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xerkon

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:20 pm
by xerkon
Hey all, just uploaded my first song to soundcloud.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks for listening!

xerkon

Re: My first song

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:07 pm
by Concept
Very cool. : )

I really like the panning and the variation in melody towards the end. It has a good sense of progression.

Re: My first song

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:05 pm
by xerkon
Thank you so much, Concept! It could certainly use some more work but I'm pretty happy with it for a first track. Some of the rhythm parts were me on my djembe which I recorded with a Blue Yeti mic. Everything else was done on my super-duper totally rad $99 dollar Casio keyboard running through my incredibly sophisticated also-$99 Tascam US-2x2 USB audio interface and then mixed in Audacity for free. It doesn't sound too bad considering I used around 300 dollars worth of equipment (djembe was a gift from my pa.) To be honest, all the greatest gear in the world would be totally wasted on me at this point. Maybe when I learn a little more I can upgrade a bit. Cheers!

I forgot to mention, the Korean (which translates to "Ladies and gentlemen we are ready to race with pair number one), "go to the start," "ready," whistle and starting pistol were all sampled from the Olympics.

xerkon - second track

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 6:02 am
by xerkon
New track, this one I started with 20 or 30 little clips of a guy talking and built all the "instruments" from speeding up, slowing down and layering, among other things. The only effects I used were reverb and a stretching effect. It's not too shabby, considering.


new music

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 7:39 pm
by xerkon
New track, finally.

Re: My first song

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 2:03 am
by xerkon
New track.

Re: My first song

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:32 pm
by JERROLD
Decent, need to accomplish something like this with mine.

Re: My first song

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 3:38 pm
by xerkon
Many thanks, Jerrold! I will take "decent" any day of the week! You're officially the first person (besides Concept - viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1020 - much love!) to say anything about my music, besides people I know, so that's pretty exciting to me.

What are you working on? It takes me forever to make anything, lots of internal issues with myself that prohibit me from completing music quickly and efficiently. Maybe you are experiencing some of the same things? It's so easy for me to say to myself, "Who gives a fuck what people think of my work?" until I go to put it on the internet, and then it seems like all the negative energy in the world combines forces to dissuade me. Crippling. Disgusting, really. I like to think that every honest piece of music that exists is someone's favourite, therefore anything that anyone makes from their heart is going to (potentially) fill an empty place. So why let fear stop you from maybe making someone's life better?

Ideally, we'd all be conduits for the spirits of creativity that surround us with great ideas all the time, but I find in myself one-hundred and one different blockages that are like negative filters, they suck the great frequencies out of the pure ideas and leave me with nothing. For me, life has been all about looking past the negative to the positive and I've been trying to find the shortest path between idea and idea realized. It's tricky.

I am totally making it up as I go. I have no credentials or formal training. I've always loved sound and I connect with music on a more fundamental level than 95% of the people I've met in my life. I also have a deeply-ingrained sense of rhythm. Those are really the only reasons I should be making anything. And they are good enough, or so I tell myself.

I'm also kind of obsessed with spending no money on equipment. I use a Blue Yeti mic, a Tascam usb audio interface, the popular Audio-Technica m50x headphones, and that's about it. I have some drums and a few djembes. I use Audacity for everything. I'm convinced that it's the idea that is key, not necessarily the ear-candy. When I think about my favourite songs, it's not the "flash" that gets me, it's something else, something connected to the roots of what sound is.

So, what is it that's holding you back, if indeed something is? (if, after everything I've said, you say, "I just don't have the time," that will be funny)

Twelve Stars

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 3:43 pm
by xerkon
Just posted a new track:

My good friend David Schu did the artwork for this song. You can see more at http://davidzart.com/galleries/gallery_one.html

Re: My first song

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 3:45 pm
by xerkon
The title of this thread, "My first song," is so ridiculous, it makes me laugh every time. What was I thinking?

My sixth song:

Re: My first song

Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2019 9:29 pm
by xerkon
New track:

Re: My first song

Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:00 pm
by sergeydrn
Nice track. What tools did you use to record it?

Re: My first song

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2019 4:57 pm
by xerkon
Thanks for listening, and for the feedback! :D

Casio CTK-3500 keyboard
Tascam US-2x2 USB audio interface
Real drums recorded with a Blue Yeti mic
Audacity for all mixing/editing/effects

Re: My first song

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2019 4:59 pm
by xerkon
New music here:

latest music

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 7:20 am
by xerkon