Chiptune Producer looking for feedback

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7 comments, last by noisechip 7 years, 3 months ago

Hello, i listened music a lot since i was a kid, a lot of different styles.

This is my first work as producer ( is chiptune style ) :

http://gamedanteam.bandcamp.com/album/covox-park-ost

Note that the full ost is less than 1 minute length, yes you read well haha.

Is for a simple Visual Novel that you can play here ( is in html5 so don´t need to download anything ) :

http://gamedanteam.com/games/covoxpark/html5/covoxpark.html

Note that in the game there´s an error with the balance due to a not correct mastering, not in the bandcamp link.

It was done using pixitracker 16 bit version, a guy i know did the mastering.

I hope i can get some feedback to improve.

Thanks.

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Well... call me an oldschool chap but when you say chiptune this kind of the sound comes to my mind:

♫♪♩♫ sound effects ♦ music ♦ for games ♫♪♩♫

Yes, I think you are right.

Chiptune is originally music made with chips and as genre it's something like the song you posted.

I think that more than a genre is a way to make music using the "chips", vsts... So the sounds used are the "same" but you can do all the styles with it.

Is kinda hard to explain, hope you'll understand.

Thanks.

I think that more than a genre is a way to make music using the "chips", vsts... So the sounds used are the "same" but you can do all the styles with it.

Right. I don't find it there.

♫♪♩♫ sound effects ♦ music ♦ for games ♫♪♩♫

Yes, I think you are right.

Chiptune is originally music made with chips and as genre it's something like the song you posted.

I think that more than a genre is a way to make music using the "chips", vsts... So the sounds used are the "same" but you can do all the styles with it.

Is kinda hard to explain, hope you'll understand.

Thanks.

What you've presented, noisechip, isn't chiptune music. It's more just synth music.

As far as advice or feedback, I'd strongly recommend you branch your ideas out more. 3 seconds for a song is hardly a song, to put it bluntly. Most players would probably mute the music while "playing" this interactive novel and stream their own music. You can have minimalist soundtracks that give melody and development while working with a tiny bit of material or ideas. Your soundtrack is so brief that the listener hardly has time to recognize and grow attached to what your music's point is when streaming it. And when experiencing it via the game, it would become so repetitious that it would most likely become annoying.

I'd take each of your songs and see if you can stretch and develop those ideas into longer songs, say 30 seconds each. That's still a very short soundtrack, overall, but would give more ideas and material for your listeners and players to enjoy.


Also, I'd look into better production methods for your pieces as well. Even when working with lowfi samples, you can do some nifty things via production to give the songs a better production value. Look into panning, EQ, reverb, delay, etc. Also check your looping points as I found gaps in some of your piece during a very brief play of the novel.

Hope that helps!


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

Thanks for your feedback.

Yes, is more synth than chiptune. About the length i think is ok since the scenes, when to play the songs and some of them played twice in the game, are balanced mostly about the game design. Well more than game design is about the scenes and when to put music.

The gaps are done in purpose and there are no loops, song is played just one time.

Is just my first game, thank you for your comments, i'll work to improve in future.

Thanks again.

Here is my second Ost, short as previous.

This time i used the 1-bit version of pixitracker. The same guy mastered again the ost.

Here the Ost :

https://gamedanteam.bandcamp.com/album/red-crayon-ost

Hero the Game Demo in Html5 :

http://www.gamedanteam.com/games/redcrayon/html5/redcrayon.html

Suggestions appreciated, thanks !

I feel like it's my duty as a chiptune artist to chime in here. As some others have said, what you've shown us in the first post is not chiptune ... neither from an authentic or an aesthetic standpoint. I know that some of your more recent efforts have more of those chiptune-esque properties but they are either too brief or atonal to really be pleasing to listen to. I realize that these songs are designed for these small games you've been making, but unfortunately I feel like the songs don't really stand out enough on their own to justify the effort. Your albums are too short to really establish anything ... it's just the nature of the beast. I can't really grasp anything you're trying to convey in five second blurbs.

'Red Bear' off your Falling Pirates WIP, however, does more appropriately approach a 'song'. It's incredibly avant-garde and weird and 'out there', but I can see where you're trying to go with it. If you'd like to improve, I strongly recommend working on more pieces like 'Red Bear' that are at least a minute in length. A minute is plenty of time to establish a form, a bassline, a melody motif, an atmosphere, etc.

All that being said, I do not mean to be harsh and I hope you don't take that the wrong way. I think great musical potential exists within everyone. I just think you need to put a lot more time into your craft before you can start calling yourself a chiptune producer.

I look forward to seeing your progress!

Thanks for your comment !

I'll work in future games into songs with more length.

What do you think about this ost ? Not mastered yet.

https://soundcloud.com/noisechip/sets/shooter-project

Thanks !

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