non-game trainwrecks

ihavefivehat's picture

I've been feeling kind of uninspired about making games recently, but I have been playing a lot of music. I figured I'd try to apply the trainwreck method to recording songs, since it's kind of intimidating to write and record music (especially since I have no good equipment or talent). This is the first like... actual "song" that i've ever written. I kind of wrote it as I went. It was fun! If you squint a bit, it's a late 70s pop punk anthem recorded by actual musicians. Maybe I'll do more.

https://soundcloud.com/ihavefivehat/scorn

If anyone objects to non-games, let me know. But I think this fits with the aesthetic & mission of the site. Maybe I'll post other stuff like art pieces and whatnot as I make them too... we'll see!

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PART 2: May 20th 2016

I made an updated version of that song... actually this is my 4th attempt, but this time I had a slightly less crappy mic to use. I'm genuinely trying to make a tight and melodic pop punk song, lol. I'm just actually that bad at playing in rhythm. I'll get there eventually...

https://soundcloud.com/ihavefivehat/scorn-version-2

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PART 3: May 21st 2016

I changed the previous recording a little bit. it's getting towards the mix of raucous goofiness and concerning subject matter that i was originally going for... i'm going to let this sit for a while and decide if i want to re record it again in a few weeks. i feel like i could do better, but i don't want to get burnt out on it.

https://soundcloud.com/ihavefivehat/scorn-ver-3

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PART 4: May 26th

I guess I'll post visual art here too. Here's a sketchbook page I like. might keep working on it. one thing on my 'learn how to-do' list is to get better at photographing art so maybe I'll try to figure that out this week.

PART 4, VOL. 2: MAY 26th and 1/2

I just made another song today also. look at me, doing things.

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Comments

clyde's picture

It's exciting to hear your

It's exciting to hear your voice!

ihavefivehat's picture

yeah, I guess terrible

yeah, I guess terrible things can be exciting sometimes...

I've actually gotten a lot better at singing over the last few weeks. you don't want to hear what I used to sound like.

clyde's picture

I was inspired to make a

I was inspired to make a song where I was singing due to you putting one up. I thought I might add some organs or something, but let's get realistic, I'm never going to touch this again. It was fun to sing a little bit. I should write lyrics before hand or something next time.
https://soundcloud.com/clydebink/temporary-found

ihavefivehat's picture

haha nice! organs would

haha nice! organs would sound cool, though. Kinda vaguely reminds me of tom waits. the hyper self-aware lyrics are funny, but also kind of creepy for some reason.

clyde's picture

I'll write lyrics next time.

I'll write lyrics next time. There are only so many songs I can sing about the fact that I am singing. I'm an instrumental kinda guy.
I think the embarrassment-thrill of making up lyrics as I went swung between goofiness and right-to-be-here aggression. I actually don't like my song much at all, but it's kinda cathartic to publish something I made that I don't like.

ihavefivehat's picture

yeah, I need to get back to

yeah, I need to get back to doing that. I've been too precious about my creative work recently.

I've found that singing random lyrics the first time around can get you started on writing lyrics that make sense. I remember hearing that the beatles song 'yesterday' was originally about macaroni or something so there's precedent! I mean, not that your lyrics need to make sense but if that's what you're going for then give it a shot.

Son of a dolphin's picture

now i've spent an hour

now i've spent an hour making a song about macaroni, i'll post it when i'm done

ihavefivehat's picture

well I looked it up, and

well I looked it up, and that song was actually originally about scrambled eggs, not macaroni. so I guess you fucked up! just kidding, looking forward to hearing the song!

Son of a dolphin's picture

here's the song

here's the song https://soundcloud.com/david-cherepov/the-macaroni-song
i only did 15 seconds of actual singing in it but whatever
the 4:20 length was entirely unintentional

ihavefivehat's picture

dude, this is great! when I

dude, this is great! when I listen to this, i can definitely see the bones of our generation's 'yesterday'. it just needs a bit of touching up, maybe changing the references to macaroni filled anuses and human sacrifice (for the radio version at least) but otherwise you've got a number one hit on your hands.

clyde's picture

I'm glad things worked out.

I'm glad things worked out. I hope you got your fill of macaroni before their god ate some. Either way you ended up with a memorable evening!

it sings, it plays

it's here.

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whatohwow.mid37.2 KB

oh, uhh, maybe I should narrate it.

The willowing whispering village is at stake. They don't have enough stakes for the adolescent fare connection. They have many harps though. Where did they get those harps? In a plateau for you? It's in the plateau they foresee in a sea they have speakers that are so loud they break beakers. It was then that they decided instead to go acoustic. This was the sound of our soul.

clyde's picture

Did you compose this? It's

Did you compose this? It's quite beautiful. I haven't downloaded the .rar yet, I just opened the midi in NanoStudio and ended up choosing various instruments and levels to listen to it. It's very pleasing.

clyde's picture

lol I'm listening to the

lol
I'm listening to the original instrumentation for the first time right now after spending an hour in a Starbucks trying to match it properly on my phone. The version I heard first was significantly different. I like both of them a lot. I'll mixdown and upload the broken instrumentation I managed.

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GhettoShamrock_whatOhWow.ogg3.09 MB

Thank you.

Uhh, composed kind of in a way, I am responsible for it. If I went into detail about its construct it might lose (or loose as they spell it on the internet) some of its magic. Let's just say I can produce something like this quite quick. That came out quite interesting without the drums. I like it. Also didn't know you could attach .ogg which is almost like a misspelling of .org but isn't. Or mp3 for that matter. I tend to get an error attempting.

2sman's picture

i'm into the ogg! hey, do

i'm into the ogg!

hey, do you guys know Disquiet Junto? It's kind of a music-ish thing like Glorious Trainwrecks. Each week there is a new "assignment."
Here's this week's:

http://disquiet.com/2016/08/04/junto-0240/

Blueberry Soft's picture

Nice! Though maybe it's a

Nice! Though maybe it's a bit less trashy-friendly than this beautiful joint(?).

(I am also into the OGG)

2sman's picture

you're right. they don't

you're right. they don't have an explicit instruction to make audio trainwrecks per se.

everythingstaken's picture

Oh yeah,

I made this whole album because of this post and I never posted it here. Here ya go!
http://newgrace.bandcamp.com/album/no-grace

Everyone on here is so multi-talented! I guess you have to be if you're making games by yourself. It's funny that I've never seen a "music game" on this website, though I have seen games with real great soundtracks.

2sman's picture

i like this a lot

i like this a lot

gonna get up in here

I listened to the first one and I like it!! I like the claps and lo-fi sound and distorted vocals. I'll listen to more! oh wait the later ones are updated versions i'll compare

I made this 2night: https://soundcloud.com/apieschel/fall-remix001

ahhh I couldn't find the

ahhh I couldn't find the other versions, so I'm guessing the "Scorn" that's on soundcloud is the most updated version? sounds good!

ihavefivehat's picture

oh actually I made a bunch

oh actually I made a bunch of versions of that song, but I deleted them all of them except the original from sound cloud in a fit of artistic self-hatred. The version of the song on sound cloud is me literally writing the song as I go. It's a bunch of audio files stitched together as I tried out different things and then kept what worked. You can listen to the subsequent versions here if you want. It might be interesting to see me figure out how to be slightly better at recording myself.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5pf4rXHLibLZ3FwSGRTN2phUGc

clyde's picture

Is the clipping during the

Is the clipping during the wahs at the beginning intentional?

was not intentionally trying

was not intentionally trying to clip when i did the eq sweeps, but haven't really decided how i feel about em. getting rid of clips would mean another take which would mean a totally diff track, which i might do

also, it's possible that it

also, it's possible that it might sound different / more intense or something on different speakers than mine

yeah i think I'm gonna try

yeah i think I'm gonna try to compress it

clyde's picture

House Wip

Here's what I had a chance to work on today. It's very much a work in progress. The breathey thing strings and their "melody" are just me testing a chord that I may use in some way. The 808 bass-drum is just a place-holder metronome.
https://soundcloud.com/clydebink/house-2016-9-28

this is cool. love the

this is cool. love the pitch-bendy effect on the bassy sound.

ihavefivehat's picture

nice, that's very

nice, that's very atmospheric. it's really appropriate for the fall weather.

Son of a dolphin's picture

ljoi

kj

Noyb's picture

Playing around with Bosca

Playing around with Bosca Coeil some more and wound up with a moody guitar thing.

I don't have any formal music background, and making songs by feel alone is often terrifying, leaving me unsure whether a phrase sounds right just because it's in the right key, or because it's a melody I've heard before and am unconsciously replicating.

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clyde's picture

I enjoyed it. Your

I enjoyed it. Your particular melodic resolution to a couple of the phrases resonates with me.
As far as your terror, assuming that you are afraid of plagiarism, I hope to provide some relief. Two things have largely removed this fear for myself.
1. Trying to actually duplicate songs and then listening to them side-by side.
2. Taking the chord progressions of my songs and putting it into this website to see what pop-songs share the progression. https://www.hooktheory.com/trends

Those two steps have shown me how wildly different everything I've made actually is. Even when it does share a chord progression or a melody, it's exciting for me to find out what pop-song shares it.
More recently, I've experimented with changing the instrumentation of midi-tracks I didn't even write and the difference between the originals and my results are absolutely expressive of a different sensibility (which s fun for me).

pensive-mosquitoes