New Songs: archaic / over the horizon

[aether]

Two new songs. Wanted to try something outside the typical trance whatever. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I can compose outside of the whole trance, progressive mindset, but have at you. over the horizon is very preliminary in terms of just about everything, but I'm interested in hearing where you guys think it should go..

on the horizon [ soft rock ]

archaic [ ethnic crossover ]

Feedback, criticism, comments, and what not .. I'd love to hear it.

P.S. I missed you guys. School's brutal.

[DjRandom]

Im listening to Archaic now:
The string pattern you use needs to be more variant but sounds really nice. I like the plucking instrument alot sounds really cool.

Over the horizon doesn't download for me it gives me a 404 when i try to open it in FF and if i right click save as it doesnt download so fix that ^^!

Edit: I figured out what it really reminds me of! during the time when AA was announced as a IIDX song someone made a song called Amuro Eternia (i think it was DJ Playskool or something during 6.0) and the part with the strings reminds me of it. I realize the pattern of the strings actually fits nicely so forget what I said it took a bit to grow on me !

[Beer Can]

Listening to Over the Horizon now. What did you use for the guitar? For line-in recording, it seems really clear, so I'm very curious. As for the song itself, it seems a bit repetitive up through the first half. Not in an annoying way, though. It makes for very nice mood music. I like the addition at 3:30. The attack volume of that part is JUST BARELY a little too loud I think, but the melody is very nice. Very mellow piece overall. I'd give it a 9/10... just a little repetitive at parts, and especially around the middle of the song, it could have benefited from a little more complexity in the melody. But again, very nice. Great piece to just chill to.

Archaic comes on a bit harder. A fade-in might have been nice, but no big deal. The piece shift around 0:48 certainly gets that ethnic feel, then it's back to the strings at 1:24. Another mellow part around 2 minutes. And 2:40 is back to the strings. I'm going to agree with djRandom and take it another step: the piece in general feels underdeveloped, and repeats itself without much variation. It has potential for more, it just feels like it was a bit rushed. So I'm giving it an 8/10. Great eq'ing, composition is unique, and it certainly gives the feel you were going for... it's just a bit underdeveloped.

As for school being brutal, I hear you. If IPOC was any indication, there simply isn't enough time to put forth as much effort as I'd like into music. Oh well. Good luck with everything!

[aether]

Thank you both for your input.

You know what? I actually labeled the thread wrong. The song's called "ON the horizon", not "over" .. but I digress.

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archaic:
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I agree with both of you. I notice that if you skip ahead in my music, it's almost as if you didn't skip at all. I've got a big problem with variation. Foundations are fine, but building on that foundation has never been my strongest suit. If anyone has any advice on how they expand on ideas, I'd more than love to hear them. I don't know what happens, but the final product, often every song I pump out, ends up going through the same chord progression all throughout ...

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on the horizon:
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All the instruments in this song were from Hypersonic.

I'm either going to change the chord structure up and do something with that guitar that comes in the end, or I'm going to keep the progression the same, and give flamenco throughout a shot. Can't promise it'll be that great, but here goes anyways.

... after this week. After all the projects, and presentations, and cramming gets done.

[Rush More!]

what you were saying about the lack of string variation in archaic, I can't speak for anyone else, but I used to have the exact same problem. Then, I learned a little trick to increase the variation in drum patterns with sputnik. When you first write a pattern, write the basic one, then write several other ones that have some degree of variation by Copy and pasting, then editing notes and rythms. I don't really think that's the main problem with archaic, though. At least to me, its not that there isn't variation (though there really isn't a great deal, at least in the strings and drums), but its that there is no progression. You seem to express the same chord the same way throughout the entire song. that is what I would reccomend working on. Not bad at all, though, and like all of your stuff.

School may be brutal, but I'd have to say I honestly don't know if it can compare to the college application proccess. Still, I think everybody in MP is struggling to balance music and either school or the rest of their lives, which is why it's been pretty slow lately.