Life in 3D Space Gardens

Tim_Harbour

This is just a track I've been working on, inspired by Fez music style wise as well as the weird ambient feel. I don't really expect any comments :P but if you are so inclined go ahead, just sharing :D

https://soundcloud.com/crumpled_muppet/life-in-3d-space-gardens-1st

creative630

Awesome! I can definitely hear the Fez influence coming out.
I really like the progressions you go through, like the white noise background + blips in the middle and the buildup at the end. I think the base melody could do with some more variation earlier-on (or more often) but otherwise your chiptune style is rad :)

EvanGreenwood

For a moment I thought you were making music for the game Pixel People (which is kind of a game about life in space gardens... and has some pretty good music: ...skip to 10 minutes in)

Definitely Fez like ^_^ ...I also like the structure... for some reason Greetings From Tuskan came to mind: https://soundcloud.com/greetingsfromtuskan/fragile Although her more glitchy work and (the melancholy tone) on Bike for Three was really what it was reminding me of

I like the section at the end the most. It gets a bit glitchy (in a good way I mean), and there are more layers to the melody there.

If I can make a suggestion there, you've got a tone sliding downwards during the end section. Most of your track keeps away from the bass frequencies, but it feels like you could utilize the downward sliding synth to fill that space and get a fuller sound, which I feel like the glitchier sections demand, though the dreamy build up doesn't necessarily. And more contrast between the build up and the glitchy payoff could strenthen the composition perhaps?

It's a bit unfair to post here, but some of the Fez remix stuff is flipping cool. I really like how dense it is (though obviously it's a ton of work and reworking to get a track to that point): http://disasterpeace.com/track/sync-glitch

Love the direction you're working in! Thanks for sharing!

Tim_Harbour

Thanks for the pointers everyone! Creative 630 I actually dont use any bass until the end part of the song, do you mean possibly vary the recurring theme synth thing I got going from the intro?

Also thanks for all the links there Blackships, I will be checking it out shortly. In regards to your suggestion, I am slightly confused as to what you mean, the bass does the sliding down part, are you recommending adding another synth that accentuates that slide? Or to modify the synths I'm already using to bring that out?

I have checked those tracks of Disasterpeace...I actually been listening to his stuff non stop since I bought the soundtrack. Sync has to be one of my favourite tracks at the moment and that glitch track is just insane!! Did you check that talk I posted of Disasterpeace on the music in Fez? If you haven't you must check it out!

Thanks for all the tips and pointers guys! This is really want I want and need! Feedback is essential to improve.

Might change the bits of you guys mentioned but I've had a habit recently of trying to finish stuff and move on so if I don't change the piece I might incorporate your ideas into the next thing I do! :D

:D

EvanGreenwood

Well if anything I wrote gave you anything to think about then that's great. I certainly wouldn't expect the track to be changed to fit my custom tastes :)

There is a synth in the last part of your track that slides down in pitch and keeps on repeating. Tracks like sync by disasterpeace have slidy cool melodic basslines, so I was wondering what it'd sound like to experiment in that direction. The glitch sync track has a bunch of subsonic bass bits that come in with the kick drum and compress out the rest of the sound... it sounds like animatronic drunk elephant stumbling in a fireworks and glitter factory.

creative630

@Tim_Harbour Yeah when I said "base melody" I meant the reoccurring theme from the beginning (not bass melody :P). I just kept waiting for the theme to change a little more, or taking the focus away from it more prominently and bringing it back strongly again. However, I might just be overly sensitive to repetition since the vast amount of repetition in my writing was pointed out to me recently :/

Tim_Harbour

@BlackShipsFilltheSky Haha! Awesome description. I know what you mean when referring to Disasterpeace but I'm still not sure how to achieve that properly, it is something I aim for though :D.

@creative630 I know what you mean, I did battle with trying to keep the main part interesting but still not too changy, it's a hard thing to get right that's why i did the filtering in the beginning with the melody and add different effects at different times to make it less tedious but I get where you are coming from and it is something I struggle with in general when trying to make something palatable, I get stuck on the repetition so I totally get where you are coming from!

In general I really appreciate the tips and any bit of feedback is awesome, and all relevant so thanks so much guys! :D

I'll post more when I have something new!

EvanGreenwood

Speaking of repetition, there is a style of tech house that specifically goes out of it's way to be repetitive, setting up expectations in the minds of listeners and then playing with those expectations, and being awesome despite offering the listener such miniscule rewards... and so discouraging active listening (making it ideal music to program to):



(I'm certain a buttload of avant-garde classical composers do this as well, and take it to wonderful and exciting places, but I like The Field's results a lot more)

creative630

Woah, thats quite unique... I have never thought of doing something like that for that kind of purpose. Its pretty cool :)

[Edit:] I finally found myself looking where the music had gone a while after the song stopped. I had gotten so used to it just plodding along in the background that I started missing it when I finally noticed it was gone.

Tim_Harbour

Awesome, I have seen stuff like this before, I've actually gotten into like a lot of ambient/psychedelic metal that is also really repetitive, I found that was awesome for working cos it never changes too drastically.



I mean it's a quite different in terms of it has different sections but the texture what's interesting, esp not being able to hear the vocals properly.]

This is a great recent inspiration for ambient stuff, from 1978 so it's quite old but really awesome ambience, just feels nice to leave on and get on with shit.



There are lot of modern classical stuff that does it as well, but sometimes it can get a bit wanky, so I prefer stuff like the above

EvanGreenwood

Damn, that Otis is fine! Hadn't heard that before! (And Brian Eno is classic of course)

If you enjoy Otis I'd wager you'd appreciate Comets on Fire (which is what it reminded me of a bit, except Otis is much sludgier/heavier/metal-er)



My personal favourite style when it comes to ambience that I want to work to is drone music:



Though when it comes to working I'm rather partial to post-rock, great sludgy metal (like Otis), noise-rock (like Lightning Bolt or Fennesz or A Place to Bury Strangers), Fang Island, 80s Dream Synth like Lazer Hawk and especially glitchy jazz elctro awesome, like Flying Lotus:





Thanks for the Otis suggestion! (Getting my grubby hands on some of it now).

Tim_Harbour

Awesome, got loads and loads of tunes like that so I'll post some more on another thread sometime :D Thanks for all the new music, I've never heard of some of this! Gonna do some listening! :D :D