*NO* Castlevania 'Dracular Vein'

[djpretzel]

Hi!

I'm a long time fan of the site, and I'm happy to try and make a contribution... I never really thought I would be able to, but I just started using the addictive and approachable (and brand new) GarageBand from Apple. Before I knew it, I was composing my first bits of music.
This one was my first focused challenge. (On the 3rd day of having the
software.)

My wife Amy and I worked this little piece out based on a Castlevania
tune. I can scarcely play the piano (I'm now trying to learn), so she
did the foundational melody work, everything else is me, Aaron Sullivan. Call us Amaron.

Here is the submission:
By the way, the music starts simple... but there's plenty more if you give it a chance. :)

There are parts here and there that I think don't perfectly mesh, but I like the "sloppy" moments for repeated listening and I decided that moving on to a new piece with what I've learned from this one would be better time spent then endless noodling.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the music... I'll be making more, because even if no one listens, it's just so much fun.

Regarding GarageBand:
I'm pretty amazed by it. Anyone who has an entire studio setup and knows the in and outs of pro software and midi equipment probably won't get too jazzed about it, but that's not what it's for. It's for no hassle, no barrier music creation for those who don't have time to become pros.

There is the issue that many people might use the 3000 loops ad nauseam (there are far less without the Jam Pack.) The loops are cool and all (especially for ideas and quick sketches), but I've only used a couple tiny moments of them in this piece... otherwise it's all software instruments and processing. Luckily I was able to borrow a nice Midi Keyboard from my brother (evolution mk-361c), but that's the only tool besides GarageBand that my wife and I used. (Well, I did use iTunes to convert from AIFF to MP3. ;-) )

Aaron Sullivan

[danny B]

I had a long review typed up with all kind of nitpicks and such, but then my surge protector electrocuted my computer. I'll just paraphrase what was said.

GarageBand is a nice little program, but it isn't really designed for great sound quality. It's fun to use and a great way to get into making music, which is awesome, but it lacks many features that allow it to sound good.

The arrangement is pretty similar to the original, and doesn't really explore much of the tune. The drums are messy, and the crash cymbals are low quality and mixed way too low. I know the program doesn't have much to alleviate this, but it's necessary to have something a bit more powerful to multitrack effectively. I would recommend exporting midis from garageband and importing them into a software suite like Reason 2.5 or FL Studio. FL isn't that expensive, but the quality jump is huge.

Work on sound quality, sample quality and mixing.

NO

-D

[Vig]

first the obvious, the samples are terrible.

not enough for a no in and of itself, but there are some other problems.

the attack on some of the instruments, particularly the strings and vox, is too slow. makes it osund mushy.
the el. guitar section is interesting, but it's dry. use some reverb.

this is an interesting arrangement, but the samples really interfere with this mix's listenability.
NO

[analoq]

urgh, sounds like a GM file. arrangement is sparse and sequencing is messy on the percussion. the author likes the "sloppy"ness of it, and that's okay, it would work if the velocity mapping was better, so the beats had more noticable accents.

i've never used GarageBand so i don't know how capable its sequencer is, but i'm pretty sure this could be done better. not bad for someone just getting started though.

no

[GrayLightning]

I wish I could say more, but it comes down to the production faults that the others have mentioned. The production and sound quality is simply way below the standard. I think FruityLoops or Reason would be a good future upgrade to GarageBand.

I do like the arrangement here though. I enjoyed the bass drums. I hope to hear from you in the future with better sounding equipment.

NO