Yet no feature? One more and we will be even (at least on the nightmare beta).
Still, it won’t be me who features it. The thing is, I actually enjoyed the bass, and while it was a bit repetitive, it was also a great back-up for just the single vox and in sheets 8-9. In the chorus, the bass almost steals the show, only losing out because the vox has much more presence. In fact, the only reason this ISN’T an insta-feature for me is because it did everything right, but had nothing to push it higher. It was basically a guitar, bass, drums, and singer, and that doesn’t make for a truly great song, even if the fundamentals are all right. That’s the main difference between this song and In Your Mind.
Pretty sure that what fran5 and fire are talking about is when the bass stays on C3 for 8 beats then switches to Ab and stays on that for 7 beats then goes back to C. It makes the bass feel uneven during the verses.
So what, the bass needs to stay the same (Ab for another beat)? That would make it even more repetitive than it is.
As I said, it’s great as a slow-down after parts like the solo and chorus, which comparatively are very powerful. This was a problem I mentioned in my official review of the song. And as I said, a simple tempo adjustment evened it out almost perfectly. So the bass parts of the song during verses is not a song ruiner at all in my opinion, I don’t see why anyone else thinks so. And if you think it lacks creativity, I would beg to differ. The bass during more powerful parts is a great addition, and as I said, it is a good back-up to the vox in the verses because it adds character and doesn’t distract from the main focus. A HUGE example of this is the solo in Saga of the Dragon. If you stop to look at the background you’d realize it’s a four-chord boring piece of crap. BUT luckily it has something important to keep you entertained, an awesome solo.
My point is this: A simple back-beat (which can include drums, bass, and even backup guitars if we are talking about rock, which in this case, we are), is like a painting of a landscape, nice and simple and perfect to draw something amazing right in the center to add emphasis to. The point of the bass in the verses, along with the drumming, is to create this type of idea, and then a central piece is added later in the song, in this case the voxes. During the chorus, the idea is no longer necessary because a chorus is supposed to be inheritly different from everything else AND it has to be repeated in order to maintain the structure of the song, so it needs to be both interesting (to avoid repetition) and needs to leave the biggest impression, thus it can be vastly more powerful without unbalancing the song as much as a more powerful verse after a more calming one. I will admit, in this song the chorus is a little too powerful, but there are simple ways of fixing that, some without even changing anything in the song (such as the TEMPO).
I still hold by what I said earlier, the bass is not the problem in this song, there are quite a few songs (such as Unknowned’s Summer Dream) that have had the same type of bass running through them that were featured instantly.
One thing I would like to note is that Sandalman has some of the best manipulations of the vocal and drum instruments ever. That is all.
“than it is.” Are you saying it’s repetitive? That’s one reason.
And I say put Bb for another beat, instead of Ab for another. I believe there is too much C in that part.
Also, if Instead of the combination Ab Bb C C for the last 4 notes of the 2nd measures of the phrase, why not change it up a bit each time?
For example, first phrase, Ab Bb C C, second phrase, Ab Bb Bb C, third phrase, Ab Ab Bb Bb (C after), fourth phrase Ab Bb C C.
The bass is very nicely put in the chorus, but when I heard the guitar play that part, I did not enjoy the sound I heard. This is mainly due to the occidentals.
It definitely has creativity in it. I don’t see ANY songs using Ab Bb C C as there last bass phrase part. The Chorus itself was powerful compared to a verse.
The contrast made the song very nice to hear, and the transitions to each contrasting part was VERY nice. Indeed, I did not want to turn it off due to repetiveness, mainly because no repetition was noticeable. Though he did repeat sheets and bass parts, that has no meaning to the repetition of a song.
Also, I’d like to add the fact that the Chords “behind” the solo were not contributing to the solo. They seem to be a part of it. However, the three note chords were odd-sounding from the lead notes. Therefore, even though it DID in fact hurt the solo, the solo was still good, but not great. No, it’s not too powerful. It is perfectly fit.
No comment. This is perfectly correct.
Not the drums, but I enjoyed the vocals.
The drums were much too simple in this song. I do not believe they contributed at all. It was merely a back-beat, where nothing really changed except at the phrase endings.
Other Notes:
Such as in Sheet 9, the guitar was much louder than the vocals. The guitar is unbalancing the balance pictured as in the chorus.
Even if a solo is SUPPOSED to be louder, this one was definitely too loud. It unbalanced the bass and drums, therefore making it so you could take them out without changing much of the sound in the solo. The drums as well do not seem to change. In the chorus, you have an offbeat snare, which is usual in a lot of songs, between cymbals. This snare is the same volume as the other snares, which makes the snare seem like it is not supposed to be offbeat. A majority of songs I know have softer offbeat snares.
I looked at the song again, and the majority of the notes were 100% volume. No attempt at a volume balance. Let’s say you play Middle C for the Fender Strat Guitar, Male Vox, Bass #4, Snare #5, and bass drum #3 all together at 100%. What is the result? The Fender guitar was above all others. The Male Vox was the background blending with the bass. The Snare and Bass drum are also blended. However, you hear the Fender and Snare above all others. Balance of volume is something I for one find important to a song. I admit, I’m not entirely great at it either, but still, the volume is an issue when one instrument is playing over the others.
Sheet 9 and some other sheets had too much guitar in them. If Vox is the lead sound, why not hear it?
I may not be a mod, but this song should at least be a feature, at a solid 4.5/5
Note to StarWars comments:
You may be biased, or I’m to lenient on the feature quality. I haven’t been on Notessimo as long as you, so I’m unsure.
StarWars[XD]'s song:
The beginning’s 2nd chord sounded off. I’m not sure if it was on purpose or not. It didn’t really affect the piece.
No Chorus? Or was there one? I couldn’t identify any chorus. (Sheets 13, 14, and 15?)
In Sheet 13, Measure 8 was like a sudden stop. I didn’t like it.
Okay, the metal guitar chords killed it. All I heard doing those parts were the metal guitar and drums. If I was supposed to hear anything else, why were they so loud?
Maybe not your fault, because the Metal Guitar is the loudest instrument and very not tuned.
The song seemed to drag on. I got really bored with the chords.
The solos were good, but they themselves got boring by used ideas and off-sounding rhythms.
(Examples: Sheet 21 Measures 3 and 4 [used idea; not bad however], Sheet 22 Measures 5 - 7 [off-sounding])
I felt the only balanced part of the song was the solos. The rest was moreover Metal Guitar and Drums overruling anything else.
Sheets 3 - 5 were good, but I didn’t like it when the organs followed the vox’s pitches.
2.5/5
I know the second one is a good part of it for me… I feature anything I’m asked too, as long as its okay. Or if another mod says no before I get a chance.
I wanted to make a song reminiscent of real music, where everything isn’t overcomplicated and pretty simple. The drums were made to be very simple yet catchy, which in my opinion they are, at least to me. The bass was also to be simple, but catchy, again my opinion. But these were not the lead, the vocals were. Although, the fender goes have its moment.
Yes there are probably volume issues but none that I felt need urgent addressing, the reason the vocals are a little harder to hear at 9, is not cause I’m lazy, I wanted you to really notice the guitar coming in, the vocals are still able to be heard, just not as easily. If I felt a need for an instrument to be louder I would do that, if you notice some of my other songs.
Panning, is just something I felt this song didn’t need, arguably this could just be me or my speaker set-up though.
The only thing I did not like about this song was the 2nd measure/chord in sheet 5, I honestly couldn’t find a good solution to it.
I may make some changes to this song pending other reactions.
I believe you misunderstood me, a lot of notessimo songs are overcomplicated, a lot of criticism divulged from, it’s too simple, or not enough blank. And I guess I missed that flat, than k you for pointing it out, although the piano there isn’t loud enough to be noticed - mistake #564
I’d like to expound on this point a bit (as I have the same type of song in my thread called “Speed of Light”) How’s THAT for some shameless self-promotion?
Because it is a computer-based program, Notessimo creates a lot of scenarios that would defeat a normal human, even a professional. The best example of this is drums. Sure, heavy-metal drumming has double-bass a lot, but how many drummers can play three types of high-hats all at once (for reference, see Get Hammered, by Hellstick)? That’s the problem with any computer based song, it has to sound like a human can play it. More than that, it has to sound like a human came up with it on a real instrument and merely used Notessimo as a means to re-write said song.
Thus, the point of Sandalman’s simplistic writing style in this song is to try and create the feel of a regular four-man rock band, namely a drummer, bassist, keyboardist, and guitarist (any one of which could be the singer). The problem is that Notessimo instruments lack real-world definition, made worse by limitations of the software. So in short, the closer it sounds to being a real song, the closer Sandalman is to success. I personally think he did rather well. THe only problem I have with the song is that there is nothing outstanding in it, something to separate it from every other Notessimo song and leave it planted in my memory for that “thing” that pushes it over the edge. In Kaveman’s In My Defense (which has arguably worse drumming and bassline, and a HUGELY overused keyboard part), it’s the outstanding solo (in retrospect, without that solo it would have never even crossed my mind as a feature).
QVX: I use combinations of drums to make the sound, so even if theres 2-3 drums playing at once, i do it to create the sound of one drum, same with hitting “5” cymbals at once, just see it as one cymbal being hit that creates that sound. Otherwise i rarely use 4 hits at the same time (bass, snare, tom, cymbal…but it does happen occasionally in my songs (and trust me…it bugs me…)
Well, Flutter (if I may call you that ), the thing about it is, any real human drummer could easily play more complicated than that. Even simplistic Survivor’s drummer could play much more complicated. Overcomplication means that your song is just impossibly crazy that no man could play it. Many notessimo songs are unlike this, for there are many factors.
One Open hi-hat and Closed hi-hat at the same time.
A Normal drum kit contains on hi-hat. However, many drum kits used are not just a normal one. Neil Peart, for example (who is undoubtedly my favorite drummer), has one of the largest expansions of drum sets. He could easily have one open hi-hat in his kit and a closed one and hit them at the same time.
[u]Some Crazy Drum Beat with 4 different drums at the same time[/u]
Led Zeppelin’s drummer used 4 different drum sticks at the same time (2 in each hand). Not much else said.
[u]Two Lead parts (guitar) playing with each other at the same time.[/u]
My real point is not so much that we make impossible-to-play music here at Notessimo (actually, the field extends to any computer-based music software), just impractical, and also, very static. No matter what, as long as you don’t change anything, the song you write will be played the same way each time, because there is no human element in the playback of the music. The same goes for recordings of music from bands, but I think most of us agree that usually, a live band is more entertaining to listen to. They usually make small and large changes to the music to make it a better experience, and solidify the fact that no matter how harder a song may sound, it’s completely feasible for a human being to play it.
On another note, this kind of talk doesn’t really belong in this thread.