TeknoAXE's Music Thread

[teknoaxe]

Hi Vegangelica,

Thank you for listening to my music and writing a critique to it! It was very well thought out!

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

Teknoaxe,


"Crisp Dawn," a short symphonic piece with heavy, militaristic drumming and slightly eerie synthesizer violin sounds, was my favorite of all the pieces you have posted so far. In "Crisp Dawn" you intentionally left the drum silent at times. I felt those silent spots were important because they created more contrast and excitement than I expected in such a short piece.
...

(1) You can create emotion in a song by defying the listeners’ expectations. If people expect a loud note at the end of a crescendo, go soft, for example. So, having consistent drumming throughout a piece (as in "Super Hero") won’t have as much impact as having segments that lack drumming (as in "Crisp Dawn"). I think this is the reason I like "Crisp Dawn" the best...the drumming doesn't occur consistently through the song. The silences become important. Also, I just like eerie violin sounds!

(2) Two ways to create a feeling of climax within a song are these:
(A) make chaos turn into order.
(B) make order turn into chaos.

That is actually really good advice! I will look more for that in my future compositions. I'm not really a professional composer, but I can pick out what I like in songs that I hear and try to apply that to my own songs. Interestingly enough, Superhero started out almost as a march with the bass drum hitting at every quarter note, but I had to tone that down because I felt that was too much.

So, although I dislike the treatment of animals in your song, I still like the song. I feel you successfully capture in it some of that raw energy I felt when I held that gun and used it to blast an object far from me. Power and freedom. Exhilaration. I just wish the "object" in your song weren't a bird!

That is a little surprising and I do understand your objections to the lyrics. You may be surprised to find out that a lot of my favorite songs I disagree with on political or philosophical grounds, but I find that conflict, paired with good music, tends to make me think more about the subject being discussed in the song.

This is one of the most favorite songs I've ever done because of the things you say about it. I want to try to capture some of its energy in a different way someday!

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by teknoaxe

Hi Vegangelica,

Thank you for listening to my music and writing a critique to it! It was very well thought out!

That is actually really good advice! I will look more for that in my future compositions. I'm not really a professional composer, but I can pick out what I like in songs that I hear and try to apply that to my own songs. Interestingly enough, Superhero started out almost as a march with the bass drum hitting at every quarter note, but I had to tone that down because I felt that was too much.

I'm glad you appreciated my feedback, teknoaxe! I thought you might, since your music interests span so many genres that I assumed you would welcome even more perspectives and ideas to consider when composing.

Your comment about feeling the bass drum hit too often in your original Superhero song interests me, because I sometimes question to what degree I should override my "intuitive" feelings about some song under construction.

The more that I listen to music, the more I appreciate the planned, intentional silences into which the sounds cut. They make a dense song breathe more and feel more playful while also showing a stronger intention and control on the part of the musician, which I appreciate.

For example, in your little quirky guitar solo in the shotgun song, I like the feeling of randomness in when the notes sound, especially contrasted with the heavy, repetitive rhythm guitar, because I think the feeling of randomness is actually intentional and not random at all.

That is a little surprising and I do understand your objections to the lyrics. You may be surprised to find out that a lot of my favorite songs I disagree with on political or philosophical grounds, but I find that conflict, paired with good music, tends to make me think more about the subject being discussed in the song.

This is one of the most favorite songs I've ever done because of the things you say about it. I want to try to capture some of its energy in a different way someday!

I thought you'd be surprised! I like very much your perspective that you say in bold. I also appreciate the honesty of songs, even if I don't agree with the views.

I'm happy that what I said about your "shotgun" song matched what you like about it, because I think it must be nice for you to feel that your message or the feeling you placed in the song was heard. I was actually impressed enough by your song to send a link to it to someone on MB because I feared your song would be overlooked and I don't want it to be. I'd also like to hear that song's energy in other songs you make in the future. It's good energy.

Your shotgun song reminded me a bit of one of my favorite songs, "Time isn't on my side," by Polvo, probably because of the jangly feel and the quirky guitar solo. Here's that song, in case you haven't heard it. I think you may like it:

Polvo - "Time isn't on my side"



And now here's YOUR song, so listeners can compare and contrast if they wish!

TeknoAXE - "Shooting shotguns in the outland"