Improving is a slooow process.
Alright, it's been awhile, but I've begun messing with my music a bit more for the past couple of days by just basically re-working most of my pieces to make them sound a little less clunky.
In hindsight, I've actually made quite a bit of leeway when it comes to quality since my beginning days of composing. When I first started I always managed to overdose on FL Studio's plugins and special effects when I made something; which of course over time raped my songs overall quality since I was overloading the mixer. But as I've tweaked and fiddled with my music more and more, as well as bought some equipment that helps me better monitor what I produce, I've been able to trim down my songs and even balance out the effects to the point where I can optimize each songs quality decently.
But although I haven't perfected my music by far, I have definitely made steps toward making my music more enjoyable without having to worry about common mixing problems such as the bass accidentally blowing your eardrums out at the beginning of a song. Ha ha ha.
However my mixing abilities haven't been the only thing I've been changing, I've also been taking a different approach at composing my music as well...
Originally most of my work has been done on the fly, where I basically just click at a note and then let my ears plan the positioning of the next note on impulse. This is all well in good since it has come up with some pretty unique tunes, but it also leaves me reluctant to ever finish what I've made. And unfortunatly, due to an extrememly short attention span, I also tend to get bored of the piece once my brain hits a roadblock; and sometimes I just get plain impatient when it comes to simply picking the next sounds to use. So I've begun trying to plot out entire songs instead of just winging it per note. I'll sit down and pull together a full tune in my head, piece by piece, and then basically put it to the piano roll as I come up with each new part.
I can't say this process has been completely successful, but it has made me feel a bit better about the overall quality of my songs. And I can only hope it gets better from there seeing as that I already don't like what I've made anyway.
Also since my recent acquisition of a USB Mic, I believe I'm going to start adding my actual voice to some of my songs just for the hell of it. Well, not really my actual voice, but more or less an altercation of my voice through whatever effects processor I choose. I would use my real voice, but to be honest, I'm not really that fond of it in regular recording. So it'll remain that way till I feel a bit more comfortable.
Other then that, I'm just about done. I hope to submit something at some point, maybe something with a little more personallity and depth, but until I do that I guess I'll catch all of you on my later rounds.
Ja.
~ Faceless
