KVR Audio

Hezekiel · Post by **Hezekiel** » Sat Jan 30, 2016 5:11 pm

I did this first with an old version of band in a box then imported the midis to sonar x1. Somehow first the file behaved strangely making it sound out of tune but after a couple of hours I managed to put it right. Comments are welcome as always!

https://soundcloud.com/madrigal7/come-on-baby

enroe · Post by **enroe** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:42 am

Hello Hezekiel,

"come on baby" sounds like a good relaxed pop-instrumental. I remember
that Band-in-a-Box songs are very similar. But it seems that you have
transformed this BIAB-song to an inimitable unique song - very good!

I assume that the monotonous running drums a part of the concept,
the melody is played by flute alternating with a synth-sound. As I
already said, it's very relaxing recreative, it is fun to listen!

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 4:55 pm

What is a "dance ballad?"

You have strong melodies but you are the King of Uncool.

Boring General Midi sounds, pathetic drums, wimpy flutes, goofy track titles, etc.

This sounds like Muzak. Maybe they are hiring?

You are fading out in the middle of a melody!? Are you serious?

Hezekiel · Post by **Hezekiel** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 7:16 pm

[quote="enroe"]Hello Hezekiel,

"come on baby" sounds like a good relaxed pop-instrumental. I remember
that Band-in-a-Box songs are very similar. But it seems that you have
transformed this BIAB-song to an inimitable unique song - very good!

I assume that the monotonous running drums a part of the concept,
the melody is played by flute alternating with a synth-sound. As I
already said, it's very relaxing recreative, it is fun to listen!

[/quote]
Thank you enroe for your comment! The drums are samples from a sample dvd. I am glad you liked something about it.

Hezekiel · Post by **Hezekiel** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 7:31 pm

[quote="Frantz"]What is a "dance ballad?"

You have strong melodies but you are the King of Uncool.

Boring General Midi sounds, pathetic drums, wimpy flutes, goofy track titles, etc.

This sounds like Muzak. Maybe they are hiring?

You are fading out in the middle of a melody!? Are you serious?[/quote]
I thought a dance ballad would BE a suitable categorization of my tune as it is about love and could be danced to. I didn't show the lyrics as they are in Finnish and pretty bad anyway. My categorizing failed I am afraid. I feel like you are disrespectful as it says in one FAQ here. So please BE Møre respectful. I am not very good in this music thing so I make mistakes. Please be more forgiving. I am still very much learning. I was slightly offended and slightly amused by your statements. Not very nice anyway. But it was nice you seemed to like something about the tune. Thanks for commenting.

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 7:49 pm

Sorry, I probably should have softened the feedback. The melodies are good so there is potential here. However, you posted 5 tracks this month. You could be putting more effort into each track. You are not being respectful of your listeners' time by posting so much hastily produced stuff. Do you really expect us to enjoy Band-in-a-Box arrangements?

Hezekiel · Post by **Hezekiel** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:13 pm

The arrangement was ok i thought. Also maybe I thought sending melodies with better accompaniment would be a nice change from my badly played ones. I can play melodies OK but when it comes to accompaniment I suck. But you are right ideally I should send only high quality stuff. Sadly I am not at the level you for example are. So I probably should not send my music yet since it is not good enough. And I thought biab is just a tool OK to use here. I will probably still send some tunes but I try to make them according to the standards of this forum's. If I can.

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 8:38 pm

I think you should keep posting but I suggest that you put more work into each track. The tracks don't need to be high quality but it should at least sound like you are trying.

I am not at a high level musically but I am at least putting effort into each track. I only posted 3 tracks in 2015 and each was as good as I could make it.

If you are just a vocalist or guitar player, I think BIAB is a reasonable tool to provide accompaniment in absence of a band. If you are producing instrumental electronic music, I think using BIAB is kind of cheesy since it is doing the work for you.

ras.s · Post by **ras.s** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 9:13 pm

You should call it instrumental iskelmä* for that's what it sounds like. The sounds are very much on the cliché side but then I get a kind of Leevi & The Leavings type of vibe from it and I can appreciate the aesthetic, as cheesy as the track sounds. Even the king of uncool is still king compared to the fool, so just keep doing your thing.

You can check how BBIAB does its arrangements and accompaniments and learn from those, try doing something similar but without it doing the heavy lifting for you. Of course eventually you'll want to emphasise the quality, but quantity isn't necessarily bad either since that way you'll run into more musical scenarios to learn from. Just remember to keep learning ..

* finnish schlager/entertainer music

Hezekiel · Post by **Hezekiel** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 4:19 am

[quote="Frantz"]I think you should keep posting but I suggest that you put more work into each track. The tracks don't need to be high quality but it should at least sound like you are trying.

I am not at a high level musically but I am at least putting effort into each track. I only posted 3 tracks in 2015 and each was as good as I could make it.

If you are just a vocalist or guitar player, I think BIAB is a reasonable tool to provide accompaniment in absence of a band. If you are producing instrumental electronic music, I think using BIAB is kind of cheesy since it is doing the work for you.[/quote]
I try to do eldctronic music. I have 3 or 4 tunes that I made with biab in year 1997 or so and this was one of them. If I had known it is nearly forbidden to use it I would have done my cheese 'manually'. I can do the other biab tune's accompaniment that I like again manually, since biab is not liked. Ras. is right. It was meant to be schlager in the beginning but changed it a bit. I have not used biab since 1997 or so so no risk of that doing the lifting. I used it on one those multimedia projects back then. Unfortunately Idid not ccontinuedoing music instead I played a bit of guitar and lots of video games. I suck at guitar BTW. I started music producing again though not with stellar results this far. I will try to improve myself that is a promise. My life is a bit complex ATM so cannot do music so often but I try to make the best of it. Thanks for the comments guys, I trust it was said with good intentions.

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 10:54 am

melodically enjoyable, but quite boomy and weak casio auto acompaniment sounding drums.
sorry Hez, i know you comment nice things on my tracks but i gotta be honest here to help you improve.

Hezekiel · Post by **Hezekiel** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 12:37 pm

I agree there are these things you said. Funnily though, I recently bought a cheap Casio brand 'synth':D. It can BE slighly seen in my newish Soundcloud avatar photo along with my Koss PortaPro phones. Honesty is fine and the right thing to do as long as it is said in a 'nice' way. Ofc in my songs that can BE hard to do. If I hear a song that i just hate I don't comment at all. Not sure IF that is the right way either . Your music is sadly so good I cannot comment bad things from it. Sorry. Thanks for commenting and it was nice the melody was ok for you.

aaron aardvark · Post by **aaron aardvark** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 5:01 am

Hezekiel,
Thank you for the review! Now your tune: it sounds relaxing. At lower volumes it doesn't sound boomy, though at moderate volumes it does. Sounds rather 80's, which is fine by me. Melodies are good. I usually prefer something a little more weird, spacey or edgy, though your song is pleasant. Nice job.

Hezekiel · Post by **Hezekiel** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:48 am

Thank you Aaron for your review! Nicely said and I agree the mixing is pretty bad.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Sun Feb 07, 2016 12:16 am

I liked the melodies and the sounds you used to produce them. I think you need to "stretch" yourself a little more. Maybe try making a track with a "harder-edged" sound in a more up-to-date style. Perhaps you could use the melodies on here in a different context. I don't know what sound generators are available in X1, but there are plenty of free or very reasonably-priced VSTi instruments available to help you to vary the sound of your productions. Experimentation is the key.

Keep working at it

Come on baby, a dance ballad