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## Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Klop
  Posts: 45
  Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2016 6:53 pm

### Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by Klop » Sun Sep 04, 2016 6:18 am

I went back to my first song, and changed a few things to make it better. It still sounds horrible, but it is a improvement(even if it's a small one).

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  Intimidation.ftm
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arethere
  Posts: 48
  Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:15 pm

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by arethere » Sun Sep 04, 2016 2:41 pm

I am by no means a good musician or anything but here is my opinion
I think it has potential but I have many problems with it:
- it's very repetitive
- Throughout your song the rhythm never really changes and every instrument plays more or less the same rhythmic idea
- it lacks dynamics
- i feel like it... doesn't really go anywhere
- no effects (here's a list: http://famitracker.com/wiki/index.php?title=Effect_list)
my advice would be try adding things that complement your idea, like a bass line or a pedal note, chords underneath, a melody, change the structure, add different sections, think about what you want to achieve (tension/relief...idk)
just try random things to get a feel for it
optional: look up some instructional videos online on what scales are, how to build chords and what keys are
i made something based on your song and the criticism i made (not because i think i'm really cool but i really want to help in some way)
can you hear your song in it? (it might have lost the creeping pre-boss-fight flavor of the original but yeah)
also i'm not sure why you used 96 rows

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  trying to help.ftm
    (12.09 KiB) Downloaded 135 times

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Klop
  Posts: 45
  Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2016 6:53 pm

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by Klop » Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:33 pm

> arethere wrote:I am by no means a good musician or anything but here is my opinion
> I think it has potential but I have many problems with it:
> - it's very repetitive
> - Throughout your song the rhythm never really changes and every instrument plays more or less the same rhythmic idea
> - it lacks dynamics
> - i feel like it... doesn't really go anywhere
> - no effects (here's a list: http://famitracker.com/wiki/index.php?title=Effect_list)
> my advice would be try adding things that complement your idea, like a bass line or a pedal note, chords underneath, a melody, change the structure, add different sections, think about what you want to achieve (tension/relief...idk)
> just try random things to get a feel for it
> optional: look up some instructional videos online on what scales are, how to build chords and what keys are
> i made something based on your song and the criticism i made (not because i think i'm really cool but i really want to help in some way)
> can you hear your song in it? (it might have lost the creeping pre-boss-fight flavor of the original but yeah)
> also i'm not sure why you used 96 rows

Thanks for the criticism, though i was a bit bewildered by your advice. First of off, i don't know what a pedal note or bass line is, and even if i did, i wouldn't know how to emulate it in Famitracker. I'm not too sure what you meant by "changing the structure" and "adding different sections" so it'd be much appreciated if you elaborated on this. As for chords and scales, i'd rather you show an example of it instead. I feel like looking up a YouTube video isn't going to help much. I know i'm asking for a lot, but then again i'm practically new to this and have no prior music experience whatsoever.
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Teuthida
  Posts: 536
  Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:25 am

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by Teuthida » Sun Sep 04, 2016 11:10 pm

To arethere, 96 rows is used to make a Famitracker song in 3/4 time. You can also use 48.
A squid with a higher post count than the NES can handle.
I'm on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX87jJAJ3LPezjkWIk2TWEg
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arethere
  Posts: 48
  Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:15 pm

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by arethere » Sun Sep 04, 2016 11:13 pm

ArEtHeReS GrAnD MuSiC CoUrSe
-------------------------------------
drumroll
-------------------------------------
okay so take everything i say with a grain of salt because I'm not good at music but
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Music sounds good because when notes come together they form some kind of force... like gravity
scales are a selection of notes that sound good together
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Key basically defines where the scale starts
the note that the scale starts on is called the "tonic"
the tonic is cool because it's very stable/things generally want to resolve to the tonic (Almost all songs end/start on the tonic I think)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Scales sound happy
The C Major scale goes like this: C D E F G A B (C) (it repeats like this: C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B and so on..........FOREVER)
It's a "C" Major Scale because it starts on C (the tonic is C)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(When you start on C and play the white keys on the piano you get the C Major Scale!)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
chords are built from scales
triads are chords that consist of 3 notes
basically you take one note of the scale, skip the next, take that one, skip the next, take that one
that gives us, starting on C:
C E G (C Major)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the note we are building the chord on is called the "root"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
if you do this starting on every note of the scale you get
1- C E G (C Major)
2- D F A (D Minor)
3- E G B (E Minor)
4- F A C (F Major)
5- G B D (G Major)
6- A C E (A Minor)
7- B D F (B diminished)
and were back to C
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
you can switch the order of notes in a chord around, the effect of the chord will stay the same
in my example I chose to have the Triangle play the root, so don't get confused by what it looks like in Famitracker
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
here's another scale, it's called a minor scale
it sounds sad/angsty (seriously, everything is going to be okay, Minor Scale)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It starts on A, so it's an A minor scale:
A B C D E F G (A)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
to get chords we do the same thing we did with the C Major Scale earlier, take one note, skip one note, take one note, skip one note
1- A C E (A Minor)
2- B D F (B diminished)
3- C E G (C Major)
4- D F A (D Minor)
5- E G B (E Minor)
6- F A C (F Major)
7- G B D (G Major)
back to A
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
because the distance between the notes of a scale always remain the same when you shift it around (pitch up/down)
the sound of the scale remains the same so for now don't worry about starting scales on other notes
I chose C Major and A Minor because they don't have sharps (#) and flats (b)
because that's too complicated
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
you don't have to follow this religiously, my point was you should, in my opinion, experiment with having your instruments SOMETIMES play different notes/different rhythms (and it's not like you didn't try do that at all, but for the most part you stuck to this one pattern)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
maybe have the bass play the root of the chord that is currently playing
(most people use the triangle in famitracker as bass)
and have one pulse arpeggiate chords (arpeggiating means playing the notes of a chord separately) so you can still hear the chord even though its notes are not being played at the same time
I attached an example of what I mean (I changed the key of your song to A minor)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
it sounds terrible but it's more about the idea of giving your instruments different things to do, there's obviously ways to make it sound more interesting
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
so when you listen to songs you like, and you want to make music in that style, try to identify the role of the instruments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
you don't really have to memorize any of that, it's more about knowing that there is a concept for things
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i suck at music and I don't understand it so I don't know why am trying to give you advice

Attachments
  example.ftm
    (1.98 KiB) Downloaded 94 times
  Major Scale.ftm
    (535 Bytes) Downloaded 97 times
  C major triads.ftm
    (754 Bytes) Downloaded 96 times
  Minor Scale.ftm
    (535 Bytes) Downloaded 91 times
  A minor triads.ftm
    (754 Bytes) Downloaded 91 times

Last edited by arethere on Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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arethere
  Posts: 48
  Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:15 pm

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by arethere » Sun Sep 04, 2016 11:15 pm

Hey Teuthida
But isn't it in 4/4...?
Or am I stupid
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Teuthida
  Posts: 536
  Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:25 am

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by Teuthida » Mon Sep 05, 2016 1:28 am

On closer inspection, it's in a REALLY weird form of 3/4, where everything is a dotted note.
A squid with a higher post count than the NES can handle.
I'm on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX87jJAJ3LPezjkWIk2TWEg
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Klop
  Posts: 45
  Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2016 6:53 pm

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by Klop » Mon Sep 05, 2016 1:59 am

> arethere wrote:ArEtHeReS GrAnD MuSiC CoUrSe
> -------------------------------------
> drumroll
> -------------------------------------
> okay so take everything i say with a grain of salt because I'm not good at music but
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Music sounds good because when notes come together they form some kind of force... like gravity
> scales are a selection of notes that sound good together
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> A Key basically defines where the scale starts
> the note that the scale starts on is called the "tonic"
> the tonic is cool because it's very stable/things generally want to resolve to the tonic (Almost all songs end/start on the tonic I think)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Major Scales sound happy
> The C Major scale goes like this: C D E F G A B (C) (it repeats like this: C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B and so on..........FOREVER)
> It's a "C" Major Scale because it starts on C (the tonic is C)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> (When you start on C and play the white keys on the piano you get the C Major Scale!)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> chords are built from scales
> triads are chords that consist of 3 notes
> basically you take one note of the scale, skip the next, take that one, skip the next, take that one
> that gives us, starting on C:
> C E G (C Major)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> the note we are building the chord on is called the "root"
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> if you do this starting on every note of the scale you get
> 1- C E G (C Major)
> 2- D F A (D Minor)
> 3- E G B (E Minor)
> 4- F A C (F Major)
> 5- G B D (G Major)
> 6- A C E (A Minor)
> 7- B D F (B diminished)
> and were back to C
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> you can switch the order of notes in a chord around, the effect of the chord will stay the same
> in my example I chose to have the Triangle play the root, so don't get confused by what it looks like in Famitracker
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> here's another scale, it's called a minor scale
> it sounds sad/angsty (seriously, everything is going to be okay, Minor Scale)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> It starts on A, so it's an A minor scale:
> A B C D E F G (A)
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> to get chords we do the same thing we did with the C Major Scale earlier, take one note, skip one note, take one note, skip one note
> 1- A C E (A Minor)
> 2- B D F (B diminished)
> 3- C E G (C Major)
> 4- D F A (D Minor)
> 5- E G B (E Minor)
> 6- F A C (F Major)
> 7- G B D (G Major)
> back to A
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> because the distance between the notes of a scale always remain the same when you shift it around (pitch up/down)
> the sound of the scale remains the same so for now don't worry about starting scales on other notes
> I chose C Major and A Minor because they don't have sharps (#) and flats (b)
> because that's too complicated
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> you don't have to follow this religiously, my point was you should, in my opinion, experiment with having your instruments SOMETIMES play different notes/different rhythms (and it's not like you didn't try do that at all, but for the most part you stuck to this one pattern)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> maybe have the bass play the root of the chord that is currently playing
> (most people use the triangle in famitracker as bass)
> and have one pulse arpeggiate chords (arpeggiating means playing the notes of a chord separately) so you can still hear the chord even though its notes are not being played at the same time
> I attached an example of what I mean (I changed the key of your song to A minor)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> it sounds terrible but it's more about the idea of giving your instruments different things to do, there's obviously ways to make it sound more interesting
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> so when you listen to songs you like, and you want to make music in that style, try to identify the role of the instruments
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> you don't really have to memorize any of that, it's more about knowing that there is a concept for things
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> i suck at music and I don't understand it so I don't know why am trying to give you advice

Because you clearly know more about this than i do. I've seen your past works, and to be honest, for some one who claims they bad at composing; most(if not all) of your compositions are on par with the best I've seen on this forum.....Okay, that's kind of stretching it, but they're still great nonetheless. Thanks for taking the time to write this post, i really appreciate it.
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Klop
  Posts: 45
  Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2016 6:53 pm

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by Klop » Mon Sep 05, 2016 2:04 am

> Teuthida wrote:On closer inspection, it's in a REALLY weird form of 3/4, where everything is a dotted note.

Weird form of 3/4? Dotted notes? I'm afraid i have little to no clue what you're talking about. Please elaborate if you can.
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Teuthida
  Posts: 536
  Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:25 am

### Re: Intimidation 2.0 [BETA]

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Post by Teuthida » Mon Sep 05, 2016 2:37 am

Okay! Let me see what I can do. Of course, you know I'm terrible at explaining stuff! Basically, a dotted note is a note with a length in between normal notes. In Famitracker, this means a dotted note will last for an odd number of rows. Your song is technically in a 4/4 rhythm(you can tell because if you say the beat in your head, it will go "1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4...") but it has 96 rows in it, something usually reserved for 3/4 songs. You basically "fake" a 4/4 structure using dotted notes. I wouldn't recommend doing that in the future, since it doesn't look that great and is overall confusing, as you can tell by this very thread.
A squid with a higher post count than the NES can handle.
I'm on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX87jJAJ3LPezjkWIk2TWEg
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