Can someone tell me if this music sucks?

[spoonitnow]

It's a string cover of Panic! at the Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" done with a keyboard hooked up to a laptop some kind of way by a girl I'm mentoring. I'm encouraging her to work more on her music shit, etc.

Link: http://yourlisten.com/yourmomlol/i-w...s-string-cover

I'm asking because I have absolutely no sense for music whatsoever, and I like it.

[baudib]

no i can't

[wufwugy]

was going to say the composition is fantastic until i realized it's a cover

production values are a limiting factor

[spoonitnow]

was going to say the composition is fantastic until i realized it's a cover

production values are a limiting factor

This was the first thing she worked on with a new set of tools that were kind of dropped in her lap unexpectedly. I don't really know shit about music in the least bit, but it sounds like something I could leave on repeat at low volume for like six hours while I work.

[wufwugy]

im sure it grows on you over time. like her tits

[spoonitnow]

im sure it grows on you over time. like her tits

Bam.

[aubreymcfate]

It's a really good arrangement of that song.

[MadMojoMonkey]

It depends on what she's showcasing. Her keyboard skills? Her arranging skills? Did she spend over 1/2 her time on this recording mixing/mastering/tweaking the tonal colors of the final product, making the whole thing sharper?

If all she did was plug a touch-sensitive keyboard into her MIDI and press record, then that's pretty solid for an amateur. It's dime-a-dozen in the music world, though.

If she arranged it, too, then that's different. She has solid potential at writing well-coordinated, but disparate melodies.

If she mixed/mastered it, then I hope she started with a noisy, mess, 'cause it's underwhelming.

***
She easily has the skills to hold down the keys in a band, though, if that's all you're asking.

[daven]

by a girl I'm mentoring.

is this going to increase her cup size?

track is whatever, she ain't incompetent but seems to me that there ain't enough there to judge her level of competence.
Keep encouraging her.

[spoonitnow]

I should rap over it.

[Luco]

I should rap over it.

Seems sensible, it's probably too soon to be thinking about having children

[givememyleg]

i think it's good.

[OngBonga]

I've heard worse.

[eugmac]

does synthesized string sounds really simulate amaterish string playing that well these days? mind blown.

[oskar]

^^ My thoughts exactly.
If this is synthesized strings, I want to know what it is, and whoever put that plugin together is a genius!

If results are all that count, I like this very much. It doesn't sound amateurish to me, it sounds like someone playing deliberately sloppy. In a good way. I'm not someone for artistic integrity. I love J Dilla while objectively all he does is play Bill Evans riffs on half speed and putting a shitty drum beat over it. If it sounds good, it is good as far as I'm concerned, and this sounds great!

[aubreymcfate]

She definitely has a skill that she should hone, no doubt about it. The arrangement is very, very good. The production isn't mind blowing but it's obvious that she was working with limited sources. Keep encouraging her.

My word is the only word, and it is final.

[aubreymcfate]

Btw spoon if you want us to tell you if your music sucks or not there's no need to be bashful and make up young girl proxies in your stead We won't even judge you for enjoying Panic! At The Disco too hard.

(not that p!atd is that terrible or anything but the sound of them is just so mid-2000s sideswept bang myspace girl, bleh)

[surviva316]

Ohhhhhhhh the pipes!!!!!!!!!!!!

[spoonitnow]

Btw spoon if you want us to tell you if your music sucks or not there's no need to be bashful and make up young girl proxies in your stead We won't even judge you for enjoying Panic! At The Disco too hard.

(not that p!atd is that terrible or anything but the sound of them is just so mid-2000s sideswept bang myspace girl, bleh)

Check your PMs

[aubreymcfate]

confirmed: spoonitnow is actually a very cute tween girl whose eyeliner game is on point

[Renton]

Arrangement can be anywhere from completely devoid of talent to nearly as impressive as original work, it just depends on the nature of the arrangement and also on the medium. I don't know what the original song sounds like so I can't particularly comment.

I'd suggest that she gets a cheap electric keyboard/piano that has MIDI output. A MIDI controller would also work. It's usually more conducive to inspiration when you produce the music in a tactile way, i.e. fingers on keys and feet on pedals rather than clicking and dragging samples and such.

[daven]

confirmed: spoonitnow is actually a very cute tween girl whose eyeliner game is on point

gotta wonder what 'mentoring' is a euphemism for

[wufwugy]

she's integral to his tampon research

[spoonitnow]

confirmed: spoonitnow is actually a very cute tween girl whose eyeliner game is on point

Her eyeliner game is definitely on point, but she's almost 20. Holla atcha boy

Arrangement can be anywhere from completely devoid of talent to nearly as impressive as original work, it just depends on the nature of the arrangement and also on the medium. I don't know what the original song sounds like so I can't particularly comment.

I'd suggest that she gets a cheap electric keyboard/piano that has MIDI output. A MIDI controller would also work. It's usually more conducive to inspiration when you produce the music in a tactile way, i.e. fingers on keys and feet on pedals rather than clicking and dragging samples and such.

Do you remember keyboard you helped me pick out a few years ago that I worked with for like 6 months then said fuck it? That's the one she's using w/MIDI output to her laptop, and that's what she used for the song in the OP. We've also recently discovered that a Rock Band drum set can be hooked up with MIDI output to her laptop as well, and she's been giving it hell. She played drums in high school I believe?

[Renton]

Yeah that seems great. And +1 to using rock band drums as midi trigger pads.

When she's ready to move up, try to find something with 88 weighted keys, get some cheap powered monitor speakers and a decent laptop and she could even gig. One thing I always wanted to get into was improvised solo looping. Basically, you play a melody/riff and set your laptop to loop it and then you can layer stuff on top on the fly and come out with some pretty intricate stuff. There is a ted video where a beatbox guy does this with his voice and accurately mimics an entire jazz ensemble.

[aubreymcfate]

She looks like a tween though. Which isn't a bad thing! People still think I'm 16. I'm down with that. I also played percussion in high school. -cue twilight zone music- maybe I've been this girl all along :O :O :O

Anyway in all seriousness:

This is close to what I have: http://www.m-audio.com/products/view/keystation-88 Same brand and everything, just slightly different model. And it serves me well. Technically it's a controller, not a keyboard, which just means that it doesn't generate its own sound (it needs to be hooked up to a program with samples).

If she plays piano she really should have a fully weighted 88 key keyboard/controller. It's totally worth it and she'll get a lot more out of her compositions.

Renton -- post Ted video pls?

[Renton]

[spoonitnow]

Yeah that seems great. And +1 to using rock band drums as midi trigger pads.

When she's ready to move up, try to find something with 88 weighted keys, get some cheap powered monitor speakers and a decent laptop and she could even gig. One thing I always wanted to get into was improvised solo looping. Basically, you play a melody/riff and set your laptop to loop it and then you can layer stuff on top on the fly and come out with some pretty intricate stuff. There is a ted video where a beatbox guy does this with his voice and accurately mimics an entire jazz ensemble.

That's pretty cool about the TED thing.

And yeah she's on the 88 weighted keys tip already because I blew entirely too much money on something that I was pretty sure I wasn't going to fuck with in the long run even though it seemed like a good idea at the time.

[spoonitnow]

So from left to right, her bedroom looks like the following:







The hook on the wall beside of her guitar is where her ukulele usually hangs, but I think she has it in her car at the moment.

[surviva316]

Did I not say oh the pipes? I could've sworn I damn-near shouted oh the pipes.

[dhubermex]

Hmm, whether it sucks or not is up for debate.

It's not bad imo. I could do without the plucking as a percussion method at the beginning and think the violins slur their notes a bit too much to make it flow, but overall not bad.