so that's what to expect.

Stuff I did myself: organized by order of original completion, not upload date
-Dilemma: SoundCloud (First track I was proud of, inspired by Saren's Theme from Mass Effect)
-Revolt-tion: SoundCloud
-Symphathetic: YouTube
-8-Bit Trip: SoundCloud
-Rains of a Tomorrow, Gone: SoundCloud
-Homebrew: SoundCloud
-Haunted Wish: YouTube (One of two altered the least from first edit)
-Repeat: SoundCloud (No drums, also least altered from first edit)
-Heartbeat: SoundCloud (My current gold standard for what I put out)
-Astrogeology: SoundCloud
-Mindless: SoundCloud

-Prelude Into the Descent: SoundCloud (First finished track since my block hit)

WIPs: Small previews
-Blasphemy: SoundCloud
-Getting Ahead: SoundCloud
-Orter Town: SoundCloud
-LBKA: SoundCloud (Collaboration)

Collaborations with a friend named Rahkshinaw: EMP
-Space Cloud 9: SoundCloud
-Nameless/Corpse Party: YouTube (Originally named Nameless, was on iTunes at one point as Corpse Party, don't even know what to call it anymore)
-Final Boss Battle: SoundCloud
-Breakfast: SoundCloud
-Seafoam Islands: SoundCloud

Remixes:
-Rahkshinaw - Urban Warfare (Extended Redux Mix): SoundCloud
-Rahkshinaw ft. Daniel McNabb (Redux) - Burnout: SoundCloud

I never arranged these in a full list before, and I never realized just how much stuff I've actually put out into public domain. Huh. Anyway, let me know if any of these links are broken.

I'll edit this with new inclusions as I make them, some more WIPs will be coming as soon as I can get SoundCloud to log me in on desktop.
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amenon
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Re: I've been making music

#2 Post by amenon »

ReBob wrote:-Seafoam Islands: SoundCloud
Link goes to houndcloud.com, which totally should be a thing.

A lot of this reminds me of old videogame music, which is a good thing to remind me of. It's a little hard to say after a single listen through -- nothing really jumped out and hit me on the head -- but I think my favorite might be Mindless. Though, I don't like the siren-ish aspect of it. (Aren't I great at describing things about music?)

I did like the last remix more, but I haven't heard the original, so...

None of this was unpleasant to listen to. I think that officially means that you can music :P
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Re: I've been making music

#3 Post by ReBob »

Mindless is an odd case of being forced when I had no destination in mind. The most I had were the first two bars and then nothing, and that 'siren' aspect was meant at first to be more like how I originally introduced it. Glitchy, representative of being pushed without the drive. Ironically (maybe), as the song that signaled a delay in my music for a year it earned it's name for how it came to be, it was written with arpeggio sequences and automations while I struggled to throw anything together that sounded decent. While my mind was empty of any ideas on how to finish.

A lot of these are like that, an aspect of the song leading to a name or a theme I had while writing, of an emotion that I went for thematically. One was even a picture, which I later drew.

You also continue the tradition of people comparing my stuff to old game music. Everyone says that. I think I like it. Thank you for the words, but I can't help but be surprised at not finding at least one of these unpleasant. Some of them are even unpleasant for me and I made them. >.>

My personal favorites are where I threw a freestyle solo-style section with a lead, which should be at least 5 of these.
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Re: I've been making music

#4 Post by ReBob »

Thanks, but you should push forward. You haven't heard the stuff I made in FL 4, let me tell you how bad it was. :V

You wanna talk shop? Maybe inspiration can be had that way, it works with me sometimes. I was gonna comment on your stuff but I didn't know if I should. Do you use riff machine for your patterns? I also recognized some of the generators you used. You do good stuff, but have you ever tried harmor or harmless? If you have those generators that is.
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Re: I've been making music

#5 Post by ReBob »

Huh, don't think I have morphine. If I do, I never figured it out. Out of the two, I think I'd recommend harmor. Lots of versatility and range. Used both in a lot of my stuff, but mostly that one.

You should put your stuff up, I'd like to hear more.
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Re: I've been making music

#6 Post by ReBob »

Editing post with the three new previews I posted just now, All getting close to finished but my lack of time means they may take awhile to reach that level. So, peaks at the near finished product.

-Getting Ahead: SoundCloud
-Orter Town: SoundCloud
-LBKA: SoundCloud (Collaboration)
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Re: I've been making music

#7 Post by amenon »

I think I like Orter Town best out of that bunch. Going to give all of them a few more listens at some point, though :P
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Re: I've been making music

#8 Post by ReBob »

Orter Town is a very fun song to work on, and in fact 8-bit style sounds are incredibly fun in general. I'm actually looking for some sounds to expand my variety I can choose from, because vanilla FL is surprisingly difficult (for me) to get vintage sounds from.

The thought of a listen beyond mere courtesy? You humble me even more, sir. *bows*
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Re: I've been making music

#9 Post by amenon »

I think you're a bit too good for that level of self-deprecation to be becoming :P

I think the reason I don't like Getting Ahead better is that it sounds so... anxiety-ish. Just my personal preference. I do think it sounds interesting. I feel like the level of complexity is pretty good? (I also still don't have any idea how to talk about music.)

Orter Town makes me think of Rob Hubbard, and that's a good association to hit.

LBKA, I still don't really know what to say about. Sort-of reminds me of Symphony of Science. But what's collaborating on a song like?
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Re: I've been making music

#10 Post by ReBob »

amenon wrote:I think you're a bit too good for that level of self-deprecation to be becoming :P
Keep in mind I have an audience of 4-5ish people who I know like my stuff while being actual people. I might get a subscription to a service to get my stuff on iTunes or something, but I feel as amateur as the day I started in version 4 when I was maybe 15? Can't even remember. Anyway, good or no, that's the reason.
amenon wrote:I think the reason I don't like Getting Ahead better is that it sounds so... anxiety-ish. Just my personal preference. I do think it sounds interesting. I feel like the level of complexity is pretty good? (I also still don't have any idea how to talk about music.)
I thought it sounded cool, and also I have yet to put hi-hats or cymbals in to compliment the drums. Real WIPs here. :P

So far, Getting Ahead is an experiment in arpeggio switches and how held notes affect them. I'll get a screenshot tonight and show you, but for now I'll explain and hope it makes sense. Should since FL is a visual workshop.

Edit: Here's a screenshot of 0:20 to 0:48 of the song.

So I set a synth to arpeggio, which means a single note will switch between two notes at a frequency I set. Now if I place another note at the same time and make a chord, it'll sequence through four notes. If one note is longer than the other, it'll change again. That's the best I can explain. Remind me for that picture tonight.

The song is pretty complex looking too.
amenon wrote: Orter Town makes me think of Rob Hubbard, and that's a good association to hit.
Gonna need some insight here, please, if you don't mind.
amenon wrote: LBKA, I still don't really know what to say about. Sort-of reminds me of Symphony of Science. But what's collaborating on a song like?
LBKA is a dedication to the collabs I've done with my friend so far, that's all the insight I can say.

As for collabing, I still don't think I've figured it out. The process I go through with my partner is one of us does a few patterns, then we go back and forth uploading new copies until we decide it's finished, each doing patterns as we go. Maybe tweaking the EQ or effects. Honestly, after Musicgeek brought it up, I'm super excited to give it a go with somebody else. It can be hard to get a sound both people are satisfied with (and hardware limitations are real when one person has a potato and you're trying to find good synths to use), but I think my collabs I've done have some of my best synths.

Oh, that's another thing, it can be easy for two people to fall into each doing their own thing. For insight, on the collabs I posted I did a lot of the synths and my buddy did a lot of the drums. We weren't exclusive to those, but it's significant enough to say that was the pattern.
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Re: I've been making music

#11 Post by amenon »

ReBob wrote:So far, Getting Ahead is an experiment in arpeggio switches and how held notes affect them. I'll get a screenshot tonight and show you, but for now I'll explain and hope it makes sense. Should since FL is a visual workshop.

Edit: Here's a screenshot of 0:20 to 0:48 of the song.

So I set a synth to arpeggio, which means a single note will switch between two notes at a frequency I set. Now if I place another note at the same time and make a chord, it'll sequence through four notes. If one note is longer than the other, it'll change again. That's the best I can explain. Remind me for that picture tonight.

The song is pretty complex looking too.
I'll take your word for it that all of this means something :grin:
ReBob wrote:
amenon wrote: Orter Town makes me think of Rob Hubbard, and that's a good association to hit.
Gonna need some insight here, please, if you don't mind.
Rob Hubbard. For an example, Nemesis the Warlock (takes a bit to get going.) Or for another example, Commando (just gets going.) [Note: I had some weird issues with the youtube videos, so if they get stuck or sound like they're incorrectly looping that might be exactly what's happening :?]

I'm not necessarily saying there's a stylistic similarity, I'm too music-illiterate to say. Could just be down to you using sounds would have been more likely to come out of a C64 than a NES (which feels like a more obvious touchstone for 8-bit stuff, so not sounding like that is a bit distinctive in itself.)
ReBob wrote:Oh, that's another thing, it can be easy for two people to fall into each doing their own thing. For insight, on the collabs I posted I did a lot of the synths and my buddy did a lot of the drums. We weren't exclusive to those, but it's significant enough to say that was the pattern.
Maybe you should explicitly flip that around sometime and see what happens :P
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