My Music

[deftones86]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1yn7BVrXlU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi4mCW0t9J4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi4mCW0t9J4

[An bád dubh]

Good stuff man.

[deftones86]

Thank you. Made those on my cell phone haha

[An bád dubh]

Haha awesome! The first song is the bomb man. The piano sounds like something I would record too.

[deftones86]

Thanks, went out and got my self a DAW and made this bad boy yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn3bvrYgwEo

[deftones86]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtyUosLJ6Ww

[An bád dubh]

You're good man. You seem to have an ear for great melodies and hooks. Did you make all this with a DAW, without actual physical instruments? What program would you recommend to acquire if I were to want to make music with such a program as well?

All I've used so far are guitars and pianos with random microphones and Audacity (or my Mp3-player), but those are giving me rather low-quality recordings and I also think that I lack instruments and skills in them (drums, bass, string instruments, as well as trumpet, clarinet etc).

I have lots of songs as low-quality recording but they are mostly guitar based. Guitar is good for writing music and songs but Im starting to think that my style could improve a lot if I were to make more piano based songs but with other instruments as well. So using a program for that would sound appealing to me.

Any tips are greatly appreciated.

[deftones86]

Usually I'll get my melody midi notes down using a piano in the DAW with a keyboard. And really that's half the battle because everything else fits around that. But that last one was the first one I've added live instrumentation to it started with that kind of dark post hardcore volume swell with a low pass filter opened overtime.

As far as DAWs go all the major ones like abelton, Fl Studio, Cubase,and Logic all offer the same functionality just different platforms. I went with FL because I had a cracked version of Fl 1.1 so I had a small background of how it works. And it has free lifetime updates so you get every new version forever and the sound quality is industry standard. Plugin wise I've got Native  Instruments Komplete and I really don't need much else. Its easy to go gear crazy because every VST company says they have the latest and greatest but its just rehashing older ones with better looking interfaces. DRM wise nothing beats a good sameple those are everywhere and free. Usually I'll just take two EQ and compress it into one wave file. There is a learning curve. People usually think you just sit in front of your DAW and say make me a song but if you want it to sound good you have to learn music theory sound design mixing signal chain routing cut 2db a 4khz here take 4db here because your getting phase cancelation. But YouTube has everything you'll ever need to know and twisting knobs and faders just to twist knobs and faders helps.

[An bád dubh]

Thanks for the tips! I gotta be honest that I have to return to most of those tips when I start understanding the programs more and more.

My style of making songs will probably be similar to yours, recording the piano with my keyboard to my computer and building the song around it. I hope that all the features and additional instruments and pads etc on the programs can curb my interest for making music and actually help revive some of my old songs which I have buried and forgotten.

But I got started by downloading FL Studio and tried to actually make a song with it. I played around with it for a few hours yesterday and got the song ready. The demo-version of FL STudio has a feature that I can save a project but can not return to it afterwards. So in the demo version I gotta get it done and export as an Mp3 before I close the program.

Here it is! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_wrxX3MgiA&feature=youtu.be

Hopefully I am able to make many more, learn loads and get lots of fun out of it.

[An bád dubh]

My second song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wa8RW8qhXE&feature=youtu.be

Any comments from anyone regarding the actual song or the technical details/effects/or lack of are highly appreciated 

I may just have to get an actual copy of FL Studio, these songs take a zillion hours to make and I cant just keep the program open for day after day to keep the project available for modifying

[An bád dubh]

Any comments are highly appreciated  These songs are to try out the program and the test the functions, but they are also actual songs or at least frames for actual songs. I know that I myself do no very often comment if something is really bad or mediocre but you dont need to worry about voicing your opinion, no matter what it would be. Any and all tips and hints make a big difference.

Gives more motivation to make tracks for sure if people listen and comment on them. Vice versa too, if there are none, one has to find another platform. Umm, SoundCloud? Dont know much about that or any others but gotta check them out.

[black coffee]

In theory it sounds interesting to maybe have a topic in here where advice can be given and ideas be shared amongst musicians and where people like me who don't make music can share their thoughts about what you guys are doing.
But most musicians here just want to post their own music and have others comment on it so thats going to be difficult to work.

Due to your dredg avatar and you listening to the op's music I gave it a try:

"Trial" is very smooth and upbeat, I am liking it and also the hi-hat bit but the song does get a little repetitive. maybe vocals could be added or an acoustic guitar playing something on top of it, I don't know. But definitely something with potential .

And the "Pattern" one definitely needs vocals imo! On its own its just not very interesting to listen to (sry man)  I think both singing and rapping could work very nicely in this one as, maybe even a combination of both as it has a nice hip-hop vibe to it.

[DeftonesNZ]

I agree about Trial the drums do get repetitive and cutting, as a tip I would say try avoid constant repetition in the treble side of things you do want some repetition in your song to keep a feeling of consistency but try doing it in the lower registers where it's constant presence is felt not heard. As for the tone of the song I would suggest commiting to a mood it just sort of hangs in the middle you've got the fast drum beat with those slow erie sounds and they kind of cancel each other out atleast for my taste I like a song to delve into a some sort of atmosphere or emotion.

For Pattern I felt the piano part took shifted wrongly in some parts, as in you went to higher notes when going lower would have worked better and it got a bit busy and messy I definitely got the hip-hop vibe but the piano went a bit too busy in places and broke the groove I probably would simplify the piano.

Overall they're not bad just kind of missing the x-factor that would make me listen again, I know you said you're still expermenting with the plugins but I would suggest just going a bit crazy with it,these plugins can sound sterile so try to avoid using them stock I like to use them as a base and add some effects to morph the sound into something less stock sounding, but take all this with a grain of salt I'm by no means an expert I'm pretty shit I've just been dabbling and having fun trying stuff like you, also a cool plugin you can get is isovinyl you can use it to add a warm vinyl sound which can  work well to take out some of the sterileness of using instrument plugins I used it on Synthy.

https://soundcloud.com/acrcmb

[An bád dubh]

Thanks for the comments, both of you! Good tips too, I'll see what I can do with them.

The two songs are indeed very repetitive and could definitely use some vocals. Trial, with that content should be around 2 minutes long and Pattern's piano is very very mechanical-sounding. I couldn't believe how time taking it is to make a song with these programs. I'm so used to improvising on a guitar or piano and then just re-recording whatever sounds like an actual song. Most of the songs I've recorded have taken an hour max to record. Im a really lazy composer and putting 4 or 5 hours into a repetitive 3-minute song is really frustrating

Another difficult challenge indeed is to avoid the sterile or mechanical sound of the instruments. Then again, with my limited technical skills on both guitar and piano, Im pretty sure that I am not able to ever get anything technically perfect recorded without for example recording different parts separately and patching them together with a software. I would probably have to do just that, to record the piano/guitar and vocals on real instruments and then add plugins, beats and more with the software.

Here's a 2-minute piece which I recorded with a piano to give an idea on what I would like to combine somehow with what I can in the future hopefully do with the software: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPwu9Cbt_HM&feature=youtu.be

The topic you talked about black coffee would probably be a good idea. It would surely increase motivation to make music and keep improving for people like myself.

And DeftonesNZ, nice songs. Sinister has a nice beat to it with a sort of a dark vibe. Interesting hooks and layers throughout the song. Synthy sounds indeed warm and somehow really trippy, at least on the second listen. I can imagine this song with some female vocals although it works as an instrumental as such too. I notice that both you and deftones86 know how to use the programs and Im hoping to get there myself too.

[DeftonesNZ]

Totally get what you mean about the time thing I primarily play guitar so I've grown used to just changing things on the fly, within 30 secs i can try out 3 or 4 variations of a riff and choose one I like, it's a lot more work in the daw, I got a midi keyboard controller but even still in FL i had to manually put in the notes because it wouldn't record the key presses so I could hav that on the go playing like guitar but the notes wouldn't be recorded in the piano roll.

[deftones86]

Usually in FL I'll record my leads or cords in Edison a few different ways then load the wav files into the Playlist and listen to each one over my drums and pads. Then I'll load the midi into the piano roll after I'm satisfied.

It's real easy to get bogged down in a DAW trying to get that exact sound in your head turning knows in your soft synth for hours. Imo you have to start simple a lot of great songs came to be with just an acoustic guitar. I approach my music similarly just a get a piano and some synth strings and write a song then worry about getting that perfect sound. You want.

And I agree plug-ins get very stale because a lot of guys just use the presets and go. Which there's nothing wrong with that but I like for nobody to have the sounds I use. A lot of times when I'm not feeling inspired I'll just make sounds and patches in my soft synth or build drum kits or make racks in guitar rig.  Sometimes inspiration will come in those times. With that song Less than zero I was just messing around with fm8 and made the intro pad sound and it just came together.  I think I have 6 hours in that track total. It just happens like that for me a lot of the time.

Another tip is get a mobile daw like caustic 3 or something it's good for when an Idea comes and you can lay a frame work for a melody down and then export the midi. Inspiration is a fickle bitch and usually comes when your not sitting in front of your DAW or with your guitar all ready to write

But the biggest thing is never stop trying to learn more and more about music production there is just so much good info out there and YouTube is amazing search watch and learn.  And just make music to make it because there's no exact right way or wrong way.   

[An bád dubh]

Good thoughts and comments!

Inspired by them I decided to plug in my Synth to my computer and use Edison to record it. Well, easier said than done. I imagined the song to be a sort of a dark love song and it did start that way. Sadly for me from the 5 hours which I reserved on making the song, maybe 3 hours went into learning how to function Edison. Oh well, I guess it will come in handy at some point

So in the end, instead of my dark love song I got some sort of a drum experiment with my original starting melody, which was supposed to last for 20 seconds and then evolve into something else Next time I have to reserve 25 hours and it stll wont be enough. Gonna probably next time to try to record everything with the synth into Edison and see if I can add effects to it in Edison, probably can somehow..

Anyways, here's the song, 1 and a half minutes and it still feels long for its content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L49ZtU7a1w&feature=youtu.be

Give it a go if ya have time If I ever manage to make a song thats even close to what Im attempting, I will surely force you to listen to it, but this was yet another, fun, experiment.

[deftones86]

in edison you dump the track to the playlist its the button all the way to the right. then you can assign it to a mixer track and add effects there.
heres a little ambient post rock guitar track. working on a 4 or 5 track ambient electro trap post rock project.

https://soundcloud.com/thomasmacie/guitar-intro

[cEvin Key]

I guys! I've been checking this thread for a bit. Its quite cool what you guys have going on. I used to make music a few years ago but then moved countries and stopped but about 6 months I ago got back into it.
I've used to use Reason before but now I've been using Studio One.

@ An bád dubh I really like the piano piece you made.

All you guys have really interesting stuff and seem to be alot into soundscaping. Im looking forward to hear what type of things you guys will come up with in the future.

I dont have many completed songs. But I've uploaded the latest one to youtube. It would be great if you guys would like to give any sort of feedback.

I hope this thread remains active!!

here's my stuff if you guys want to check it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM69Jsx6V04

[An bád dubh]

Thanks for the tip deftones86, I'll try that next time.

Welcome to the thread cEvin Key! We have totally bombarded deftones86's thread with our music too but I guess its cool, good to have people gathering in here to check out each others stuff.

Nice song cEvin! The song builds up throughout the song and that piano melody starting at 1.13 makes the song for me. The bass throughout is also very smooth. The song is at the same time frantic but smooth. How long did it take to make that song?

Great to hear that you enjoy that piano piece! I have many piano pieces recorded, one is a 6,5 minute rendition of that same piano piece, sort of an extended version. I might try to reuse one of those piano recordings so that I could try to record drums on top of the piano piece on my synth as back in the days when I recorded them I didnt use a metronome, so the pace is certainly not the same throughout the entire songs. Therefore its impossible to use drums from a software as they would sound really off on the slightest of pace change.

I will try that piano + drums on a synth on the next song and we'll see how it sounds. I do have one song recorded with a piano where I have female vocals too (from my wife), which is definitely my greatest song, no doubt about that. She insists on rerecording it in good quality before I put it online, so it might take a while before I get any vocals on my songs, unless I use my own voice.