Selig Audio March Live Stream Thursday March 9, 2023, 20:00 UTC

[selig]

Me again, and today we're talking about the line between sound design and audio engineering, or if there IS a line. And I'll be building on a song I started a few days ago, and probably other random stuff as well!

Join me at 3pm EST in the US or 20:00 UTC for the rest of you, at the usual place:
https://www.youtube.com/@SeligAudio

View Online Here:
https://youtube.com/live/pekSYR0W1hU

[Loque]

Sounds interesting. Not much time this evening, but will check it out.

[crimsonwarlock]

Last time I couldn't make it, but I'm in tonight

[selig]

See you in about five minutes!

[Bes]

oop missed it again. i'll watch the rerun

[RobC]

Damn, I miseed it, too. Luckily I can watch later.

And honestly, I feel that the difference between sound design, mixing, mastering, etc. is as much, as for a chef making spaghetti bolognese, pizza bolognese, or lasagna bolognese - it's there, but it's not all that different, or difficult to do.

[RobC]

I usually prefer to stay in one key within a section, but try to make each instrument's melody unique - including its mood. Same with the instruments' texture ~ by that I mean: that I watch, not to use for example both a pizzicato-style bass and lead.

I think, you were on a right path in the A section. What I called "texture" (I barely slept), were all unique, and I would have likewise added the sustained string/pad. However, I would have tried to give it a dark/scary/creepy mood instead. Because the bass had a serious/cool mood to it, the bells sounded hypnotic (still a bit on the serious side - but that's not a bad thing ~ when I say that everything should be unique and different; I also mean they should still blend together; so, similar, yet different). The strings had a bit too similar vibe to the bass and bells together. And I would have played a bit quicker notes than that, to make it a bit more melodic.

Then, the bass is monophonic, the bells arpeggiated (but still kind of monophonic), strings evolve with mostly one note at a time added - as such, the keys added, would be fitting, if they would play some melodic/playful chords. I usually did such by just jamming out simple duo(chords) with my left hand, and the right hand playing along an octave above, but with syncopated rhythm.

No need to compose in one shot. Sometimes, out of 2 bars, only 1 is coming together. In such case, I note that down, then start looping the second bar and either try jamming along some more, or drawing in a note and moving it around to see what works.

At the end of the day, I usually feel it's a complete mess.
Then the next day it sounds perfectly logical.

At least these used to be some of my composing tricks. I have newer concepts, but yet have to try them. But I will probably blend them with my old ones.

[RobC]

Another thing: not everything has to be the same length.

I feel, for something really catchy, 4 bars already stretch things out too much. Gets too confusing, drifts away too much. Especially if we make complex melodies. 1 bar gets too repetitive. 2 bars sound like the ideal length for most elements. It's limited, yet long enough to give us that challenge, how we can make 2 bars sound really interesting.
That doesn't mean that 1 bar notes don't work. Much like how loops were used in hiphop (see Gangstarr - Battle), we can just play them on the first of every two bars; or maybe just every 4 bars, etc.
Of course, the "Battle" rap uses a split 2 bar loop, so we can do that as well if a "loop" of 2 bars sounds almost great, but the second bar is kind of "meh".
Likewise, we can make a 4 bar long something ~ though I'd rather tops add some cool SFX, of filler drums, or build-up melody.

Why I create such logic for music? - I guess I believe it's what makes it unique and interesting ~ fun, inspiring, very easy, and guarantees me to finish a song, and lets me find ways to keep evolving the way I compose and arrange the production.