.

Business District.mp3  (File Size: 5414KB - Downloads: 932)

As before: strange music but worth to listen to.

;JOOP!

I enjoy composing myself but not sure what genre I fall into. I’d welcome your opinions on my work and whether or not it has any type of commercial value. I haven’t been able to get much feedback other than from friends and I never know if they are being sincere. I’d love some comments, both good and bad, from other composers.

http://www.box.com/s/tbl7myn6mmv05cnk5xfm

http://www.box.com/s/gc4p2frx9vt0f4o5ge8l

http://www.box.com/s/6l7ku8i7pczij4tq1bjp

Joe

sciuriware, a tad unorthodox, isn’t it? It reminds me of the 16-bit era. Perhaps it would fit well in an action game of some sort. I’ll leave it to your imagination.

Joe, I’d classify your music as experimental synth-jazz over hip hop beats, although your overall sound closely resembles muzak (and I don’t mean that in a disparaging way). Heck, I listen to music from the NES, SMS, C64/128, etc. As far as composing is concerned, there’s a simplicity to the underlying structures which works well but your melodies could use a little work. Remember that the more sparse the arrangement, the more the melodic structure will stand out. The mid-section of Dreams of You has a nice flow to it, sort of reminiscent of Ennio Morricone (were you trying to channel his style?). One thing which intrigues me about your composing style is the way you try to develop the songs as they progress. Highly unusual to hear from an aspiring, jazz-influenced musician. It says to me that you’re willing to take some risks.

No matter what, a great tune will carry itself. Always remember this.

Thanks for stopping by.

SteelyFan:

I really appreciate the feedback. To answer your question, I wasn’t trying for a Morricone sound but I admit to being influenced by him as well as John Barry. Your suggestions were interesting about the arrangement and I will give that some consideration. While I am still trying to find myself musically,I do favor a continuous melodic content and sometimes I feel I have too many musical ideas for one work and then I struggle trying to logically connect them. I write constantly (Usually one per month) and really want to improve. It’s easy to fall in love with your own stuff but I try to be objective so again I appreciate the comments. Thanks.

Joe

Joe, you write one song per month? You should write more often than that if possible. I can come up with at least one song per day, but it’s not uncommon for me to come up with three or so different song ideas and, hopefully, all of the pieces will fall in place to complete one. You should develop your ear to the point where you can observe your own work with a critical ear. This way, you will know instinctively what works and what doesn’t. If you’re interested in melodic lines which gradually develop over time, I recommend spanish composers like Issac Albéniz and baroque, classical and romantic-period stuff.

Here, listen to this when you have the time. I used to play this on the classical guitar—it’s deceptively difficult:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6ru59tLb-I

SteelyFan:

I can write more than once a month but it takes me a while to work out the arrangement and practice it to the point where I can recorded it live. I don’t multi-track.

Yes, that is a very nice Albeniz work.

I’ve listened to every composer from Bach to Stravinsky and am a huge fan of Brazilian music, especially Jobim. I’ve listen to Albeniz’s orchestral works. I’m also a fan of Debussy, Ravel and my all time favorite: Tchaikovsky.

I have many influences, maybe too many,

Thanks Again,

Joe

Joe, I’m also very fond of Brazilian music. You have good tastes.

Here’s a tune I composed yesterday. I was trying to channel more of that classic 16-bit fanfare. Enjoy.

Stage X - The Glowing City.mp3  (File Size: 5853KB - Downloads: 1164)

SteelyFan:

I really enjoyed your composition. It was really put together well and perfectly mixed. Nice job. I t had a very smooth feel to it. I assume it was multi-tracked as you have many counter melodies that enhanced the work.

I haven’t gotten to multi-tracking yet. I prefer to play and record live to audio at this point. It’s only been about 3 years since I sold my sax and moved to keyboards so I am still learning. In fact my composing style is always changing. I was thinking about what you said concerning my melodies and I realized that I was writing more elongated melodies last year but moved toward a more jazz-influenced style of shorter phrases. I had felt that my style was out of fashion and needed changing. Here’s a sample of what I was doing last year at this time:

http://www.box.com/shared/u9n349jbxn

http://www.box.com/shared/5qf6b7kfh1

When John Barry, who’s work I enjoyed, died, I wrote two in his style.

http://www.box.com/shared/0bfvcvukez

http://www.box.com/shared/6pq1kocpf4

Joe

hey SF...you are spot on with your music

wonderwaffe, thanks again for the compliment. What have you been up to lately? Did you ever complete that pop track you’d been working on?

Joesax, glad you enjoyed it. For that particular track, I began first by ‘feeling’ the basic rhythm using my imagination and then assembling the basic harmonic track. Once I had the essential idea down, my attention shifted to creating a full arrangement. It’s a rather involved process. As for multi-tracking, correct—it is MIDI-based, after all—but I don’t have one preset method for composing/arranging. Sometimes I’ll begin with my guitar or piano (Motif-8), sometimes I’ll come up with a simple melodic line and hope it blossoms into something, sometimes I’ll experiment with sounds and textures until something clicks, etc.

It’s good that you play your stuff live. After all, jazz is a spontaneous art—you can’t really develop and hone your craft unless you’re performing it. I’ve listened to the songs you posted. Some points of observation: you tend to stretch your harmonic progressions out at bar’s length. While this makes it much easier to compose/improvise over, it also makes it more difficult to come away with something memorable. You should be willing to take more risks in the future. Unfortunately I’m not familiar with John Barry’s work, though I’ve heard his name brought up several times, therefore I’m not in a position to comment. Regardless, to dedicate work to a composer you like is admirable.

Let me tell you, when I first began composing music, I was HORRIBLE. It was all disjointed, extremely dissonant and lacked focus. I couldn’t arrange a tune to save my life. I’ll have to post something tomorrow morning just to show you (and perhaps embarrass myself).

Here are a couple of older “tunes” I composed (that’s a stretch). These should make for a painful listening experience. To think that I was actually proud of myself for composing this stuff… *sigh*

Old 1.mp3  (File Size: 2869KB - Downloads: 624)

Old 2.mp3  (File Size: 3680KB - Downloads: 556)

Well your early attempts had a lot of disconnected patterns but each pattern had some interest.

By stretching the harmonic pattern do you mean I have just one chord per measure? And therefore what I should work on is having two or more changes per measure?

Joe

My early works were extremely dissonant and disjointed. They’re hard for me to listen to.

“By stretching the harmonic pattern do you mean I have just one chord per measure? And therefore what I should work on is having two or more changes per measure?”

Yes, somewhat. I think that there’s a lot space within your compositions between changes and that you should take advantage of the myriad of possibilities to add some color/texture to them. For example, experiment with arpeggiated shapes and other textures. This can add vibrancy to the overall work. As far as arranging, consider things like placement (i.e. left-center-right), volume/EQ, what instruments should occupy the high/mid/low-end frequency space, etc. Experiment. Of course there are exceptions to everything; there are times when simplicity creates the desired effect. Be careful not to fall into complacency lest you pigeonhole your work to one fixed thing so that it all comes out sounding the same. Be adventurous and take some risks.

Lastly, take everything I said with a grain of salt. Use what is useful and dispense with the rest. Maybe we can collaborate on something, if you’re up to the task. Doesn’t need to be anything complicated.

I understand what you are saying. My limitation at the moment is my keyboard playing ability. It is improving(as I mentioned I started from scratch in mid-2008). Since I play and record live I need to get better unless I start Multi-tracking. Also I would think multi-tracking offers some of the options to do what you are suggesting.I haven’t done it yet as I don’t think that way and am more comfortable playing live. That of course requires a lot of practice as I not only have to play the lead, change the leads between the Motif and Tyros, and change the ARPs, etc., so it can get pretty crazy. I have to have my work completely committed to memory and know exactly which buttons to press and when.

Sure we could collaborate. Not sure how we do it. I’ve never done that but am willing to try.

Joe