Refinement of a Theme Song.

[Xero]

Hello, everyone. First time being here in the forums. Allow me to start from the beginning. I am currently the sole member of a 3d animated series that I've been working on for the past 8 years. I've have done everything from character concept to animation and I knew, sooner or later, I would have to get to the music portion. I searched for possible tracks to use for the upcoming episode (still in the works), but I've always had this 5 note tune in my head I wanted to use as a main theme. So I came across the program a little over 2 months ago, did a little studying about chord progression, familiarize myself on reading musical notes, and cranked out the latest version of that song.

I was going for a heroic, orchestrated rock theme and was inspired by the song, Brave New World, the opening theme to Namco X Capcom. Here is the end result:

https://soundcloud.com/seeker-tosecrets ... -2/s-8vOWq

I talked to a friend who creates music in his spare time and told me that I was missing a rock and roll percussion, but I have no idea how to pull it off to enhance it. That's what lead me to come here.
Any advice?

[brandystarbrite]

I was going for a heroic, orchestrated rock theme and was inspired by the song, Brave New World, the opening theme to Namco X Capcom. Here is the end result:

Oh, that theme song.
That is one of my favourite game soundtracks.

https://soundcloud.com/seeker-tosecrets ... -2/s-8vOWq

I just listened to your sound track. It sounds nice.
But alot more, can definitely be done to it.

Rock and roll persussion?
What kind of rock and roll percussion, are you looking for in particular?
More info needed.

[Xero]

As far as the percussion goes, I would need more drums and percussions. But the thing is I have a drum and a hi hat sound through the use of the GeneralUser GS plugin (Bank number 120 Patch 16). I think that capturing a Power Metal percussion after the part of the song when it starts to speed up.

[D.Ipsum]

Nice project, it sounds good.

On the main synth that appears at the beginning of the track, there is a click at the beginning or end of note.

I talked to a friend who creates music in his spare time and told me that I was missing a rock and roll percussion, but I have no idea how to pull it off to enhance it. That's what lead me to come here.
Any advice?

For the drums part, what do you plan to use? Samples? Soundfonts? Drums synth VSTi? Drums synth?

You could start by selecting your instruments, for example the classical elements of a drums (Bass drum, snare drum, toms, cymbals).

You can also listen to the tracks you like, and more specifically, listen to the drums, how they works together and how they works with the other instruments.

From there, listen to your track and focus your listening on the rhythm contained in your track. And try something, anything, place a snare here, a kick there, and keep going like that. It is possible that the first elements placed will then be moved, removed, modified, or appear strange the first time you listen to them (since they come to disrupt or change the track as you know it, as you appreciate it). I don't know, as Nike would say, "Just do it".

[Xero]

I've noticed that ever since I created this version of the song. Only problem is that I have no idea how to get rid of it. As far as the drums are concerned, I have been looking for a drum pad to use for quite some time. So far, no luck. I was thinking of using samples here, but I'm not familiar with the copyrights; especially with those of the Artistic Licensing. In the event I do have to use a sample, instead of just using it out right after the download, I would have to recreate it through other parts inside the program. I would have to work on it again after this weekend. I've also have listening to some of the tracks that I want to recreate. I'm still upon making it based from the source mentioned above. I will have to try and capture an early demo of the actual song and try to decode the beat. Luckly, one does exist on Youtube. So I will have to extract that and try my luck there.

[D.Ipsum]

When I started on LMMS, for percussion, I used samples and some VSTi. But as it did not satisfy me, I began to synthesize my percussions.

So an alternative, the most costly in terms of personal investment, is learning how to synthesize your percussive instruments.

There are numerous articles, tutorials, etc. on the internet which discuss the synthesis of drums.

All LMMS synths allow to obtain a wide range of percussive instruments, more or less realistic depending on the time you have.

The LSP helped me a lot: https://lmms.io/lsp/?action=logout&olda ... bcategory=

On the LSP, there are many presets and many projects. The idea would be to study which parameters are relevant to manipulate (sound duration, pitch, presence of noise, use of effects, etc.).

For example, the projects of unfa are very interesting because it synthesizes all its instruments. However he essentially uses ZynAddSubFX, which may seem complicated at first.

Other users also synthesize their percussions, but I do not remember the names ... Maybe other members of the forum will be able to give you names.

I don't know if it is a good alternative for you because it takes a lot of time (at least, it takes me a lot of time).

[Xero]

That's a very interesting tip. Will definitely check that out.

[Xero]

So I went back and had to really search for the percussion sound that I was looking for. After a bit of research and tweaking, I was finally able to get it. Here's the latest incarnation.

https://soundcloud.com/seeker-tosecrets ... version-41

I'm still having issues with that popping noise at the beginning of the song. I've tried trouble shooting it to no avail. But I did get some good feed back when I let a few people listen to it.

[D.Ipsum]

The link is broken

And there is no track on this Soundcloud account.

[Xero]

Really? When I clicked on it, it brought me right to it. Try refreshing or clicking on the link in a different window or tab.