by

Arto Bug
(Bug)

*File Specs* [Additional vote] Teaching material [Filename]m6r-anex.it [Title]An Explanation [General comment]This is quite a short song, offers a few good aspects like use of Sfx (minor use unfortunately) reasonable to fair mixing, fair breaks and a descent variability. This song misses a good melodical main but what is worth mentioning here is that the main melody line is being filled in by the chord-progression supported by a variable base-line. Being variable in base and chord lines is a good essence to develop in order to grow in musical strength. It offers the capability of exploring methods to compose and finding a melody on it since it is harder to find a base-line and chordline behind a melody and if possible, a melodyline mostly limits you in progressive composing. This song is certainly not finished but shows with what kind of musical assays you can start to create something with a good and changing progression.

Good use of chords at beginning of tune. If the song could have been developed more and not so short it would rate better. I would like to hear the song again after the composer adds some more to it.

The drums are quite good. The bass sample stands out a wee bit too much. The bass and strings were also horribly placed in some passage. For example, the strings on the third pattern, starting on line 28 to its end. I didn't like the chords you made with your strings. I'd recommend visiting this site, it should help a lot for that kind of stuff: http://www.hornet.org/info/zentrack/theory.html, precisely at the "#chords" tag.. The end was sort of funny, but that's just perfect. Oh, and by the way, sharp and flat notes still sound good even if they're called "accidentals"; you can use them!

Hmm, an explanation of the title would be nice. :) The panning on channel 3 at the start is a bit overdone. Lots a chord changes, which is nice, but they sometimes don't seem to make sense or go anywhere (especially order 4). No discernible melody line, simple percussion. The snare is doubled on channels 2 + 9 throughout the song, but for some reason the composer seems to have forgotten the doubling for channel 9 in the last order. I can't see why it would have been done on purpose as it would make no sense. The crash cymbal doesn't really make for a very good ending. A simple and not particularly interesting song.

Nice simple, short! This is what I like to see from a rookie. Work with what you have and make it better without being over-complicated, and overstepping your own limits. The only real complaint I had was the strings are way too LOUD. Make them softer, ie instead of Volume 64 try 32 (set the global volume on the F3 Screen). Another trick is to add random volume with volume swing set to about 4 or 5 (not too much or else it stands out too much, subtlety is the word here!). I would have liked to also see a melody on top of those chords. The best way is to hum something. Don't try to track it first as you will most probably get muddled and make a mess of the melody as so many tunes do. Always work with something in your head and then put it down. When you hum you can change things without having to spend ages tracking it (especially with a tune this short).