Stay Determined - An Undertale Cover Album

[MetalWarrior06]

I have been working my little pants off at this for about a month and a half. I need some feedback, pronto. Just released yesterday, I launched my Stay Determined album onto Soundcloud with some fairly positive reviews. Lots of likes, reposts and views. Now I need your opinion. Please tell me what you think (I will not tolerate haters) and thank you for listening.

 

[Gario]

I think it needs work, but it's very difficult to distribute feedback on 20+ tracks at once. Find one or two from this album that you feel you could use advice on, and post individual threads. I also suggest not coming onto the WIP boards with a defensive attitude against "haters" - you're asking for help and criticism, so people WILL criticize your music, no matter how good it is. You're asking for the feedback, and from it will be criticism, so simply be ready to listen; it will help make you a better musician, if you are receptive to it.

That's not to say you're not welcome, if you get significant criticism - I think if you post individual tracks for criticism and are receptive to the crits, you'll be quite welcome on here. I do hope this helps you find your way around here, and I hope you get good advice in here.

[Slimy]

Is this a joke?

• The name of your Soundcloud page is SanicStudios Music.
• Your midi arrangements somehow sound off beat.
• Several of your covers sound like they have literal mistakes in them.
• Your "tEm battlz! yAyA!" remix is using Mixcraft's out-of-the-box "boy band" sounds, like every armature YouTuber who ever made a joke remix.
• " Please tell me what you think (I will not tolerate haters) "

10 hours ago, MetalWarrior06 said:

Lots of likes, reposts and views.

I'd say that general audiences aren't a good place to get serious feedback on music, but this statement doesn't actually appear to be true.

[Gario]

Hey, play nice, please, it's his first post. Let him post individual tracks, if he wants criticism, give him a chance to share, receive and accept whatever the forum has to offer. We all have to start somewhere.

[timaeus222]

Sorry @Gario, but I have to agree with Slimy here (plus, thus guy asked for "feedback, pronto").

I'm not hating, but it's hard not to hear the sloppy rhythms. I don't mean to say the rhythm is terrible, but that it's "too human", or that you had recorded "live" MIDI with significant latency and didn't fix the rhythm. It's particularly noticeable on "Gaster's Amalgamations" since the piano is by itself for most of the song.

Fortunately, at least a good portion of your stuff isn't quantized (computer-perfect rhythm), so it makes me think you might have a MIDI keyboard - do you? If so, it was a good decision.

• "A Possibility of a Fight" is actually not that bad. It kinda sounds like a garage jam. Granted, the guitars aren't the most realistic, but it's fairly enjoyable.
• "Wrong Enemy" is alright, but the sounds are fairly dry; that is, lacking reverb. If you want instruments to gel together more cohesively, it helps to add reverb to give a sense of similar spaces (even if it's to the subtle extent of a natural room).
• "The Wrong Number Song" sounds comical in nature, honestly. I think it's a funny listen, with the speech synthesizer lyrics and oompah rhythm. Unfortunately it's not something I would put on 24-hour repeat because the vocals are too loud.
• "The Great Papyrus" has better rhythm than "Gaster's Amalgamations", though there are still a few rhythmic errors. I think the average Undertale fan would like it, but it's super loud, especially at the 1-minute mark.
• "Hold On To Your Hopes And Dreams", like "The Great Papyrus", gets quite loud at 0:22 and on, and it clips. So, you should use a limiter to watch your peaks. TLs-Pocket Limiter is a nice, free limiter that doesn't give you overcompression (it does, however, allow overcrowding, so be aware of that).

I'm going to stop with the critique at this spot in the playlist though, since you probably see a common theme: many of these tracks are pretty loud. Like @Gario said, it would probably be more practical to choose individual tracks that you want to work on more, and post those in their own topics, as it's time-consuming to critique an entire playlist, in the amount of time you deem as "pronto".

My advice is, try not to keep boosting instruments until you hear each one over the other. Instead, treat it more like a balancing act between instruments, with a specific maximum loudness that you don't want to exceed. Once you get the volumes down, try EQing at clashing frequency ranges so that the characteristics of each instrument can be heard. In general, it's usually better to cut than to boost with EQ, since it's less painful (to anyone's ears) if your sounds are hollow than if they're overboosted.

Here's a frequency range chart to get you started:

Also, here is some music for you to listen to for comparison, so you have a mixing reference.

https://soundcloud.com/isworks/shreddage-2-srp-the-devils-mudflap-by-andrew-aversa-power-metal (power metal)

https://soundcloud.com/isworks/henning-nugel-leaving-dressed (cinematic)

https://soundcloud.com/isworks/tetralogy-worlds-most-wanted (jazz, funk)

https://soundcloud.com/biggiantcircles/borderlands-2-tropical-paradise-exploration (ambient)

If you really want to get better, it would be well worth your time to take criticism with a thick skin, and not be saying "I'm not tolerating haters". Sometimes that's necessary. You may also want to listen to many styles of music so you have a greater knowledge of multiple mixing contexts. Hope that helps!

[Gario]

 

3 hours ago, timaeus222 said:

Sorry @Gario, but I have to agree with Slimy here (plus, thus guy asked for "feedback, pronto").

Criticism is fine and encouraged, Timaeus, it was tone I was addressing. You're fine.

[MetalWarrior06]

30 minutes ago, timaeus222 said:

Sorry @Gario, but I have to agree with Slimy here (plus, thus guy asked for "feedback, pronto").

I'm not hating, but it's hard not to hear the sloppy rhythms. I don't mean to say the rhythm is terrible, but that it's "too human", or that you had recorded "live" MIDI with significant latency and didn't fix the rhythm. It's particularly noticeable on "Gaster's Amalgamations" since the piano is by itself for most of the song.

Fortunately, at least a good portion of your stuff isn't quantized (computer-perfect rhythm), so it makes me think you might have a MIDI keyboard - do you? If so, it was a good decision.

• "A Possibility of a Fight" is actually not that bad. It kinda sounds like a garage jam. Granted, the guitars aren't the most realistic, but it's fairly enjoyable.
• "Wrong Enemy" is alright, but the sounds are fairly dry; that is, lacking reverb. If you want instruments to gel together more cohesively, it helps to add reverb to give a sense of similar spaces (even if it's to the subtle extent of a natural room).
• "The Wrong Number Song" sounds comical in nature, honestly. I think it's a funny listen, with the speech synthesizer lyrics and oompah rhythm. Unfortunately it's not something I would put on 24-hour repeat because the vocals are too loud.
• "The Great Papyrus" has better rhythm than "Gaster's Amalgamations", though there are still a few rhythmic errors. I think the average Undertale fan would like it, but it's super loud, especially at the 1-minute mark.
• "Hold On To Your Hopes And Dreams", like "The Great Papyrus", gets quite loud at 0:22 and on, and it clips. So, you should use a limiter to watch your peaks. TLs-Pocket Limiter is a nice, free limiter that doesn't give you overcompression (it does, however, allow overcrowding, so be aware of that).

I'm going to stop with the critique at this spot in the playlist though, since you probably see a common theme: many of these tracks are pretty loud. Like @Gario said, it would probably be more practical to choose individual tracks that you want to work on more, and post those in their own topics, as it's time-consuming to critique an entire playlist, in the amount of time you deem as "pronto".

My advice is, try not to keep boosting instruments until you hear each one over the other. Instead, treat it more like a balancing act between instruments, with a specific maximum loudness that you don't want to exceed. Once you get the volumes down, try EQing at clashing frequency ranges so that the characteristics of each instrument can be heard. In general, it's usually better to cut than to boost with EQ, since it's less painful (to anyone's ears) if your sounds are hollow than if they're overboosted.

Here's a frequency range chart to get you started:

Also, here is some music for you to listen to for comparison, so you have a mixing reference.

https://soundcloud.com/isworks/shreddage-2-srp-the-devils-mudflap-by-andrew-aversa-power-metal (power metal)

https://soundcloud.com/isworks/henning-nugel-leaving-dressed (cinematic)

https://soundcloud.com/isworks/tetralogy-worlds-most-wanted (jazz, funk)

https://soundcloud.com/biggiantcircles/borderlands-2-tropical-paradise-exploration (ambient)

If you really want to get better, it would be well worth your time to take criticism with a thick skin, and not be saying "I'm not tolerating haters". Sometimes that's necessary. You may also want to listen to many styles of music so you have a greater knowledge of multiple mixing contexts. Hope that helps!

Thank you Timaeus. You have made some good points there that should help me. Yes, I do have a MIDI keyboard and used it for every single song on here (except Wrong Enemy which was a MIDI arrangement(there was a glitch with the guitar sound so it's much louder and distorted than it would've been). I wasn't expecting these to be the best things ever. After all, I only spent a month and a half on them. If they were going to be perfect I would've spent at least 3 months on them. Also (evident in @Slimy's post) saying that I won't be tolerating haters is just going to drag them in.

 

thank you ~~metalwarrior06

[MetalWarrior06]

3 hours ago, Slimy said:

Is this a joke?

• The name of your Soundcloud page is SanicStudios Music.
• Your midi arrangements somehow sound off beat.
• Several of your covers sound like they have literal mistakes in them.
• Your "tEm battlz! yAyA!" remix is using Mixcraft's out-of-the-box "boy band" sounds, like every armature YouTuber who ever made a joke remix.
• " Please tell me what you think (I will not tolerate haters) "

I'd say that general audiences aren't a good place to get serious feedback on music, but this statement doesn't actually appear to be true.

1) I can call it whatever I want.

2) They aren't MIDIs. It's live playing.

3)  Which ones?

4) That song is supposed to be a joke. I was just going to do Enemy Approaching but made my own version.

5) I only wanted positive feedback/criticism and not (like you've done) "is this a joke? ur stupid. ur music sucks"

6) I feel that it is true. This album is one of the best things on my account, next to Mafiatale.

Edited July 26, 2016 by MetalWarrior06
Left out a last statement

[timaeus222]

Okay, hold on. We need to clear up a few things here:

1. Yeah, that's fine. It's just that some people say "Sanic" to poke fun at Sonic, just like saying "Pokemanz".
2. Are you saying it's recorded with a microphone? Because you mentioned having a MIDI keyboard, which tells me you can (and should) record MIDI so that it's easier on you with the mixing side of things. Just because you recorded it with a keyboard doesn't mean it's not MIDI. In fact, recording with a MIDI keyboard generates MIDI data (notes, Modwheel, PitchWheel, and so on).
   
   The best part is, when you have MIDI data, you can fix it after-the-fact, and with live playing (actual live recordings), you have to do it all over again.
    
3. Since there are so many tracks, it's hard to give critique on a few tracks, and easier to give general feedback instead. So with me, I picked a few tracks as examples, and gave more general feedback.
4. Okay, so there is a joke song in this. But not all of them are joke songs.
5. Slimy didn't say it like that, but it may come off that way. He really meant, "Is this topic supposed to be for sharing music that you made as a joke?", as in, he was wondering if he was supposed to laugh with you. People have made joke songs before, such as this parody of club music: https://soundcloud.com/zeb-ro/hashtag
   
   Honestly, I've shown that to a friend of mine who isn't by any means a music composer, and he literally said, "wow, that's actually really well made. If you didn't tell me it was a joke song, I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought." I think if you can get that kind of reaction for a joke song, that's pretty awesome. It means it's "so good at being really bad", being good in production but doing all the cliche things you find in club music (builds that lead nowhere, copy/paste, one synth for most of the leads, lazy drums, etc).
    
6. That's good that you really like your own music. Hopefully you can put the critiques to practice so you can find what makes writing music so fun.

[Slimy]

7 hours ago, Gario said:

Hey, play nice, please, it's his first post. Let him post individual tracks, if he wants criticism, give him a chance to share, receive and accept whatever the forum has to offer. We all have to start somewhere.

I wasn't being sarcastic, I thought this might be a joke. Evidently not. I'm sorry if I've made an ass of myself.

4 hours ago, MetalWarrior06 said:

2) They aren't MIDIs. It's live playing.

3)  Which ones?

All of them. You need to listen to your own songs critically. If you are recording using midi, you can correct your own mistakes after you make them. If a note or chord sounds sour, you need to fix it. If you screwed up playing the melody like in This Way, My Child, (0:08,) you can't just leave that in!

4 hours ago, MetalWarrior06 said:

4) That song is supposed to be a joke. I was just going to do Enemy Approaching but made my own version.

It doesn't have to sound bad just because it's a joke. You could have put some effort into this and gotten some people to sing the parts for you.

And you can't just expect the Temmie Village style to work with the battle theme, even if it is a joke. At least not without seriously changing the style. What I mean is - the Temmie Village has a clearly distinct "bum" and "doo" sound for the bass and off-beats, and it works well for that sort of slowed-down ragtime style. You're just using the same voice sample, applied to a fast pace battle theme. It's a mess; it does not sound good!

And your off-beat chords sound like they come from a different song altogether, given how loud and out-of-key they sound.

...I do like the percussion in this song however.

4 hours ago, MetalWarrior06 said:

5) I only wanted positive feedback/criticism and not (like you've done) "is this a joke? ur stupid. ur music sucks"

I think the term you're looking for is "Constructive criticism." "Positive criticism" doesn't really make sense, since criticism is inherently negative.

4 hours ago, MetalWarrior06 said:

6) I feel that it is true. This album is one of the best things on my account, next to Mafiatale.

..That's not really a rebuttal, but whatever. Admittedly, "Mafiatale" is quite good as a concept. I like the garageband style you went for. However, production wise, is suffers from the same problems everything else does.