Progress making somber music

I thought about gathering some feedback over this, so I can see if the direction the sound is going is just right. The general feel should be somber and grievous, with a tinge of light or clarity within.

Other information to know:

  • This is mixed rough around the edges, it’s very loosely made
  • Pseudo-mastering is applied(just barebones)

Oh, and I’m thinking about looking up some patterns that can tell if a sound is warm or cold, dark or bright, just by knowing the shape of the sound spectrum. That could be very helpful for what I will work with later.

5 Likes

I have no background in sound design but from what it feels like I would say warm bright lowkey.

It feels a bit somber and relaxing but not exactly sad. Like it wouldn’t fit in like a play list I would listen to when I’m sad. But like something that would play over when the sun is setting or it like gives the vibe of a lonely spacemen looking into a beautiful outer space yk?

All in all it’s decent

I would say the underlying rhythm is somber.

You have brighter notes over the top of it, but they seem too sharp and too choppy.

They overpower the somber so much that it looses the feel of being introspective.

I would leave the somber rhythm.

The light needs to be quieter, smoother and maybe it build more like a vocal chorus would.

Just my 2 cents.

1 Like

This is pretty good. I think the main arp could have a panning delay that automates up right before the drop, so it acts as a sort of swell. The 808 could benefit from a slightly more impactful sidechaining. To make it more dark and somber I recommend tacking on some low-pass filters, delays, and granulation filters.
Additionally the chords around 1:40 would sound nicer with less release, as they start to clash with the chord after. The ‘bright’ sound this currently has mostly comes from the abundance of high frequency and high enunciation of all of the sounds,.

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This somber music sounds good! It doesn’t really sound somber though, but it still is great! Nice job on it! How long did it take for you to make? What will you use it in? I’d say take away the beat and it should be more of what you wanted.