EP thing I kinda hastily put together

[IJAM 1]

except the last song, which I put more work in.

'Snowing in Ponyville' was made in like 25 minutes... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Ok. 

I must be honest. All of these tracks need a lot of work. You stuck around the same idea on all of them (varying the first one on a few sections). You need to work on developing your ideas.

Fabulous Los Pegasus

Kudos to using a solid 4-chord progression but it stales out after a bit. Knowing you were in the key of f minor for the first one, here are some suggestions for alternate progressions

i-VI-III-V

VI-VII-III-V

iv-III-i-V

III-i-VI-VII

There are many more progressions you can use. Your percussion could use some fills and variation as the beat staled out early. Plus, the harshness of the kick and clap did not really match with that smooth funky style you had running. A jazz or vintage hip-hop kit would work best for this piece. Also, slow the piece down. It feels rushed. In terms of your instrument and sounds, a nice and clean tenor or alto sax would work better than that piercing solo lead. The slap bass needs some chorus on it, as it sounds rather dry. The electric piano was nice but maybe calm it down and add some tremolo chords on sections that mellow out. All in all, this one has potential but it still needs quite a bit of work on developing your ideas. 

 

Snowing in Ponyville

Really gotta be honest here: you gotta rework this one. The percussion should be absent, let alone a few long reverberated kicks for ambience. The melody is ok, but I think a more bell-like lead would really show the delicacy and beauty of snow in a town like ponyville. Eliminate the sweeping sawtooths. They are too aggressive for the theme and atmosphere of the piece. Warm pads, air choirs and an arpeggiated beep lead would be your best shot at conveying the theme of a snowy ponyville. 

In terms of your chords, you limited yourself to the IM7, ii and vi knowing you are in the key of C# Major. You need a solid 4 chord progression if you really want to develop your ideas. This is the problem I see with most musicians here. They create an idea, but then they don't how (or don't want to) develop it. If you wanna grow, you gotta learn to think outside the box. Here are some suggestions for progressions:

ii-I-iii-vi

I-ii-vi-V

IV-ii-I-vi

ii-IV-i-vi

vi-IV-I-V

I-iii-vi-ii

There are many more suggestions I can give you. 

All in all, as I said before, this piece needs reworking. You need to learn how to utilize your chords in a way that it can keep your listener engaged and want to keep on listening to your music. 

Midnight In Manehatten

This one needs work. You let the electro style dominate for most of the piece, which added a little too much sharpness, especially on the kick. If you're going for a chill style, your kick should not be harsh. The piece sped up at 1:55. I suggest you keep it at the same tempo, because it takes away the relaxed vibe and adds some tension and rushed feelings. Really, the biggest thing with this piece is that you tried to insert too much into this piece, especially at the beginning. You had a melody line on an upper sawtooth and then introduced a middle line on a midway sawtooth suddenly. Again, your sawtooths are too aggressive for this style. You need to look for some woodwind (specifically clarinet and saxophone) sounds if you want to perform this style of chill funk. 

In terms of your chords, your progressions felt scattered. You went around the I, IVM7, vi and ii knowing you are in the key of C Major. Again, you used 4 chords but did not organize them in such a fashion that you could divde them into phrases of 8. Here are some suggestions for some other progressions:

ii-V-IM7-IVM7

IV-V7-vi-V7 of V

vim7-IVM7-V7-IM7

IV-V-IM7add9-VI7

There are many other progressions you can use. 

 

All in all, these pieces need a ton of work. You need to learn how to develop and organize your ideas in a way that it engages with the listener. It's not all about how many tracks you make, it's all about taking the time to create something that you and your audiences will enjoy. Please don't be discouraged by my feedback, for no one is perfect but we can strive to be the best we can. If you have any questions about what I said, shoot me a PM. 

 

[IJAM 1]

lol you pretty much critiqued my entire repertoire of music I've made over the 5 years I've been producing :p

 

but yeah, I get what you're saying. my music is pretty bad; it always has been, and I guess it always will......

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

3 hours ago, IJAM said:

lol you pretty much critiqued my entire repertoire of music I've made over the 5 years I've been producing :p

 

but yeah, I get what you're saying. my music is pretty bad; it always has been, and I guess it always will......

Always will? Dude, no need to put yourself down like that. It needs work, but you can get better just by practicing and asking did help. I can tutor you in music theory and production. Would you like that?