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Looking for composition advices to improve tracks

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4 comments, last by Nick LIVE STREAM DAILY VLOGS 6 years, 3 months ago

Hi, here are some tracks i made for a game named "Curse of the scarecrow". You get that, it's a game for Halloween time. It would be very cool to have some feedback or advices to improve the final result.

Thank's and have a good listening !

 

 

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Hey, 

Thank you for sharing your work. Here are some of my thoughts: 

Scarecrow's Race: 

- Everything sounds center panned to me. You could get some more depth and interactivity in your track by having some elements panned opposite from each other. 

- I love the energy of your piece and the lightheartedness of some of the writing. 

- Lots of the instruments are pretty dry and there's a lack of warmth and mid to low end in your mix. 

- Very creative and appropriate for the type of game you've described. 

- Drum fill at 35 seconds could be louder in the mix since it's the focal point. 

Some great stuff here - it just needs a bit more production and polish! 

Nathan Madsen
Nate (AT) MadsenStudios (DOT) Com
Composer-Sound Designer
Madsen Studios
Austin, TX

I second everything Nathan said.

My take is there is a significant conflict between the creative quality of your musical ideas which is great in so many places, and the qualities of your sound palette, which are... rather bland. The dryness and missing warmth Nathan describes is part of it.  Its almost like you have been forced into a particular sound palette or piece of gear. Have you?

So, compositionally you don't really have a problem WHICH IS GREAT NEWS.  Its really the sound palette that isn't matching the quality of your ideas to properly bring them to life.  Its an interesting problem I don't hear a lot. Often a person will have dope sounds but their compositional ideas are unimaginative.

OK Im going to amend my response now and take back what I said about "bland". Its not the right word and it reflects my bias towards a more gritty sound, a more varied palette of sounds. Finally, it doesnt help you much as stated. Sorry about that.

So, I've actually done A LOT of music that would stand up side by side with this palette wise, back when I was doing mostly midi based production for a stage show, and a lot of it had this whimsical energetic quality.  However I also at times ended up with a sound that didn't satisfy my ears and it really had to do with the "slickness" of the all synth environment, in particular where actual instruments are being imitated, with mixed results.

In your case if you are close to production ready with what you have, I would go with Nathans suggestions .  I would add that most of your percussion riffs could pop a bit more and in general certain moments deserve a bit more or less presence, depending. Make some adjustments in where the "instruments" are located in the aural field. Imagine the actual ensemble, such as strings to your left, winds centered, low strings to right. Pan accordingly and see if that makes the mix breathe a bit more.

I do recall having a lot of frustration with getting percussion to pop in an all midi environment and generally in getting a convincing mix all around. Frankly I just had no clue what I was doing back then. Working in audio and sound design made me realize why it was so hard. I would have had to make much more specific choices in the midi mix to make the sonic colors separate more. I was using an Alesis S4 _alot_. Loved it, but man, after a few years of using it I could not listen to any of its sounds ever again!

I hope this was more useful feedback. Lots of great work. Just keep reaching for the sound YOU want. One thing I noticed over the years is if something I made didnt totally convince ME then pretty much I would get feedback confirming that. (assuming I let anyone hear it!)

 

-T

 

 

I really like it. The only thing I would change or possibly some dramatic ''Stops'' The song reminds something on Mario 64

Instagram@nickMakMusic

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