Not entirely sure this is catharsis, but..., Looking for feedback on a music project

[Ferran]

EDIT: All links are broken right now- FSPHost nuked my account, so I'm setting up a new one, but it might be a few days... Sorry for the inconvenience if you wanted to listen.

So this past weekend, I decided to do an Album-A-Day (basically, create 20 minutes of music in 24 hours) project, and I think it sounds pretty good. Thing is, none of the people I try to share it with bother to actually listen to it, so I was hoping that some of you might be kind enough to provide a little honest feedback and criticism.

The title of my album's "Neon," and you can find it here: link.

Again, if you don't mind, I'd like to know which if any songs you like or dislike, or specifically if there are any sounds you like or dislike. All sounds used were created within the 24 hour period in software synthesizers (no samples or funny programs like Reason or FruityLoops here, just straight up subtractive and FM synthesizer programming with wavs exported from the synth programs into the free audio editor Audacity.)

Thanks much.

[dakaloo]

I shall listen to The music and state my opinion, i like music =).


Intro 1 - the high pitche noise needs to be less pitchy, if that makes any sence its all like badoing shish PING!! etc

track 2 - sounds like sumthing that would be a good intro into a heavy trance techno song, but doesnt do too well by itself.

track 3 - this one sounds ok, until the pitch ding ping sounds get annoying, they are ok, but too constant, and take away form the rest of the music.

track 4 - lol what was that, not to offence, but that sounds like theme music for a sewer game for sega genesis, its very repetative, and gets a annoying, this song is a no no. lol

track 5 - ooo, i like this one, it sounds really good until the 30 second mark, in my personal opinion, shud get rid of the siren sound and turn it into deep bass sounds, with sum ambient sounds, keep it calm, with a good beat abd u got urself sumthingt o dance to.

track 6 - it was ok, nuthing much to comment about it, the ending sounded good, then got annoying, so im htink maybe the repative beats lose their rythm and sound and just become noise, this track needs the pin, it has the thread, but it needs the pin to make anything come together.

track 7 - i dun know, that sounded like folklore music combined with a lost japanese sega game that never got released, srry if im beaing meanish, i know u only had 1 day to do them, but jsut my opinion in wut i like, its blah, not wut im into.

track 8 - lol i feel like i shud duck because sumthing is being thrown at me.

track 9 - thats not bad, i wud use that for background music in a turn based rpg game, but just get rid of the ping pong sound and dim some of the sounds.

ttrack 10 - that one is ok, it sounded like " deja vu" i dun know why it sounds like a feeling, but it does.

track 11 - the same comment as the first one

well , i listened, heard sum good stuff, heard some bad stuff, but it was all good.

ps. u might like this guy http://myspace.com/simplyd4rk, I DO =D

[Ferran]

Thanks a lot for the comments and for listening! Don't worry at all about the meanness, that's why I put it up here, in fact. I know a lot of things drag on, particularly 3 and 7, that's me filling up time because I don't know how the heck I'm going to make this 20 minutes... XD Your comments that several of the tracks sounded like Genesis games made me happy, I like video game music...

I see what you mean about the first one, that BEEP is a bit much. As for the last one, it's made with the same stuff obviously, but it's a bit rushed so it ended up going all out of sync since it was made literally right up to the last minute. x_x;; If you pay attention, it's the same drum sound in every track because I don't know how to make a better one yet >_> That and the kind of brushy one like in Track 4, which is the same song with the settings slightly changed.

Yeah, I do think track 2 goes on a bit long too. I just liked the bass sound there a lot... (It's also the same sound that's all the instruments in the folky one, except for the drums.)

Track 3 makes me laugh every time I hear it, it's just such a ridiculous and annoying sound... XD Tracks 4 and 9 were played "live" (the only instrument in 4 was, and the one not the background and pings was in 9) using my PC keyboard (yes, that's keyboard as in QWERTY), so that's why they're kind of all over the place. Everything else was done with sequencers internal to the programs I used; in the case of the lead in 7, and the background sound in 8, its all done by having certain notes selected (in 7 random, in 8 a looping sequence), and changing the notes used while it's playing. Easy, but I think it worked fairly well.

Another trick I used was reversing sounds (uh oh, no evil messages anywhere, were there?) The annoying outro you mentioned on 6 was the intro reversed, by the way, and I do think it goes on one loop too long. The drum sound on the annoying one was forward - backwards, and the drums are really badly synced up since it was all done by hand and that was the first one I did it on.

Actually, on 8, I thought it sounded like some kind of a shooting range after I made it XD Sort of a real life duck hunt... Throw, hit, score +1... The throw and hit are another case of reversal. I tried to make a sound that sounded like steam or a machine (hence the title High Esteam >_>). I didn't like it at all when I was making it, originally it was supposed to be just the forward sound over and over, but then I reversed it too, and added the ping, and now it's one of my favorites. I guess I understand what you mean about the ping on 9, I just thought it sounded kind of empty without it, and I didn't want to use the same drums again.

Track 10 I really like, I just wish I'd had time to properly fade it out or something at the end, it ends so abruptly. I like it too, though, it has a weird feeling to it and I'm glad I put it on even though it turns out it was just an extra 23 seconds. I let the last track drag on a bit so I was sure I had enough time, that's why it goes on so long.

Anyways, enough of my blathering, just thank you again for listening and commenting, I really appreciate it.

[dakaloo]

oh no prob, it was interesting to listen to them lol , and neat to comment them

[Ferran]

Glad you enjoyed it. I forgot to mention in my last post that I did check out that link you linked. I listened through the song that was on the website (the one already selected- I think it was "Noises In My Heart"). A bit too dark/industrial sounding to my tastes, but it was catchy, and it's good to listen to something I maybe wouldn't normally. Thanks for recommending it.

Sigh... I discovered while trying to find more free instruments (I'm so cheap T_T) that the main one I was using is "free, with the specific exclusion that no sounds created with it may be redistributed, or used as part of a song/recording"; naturally, you can only do that with the paid version. Unfortunately, the paid version with the interface I'm used to and like isn't sold anymore, and the new version's $70 (or so, in American dollars, I think the company is British, so it'd vary with the exchange rate) for the cheapest and most basic version of the software... My version's v1.5, almost 10 years old, and I think that version 3 is out, but I'd bet that the license still holds since they're selling newer versions of the software. >_< It seems like a lot of similar free synths have licenses like this, too: free for private use, don't actually _use_ it in anything. >_> There is no such thing as a free lunch.

I'm also a bit disappointed because I've received no reply at all from the Album-A-Day site and it's been almost a couple of weeks now since I submitted my project, but I guess the only thing I can do is be patient and maybe resubmit. Although, with these licensing issues, not sure if I'll bother...