EDIT: Just realized that the thing I linked thought it would be funny to blast the viewer with hentai imagery of Lamia Loveless at one point. Since as I wasn't as amused by that I linked to something else now.
redlerred7 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:54 am
Many of the harmonies end up p weird, but I don't really mind it. The fairly frequent major- and minor-second intervals hidden in the mix adds some spice, while the melody moving down while the chords move up is unbalancing in a way I like.
Makes sense in context. My jazzy side would definitely consider it pretty spicy.
Glad you think so. I don't usually think of basslines that much. I think up a pattern using 8th and 16th notes, listen to if it clashes with the chords and melody, then repeat it for the rest of the song. If it end ups working as well as you say it does in Mad Grab, it's usually an accident.
Yeah, it took me years to even think of that kind of interconnection is music. But since I mostly come from an EDM and chiptune background, I tend to mostly think in ryhtmic patterns and how to build up and balance intensity through them. And it's not really easy to keep track of this kind of stuff in most DAWs the way one can in sheet music. Regarding basslines specifically: They can be great for giving a rythm on a greater scope. But one can cheat with them by making really low electric guitars or strings take their part.
Not exactly. Think trudging through a swamp in the middle of summer. Like, you can do it, but it's a bit of a slog. Nothing really to be done about it except to power through and get it over with.
That's actually a perfect description of what it felt like, now the somewhat slower rythm makes sense to me as well.
I don't actually know how to do that. Have any tutorial reccs?
I'm entirely self-taught with almost everything but from my knowledge this depends on the kind of instrument. If it's a synth of some kind there are obviously many, many ways to alter the sound. I could go into detail what I would try, but while the concepts are always roughly the same it still depends on the specific type and model. Software instruments like from Soundfonts (*.sf2, *.sfz) aren't all that acessible, but since they are essentially samples, one could edit them with varying requirements on knowledge on programming and audiology. If I have to edit something about the sample itself I tend to use Audacity.
The more feasible options are using using LMMS' plugins and some automation. One plugin I really like is "Bitcrush". I think it's main purpose is to simulate poor sample rates (like of the Commodore Amiga or NES' sampling channel(s)), but it can add some fuzzy distortion to a sound without actual overdrive. For example you could load it in and play around with the quantity knob ("QUANT"). First results can be kind of messy though so it's almost unavoidable to also load in an equalizer as well and chop of some of the unpleasent higher fequencies. Depending on the settings it may also add some hiss and noise and of course the crunchy sound of a low sample rate. If you're crazy ambitious you could use automation channels for some of these settings, making notes more crunchy and distorted while their held or smudging up the transitions between them.
There are also a lot of plugins for chorus effects which can be used to make something really huge and massive, but also add some distortion and vibrato. My favorite is the CALF MultiChorus LADSPA, which can add some real craziness. Unfortunately it can be tricky to get quite the desired sound out of it and it can easily end up sounding like a poorly configured amp. If you're planning on using it I would definitely turn down the "Amount" knob a bit (it has a tendency to lead to horrible overdrive otherwise) and play around with the Modulation depth and rate knobs ("Mod depth" and "modulation rate").
The last thing I know of is really simple: Automating pitch. There is always this "Pitch" knob on every LMMS instrument and it can be automated to make some slidey guitars and vibrato like effects through slight detuning. It's actually harder to explain than see in practice, so if you want to see it in practice I would recommend downloading this midi file (
https://www.vgmusic.com/file/f0ad17f1c3 ... 80f9f.html) and importing it into LMMS. It makes some clever use of slight detuning to give it's main guitar more character, the midi data of which will be converted to an automation channel by LMMS you could peek into. Of course doing this kind of stuff by hand can be a lot of work as well.
It's result of having too much time on my hands during childhood as well an attention span that's proportional to how new and interesting I find a topic. It's gained me a reputation among my friends and family for being really flighty because I always try to learn new skills before I've even mastered my existing ones.
I totally share that experience. But having many interests isn't bad per se and there are a lot of people in creative fields that manage to pull of such combinations really well.
I am indeed familiar and might I say, you have very good tastes! Thank you for the feedback. I'll keep it in mind for any future projects.
I'll take a compliment when I can. I just really like how the compositional techniques of chiptunes were basically ported and revamped with the new possibilities of CD audio for short a while. Also I guess I just like bombastic VGM. I think this compilation of several versions of "Ash to Ash" shows what I'm talking about: (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN00p8MNajg&t) Unfortunately the quality of most YouTube uploads is pretty dodgy.
