This is my first time composing but im stuck. I cant think of what to do next. Any help appreciated.

EDIT: Refreshed all my tracks.

The beginning is neat but the second section is slightly random - with unnecessary notes. You should fix those problems before continuing; it'll give you broader direction of what you're trying to accomplish.

Do you have a .mus of the file? My Finale is messed. =S

Not bad for a first. Though I agree with Sepharite, 'cause the second part really is random. You'll get better. ;)

Your beginning is kind of week. I suggest that you add a melody line over the underlying rythmtic features. Also, before you reached the rest, nothing lead up to that momement. It was sound sound SOUND stop! sound again. In other words, it didn't feel nature. Also, as everyone has already stated, the second part was random and didn't see to fit. I think if you fix some of this then you'll be able to move foward.

Thanks for the advice, I just have no ideas for the second part :\

Sorry to double post, but what would an experienced composer (like marlon) do with this?

Sorry to double post, but what would an experienced composer (like marlon) do with this?

...

You're funny. XD

I'm not experienced, but anyways... I hardly ever actually change around my songs until like months later. I just move on to new songs, the majority of which will never see to their finalization... XD I'd probably start on a new song and take into consideration what everyone's said so far. And lemme tell ya, for every beginner composer, the biggest problem is the random-ness. ;)

Curse randomness. Are there any kind of technique or advice to stop being random. (I should have learnt scales when i had the chance)

x_x I am sorry, when those chords came it ruined the piece even more so. WAY to repeditive, like the bad repeditive not the good kind. Heh, if you understand me.

Find notes that will sound good in the melody that fit the current chords member-at least every time you find a melody that has 2 or more notes (DUH A CHORD). And find out a little about Music Theory, that'l belp ya's.

Also, use more interesting harmonizations - attached below is an example, which goes from enchanting to grotesque and everywhere in between. Also, try dragging out the melodic line some more so that it isn't straight quarter/half-notes, to give it more a sense of intention and deliberation.

I look at shizeets composition and see how atrocious mine looks.

I actually have a new composition, however, i play it on piano but have no midi keyboard or recording equipment. I would put notation but i also improvise in it, so i'll just put it in notation and see what happens.

*Wishes he had money*

finished this one. Im so proud of this, it sounds a bit like aeriths theme but not much. Any coments appreciated.

Eh, so-so piece.

Those scales and chords really ruied the modern melody you had going there. Made it sound really kind of.. ehh.. hate to say it-random.

Eh... I agree with Maestro; you seemed to put the chords in on all the wrong moments, and the faster notes seem out of place...

Damn. Curse randomness, Im going to work on that song and make it better (hopefully).

Oh and what do you mean by chords in the wrong moments, I know the ending was really off, but i thought the melody bit was good, apart from a few mistakes?

Never did much, Fixed most chords, theres only one i dont like, Extended the melody and made the transition to the fast bit better (I like that part but i guess you guys know better.)

Hers a song its rock. It uses the drum beat for marlon's love stories which is infinitely better than this. (Ive made it mp3 if you want it). If you want this song taken down then il do it though. But tell me what you think.

It's a so-so.
When the guitar comes in you have those double notes all over (like double 8th note C or whatever), try making those simple longer notes (like 1 4th note C)
Also, this fast run at start isn't very good, try making it when flowing run, instead of short 'cuts'.
The melody of an electric guitar solo should flow with the harmony, and the melody should flow too, like legato instead of staccato.
Try making the melody flowing more into the rest and I guess it'll be way better ;)

I agree with PFK on this one. Also, I feel the rhythm parts can be worked on. Some parts got repetitive, too. :heh: Well, it's not a bad start, I suppose. Maybe a rhythm guitar would help.

I think this song is really good in some places.

though those solos are a little sloppy.

Good Work!

I wouldnt know where to put a rythm guitar, ive never used rock before...

Im working on a new one though now, (not rock).

Is it true that practice makes better for composing?

Ah, yeah, so-so. Not bad for a first time.

In the future, your guitar should have more complex rhythms then eighth notes and sixteenth notes. Try mixing up the rhythms like with triplets, dotted eighth sixteenth notes, and stuff as such.

Thanks a lot for that advice. Ill bear that in mind. I gave up on my old attempts at classical, im trying a rock song again.

Im trying a kind of hybrid checking if it works. Like Nobuo Uematsu said about one winged angel

"You cannot force orchestral with rock and you cannot force rock with orchestral, The original song was not either so it was easier to mesh them together."

Im trying that. Sort of

cool concept, but........
i personally think it was crap
it was sort of like if an old tape recorder was playing inside a soundfiltering room
playing a really nice piece
put the filter only brought through certain parts
keep working
it has massive potential
also too short

I know its not done yet. But thanks for the advice.

Its still in the making. What do you think about the drum beat?

The first drum beat is like, sooooo creative. I do not like all those obsessive slurs, though. The second drum beat, however, was pretty nice. Otherwise...I kind of didn't like it. Started out nice, I suppose, it fit the theme, at least, but then all this random slurring! Why? It makes me think: "Rubber Sanctuary". Try and work on a better melody. Oh, and did I mention? Less slurring?

Now I need to think of what comes next, i didnt like the slurs either so i fixed it.

i like it
the drumbeat for the first part-either eliminate or add another instrument or two the drum overpowers the instrument playing
the new part sounds reaaly cool!
keep going

By the first drum beat you mean when the flute is playing?

This aint finished its a draft. I want to put a guitar solo. Take out the repetition and fix some parts up.

Im finished with the song. Im sick of it now. But if anyone could make it an mp3 or wave it would be great.

Those sliding noises get annoying. And sometimes the harmony doesn't quite work out. Of course, at 0:43, you are woken up and it actualy gets pretty good. Also, the suspensful silence somewhere in there should be shorter, IMO. I like it a lot! It has potential!

Overall, I think you're improving! Keep it up. :)

EDIT: Awww... You should've ended better.

I'll convert it, just wait 'til I get home.

Edit: sorry, but I don't think I can do it. The midi is having issues converting with Finale.

Oh its allright then. What issue is it, cos i made it with guitar pro, it might be the legato slides or the bending.

Oh and i had no ideas for the ending. (Sorry)


EDIT: Try this one. I took out all the slides.

Oh I finished a new one. This is fun. Are my pieces very random anymore? I just need work on melodies (I think)

No, it's not the bending, just the legato slides, that annoy me. ;) By the way, the In The Dungeon is a pretty nice improvement, though Holy Sanctuary doesn't really wow me nor anything. =_=

Thanks for the comments. It makes me feel better. These last few days i just couldnt be bothered to go to the computer and start composing, but then i forced myself and i founnd inspiration again. (I love Dynasty Warriors music). I took out the legato slides. Ive started making tunes up in my head and writing them down.

I started a new one but only the first nine bars are fixed, the rest is too random and im going to fix them.The thing that bugs me about holy sanctuary is the little pause before the chorus, but i dont know what to replace it with.

By the way Marlon, Do you use guitar pro?

By the way Marlon, Do you use guitar pro?

Yes I do; I use Guitar Pro 5. ;) Have you found out if you can export RSE somehow? I doubt it, 'cause I've looked everywhere, but maybe you've had more luck.

By the way, the song's pretty nice, except I think the organ's too loud, and after a while, like you said, it gets a little bit random. Keep working on it! ^_^

Im fixing the song now.

By the way, how do you Record your songs in rse. Theres always a random error at the end.:huh:

EDIT: My update on Boss Battle.

Still a bit of randomness, but i seem to be improving.:lol:

And im putting all my songs so far on the front page. Except for the rubbish
ones.x_x

And a piano one. (Not good at piano, wish me good fortune friends!:heh: ) It aint finished yet. Its meant to be someone finding out a terrible thing. Sort of like (FFX spoiler Tidus finds out Jecht is sin

I didn't like the Boss Battle song too much when the guitar would play alone. Otherwise, I think it's actually pretty darn good. :)

In the Devestating Truth, I think you could've done a lot better by choosing different chords, and playing them in a different way (such as arpeggiating(sp?) them). The melody was O.K. pretty much; it didn't really grab my attention.

Well, you keep getting better! ;)

Thanks for the comment. Heres my latest one ive been working on. It it done yet but im hoping to enter it into the latest composition tournament.

ok i like it, except...
its pretty repetitive until about 0:45 after that it gets better
this song has potential
keep working^_^

Thanks, ill cut out the beginning bit of the repetition, i dont like that part that much.<_<

But I changed key in the second part. Is it good.

The problem is that i work on it for long periods of time and i dont realise mistakes unless i dont hear it for about an hour then listen to it again.

Hers an update of my tournament peace.

much better, keep working

I like this one very much. Sometimes the harmony got a little sloppy, but I'm sure you can fix that. ;)

OK this one was meant to be an experiment with finale's mp3 thingy and trying out a new style of composing. What do you think?

And i still think guitar pro is better. Mainly because it has drums.

Sounded a bit random to me, hehe. :heh:

Well thats allright. It was just a test so it took me less than 30 seconds to make.:heh:

I'm Back!!

I had to use my laptop to compose while my pc was down. (everything got wiped of). But my laptop exports in RSE. YES!!

These are undoubtedly my best ever compositions especially 'fight traitor' and Lets go isnt finished..

Comments very very appreciated:lol:

Hey, those a pretty good there yousee!

I see a lot of inspiration that sounds SNES gam-ish.

my laptop exports in RSE.

HOW?! Please tell me how!

Anyways, I definitely can see these are your best pieces. They rock! :) I think the Boss Battle one could've been better, but that's about it. Keep it up!

Im Back. And i am ashamed to say i only made two songs since then and one of them i cant get off my laptop. Because my laptop is broken it also means i cant make my songs mp3. ill try and fix that. Anyway here's one of them.

The intro was waaaay too long that it became boring. Then the entrance of the guitar and drums were too overwhelming. The repeated parting is also a little irritating... ._. Though I have no idea on how to give you proper criticisms, since I have little knowledge of these style of music.

Yousee, listen to some Iron Maiden if you want this type of Melodic rock music. They are the gods of that style.

This just seems really weird--trust me, it's "off."

one thing I can suggest is that a pure minor scale does not work with this type of music. Chromatic is okay, harmonic minor that's slightly modified here and there would work best in my opinion. Gj though.

Im Back. after a long time ive decided to reparticipate in the forums. Sadly i havent been able to bring any of my compose songs to the net but ive got one im working on and tell me what you think. ive never really tried orchestral compositions before.

Ugh... Those crescendos in strings were annoying; yes, do give them shape and phrasing, but not like that. I wouldn't really consider this orchestrated either cos it's more small ensemble. Oh, and when the vocal sings alone, it was dull, and then the flute and harp kind of interfered with the melody. I think it's better if you start with easier ensembles like quartets or trios.

Oh sorry, i forgot to add the last parts were just random ideas i havent fixed yet. And i know i should start small but i feel too restricted. ill post up my newer version soon.
EDIT: Here It is i think in the middle the instruments get a bitt too loud but ill fix it. I havent finished the piece.

not tryin to sound desperate but smoe feedback and pointers on where i can improve would be appreciated.

The flute entered too randomly. The placements of the cymbals were also strange. Then the taiko drums were too strange for the melody that you flute was playing too.

Lets see...I didn't think the entrance of the flute was random but the exit was random. The beggining uhh...w/e instrument that is, the sound was random. I don't exactly see a forest when I hear this. If you want this as a dungeon melody then I think u've done too much to it. What I mean is there is too much changes. You need a motif that loops well, easily changable, and does not take people's attention away with any sudden change in style/volume when they are trying to sneak around a corner. Yeah...lots to work on but u got some interesting things happening here.

Well thanks for the comments but ill thinik ill stick to guitar for a bit longer:heh:

Anyway heres a song i made a while back. Sorry for the quality of the recording. Somethings wrong with my sound settings. Tell me what you think.

Comment anytime.....<_<

You need to have better chord progressions that make your music go somewhere. Because you don't, the music seems like it doesn't go much of anywhere. If you want to know a bit more, I can give you some info. Also, your melody is REALLY weird. Probably that would be better if you simplified it a bit and used more stepwise motion.

I think i sort of get what you mean. But i know youre an expert at orchestral kind of music so any advice would really be appreciated.

You think I'm an expert at orchestral music? I'm flattered, but I also know that I am NOT an expert. However, I can give you a bit of advice if you give me a .mus or a .mid.

I swear im going to cry. My internet is so bad i can only get online for around 20 minutes at a time and once in a few days.:cry:

anyway i made another composition. It sucks in midi but i cant record the mp3 version. Oh and i actually thought about this one.:lol: oh and dont ask about the name. I had no idea what to call it.

Most of this is good, but some parts have some dissonances that bother me. Basically, whenever it does something like at 0:55 and 1:03, it sounds unpleasantly dissonant. Besides that, however, this was very enjoyable. Keep it up!

I found a programme that lets me record direct to mp3 so heres the mp3 version. sounds a lot better. Theres a big difference between the two.

Yeah, the parts that I said that were dissonant were just the poor quality of the MIDI - disregard that. :P

The MP3 definitely sounds a ton better than the MIDI - I like it even more now!

It's a decent song apart from those annoying 8th beats that sound like someone's tapping me on the head for half a minute each :/ The reverb seems a bit weird aswell, since some instruments have none, while there's some instrument that has a whole lot of it.

i realised about the reverb thing but it sounds better than when theres none. But my dad bought finale 2007 forhis work so im going to try and use that to compose.