My latest MIDI composition

[Ryan Mohr]

I am taking a Music Technology class at my high school, and we have been using MIDI for the latter half of the year. For this project we had to write lyrics first--something I am not very good at--then we were allowed to compose music. My song is very mainstream sounding pop-rock sounding. That is me singing, with some autotune in the chorus. Let me know what you think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIS1vbBYpeI

[Ryan Mohr]

22 views and no posts... I'll take any opinions at all!

[MIJ-VI]

First off, you can sing with a sense of tune & style and your voice has a pleasing timbre.

**IMPORTANT: Lose the autotune and never abuse one of your vocal tracks with it again.**

Your composition is memorably melodic and has a good verse/chorus structure, but the intro is too long and repetitive. I kept wanting the vocal (or something different) to come in sooner.

(As a general approach to arranging, I've found that if one is going to repeat something four times in a row, for example, then the 3rd repetition should take the listener to a slightly new place before the fourth one reprises the first two thus soothing the listener's comfort of familiarity.)

The busy kick drum is distracting. Try a some subtle hand percussion instead to layer a double time feel over a half time tune.

If you can do so, please remix your recording with a special emphasis on killing the autotune since it's murdering your voice.

[Ryan Mohr]

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

First off, you can sing with a sense of tune & style and your voice has a pleasing timbre.

**IMPORTANT: Lose the autotune and never abuse one of your vocal tracks with it again.**

Your composition is memorably melodic and has a good verse/chorus structure, but the intro is too long and repetitive. I kept wanting the vocal (or something different) to come in sooner.

(As a general approach to arranging, I've found that if one is going to repeat something four times in a row, for example, then the 3rd repetition should take the listener to a slightly new place before the fourth one reprises the first two thus soothing the listener's comfort of familiarity.)

The busy kick drum is distracting. Try a some subtle hand percussion instead to layer a double time feel over a half time tune.

If you can do so, please remix your recording with a special emphasis on killing the autotune since it's murdering your voice.

Thanks! I'm rather self-conscious about my voice, hence the auto-tune as a kind of "safety blanket."

I understand the intro comment, I will try to mess around with that when I go back to school.

Can you elaborate on the kick drum? I know it's a bit too loud, and I will address that when I remix the recording, but I personally like the drum beat.

[MIJ-VI]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mohr

Thanks! I'm rather self-conscious about my voice, hence the auto-tune as a kind of "safety blanket."

I understand the intro comment, I will try to mess around with that when I go back to school.

Can you elaborate on the kick drum? I know it's a bit too loud, and I will address that when I remix the recording, but I personally like the drum beat.

Hi Ryan.

You're voice is fine. Try a touch of tasteful reverb if you feel that your vocal track could use a little sauce, but please avoid effects which disrupt & obscure the subtle inflections of your vocal performance/deprive the listener of an opportunity to connect with your humanity.

If you like the kick drum part then go with it. It's your artistic vision you're pursuing, not someone else's. That being said, trying a few different kick sounds wouldn't hurt.

Also useful is mixing on as many different systems as one can in both stereo & *mono, and at quieter as well as louder volumes.

*I've found that using the same MIDI sample for two or more parts which are played together can result in said parts partially canceling each other out on some notes when an otherwise good-sounding stereo mix is heard in mono. There are a number of ways to deal with this.

So you can't do any more recording until you go back to school?