http://www.last.fm/music/Neil+Shepperd/Akustiko+de+Spirito
Keep in mind that all of this is at the moment a Work In Progress.
Some of it feels like it's a bit simple still.
So... Anyway. I'd like to see what you all think of it.
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http://www.last.fm/music/Neil+Shepperd/Akustiko+de+Spirito
Keep in mind that all of this is at the moment a Work In Progress.
Some of it feels like it's a bit simple still.
So... Anyway. I'd like to see what you all think of it.
I like it. It would obviously sound much better with more realistic instrumentation, but you can get the picture. I particularly like "A Trilogy", and the cool snare/bass rhythm in there. Good work, smart composition!
Behold, minor improvements upon track 3!
And Now There Are Actually Gradual Shifts In Tempo Where There Should Be!
...yep...
something in a sort of different style
http://www.last.fm/music/Neil+Shepperd/Damaged+Wire
Now for some not-music.
^ Yes, I made that.
I like the music, but I'm not sure if its what I would listen to for fun, and here are my main reasons: There seems to be a lack of climaxes dynamics wise, but the melody pulls some of that weight. The number of percussion instruments used in this are ridiculous, and though I know its supposed to be a bit sporadic when you are choosing the percussion hits, but it doesn't make much sense to me. loud cymbal samples are placed in too early and the resonance seems to be lacking, but thats what you get when you have to work with pre-made samples (sometimes), the kick drum was an awful sounding sample. It lacks some depth including bass. The drums were not flowing well with the rest of the sounds in my opinion even though the timing was good.
I do like the melody and how the timing is changed up a little giving it a bit more naturalness, but like the other guy said, these sounds sound too unorganic. No natural resonances or reverbs that could have been automated in easily.
What program are you using, that would really help me out to know what you are using for this music.
Simply rosegarden and timidity/freepats. The dynamics is a good point, and I agree with you. I would also agree that sometimes I overload on my percussion (I realized that when I listened to my own stuff on some real headphones :P).
Once again, i enjoyed it a lot! For this kind of stuff, i pretty much agree with what dylanshmai is saying about the climax/dynamics of the music, but honestly you've got a lot of creativity there and there's a hell of a lot of potential for you to produce some seriously great music when you get some decent production tools and some real instrumentation happening. The rest well happen as you develop your composition skills.
The end of this track sound like it's screaming "lead-in to chaotic/loud piece" :D
Well, four months later, I've finally produced another piece:
http://www.last.fm/music/Neil+Shepperd/Pianaj+Kantoj
I think this turned out pretty well except for some mistakes near the end, where I started improvising during the recording. In constrast to the rest, this is recorded from a real keyboard, using the shiny new midi adaptor I got for my birthday :). A live recording certainly allows one to add dynamics and "rubato" much more than is possible with a plain midi sequencer, so I hope this will be an improvement on my previous efforts. Once again, tell me what you think :P.
BTW: this.
(Bump for more shameless narcissistic self-promotion :P)
So... Two more pieces using my midi keyboard. The second was just created when I just decided to do some sort of random jazzy impro for fun. Again, I could do with some useful criticism.
So, uh.... http://www.last.fm/music/Neil+Shepperd/Unnamed
"Oriental" just about sums it up.
(woo quad post!)
I listened to all of the tracks and have the following criticism:
There are kind of two main styles of music. One could be labeled as "Songs" and the other labeled as "Background Music." These sound more like background music, because of how repetitive they are. That's fine, really, but I wouldn't expect people to think much of them, cuz that's like having elevator music on your iPod.
Even as background music, I'd suggest putting in some more variation. I don't know how familiar you are with chords, scales, and arpeggios, but I can assure you, you can find many many many ways to create variations that still have the same feel.
For some examples on variations, you can even bump every note up a few sharps, or flatten them a few times. I'll post some examples of this if you'd like.
Individual Track Comments:
"Floaty Music" - When you have a repeating bar for the whole song, you should at least change the volume of it regularly. When you want more focus on the melody, turn it down a little bit. Then when the melody is lightening up, turn it back up a bit. As it is, anybody else in your house hearing it will just hear the repeating part and will go bonkers.
"Subvojo" - The first ~half of this has some melody parts too close to the rhythm and they create some dissonance.
"Rush/Urĝiĝo" - This just sounds like improvisation. Good if it's live, not recorded.
"Damaged Wire" - Around 1:10 the melody goes a little random and loses flow. It might sound better if it had a steady beat going at the same time. The square/sawtooth just sounds bad... not sure what else to say about it...
"Akustiko de Spirito" - The melody/rhythm sounds a little awkward until towards the end.
"Seven Miles Below" - Very amateur feel. I'm guessing this is one of your first tracks. Starts sounding decent around 2:15, but then it ends instead of picking up.
"A Trilogy" - The intro is kinda. The horn melody starts a little empty-sounding, but when it starts with the doubled notes it sounds alright. The percussion is kinda random and lacks flow for the most part. The melody starting at 4:00 sounds alright, but could've started sooner.
Thanks for the criticism:). I think I agree with you; you make some good points. Having listened to some of these again I notice that the lack of dynamics has sort of flattened them, for a start.
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/231255
here is the one i made :P
nice. the imagery is rather random :P
Sounds pretty good. Just a little short.
It's normal for Newgrounds :)Quote:
nice. the imagery is rather random :P
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/197362 is one I made a little while ago.
I'm curious what each of you guys use to make your music. I use Guitar Pro 5 and Midi2Wav Recorder, with some random tweaks in Audacity.
yea i just done that project really fast , so its short :D
I noticed all your songs on Newgrounds are pretty short. Most end close to 2 minutes. They sound good though. You should try making some longer ones.
Behold new music.
All The Baddies Are Dead (Exit Music)
This one seemed to me suggestive of the sort of music which would be playing t the end of a movies, with the credits. Hence the name :P. I feel like I've reached a bit of a milestone with this one, since it's perhaps the first of my music that I personally listen to for fun, and would put on my ipod (if I had one :D). Of course the general public (ie. you) might not necessarily agree with me, so I expect you to be merciless :).