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Flatfingers's Music

#1
Since I seem to be sticking with this music composition thing, I thought I'd create a thread with links to my latest stuff.

All of these are still me learning the craft and techniques, and I can hear lots of places where each piece could be much better. Even so, I'm reasonably pleased with these.

Violet's Music Box: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/violets-music-box
This one was the first original composition. There were several influences, with Danny Elfman's score for Edward Scissorhands and Hans Zimmer's "Davy Jones's Theme" probably at the top of the list. But I hope, and think, I was able to create something that while in the same spirit as those pieces was my own.

Discovery Theme: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/discovery-theme
For my next piece, I wanted to see if I could create a more intricate composition with a very prominent theme. When I worked out that theme, and then began layering the accompaniments, I found that I was thinking of something like Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful theme for Star Trek: Voyager. That theme told me it wanted to be played on French horn -- when I did, I couldn't resist referencing Giovanni Gabrieli's fantastic horn concertos. So this one turned into a celebration of discovery... as the intro music for a science fiction TV show. It would be fun to hear a real orchestra perform this one someday....

Ambient 1: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/ambient-1
Next I wanted to my hand at some ambient chill. I've been enjoying Yagya and All India Radio, so this turned into sort of a cross between those two sounds. At nearly 11 minutes long, it's definitely on the "will not keep you awake" side.

Ambient 2: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/ambient-2
I just "finished" this one last night (April 18, 2017). It gave me more trouble than my first ambient piece, but I look at that as a positive as it means I'm learning more about my DAW (Mixcraft 8 Pro) and about effective techniques of composition and arrangement. At just under 6 minutes, this one's more accessible than the previous ambient piece -- it puts a smile on my face every time I hear it.

2017/06/12: Miss Jean Recalls: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/miss-jean-recalls
This one is a bit different in that it's basically a ballad with vocals. Mrs. Flatfingers had been asking for a "song" (i.e., music with singing), and her mother recently had a serious medical diagnosis, so I decided to combine these two things by writing, performing, and mixing a ballad about this very nice lady's life. I'm told they've been playing it a lot, and they cry every time they hear it, which means it's a success for them. :) I don't know if it's to the taste of anyone here, and it's certainly not professional-quality. But I add it here out of a sense of completionism, and on the off chance that anyone might enjoy it.

(The names of the two "ambient chill" pieces so far are just placeholders. If I do enough of these, I'll probably give them thematically consistent names, write bridges between them so that they can be listened to as a single giant thing, and pretend I released them as an album.)

I'll update this post as I release new pieces. Comments are welcome.

Note: I've found that if you click on these with a smartphone, SoundCloud demands that you download and use their app. If you prefer not to do that, I completely understand. If I can find a different hosting system with comparable features that doesn't impose this app nonsense on people, I'll probably switch over.
Last edited by Flatfingers on Mon Jun 12, 2017 12:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Post

Re: Flatfingers's Music

#2
Flatfingers wrote:Since I seem to be sticking with this music composition thing, I thought I'd create a thread with links to my latest stuff.

All of these are still me learning the craft and techniques, and I can hear lots of places where each piece could be much better. Even so, I'm reasonably pleased with these.

Violet's Music Box: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/violets-music-box
This one was the first original composition. There were several influences, with Danny Elfman's score for Edward Scissorhands and Hans Zimmer's "Davy Jones's Theme" probably at the top of the list. But I hope, and think, I was able to create something that while in the same spirit as those pieces was my own.

Discovery Theme: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/discovery-theme
For my next piece, I wanted to see if I could create a more intricate composition with a very prominent theme. When I worked out that theme, and then began layering the accompaniments, I found that I was thinking of something like Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful theme for Star Trek: Voyager. That theme told me it wanted to be played on French horn -- when I did, I couldn't resist referencing Giovanni Gabrieli's fantastic horn concertos. So this one turned into a celebration of discovery... as the intro music for a science fiction TV show. It would be fun to hear a real orchestra perform this one someday....

Ambient 1: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/ambient-1
Next I wanted to my hand at some ambient chill. I've been enjoying Yagya and All India Radio, so this turned into sort of a cross between those two sounds. At nearly 11 minutes long, it's definitely on the "will not keep you awake" side.

Ambient 2: https://soundcloud.com/flatfingers/ambient-2
I just "finished" this one last night (April 18, 2017). It gave me more trouble than my first ambient piece, but I look at that as a positive as it means I'm learning more about my DAW (Mixcraft 8 Pro) and about effective techniques of composition and arrangement. At just under 6 minutes, this one's more accessible than the previous ambient piece -- it puts a smile on my face every time I hear it.

(The names of the two "ambient chill" pieces so far are just placeholders. If I do enough of these, I'll probably give them thematically consistent names, write bridges between them so that they can be listened to as a single giant thing, and pretend I released them as an album.)

I'll update this post as I release new pieces. Comments are welcome.

Note: I've found that if you click on these with a smartphone, SoundCloud demands that you download and use their app. If you prefer not to do that, I completely understand. If I can find a different hosting system with comparable features that doesn't impose this app nonsense on people, I'll probably switch over.
I'll listen to all of it...as soon as I'm home. :D
Automation engineer, lateral thinker, soldier, addicted to music, books and gaming.
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Flatfingers wrote: 23.01.2017: "Show me the smoldering corpse of Perfectionist Josh"
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Re: Flatfingers's Music

#8
Detritus wrote:Ambient 2 is definitely my favorite. :D
Thank you!

I've been playing that one on repeat in the car on the way home from work, and although I can hear bits I'd like to improve, the whole thing just feels fun.

I'm taking a little break from composing the next thing -- whatever it is -- to let the batteries recharge. But I'm guessing the next piece will be somewhere in the area of dubstep. (I've got a rock & roll number started, but it really needs live guitar and I'm just not that good a performer. To be continued....)
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Re: Flatfingers's Music

#9
Flatfingers wrote:
Detritus wrote:Ambient 2 is definitely my favorite. :D
Thank you!

I've been playing that one on repeat in the car on the way home from work, and although I can hear bits I'd like to improve, the whole thing just feels fun.

I'm taking a little break from composing the next thing -- whatever it is -- to let the batteries recharge. But I'm guessing the next piece will be somewhere in the area of dubstep. (I've got a rock & roll number started, but it really needs live guitar and I'm just not that good a performer. To be continued....)
Did you ever listen to the musician "AgNO3"?
Automation engineer, lateral thinker, soldier, addicted to music, books and gaming.
Nothing to see here
Flatfingers wrote: 23.01.2017: "Show me the smoldering corpse of Perfectionist Josh"
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Re: Flatfingers's Music

#10
Flatfingers, you are going to get a heck of a lot of plays on Ambient 2. I added it to my likes list, and I play that every day while doing math... :lol:

Some days I listen to it several times through over the course of the day... :)
I am Groot.
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Re: Flatfingers's Music

#12
JanB1 wrote:Did you ever listen to the musician "AgNO3"?
I haven't yet, but that sounds like a problem I can solve. :) Thanks for the recommendation!
Detritus wrote:Flatfingers, you are going to get a heck of a lot of plays on Ambient 2. I added it to my likes list, and I play that every day while doing math... :lol:

Some days I listen to it several times through over the course of the day... :)
Thank you! I'm very glad to hear you're enjoying it.

I just got home from doing some driving around, and I was listening to it several times, too. :lol:
Lum wrote:I've just played all of them and I liked them all. Ambient 1 would be my favourite after the first playthrough :) Good work!
I appreciate that. Right now I'm still experimenting, so I will probably do some more pieces in the same style as Ambient 1 just to see how far I can take it.
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Re: Flatfingers's Music

#14
Violet's Music Box: ooh, nice! It actually most reminds me of the (fantastic) soundtrack of Amelie Poulain - especially if you would've done the melody on accordeon instead of violin. :)
Discovery Theme: yes, you succeeded pretty much in what you wanted to do :thumbup: Try to acquire a better solo violingsound, though, it's a bit too... standard midi :ghost:
Ambient 1+2: can imagine having this running in the background in some kind of sandboxy game (something minecrafty or astroneer-y

All in all: proceed good sir, you're pretty good at this :)
Warning: do not ask about physics unless you really want to know about physics.
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Re: Flatfingers's Music

#15
Thanks for the support and the constructive criticism. I appreciate both.

For Violet's Music Box, one of the sounds in it is a bandoneon -- it's the one that sounds like an accordion, which is precisely the sound I wanted there. The whole thing was imagined as a brief meditative moment for Violet Baudelaire from the "A Series of Unfortunate Events" films (hence the title), but expanded slightly to be more of a complete song. The violin seemed like the right choice for the melody, but I agree that for something so simple, it really stands out if that line isn't played by a real musician using audibly accurate and expressionistic bowing and fingering techniques.

So the point regarding the MIDI-ish sound of the violin as I've used it so far is well-taken. I'm continuing to read up on and practice techniques for getting a more natural sound from the digital samples I have. And if I do much more here, I may at some point invest in high-quality samples, or even pay to record a live professional for certain distinct parts.

I've got a number of type-of-music projects lined up, including baroque classical, house/chill, soundtrack, space game atmospherics ;) , and the next thing I'm planning, which will consist entirely of vocals. (I may or may not release that one, depending on how it goes.) All this is still experimental, so feedback of all flavors is really valuable. Thanks!

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