Post AaofERgobtr095OU2S by hierarchon@inherently.digital
(DIR) More posts by hierarchon@inherently.digital
(DIR) Post #AakKyUsQXRCpAhpSjI by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-14T01:55:11Z
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first sketch of the full song. i think i'm happy with the overall structure here
(DIR) Post #AakKyVnV7ErM1iX2gq by natalie@nya.social
2023-10-14T02:10:07.641Z
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@hierarchon@inherently.digital i don't have a whole lot of feedback because it's not quite my style but the little section at 0:34 is not mono compatible
(DIR) Post #AakLXmzrA3DhVM8I52 by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-14T02:15:35Z
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@natalie huh okay, good to know. does it just downmix into silence?
(DIR) Post #AakLXnnqADCc0NWCzQ by natalie@nya.social
2023-10-14T02:16:30.045Z
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@hierarchon@inherently.digital i think all i hear is the reverb/delay
(DIR) Post #AaofEHcY2uUyuxJw00 by Patashu@dragon.style
2023-10-14T02:01:03Z
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@hierarchon energy levels are on point! this is what I would do next if it's me composing:* it feels like there's a lot of harmonic and melodic information missing. you could add slow or fast arpeggiated instruments, pads playing chords, flourishes for transitions, etc. to add progressions or make the song sound varyingly tense, relaxed or climactic. there's plenty of space left in the song and it'll give you a lot of 'knobs' you can tweak to vary how the song makes you feel over time.* similarly, it sounds like there's a lot of room for a cool drum flourish every so often, to give moments of progress, transition or excitement.* you may find that 0:39-1:23's notes want to be something different when you add surrounding structure to it. don't be afraid to change it to better mold to the 'story' that the song ends up telling if so.
(DIR) Post #AaofEIe0EzFy5l0buC by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-14T02:05:19Z
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@Patashu thanks for the feedback, i appreciate it :Dthose are all things i definitely want to do, especially with having the second "loop" be more different from the first. glitcher, more desperate, more aggressive
(DIR) Post #AaofEJVX1y4glm3MLA by Patashu@dragon.style
2023-10-14T02:21:01Z
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@hierarchon sick, ping me when you post it again
(DIR) Post #AaofEKKvwrBvLC6PSa by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-14T23:08:00Z
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@Patashu haven't started working on it yet, but I was wondering if you had any more concrete advice? like I agree it's definitely too "plain", right now the lead is just playing parallel fourths and I'm not varying the kick or the breakbeat, but I'm not sure what else would sound goodalso feels like the transition in and out of the solo could use more, and something else underlying the solo. maybe changing the lead instrument. thematically I'm going for "boss phase 1, phase transition where it looks like you beat her, phase 2 where she's even more aggressive". maybe put a vocoded "I'm not done yet." in there.
(DIR) Post #AaofEL2XKk4NWQVEQK by Patashu@dragon.style
2023-10-14T23:55:49Z
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@hierarchon let me make a mockup of 'something that was in my head when I listened to it', maybe it'll inspire you
(DIR) Post #AaofELlYdM59m3ZBb6 by Patashu@dragon.style
2023-10-15T00:13:01Z
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@hierarchon right then, here's how you tear a shmup player's face off
(DIR) Post #AaofEMabZYuoKNRxAG by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-15T00:14:12Z
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@Patashu oh this is good
(DIR) Post #AaofENSqJuIh2apGhk by Patashu@dragon.style
2023-10-15T00:15:24Z
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@hierarchon that's the basic gist - add some melody, add some harmony, add some bass, add some breakbeats, all of these are knobs that you can adjust to 'tell your story'. rise, fall, tense, release, repeat, differ. 'use every part of the mammoth' (every part of the listener's ear and brain).
(DIR) Post #AaofEOFlO1QrUJiKxM by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-15T00:48:30Z
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@Patashu hmm. so concretely, tweaking the breakbeats so that there's more variance on transitions, making the final part sound more 'frantic' by speeding up kicks/modifying it so it's a glitchier version of the first half. tweaking the harmony, increasing the variation between the first and second part of each 'half'? maybe writing an entirely new melody at some point too. definitely could add more stuff to the slow melody in the middle.
(DIR) Post #AaofEPCxpumsRvPcES by Patashu@dragon.style
2023-10-15T00:50:16Z
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@hierarchon yes, all of that sounds correctspecifically I'd add, you don't necessarily need to change the melody if all the stuff around it is what's changing, contextualizing it in a new way.also, you can always do the 'composhift' where you just pitch everything up one semitone when the song is nearing its climax :B it's super cheap but sometimes exactly what you need.yeah go find a bass, songs feel empty without it
(DIR) Post #AaofEPQ539HN6bY5g0 by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-15T00:49:59Z
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@Patashu i should also probably find a bass i like; right now i don't have an actual bassline, only a kick
(DIR) Post #AaofEQ6cUzJ5EXS3yy by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-15T03:45:33Z
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@Patashu here's what i got after a few hours of messing around. not done i don't think but i think it flows a lot better
(DIR) Post #AaofEQspbjs5e40Z84 by Patashu@dragon.style
2023-10-15T03:57:06Z
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@hierarchon yeah! this is progressing in the right direction. the melody and drum variation makes my ears happy.it still sounds like there's room for 1+ more instruments. especially in the quiet middle part, there's no harmonic information informing my ears why some of the melody notes are sweet or sour. if you can figure out what the 'complete harmonic story' is for that part then it'll start to sound really good.
(DIR) Post #AaofERgobtr095OU2S by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-15T04:02:04Z
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@Patashu yeah the middle part definitely needs more stuff. i've considered having the melody be a different instrument and then having the main synth come in.i just got the melody by messing around on my midi keyboard until i found something that sounded neat and 'transitional'
(DIR) Post #AaofESPTvpaCNcI9ey by Patashu@dragon.style
2023-10-15T04:04:54Z
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@hierarchon the melody itself is fine (or if it isn't fine you lack the information to prove that). it just needs some harmonic information surrounding it - a chord progression, an arpeggiated countermelody, a bassline, those kinds of things.it's rare that just playing notes on their own can sound good, and you can usually only get away with that if the notes being played on their own have been heard in another context, and the user's imagination is being encouraged to fill in the gaps based on what they know. at least in my experience, composition is starting with a core idea, but then adding layers and variations and information until I convey the full richness and experience of the idea rather than it being stale and flat.you can either work forwards 'these notes are in the solo a lot so they're probably part of the chords I play too, brute force until one of them sounds good' or backwards 'close your eyes and picture the surrounding instruments in the head if I try to HD-ify it, then try to transcribe them from my head'
(DIR) Post #AaofET8VERaydFM6pk by hierarchon@inherently.digital
2023-10-16T04:10:24Z
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@Patashu second attempt; added a countermelody to the quiet part in the middle. not sure what else to put there; i think i'm kinda coming up blank? i really do feel like this is close to done