I'm pursuing a career as a composer/music producer and I'd like some feedback on my music. Please check out the embedded tracks below as well as my other works on Soundcloud and let me know what you think.

Update: I have done some post production work on the below "edited" tracks to boost their volume. It should be much easier to hear everything that is happening within them now without maxing out the volume on your device.

Hey Dylan, 

Thanks for sharing your work! I have a few ideas for you to help you take your music to the next level. First off, you obviously have some good ideas and talent in composition! There's some cool ideas and evolution in your music. The biggest area that's currently hurting you is production. 

- Overall track volume is VERY low. Thankfully, this is something pretty easy to fix. Take your master audio files and raise the volume to where it's more on par with what you're hearing from other music sites and composers. You don't have to blast things out of the part but I had to turn up my volume knob by quite a bit to hear your music. 

- MIDI samples need a lot of work. You can get create with ways to make even average samples come off more polished. I'd experiment with panning, volume automation and reverb. 

- Experiment with timings within the MIDI data. Computers play 100% perfectly, every time. Humans don't. See if there are some ways you can humanize your performance. 

- I don't know what DAW you're working in or what sample libraries (or soundfonts) you're currently using but if you can invest some money into higher quality sample libraries that offer more articulations, velocity layers, expression and round robin variations, I think you'll see a huge impact on your music. One site I recommend to many just starting out is East West's Composer Cloud. It's a subscription where you can get a ton of VST samples at a pretty reasonable monthly rate. 

I hope that helps! 

Nate

Thanks for the feedback. Im pleased to hear such a detailed reply. I've been looking into those solutions and have plans to imvest in a MIDI controller. Most of what I have done was produced using a free version of Finale and converting the resulting MIDI file into a more universal format. Resently. Ive acquired Sibelius for my compositions. It is a much better program thqn Finale notepad and its MIDI samples are much more numerous ane varied in sound. I have plans to start school next year for musoc production.

I have a couple of questions for you,

What is DAW?

What exactly so you mean when you say there are some cool ideas amd evolution in my music?

Just curious really.

8 hours ago, Dylan B said:

What is DAW?

What exactly so you mean when you say there are some cool ideas amd evolution in my music?

Just curious really.

- A DAW is a Digital Audio Workstation and some examples of this are: Reaper, Sonar, ProTools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Ableton Live, Reason and there are many more. Sibelius is more of a notation program than a digital audio workstation but the last several generations of notation software (Finale and Sibelius) have added quite a bit more features. 

- What I meant by saying you had some cool ideas and evolution in your music was that you took some themes and had different sections play (or play off) those ideas. This shows promise and potential because sometimes composers just state the theme and don't put any real sense of arrangement or development into it. Sometimes that's okay - it all depends on the context - but often times having a bit more development and depth to your arrangement helps! 

I agree 100% with nsmadsen. The compositions are truly interesting, but the sound itself is of low quality. If you work on your mixing / producing skills more, I'm sure you'll be able to come up with truly wonderful tunes.

Just an update: I've done some further production work on 2 of my tracks posted above. They should be much easier to hear now. Hopefully, that will make further feedback possible.

I plan to amplify future titles before posting so as to prevent this issue.

Check out my latest track! Probably not a huge step as far as production quality is concerned, however, I am always experimenting with the voices I have at my disposal in order to hone my personal style of composition. As always, please tell me what you think of this new track as well the previously posted tracks if haven't done so already.

Thanks,

Dylan B.

Hey Dylan! 

Nice to hear more of your music. While listening to your piece, it's clear you have some good ideas but I think your rhythm is getting in the way. Both hands of the piano part have lots of the same rhythms and this gets compound as you add in more instruments. For example, the quarter note ostinato that you have going on. Why not have some of the parts play off each other. Another idea could be instead of it be repeated quarter notes - alternate with a measure that includes some dotted rhythms. Or you could have a more nuanced part in some high, staccato strings doing a descant part. The rhythmic pacing of your piece doesn't feel as exciting as it could be. I liked the chorale section! 

Keep it up!

Thanks, 

Nate

I am glad to announce my return after a 2 month absence. My day job got a little hectic through the holidays and I spent January pulling myself together after surviving them. I have a handful of pieces in the works and am proud to give you a short, but sweet tune called 'Pan's Ocarina'. Influenced by the sounds one may hear in a certain Nintendo franchise, it is meant as a light-hearted and charming backing track to a marketplace one might find in places similar to Hyrule.

Please enjoy.

thank you!

Also, I now have a Patreon account. Link below.

https://www.patreon.com/DylanBmusic

Any and all Patrons greatly appreciated!