This is the music thread

Make games! Discuss those games here.

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sheamkennedy
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This is the music thread

Post by sheamkennedy »

I have been working on some music while I've been home sick from school. I'll post it here for now but wanted to know if there's a music thread that I should be posting to.

I'm also not sure how I can make youtube videos appear in my posts so if anyone could let me know that would be wonderful.

So here's a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuIR9G32VFM
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
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sheamkennedy
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Post by sheamkennedy »

Oh and its binaural! So wear headphones if possible for the full effect. Sorry if the sounds aren't levelled. I won't master it until I actually get the full song composed so don't absolutely crank up your speakers or you'll likely get a bunch of distortion, clipping... etc.

Let me know what you think, what it needs... where you think the song will go.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
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Bob the Hamster
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

The thing! It goes around my head, left and behind and right and around in front!

Have you thought about adding some kind of extra beat in the background?

What music tools are you using to compose it?
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Post by sheamkennedy »

Bob the Hamster wrote:The thing! It goes around my head, left and behind and right and around in front!

Have you thought about adding some kind of extra beat in the background?

What music tools are you using to compose it?
Yeah that's the binaural effect you're hearing. This is the intro so the song will carry through in to a beat. Still gotta get a bunch of good drum machine samples and sound effects for the beat. I think this song is heavily influenced by some of Telefon Tel Aviv's older songs so I'll aim for a beat like that.

I'm using Logic Pro X for composing. The binaural (spinning around your head) stuff is a virtual feature in the software. I am really in to binaural recording ideas so eventually I hope to purchase 2 good microphones and build my own binaural recording setup at home so I can pull of a bunch of crazy sound experiments.

Instruments so far are my microkorg synthesizer, electric guitar, electric bass and an effects unit.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
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Post by Willy Elektrix »

Not much to it right now, but its a very nice series of notes. For the record, I think the panning effect is more distracting than anything. Although if you think that's fun, you should try mixing in 4:1.
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Post by sheamkennedy »

Thanks, yeah it's a start. The panning is pretty distracting I agree. As I said before, the sounds aren't levelled yet so I'll actually be reducing the volume of that sound or at least putting it through a filter, limiter, compressor... I'm not sure about the 4:1 timing, I'll keep it in mind though. I have a feeling the time signature and tempo will probably change various times throughout the song so I guess anything goes.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
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Post by Willy Elektrix »

sheamkennedy wrote:I'm not sure about the 4:1 timing
I didn't format the number correctly. I meant 4.1 surround sound, or 5.1 for that matter.
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Post by sheamkennedy »

Willy Elektrix wrote:
sheamkennedy wrote:I'm not sure about the 4:1 timing
I didn't format the number correctly. I meant 4.1 surround sound, or 5.1 for that matter.
Oh yeah! That's a good idea. I wish I had a surround sound system hooked up to my computer but unfortunately too expensive in my current situation. I have done stuff like that in the past and then played the recordings back in my car to hear a fuller stereo surround range. I was thinking for awhile on the last time I've even experienced a song with in 4:1 time and was at first considering you may have meant 1:4.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Resurrecting this thread to BE the music thread!

So on sheamkennedy's advice, I went through a few tutorials on milkytracker, and learned how to load and edit instruments, how to place and play notes, and I now feel like I have a *much* better grasp of the interface. I can successfully make sequences of noises, and press a button that causes them to come out of my speaker.

(by the way, DireTooth, thank you for the Anvil Studios suggestions-- unfortunately I could not get it to run on Linux+Wine. The 2013 version won't install, and the 2010 version installs bit locks up. Than you anyway!)

So my next problem in my quest to learn how to make songs is that for all intents and purposes I appear to be completely tone-deaf (not to mention my well known absolute lack of any sense of rhythm or timing)

I think that perhaps one of the reasons that I get frustrated so fast with music composition tools is that I have been making up songs with my mouth since I was a tiny child, but I can't figure out how to express the same warblings with any tool other than my own face.

I recorded this http://hamsterrepublic.com/tmp/vorpal-s ... -draft.mp3 as a rough draft of the melody that I wanted to compose, but I can't even figure out what the first note is. I can click around on the keyboard in the instrument editor until I get something more or less close to the first note, but I can't narrow it down to anything closer than half an octave.

I vaguely understand that the difference between subsequent notes is more important than the absolute pitch of the notes, but once I have settled on a first note, I can't find the second note.

I am fairly certain I am going about this all wrong. Suggestions are most welcome. :)
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Post by sheamkennedy »

Bob the Hamster wrote:I am fairly certain I am going about this all wrong. Suggestions are most welcome. :)
I'm glad milky tracker is working out for you.

As for you trying to figure out which notes your singing, it seems you need to train your ears a bit. This isn't something that comes easy for all people. You're going about it the right way though. Keep sequencing the notes in milky tracker but don't get hung up on the exactness of the melody. Play the first note until its close, then determine if the next note is higher or lower and play something close to that... continue this until you have a song. Don't worry if your result doesn't sound the same, this is something that will require you making many songs to get good at. Once you've got the main melody down you can add in another instrument, perhaps white noise for a snare, or a tapering sine wave for a kick drum.

Another thing that's possible with milky tracker is you can hum or sing a note, save it as a music file, then import it as a sample instrument. That way you could actually incorporate the vocals in to the song and not have to worry about producing the melody from scratch.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
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Post by Ep1cLuis »

Listening to that voice sample, this is a possible start for this track!:

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/zxh5i7q ... sample.mp3

Starting with the note C, the second note would be F. Not sure if its the flavor you desire, but remember this tip: The note that you start with does not matter. A single note has no value, for its taste will vary only on the notes that were played before or along with it. (Thus, an equivalent to the sequence C to F would be A to D, because there are 2 intervals between the first and second note.)

It's still very raw, and yes, the start to composition is to train your ear. My suggestion: Learn how to play whatever music you like, that's how I trained my ear. If you like it, you will eventually recognize notes when you hear them anywhere, decipher the notes of any song you like, and make your own tracks from scratch.
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Post by Bob the Hamster »

Cool! That does sound right.

I will be patient and persistent, and I will continue working on training my ear.

Is there a way to prevent milkytracker from advancing the cursor downwards when I type a note? Since it takes me quite a few tries to find the note I am looking for, it would be great if I didn't have to press the up-arrow several times between every attempt
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Post by sheamkennedy »

Bob the Hamster wrote:Cool! That does sound right.

I will be patient and persistent, and I will continue working on training my ear.

Is there a way to prevent milkytracker from advancing the cursor downwards when I type a note? Since it takes me quite a few tries to find the note I am looking for, it would be great if I didn't have to press the up-arrow several times between every attempt
I don't have it installed on my computer at the moment so I can't check, but I believe if you click either "enter" or "space" the recording will be armed or disarmed. Try that, then play a few notes and see if they appear along the songs timeline. If that doesn't work then there may also be a button with in the program, though I don't think I ever used one.

Also in regards to you saying your music timing is off, you may want to note that music timing is often a multiple of 2. Thus you can have your notes played every ...1/4...1/2...1...2...4...8...16...etc. Doing so will keep everything in time nicely. Of course there is plenty of different styles that count by 5's, or other off-time signatures but you shouldn't worry about those so much. Most music you'd hear on the radio is in the common timing I mentioned.
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
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Post by sheamkennedy »

Well since this is now the music thread, heres my latest music experiment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rq57jZaImU

Also if its possible, could this thread be renamed "Music Thread" or something? I think that would make things more obvious for people looking for one
⊕ P E R S O N A L M U S I C: https://open.spotify.com/album/6fEo3fCm5C3XhtFRflfANr
� C O L L A B M U S I C: https://dustpuppets.bandcamp.com/releases
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Post by Meowskivich »

Pretty neat tune
dOn'T MiNd mE! i'M jUsT CoNtAgIoUs!!!
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