Wrongplanet Musicians' Showcase

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Ah, Wien.. Great city. I visited there many years ago. I lived in Salzburg for two years. I love Austria.

Oh, nice to hear that
what brought you to Salzburg for respectable two years?
and you do really live in California?^^ since the Austrian times are over for far over hundred years, california seems to be the musical center of the world, right? it's strange, where have all the brilliant heads gone here? strange society, strange media, I can't really feel comfortable with that.
I hope that california will still be above the sea level when I'm able to move there xD
I'm just afraid it's not the sunny urban paradise it's always said to be.
what is getting by there like? surely not as easy as in a welfare state like Austria, is it?
at least everyone gets what he deserves...

There's a small American International School in Salzburg that opened in 1976. It was called Salzburg International Preparatory School when I attended from 1978-1980. Since then it's name has changed to American International School, Salzburg. They have less than 100 students even today. I still maintain contact with several of the students from my time - on Facebook.

I attended there because my father worked in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) and the company he worked for payed for a school of my choice. I chose Salzburg.

California is nice but there are some areas that are quite harsh. The LA area where I live is pretty much urban sprawl, but there are some nice places. Why would you want to move here when you live in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe?

yeah it surely is. but somehow I think that I need something new, just like everyone else at this age^^
it's just a bit demotivating to know that you can't have a greater influence on the world from here.
I know that it isn't much easier in the United States, but at least it's possible. even being the Austrian president equals being nothing. but the internet is a big step for globalization anyway, so maybe it doesn't even matter anymore...^^

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoVlhzwxYHQ[/youtube]

Just starting working on this one. It's for my grandpa who has dementia. Think about your grandpas as you listen.

I just bought a sound recorder and decided I would post something here. I'm terrible at singing, but I try!

Link

PS: I just did one take so there are a few mistakes!

I think this is very good for the beginning, stilldays. you seem to have a very good feeling.
@FearOfMusic: don't you think that you should sing an octave higher? I think you could if you'd try.
I was also amazed how high I could sing though my speaking voice is much lower. it won't sound melodic if someone sings that low.
but your guitar playing is awesome

I have a very long ways to go on singing. Honestly the only reason I was even able to pull off something that was remotely in tune (which it barely is) was because I had plugged earphones into my digital record and set the microphone to high gain. That way I could hear what I actually sounded like on the recording as I was recording, otherwise it would have sounded much worse.

Using the digital recorder as a sort of 'monitor' seems extremely useful to me, it gives you the ability to hear your singing/instrument from where a listener is going to hear it, which has already helped me correct some things that I just can't hear from behind the guitar. Hopefully I can use it as a tool to get me to be a better singer too, but its going to be a slow process!

not even that slow most of it is psyche, while I was starting in puberty I had no chance to get my voice in the right tone (though I've been in a rockband, my throat hurt like hell after each gig...), but when I left puberty the clear tone suddenly came from alone. I'm singing for 3 years now and always had the same problem with hearing myself while having loud instruments playing, but the troubles about intonation have grown smaller. what I had to learn was, that my speaking voice isn't my singing voice, my most volumineous voice is a bit higher. I was ashamed of singing in this voice because it was way louder then and I was afraid it would sound arrogant if I sing that way. but once I had overcome that selfrestrictions it worked all out. but maybe you just have to transpose the song you want to play to the optimal pitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhBLbewlLOY - Across The Sky, Alternative Rock I think
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwAvCSg ... re=related - Space Hedgehogs, Classical/Jazz stuff

Across The Sky has terrible quality due to my lack of music tech experience

If you're really fully new in music the chord sequences seem to be inventive and interesting and I think you should continue but please not with this sh***y midi instruments xD
If you have been playing music for more than one year you should maybe try something different.
but I think you're new, my first experiments with music sounded very similar in some aspects.
so... have it your way, good luck.

I'd love to show you my music. I spend my time making music and it's a true passion for me.

http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/yumisekai

If you like my music, please bookmark it since I can upload a new album at any time!

I think you have some interesting ideas with "Across the Sky." As you've admitted, though, your lack of music tech experience shines through. Awes makes a point, but I'm not sure I'd be quite as harsh in critiquing it!

On your youtube page, you mentioned copying it (the piano bit) in Finale. I have a masters degree in composition and have been using Finale since roughly 1998. It is GREAT software, but if you're using the full version, you've got some hardcore notation software. My question for you is this: Why? For something like this, do you really need notation software like Finale? And should it really play a role in what you're trying to do here?

The thing that is wonderful about Finale is that it is absolutely the best for the kind of software package that it is. These days, I lean heavily on it for two things: 1. When I'm writing a song, I can quickly pen ideas for melodies and chords so I don't forget how it goes. 2. To transcribe fully realized ideas after I've finished working on a composition.

With #1, most people out there have some kind of audio recording device, something portable so when they get an idea for a melody or a lyric, they can just sing or hum the idea, and it's also good to keep a small notebook around to jot down ideas for lyrics. Most people have a good memory for this kind of thing, but I don't. For me, being able to crank out a lead sheet quickly is an absolute necessity. It works out great that way since I can get lead sheets out to musicians and they can start learning my songs when I'm ready.

#2: What I USED to do back in college days was start with everything in Finale. That changed when I got my Synclavier last year. So now my musical decisions hinge on whether I'm going to use live musicians or not. I PREFER live musicians over computers, but unfortunately replacing musicians is a fact of life. In a perfect world, playing tracks is only supposed to enhance what you already have. So what I do now is sequence an entire composition, decide what parts are live and what parts are on the track, and use Finale to transcribe a pre-recorded score. But I DON'T use Finale for playback except to maybe just check some rhythms, which I can usually just tell by looking whether it's right or not. I never record demos with Finale playback.

I'm "technically minded" enough I could get what I want from Finale, but to be honest I reached a point when I realized Finale was holding me back. It takes WAY too much time to get the results I want with Finale playback. Since Finale is only concerned with great-looking scores, playback on Finale, unless you really know what you're doing, is going to be lifeless and dull. Unless you're working with synth textures that are already very dynamic by default (it helps if you also know how to programs synths), you really aren't going to get good results unless cold and mechanical is what you're going for. One of Finale's worst features, in my opinion, is "human playback." If you use the Garritan sounds, that's a good step in the right direction, but the Smartmusic Softsynth is just awful. Honestly, I don't use EITHER, and as a rule I avoid Finale like the plague as a playback device. If it helps generate some ideas or give you a rough idea of what your composition sounds like, fine. But final recording product? No way.

My advice: Stay away from Finale unless you're working with live musicians who read music. Finale is a heavy-duty notation program, but fails at playback. Record your ideas in a sequencing program. I'm a Mac user, so naturally Logic does it for me. There's also Cubase, Reason, and my recent new favorite Ableton Live (I use the "Intro" version because I don't need all the advanced features that are merely duplicates of what I already have in Logic and Reason). Cakewalk is a pretty good basic sequencer. I cut my teeth on PowerTracks Pro, which is an excellent bare-bones MIDI sequencer, and when I switched from PC to Mac I used MasterTracks for a couple of projects. MasterTracks is even MORE basic than PowerTracks, so be warned, and I think it's now available for PC also.

Since you don't claim to be very technically minded here, I'd avoid staying away from super high-end stuff like ProTools, since it probably just isn't what you need right now. I'm REALLY loving Ableton Live Intro at the moment--I just wish I had more time to work with it (I only bought it because I needed a good loop player). I'd recommend going more with something like that and really taking the time working through the tutorials.

This may sound odd, but I actually LIKE the Finale piano sound filtered through your computer speakers and re-recorded with the guitar. It's a nice, lo-fi kind of texture that is very musically useful. Your use of Finale gives it this kind of ditsy character that is also musically useful. So what you really need is some kind of contrasting texture with better quality and not quite as mechanical sounding. Don't be afraid to mix things up a little bit, because you have some really cool ideas. And I think something like Live would really help you with what you're trying to do.

Otherwise, if you want to record guitar or vocals, you need a good audio interface--or at least an adequate one. I'd suggest something like the Presonus AudioBox. For just getting your feet wet in the "technical" department, get a Shure SM57 or SM58 mic. A lot of what I'm suggesting is dirt cheap in the world of music recording, but I speak from personal experience that if you dive into the really high end arena, you'll be disappointed because of how much there is to learn and how difficult it can often be to get the results you want. From what I've heard of you so far, one thing you do RIGHT is you keep it simple. Start with where you are. Get a simple DAW like Ableton Live Intro, and at the very least get an entry-level audio interface and a good pair of headphones. Get a cheap dynamic mic if you need to record acoustic sources like voice and guitar. Sounds like you already have a MIDI controller keyboard. So if you start with just that, you'll already have a more solid foundation to make more professional-sounding music.

(If you need any help, you can always ask here or PM me. As my undergrad theory and orchestration teacher used to say, "just keep writing!")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR_jlBqe8BE - Thrust -72000, made this a few hours ago, might add vocals at some point if I ever find a singer willing to learn my stuff

Finale Notepad 2008 does seem... lacking :/ It's the only one I've learnt to use particularly well though I shall change over to something like Reason at some point, as there's no way I'm paying for the full version of Finale before I'm famous, and now that I've started playing more than just piano, I barely use notation anymore.
Sometimes I write ideas down, record them on my phone or laptop (used the laptop for Across The sky (which is apparently the name of another song... darn) and my laptop has an awful microphone), and MIDI is useful for that too, it's the only way I can make good quality recordings. I'm usually great with memorizing riffs, unless I actually want to.
I have no musicians at my disposal unfortunately
Never figured out the human playback thing, clicked it and nothing happened
I'm going to try experimenting with leads and things, mainly to plug my laptop into my amp, as the speakers are rubbish too, and I figure it's possible I'll be to record onto the computer through stuff like that

Thanks for the advice, there are too few people I know with any experience with music programs, and almost none that record stuff

One in the process:
Link

You seem to be very practiced, sounds Pink Floyd-like, fine