yeah man keep the beats coming
Author Comments
FL Studio 9 composition with reFX Nexus and Vengeance sound packs.
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Pretty much just whipped this up in a month and a half, starting in December. Finished it like a week ago but decided to release it today.
Anyhow, this song's got a lot more to it than my usual batch. A very small focus on sound effects intros the piece, and arpeggios in hemiola form reign throughout the majority of the piece, though I undoubtedly sacrificed its aural presence at some parts too intense for it. 1 Synth lead, 1 Bass, 1 Piano, 1 Pad, and some Bells were used to make it all. Interestingly enough, this piece has notably smoother transitions than the previous pieces I've composed. Rather than the typical steps of melody creation, pattern cloning, then spewing some random genius into it, I composed all the parts minus most of the bass on the piano (FL Piano, not a real one -_-), so that has helped to keep the octaves of each instrument in less conflict with each other (asides from double octaves) after dissecting the piano composition. Also, my standard drumset was missing a couple of .wav sounds, for my typical snare file is only accessable from my desktop and now I've got a laptop but it won't play that file for some reason, along with some other instruments. No worries, Vengeance covered me, so you'll hear some new drum sounds.
By now you should have surely heard a familiar melody... After much experimentation with the piece, I transcribed a theme from Megaman - "Into Wily's Fortress" - and found it to work in tandem with the structure of Elusive Light. Rather than remix it, I decided to keep it as an allusion, and also as something to spin off of: the ending climax is merely related to that theme; it is not intended to be a remix, as I have clearly changed the shaping of the melody and added much more notes.
Also there's somewhat of a breakbeat section, where the drums kick out of standard four on the floor, coupled with a very interesting piano melody created from a falling arpeggio the showcased in the measure before.
Despite all the greats I like to say about this song, I will be pretty honest that I was disappointed at my failure to incorporate, as much noted by listeners, a break of some sort in the pieceeee so sorry for that! I just prefer constant intensity over breaking that feeling with a soothing section, though it might've turned out nice. Also as stated earlier, some occasional poor mastering, and most likely someone will note that there is too much going on. But I like it that way.
Enjoy!
-AXT
cool
What do you mean by "some" poor mastering. Is there such a thing? It is either poorly mastered or well mastered. Mixing is a different story. Your song description is very long.
Here are my thoughts.
Is this a remix? Those arpeggio patterns have had their spotlight many years ago. Needs to be more original or at least put them in the background to accompany a more original lead pattern.
The bass at the very beginning of the song does not sound much different from a pre-sample. I'm not saying presets are bad to use, but usually presets sound poor quality so why would you want to use them?
I'm not really up to date with video game music, but I think I can figure where that megaman theme song comes in. Interesting idea to add your own stuff on with a video game song. At least you understand the idea what a legitimate remix is....some people just copy the original song exactly with the same instruments just changing a few frequencies here and there then calling it there "own" remix. I call that plagiarism. Anyway, nice job incorporating it in.
Critique goes to your drums. Really that's all you had? A simple kick and clap loops with changing hi hat patterns doesn't really count as innovative. And the reason why some may think your song is messy in some parts is because of the poor mixing. You have all your instruments all blaring out stereo. Where is the mono stereo? Where is the spreader or directional mixer? Where are the EQ variations? These are but a few things you can do to better mix your instruments. And no, you do not actually have many instruments playing at once so it is possible. Just combining 2 instruments in some parts of your song already sound messy so it isn't because the number of instruments you got going at once.
Lastly, I feel like you went crazy with the composition. This gives me the impression you just wanted to mash as many notes together to create a chaotic feel. Controlled chaos is good, not unorganized chaos.
I hope you don't see me being harsh on you. Its what I really feel. I don't waste my time writing long reviews without the intent of genuinely helping fellow artists get better. The one thing that is going good for you is that you have a knowledge about theory and staying in key with all the harmonies going. Being good at composition I find is a greater importance than how well you can use your music program....afterall the best dj/producers in the world have a music knowledge background (except deadmaus whom I am impressed with having a good ear). Overtime, you will get better with your music program and hopefully you will find that inspiration to make something unique. 5/5
bye for now
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