hi So, I'm new around these parts, mostly hiding in the technical forums, however the other day I decided to get my head in the game, music wise, and try some stuff out. The following is something I've been working on for a couple of days, mostly today as before then I was using a demo copy of FL Studio so my saving was limited to 'hey, that's a cool pattern lets grab a screen shot' [grin] Anyway, it's two variations on the same thing, both 2mins long and work in progress; track 1 track 2 The 2nd is pretty much the same as the first, I just adjusted the underlaying sound a bit to make it 'go somewhere'. Any feedback would be appriacted as this is the first bit of music I've tried to put together since my GCSEs which was about 12 years ago [grin]

Nice track!

I personally liked the first one better, the backing has a nice 'pulse' to it that is broken up too much in the second version. The breaks are actually well done, but there's just too many of them, maybe one over the 2 min duration would be a good balance, to break up the monotony a bit but still maintain the 'pulse'.

Other thing: the 3rd motive, the kinda off-key sounding higher pitched riff - somehow it doesn't fit into the backing for me, can't really put my finger on why exactly. It has the potential to fit perfectly, but somehow it doesn't, for me. The first note is great, has the off-key feel but still connects, but the followup is somehow off. Maybe if it would converge more towards the starting note of the bass riff (if not straight out finishing on the same note)...

Don't know if that's the kind of feedback you were looking for, but here you go :)

P.S. I'm sure you've noticed I'm not exactly a professional in this field, so take it with a grain of salt etc.

Ah good old FL Studio! I've been making music almost as long as I've been programming and must say that piece of software is great! Some things could spice up the track a bit though. I would suggest EQing your kick to really bump, you can do this by adding a multiband compressor on Bass Boast, however this is more of a personal preference than anything. If you just want to EQ at bass levels, be sure to add a standard compressor to get rid of distorting sounds. You can also add some neat effects by doing some real time mixing on the track. However you would have to be pretty fimlair with the software. Always do real time mixing on a copyed version of your file. I've made some nice mixes but one thing screwed it up and I wasn't able to go back and fix it. Another techniques many people use it to introduce different intruments/sounds in a progressive way. In general your track is good the way it is, and if I added in a few more suggestions it would change your entire song. :P

I'm more of a Dance / Trance producer than anything. I love bumping kicks, crazy gates, and fade in a fade out melodies and more. Not to forget added vocals! :D

Keep up the great work!

Cheers for the feedback guys [smile]

@Morrandir

That little high bit was bothering me as well, part of why I threw this out there was to see if it was just me or not [grin]

I decided to pull that down an octave (it was based around C6 -> C7, everything else was around C4->C5) and change it up a bit to compress its range.

I might travel back to an older save however and see about doing it more you way, see if that helps matters as well; who knows I might end up with two workable riffs for that segment.

@MrCpaw

Certainly is a nice program, I combined it with PoiZone, Toxic Biohazard and Morphine when I ordered as I love those synths. This track also uses Sytrus which I had to go back and buy, heh

Anyway, cheers for the mixing tips. I had a bit of a play around, mostly with the kick and a bit with the bass section. Probably have to devote a fair amount of time to learning what all the mixing options do.

The practical upshot is take 5.

From someone that doesn't no anything serious about music, just what he likes and doesn't like: they're nice, certainly better than I could ever make. What strikes me is that all of them sound like an intro or build up to something more 'complex' yet they maintain the same atmosphere and rhythm throughout the entire track. I'm constantly thinking: "now here it's going to kick in!", but then it doesn't.

I don't meditate, but I can imagine they would go well with that. [smile]

Have fun!

The new version is great, would make kickass music for a space shooter with dark ambience :)

Cheers guys, much appricated [smile]

@WanMaster
To a degree it is building towards 'something', although it does seem to work nicely on it's own. One of the issues I've had, even when playing around before, was that I can build things up but then kinda hit a 'what now?' wall.