Calling all Musicians, show off your compositions and covers here.Music 

  • Thread starter Skython
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Really like that, look forward to hearing what the finished article turns out like - I've recorded a few 'instrumental' tracks and then struggled to put a vocal over it because it's in the wrong key! I often have to use overdubs/harmonies - they are not always appropriate for a song, but they can hide a multitude of sins :lol:

Great to see you are digging out some old stuff too 👍
 
@Touring Mars, thank you and congratulations :D

Here's something I'm working on at the moment, got the lyric written out, need to wait for the neighbours to go out... and the acoustic guitar needs re-recording when I can be bothered to set it up properly :)

Quite like the track. :D Would really come alive with vocals. Hope to hear some vocals in there at some point.

I decided I might make a soundcloud because as soon as I get my Rode NT1 and a laptop I'll be hopefully recording. For now I just uploaded the last song I did for my assessments at school last year, which I did my best vocal recording in. Though as usual, instruments aren't real. :(

It's called "Heaven." It's a progressive metal track, not necessarily a complex song, but it has quite a lot of changes.
 
Quite like the track. :D Would really come alive with vocals. Hope to hear some vocals in there at some point.

I decided I might make a soundcloud because as soon as I get my Rode NT1 and a laptop I'll be hopefully recording. For now I just uploaded the last song I did for my assessments at school last year, which I did my best vocal recording in. Though as usual, instruments aren't real. :(

It's called "Heaven." It's a progressive metal track, not necessarily a complex song, but it has quite a lot of changes.
Great stuff Skython, I'm definitely partial to a bit of prog rock!! I've got a Rode NT1 and it has been really good, well worth the money. If you need any tips on getting on with SoundCloud, give me a shout 👍

Fantastic stuff guys Skython & TenEightyOne. And, Touring Mars, I got lost for over an hour on your soundcloud. Thank you! Really stellar productions.

Here's a new electronic ditty from me.
Very nice work there 👍 I'd love to get more into electronic/ambient music, but I don't have the patience or the software skills to get too far with it - not yet anyway. That said, I have literally got more synth software and sounds than I know what to do with, so I should really try and learn a bit more about the software I have. What are you using mainly??
 
What are you using mainly??

I use Logic Pro 9 and Audacity as my DAW, Akai MPK49, MicroKorg, and a Korg Volca as my keyboards/beatmakers. But honestly as long as you have a good DAW (Logic, Ableton, etc.) and maybe a cheap midi controller keyboard you're good to go. You don't even need the keyboard but it takes a lot more time & patience drawing notes in yourself. In fact my last two tracks were done entirely in Logic with no external peripherals.
 
Great stuff Skython, I'm definitely partial to a bit of prog rock!! I've got a Rode NT1 and it has been really good, well worth the money. If you need any tips on getting on with SoundCloud, give me a shout 👍

Thanks. :D That's good about the Rode NT1, because I purchased one earlier. :D The hardest thing is finding decently priced laptops that don't have Windows 8. :P
 
Sometimes I record multitracks. Here's the one I did this past summer - three of the top ten most popular YouTube videos of all time (Gangnam Style, Thrift Shop and Not Afraid) mashed up into a Latin 12/8 feel.

On that SoundCloud you can also find a complete solo performance with orchestra I did in the spring, as well as recordings of some of my original compositions for wind band.
 
I'm not exactly a 'musician' but I do make electronic music using a DAW called Studio One, which is actually pretty cool and is decent value, to boot.

Some of my tracks can be found by following the soundcloud link in my sig.
 
So I've been exploring music composition for a few years now, but now, finally, I've completed a full score for my school's marching band that we can actually play - I've done it once before, but most instruments had notes that were too high and too fast for our skill level. So, potentially, this coming friday could be the first time in the school's history that an arrangement composed by a student could be performed by the marching band...

Here it is; "Hey Ya" by Outkast:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u8lxls4pmgeuyvg/Hey Ya V2.m4a?dl=0

(I also don't really have any official education in music theory…)
 
Sounds like the drumming is the main feature, which is understandable because it's for a marching band. But quite a nice piece 👍, but what's with the bit at around 1.25 to 1.40? Sounds a little odd to me, but that's just me. I like the ending though.
 
Sounds like the drumming is the main feature, which is understandable because it's for a marching band. But quite a nice piece 👍, but what's with the bit at around 1.25 to 1.40? Sounds a little odd to me, but that's just me. I like the ending though.

Thanks!

Yeah, I'm a percussionist (and the captain of the drumline), so I went a little ham on the drum parts... I based it a bit on this guy's Cadence:



The thing exported the drums a bit louder than I had expected. There's some really cool chorale build-up after the the drum/Sousa break that kinda gets blared out. It definitely sounds much better and more balanced in person when we rehearse it.

As for the bit at 1:25 - the snares and quads do stick clicks to keep tempo while the band sings the chorus two times through. The program I use doesn't have a voice for stick clicks (and actually a lot of really important percussion voices), so it just sounds like normal snare/quad hits.

This piece is a pretty difficult read ("random" switches to 2:4), our band has a bad rep for laziness, and I only got this score finalized last week, so there's a good risk that we won't be prepared to play it in time for this final football game... Which will be a shame, because there won't really be another chance to show off choreography we've devised. This week'll be stressful, no doubt... But I'm super stoked about it. :)
 
Sounds really stressful. Last year I was part of the school choir and we did a competition, I understand the stress of getting everything prepared and ready to perform. I was trying to get out of it, but I was glad I didn't in the end, we actually won in one of the categories (can't remember which), and that's impressive because we had a really small choir. Only about 15 or so of us. And one of the songs we did... One of the bigger schools had the same idea and it was really awkward. :lol: Fortunately they went literally just after us, so it looked like they copied us. :P
 
Yeeeaaahhh... We're not quite on the competitive level...


The big deal here is achieving a new milestone, and setting up a new precedent for our band's capabilities and preparedness - like actually, with almost everything we do, we don't practice and just rely on rehearsals to make progress, and often we leave ourselves sounding terrible at our final/dress rehearsals, but somehow manage to pull a great final perform out of nowhere (up until now I never really realized how stressful it is on our directors and drum majors). That won't fly this time, so if it all comes together, we'll be doing a lot more than just giving a really cool show. And being in a leadership position in the band, it'll be one of the most satisfying things I do.

But, we'll see how it goes. I'll try to get video when we perform.

*UPDATE:

We got it done, and we performed it for the last football game! I've got video, but it'll take a little bit to edit it all together. The cymbals were able to get their choreography down the day of the performance, but kinda screwed it up on the field... But oh well, it was impressive how much they got done, and I'm proud of them. The other drum choreography didn't really come together, either... But it's ok. The piece sounded great, I'm so pleased with what our band achieved.
 
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Hello everybody! I recently bought ToonTrack's EZMix2 to try and defeat my troubles getting that sweet tight sound when mastering. I've been playing around a few hours with it & I finally have a sound that I'm fairly satisfied with. So I decided to share some tunes with you! :)

These were all recorded a while back, but now they sound like I want them to sound.

First up is a pretty straight forward cover of Blink 182's old classic "All The Small Things".
It Figures! - All The Small Things

This one is a cover of Rihanna's "We Found Love". Me & my brother tried to slaughter it as best we could.
It Figures! - We Found Love

This one is a remix I did a few years ago. I used the Acapella track from the original song, sped it up a few bpm & recorded new music to it.
Shakira - Whenever Wherever (It Figures! remix)

Feel free to comment! Even if all you want to give me is hate. As long as I'm satisfied with my songs I really don't care if you hate on my songs. But if you happen to actually like what you hear I've got a few original songs uploaded at Youtube.

They will also get the EZMix2 treatment sooner or later :)

//ell470
 
Hey everyone, we finished another track which I hope you'll hear. Our first song got quite a lot of attention when we posted it, yet this one, which we consider far superior, hasn't really got anything so far. Let me know what you think.
 
Very polished and professional 👍

A tip about SoundCloud - it can be a bit strange - you really only get anywhere with it if you follow people and like/comment on their stuff, and it can be very time-consuming... lay off SC for a while and you will find your likes and plays disappear. That said, sometimes a song can sit for a while and then gathers some interest. You need to join 'Groups' and then add your song to as many groups as you can to generate more interest. It goes without saying, but targeting groups and artists with similar interests is a good plan. The main thing, however, seems to be having enough followers that actually listen to your stuff and finding people who are likely to repost your tracks. Most people who repost stuff on SoundCloud repost many songs at a time and therefore they are virtually useless. A decent repost is someone who has a large following and who also doesn't habitually repost, and finding people like that is quite tricky.
 
Cheers for that mate, I'll have a serious look at how to further integrate our account into SC in order to connect with more people. I hadn't heard of groups before now, something for me to look up.
 
I've finally gotten the video of my Hey Ya! arrangement edited - there were audio/video sync issues across two mic points, and when layered they caused all sorts of weird red zones (literally hundreds) that I had to go in and fix manually… But it's here!

I uploaded the full show for all my band buddies, so watch that if you want, but the Hey Ya! bit starts at 5:44:



None of the snare or bass choreography came together (because none of them came to any of the meetings), but the cymbals somehow managed to learn all of their stuff in the couple of hours before the game on the day of the performance - but sadly, they weren't prepared for the audio cues, and they flopped in the actual performance. I'm real proud of what they got done, though, nevertheless. The whole band I'm proud of, really. It's a big step in our attitude, and a new benchmark for what we're capable of.
 
Thanks. I think I like it a bit faster but at least I got the idea worked out. :)
 
👍 Nice, that inspired me to write a couple of new tunes this afternoon... are you planning on turning it into a full song? The backing track works very nicely with a guitar-based song played over it!

This popped up on my SoundCloud yesterday... I was very impressed (as always). Pah :D
Cheers :) I wrote the song last month and recorded it, but it turned out completely differently to my original idea, plus it didn't garner many plays, so I went back to my original draft and recorded it again from scratch (first time I've ever done that), but I was much happier with the result this time. Its still pretty rough around the edges, and I was going to add more backing vocals, but it is already quite 'busy' as it is, which is getting further away from the original idea of a simple rhythm guitar piece! Anyway, thanks for checking it out... I see you have a bunch of new stuff on your page, I'll give it a listen now while I'm watching the snooker :D
 
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