Bejack Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 (edited) Hi! So this is a very early/short WIP/attempt. I have a tried a couple of things but nothing that i liked. Any feedback is appreciated. I'm realising that i don't know my DAW very much. Particular things that i would like to know are : how the composition sounds, are the samples used of mediocre/bad/good quality. What you like and don't like about it. I know it's short and very close to the source. My attempt Thanks for your time. Edited April 5, 2014 by Bejack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anorax Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Well this is miles ahead of my first remix attempt. I'm not going to mention repetitiveness because you've already stated it's a short loop Sample quality isn't bad, but the quality of your samples shouldn't be something you focus on from the beginning. What I like: I like the strings (the trebles and mids), and I like the piano. What I don't like: The muddiness between the bass guitar (?) and the bass strings. I'm going to say it sounds amateurish, but far beyond what my personal example of ameteurish is You've got a good start, if you were to try to improve the current loop in its current state I'd say you might want to work on EQing, and bringing out the piano some more. It feels buried a bit in the track. I also think one thing you might want to practice is reverb use, because reverberation can be a great tool, especially when lightly applied to drums and cymbals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Lochlann Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 First things first Cool idea throwing Schala in with Undersea palace, but there are problems. The musical lines are discordant in a couple of places. Like at 0:08. I'm guessing this is because the Undersea palace chords resolve to major while the Schala part is still in minor. You need to work out those 2 melody lines and get them to harmonize together first. Then add your bass and piano back in and fix any notes. At that same part it sounds a little off in the bass, although it may be remedied if you fixed the harmonies in the upper part. production wise it's ok but that doesn't matter if the music doesn't sound good. so fix that, then we'll talk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bejack Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 First off i want to thank you guys for dropping by and leaving comments, after a few weeks without replies i was pretty sure i wouldn't get any feedback at all. I did go back to this project to and try and make the bass sound better and add a little reverb to the symbals and a tiny bit to the drums. Reverb and EQ are things i will have to learn. I am reading or watching videos every now and then about music theory but right now i am at the very basic beginning watching PianoVideoLessons on Youtube. If there is any Schala reference in my loop it is totally unintentional. I only used the Undersea Palace song as inspiration but then again in Chrono Trigger there are a few songs that seem to share the same "master melody" if i can phrase it that way. If it is from the piano i took the synth pattern from the Undersea Palace theme and made a simpler pattern from it. If it's not from the piano then my limited knowledge doesn't allow me to hear the resemblance, yet. I couldn't hear any discordance at 0:08 until i started isolating instruments one by one and found out my strings were playing D and the piano was C# (hope i'm saying this correctly). The bass is still playing C# but it doesn't sound bad to my ears, is it because it is a few octaves lower or are my ears not well trained enough? I tried composing and intro but it didn't sound nice and was too repetitive so i've reuploaded the same loop (updated link in the first post) with a few modifications based on feedback. I dont' have a lot of time/energy to put into making music right now as i have been working anywhere between 53 to 65 hours a week for the past 2 months. I expect it to be that way for a few more weeks but it's a good thing since i plan to get new gear and software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Lochlann Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 (edited) C# is in the key of D. C# is the major 7th interval of D. If you have the two notes separated by at least an octave, and there are no other notes clashing with it, it will sound okay. If the C# is above the D it will imply a D major seventh chord (D F# A C#) in root position (with D as the lowest note). If the C# is BELOW the D, it will imply a D major seventh chord in 3rd inversion, meaning the C# is the lowest note. If you play the C# and the D that are right next to each other on the piano together, by themselves it will sound nasty because that is an interval of a minor second and really clashes without some other notes in there to support the harmony. You don't have to be an expert on music theory to write music. But I think it's essential if you want to arrange other people's music, especially by ear. I don't know how I'd be able to transcribe anybody's stuff without knowing at least the different scales and keys. Luckily, learning that won't take you too long. Also you're right about Schala not being in there, I was confusing the Undersea Palace melody for that one. I guess I've been lax in listening to my Chrono Trigger OST lately. Edited April 6, 2014 by Michael_Lochlann goofed up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Lochlann Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 and here's a link to explain that for you better. http://www.pianochord.com/D-major-7th Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.