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Making your own sound is okay, but a good sound is never going to fix your writing. Music is about ideas. Writing music is about presenting those ideas, developing them, showing them in new lights, and referencing them (among other things I'm forgetting). The most standard musical "main idea" is called the melody. The melody has something to say in the music, and it's closely related to chords. The chords define how the melody functions (its core essence) and the melody itself is the representation (or if you'd like, the execution) of that core essence. I notice a lot of people kinda just lean on one of them sometimes, especially people getting their chops from OCR. They write the melody, then kinda just add chords that sound like they fit underneath, or, they have some chord progression and then just slap in some notes in a lead synth to make their melody. This doesn't ever really work because it doesn't really wield an understanding of why chords and melodies are so closely related. A melody has a start and an end. Depending on how out your style is, your melody may or may not resolve. It may move across different tonalities or it could just be something really simple and catchy. Sometimes, melodies are very transparent and non-catchy (and that's fine, and if anyone tells you otherwise you smack them upside the head) when the musical presentation is supposed to be about color (harmony/texture) and not statement (main idea presentation). Sometimes you don't have melodies at all, instead your music is about presenting and manipulating color. Even though melodies are hard to write, color music (most popular in the impressionist era) is actually harder to write, since it's kind of abstract. In electronic music, it's a little easier, since you're forgiven for lots of repetition (which you can use to build up your tracks more linearly instead of moving around organically). You should listen to music, especially symphonies. The old guys were masters of using music as a means of communicating ideas. They had their melodies (themes/motifs), then gave them to different instruments, changed their keys, swapped major/minor, chopped them up, etc. All of these things are valid ways of manipulating and presenting ideas. When you're writing music, you have to have "something". There has to be something where you say "I want this to be developed". It can be a cool synth arp, or a wacky chord sample, or it can be a full melody. You have to build your track around presenting whatever that is. You need to foreshadow it, lead into it, show it, then hide it, lead out of it, bring it back in a different way (or the same way). Don't do all that stuff in that order all the time, the point is there's all these things you can do with one idea, so the more you do, the longer your piece/track gets and the more dynamic it is. Then start piecing together ideas and having overarching progressions. is a perfect example, since this band does this thing a lot where they build a track out of 3 or 4 main ideas. At 1:36, the entire direction (rhythmically and harmonically) of the track shifts someplace else. The mood and part-writing style changes considerably. It's a "new idea", it's "we're done with that, here's something new". Again, they do this at 2:15, and I would argue the second idea foreshadows the third one with the way its harmony works. That's up for debate, but the point is the song moves to different places. That's progression! In each of the three sections, they do a lot with their main ideas (having melodies, b-section melodies, changing texture, changing chords), but the sections also flow together as one big unit. This is just a snippet of advice. Learning how to write takes lots of practice, study, and mentors. I can't fix you in a forum post, but I can help change your mindset a little. My recommendation is learning more music theory. You need to get past chords and rhythms, that stuff is where people usually stop and it's not really what music theory is about at all, and thus it pollutes the general populace understanding about music theory and people think it's too basic or rigid to have anything general to say about music.

I somewhat fixed my song and now, although it's not good, it's not a joke anymore. Usa is helping me save it so there should be something at least listenable by tomorrow. I'm done with the arrangement and I just need to add proper transitions and finishing touches/mix/master tomorrow.

Hey all! Obligatory 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHRONO TRIGGER'S NA RELEASE post While we had hoped to release the album in time for the 20th anniversary of Chrono Trigger's NA release, we have some exciting updates to share! -The album titled has been officially set as Chronology: A Jazz Tribute to Chrono Trigger -All but two tracks have been sent off for post production! We are getting very close to having the music finished. -Jorik Bergman (Bowlerhat) has signed on to play flute on a tune for the album. -djpretzel will be helping us to get a website up and going for the release! That's all for now folks! We hope to be getting a trailer out to you sometime in early autumn. Stay tuned!

Not to overload y'all but I'm ready for some more too. But yeah don't forget timaeus, SystemsReady, Olarin it looks like ;;

If you have not seen This FFIX video You are missing out

I have a decent 1:15 in my track so far... I'm feeling a lot better about this round than I did with my Round 1 track though. The style is a bit more of a return to form for me too Hah, yeah that's what I had meant. Nice job on your track this round too GLL! I love Rainy Turtloid and the lyrics in your song were very relatable

I am totally down for this, although I think it should be every team, not every participant.

Even better idea: let's have a SFRG Bonus Round where every participant raps/sings over wildfire's instrumental. It'd be like the old vocal VOCR compos haha.

Sounds like a great idea! I'd love to perform it myself, but I'm not really the best lyricist, so if anyone wants to volunteer some help that'd be fantastic!

ladyWildfire, I strongly urge you to get someone to spit some rhymes over Tribal Hunter if you decide to sub to OCR. The beat is too good and is practically begging for someone to rap over it.

Warning: The following reviews are influenced by the consumption of alcohol and in no way reflect the views and opinion of team Rock Hard Mandrills KingTiger I can definitely hear where Jordan helped out with this. The mix is very full, and the arrangement keeps progressing and evolving and staying interesting. It's for the most part very groovy and a fun song to listen to. Some of the sound choices I didn't care for much though, and there wasn't really a part of the song that stood out for me. Darren Smith I'm not quite sure what to say about this one. The sound choices were really weird, some of the drums seemed kind of pretty off, and the arrangement just kind of seemed to be going everywhere. I guess it had kind of a creepy/mysterious kind of vibe to it. Definitely a creative track though. Jorito I feel like you really liked bLiNd's track from week one and decided to go in a similar direction (Dubstep evolving into DnB just a coincidence???) I really like that you vocoder-rolled us this week. I thought that was extremely clever and different. Overall I must say this track was pretty enjoyable. Lots of energy and kept interesting. Also it seemed a little less repetitive than bLiNd's mix from last week (even though it's not quite as warm and full on the production side). ladyWildfire Lots of really big neat sounds in this one. Solid arrangement, big beats and some catchy grooves in this one. Although I felt like the arrangement could have used more, maybe some emotional instrumental solos or some vocals. Ghetto Lee Lewis Definitely the worst song in this whole competition so far. too much reverb, nooby chip sounds, and way too much going on to constitute a coherent arrangement. Oh who am I kidding? xP I have to say I'm very grateful for the help I got this week from Will and Jason. I'm very happy how everything came together. Great work guys! Amphibious I feel like this is one of the most solid mixes of the week. Very groovilicious and funky, and yet pretty relaxing too. Maybe just a little bit too relaxing, could have taken some more risks this week, given the mix some higher energy and easily had one of the top tracks for this compo. Anorax Really nice arrangement this week. I love the direction and vision this song has going for it. Unfortunately I think the execution could have been a lot better. The song seems to have quite a few mixing and production issues. Could have used more energy as well. Usa Thought the song started out pretty nice, and then I began getting pretty bored. But then BOOM, suddenly the song picks up a bunch of energy, and then begins to die off and get boring again, but then OMG IT GETS EVEN MORE UPBEAT AND GROOVY. I really love how Usa and Sir Nuts worked together on this to create a really interesting and fun song that takes the listener by surprise into a magical adventure of ear candy and drugs. Definitely one of my favorite mixes of the week. Supercoolmike I gotta be honest, for like the first minute or two of this song I felt uneasy, and then I realized the theme was "a centipede's burden". Well centipedes certainly make me feel really uneasy. I think you really nailed that if that's what you were going for. Not the most enjoyable mix for me at least, but a solid arrangement nonetheless. The Hiryuu I feel like this song was inspired by Willrock's song from last week, between the chip sounds and crazy guitar solos. I have to admit some of the guitar licks in this track are really incredible. This might be the first and/or last time I ever say the guitar in this song sounds way too quiet. It has a lot of really major production issues. If the mixing in this song were better it could easily be one of the best songs in the compo. Pu freak Frankly I really wasn't impressed at all when I first started listening to this song. As a pianist, I am extremely picky whenever I hear other people perform. However, it wasn't long before my opinion changed. Obviously everything in this song is performed live, not some sequenced crap (yes, I have an utter seething hatred for sequenced piano, or mediocre execution). The arrangement continues to get more and more emotional and keeps building up energy and evolving. 6 minutes is a long time, and I was cursing the fact that I drank strong alcohol content beer before playing this song, yet I couldn't tear myself away from it until the very end. This is definitely by far my very favorite mix of the week. I had never heard of Pu freak before this compo, but now I definitely want to hear much more.

By extended harmony, I mean a major, minor, diminished, or augmented chord that has additional thirds stacked up on top of it, with the numbers representing the intervals above the root (for example, the BbM7(9) from the above track is Bb D F A C). And unextended harmony is just the basic three-pitch chord with no additions. The notation conventions for these extensions vary a bit depending on whom you talk to, but generally: if min, mi, or m is specified, the unextended chord is minor a plus sign, aug, or #5 means the unextended chord is augmented a minus sign, dim, or mb5 means the unextended chord is diminished if there is no min/aug/dim etc. then the unextended chord is major if maj or M is specified, the 7 is a major seventh interval over the root, otherwise it's a minor seventh 9 is assumed to be a major ninth; a minor ninth is written as b9, and an augmented ninth is #9 11 is assumed to be a perfect eleventh; an augmented eleventh is written as #11 13 is assumed to be a major thirteenth; a minor thirteenth is written as b13 listing an extension implies that all the lower extensions are also present; if not, add is included before the extension (e.g. Cadd#11 is C E G F#) if the bass note is not the root of the chord, the bass note is written after a slash (e.g. C7/G is C E G Bb with G in the bass) So CM13 would be C E G B D F A; Cmi13 would be C Eb G Bb D F A; C13(#11) would be C E G Bb D F# A; Cmi7addb13/Eb would be C Eb G Bb Ab with Eb in the bass; and so forth. In classical music, these chord extensions were considered dissonant, and they were generally approached and left by step because doing so makes the dissonance "make sense" in that it is both led into by and resolved into notes that are not so dissonant against the underlying unextended harmony. And the song in the OP specifically doesn't do this, which draws attention to the dissonance. I think the F-C-F jump in particular is important to the overall sound of the example both because it's emphasized through repetition and because the way in which it's dissonant -- that is, the extension that it forms over the chord -- and the specific notes in the gesture that form the dissonance are different in the repetition from in the original. So when you hear it a second time, it's still dissonant, but it's dissonant in a different way. It's the old trick of recontextualizing a melodic figure, which is an effective compositional approach in pretty much every kind of music.

...damnit you guys. I expect at LEAST one (Never Gonna) Give You Up-style submission per block.