Critique My Track

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4 comments, last by Lith 10 years ago

Hey.

I want to preface this topic with a statement: I'm an engineer first, composer second wink.png

I'm relatively new to composing music, especially for games. I was hoping I could get some criticism on a song I produced, specifically in terms of structure and production quality. I do play piano and have an intermediate knowledge of music theory that I draw on, so I guess i'm not a complete beginner. I can make stuff that sounds nice at least.

Here's a link to the song on YouTube

Here's a direct link to the file *snip*

It was originally ment to be a background track but I think (IMO) that the melody is quite strong and iconic so it could be better suited to be the main theme tune?

I had some trouble coming up with the overarching structure. I wanted to really get the melody engraved into the listeners brain but not in an annoying way. The result is a structure something like this:

Hook -> Breakdown 1 -> Hook -> Breakdown 2 -> Hook

The two breakdown sections ended up not being similar at all. I'm not really sure if this is a good thing or not.

From my little experience producing music, I've found that I always end up making tracks that are quiet and then I boost the volume later as best I can with no clipping. Not sure how well of a job I did on that. I think all the parts don't collide and you can hear everything?

Any feedback is appriceiated.

Thanks.

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Just a tip: use Soundcloud or Youtube. Some kind of streaming service instead of having folks download a WAV file. You'll get more listens and hopefully more input that way!

Nathan Madsen
Nate (AT) MadsenStudios (DOT) Com
Composer-Sound Designer
Madsen Studios
Austin, TX

Just a tip: use Soundcloud or Youtube. Some kind of streaming service instead of having folks download a WAV file. You'll get more listens and hopefully more input that way!

Thanks for the tip! I've updated the first post.

Just listened to the track and enjoyed it. For the style it's in (retro, clubbish, eletronic-hybrid) I thought it was really fun. As far as the mix goes, I felt like the lower end of the drums could be a tiny bit louder as that matches with the club/dance vibe.

It would be really cool to hear the same melody with different chords once or twice to really change things up while sounding familiar.

Thanks,

Nate

Nathan Madsen
Nate (AT) MadsenStudios (DOT) Com
Composer-Sound Designer
Madsen Studios
Austin, TX

And lasers ARE cool.

Nathan Madsen
Nate (AT) MadsenStudios (DOT) Com
Composer-Sound Designer
Madsen Studios
Austin, TX

Just listened to the track and enjoyed it. For the style it's in (retro, clubbish, eletronic-hybrid) I thought it was really fun. As far as the mix goes, I felt like the lower end of the drums could be a tiny bit louder as that matches with the club/dance vibe.

It would be really cool to hear the same melody with different chords once or twice to really change things up while sounding familiar.

Thanks,

Nate

Thanks for your feedback :)

Yeah I wasn't really sure what style I was going for when I made it and I guess I got a retro-clubish hybrid :p

Hmm yeah it would have been better If I used some different chords once In a while. Would have made the breakdown sections sound more different (and the hook I guess). And I'll keep the drums suggestion in mind for other songs.

And lasers ARE cool.

Indeed they are.

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