#unironically i think megalovania has ruined my music

[ameliaisnoir]

my music sucks- a dissection

hiya from elle~

today im hopefully further my understanding of my flaws and musical talent , im going to be showing this off to a few of the talented musicians that i know , if you see this and youre not a musician , u probably wont get anything out of this ,,, but feel free to spend hours reading this it totally wont fuel my ego

'Go ahead, put anything' they said...

so , my latest track intended for an rpgmaker game i am 'working' on , is ,, well its pretty good , its light , friendly but still uneasy , a great fit for the game and sequence this will play , it harkens back to undertales fallen down track , without feeling derivative ,, so its got a nice genuine nostalgic feel for some

HOWEVER

it doesnt get to escape my issues i have with all my tracks , the melody is repeated throughout every measure ,, the chord progression is just 2 or 4 notes in either major or minor scale

every single track i make has this same , almost template , that i end up falling into , its an annoying rut and has led to me feeling disappointed in my music and generally unhappy with it , especially as im only really able to create one "type" of song

i would describe my melodies ( and generally any kind of series of notes ) as like a rolling hill , what goes up must come down after half a measure ,,

pictured below , strings section

pictured below , bass for second movement

see how it all goes up and then comes down ? all neatly within that measure ?

thats my issue

i dont really know where this habit has developed from but its tanking my ability to craft "unique" or even just "good" melodies

this track gets away a lot better with masking this habit but it still suffers from it and the 4 note chord "progression"

generally every song i would say falls into a single overarching flaw i cannot seem to deviate from , every song has the following

-melody -chord progression -bass -drums

and when i do deviate from these things ,, its not usually because im doing something else , its because im simply NOT including them , instead of how songs usually are , i dont know how to describe the issue in greater detail than that , but i think it stems from a general lack of music theory understanding

now , lets tackle the shitshow of a song i made before attempting to make something unique with The Light

this song has a MUCH more obvious set of flaws ,,, an awful melody , bland and generic chords , uninspired drums , bad 'second section'

it all stems from where the majority of my early musical development ( and hence most of my music has built from the foundations of )

UNDERTALE OST - 100 MEGALOVANIA by Toby Fox

nearly every single song i created was a remix/new melody of megalovania , it was all VERY generic ,,, and not that great

but you see , that has crippled me ever since i started making original songs , as i cant seem to strive too far without "pushing" boundaries and expectations that have been set for me by megalovania , i cant seem to escape the style , and hence my songs like megalovania ,, are GREAT , theyre amazing megalovania remixes ! i mean check out my soundcloud and take a look at my latest one "this could've been avoided." , the arts great , the songs great , it includes something i like thats unique ( a keychange ) along with incorporating sections from other songs and throwbacks to them , while doing something new and fresh !

but a megalovania remix ,,, well its not exactly going to be a good foundation for a calm area theme in COTV ,,

thats where im stuck right now

the past , and my knowledge only stretches so far

not only are my melodies hills , but i am at one that i must conquer ,,,

so lets get onto some of the more pervasive issues with my songs

Drums

my drums are usually open close open close ( like battle against a true heros hi hats ) , with crashes every measure or two , like megalovania and my drum patterns are typically just kick snare kick snare , for ,,, just about every track , with just some slight tweaking ,

in my head , after a kick beat comes a snare beat , each beat can be cut up slightly if the tracks double time and hence can have double kicks or snares or the such , but a snare always comes after a kick , and i cant seem to do it in any other way unless i DONT have a snare , and its just a build up type of thing

Chords

my chords are usually built up of four notes , lets refer to them in the simplest terms

my general chords are essentially

[A] [B] [A] [C]

whether its [D] [E] [D] [C#] or something else entirely , the third chord is usually the first

now this in and of itself is not a flaw or an issue , but it gets unoriginal and repetitive , and it bothers me because i cant then create something that feels 'fresh'

Melody

melodies typically break down into a measure of four variations ( unless its in 3/4 , in which case three variations ) of one 'catchy' melody , which is , again , okay , but stale after so many tracks suffer from it

like i said as well , theyre typically 'rolling hills' for any melody that ISNT the same type of thing

Bass

now these arent SO bad , but i think its because i cant even begin to understand the importance of bass , most are fairly generic and look a little something like this

to wrap up this whole post , basically , after youve read this whole post , id like to hear what you think i could do to build on my foundations and expand my horizons for creativity

id also like for you all to take a look through my soundcloud up till around the release of proceed

additionally , if you have fl studio , id be glad to send over flps of any of my songs that are on soundcloud for you to take a closer look at , otherwise i can screenshot/call you on discord and screenshare the track for the same reason

my soundcloud

[hobieqt]

what the HECK i just remembered how great the undertale soundtrack was

appreciation post for undertale’s soundtrack bc how could you not

great pieces (besides the whole thing) include:

- home ! super wholesome and tugs at the heart strings ! i’m sad !

- ASGORE ! such a hype up song and is super fitting for the boss battle as well as the character !

- hopes and dreams ! this one breaks my entire being ! such an amazing piece ! PLUS THAT ELECTRIC GUITAR OMG

- MEGALOVANIA ! ofc ! another hype up song that just pumps you up !

- NGAHHH!! tbh this song was the only thing motivating me in the entire boss battle to keep on going bc i kept on dying !

- hotel ! underrated ! i just love its vibe and it’s divinely funky in the best way !

- temmie village ! i really love this piece unironically ! it’s just so sweet and cute and pure and we must protect the temmies :((

- snowdin town ! wholesome and creates such a friendly and *warm* vibe ! plus its got those festive vibes which are absolutely valid agh

- spider dance ! great piece ! it also has those halloween vibes which are 👌

- bird that carries you over a disappointingly small gap ! is there much to say on why i love this so much because it’s pretty obvious

- fallen down ! i mean, c’mon, this just had to be on the list

- fallen down (reprise) ! i hate toby fox on how he always incorporates the home theme in ALL the emotional pieces because they absolutely tear me APART 😞

- memory ! i literally want to punch his face omg but this piece ..... home sounds so amazing in a music box version so much i’m so done

- ruins ! actually seriously calming and gives such an adventure type feel - like you’re just beginning on embarking in an amazing journey that you’d never forget and that’s basically what undertale is :))

- quiet water ! super peaceful and serene. i love it to bits. 10/10 should sleep to at night

- it’s showtime ! mettaton is a skinny legend. i hate myself. in seriousness, this is a good piece and really, really groovy. what a bop

- for the fans ! sigh ,,, i was dying when i watched this scene unravel. mettaton is the omega 100% 🤧❤️

- finally, undertale ! it’s a piece that’s actually not in the undertale soundtrack album but it’s a melody of the most emotional songs in the album. this one just breaks my heart. i think this one is the best one as to describe undertale as a whole game imo and to look back on the amazing journey you just finished :))