A Progressive Rock Piece

Hello everybody. New here.

As I've said in my introduction - I love 70's progressive rock. I can't usually do without some elements of rock music in my compositions, yet this one I tried to compose entirely in the canon of progressive rock.

The title comes from the fact that I was greatly influenced by the music of early Genesis (Before they came a pop band - the 1970-77 era) and perhaps tried to emulate their sound a bit, whilst still trying to take the composition in my own direction.

The theme I've been playing with this piece though is Don Quixote. It's mainly inspired by the idea behind that book. If I trust the comment one person made, then I've succeeded in creating a "dissonant yet uplifting" soundscape, which was what I was going for. The theme for which is the dissonance that happens when noble dreams and reality collide. Though in my piece I left the ending optimistic, unlike Cervantes.

I have to admit I am a bit hesitant of posting it here... I am not a professional composer - I only compose for my own fun and also, I couldn't probably handle classical music - only music for the rock band, so I'm not sure how this will be reacted to. The impression is that the people here are very professional in music.

... which is of course why I cannot help but ask for you opinion.

All comments and critique is welcome! Even if it's harsh, really. I haven't had the chance of getting a full, good critique for this by such professional people. :whistling:

Still hoping you can enjoy it!

SoundClick artist: Hyardacil - Just a single dude and his GP5 software.

First of all, Yachar, don't limit yourself to rock bands. It's alright if you include rock elements in classical music, or jazz music, or whatever; in fact, it's pretty cool. Also, many of the composers, especially young composers, aren't professional either, so don't feel intimidated. I'm not a professional composer at all.

And I love progressive rock.

That being said, I did enjoy your piece (although most of the time was spent trying to imagine what it would sound like with real instruments). You may consider looking for better sound samples. You inclusion of flutes and violins was nice, and I really enjoyed the use of an odd time signature. Their my favorite. I also did like your use of dissonance, which is something you don't hear a lot of in rock songs, but definitely adds an extra dimension to your music.

Now the criticisms:

1. Although odd time signatures are awesome, you may need to work on getting them to sound more natural to the listener. There were some awkward moments, rhythmically in your song.

2. You should get better sound samples, or try playing and recording the piece on real instruments.

3. You should work on creating more interesting and powerful drum beats for your rock (especially progressive rock) songs. I mostly heard hi-hats, snare drums, and simple cymbal crashes on this track. This could help your time signatures feel less awkward.

4. There was one point in particular that seemed strange... um... it goes from about 1:50 to 2:05. It seems to lack direction. Specifically, I was having trouble following the flute part before that, but once the violin came in at 1:50, the song seemed to fall apart. If this is what you were going for then, congrats. Also, try to avoid the simple quarter note rhythm that is going on at that point in the background. It gets kind of incessant, especially with all the crazyness going on overtop of it.

Well, I hope I didn't hurt you too bad. Keep on making music. :)

No, it didn't hurt too bad at all. Don't worry.

Yes, there were some awkward rhythmic moments. But I think they are not because of the odd time signatures. At one point after the main melody I was aiming for a rhythm structure that would be hard to follow, yet which has a clear melody uniting it. It started on 0.55 or something I think, with accentuated beats placed seemingly randomly. That was what I was going for actually - I was following my own ear and wants.

As for the drums... strange. They are quite silent in the mix and I have actually toned them down a bit. I have gotten comments on "over-crazyness of drums" before, so here I am getting mixed signals. I'm no drummer, but when I follow the music of some other prog rock bands then the drum parts aren't Always only crazy rolls. Try Gentle Giant for example. There they are meant simply to keep the complex time signatures together.

But enough of me, I'm not trying to justify anything. Opinion's noted and thanks a lot for 'em! :) I admit I was going for some crazy things at some points rhythmically and at the 1.50-2.00 I perhaps went overboard with the atonal battling lines.

And yeah... sorry for the crappy sound quality. I cannot simply afford a professional tool... or wouldn't know how to use it I guess.

Any suggestions on what programs would fit my interest of creating to these kinds of instruments though?

Try SONAR , your samples will sound much better. I think they have a trial version to download.

also, there is a RSE (Realistic Sound Engine) for GP5 that sounds a bit better than the midi,, and you dont have to worry about midi programming or anything like that.

sounds good tho..keep up the prog... as already said, i think you had a few awkward rhythms in there, try to make it flow smoother.. thats all! good work!