Updated version of our song

Sure, we're a little bit behind on how much we should have done, but I'm still really proud of what we have so far.
http://soundcloud.com/zackragozzino/song-idea-3-2-0-edition-woot

Day 3: A Real Beginning

It took almost an entire hour and a half to actually get something to work with. Zack came up with an awesome intro/melody to a song that can be continued with the help of an electronic keyboard. I like what we have, and I am very eager to continue working on a song. It seems that when we actually get something to roll with, it's at the end of class and we barley have time to add to it.

What we have is a bit hard to describe, but it's an uplifting tune. I can see a gentle drum beat being added, or some of the notes being cut in half to make the song move faster and make it livelier. I really want to see what we can do come the next google day.

This is definitely the best song idea we've come up with. In all honesty I am very happy we scrapped the old ideas and are going to continue on this one.

Day 3: Finally have some grounding

It's definitely taken some time, but I feel that we've finally reached an idea for a tune that has not only captured my interest, but is solid enough to build upon. While the other drafts had some good qualities, I feel that it would be too difficult to continue any further with them than we already had. I feel that the what created the most difference was that this time we had access to a MIDI keyboard. Even though we couldn't get it to work with my laptop, it still made it much much easier to think of how to being our tune. Instead of the past drafts, where we tried to start a song by getting a good drum beat, or by finding a catchy riff to repeat, this time we worked on a chord progression to use. With the keyboard, I was able to go through the different types of chords I knew until we found a pattern that caught our interest. It mostly consists of Maj7 chords, moving from C to D to A and so on. To me, the most difficult part of composing a piece is the beginning, in fact I often skip the beginning and try working on the chorus first (which is a strategy that is somewhat difficult to do on FL studio), but I feel that this time we actually have something to work off of. Because of this, our productivity over the next few google days should skyrocket. I have high hopes for what the final draft of our piece will sound like.

Day 2: Yeah- what he said

Google project- day two. And if you haven't already picked up on it, things are getting difficult. I don't think we realized that making music isn't easy.

The sample of the song from Zack's first post had to be edited because it sounded different on his speakers. But he saved the altered version, and later when we tried to change it back in band we couldn't. So...we had to start over. Too bad, I really liked that song idea...

So, we had to start over. Making a song from scratch is difficult! We tried starting with a drum line, but that didn't work. So then we tried starting with a melody. That was alright, but I still like the first song better. But in retrospect all that time we spent on FL Studios didn't get us very far with a song.  But hopefully later, we can come up with a really great catchy song that we put together. I look forward to that!

Cameron

Day 2: Things are getting more difficult

I started this project believing that making chiptune music would be a breeze, but problems are starting to show up. Cameron and I decided to scrap our first song idea, or at least put it to the side for now. I'd say the hardest part about making a tune is the beginning. That's where you really have to think about what sort of piece you want to write. It's not an easy process, and there were many moments where I just wanted to scrap everything. We decided on a piece that's a bit faster and more intense, though our ideas were changing very often. It was difficult to decide whether to begin by writing the bass line, or the chords, or the drum line. All of them seemed like good starts, but they all felt like they were leading to dead ends. We still don't have very much done, but I feel that things will get much easier as we have more google days. I'm left wondering how composers come up with the inspiration to write enough music to fill a CD. No wonder it can take an entire year year for some artists. I still definitely thing we can achieve this goal, but it's going to take some more effort than I thought.