Post by: Moss. on December 28, 2013, 06:40:13 PM
A music dude I know put this up on Facebook. It's a challenge! Write a new song every week, any style, and the focus isn't on production, it's on the creativity!
Write a new track every week, and upload it to the site!
DO IT!
I'm doing it, because I'm in a huge slump right now, and I think this would really help me get out of it.
Get in on this! Maybe we can collaborate some weeks, or do theme weeks, or something like that.
More info here: http://weeklybeats.com/
Post by: Moss. on December 28, 2013, 06:41:22 PM
http://weeklybeats.com/#/haloofthesun
http://weeklybeats.com/#/ryan+leber
Post by: Moss. on December 28, 2013, 06:41:42 PM
DO IT DO IT DO IT
Post by: haloOfTheSun on December 29, 2013, 01:44:08 AM
Post by: Jules on December 29, 2013, 02:21:06 AM
I'm kinda excited to see what you guys do. ^_^
HALO, DO. IT. NOW!
Post by: haloOfTheSun on December 29, 2013, 09:34:47 PM
I think I'll do it but I probably won't start right away since things are so hectic right now.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on December 29, 2013, 10:33:41 PM
Post by: Moss. on December 30, 2013, 03:53:11 AM
Post by: Arrow on December 30, 2013, 08:14:07 PM
Post by: haloOfTheSun on December 31, 2013, 12:59:04 AM
Post by: Moss. on December 31, 2013, 03:43:44 AM
Maybe later down the road we can coordinate. Have, like, RMRK theme weeks, where we all do a set style.
Post by: pacdiggity on December 31, 2013, 03:51:13 AM
Post by: haloOfTheSun on December 31, 2013, 04:46:41 AM
This past year has been shit for me. I've been in such a horrible dry spell that this first track is going to just be whatever comes out of me. It probably won't make sense, and it'll probably be all over the place, style-wise. But I don't care. It will be. That's the point, as far as I'm concerned. At least in the beginning of this competition.
Maybe later down the road we can coordinate. Have, like, RMRK theme weeks, where we all do a set style.
Sometimes just writing randomness can result in some pretty cool ideas, and I'll probably do that at least a few times for this thing. A lot of musicians and composers seem to think they should just be able to sit down and write a song from beginning to end. And while that is certainly how it goes sometimes, that will just send you straight into a creative brick wall other times. Stream of consciousness - better than writing nothing at all!
And I'm all for doing a few theme weeks, even if it's free-form gypsy jazz disco fusion.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 02, 2014, 05:32:56 AM
Apparently it's also against the rules to upload works in progress which I guess this constitutes as since it's untitled and isn't technically finished - I got to the end of the piece but it's not exactly polished and ready to go. Not like they'd be able to tell anyway.
Hope people like it and good luck to the rest of you on finishing this week!
Post by: Arrow on January 02, 2014, 06:06:13 AM
Post by: Arrow on January 02, 2014, 08:37:15 AM
I wrote this in about four hours. Super simple, but I wanted it to be. I wanted it to feel natural rather than like, hewn from a fucking rock, like so many of my larger efforts do. This was fun! Especially the crowd noise around the middle. There are four characters in it, if you can pick them out.
Post by: Jules on January 02, 2014, 12:11:16 PM
Post by: Moss. on January 02, 2014, 04:36:37 PM
Arrow, your track is goddamn awesome. Very cool chord changes. Super funky. The laughing in the middle was a nice way to break things up. Adding voice is a great way to immediately kick a track up a notch, even if it is a sample or sound effect.
There's so much old school RPG influence here, haha.
I'm absolutely nowhere with my track. I wrote about 5 10-15 seconds things this week, and I hated all of them. :\
I want to do something exciting, like an introduction. I think I have an idea, but it's clear that I'm incredibly out of practice. It's such a ridiculous chore just to get myself to sit down and write. I wish I could write here at work, but I actually have WORK to do. :mad:
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 02, 2014, 04:49:39 PM
Arrow - I really like yours. It definitely sounds like it's right out of an SNES game. Are you using samples from anything specific by any chance? For some reason Secret of Mana popped in my head while listening to the flute, but I don't think that's right. Anyway, very creative. Nothing wrong with simple if you do it right.
Good luck, arlen. It can be difficult getting back into it after not writing for so long.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 02, 2014, 05:26:16 PM
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Post by: Moss. on January 02, 2014, 05:39:53 PM
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 02, 2014, 05:47:08 PM
Post by: Moss. on January 02, 2014, 06:09:48 PM
Post by: Arrow on January 02, 2014, 06:20:08 PM
Alucard: Offended at Left
Dracula: Punched at Right
Richter: Empathetic laughter at Left
and of course Magus.
Thanks, you guys, I am beyond flattered. ; w ;
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 02, 2014, 06:22:57 PM
Post by: pacdiggity on January 03, 2014, 02:55:23 AM
Be gentle, it's my first time :x
Post by: Arrow on January 03, 2014, 03:46:54 AM
I guess I should say, I really like how this moves. It feels very complete and solid all the way through. You switch through almost corny-positive moods to tension and very slight depression, back and forth, and you do it well.
Excellent work. I am STOKED to hear what you write next week.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 03, 2014, 03:59:09 AM
Post by: pacdiggity on January 03, 2014, 04:03:24 AM
Thanks Arrow ol' buddy ol' pal
The only criticism is that from around 2:30 to the end it seems a bit like you got lost and were just kind of meandering.That is exactly what happened, and I'm kind of okay with it.
Beautiful. You chose all the perfect chords [...] Still very nice though. I'm jealous.This coming from you just feels... humbling? Yeah. Thank you.
Post by: Moss. on January 03, 2014, 04:09:43 AM
Still, at least you got something down.
In other news ... I think I have a perforated ear drum. My left ear hurts when I swallow. No hearing loss, just ... fucking ouch. Dammit all.
Post by: Arrow on January 03, 2014, 04:23:53 AM
Post by: Moss. on January 03, 2014, 05:13:13 PM
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 03, 2014, 05:20:42 PM
My eardrums are damaged because of years of performing loud music in semi-confined spaces, so sometimes loud stuff can hurt my ears. That sounds much worse though.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 03, 2014, 11:47:09 PM
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/355574/untitled%2025.pdf
Post by: Moss. on January 05, 2014, 11:01:07 PM
Can I mp3 link attachments?
I can!
This week was ridiculous. Lots of good and bad things happening, and not much room for writing. Hopefully next week will be better.
(My ear is getting better, by the way. Fewer "pops" every day, haha. I'm sure I'll be fine as long as I'm not stupid anymore.)
I'm also SUPER excited because I ordered my first microphones (an SM57 and SM58), and they should be here soon. Can't wait to actually give recording a try!
Also, I'll start organizing this thread, pulling submissions together so everything's easier to find once this really gets going.
Post by: Moss. on January 06, 2014, 01:17:02 AM
http://weeklybeats.com/#/ryan+leber
Post by: Arrow on January 06, 2014, 05:29:01 AM
Okay, that opening is SMOOTH. I was instantly reminded of FF13. Majorly jealous of your ability to make soundfonts sound NATURAL. I am probably going to pester you about that at some point.
I fucking love the way this swells. I can already tell I'm gonna feel like a total clown posting after you.
Okay admittedly I feel like that stringed instrument that came in was kinda harsh. Once it starts playing more quickly I feel like it fits better, but that's totally an OPINION thing. It still sounds GOOD. The notes are great. I just feel like it's hammering on my ear a bit hard.
Love the synth over the piano. Love it a lot. The chords in this whole thing are awesome.
You rule, as always, way to go. With a handicap no less. Song just ended.
And now at the kiddy table...
Tried using F-Zero samples for the first time. Let's see how you all think that turned out.
Post by: Moss. on January 06, 2014, 06:09:31 PM
Like those piano chords. They're three note chords, but not all 3 notes sound off at EXACTLY the same time, they're just ever so slightly off, like just the tiniest fraction of a beat, just like it is when a human being plays them (because I am a human being, and I played them). But, uh, yeah that's something to consider when you want your music to sound natural. You don't really notice that it's just ever so slightly off, but it IS noticeable if it's perfect. And that's not always a good thing.
I do edit and tweak the MIDI data after I record, though, but only if my timing was way off, or that one note was way too loud/soft. But never aim for perfection with MIDI data. You can tweak it yourself to allow for slight changes in how heavy each note it hit, or making each note just so slightly off beat (without REALLY being noticeable, it's all about subtlety), but if you use Logic there is an algorithm you can just "apply" to the data. It's called "humanize." It's a bit much by default, and you need to tweak the settings and dial it back a bit for it to be effective, but ... yeah, that's pretty much it, I think.
I do hear what you're saying about the harshness of that instrument (it's a koto). I wanted something weird and enthnic-y, but the acoustic Koto was weak, and I couldn't find a good instrument to layer it with, so I thought "shit, put a guitar amp on it." And yeah, haha, I kept it that way.
I'll check out your track when I get home from work.
AND DONT FORGET TO POST YOUR WEEKLY BEETS PROFILE PAGE!
Post by: bluntsword on January 06, 2014, 06:13:44 PM
Arrow, I like it! Very snes but with the extra background I don't think was possible in that medium.
The piano piece is good as well Pac!
Sorry to all, I'm at a loss for cool musical terms.
"I like music. This is music. I like this."
Edit- FYI. Clicking submit on quick reply WILL take you to another page and away from the beats.
Sigh.
Edit 2- Play all the songs on this thread at once and try not to get a headache. I dare you.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 06, 2014, 06:19:16 PM
Post by: Arrow on January 06, 2014, 08:45:53 PM
Post by: Moss. on January 06, 2014, 09:26:46 PM
But yeah, your first week will be empty. But whatever, it's not like this is some super strict contest or anything, it's very self-governed.
Sorry, I thought I mentioned in the opening post about uploading the tracks to the WeeklyBeats website. :\
Post by: Moss. on January 06, 2014, 11:26:30 PM
http://weeklybeats.com/#/nonnon/music/k9d
http://weeklybeats.com/#/ilkke/music/wavefoam
http://weeklybeats.com/#/karwa/music/chord-simple
http://weeklybeats.com/#/an0va/music/slopelujah
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 08, 2014, 06:35:01 AM
I haven't started on this week's track yet. I'm going to try and whip up something real quick tomorrow since I don't really have much time for it this week, so it'll probably be something very simple.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 08, 2014, 11:01:04 PM
Oh yeah, I decided that next week I'm going to try writing something with the volume muted. If anyone else thinks writing music without being able to hear it is a good idea (because you're Beethoven or stupid), then join me!
EDIT: Turns out the harp was turned almost all the way down for some reason. Fixed and reuploaded. Oops. :x
Post by: EvilM00s on January 09, 2014, 12:55:54 AM
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 09, 2014, 01:49:10 AM
I'm afraid that would get rather boring for you quickly, unfortunately. The process is about 20% writing and 80% listening to what I wrote over and over until I get ideas on how to improve what's written or how to continue the piece. Starts out exciting but hearing the same thing so many times in a row gets old real fast. Except for little bits like this one, which was done in 3 passes.
Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed it! <3
Post by: pacdiggity on January 09, 2014, 11:03:45 PM
I'm really anxious about printing scores, though, because just one error could mean having to reprint over 200 pages .___.
Post by: Moss. on January 10, 2014, 12:16:48 AM
Halo, your file wouldn't play so I download it instead. Nice, evocative track. I wish there was more nuance in volume levels, though. Like, I'm sure in a final project you wouldn't have the strings IN and the same volume and then OUT, there would be fades/cresc/decresc, and I'd love to hear this track with that kind of attention put in. But that aside, I still love it. I'll just have to imagine what it would sound like with real instruments. :3
Pac, dude, that would be so epic, especially if you uploaded it to the weekly beats website. Having recorded music on there would blow peoples minds, since it's primarily electronic music, and I'm positive they would welcome the change. Can't wait to hear it!
Here's what I have on the burner on my end. Yeah, chiptune, lol. I wanted to write something absolutely manic, and ... okay, yeah, I really, really wanted to show off how crazy I could get with chord progressions, and leave the time signature stuff for another week. This still needs a lot of work (because I love working straight up to a deadline, seems to help me come up with better ideas ... sometimes). Like, I want to have the B section work back in to the A section again, and THEN play the B section that's there, which spirals down in to the vastly different section. So it'll be, like, Intro A B1(needs to be written) A B2(what's already there) C and so on...
But I did just get in my new microphones today, and they're pretty awesome, so I might save this for next week and just do something live, I dunno.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 10, 2014, 12:45:45 AM
Yeah, there's no dynamics at all in it. I really really hate the way Sibelius handles dynamics so I didn't want to invest the time into making it work right. I'm glad you like it though.
Pacman, that's awesome. Good luck with that!
Post by: Gracie on January 10, 2014, 02:39:52 AM
YOU'RE ALL SO GOOD I CAN'T STAND IT.
Makes me wanna play piano or something.
Post by: EvilM00s on January 10, 2014, 02:56:12 AM
Please continue, everyone.
Post by: Moss. on January 13, 2014, 12:40:49 AM
http://weeklybeats.com/#/ryan+leber/music/i-dont-even-know
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 13, 2014, 02:23:56 AM
I don't think mine is going to go over very well... lol. I guess my almost non-existent production values aren't really a very good fit, but oh well.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 16, 2014, 03:09:56 AM
As for this week, I'll be starting on my entry tomorrow. Writing it with volume on mute! Should be interesting.
Post by: pacdiggity on January 16, 2014, 03:34:26 AM
I might do a muted one this week too, that'll be... interesting.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 16, 2014, 03:44:00 AM
Post by: PhoenixFire on January 16, 2014, 05:25:13 AM
Post by: EvilM00s on January 16, 2014, 05:06:40 PM
And Ryan, your piece was... well, fun! I enjoyed it quite a bit!
Gahhh, screw you people and your mad talent... :jelly:
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 16, 2014, 06:11:40 PM
Post by: pacdiggity on January 16, 2014, 10:44:42 PM
I heard one of Pac's choral pieces before. It was beautiful, so not to put him on the spot, but I have no reason to think this one won't be. Waiting patiently.I think this one's even better than last year's. It's so incredible to have your own piece workshopped and performed by a (kinda?) professional group in front of you. I don't think I've personally received so much applause before that concert.
Sorry to keep you all waiting, I'm still unsure who has the recordings and when we'll be getting them.
Post by: pacdiggity on January 17, 2014, 03:06:24 AM
You may notice some silly silly noises in the background towards the end of the recording. This is because there were children in the audience from a piece earlier in the concert, and children often grow restless and start playing with shit. Also someone sneezed. What a dick.
The interviewer / mocker of my bowing abilities is Australian composer Paul Stanhope (that is the name I referred to him by the whole week he was mentoring me), who is, like, such a genius. In the audience was also the head of composition at the university I'm going to, so that's cool, I guess.
Post by: Moss. on January 17, 2014, 04:40:11 AM
Sorry Halo, but I'm not participating in the whole blind music thing. :\
I did start recording some acoustic guitar today, and that's the first time I've done that, so that's pretty exciting. I got myself a Shure SM57 and SM58 last week as a late Christmas gift. It's actually turning out really good. All I really have to do is ... finish writing the song... which I guess I'm kind of doing as I record, LOL.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 17, 2014, 05:28:11 AM
No big deal about not joining in, arlen. Just a little experiment for this week. And if I had gotten new recording equipment I know I'd want to use it right away, too.
As for me, I think I've gotten to the end of this piece. I still haven't listened to it. Tomorrow I'm going to go in and add some shaping and decide if I want to keep going with it or change anything. It's a hard thing to gauge, though, since I don't really know what it sounds like lol. I mean, I still have a couple days to write, but I only vaguely know what I'm writing anyway, so does it really need that extra polish? Fiddling with it more may just make it worse. And once I listen to it I'm not going to change anything, so I may just trust my instincts and call it done. You can keep writing and refining for ages but at some point you just have to close it and move on - a lesson my professor taught me that I'm still trying to learn lol
Post by: EvilM00s on January 18, 2014, 01:16:01 AM
Aaaaand Pac delivers again. Well done. My lady was listening and she says, "In the mood for classical, huh?"
I say "nah, it's my friend (Pac) from RMRK. He wrote this."
"Woah... no shit? That's awesome! Nononono, keep playing it!"
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 18, 2014, 05:32:24 AM
I think the end sounds more like a transition than an ending, but oh well, that's what happens when you can't hear what you're doing. Surprisingly everything flows pretty well. Anyway, sorry if this hurt your ears.
Post by: Moss. on January 20, 2014, 12:06:15 AM
https://soundcloud.com/ryanleber/yours
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 20, 2014, 11:18:24 PM
I'm already almost done with this week's. I decided to do a solo piano piece because I haven't written an original one in a very long time.
Post by: haloOfTheSun on January 21, 2014, 07:27:27 AM
Post by: EvilM00s on January 22, 2014, 06:52:09 PM
Post by: Moss. on January 25, 2014, 04:43:59 PM
Post by: Moss. on February 02, 2014, 08:19:23 PM
...seems to be working out for me, though...
Post by: Moss. on February 10, 2014, 03:09:19 AM
http://weeklybeats.com/#/ryan+leber/music/wasted
Post by: haloOfTheSun on February 10, 2014, 03:50:30 AM
I'm starting to get very busy but I managed to do a percussion ensemble piece. I haven't done one of those in like... years or something. I forgot to make some of the rolls sound nicer but that's alright.
http://weeklybeats.com/#/haloofthesun/music/passing-time
Post by: Arrow on February 19, 2014, 12:05:39 PM
EDIT:
Got a new tool for writing called Kontakt. This and the SNESology project's sample sets have allowed me to work with sounds I didn't have in my arsenal. Here's something I put together to test SCIV's samples.
Post by: Moss. on February 20, 2014, 04:35:54 AM
http://weeklybeats.com/#/ryan+leber/music/industry
I'm gonna organize this shit eventually. Arrow, link to your weeklybeats page, or if you're not using one, your soundcloud or something so I can gather all these tracks up!
Post by: haloOfTheSun on February 20, 2014, 04:48:05 AM
This week I have a lot of free time so I'm taking the sketches I did from Week 2 and I'm just writing and writing and writing. I'm just gonna keep going until it's time to stop. I've got 8 minutes so far lol
Post by: Arrow on February 20, 2014, 10:00:09 PM
Post by: Irock on February 20, 2014, 10:03:33 PM
Post by: haloOfTheSun on February 24, 2014, 04:50:52 AM
http://weeklybeats.com/#/haloofthesun/music/orpheus-descends
Post by: pacdiggity on February 27, 2014, 01:35:50 PM
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME PLEASE.
i'm sorry the ending is nowhere near as beautiful as the beginning :( i got even more bored.
also would it be silly of me to make an account on the website this late?
Post by: haloOfTheSun on February 27, 2014, 07:02:38 PM
Go ahead and make an account, it makes it easy to keep track of things and then you also don't have to use your own dorpbox space for stuff. Most people there don't end up making a song every week. I've seen profiles of people who joined in the beginning but still have only put out 2 or 3 songs so far.
Post by: Jules on February 27, 2014, 10:52:28 PM
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN TIM GETS BORED AND SPENDS TWO HOURS FUCKING ABOUT ON A KEYBOARD
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME PLEASE.
i'm sorry the ending is nowhere near as beautiful as the beginning :( i got even more bored.
also would it be silly of me to make an account on the website this late?
Lovely :ladyj:
Post by: EvilM00s on February 28, 2014, 05:41:00 PM
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN TIM GETS BORED AND SPENDS TWO HOURS FUCKING ABOUT ON A KEYBOARD
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME PLEASE.
i'm sorry the ending is nowhere near as beautiful as the beginning :( i got even more bored.
also would it be silly of me to make an account on the website this late?
If I close my eyes I can imagine this playing over a professional RPG opening. Like, a Final Fantasy, the way they made them around X, possibly even VII.
Post by: Arrow on March 02, 2014, 10:30:20 AM
I'm just trying to get the basic structure down and get the notes right. The percussion is whisper quiet except for the snares and the bass is hard to pick up on in places, and that makes this hard. I'm hoping to start off with a mostly faithful playthrough of the original material, then build on it with my own ideas. Y'know, the same shit I've done with megaman since I was 14 and dicking around in tabit. :P
WIP - Very rough:
Source:
Post by: EvilM00s on March 02, 2014, 01:52:46 PM
Post by: Arrow on March 02, 2014, 06:17:49 PM
Post by: Moss. on March 14, 2014, 04:01:45 AM
I've been hyper-shitty about keeping you guys updated, but I HAVE been keeping up with the challenge ... even if I haven't been keeping up with uploading said challenge tracks to soundcloud. But I HAVE kept up on the actual weekly beats site.
http://weeklybeats.com/#/ryan+leber
https://soundcloud.com/ryanleber/sets/weekly-beats-2014
edit: damn, tried to link to a set, and it totally just linked to some dude I don't know's random track, haha
Post by: haloOfTheSun on March 14, 2014, 05:13:27 AM
Post by: pacdiggity on March 28, 2014, 02:41:58 AM
Post by: Moss. on April 11, 2014, 10:56:36 PM
All my tracks are on soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/ryanleber/sets/weekly-beats-2014) ... though there's like a ... bit of a delay. I swear I finished them on time (http://weeklybeats.com/#/ryan+leber) I just don't want to upload them and share them on the due date, because that's Sunday at 8:00 pm, and who the hell is going to listen to it at a time like that? And then I forget completely.
OKAY. From now on, I'm going to catch up. I'll post one on here every couple of days until I'm caught up, and then I'll DEFINITELY post it every Sunday.
Post by: Moss. on April 11, 2014, 11:00:31 PM
and week 11
That's all for now, don't want to burn you guys out.