Feedback

Hi all,

this is the first time I post in this forum in years. I have been working on some electronic pop stuff for some time now and I would very much appreciate some feedback. You can find my music at www.soundcloud.com/markusbowie and I also have a single, Ode to Google on Spotify. 

Hope you like!

Best,

Markus

this is a bit messy

that link to soundcloud opens the account of someone... who? it's you? there are many pieces there, which one is it?

Or you refer to all?

Well, I've listened to some of them but this music gives me always the same impression: potent sounds, but repetitive patterns (harmonies). I one case (Hasta la vista, David) the saturation of the sound is very high....

Hi Luis,

really appreciate that you took the time to listen! The link points to my soundcloud page and yes, that's me. :) 

I guess I want input on both the general impression of all the tracks; my "sound" as well as on any individual tracks.

As for the saturation of the sound on "Hasta la vista, David", I am still learning to mix the sound properly, so that will be fixed before release. Will try to get a pro to help me.

When you say that the patterns are repetitive are you speaking about the progression of the harmonies, the structure of the songs or the structure of the individual chords? Or something else?

I have been using a lot of basic triads but I'm trying to add some variance to that. I was also sticking to specific key signatures in the beginning, like on "Untitled (Instrumental)", one key for the verses and a different one for the chorus. In the more recent songs I have been writing it more by ear. 

Please explain what you mean and maybe some suggestions on how I could make it less repetitive. Also, since it's pop, it should be kind of repetitive. But not so much that it gets uninteresting to listen to.

It would be better (to get comments adn feedback) if you upload one piece after another, because commenting on all of them is difficult.

To talk about the structure of the songs I would need to see the score (if there is one). Some of us here love to see scores.

I don't think that complicated harmonies are always better, many times simple progressions are good enough.

Anyway I am listening to one ot them now LILLA DU: this track sounds good, there is no saturation and it's all well balanced (to my ears). I like the happy mood of it, and the variation along the piece.

For example, in Untitled, the first minute consists in 4 repeated chords... This is something I'm not used in others styles I know better. That's why if there is no variation in the whole piece, I lose interest. However, I understand this music has lots of fans...

I agree, it is better to look more closely at one of them. I don't write using scores (yet) but I've exported the track as a midi from my DAW and will attach it, so that you can open it in your notation software. I can't seem to make it legible in MuseScore on my computer (it leaves out instruments and gets the clefs all wrong) but I'll see if I can get it to work. I have uploaded the mp3 in 320 kbps quality. If it doesn't work, here is the direct link is: https://soundcloud.com/markusbowie/lilla-du

Untitled – ah ok, I see what you mean. And I agree. I think even within this style or genre it isn't varied enough. Dance music can sometimes be this monotonous but pop usually needs more variation. This song falls somewhere in the middle. I personally find it a bit boring both in terms of the progressions and the actual sounds. But it has it charm. I did try to add the same tones of the chords one octave up and down from the original chord after each repetition (hope that makes sense!) in order to create a thrust forward – a build up of energy, loudness and body. Also during that first minute, there is a slight difference in the timing of how the chords are played as the song progresses.

Anyway. let's talk about Lilla Du. :)

(It's good for me just to try to explain what I have done!)

lilla du.mid

ld.mp3

Managed to get out some notation using Finale instead. Attaching it.

So, any comments? I know the score is really messy and that everything is from the G-clef but still :)

Yes, it's difficult to follow the score...

This piece "Lilla Du" is very nice, the rhythms are catchy (including bass lines and drums). This is the one  I like most (among the ones I've listened to).

Hello again Luis,

glad you liked Lilla Du! I've taken your feedback into consideration and booked a meeting with a friend of mine who is at the conservatory. She's going to help me write scores that actually make sense.

Also, I thought about the 4 chord structure that I had mainly been using and tried to move beyond that for my latest song. I was looking at different ideas on how the tonic, the dominant, the predominant chords etc relate to each other in a key. I've made use of a key change, the song starts in the key of C and changes to G for the chorus and so forth. As I was writing this I also looked into how melodies work when moving between notes that are in the current chord and outside it (and in some cases outside the key itself). 

As my scores don't make sense (yet) I can answer more specific questions on how the chord progressions and melodic lines were written, in case you're wondering anything.

Here is the result. I'm especially proud of the crescendo in the second part of the first chorus. 

Ps. I'm also going to post this in the pop music thread. :)