# Maybe I will never get better than this...



## Mads Skønberg (Mar 31, 2018)

Or what do the people think? Is there any hope? Any feedback is welcome.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Mar 31, 2018)

With the help of hard work, time and talent, there is always hope.


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## Mads Skønberg (Mar 31, 2018)

Ned Bouhalassa said:


> With the help of hard work, time and talent, there is always hope.



Haha, thats not feedback lol


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Mar 31, 2018)

Hej Mad, 
It is strange title, I mean your threadtitle not the track. Either way how someone might interprete that title, both ways feels a bit unfortunate for me. I ask you: Do you find your piece either that good that you think you can´t get better or is it that you just are a natural pessimist thinking that you can´t make it that far? 

Well my critic to the track so far: Well, not bad at all considering how long you do that kind of epic modern folky filmmusic. Let me tell you that this is not bad at all and I like it, but I have heard that chord progression there a million times which of course is good because I have a connection to the material you wrote here, but yawn..it is a bit like oh give me a bit more surprise please. But don´t get me wrong: If that is what you are after, you do quite good with that stuff!

Hope that helps.


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## MrHStudio (Mar 31, 2018)

Hi, Signed up just to say I put some comments on the soundcloud.!

Now to become a productive member....


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## Mads Skønberg (Mar 31, 2018)

AlexanderSchiborr said:


> Hej Mad,
> It is strange title, I mean your threadtitle not the track. Either way how someone might interprete that title, both ways feels a bit unfortunate for me. I ask you: Do you find your piece either that good that you think you can´t get better or is it that you just are a natural pessimist thinking that you can´t make it that far?
> 
> Well my critic to the track so far: Well, not bad at all considering how long you do that kind of epic modern folky filmmusic. Let me tell you that this is not bad at all and I like it, but I have heard that chord progression there a million times which of course is good because I have a connection to the material you wrote here, but yawn..it is a bit like oh give me a bit more surprise please. But don´t get me wrong: If that is what you are after, you do quite good with that stuff!
> ...



Cool.

I ment the pessimistic way

And yes, I had to something Easy and plain now, to Get going with composing again. Therefore this well known chord progression.

Thanx man!


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## Mads Skønberg (Mar 31, 2018)

MrHStudio said:


> Hi, Signed up just to say I put some comments on the soundcloud.!
> 
> Now to become a productive member....



Thanx!


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## AlexanderSchiborr (Mar 31, 2018)

Mads Skønberg said:


> Cool.
> 
> I ment the pessimistic way
> 
> ...



Dont be like that. Just try to work on the stuff, enjoy little steps and even if it doesn´t turn out like you want...that is normal. It takes time. Just keep on practising.


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## Dr Belasco (Mar 31, 2018)

Just keep going and you will get better through practice. Whatever 'better' means. Because you have to quantify that with 'better than what?'
In commercial music, 'better' doesn't mean anything when it comes to sync fees, believe me.


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## Mads Skønberg (Mar 31, 2018)

By better I maybe mean the orchestration, the melodies, the setup, the everything...

Here is an extended version of the trac with some improvements.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Mar 31, 2018)

Mads Skønberg said:


> Haha, thats not feedback lol


Actually it’s a reply to your question, “Is there any hope?”


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## pfmusic (Mar 31, 2018)

As others have mentioned, keep on going, learning. Never believe that you can't get any better, because we all can.

Believe in yourself, enjoy writing what you like and never rely on other people's opinions. Do what you feel is right and keep on going.

Can't comment here on your music, as it's style is not my own. Be yourself.


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## Mads Skønberg (Mar 31, 2018)

Thanx.

But what could I have done better with the track?


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## gamma-ut (Apr 1, 2018)

Mads Skønberg said:


> Thanx.
> 
> But what could I have done better with the track?



What are you trying to achieve? Did you want epic or a good setting for that tune? It's not a great setting for the tune, which is why, I guess, you feel it's wanting. But melodically in its own right, it has potential.

Conversely, you have all the elements for that Pirates of the Caribbean sound - except for the tune - possibly because you don't want to commit to the clichés of the genre or haven't quite absorbed the melodic/harmonic clichés of the genre (though it is very close). Separate the two and you wind up with two pieces of music. So, it's potentially a win-win.


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## stixman (Apr 1, 2018)

Maybe ask yourself Does this excite me


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## MatthewHarnage (Apr 1, 2018)

I feel like it could be better with a more diverse melody. For instance later on you center the melody a lot around D. I think if you took it more places (and used the rest of your orchestra to accompany it), it'd already be better. I think the thing you're good at is pacing the music, now working on the pure content in each section would be beneficial I think.


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## Mads Skønberg (Apr 1, 2018)

stixman said:


> Maybe ask yourself Does this excite me


The answer is YES!


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## stixman (Apr 1, 2018)

As much as the those who are at the top of they’re game?


Mads Skønberg said:


> The answer is YES!


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## Henu (Apr 2, 2018)

One thing I always think- and have been thinking for the past 20 years is that "_if this track I made was done by an unknown, say, a Bulgarian band/ composer, would I be interested on it?_"

Coming from Finland, our location and "scene" has always been very uninteresting to people musically. The biggest problem back in the 90's with all the bands coming from here was that they always wanted to be "as good as commercial band XXX". Now, taking that abovementioned approach to that situation, I always thought that why would someone in Spain or Denmark- or gods forbid, USA- be interested in a Finnish copycat of an internationally successful band? Would I, as a Finn, be interested in a Danish or Russian U2- clone, because "it's sounding international"?

Hell no. Why would I want to listen to that? For pity?

The first bands getting commercially successful outside Finland were a) metal (e.g. "something outside the box") bands and b) original- sounding metal bands on top of that. After that, I think many Finnish music makers realized that it's not about how great cloning of the original you should do but what _else_ you can bring to the table the others do not.

The more we do and more we learn in the process, the more we are able to leave behind the "wow, I'm almost starting to capture the sound of band/ composer XXX" and to concentrate on stuff which makes it sound our _own_.
How many times we've played our tracks to our significant others, colleagues or even our moms just to be proud that we made something that sounds _almost_ as good as something we tried to copy? We didn't try to do anything original, we wanted to impress ourselves instead, because we loved the sound of our "idols". Been there, done that.
But did we ever stopped asking ourselves that who else except for ourselves and moms would be interested to hear a thousandth (bad) copycat of a well- known artist?

When we start composing music, be it any genre, it's important to us to sound like our influencers in the beginning- that's why we started in the first place! But at some point, we need to tell ourselves that we are now copying well enough to stop dwelling in it and step outside from the box to create something of our own. If your favourite band is Cannibal Corpse, you wouldn't probably be interested to hear a Finnish demo band who sound like Cannibal Corpse, only a bit worse and anonymous. And that's why we need to kill our idols and move on!

While you can find quite a shitton of _blatant_ influences from other bands and people from my music, I have realized that the less I try to concentrate on sounding like someone else and more just to create "something" according to the mood, the better my results are. The best ideas are always those which sound fresh and original, but also having enough familiar (e.g. approachable timbre, rhythm) elements to accompany those.

We will never be nothing else but Finnish demo bands sounding like a bad Cannibal Corpse clones, unless we decide to do something else instead and concentrate on originality blended with all the knowledge we learned when we cloned the shit out of Cannibal Corpse. (Yes, I love Cannibal Corpse.)

Now ditch the original chord progression you've heard for a zillion times already and start over with more _Mads_!


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## Lassi Tani (Apr 2, 2018)

I listened to it, not bad at all! There are some things that you do better though.

In the beginning, there's a intro line sung by the female voice, which seems to be a bit disconnected from the rest of the song melodically and rhythmically. It would be much better, if you establish a pattern right in the beginning for the listener. After that it's much easier for the listener to understand the rhytmic pattern you have in your theme.

When you present the theme the first time, you should keep it very simple and clear. In this piece you already have two or more instruments playing the theme, which are not really unifying the melody line. Then when the repetition comes, you already have a more voices higher than the melody.

When the bridge comes, you have again a new idea, which doesn't connect the choruses together.

In short, the intro doesn't lead well to the theme, you don't establish the theme clearly enough neither melodically nor rhytmically. The bridge has new ideas but no connection to the previous ideas.

When you establish your theme already in the beginning, it's much easier to develop the piece and present new ideas to the listener. *You have to earn the development* by first repeating the main idea, and keeping it simple.

I think you would benefit from Mike Verta's courses. His videos are easy to follow and contain essential information, how to establish themes and how to develop them and how to connect different ideas together.


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## dannymc (Apr 2, 2018)

sekkosiki said:


> I listened to it, not bad at all! There are some things that you do better though.
> 
> In the beginning, there's a intro line sung by the female voice, which seems to be a bit disconnected from the rest of the song melodically and rhythmically. It would be much better, if you establish a pattern right in the beginning for the listener. After that it's much easier for the listener to understand the rhytmic pattern you have in your theme.
> 
> ...



great advice here. mads i think you would do well to follow this. 

Danny


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