The Vodoú Queen

Dude right? I'm at this point like...so what if TWO of my songs may sound similar? But at the same time I want each of my songs to be their own little butterfly ugh. And yet also at the same time, I want to establish a sound that is my own. Why do we do these things to ourselves lol?

I guess artists of all kinds will have some degree of dissatisfaction with our work, but its good to have some introspection and evaluate how you're doing on style, quality, and such. I've personally found it a little satisfying when two or more of my songs sound similar, as though they belong together in an album. My stance is to embrace the kind of music you instinctively want to create. But it's good to make a conscious effort to try other things as well.
On feeling locked in a style, my friend, Souperion, and I often joke about how much we use violins and other strings in our composition. We tried daring each other to not use any string instruments in songs, but most often I gravitate back to the instruments and styles I've used before.
To draw on baking for an analogy, music is similar to baking a cake: Many chocolate cakes have been made before, but mine will have the frosting, colors, and layers that I like in it. And Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. Lots of peanut butter cups. So keep making cake.

Honestly, I want every song to feel like what I wanted to do with it initially...but things keep changing between execution and planning. There's going to be overlaps in style, only thing I concern myself with at this point is trying to be better than I was with the last project. That texture is formed by each experience.
The feeling is very relatable, seen it in art friends and myself. But I've killed myself on artwork before for the rough draft to outshine the finished product. Sometimes good enough is all you need. Once something is in the hands of the audience, it takes on a different significance that we have no control over.
The icon I use is a finished work I did, and the rough line art showing progress for it is the thing that makes the rounds with fans. Every few days, there's some kind of notification on it. It annoyed the heck out of me at first, but these days, I'm just glad it makes people happy.

Hey, kinda wanted to jump into this conversation because it seems interesting and I think I can add my own '2 cents' to it.
I just started 'producing' music around early Sept 2020, and I can agree and feel a lot of what all of you are saying, even if I am new to this. I've noticed, between what I've submitted to MnP Compos and a music mix songwriting challenge this past December that, although I do try to branch out and 'conquer' different genres of music, be it New Age (the theme of the songwriting challenge), Synthwave, Hardcore, Techno, Rock--what have you--I always get the same commentary across the board, no matter what other constructive critiques or positives / negatives people perceive of my work:
"You have a good / wonderful / cool / etc concept / understanding of drumwork and percussion and beat, and it sounds LO-FI / HIP-HOP"--which may or may not work with the theme or overall piece of the compo (as it seemed to have not with the song I submitted for the songwriting challenge).
And I have a weird...duality with that and a slight negative complex now, and unsure what to do with it or how to deal with it.
Like, in all honesty, I am proud that at the very least, even if my melody or harmonics is a bit off or dissonant (which I guess comes with the terf of being a newbie, something is going to be off with what you produce until you get the professional ear for it. Maybe any Jo-Shmo wouldn't know, but your peers will know where and how you fucked up, plus or minus their own bias and nuance when it comes to music tastes.) At the very least, I seem to understand beat and rythym enough to not have a complete dumpster fire on my hands. But it's kind of giving me a stigma that everything I do, no matter the genre, is going to have the same lo-fi / hip-hop-style foundation to it.
I mean, is that a thing of growing into one's own style and I guess...trademark stamp of what makes their work, THEIR WORK, or...is that a detrimental fault to the learning process?
It's a real bi-fold quandry.
For example, I've listened to everybody's posted work on here (great stuff BTW), and even if they're described under different genre headings, I CAN hear a fundamental line of style that makes its impression on all your work, be it a string instrument you use a lot, or an orchestral undertone, or even the beat-work.
And then I thought about it further, and juxtaposed that stance with multiple songs I hear across multiple singers / bands. . .
I think we all have our own stamp to our music, that is fomulated over the course of us playing around and learning and even from our individual backgrounds. Like...I think WHY my music keeps coming out with heavy, snazzy beats as such is because I heavily grew up listening to African-American music, because I am Black. Literally since a baby I grew up listening to stuff like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, every Motown-song under the sun, and in later years, stuff like Lauryn Hill, The Fugees, Black Eyed Peas, etc. That's not to say I didn't listen to other genres. My Dad and Mom would play stuff like the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Dr Dre, Black Sabbath, and in my teens - early 20s I listened to a lot of different heavy metal and rock n' roll and electronica music, from Disturbed to Staind to The Prodigy to H.I.M. ...It's a conglomerate of all kinds of stuff, inclusive of VGMs and RMs.
But almost a good chunk of all of that has the one foundational aspect: they all do heavy bassline and drumkit. Now pair that with the fact my father used to play and practice drumming in the house on a professional level. He never got into a band or anything, but the man knew his shit and even had different sticks and percussion kits, even if it was a hobby. So it's ingrained into my skull so much that even if I can shift in producing different genres of music, it's all gonna come out with similar bass & drum works.
Now, is that going to be a detriment or problem in the long run? I don't really know. Is it the growth of my own style? Maybe? Hell, I am just as bamboozled as the rest of you on that stance.
But I agree with Thunder and Bloo: I think in the long run, it's about building experience and making the WHOLE of a song as awesome as possible, not necessarily it's individual parts. If you're good at something already and that's your artistic stamp, let it be your artistic stamp. No one can take that away from you. It can only grow and blossom as you conquer different genres and make it your own. I've noticed every professional artist has this bent, whether it's a sample they use over and over across their songs (e.g. Snoop Dogg), or the beat (e.g. Savant), or even how they sing (e.g. Mariah Carey).
P.S.: Sorry if this is a huge post, was in the middle of a thought-flow when I typed this up ROFL.

So I guess the premise to this inquiry came from my recent works on this soon to be submission
So, as you can see, I haven't even gotten a review let alone a submission, but I find that not only did I like what I did, I feel like I found a sound I can resonate with to the point where I could do it again.
So I started working on a different song from FFVII and a lot of the same sound ideas came to mind and similar approach composition wise. Part of me is like...is this me finding a style/a musical voice? Or is this just me being unoriginal/lacking inspiration? I'm sure whatever else comes out will be its own thing but it would still be atmospheric, combining different orchestral/cinematic aspects together. It's very perplexing to me. Until now I never really locked into a single style in my head. I guess some examples being these three songs
 
 
I think simple and atmospheric with vocals is kind of my thing when I take a closer look at the compositions...hmm.
 
Anyway, what do you guys think of this process? Do you try to run away when you see yourself getting locked into a sound? Do you try and shake it off or do you take it as "your sound?"

I'm glad you found some value in this compo, I am honored
 

Staying inside the lines is an interesting challenge with MnP, the first time I made a submission I was scared to make any variations! But I'm finding it a brain stretcher to try and remix something faithful while simultaneously unique. This and the PRC have really helped me learn more composition and editing skills.

NP, I'll color inside the lines, just the colors might be hot magenta pinks and blues. >_>

NP, I'll color inside the lines, just the colors might be hot magenta pinks and blues. >_>

*Evil Pirate Shrug*

Probably be a very hard sell, in all seriousness, since most people will probably play it safer.  As you've seen, Even APZX is a bit iffy on bending the MnP theme too far, and he's pretty good at this gig, so...thar be choppy seas ahead, matie.  But, hey, a Pirate Happy Hardcore would be a great PRC idea for this round...I don't really know.  I got nothin helpful.  

I agree with AP, but I'm gonna try my best.
 
Is 130bpm OK? It's not as fast as I'd like it (160bpm), but might be able to do some weird Sonic / Nightcore hybrid for the song.

I really don't like the tempo rule to be honest, and I'm probably not going to submit something for this one simply because of it. I've got an idea for a Trancey piece, and for the feel to be right I'm up around 128bpm which is a bit too far from the 110 in the original IMO  
I do have another idea, but really I'm not jiving with some of the melody parts. I don't mind the groove I've got going, but I do mind some of the melody parts. I dunno maybe I need to sit in front of some synths and get to hashing out some sounds.
Edit - Plus I've been working on something original the past week or so, and when I go to remix this I kinda want to bring forth those ideas when I know I shouldn't but I can't separate the two.

Ya know, that might be an interesting angle to take Magical Dreamers.... >_> Especially if my first idea falls through.
 
Happy Hardcore. Would have to watch my tempo tho so not to break the rules.

Speaking of Palette broadening, this is a steal!!  I was gonna share it to you for free, but it might not be so wise, since it isn't part of the licensee agreement. Plus with your current setup, Happy Hardcore is a fun style that MIGHT get a few votes.  Might need to learn some time-stretch*** techniques, idk how that style is done really.  I'm sure it's more than just shoving samples up really high on the octave scale.  EDIT pingas

I'll hit ya up then on that offer.
I'm mixed between putting any in this time around, but I'm happy to grab some free mp3 or wav vox if you got em, for future use. Bandlab's are fun and all but admittedly some are just plain bad and most are only good for rave or techno or nightcore type stuff cause it's kind of high pitched, chipmunk squeak.
Works sometimes, but agreeably, need to broaden my palette.

Eh, MnP lends itself to that sort of unoriginal thing, and that's OK, just gotta do it good.  If you want more vocal samples, I can give you a bunch.  I got a bevy

@Dextastic
Would be an interesting challenge to see if you don't fall into doing electric guitars for the main parts like the song leads / encourages to use.
Just like apparently I shouldn't fall to using vocals / vox every time / every song.

@Dextastic
Would be an interesting challenge to see if you don't fall into doing electric guitars for the main parts like the song leads / encourages to use.
Just like apparently I shouldn't fall to using vocals / vox every time / every song.

Great mixes, all! I really enjoyed the melancholy of Kat's, nicely mixed with rock elements. And the abrupt end near the actual end nearly gave me a heart attack.
I loved Thunder's emotional piece, but we've already gone over how it was less MnP. Still, great song that nearly scared me witless.
TVQ's was re-e-e-e-ally slick and sweet, I feel like you got the vocals better here. Took a while for me to pick out A Wish in it, but the innovation was lovely. I'm sure someone else mentioned how the guitars or something near them was causing some fuzz and feedback, shouldn't be too hard to fix.
And I appreciated the story APZX's told. A lot of the instrumentation and execution reminds me of the OST of Axiom Verge. Delicate, deep, and just a bit chippy.
And HoboKa's really nailed the atmosphere, airy openness, and cold sweetness of the original. Almost somnolescent, really.
And as always, thanks for the feedback. One of these days, I will get down actually including low-end instrumentation in these things of mine :S

Next round is up. 
 

Here's some of my thoughts, since i didn't get a chance to vote.
Kat - Oh man this is pretty, i love the contrasting sections between the rock and the orchestral, that works perfectly. If i have to be honest, the drums in the first half could be mixed a bit better, but the rest was soo good. Really nicely done well done!
Wassup Thunder - Jesus that scared me lol. The orchestration really turns it into more PRC than MnP, it's gone from a slow emotional tune, into a cinematic film cue. Again the orchestration is awesome, and works well, but it's very PRC not MnP. Great job!
TheVodouQueen - The chords are pretty....this is a chord progression i dig, like a lot. The contrasting sections works like a charm too, the whole track is too pretty. The vocals for me were a mixed bag. I like the idea of integrating it, but i feel it works best without them, i'm more a fan of the instrumental. The overall instrumental is very pretty, especially the ending. Great job!
APZX - This is also pretty, i am in love with the synth choices, soo good. It's a bit too much on the amount of instruments, i like the ending a lot, you could add that in halfway to make it more spaced out, and not as busy. But the idea was lovely, i really like this a lot. Great job!
HoboKa - I don't think i've ever received a real HoboKa entrant in a long time lol. It's always a bonus haha, Dex even said it lol. I do love the choir though, it's a beautiful addition with the piano. I do think it's a very static arrangement, you could add more, and make it more than 2 instruments. Great arrangement though! Great job!
Souperion - The strings are nicely integrated. I like how it balances between strings and winds, very well done. I also like the pause in the middle, it's a great breather. Overall really nice solid take on the source. It could stand to add more variety, in the addition of instruments, as well as expansion, but the idea was lovely. Great job here!

Good round

Vote's in. Hope it made it, (said it did). I saved a Notepad file of it just in case.

Vote's in. Hope it made it, (said it did). I saved a Notepad file of it just in case.