I’m working on making music that doesn’t suck. Bleepy electropop, to be precise. Using LMMS, a cheap’n’cheerful open source clone of FruityLoops. I’ve been an avid record nerd for nearly thirty years now, it’s time I saw what I could do.
Current state: First demo. Something almost done. A minor diversion. I’m getting to know the capabilities and limitations of LMMS and Audacity (which is basically the four-track we all wanted twenty years ago as a computer program). I’m accumulating a huge pile of fragments, which need putting together into actual pieces. I’m still looking for the sounds I’m after and learning more about sound and how to make what I want—a goal in mind. I’m learning how to do a mix on crappy speakers.
Hard parts: I have no musicianly ability whatsoever. My girlfriend (who is one of these people who can pick up pretty much any instrument and get something usable out of it) insists I learn a few chords on guitar. Also, for a writer, I’m finding it ridiculously difficult to come up with lyrics that I don’t instantly think are awful.
Goals: Make something I think is good and other people think is good.
Why: because I feel like it and it amuses me.
Value to humanity: utterly minimal. Value to me: keeps me amused and out of trouble.
I didn’t think much of the salmon or hammers tracks, but Opus I had an interesting sort of melody going on; if there were a full-length version of that (rather than 20 seconds), I think I’d enjoy it quite a bit.
From the previous −1 of my comment and your headdesking, I sense I am missing something here. Am I supposed to not like Opus I but like the salmon or hammer tracks, or something like that?
The last comment on the linked post said what it was!
What, like I read everything I see? You think I’m made out of time or something?
The next one will be about a spider and a waterspout
The sad thing is, even being told in advance what the melody is, I still have difficulty recognizing it.
I bet no-one’s ever written a song for you before.
I has a theme song! It even sounds a bit sinister! Well. Obviously I have to link that on http://www.gwern.net—it’s not every joe schmoe that has his own theme song, you know.
(unmixed mp3, will change for the better tomorrow when I can mix it on the crappy speakers. Requests taken, 10 karma for a slice of brilliance from my fragments pile with a public domain melody over it! Roll up! Roll up!)
Edit: Now mixed. Though there’s still artifact problems in the 128kbps mp3 that just aren’t present in the source WAV file—that’s certainly an interesting problem I’d hitherto not encountered. Linked version is 192kbps, no (bad enough) artifacts.
If you are wanting to learn simple guitar, the single best resource I know of is http://chordie.com . This is just a collection of chords and lyrics for songs, as you’ll find all over the net, but the most useful feature is the ability to transpose the songs into different keys automatically (it also has settings for non-guitar instruments which were invaluable for me in learning the banjo, mandolin and ukulele).
I’m working on making music that doesn’t suck. Bleepy electropop, to be precise. Using LMMS, a cheap’n’cheerful open source clone of FruityLoops. I’ve been an avid record nerd for nearly thirty years now, it’s time I saw what I could do.
Current state: First demo. Something almost done. A minor diversion. I’m getting to know the capabilities and limitations of LMMS and Audacity (which is basically the four-track we all wanted twenty years ago as a computer program). I’m accumulating a huge pile of fragments, which need putting together into actual pieces. I’m still looking for the sounds I’m after and learning more about sound and how to make what I want—a goal in mind. I’m learning how to do a mix on crappy speakers.
Hard parts: I have no musicianly ability whatsoever. My girlfriend (who is one of these people who can pick up pretty much any instrument and get something usable out of it) insists I learn a few chords on guitar. Also, for a writer, I’m finding it ridiculously difficult to come up with lyrics that I don’t instantly think are awful.
Goals: Make something I think is good and other people think is good.
Why: because I feel like it and it amuses me.
Value to humanity: utterly minimal. Value to me: keeps me amused and out of trouble.
I didn’t think much of the salmon or hammers tracks, but Opus I had an interesting sort of melody going on; if there were a full-length version of that (rather than 20 seconds), I think I’d enjoy it quite a bit.
(headdesk) Just wait until Opus II, which will be about a spider and a waterspout.
From the previous −1 of my comment and your headdesking, I sense I am missing something here. Am I supposed to not like Opus I but like the salmon or hammer tracks, or something like that?
It’s “Three Blind Mice”. (And I voted you up!)
/relistens
Oh, so it is. I’m such a musical dunce.
I bet no-one’s ever written a song for you before.
What, like I read everything I see? You think I’m made out of time or something?
The sad thing is, even being told in advance what the melody is, I still have difficulty recognizing it.
I has a theme song! It even sounds a bit sinister! Well. Obviously I have to link that on http://www.gwern.net—it’s not every joe schmoe that has his own theme song, you know.
Changing the beat, the scale and the chords probably doesn’t help.
(Great artists steal. Therefore, theft is great art. This is fallacious, but you get more songs that way.)
Gwern titles such pretty music. Can I have one too? Maybe “White Coral Bells”, or if that’s hard to find, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”?
If that’s “pretty”, I expect you used “Sack Of Hammers” as a lullaby.
I feel like Sure I’ll Draw That on Reddit …
(unmixed mp3, will change for the better tomorrow when I can mix it on the crappy speakers. Requests taken, 10 karma for a slice of brilliance from my fragments pile with a public domain melody over it! Roll up! Roll up!)
Edit: Now mixed. Though there’s still artifact problems in the 128kbps mp3 that just aren’t present in the source WAV file—that’s certainly an interesting problem I’d hitherto not encountered. Linked version is 192kbps, no (bad enough) artifacts.
Thank you :D
The last comment on the linked post said what it was!
That’s it. The next one will be about a spider and a waterspout and will be called “Gwern”!
If you are wanting to learn simple guitar, the single best resource I know of is http://chordie.com . This is just a collection of chords and lyrics for songs, as you’ll find all over the net, but the most useful feature is the ability to transpose the songs into different keys automatically (it also has settings for non-guitar instruments which were invaluable for me in learning the banjo, mandolin and ukulele).