Damn, maybe it's time you invest in one.
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Yeah....I just don't really have room for it, and every time I have money to spend on music stuff (which isn't often) There is always an effect or instrument I would rather own than a MIDI controller. I've been doing this with my mouse for years now, and I've just become very accustomed to it being part of my workflow.
I can't stand using a mouse, I like to do as little as possible clicking and keyboarding, and just play the instrument.
I'm just one of those newfangled yay-hoos that don't know nothing about nothin....
I respect those artists who do play instruments...in fact, I respect them more than my own work, but on the other hand, I've always been more interested in writing than playing, so practicing on an instrument to get good at a single part, constant fuck ups (because I suck at playing instruments) and so forth just feels like it's taking me away from what I really want to do. I use to borrow my dad's keyboard (which was a really big thing, I think it was a full 88 keys) that had MIDI out on it, and honestly I hated scrubbing through the MIDI data I had recorded to fix issues. I think, overall, my workflow WAS faster using the keyboard, but it felt far more tedious because I was having to spend a lot of time fixing stuff instead of progressing with the writing...if that makes sense?
I use to play a lot of instruments; started with the Bassoon for the school band and from there branched out to the cello, drums, and bass guitar. On the side I did a little piano, and more recently some guitar but I was never "good" at any of these...I was probably the most skilled at the bassoon, simply because of the amount of time I had spent with it.
At least the my DAW I can make myself sound compitent. this song here it sounds like I am playing a competent guitar part, when in actuallity I turned every string to the chords and strummed on open strings, stopped the recording, turned the strings to the next chord, strummed on open strings, and so forth. I then went back and recorded some pick slides, fretting, and finger slides and inserted them in so it sounds like my fingers are moving across the fret board.
https://soundcloud.com/ntommusic/quil-a-stowaways-escape-to-freedom
Most of my guitar parts today are done much the same. In the case of the newer "Stranger Than You" that I posted above, I recorded myself strumming the lower part of the chord, then recorded myself strumming the upper part of the chord, fixed the timing in my daw, compressed them together, and ran both through a Amp Sim bus to make it sound like a single guitar instead of 2 different guitar tracks. I suck at playing music.
I used to play metal. If you like extreme music (death/tech/prog/symphonic) my old solo album can be found here for free: https://archive.org/details/TFR167-Cryptomnesia-PrimordialOddity
I've recently turned to composing due to a gnarly heatstroke a few years ago and an array of health issues because of it. My focus now is towards making Soundtrack music. I'm primarily using East West samples (not pirated, trying to be a good little boy!) I use Cubase Pro 8, a Steinberg UR22 interface, a pair of Mackie HR624s and a Nektar Impact LX88 midi controller. If you're the type of person that likes Soundtrack music check out my recent work here (multiple genres): https://soundcloud.com/jared_johnston - if you follow me I'll return the favor.
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Here's another one, I actually made this one a while ago and just found it on my hard drive, I think the kick is a bit loud, I lost the project file for it, so It'll stay that way.
Hey guys! So I released my first EP called lifeEssentials a few days ago which can be found here.
https://yukikakushi.bandcamp.com/
The genre of this EP is chiptune. It was made and recorded using LSDJ on a gameboy color with a pro-sound mod. Then from the pro-sound mod to my computer, which I used audacity capture the audio. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I've been into making chiptune music for about a month now. Thought I would get into something different other then guitar or EDM due to the fact that I've been hitting a wall when trying to write new songs depressingly. If anyone is interested, here's the setup that I use when I recorded or DJ at an event/show:
2x GBC both with pro-sound mod
2X LSDJ Carts
Numark DXM06
I'm currently doing some research on how to mod the NES and the NES carts, cause eventually I want to do something along the lines like Anamanaguchi or like this acoustic cover of one of their songs.
Any advice about how to start getting into something like that? I've tried mixing my acoustic guitar into some song's I did a while back with a friend, (here's one https://soundcloud.com/liquidyear/indie-electronic ) but it was a lot harder it felt like, compared to writing something on my guitar or producing something in FL Studios.
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Have you tried using a program like Sibelius to create scores and exporting the midi to your DAW? Might save you some time and allow for broader experimentation. :)
The problem that I would have with Sibelius is reading music. I've been playing guitar for about 16 years, but never learned how to read music unfortanantly. When I was growing up I tought myself how to play by ear, so I never really learned much music theroy or anything like that other then working on some projects with friends that have music majors. And learning to read music has been on my to do list because I know it would make some things a lot easier and expand my horizons in music. I've just been procrastinating lately tho cause the thought of learning to read music is boring to me.
Learning theory will make things a lot easier, don't need to know how to read music to learn theory.
To me that sounds like adding an extra unnecessary step, but, no, I actually had never considered it. It's worth a shot, though, to see if it helps any.
I don't often do any real "scoring" work, though, to be honest. Aside from that piano track, I have 2 older tracks that are.....kind-of score-esque:
sorry, I don't have these posted on my Soundclud for that sweet embedding. Anyways, my bandcamp is better because I actually take care of it, unlike my soundcloud which I don't give a damn about. You can download all my music off bandcamp for freeeeeeeeee! HAPPY DAYYYYY!!!!!!
Wow I feel stupid xD I'm sorry didn't see that you where replying to MrFlyte. Sorry about that. I just joined the forum today and its quite different compared to other forums I've been on.
Welcome to the forum, my friend.
I used to do some work with music production while I was in Highschool. I placed top 10 in my state with a song similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBACCIEt0SA Lost the original a long time ago. I also made some music and mixed audio for the video game team. Beyond that I was in marching band and I played euphonium. I also played the guitar and piano outside of band. Overall I haven't had anytime to do much beyond that and I kinda dabble with it when I
have time to do so.
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Thank you vary much! ^-^
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Alright I'll have to start getting into some theory then.
Just finished this today, I think it sounds pretty good. I might keep tweaking it and play around with different compressors. What do you think?
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Just finished my first breakbeat chiptune song. Please let me know what you think, and if there are any ways to improve the song. This song is going to be in my new album called Danger! Danger!
Here's a youtube link:
Run & Home Free (Live Mix Video)
And here's a link for SoundCloud. Also if you like the song it's available to download for free on SoundCloud:
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Decided to go out of the norm and ended making a Nintendo-y sounding gameloop. How'd I do?
Not bad. Nice and simple. The mix is good.
However I think you need to spice things up a bit: add some more stuff, change the drum pattern, etc., so it doesn't feel like an endless loop of the same progression.