Sunday, December 14, 2008
Final Project
This is my final project.
I started making it about halfway through the semester without the intention of it being my final project. I tried to make the beat as bassy as possible, with three types of bass drums going. I was going for a very intense trance style song, but I don't think it can be confined to only trance. It also incorporates elements of techno and house.
The version I made is significantly shorter than a "full" version that would be played in a club. The first drop comes less than a minute into the song, whereas a full dance song would go for at least a minute or two before dropping out.
One of the most interesting parts of this song to do was mastering it, adding effects to the instruments and tweaking volumes to make the mix sound good. I added compression to one of the kick drums, reverb to the claps and a phaser to the bass. I believe that these made the song as a whole sound much better.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Review
I will be reviewing Charlie Milner's song for assignment four.
The song starts out simply with a build and a tasteful thunder clap. The drums come in and set a nice, laid-back tempo. I liked how the snare is offset in the panning, so it stands out more than usual. The drum fill is decent, but it could have been better. The three snare hits just sound too similar.
The vocals start now. The sample itself could be a little better or more varied, but the effect is nice. The slight echo fleshes it out a little bit. I'm a little confused as to what the noise is in the second sample (oo-ah?). I like when the lower frequency comes in after that, it adds a nice feel to the song. The repeated samples sound even better with it added in. More thunder claps bring the song to a close. I would have suggested a fadeout at the end, rather than the abrupt finish, though.
All in all, the song is good, but there are a few tweaks that could make it even better.
The song starts out simply with a build and a tasteful thunder clap. The drums come in and set a nice, laid-back tempo. I liked how the snare is offset in the panning, so it stands out more than usual. The drum fill is decent, but it could have been better. The three snare hits just sound too similar.
The vocals start now. The sample itself could be a little better or more varied, but the effect is nice. The slight echo fleshes it out a little bit. I'm a little confused as to what the noise is in the second sample (oo-ah?). I like when the lower frequency comes in after that, it adds a nice feel to the song. The repeated samples sound even better with it added in. More thunder claps bring the song to a close. I would have suggested a fadeout at the end, rather than the abrupt finish, though.
All in all, the song is good, but there are a few tweaks that could make it even better.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Boomp3
So it appears that music hosting service boomp3 has taken a turn for the strange. It no longer lets me upload files and a good portion of my previous songs are not the right ones. I'm not sure where to put my new songs now, if anyone knows, I'd like to know.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Recent Projects
Here are some things I've been making recently, outside of class. None are finished (or anywhere close) but I think they all show some promise.
Boomp3.com
Done with a neat little percussion pack. Unsure about the arpeggiated lead at the end, though.
Boomp3.com
The song I want to expand for my final project. Bumping bass for sure.
Boomp3.com
Fiddling with FL's Wave Traveller.
I will hopefully have more polished versions of these songs sometime soon!
Boomp3.com
Done with a neat little percussion pack. Unsure about the arpeggiated lead at the end, though.
Boomp3.com
The song I want to expand for my final project. Bumping bass for sure.
Boomp3.com
Fiddling with FL's Wave Traveller.
I will hopefully have more polished versions of these songs sometime soon!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Assignment 3
This week, we were to make a short song. I chose to make mine in the genre of house. I first made a rough draft in the program that I have used for a long time, FL Studio. I then transferred it into Reason and tried to improve it. I will present them both for your consideration.
FL Studio:
Boomp3.com
Reason:
Boomp3.com
FL Studio:
Boomp3.com
Reason:
Boomp3.com
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Click Tracks: The Making Of
Loop 1:
This was the first loop I did. I had an interesting idea of speeding up the click track so much that it would become a buzz sound which I could form into a bassline. This would flesh out the minimal sounding track that just clicks would make. I used three tracks of clicks for the beat: one for bass, one for snare and one for hi-hats. I added an effect to the bass to make it a bit more distinctive than just a lower-pitch click, and I filtered the hi-hats to get a softer and more realistic sound. The bass was not a simple four on the floor, but a more syncopated pattern that makes the loop a bit more interesting. The bass was just one note with the filter being modified over the course of the loop. I tried to make it come back to the starting point at the end to make it a true loop, and I think this might have limited what I could do with it.
Loop 2:
With this loop, I had a bit faster and more conventional drum beat, with the typical four on the floor and a steady snare and hi-hat pattern. One nuance of this, though, is that the snare sound is moved up a little bit, making the second and fourth beat have a sort of flam that sounds more interesting than having them hit together. I used the bassline idea again in this one, but instead of changing the filter, I modified the pitch that the track was going at. I don't remember the exact values, but I believe I used 50, 62, 74 and 86. These are offset by 12, which I picked because that is the default value that the pitch goes up by if you drag the target. Overall, this is the loop I like the most.
Loop 3:
The final loop has a "dark, German dance-house feel," according to my suitemate. It has more bass punch than the other ones, and the bass line concept turns into more of a lead, with a creepy sounding reverb effect. The snare is higher pitched than in other tracks, which I originally thought sounded better, but in retrospect don't like as much as a flatter and less snappy snare. I achieved this by reversing the click so it has a longer attack and very little sustain. The hi-hat pattern in this loop is somewhat subtle; it is somewhat overpowered by the lead, but it is an interesting, almost-shuffle beat. The sound of the hi-hats is a bit like a pair of maracas in this. I find it interesting that a series of four clicks could sound remotely similar to a pair of maracas.
Overall, I am astounded at the kind of music that I created with four, simple clicks, and I am very satisfied with my results.
This was the first loop I did. I had an interesting idea of speeding up the click track so much that it would become a buzz sound which I could form into a bassline. This would flesh out the minimal sounding track that just clicks would make. I used three tracks of clicks for the beat: one for bass, one for snare and one for hi-hats. I added an effect to the bass to make it a bit more distinctive than just a lower-pitch click, and I filtered the hi-hats to get a softer and more realistic sound. The bass was not a simple four on the floor, but a more syncopated pattern that makes the loop a bit more interesting. The bass was just one note with the filter being modified over the course of the loop. I tried to make it come back to the starting point at the end to make it a true loop, and I think this might have limited what I could do with it.
Loop 2:
With this loop, I had a bit faster and more conventional drum beat, with the typical four on the floor and a steady snare and hi-hat pattern. One nuance of this, though, is that the snare sound is moved up a little bit, making the second and fourth beat have a sort of flam that sounds more interesting than having them hit together. I used the bassline idea again in this one, but instead of changing the filter, I modified the pitch that the track was going at. I don't remember the exact values, but I believe I used 50, 62, 74 and 86. These are offset by 12, which I picked because that is the default value that the pitch goes up by if you drag the target. Overall, this is the loop I like the most.
Loop 3:
The final loop has a "dark, German dance-house feel," according to my suitemate. It has more bass punch than the other ones, and the bass line concept turns into more of a lead, with a creepy sounding reverb effect. The snare is higher pitched than in other tracks, which I originally thought sounded better, but in retrospect don't like as much as a flatter and less snappy snare. I achieved this by reversing the click so it has a longer attack and very little sustain. The hi-hat pattern in this loop is somewhat subtle; it is somewhat overpowered by the lead, but it is an interesting, almost-shuffle beat. The sound of the hi-hats is a bit like a pair of maracas in this. I find it interesting that a series of four clicks could sound remotely similar to a pair of maracas.
Overall, I am astounded at the kind of music that I created with four, simple clicks, and I am very satisfied with my results.
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