Life needs a Boost

Share and discuss your LMMS music projects here, and see what people think!
I was wondering whether making this tune longer, but I'm on something else now and it holds nice like this

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>>> https://audiomack.com/newtoon-1/song/life-needs-a-boost
That's some synthwave stuff! Okay, generally a genre I'm not too familiar with, it's just what I come up with when I see electronic + fast + exciting.

Actually I don't think length is a concern, though of course I don't know how you might have had planned to make use of it. The synths are great and production overall seems pretty solid to me (though I'm not an audio engineer or something like that, keep that in mind). I especially like these echoey synths that make up the main rythm (at around 0:20), they have some real character. The ones at around 0:45 are a bit sharpo though, maybe they could use some lowpass or less resonance. Or just throw an equalizer on there, easy fix. Considering the title "Life needs a Boost" you could perhaps have used a more straight forward rythm, like some slightly modified four-on-the-floor stuff, to give it more speed - but maybe that's not what you were going for.

The ending is a feels a little sudden. I totally get what you're going for and it mostly works. You have this pattern in the last main section, which I will simply describe call a "4-note-pattern" for simplification, with each note being higher than the last.This kind of repeated pattern causes the ear to expect that one high note at the end to always come, but when the song ends, it doesn't reappear. Then there's this pounding of the last note, which happens twice and again opens up an expectation for a final hit - you know, the dah-dah-daaaaah, with "daaaaaah" being the final note. The sweeping synth thing that comes instead is a little unexpected as a result. That may have been intentional, the concepts of speed and excitement (as assumed from the title) just make me think of a straightforward listening experience that pulls one in to just get the feeling of these across.

What I really, really liked: (1) The build-up at the beginning. It builds up a lot of tention and the little slowdown at the end does so even more. The first main part just hits a little sudden, maybe there could be something to emphasize its start, like a little break or a drum roll (depending on what you're going for). (2) Are those airport announcement samples at 0:51? They sound awesome, and they really give a strong pull into the second main part, because they so well synchronized to the rythm. As a result it feels really great when the second part first hits. Also they're just really fun and if they are what I'm assuming them to be, fit really well with the theme of the track. This is easily my favorite part of it. Really exciting!
It sounds really nice despite being short. It's definItaly one of those type of tracks where it is short and impactful. But if you want, add in 40 or 50 more seconds of music into it.
Thanks a LOT to Mampfwurm, it is a HUUUUUUGE analysis.

Sometimes, I just make it short and the end is "abrupt" because i don't know where to go somewhere else or even get bored (my issue with life... :cry: ).
Don't bother with the title, it is not always related to the music, just my mind messing itself.

It's funny that you found moment at 0:45 sharpo, because that's what I liked very much as a "surprise" effect, since the tune is a bit on the low frequency and repetitive. So, I intentionally "broke" it suddenly with "strange" sound. It's a kind of reflex for me. But, sure, one could put an equalizer here to dampen it somehow, why not.

Regarding the "announcement samples", it's just voices that I grab somewhere on the web, like military orders or italian speaking stuff in other tunes. I have a tiny bank of them now. It's just to make a surprise "strange" effect again, in the background and add a ton of reverb and other effects (slowing it down for instance). There is no signification whatsoever, just to give some unexpected action on the tune before starting all over again, but stronger, in the last part. So, according to you, it worked.

The fact that you enjoyed this music and did not have the impression to waste your time is very satisfying for me. I now try to give emotions to people through my experiments, because yeah, all my tunes are experimenting, finding sounds, then compiling them one with another so that it becomes ear candy. I'm no musician, so my music is a bit on the simple side.

Thanks brandystarbrite. My next tune will be longer, but again, I often go to the 1,5 min mark with my experiments and then don't know what to do further

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newtoon wrote:
Tue May 31, 2022 1:21 pm
Regarding the "announcement samples", it's just voices that I grab somewhere on the web, like military orders or italian speaking stuff in other tunes. I have a tiny bank of them now. It's just to make a surprise "strange" effect again, in the background and add a ton of reverb and other effects (slowing it down for instance). There is no signification whatsoever, just to give some unexpected action on the tune before starting all over again, but stronger, in the last part. So, according to you, it worked.
Hey, that's awesome! I used to be all about that, recording anything that sounded interesting to me and the trying to work it into music. I still love sampling and it's a cool approach. After all, music is working with sound, and that can be anything, even more so in music prodcution.
newtoon wrote:
Tue May 31, 2022 1:21 pm
The fact that you enjoyed this music and did not have the impression to waste your time is very satisfying for me. I now try to give emotions to people through my experiments, because yeah, all my tunes are experimenting, finding sounds, then compiling them one with another so that it becomes ear candy. I'm no musician, so my music is a bit on the simple side.
Nah, don't undersell yourself. Definitely a pretty good result for somthing called an "experiment". I'm no musician either, at some point I just started pressing piano keys and only started worrying about any kind of theory much later. Everyone has their own approach to music of course and there is always a lot to learn but there's no shame in being simple. (This is coming from an EDM and VGM fan after all :lol: )