Frustrated

Anything that doesn't fit into other topics goes here!
musikbear wrote:
Sun Jul 07, 2019 11:56 am
Barretoproducer wrote:
Sun Jul 07, 2019 1:02 am
I've been trying to make a good song for 8 years! I know only the basics of theory but my songs still sound annoying
Now we need to listen to something, so any uploads on any channel?
Here other song: https://soundcloud.com/user-279548802/untitled
Barretoproducer wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:35 am
I posted here: https://soundcloud.com/user-279548802/boring , see how annoying it sounds
That's not bad at all.

You might be making the same mistake as I am.

Too much self criticism, and not enough variations. :)
Thats less than 1 minute of material, you cant decide really based on that.

Throw a beat at it with the BB editor, some hi hats or cymbals, a bassline alternating with the beat and see what happens.
The pad chord progression is really nice. Your melody is fine too, but try to syncopate it, with rests (pauses) and some longer notes.
I have a lot of projects that, looking back upon them now, make me wonder why I thought they were so good. I listen to some of your stuff, and it is honestly ten time better than some of my own stuff. As artists, we always tend to be a little overcritical of our own work. Sometimes we dismiss the things that actually might turn out to be hits one day! Here's some advice: Don't let your desire to make a good song make you shut down songs that are actually good just because you don't think it's good. That is what forums like this are for, to let other people listen to your work and offer critiques to make it better. Next time you feel doubt about a track, post it in the Music Projects section. Someone is sure to listen to it and offer critique.

Cheers!
Barretoproducer wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 6:51 pm
Here other song: https://soundcloud.com/user-279548802/untitled
Wooah! That tune sounds lovely. O.O
Barretoproducer wrote:
Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:35 am
I posted here: https://soundcloud.com/user-279548802/boring , see how annoying it sounds
This beat actually sounds good.
That's not so bad at all.

I just think it is like a draft that is on your sheet and now it's up to you to make it "unbored" :D

For ex : npw that you have your melodic line ( good one ) you should humanize it someway, try to play with the velocity so that it will sound "played" and not "programmed" , add some beat over, the beat that YOU like , and somehow take your time to mix it the best as you can, it will emphase tha quality of your sound and give life to it instead of getting some flat sound.

Composing melodies is just one part of an overall work you know well , for the rest it's up to you.

Obvs you must believe in your sound, if you find it bored too fast it will be hard to improve your work.

I think that if you work you could make some good and nice sounds , just be confident in your capabilities, you won't learn all the skills in a few months, but only in years or decades, that's th game.

As I said before it's just up to you, keep good working and submit us !
Had a quick listen to your song. Not too bad at all. Replying because I can across this & thought of your thread :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmT5e5J5Mx4
I may be pretty new to this, but I would recommend that you get a solid grasp of harmonics and keys in general.
Choose a key, like G major for example, look at what notes are part of that key (all flat except F sharp), then select a few chords from G major (like the typical I, ii, IV, I, which in this case is G, Am, C, G) and play those chords/arpeggios/bass/whatever using those notes as your background. Improvise on top of it using notes of the G major key that relate well with the chords you chose. Try to find patterns you like and vary them. One way to know that you got sufficient theory for me is to see if you can do those 2 things :

1) Improvise a song on a real instrument. If you use the piano, keep a simple pattern on the left hand and choose a rhythm you like, then improvise on it with "correct" notes with your right hand
2) Take a song you like and can play on an instrument and decipher it. Look at which chords they used and which key it's in. The key can be found using the key signature, the first and the last chords (usually). The chords are usually pretty straightforward in the background. If for example the background plays E G E G E G E G | E A E A E A E A you can be pretty sure that the first measure is either C or E and that you second measure is A major or minor. You can see if it's C or E based on the melody and whether it's A major or minor based on your key. Once that's done, us the roman numbering and play the song in realtime with a different key signature but with the same roman numbering (google it).

Once you become proficient in those, you can quite easily know which notes you are "allowed" to play at what time and you can spend a lot more time on tuning your instruments as you want, adding effects and beats. Make full use of harmonics. An example is the first song I made : https://soundcloud.com/user-133453329/p ... -1/s-IiO5f. You may or may not like it, but the song itself was written quite easily. I chose a random key, 3 chords (I play Chord 1, Chord 2, Chord 3, Chord 2 (short), Chord 3 (short) and repeat) and I'm basically just making sure that I play notes from those chords.

Finally, something regarding LMMS and music in general, but not music theory:
* Use automation, fade your songs in and out, boost your bass at critical times or at transitions, ...
* You can automate other stuff than volumes
* Filters are interesting
* Minor songs are usually more intriguing in my opinion
* You can superpose several times the "same" instrument but configured differently. Adding/Removing them at key times can be neat.