JHolmes

I'm always happy to hear when my music is appreciated. It definitely puts a smile on my face.

I've been writing music in one way or another since I was about 10 (used to be just piano, then I started writing MIDI stuff in Cakewalk, and finally discovered the more modern studio tools sometime after discovering Fruity Loops 3). It's only recently I've started learning how to make a sound I can really be proud of. I'm glad it's cohesive with my other works.

I really enjoyed throwing something together so quickly. Since I had to do everything live, it threw a huge wrench in my normal process. Instead of trying to force my work into 4 and 8 bar loops, I just... had fun. I think it worked out better, musically speaking, than my normal method.

In short, I think I might write the initial versions of my new songs like this. Your "daft idea" opened a new door for me; thanks for putting such an interesting breakout idea.

Thank you for the review. I definitely feel what you're saying about walking. Now this track makes me think of a [probably famous, don't remember the name though] oil painting of a lamplit street in Paris around a bistro.

I recorded directly from my Roland keyboard via the headphone jack to the line in on my computer. I think it fattens the piano a bit...

... then I promptly deleted all my working .wav files by accident, so I haven't gotten to play with effects on the piano. But anyway, it might sound a bit better now.

Thanks for the enthusiastic review.

The bass is all synth work (Toxic Biohazard, a vanilla bass from their bass pack with some mild adjustments) and placed by hand in a sequencer. I think I also have a few effects on the channel to boost the sound and clean it up a bit.

The Voyetra USB sound card I used to use broke (picked up my old laptop with it still plugged in and ripped the board in half), so there's no soundcard post processing going on. Sadly, I don't have the setup to try to record instrumentation.

I would try to put vocals on my tracks, my by voice is too low for the sound I really want to hear. Also, lyrically I get stuck in ruts. I tend to write four on the floor tracks with very similar ABAB structured verses. If I could find a singer/lyricist though...

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

That's actually the sort of sound I was going for. In theory, there will be a chorus, another verse/bridge/whatever, maybe a solo, and then whatever else you do in this genre in a produced radio-hit style emo-rock song. Unfortunately, my guitar playing skills are rather meek (unless it has four strings, I can't do anything), so I settled for a terrible FL Studio distorted "guitar." I have a pretty low voice, relatively speaking, and my screaming leaves much to be desired, so I kind of stalled and haven't touched the project in a week or two.

I'd love to work with you on this. I wrote it in FL, but I have no qualms trying out anything else. Let me know.

I have to admit, I've never heard of Laser Dance. I was a youngun in the early 90s, and I mostly listened to Christian rock when I had music on.

I appreciate the compliment. Thanks for the review.

Thank you for the kind words.

The thing with the lady actually ended up working out.

I've really enjoyed listening to your work, and I'm glad you got some pleasure from hearing mine.

Chillout is quickly becoming my favorite genre to write. Since the tempo is so slow, you can get a more complete song without having to do as much work on the progression. I tend to get stuck in instrumental ruts, wanting to layer EVERYTHING on top instead of just using parts as drops, fills, or passing sounds.

I appreciate you hitting me back with a review; I've started reviewing every track I really enjoy listening to as fully and critically as I can, trying to piece together what makes the tracks *work* so I can learn from them while also pointing out the little hiccups along the way. It's always nice to get a listen/review back from someone who's track I couldn't even begin to offer advice on.

Cruise control... nice.

Glad you liked it.

Thanks for the input BigPete. I was happy with the sound, so I threw it up here. I'll work on it more once I finish moving.

I'm in the middle of a move and I just started working again (from being an unemployed student), so I'm a bit busier than I'd like to be, but I'll keep plugging away on this track barring some unforeseen new one that takes my attention.

Thank you for the review.

What would you say this should be filed under, as a genre? I've never been terribly good at naming genres when it comes to anything synthetic. I use techno as a catch all for anything with a pretty synth-y feel.

I do everything by ear too, but I have trouble listening to my music how it sounds (I hear it how I want to hear it) so I miss out a lot when it comes to deepening/filling/mastering because it's all there in my head. If I add pads, should I just drop up/down an octave or two and move it the same way as the piano/whatever I'm trying to add depth to? I have a tendency to write harmonies that ramble around and end up taking over the melody eventually, so I'm very wary of wantonly throwing down new tracks on top of the old ones. I end up washing out the sound instead of making it more interesting.

I used the FL Love filter with the "pulse" preset, then started messing with it's envelopes. Basically, it cuts from a LP to a HP on the half beat (or quarter? I don't remember), with the cut off frequency varying along a sine path for both of them.

I just threw a distortion channel on the piano, and then put a "dance" style piano into the preset (for the lower part of the chords). How would you recommend softening the sound? A lot of reverb/chorus? Balancing the sounds? Sampling a baby grand? I've only just started learning how to master (thank you looperman for the push in the right direction), so I'm a bit lost on how to proceed.

The bass is a clean channel with a tweaked Toxic Biohazard preset, "Narrow SQ" from the basses pack. I widened the envelopes and took off the filters, but otherwise it's pretty much stock. I think I might actually record the bass on my electric and see if it sounds better. The drop that brings it in makes me smile every time I hear it. For a breakup song, I think this one accomplished everything I needed it to.

Also, thanks for the sympathies.

I hope I still have the source for it somewhere. I think I made this back when it was still called "Fruity Loops."