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[Traikan]

I'm very much an amateur musician, but nobody gets from dabbler to professional without a healthy helping of criticism.

Here are a couple of my latest songs plus a bit about each one, because I like writing about my music. Drop me some feedback on some, all, or none of them as you see fit. Thanks!

When Kaos Rides - http://tindeck.com/listen/ugfk - An upbeat wild west(ish) rock song with some serious SLAP BASS action because awwww yeah, slap bass. It also has trumpets because it makes it a little more over the top. I wrote this as the theme to a hypothetical TV show involving wests (wild ones), horses and guns. Probably some cowboys too.

No More A Boyatee - http://tindeck.com/listen/rocm - I love electric pianos. They are so cool. The name is a reference to an old game, Undersea Adventure, and the narrating manatee, Splash. Writing swing stuff is a lot of fun, so this is a little on the jazzy/funk side just because. It's also just a bit haunting because I'd been listening to the Metroid Prime soundtrack before writing it.

Chips and Dip - http://tindeck.com/listen/ywgp - This song was an attempt to answer the question "how do I make drum and bass?" I didn't completely figure it out, but I made progress towards a real answer. I couldn't quite get the standard drum loop right, though, and I'm pretty sure the one I used instead is not quite playable by a human. Three armed robot drummers need love to.

In the Shade of a Rainbow - http://tindeck.com/listen/ezmz - Tropical island music checklist: groovy bassline - check, steel drum - check. That's all it needs, right? Eh, add a trumpet to it because why not? Maybe I should have used some pan flutes.

[Traikan]

Just uploaded a new song!

Driven to Act - http://tindeck.com/listen/qfjm - An intense orchestral song, it's meant to be a background piece and an opportunity to practice writing stuff that doesn't rely on a central melody. Also a chance to use some bass drops.

[noah!]

Honestly, there really isn't much I can hand you in the way of criticism. I mean, you're doing a lot of things right already, and if you keep practicing I'm sure you'll make it to pro status in no time. But since nobody else will step up and post, I'll throw out some suggestions...

1: Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was how dry everything sounds, but that's not too big of a problem to solve (hint: the effects you put on an instrument are just as important as the instrument itself!).

2: The instruments feel like separate entities rather than a unified whole. This could be because of the dryness (even a simple pad can tie things together beautifully!), but really it all comes down to a "feel" thing, which can really only be learned with practice. Sorry.

3: Emphasize your song's structure! Yes, this is the big one. The good thing about your work is that there is a definite underlying structure to what you do (as opposed to the meandering bits of chiptune that pop up here every so often). However, since you do not emphasize said structure, to the inattentive ear it does come off as very meander-y. To be more specific, right now your primary method of build and release consists solely of adding and removing tracks. Get creative! Use builds! Fades! Filter sweeps! Cutouts! The possibilities are endless! Music is all about building and releasing! (hint: this does not just apply to music!)

4 (bonus!): Highly consider specializing. If you're like most of us, you probably would like to write for a game someday. Therefore, it makes sense to be a jack-of-all-trades, right? That way, when somebody wants music, it seems logical to be able to whip out your portfolio and show that you can do any style, right? Wrong. If you do that, then while you will have a cursory knowledge of all genres, but everything you write will be building on cliches. Yes, it's important to keep an open mind. Yes, it's important to listen to a wide variety of music. But if there's one genre that you keep coming back to, then by all means dive in and explore the genre to its utmost limits. Again, this might not apply to you. And diversifying might land you more gigs. But I'm roughly 80% certain that it will come at the cost of quality.

Wow...I actually loaded on more criticism than I expected, as well as some that you don't even deserve. Heck, that rant at the end was mainly because I'm tired of seeing others follow that very path. Anyway, I sincerely hope I didn't offend you; truth be told, I really enjoyed listening to your music, and I hope you keep making more!

[Traikan]

That is some rocking feedback, thanks!

No need to worry about offending me, I'm a writer by trade so I've grown a pretty thick skin.

Re: Point 1 - Production is a stumbling block for me, that's for sure. I'm still at the blind flailing stage of using effects. Do you know of any good guides online you'd be willing to share a link to?

Re: Point 2 - Don't I know it. I can tell some of my songs gel better than others, but I haven't been able to pin down what makes the difference. Not yet, anyway. My subconscious should pick up on the pattern eventually, but I suspect a little more research would speed this along.

Re: Point 3 - Something to focus on, for sure.

Re: Bonus Stage - That makes sense, but I feel like I need to work on my fundamentals more before I do that. More than a few of the above points are because I'm still thinking about how to use the tools at my disposal and that's distracting me from focusing on the content. It's hard to build a shed if you're constantly reminding yourself which way to hold a hammer. Nothing to do about that but practice, though.

Thanks again for the in-depth response, very helpful. Now I just have to move from thinking about it to actually implementing it.

[noah!]

In response to point 1, unfortunately since I'm mostly self-taught (and I really haven't done much formal learning outside, say, audiotuts), I can't really provide much help there. My only real suggestion is just to play around until you find your style. If you're like me, you'll probably find yourself settling down with a core group of effects that work for you.

So yeah, in the end everything just kinda comes down to "keep practicing until you find your signature style." And honestly, that's advice that could pretty much apply to anyone. :-)

[Traikan]

That does look like a useful website, I'll be sure to give it a good read. I'm mostly self-taught as well, so I think we should high-five or something?

I will certainly keep practicing, but it helps to get some outside input to point me at the weakest spots so I can hit those first.

[StauntonLick]

Definitely some nice ideas here, I reckon they'd benefit greatly from some higher-quality instruments. The songs at the moment sound quite "General MIDI", in that they're not realistic enough to be "real", but no artificial enough to be "electronic".

In terms of composition, you have the opposite problem to me - you have too many ideas! I would personally limit the number of melodies playing at once, as it's hard to latch on to any one melodic line, especially when they're quite fast like yours are. Try composing some slower melodies - at the moment most of your melodic lines are 16th or 8th notes (to my untrained ears). I'd slow them down the give the ear something clearer to hang on to.

Good work though, keep it up!

[Traikan]

Thanks for the feedback!

I would love some higher-quality instruments, but such things tend to cost money and I have precious little of that to throw around. Some day.

Personally, I love songs with tons of melodies in them because it gives me something to pick out on repeated listens. That doesn't mean your comment isn't justified, but I'm going to look at it as meaning I'm not executing my ideas well enough rather than something I should change. Plus I try to learn as much as possible with each song, and I feel like writing tons of melodies is a good way to cram in more practice.

As for the speed, when I first started with music I wrote nothing but slow songs because I could cover huge swathes of time with a single, long note. In other words, I was lazy. As soon as I realized what I was doing I forced myself to write much faster songs in the interest of kicking that habit. I guess I'm still doing that, hah. I'll throw in some more variety in the future.

Cheers!

[Traikan]

Okay, got another song finished. I actually started this one about a week ago but only just wrapped it up.

Gaslight Hero - http://tindeck.com/listen/hokn - Rather than doom myself to insanity trying to apply all this feedback at once (and because a decent chunk of this was already written) I opted to just focus on effects for this song. Specifically EQ, reverb and compression. I threw some other stuff in there too, delays and some distortion and all that good jazz. I learned quite a bit about how these things work, but it's still a strange, alien thing and I am at all times concerned I'm seconds away from shooting my eye out. Metaphorically speaking.

I'm leaving town for a week soon which is cool because vacations are nice but frustrating because I won't be able to work on music for a week. Still, I hope to get one more song finished before I vanish.

[Traikan]

Pumped out one more song before I book it out of town, again focusing on effects. Oh, and I tried to stick to a stronger structure too. Double oh, I stuck more sound effects in. Less than in the last song, but they're fun.

Tectonic shift - http://tindeck.com/listen/qucp

I think I'm getting the hang of making things sound more unified, and I've certainly added a few new tools to my repertoire. Progress!

[Traikan]

I got back yesterday and powered this thing out in two four hour blocks today.

Fair of Spirits - http://tindeck.com/listen/rjcs - Vaguely medieval, instrumentally sparse, melodically overloaded (apparently when I said I'd do something different, I lied! Gotta watch out for that)

I really like working with acoustic guitars, and I'm figuring out what kind of "signature sound" I want to have. This song stretched my theory muscles a bit, and it was a good to get away from the power chords and multi-track beasts I usually write to put together something with just 4 tracks.

Ah, I sure missed music.

[Desert Dog]

I'm really liking Fair of Spirits, ay. Good, pleasant, relaxing sounds. 

[Traikan]

Thanks, Desert Dog!

I've made a couple of songs since my last post, but one is far and away better than the rest, so that's the one I'll share.

Sax Baron - http://tindeck.com/listen/jzzo - A theme song for lusty jazz pirates. I busted my ass mixing this thing and I'm so happy with how it turned out.

[Traikan]

Mixing orchestral instruments? Hours of agonizing knob fiddling.

Mixing synths? Relatively easy.

Conclusion? MAKE SOME TRANCE.

One Bittersweet Measure - http://tindeck.com/listen/vuyu - I almost always dislike this one the first time I listen to it, but it grows on me with repeat plays (yes, it's loopable!) so I left it as is.

[Conker534]

To the iPod this goes..

[Traikan]

Haha, thanks! :D That's pretty much the best compliment a musician can receive.

[Traikan]

It has been a while! I'm working on a 4 song EP right now, two of the tracks are just about done, and then I'll be releasing it on Bandcamp! The plan is to have it done before school starts again in September, but I'm hoping to finish it sooner.

In the meantime, as a break from the arduous task of mixing stuff for the aforementioned EP, I put together this short piece over the weekend. It's a bit of a dueling pianos type thing.

Somniloquy - http://tindeck.com/listen/zehw

[Conker534]

Hot

[Traikan]

Another over the weekend piece, a little bit of ambient, a lot of bit of electronic.

Katabatic Cartwheel - http://tindeck.com/listen/vkpq

[Traikan]

Another weekend, another song. This time it's an upbeat, RPG minigame type song.

Doctor Crazy's House of Eights - http://tindeck.com/listen/gsjy