"Death in Retrospect": A cacophonous trainwreck of genres

This thing started out as a pretty solid bebop piece, I swear. D:

So I was supposed to write a jazz piece but got a bit frisky and this thing plopped out of me. I'm pretty damned proud of this one but it seems oddly incomplete. Nevertheless, it's pretty much the coolest thing I've ever done. Which isn't saying much at all. But this one time I built a waterslide in the freshman dorms; that was pretty cool.

Anyway I'd like you to listen to both versions I provide if you're feeling frisky because I'm pretty sure I butchered the mix when I Cakewalk'd it. (Mainly because Cakewalk is bullshit and their representatives will vote for the presidential candidate whom you hate the most.)

Anyway; problems to address with the MIDI file:

1) I used an Alto Sax way out of it's range. This is because I the sampling for my GM Soprano sax sounded terrible. Just pretend it's a soprano.

2) I'm pretty sure Music Creator 4, in all its glory, jacked up the volume and timing and tempo changes in the MIDI file so ignore anything stupid like that

3) The piano at the end will sound obnoxious. Just go with it.

3) The Bassline is needlessly loud. This is because I like it that way; it's not a mixing issue. I really just love bass. 'specially acoustic flavours.

4) I've never had a day of musical training in my life. The composition is amateur at best. :w00t:

Anyway, I sincerely hope you enjoy it at least partially as much as I enjoyed making this bastard. ;) TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS, CHILDREN!

Also: it's supposed to sound like a vinyl in the beginning and end, don't freak out about the ominous noises.

Death_in_retrospect.mid

I listened to to through my program that turns midi into scores. It was a pretty interesting piece, though a few things stuck in my craw.

The drums I found very boring, for the most part, and I'm not sure if blast beats are the best call for as long as you have them, maybe a bit sparser playing/writing would bring out the mood shifts better.

As much as you do with it, which is significant, there's really only one theme. I saw in the link you were initially aiming for a jazz style - best way to do that is aaba form, with the B section be kinda different - see Scrapple from the Apple for a basic example, or Footprints, too.

Overall, though, its a cool symphonic-rock thingy. Neat :)

I listened to to through my program that turns midi into scores. It was a pretty interesting piece, though a few things stuck in my craw.

The drums I found very boring, for the most part, and I'm not sure if blast beats are the best call for as long as you have them, maybe a bit sparser playing/writing would bring out the mood shifts better.

As much as you do with it, which is significant, there's really only one theme. I saw in the link you were initially aiming for a jazz style - best way to do that is aaba form, with the B section be kinda different - see Scrapple from the Apple for a basic example, or Footprints, too.

Overall, though, its a cool symphonic-rock thingy. Neat :)

Drums are scraggy, I'll give you that. :D In this case it's more or less a placeholder though; I'm actually stupid enough to be trying to get a band together to play such pieces of mine. In the event that we get it recorded, I'll do something interesting on drums. I'm just too damned lazy to do it via MIDI.

But I do like my blastbeats.

And I was a bit apprehensive about the simplicity and lack of dynamics and, thence, the limited theme. :( But anything additional I added just fucked up the atmosphere. This will be amended, however, once I've actually learned a thing or two about composing.

I am indeed glad you enjoyed it. :w00t:

...you were initially aiming for a jazz style - best way to do that is aaba form, with the B section be kinda different - see ... Footprints...

Footprints? AABA?

Better check your leadsheet again...

;)

Crap, I'm silly :)

Fair enough on the drums,

Yeah I hear ya on the themes too... been there a lot

I liked it.

The drums and Bass were a bit repetitive, but the rest I found very interesting.

I would gladly buy this music.

I liked it.

The drums and Bass were a bit repetitive, but the rest I found very interesting.

I would gladly buy this music.

Thank you. :w00t:

Yeah, again, a lot of this, drums and bass particularly, I hope to be largely improvised when and if I get around to recording this. I just like live improvisation and don't want to can it in a MIDI file. Problem is, good Double Bass players are hard to come by these days so I may end up having to sequence it. But I am indeed quite happy you liked it.

I really liked it. I thought it was full of variations and the four minutes plus seemed to go by quickly. The bass wasn't too loud, the piano at the end wasn't obnoxious. What would happen if you substituted electric organ for the saxophone? It starts out as more jazz-sounding, but then becomes more like jazz-derived keyboard riffs by rock bands like Boston and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Performed live, with the right people and instruments, and perfected, I think you'd really have something--you might segue this into a related composition in sort of a medley as the finished piece.

All in all, I consider this piece a winner.

I really liked it. I thought it was full of variations and the four minutes plus seemed to go by quickly. The bass wasn't too loud, the piano at the end wasn't obnoxious. What would happen if you substituted electric organ for the saxophone? It starts out as more jazz-sounding, but then becomes more like jazz-derived keyboard riffs by rock bands like Boston and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Performed live, with the right people and instruments, and perfected, I think you'd really have something--you might segue this into a related composition in sort of a medley as the finished piece.

All in all, I consider this piece a winner.

Ha, thanks. Likening it to ELP is probably one of the greater compliments I would have liked to receive concerning this. I'd really like to see it performed but good musicians are a bit hard to come by where I'm from; at best I seek to get a partial human recording with what's left made up with VSTs.

Oddly enough; the organ, at least in the beginning, started as horns but I decided to change it later for reasons I'm not even sure I know. Notwithstanding; I do think I was a proper choice.

I'd certainly say that was cool!

Nice work.

I think you could work on the ending a little, as it seems a bit of an anti-climax. Also, I think you could, perhaps, make a few cuts here and there, because, as said above, it's mostly the one theme and, while I thought it was cool the whole time, it did get a little repetitive. That said, I think you'd be better off coming up with an alternative section which you could use to break up what you have, so each section sounds fresh.

Either way, what you have is great!

It doesn't sound all that jazzy, but I guess it depends on who was playing and how it was played....

It could also go pretty well in a video game of sorts....

The drums were, as everyone else said, pretty basic.

I like the groove at/before 2:50. Good theme/melodies throughout, I liked the ending (probably would work really well live).

Overall, great job!:thumbsup:

It kinda reminds me of the song "Bodhisattva." (Especially the 'chorus' of the song...)

~Kal

It doesn't sound all that jazzy, but I guess it depends on who was playing and how it was played....

It could also go pretty well in a video game of sorts....

The drums were, as everyone else said, pretty basic.

I like the groove at/before 2:50. Good theme/melodies throughout, I liked the ending (probably would work really well live).

Overall, great job!:thumbsup:

It kinda reminds me of the song "Bodhisattva." (Especially the 'chorus' of the song...)

~Kal

Thank you. :)

Yeah, I am pretty reluctant to call it jazz anymore. After copious mulling, I think I've settled on progressive rock but WHO NEEDS GENRES, RIGHT?

And I'm hoping I can do something cool with the drums when and if I ever get this thing recorded. My main problem is that when I'm doing such improv, I usually just get lazy and fall into really basic triplet patterns. But I'm sure after a bit o' rehearsing I'll crank out something classy.

Oh, and you get about fifty-seven awesome points for the Bodhisattva reference. I was practically raised on Steely Dan. :w00t:

It's great. I'd say give the drums a solo or something a little more interesting. A change in theme would be fantastic. Over all, good. A few minor changes in theme and drums and I'd that you're set.