LinuxMusicians

Hi, I've just finished my first piece since joining:
https://devloop0.bandcamp.com/track/contours

Made with MusE, Hydrogen, Pianoteq, Rebirth, and some soundfonts. As always, when I've mixed with headphones, it turns out sounding rather crappy over speakers, but I'm quite satisfied with the sound on my headphones. Let me know what you think!

I liked this, lots of fun esoteric sounds and I like some of the harmonies that you put together. What percussion samples did you use? My only suggestion would be to use a little bit of reverb on everything to glue it all together (no bias at all )

Thanks for listening!

The percussion is from some soundfont "drumkit 1.sf2" which was part of an enormous collection of soundfonts, "ultimate soundfont pack", which I downloaded from who knows where and when, the Hydrogen drumkit used is The Black Pearl, and I also used the Vibraphone from Pianoteq.

Whenever I think I'm finished with some track, next day I want to change it again. I think about deleting the first 20 seconds. That intro is a remnant of an earlier incarnation which was almost entirely beatless. And the ending is a bit too abrupt. To be continued..

Update: I fixed the ending, deleted the intro, added a lost snare hit in between.

Very interesting. Some nice sound sin this. Suggests a game theme rather.

folderol wrote: ↑Sat Oct 01, 2022 4:55 pm Suggests a game theme rather.

Often when creating a beat or melody I have the soundtrack of the game American McGee's Alice in mind, either consciously or not. The drummer of NIN did a phenomenal job there. (My other tracks 'Eulogy' and 'Premonition' were definitely made with that soundtrack in mind.) Or Robert Holmes' soundtrack for Gray Matter, I love that one too.

This is a pretty interesting kind of soundscape. I don't think there's anything wrong with it on speakers, although I don't really have a reference track to compare this to. And the Black Pearl drumkit is a great piece open source drumkit, along with the Red Zeppelin kit from the same author.

Hope to hear more music from you!

I agree it gives some videogame soundtrack vibe, very interesting sounds and orchestration: great first contribution, keep 'em coming!

Impostor wrote: ↑Sat Oct 01, 2022 6:11 pm Or Robert Holmes' soundtrack for Gray Matter, I love that one too.

That was a fantastic OST indeed, Robert Holmes is an awesome composer.

Tenaba wrote: ↑Sun Oct 02, 2022 12:45 am This is a pretty interesting kind of soundscape. I don't think there's anything wrong with it on speakers, although I don't really have a reference track to compare this to. And the Black Pearl drumkit is a great piece open source drumkit, along with the Red Zeppelin kit from the same author.

Hope to hear more music from you!

Thanks!
Glad to hear your experience with speakers is better than mine. I have a set of probably-too-large-for-my-room Jamo's in a less-than-ideal configuration, so that is probably partly the cause of my negative experience.

Soundscape, there's an interesting tag. Probably better than 'downtempo'. I may use that for my Bandcamp tag...

Seriously guys/gals, I wasn't expecting such positive responses. At best <crickets> or a few 'meh's.

Thanks!

Hi @Impostor and welcome! I like the song. I would have liked even more of it, some kind of next stage. It gave me the impression of a very good quality incidental composition. Your sound choice is great! Very well and consistently arranged.
The mix sounds fine to me as well. If anything I would say that the ride sticks out very much. It's like it is sitting way in front of the rest of the instrumentation in the sonic space. Your sonic space however sounds very nice, open and deep.

jeanette_c wrote: ↑Sun Oct 02, 2022 3:23 pm Hi @Impostor and welcome! I like the song. I would have liked even more of it, some kind of next stage.

Hi, glad you like it! The thing is, I never have much inspiration to make an actual song out of the short pieces I create. So I tend to keep my creations short 'n sweet, lest they become long and boring...It was already a chore to give this piece a length of over two minutes! Took me three weeks..

jeanette_c wrote: ↑Sun Oct 02, 2022 3:23 pm It gave me the impression of a very good quality incidental composition.

I always start out without any idea of what I'm doing. If I can make a nice sounding loop with whatever sounds I'm playing around with, I try to extend it somehow, again without any predefined idea of song structure or something. I guess 'soundscape' is indeed a fitting tag, as Tenaba called it.

Initially I wanted to make a beatless piece, but I got stuck, so I tried it with drums. Got stuck again, and thought, maybe Rebirth can help me out. Then I passed the two minute mark, so it was time to wrap it up and finish it:)

jeanette_c wrote: ↑Sun Oct 02, 2022 3:23 pm The mix sounds fine to me as well. If anything I would say that the ride sticks out very much.

My hearing 's a tiny bit damaged from all the sonic assault it suffered in my youth, so I need the ride that loud:)

I really nice piece, and welcome!

I like the soundscape a lot! The combo of sounds and the percussion/drums is very good.

Maybe some more variation, or climax, or break, would make it even more interesting?

Impostor wrote: ↑Fri Sep 30, 2022 8:07 pm

Hi, I've just finished my first piece since joining:
https://devloop0.bandcamp.com/track/contours

Made with MusE, Hydrogen, Pianoteq, Rebirth, and some soundfonts. As always, when I've mixed with headphones, it turns out sounding rather crappy over speakers, but I'm quite satisfied with the sound on my headphones. Let me know what you think!

Yesterday I had already noticed that your songs sounded pretty good on headphones. I don't like speakers, tbh, and only mix on flat headphones and when I make music, I make music for headphone listeners. It's not asocial, I think: I like live music and I don't like discos

Basslint wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 9:50 am

I don't like speakers, tbh, and only mix on flat headphones and when I make music, I make music for headphone listeners. It's not asocial, I think: I like live music and I don't like discos :lol:

Which headphones do you have? Mine are Beyerdynamics DT990's. Superb sound imo, but not particularly flat according to the corrective spectrum I've found somewhere on the net.

Soundwise I very much prefer headphones to speakers, but they aren't too practical in company. So yeah, there is a social aspect to consider. And having to add a disclaimer "only suitable for listening on headphones" is a bit awkward and doesn't convey to the prospective listenener much confidence in the quality of the music..

Thanks for listening!

Impostor wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 3:30 pm

Basslint wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 9:50 am

I don't like speakers, tbh, and only mix on flat headphones and when I make music, I make music for headphone listeners. It's not asocial, I think: I like live music and I don't like discos

Which headphones do you have? Mine are Beyerdynamics DT990's. Superb sound imo, but not particularly flat according to the corrective spectrum I've found somewhere on the net.

Soundwise I very much prefer headphones to speakers, but they aren't too practical in company. So yeah, there is a social aspect to consider. And having to add a disclaimer "only suitable for listening on headphones" is a bit awkward and doesn't convey to the prospective listenener much confidence in the quality of the music..

Thanks for listening!

I have AKG K240 Mk II's. This is the Frequency response compared with DT 990s. I think they are quite close but the AKG K240 puts less emphasis on bass.