How to improve my music.

[Sane Co.]

    Hey, Sane Co. again, and I'd like your opinion on my music, how well it would fit in a game, how to improve recording, how to improve the music itself, it's merit as a standalone track, etc. These are the tracks I want you to look at (sorry about their length).
https://soundcloud.com/sane_co/untitled-smooth
https://soundcloud.com/sane_co/for-you
https://soundcloud.com/sane_co/solitude
The sound quality isn't the best. (not all of us can afford expensive microphones.) And it has been played on an upright that hasn't been tuned in a while. I'd also like  ideas on how to name songs.(the hardest part). and don't mind the stumbles (I can work those out with enough practice) I mainly want to focus on style and technique. I'd also like ideas for moving into digital music (sounds really hard, but somewhat worth it.)
Thanks,
Sane Co.

[Viking]

Hello!  Here are some comments about Untitled Smooth (the only one I've listened to).  I'm afraid I can't comment about technique since I can't play piano at all.

• The piece pretty much consists of the same two chord sequences repeated over and over (mostly Gm Eb F Gm, with some Cm Bb Gm Am).  There's nothing wrong with these chord sequences, particularly (actually, I quite like the Am in the latter one), but some variety would be nice.  In fact, when a new chord sequence is introduced at 4:04 (the Gb chord), it actually feels like a wrong note because the rest has been so homogeneous.
• You have stayed in pretty much the same octave for the whole piece, in both hands.  Also, the dominant rhythm throughout is eighth notes, although there is a little variety very late in the piece when you use accented notes every quarter note in the left hand.  The dynamic is also nearly constant.  You should consider varying the octaves, the rhythms and the dynamic level quite a bit more.  For now, you will probably find the greatest success making your piece louder when the hands are further apart, and when the rhythms employ faster notes.
• In the Cm Bb Gm Am chord sequence, you have employed pretty much exact parallel motion between accompaniment and melody.  In general, it is nice to have contrary motion -- or at least, not parallel motion -- until you know the "rules" well enough to know when you can get away with breaking them.
• You might consider the overall form of your composition -- where you want the climax to be (probably near the end), where the more gentle parts should be, where the melody should repeat itself and how, etc.
• I wouldn't suddenly accelerate at around 5:50, unless the music lends itself to acceleration (by increasing tension somehow).  As it is, it sounds rather odd.

Since I had some spare time this evening, I made a quick orchestral arrangement of the same melody (here), employing some of the techniques noted above.  It ends abruptly, but you get the idea.

[Sane Co.]

Thanks a lot!
    I will use this info to make it better and will re-upload it with those improvements.
One question, how did you get into digital music? I can't seem to be able to do it, as I end up making the most minimalistic songs with one line, because it seems so tedious.
Thanks a million,
Sane Co.

[Viking]

Well, I have played violin since the age of four.  So I grew up learning classical music, and I studied a fair bit of music theory at school.  Later on my wife introduced me to various popular styles of music.  I have been composing (sheet) music for as long as I can remember.  I've used various notation systems and programs, such as ABC, Lilypond and now Finale.  Finale comes with a selection of Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO) samples which sound pretty decent without a whole lot of work, and those are what I used to create the orchestral sample I linked to above.  So personally, I tend to notate all my music, whether or not it's actually intended to be performed by real musicians, because that's how I think.  Recently I have purchased the rather aging EWQLSO Gold library, which is way better than GPO.  However, it requires a lot more work to produce a finished track.

Probably the key to getting into digital music, just like anything else, is practice, practice, practice.  More concretely, you might consider purchasing a cheap second-hand MIDI controller and playing your songs into some program that can record MIDI (maybe a simple DAW).  Then you could experiment assigning the lines to various instruments, and seeing what sounds best.  And you can record new lines on top of those to create a fuller track.  I would definitely invest some time in studying music theory, simple compositional techniques like Bach harmonization, transformation of melodies, instrument timbres and ranges, etc.  It can be a lot of work, but you might just enjoy it -- and it'll certainly pay off in the end.

[eternal_renegade]

I just listened to the songs, sounds like you are off to a great start! I did notice some unintentional key presses in your recordings, but I won't get into that. Like Viking said, there could be more variety for sure.

Sometimes when you don't know where something should go from here, I usually will play the main melody in different keys, and I might experiment playing harmonies with the thirds and fourths of the root notes in the melody. If the chord progression is feeling a bit stale (due to overplay) but you are not ready to leave from it yet, you could re-voice your left hand chords, which can also sometimes make for some good transitions into an actual chord progression change.

If the first song was my song though, I would develop the melody further, I felt the melody 'could' be stronger but it's not necessary.

Hope this helps

[Sane Co.]

Thanks eternal,
    I will try my best to incorporate these suggestions into my revisions that I'm working on. What do you mean by develop it further, do you mean to make it longer or change it more.
Thanks,
Sane Co.

[xil]

Out of interest, were you playing to a click or a metronome?

[Sane Co.]

    No, I probably should though, why?

[xil]

I think having that backup of a click track or metronome really adds a professional touch with the simple nature of the music you are creating. I don't mean that in a bad way, but when listening it's 100% focused on the one instrument so I did notice it swaying a little bit too much for my liking.

On a side note about digital music: I personally don't play piano, keyboard etc, just guitar. I also really dislike theory so only really know basic notes/chords and I leave the rest up to my imagination, what sounds good, sounds good type of thing. So when I write piano I always do it digitally, literally don't own a keyboard so I have no other choice. But I find it really easy and love making big pieces in midi. I use guitar pro (because I came from a guitar background I like writing in tab format), I then transfer the midi into a DAW (like Reaper, for example - can't big this program up enough) and then run the midi through a VST like Massive (bit expensive but you get the idea).

After practicing a bit with this method I can guarantee you I will never be going near a keyboard to even attempt to learn to play one properly as it will never live up to what I can create digitally. Obviously you have a lot of talent on piano so it might be worth getting a midi input but I think it's a bit of each to their own. I'm getting so into digital music now that I only ever use my guitar amp if I want to perform live, if I'm recording I just boot up Guitar Rig. Granted I only record on an amateur nature, but so few of the general public would ever know the difference between a VST and an amp.

And lastly, the music (I felt mean not giving some feedback about the actual songs!), I generally really like the songs. I wouldn't worry about them being repetitive if they are being used in a game either, it's almost better as the player shouldn't really be focused on the music so you don't want to have a beautiful 20 minute composition that the player only notices 1 minute of, unless you are a dedicated musician with a big budget and a long time-frame I think you're songs are of a decent length (perhaps even too long - more songs all around 4 minutes would be time better spent maybe?).

• "Smooth" I see as the opening scene and the menu with the game title etc.
• "Solitude" I would expect to be used in a more serious part of a game perhaps of a horror-ish/noir genre in maybe a large dining room, or a study (somewhere in a mansion basically - or similar) etc
• "For you" seems to fit perfectly for the end game credits or end scene.

Overall they are all pieces that I think would be best attached to a serious project with a real-life or very real sci-fi element.

Hope that helps!