cellardoor

Description : I went ambitious with this and sort of hit a wall. It's an attempt at cinematic electronica, and it just doesn't ever get big or explosive like I'd want it to. Can I get some tips for how to shine this up a little bit better? Also, I'm pushing my CPU hard with this. Any tips for getting big sounds and layers of effects without destroying the compie? Also, any hints about mixing this and handling the stereo effects better are very welcome.

Description : An original Christmas song, which takes shape mostly as a country ballad with some electronic instruments and a vocal that tells a story.

Description : Part of my "Songs of Earth and Mars" project, which traces one woman's journey through the spectacular melted purpley end of Planet Earth, the shimmering, poisonous aftermath, and the road ahead--which, naturally (or unnaturally?) leads straight to Mars. Original vocals by me, instruments played into my keyboard and then tweaked via different synthesizers into something that I liked.

Description : Here's the ballad ToastedAvalanche asked for. This time the chorus features three-part harmony in the vocals.

Description : I recorded a random piano improvisation over a drum track. Then I realized that I'd inadvertently created this verse/bridge/chorus structure, so I decided to take that improv and record vocals over the top to make a full on song of it. But the piano track I left alone, as it was in the original take.

To create the vocals, I improvised extemporaneous vocal phrases into the mic. I improvised the full song seven times. Then I spliced the phrases that worked into an order, and then I pieced them over the piano. It was kind of like pasting pictures into a scrapbook, only I was pasting vocal slices over a piano part.

I kept the drum track I used to accompany the piano improv, but I added a cello bass line, and another improvised piano right hand in a higher register. While I was fiddling, I added a touch of vocal harmony to the chorus with chorus and autotune effects.

Description : So, I bought a mic. I decided to sing on a track, so I tried toplining for the first time. This is what happened.

Description : It's the end of the War Against Humans, and the robots have won. As the robots became more and more emotionally intelligent, they experienced grief, and many of them became addicted to machine liquor. As they walk together in the rain, amid the rubble of civilization, a drunken robot sings along to the victory music with his straight-laced friend and the girlbot who hangs out with them.
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I created every melody and chord pad in this using a synth, starting from a sine wave and moving from there. Some of the percussion started that way too. Once I laid down the percussion, I played in the rest of the chords and notes by hand on my keyboard.
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I also read a chapter about mixing, and then used that new knowledge to place the instruments up, down, back, front, left, and right using a spectrum analyzer and filters. That was a new and really exciting experience for me.
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I'm categorizing this as cinematic, because the music represents a story.

Description : What if you discovered a doorway into the mind of your nemesis? I spent the day deep in the architecture of the sounds, pushing sliders, turning knobs, and layering synths, levels, and effects until the different voices came together to my satisfaction.

Description : This is a piece of pop electronica that I composed in Noteflight and produced in Mixcraft 7. I created the drum fill and the beat that's used in the verse and bridge using PatternSketch. As I was producing the track, I used some advice that Armin van Buuren gives in an "In the Studio with Future Music" YouTube video to make sure that the kick, bassline, and melody are sufficient for a great track, so I made sure that those things were in shape before I filled in the rest of the instruments. I'm very much a newb, so if you find yourself with a gem of advice to hand me, I'm totally wanting to hear it.

Description : Today was kind of a game changer for me. I figured out musical typing in my DAW, so instead of notating a score in Noteflight and then importing it over to my DAW, I played in all of the parts manually, which meant that I got more irregular, organic performance, instead of precision-perfect. I also ended up mixing, producing, and composing at the same time, which is different from my usual process which usually starts with composition first--and this time I found it easier to establish a groove. So it was definitely a day with a new process, and I think it contributed to my education as an EDM composer.

Description : I wrote the chorus to this ten years ago. The other day I was doodling around on the piano. I can't remember how the original verses went, but I still liked the chorus. So I wrote new verses and a bridge and orchestrated the thing. I wanted to share a mock-up vocal so you can hear the words and melody; but the only mic in the house is attached the headphones my husband uses for gaming. So, the quality of the vocal recording isn't super awesome--but at least you can get the gist. This is a retro ballad in 3/4.

Description : I upgraded to Mixcraft 7 yesterday, so I spent a few happy hours obsessively trying out all of the new effects and instruments. I wrote the score for Back to Blood out in Noteflight, imported the MIDI into Mixcraft and then grabbed a soda and set to. I am very interested in improving my mixing and mastering and I put a lot of focus into that. If you'd like to grab the MIDI files and put your own spin on this tune, I'd love that.

Description : This was my first attempt at writing a piece of electronica. It's the starting point! I was using the structure used by Denniz PoP in "One More Time" by Britney Spears; checking out where he put the intro, verse, bridge, and choruses, and how he textured them. The working title was "Pop Song Structure Experiment #1," but eventually I renamed it "So Cold." I wrote out all of the notes in Noteflight, and then took it to Mixcraft 6 for instruments. This was before I figured out effects and levels, and before I found the Looperman community. So, this is where I started!

Description : This is an orchestral pop piece. I composed the notes in Noteflight and then imported the resulting MIDI into Mixcraft 6, where I assigned instruments and inserted percussion loops. Thank you to Glitchwall for Peppy Drums at 100 Bpm, Sinthetic Records for Acoustic Drumfill 1, MrTOfficial for Pop Them Drums, EpicRecord for Drum Kit - Relaxed Variation 6 Snare, rasputin1963 for Whirlwind Rise for Dance Breaks, and yappy for Stick Together 100Bpm Drum. I am just starting and I'm really interested in learning more, hopefully from you! About that collab request: if you would like to yank the MIDI files and play around with this, I'd be happy to upload them to Mediafire and send them to you. I can even give you sheet music, if that helps you out.