My Music...
Melatonin
Babbler Join Date: 2003-03-15 Member: 14551Members, Constellation
Babbler Join Date: 2003-03-15 Member: 14551Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">criticism welcome</div> howdy, just finished my new tune bloodlust, and since its now hosted by a friend of mine though ide post it up..
any criticism welcome (of course constructive prefered <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
they arent anything mind blowing or highly original but anyway.. its always nice to hear another persons views for the sake of refinement...
<a href='http://greppin.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mp3/Melatonin%20-%20Bloodlust.mp3' target='_blank'>Bloodlust</a>
this is a slightly older one
<a href='http://greppin.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mp3/Melatonin%20-%20Somnambulism.mp3' target='_blank'>Somnambulism</a>
*edit*
bloodlust is a 'drum n bass/ jungle' song, and somnabulism is more 'downbeat/ relaxed'.
for those in the know, look out for my appauling use of Amen sample (yes i know its tired, but it feels so good).
any criticism welcome (of course constructive prefered <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->)
they arent anything mind blowing or highly original but anyway.. its always nice to hear another persons views for the sake of refinement...
<a href='http://greppin.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mp3/Melatonin%20-%20Bloodlust.mp3' target='_blank'>Bloodlust</a>
this is a slightly older one
<a href='http://greppin.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mp3/Melatonin%20-%20Somnambulism.mp3' target='_blank'>Somnambulism</a>
*edit*
bloodlust is a 'drum n bass/ jungle' song, and somnabulism is more 'downbeat/ relaxed'.
for those in the know, look out for my appauling use of Amen sample (yes i know its tired, but it feels so good).
Comments
I'm downloading them either way so it doesn't
matter. But some people will want to know <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The first one gave me a headache but the second one was quite nice. I can't say I like the soft(ish) drums though. There is something I don't like about them, can't quite put my finger on it.
The second one's calming, but the cuts/skips in it's not tickling my fancy. Nice work though! ^_^
It might have something to do with sample / drum choice.
<b><span style='color:blue'>Vital Remains, Severe Torture, Nile, CryptopsY, Bolt Thrower, Vader</span></b>
it doesnt get better then this <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b><span style='color:blue'>Vital Remains, Severe Torture, Nile, CryptopsY, Bolt Thrower, Vader</span></b>
it doesnt get better then this <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Bolt Thrower = Most boring. Band. Ever.
I'm listening to Bloodlust now, since it sounds more appealing to me than the other.
I must say, i really like it. Deep bass, fast breaks... very nice stuff actually.
Some of the synths need working out to sound less boring and "cheap", also you need to work on the sound production a bit, there's a bit of distortion (unintended distortion)... you can hear it hit the limits. Listen to the likes of Merzbow, 2nd Gen or Whitehouse if you want to get an idea for noise and distortion done properly. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
But on the whole, very chaotic. Great stuff.
and thanks for the suggestions
listening to 'middle finger motif' right now...
Second one sounded like it would fit well in the lobby of a modern office building in Manhattan (you know, like the one from the Matrix)... but other than that it wasn't that interesting.
The second one.... is.... soooo...... relaxing...... i'm..... falling..... asleeeeee......eee......eeee.........p...........
However, even though you've cut up the beat rather nicely, It still gets somewhat repetitive. I suggest that you try constructing the entire beat sequence yourself next time, from individual samples. That way you'll get more control over the beat, and its variations are only limited by your imagination and the time you can spend programming and reprogramming the patterns. If you want a great example of ultra-varying, yet tightly controlled beats constructed from individual samples, try finding some <b>Xanopticon</b> tracks. That guy puts VSnares and contemporaries to shame. All in all, both songs are very good efforts. I look forward to hearing more material from you.
Esuna mentioned the subject of distortion. If you want grinding, distorted analogue bass lines, not unlike the ones used by <b>2nd Gen</b> on his track 'And/Or', try adding some tube distortion to the sound. By processing a multiple-oscillator synthesizer through a tube distortion machine, and then adding some more conventional distortion, that perhaps only affects the high end of the sound's spectrum, you can create extremely dirty sounds. For other good examples of the tube distortion sound, I suggest you find some <b>Control</b> tracks. 'Removal' is a good one to start. Be wary, though, <b>Control</b> is extremely heavy power electronics, completely void of melodies and beats, and usually incorporating only a very faint rhythmic structure. The Canadian power electronics newcomer <b>SKM-ETR</b>, especially his track 'Human Speed Bumps (huffing version), is also a good example on this.
In all fairness, your tracks work much better than mine. Lately I've been working on a piece that is a bit of a fusion of rhythmic noise and idm. Unfortunately, the song is rather work-in-progress at the moment, but just for laughs, here's an unmastered (and somewhat lacking in instruments) version of it:
<a href='http://personal.inet.fi/private/scinet/idm.mp3' target='_blank'>http://personal.inet.fi/private/scinet/idm.mp3</a>
Keep in mind that the song is unmastered, so you must crank up the volume a bit to hear it properly.
(edit: My ISP has stopped sucking. The song is available again.)
If you dont mind me asking, what did you use to create this piece? in particular the acid, and the synth (the one which doubles the sin bass at the first breakdown [1:30ish)
If you dont mind me asking, what did you use to create this piece? in particular the acid, and the synth (the one which doubles the sin bass at the first breakdown [1:30ish) <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
The whole song was created with Buzz v1.2 (available from <a href='http://www.buzzmachines.com)' target='_blank'>http://www.buzzmachines.com)</a> and its various user-made generators and effects. The only samples used in the song are the hihats and snares, which I do not prefer to create by synthesizing or fetch from drum machines. They are from my sample libraries, heavily effected, distorted and edited, of course.
The synths used are the following (first the programmer, then the machine name):
Ld Padsyn - a dual-oscillator+FM+ridiculous amount of LFOs synth. The Padsyn is responsible for the bassy 'wooom' sound, best audible alone at 0:37 onwards. Another Padsyn with different settings was used to create the main melodic synthline. The sound is at its clearest in the break section starting from about 1:00.
Jeskola Bass 3 - the multipurpose tool of Buzz tracker. Easy to program and can produce a staggering variety of sounds when combined with different effects. Here I've used it for the technoish acid sound, which is a triangle wave. The metallic acid sounds are also a product of a Bass 3 generator, this time set to noise wave, and heavily distorted. One more Bass 3 was used to create a pure sinewave to augment the bass drums in the more subdued beat sections. Sinewave basses amplified and played at low key are an easy way to bring some sexy groove onto any track.
The bass drums, IIRC, are both products of the FSM KickXP generator. The lower one isn't effected in anyway. The higher, more dominant one used on the harder break parts has a slight distortion to add some edge to the punch.
The high, piercing acid sound was made from heavily distorted hihat samples, which are constantly processed with an autofilter. The main distorted hihat is a product of Argulles Trashkit and FSM Tunaman, which is a pitch shifter. The sound also incorporates a strange stereo phase-based distortion effect (the name escapes me). When the hihat sound slows down, you can hear it lose its stereo phase, and instead of being in the middle, it starts hopping from the right speaker to the left, while slowing down. I discovered this effect by accident. I don't know why altering the pitch and speed of the sound with the Tunaman pitch shifter distorts the stereo phase, but the effect was so cool I had to use it. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Finally, the bizarre sounding piercing, whining sound was created from a lead synth generator (I forget the name, but can dig it up later). It was processed through various distortions and Geonik's Expression filter, which is actually high/low resonance filter with a bandpass cutoff and an overdrive. It can produce a very organic resonance that can sort of mimic misplaying real string instruments, because the amount of resonance is decided by how close the played note is to the set value of the bandpass filter. The closer the note is to the filter, the more resonance. Hence the warbling, unstable, spooky sound.
There are also a couple of small, almost inaudible sounds in the back, but they are of no real importance. Just some extra added durring production stage.
In fact, no. I found a nice stack of samples a few years back by meticulous googling. I'd like to find more, but it seems to be increasingly difficult now, since most sample sites I've found don't offer .WAV anymore, only .MP3, which is absolutely intolerable. Mp3-instruments are simply not of high enough sound quality (even at high bitrates) to be used in songs recorded at 44KHz or higher.
I too stay well away from drum loops. When you've listened to computer music in all its forms enough, you develop a skill for recognizing a loop from a constructed beat. These days the use of loops in a song usually only irritates me.
<a href='http://www.internetdj.com' target='_blank'>Internet DJ</a> is an online comunity of music artists, check it out for some hardcore critiques that can probably help you alot more than we can <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->, oh, plus free hosting for an unlimited number of your music files, provided they don't break any copywrite laws, and of course that you made them. I've got some crappy stuff I made when I was experimenting with Fruity Loops a while back up there.
Out of curiousity, what program/programs are you using for synths and compiling? That isn't FL is it?
Hope you dont mind some constructive critisism <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Bloodlust </b>sounds a bit too random. The main problem is that the synth-sounds the song starts with is in no way linked with the drums that comes later on. You might try to add some bass-work to try to merge those two parts of the song, or adjust the drums a bit (I can't tell whether they are too fast and hard hitting or too slow and "dull" without playing with it for myself).
At 0:44, you got drums and some nice bass-work going on. I think it works better than the drumwork that kicks in at 1:10 -- that's where the random sound enters.
Not that random isn't good, I'm a Warp fan myself so I'm used to it <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Also, don't be afraid of stopping the drums alltogether, build up the song, then start them again. Might break up the song a bit, give it a more dynamic feeling too it.
But then again, it's your work, and it's your taste that matters with it. Just keep it coming, I want to hear more from you.
<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I liked the second one as well. Nice job. <!--emo&::skulk::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif' /><!--endemo-->