Dogma's Audio Lounge

Because I can't exactly play an instrument to save my life, I thought to myself "Why not give a music program a try?" Five years later, it happened. While I use Garageband, which is quite possibly the crappiest program in existence, my songs were well thought out and composed in my opinion.

Critique and enjoy, folks!

These two were uploaded by FreeSoundtrack, when I decided that my universal screen name would be the same as my Playstation Network ID:

This was the second song I ever published. It's kinda short, but the things I did for it made it upbeat and happy, which is good.


This was the first song that I published. While it's my first, it's quite possibly the worst out of the 4. Mainly because I hated the transition effects I had laid out for it.

These next two were uploaded by me:

This is the 3rd song I've published. While it's kinda short, and I'm still not sure to this day why I named it Alternative Epiphany, I like it due to it's speed.


This was the 4th song I've published. A somewhat mellow song that shifts from guitars to synths and electronic stuff right in the middle. One mistake I made was making it a little too long than I intended it to be, but that's the spice of life, I suppose.


Quite possibly the most satisfying out of all my remixes, I enjoy continually listening to this one on a regular basis. I was just too lazy to upload it this time around. And ignore the picture slideshow, that was only put in for......a new twist on things.



If I had to compare it to my last song to see which one would win, I'd have to say that Take What You Can would have won, but Rave Up The Night has a pretty good party atmosphere, I think.



I was really lazy with uploading this one, and for that, I apologize.

Originally, I made this song as sort of a muse regarding the 2010 Winter Olympics, and as such, I named it "Call of the Titans". Though after a few necessary edits, I decided to rename it to something hip and upbeat. Thus, "Skyline Harmonization" was born.

I'd like to think that this song can be one of those catchy upbeat songs to put someone in a good mood if they listened to it. Sure, there are a bunch of repetitive parts here, but that's where the upbeat stuff comes in.

EDIT: And it's up:


I do a picture slideshow every couple of music videos when I have the right images to do it with. This time, I'm going to include annotations as to what they are.

Anyways, I made this song as another kind of upbeat rave track. Though I called it "Mysticism" because of the sounds that it's got right along the melody of the track.

Plus, I added that long breakbeat at the end of it because it would have been fun, as well as the fact that I had the time to do something like that.

I had a lot of fun making this. Probably as much fun as I had making Take What You Can, though it fails if being compared to it. Hope you all enjoy it!

Hope you like them!

Are these done using the samples on garage band?

The fourth one was my favourite. While you haven't shown any musical skill you have shown skill in arrangement, which is still very important.

Keep it up, but seriously, learn a musical instrument, it isn't hard, you just need to enjoy it. Obviously you enjoy the puzzle aspect of arranging music, believe me when you actually pick up an intrument and begin to understand music theory your perception of music changes tenfold.

An easy route would be to buy an electric guitar and a small 3 or 5 plug mixer to plug into your comp. Then learn a few things about scale and key and your set to record a guitar solo over the top of any one of the tracks you've already written. Guitar solo's don't need to be technical masterpieces, just melodic and meaningful.

Originally Posted by AzraelBlack

Are these done using the samples on garage band?

The fourth one was my favourite. While you haven't shown any musical skill you have shown skill in arrangement, which is still very important.

Keep it up, but seriously, learn a musical instrument, it isn't hard, you just need to enjoy it. Obviously you enjoy the puzzle aspect of arranging music, believe me when you actually pick up an intrument and begin to understand music theory your perception of music changes tenfold.

An easy route would be to buy an electric guitar and a small 3 or 5 plug mixer to plug into your comp. Then learn a few things about scale and key and your set to record a guitar solo over the top of any one of the tracks you've already written. Guitar solo's don't need to be technical masterpieces, just melodic and meaningful.

I have an acoustic guitar, but I can't really play it to save my life. And trying to teach myself is turning out to be a bad idea.

But thanks for the criticism. If I had the money for an electric guitar and a mixer, I'd try that. For now, I'll just see what else I can do that's not painfully obvious.

There hath been an update!



Quite possibly the most satisfying out of all my remixes, I enjoy continually listening to this one on a regular basis. I was just too lazy to upload it this time around. And ignore the picture slideshow, that was only put in for......a new twist on things.

You were correct. This is probably the best one which you have arranged. You progressed it really well. Swapping in textures and dynamics at all the right places. Nothing negative to say really, for your level of musicianship this is an excellent job!

Well, for somebody who haven't play an instrument or do not know some basic theory, these are really really great. You do have a nice general view of arranging and creating beats but like Mr. Black says, learn some theory and a musical insturment and your views on composing and arranging will increase tenfolds.

This is good stuff. Did you ever have mario paint? I used to spend hours arranging music on that silly program!

And I can tell you enjoy the arranging and making beats. That part of it is great.
Perhaps you should get not a guitar, but a keyboard/synth? then you could play around more with the musical aspect, and get some cool sounds and effects for the stuff you're already doing well.

Another alternative is to work with a partner. Maybe that's a bit ambitious, but if you teamed up with someone who complimented you, it could be freakin' sweet.

Keep up the progress either way!

Originally Posted by Margar

This is good stuff. Did you ever have mario paint? I used to spend hours arranging music on that silly program!

No, I've never used Mario Paint. Though for awhile, I was trying to find a website where I could DL it for free. I never ended up finding one, though.

Originally Posted by Margar

And I can tell you enjoy the arranging and making beats. That part of it is great.
Perhaps you should get not a guitar, but a keyboard/synth? then you could play around more with the musical aspect, and get some cool sounds and effects for the stuff you're already doing well.

I have a keyboard I can use. Problem is, I wouldn't know how to hook it up to my computer and play it through there, because it's really old.

Originally Posted by Margar

Another alternative is to work with a partner. Maybe that's a bit ambitious, but if you teamed up with someone who complimented you, it could be freakin' sweet.

Keep up the progress either way!

lol, I had actually tried to find a partner once. That ended up in failure, because either the people I asked didn't know how to mix music at all, or the ones that did didn't want to help me unless I paid them. So I fly solo.

Anyways, thanks for the comments and criticism, everyone. Next one will be better, trust me.

LET THERE BE ANOTHER UPDATE!!



If I had to compare it to my last song to see which one would win, I'd have to say that Take What You Can would have won, but Rave Up The Night has a pretty good party atmosphere, I think.

Enjoy!

To begin,

The riff which starts at 0.22 lasts for a short and good amount of time.

The break is good to build suspense but when the drums came back in a more lively beat would have been preferable in a dance situation. That beat is a bit too cruisey for my liking. I know the capabilities of your program are limited but some chords in thepart which come after with a bit of a flanging effect would have been perfect to add somethign interesting over the top.

The part at 1.55 is a perfect pull out however. I love this part, and is certainly something with a slightly better program could be part of an excellent dance track. It could do without the over the melody however. The bass line was perfect on its own. The drums complimented it so well.

I enjoyed some parts of it. But like you said Take What You Can. Regardless this was good as well.

You should have a listen to some Dj's like Mickey Nox, Adam Bartas and Deadmau5 to hear the kinds of things they do. And see if you can pull off some similar progressions with your programs.

I have a keyboard I can use. Problem is, I wouldn't know how to hook it up to my computer and play it through there, because it's really old.

You'll need to buy your self a 3-5 plug mixer. The signal needs to be digitally coded otherwise the computer just recieves a whole heap of frequencies.

You'll need some specialised leads as well. Best to go to a music store and ask specifically. It is hard to explain the necesarry requirements over the net. But small mixers are cheap!

Update Time!



I was really lazy with uploading this one, and for that, I apologize.

Originally, I made this song as sort of a muse regarding the 2010 Winter Olympics, and as such, I named it "Call of the Titans". Though after a few necessary edits, I decided to rename it to something hip and upbeat. Thus, "Skyline Harmonization" was born.

I'd like to think that this song can be one of those catchy upbeat songs to put someone in a good mood if they listened to it. Sure, there are a bunch of repetitive parts here, but that's where the upbeat stuff comes in.

Quick update: The eight song is on the way. I'm in the process of uploading it to Youtube right now, so once it's done buffering, I'll edit this post and the first post (or post again if anyone else happens to post within that gap) with the song.

After this, I think I'm going to try and record a real instrument. Now that I've learned to play guitar and the keyboard, I should be able to produce my own natural works with these instruments. So yeah, there may be an occasional Garageband tune or two, but otherwise, I'd be using it to record my stuff.

To anyone reading this post: Can anyone recommend any recording equipment that I could potentially use to make the performance itself sound better?

Originally Posted by Dogma

To anyone reading this post: Can anyone recommend any recording equipment that I could potentially use to make the performance itself sound better?

silly question, but did you notice Azrael's post a few back? (post #10)?
He made a few equipment recomendations there.

My bad, forgot to look at that.

And it's up:


I do a picture slideshow every couple of music videos when I have the right images to do it with. This time, I'm going to include annotations as to what they are.

Anyways, I made this song as another kind of upbeat rave track. Though I called it "Mysticism" because of the sounds that it's got right along the melody of the track.

Plus, I added that long breakbeat at the end of it because it would have been fun, as well as the fact that I had the time to do something like that.

I had a lot of fun making this. Probably as much fun as I had making Take What You Can, though it fails if being compared to it. Hope you all enjoy it!