Got unreleased songs? Or art or fics or whatever?

[decoherence 183]

Hi everypony!

 

So I have a couple of pony songs that I'll release when I feel they're good and ready. My question is 'how many of you are in the same boat'? Have you written something (be it music, a fanfic, a drawing/painting, w/e) that you think will be SO AWESOME once you're finally done, but it's sitting on your hard drive right now because you feel it isn't quite there yet?

 

What sorts of things do you want to improve before you release? How long have you been sitting on it? What are the obstacles that prevent you from making the improvements you feel are necessary to make it 'fit for public consumption'?

 

Mmkay, I'll start. I have two songs, both of which are kinda catchy (if I do say so myself) but the main thing preventing me from sticking 'em up on pony.fm are that they both have vocal melodies. When you compose something in a sequencer, it's easy to make everything perfect (in fact, much of the time spent in a sequencer involves de-perfecting things so it doesn't sound too mechanical) but when the time comes to record the vocal track (the melody for which was written in the sequencer with no regard to how difficult it would be to actually pull off) it's difficult for an amateur like me to meet that standard.

 

But I'm gonna do it, dammit, and do it with minimal post-processing on the voice (god help me.) But only when I don't NEED so much post-processing (so like maybe in a year, if I practice a lot?)

 

It's a little frustrating to sit on a song because it is missing this key component but is otherwise great (imho.) But if I release it with a crummy vocal line, there's no point. Right? Or is there a point to releasing an unfinished product early? Feedback? Does one actually get useful feedback when they do that? Not in my experience...

 

So! Can anypony relate? Do you have a little somethin-somethin that you're waiting to release once all of the pieces fall in to place? What are the sort of challenges you go through from the stages of authoring a piece of work to actually producing and distributing it?

 

Got any advice for me? Like I said, I've learned over the years that I shouldn't release unfinished works because they'll generally stay unfinished for whatever reason. Why do you think that is? Just not showing the right people? (who might give me the encouragement to continue rather than just telling me nothing more than 'oh,that's great!' and leaving me to wonder why it's 'great' and why i should bother with additional releases if the draft was 'great')

 

I recently sent my latest song to my Dad for critique. He's is a recording artist and sound engineer and he gave me very specific, wonderful advice: "the CP-80 is contending with the bass and drums, rhythmically." or "in the breakdown, try building something in the low-mids. Like a cello." Comments like that are GOLD to me. They're specific, they're thoughtful and they're based on an understanding of what makes song appealing. I really don't know what I'd do without him. Do you have a favourite critic?

 

Well, those are all my questions for now. I look forward to reading your own experiences in releasing pony (or whatever) content, whatever they may be. Drunk post warning. OK, that's all.

[Princess Periwinkle 3,774]

Yeah I'm working on this fanfic. At my current pace I'll probably finish around 2018 or so. :/

 

But I hope for it to be very epic. We'll see if others agree.

[DusK 1,264]

All. The. Freakin'. Time.

 

What's even worse is that I also have a bunch of songs sitting my my HDD that are finished but I still can't show off because they're part of a much bigger release, i.e., all of my remix project tracks for OCR. Knowing I've finished my absolute best work but can't show anyone for months is painful.

 

Definitely get critique on your unfinished works, though. Show it to people that will help you finish it by saying what they do and don't like about it, and people who know more about making your respective art than you do so you can take that awesome piece and make it even better.

[decoherence 183]

wow. i typed up this big ol reply and then for some reason my browser went back a page and blew it all away. oh, computers. *shakes head*

 

Mkay, anyway -- where was I? Oh yes.

 

All. The. Freakin'. Time.

 

What's even worse is that I also have a bunch of songs sitting my my HDD that are finished but I still can't show off because they're part of a much bigger release, i.e., all of my remix project tracks for OCR. Knowing I've finished my absolute best work but can't show anyone for months is painful.

 

Why can't you show it yet? Other parts of the project not finished yet?

 

Enough material to call it a 'project'... having to wait to post your best work to OCR... Listen, I absolutely understand and relate to your frustration. Nonetheless, I would LOVE to be in your shoes Eh -- I'll get there, Goddesses willing. It's not like I'm gonna stop -- it's the only thing I really enjoy!

 

Definitely get critique on your unfinished works, though. Show it to people that will help you finish it by saying what they do and don't like about it, and people who know more about making your respective art than you do so you can take that awesome piece and make it even better.

 

It's difficult to find good critics IRL, especially for pony material (people get kinda hung up on that for some reason), and I have a thing about posting unfinished material online. Anything I've ever posted online as a draft for critique has been 'damned by faint praise' and generally panned. Mind you, this was to friends and family and not necessarily people who were interested in critiquing a piece of music. So maybe I just have to broaden my scope. I dunno. What I do know is that self-doubt can kill aspiring musicians/producers like me, so 'damned by faint praise' is about the worst reaction you can hope for. I'd much rather people hate it and tell me why.

 

I'm just considering all this now. So thanks, DusK, for getting me thinking.

 

I've been enjoying your metal covers for a while, btw,

Edited August 14, 2013 by decoherence

[DusK 1,264]

It's difficult to find good critics IRL, especially for pony material (people get kinda hung up on that for some reason), and I have a thing about posting unfinished material online. Anything I've ever posted online as a draft for critique has been 'damned by faint praise' and generally panned. Mind you, this was to friends and family and not necessarily people who were interested in critiquing a piece of music. So maybe I just have to broaden my scope. I dunno. What I do know is that self-doubt can kill aspiring musicians/producers like me, so 'damned by faint praise' is about the worst reaction you can hope for. I'd much rather people hate it and tell me why.

Don't hesitate to hit me up via PM or post your stuff in @Carbon Maestro's thread in the Creative Resources section if you want your music critiqued here.

 

Glad you like my tunage, btw.

[Lost 1,410]

I partially complete a lot of things and never get around to finishing them.

 

I have a partially complete back story for my OC, which is also partially complete.

 

I have 4 partially complete short stories that I'm writing, one based on assassins creed, one about werewolves set in the Viking era, one about a dark super hero and some other one that I'm forgetting about right now

 

I have a partially complete drawing of Luna.

 

I have a partially complete concept artwork for an item in DOTA 2.

 

And my biggest, I have a partially complete book, not a story, a full blown book. I'm on chapter two right now, around 50 pages in.

[decoherence 183]

Don't hesitate to hit me up via PM or post your stuff in @Carbon Maestro's thread in the Creative Resources section if you want your music critiqued here.

 

Glad you like my tunage, btw.

 

Thanks, I'll do that... just as soon as I tweak this... and EQ that... oh, and is this mix just completely wrong? oh god, how could i ever post this???

 

oh, wait! This is exactly WHY i have to post this!

I partially complete a lot of things and never get around to finishing them.

 

I have a partially complete back story for my OC, which is also partially complete.

 

I have 4 partially complete short stories that I'm writing, one based on assassins creed, one about werewolves set in the Viking era, one about a dark super hero and some other one that I'm forgetting about right now

 

I have a partially complete drawing of Luna.

 

I have a partially complete concept artwork for an item in DOTA 2.

 

And my biggest, I have a partially complete book, not a story, a full blown book. I'm on chapter two right now, around 50 pages in.

 

I totally feel ya, Lost. I've got four partially complete PMVs, one of which is an SFM project. Hell, my middle name is partially complete!

 

So what keeps you from finishing them? I find there simply isn't enough time in the day -- I have to pick one and put the rest on the back-burner. Then I usually get distracted by some other 'bright idea' and the current project gets put on the back-burner.

 

Which of those projects that you listed do you think you're most likely to finish first?

[Lost 1,410]

So what keeps you from finishing them? I find there simply isn't enough time in the day -- I have to pick one and put the rest on the back-burner. Then I usually get distracted by some other 'bright idea' and the current project gets put on the back-burner.

 

Which of those projects that you listed do you think you're most likely to finish first?

Most likely I will finish the Luna drawing first, it's for a friends birthday and I only put it off because my iPad died and that's what I draw on.

 

What I want to finish next is the DOTA 2 item, it'll require teaching myself 3D modelling and animation though so it's going to take a long time, that's why I've put that off.

 

All the writing has been put off because I write when I feel like it, which lately hasn't been often, and I've had various ideas which has resulted in all those partially complete prices of writing, if I just focused on one story I could probably finish it in a few writing sessions, but I tend to have inspiration for another story art way through.

[websterhamster 203]

I'm writing a fanfic that I'm releasing one chapter at a time on fimfiction.net. I'm not finishing it before publishing it, I'm putting it up as I go. I need the instant gratification 

[Gay Bird 420]

well I've got this song that I recorded the first 40 seconds of, and this other song with a few things recorded, and a crap load of stuff I wrote but never recorded. I have a couple lot of videos I never finished editing, and so much more. Why is it so hard?

[Zygen 6,065]

Well, not a ton of stuff i do ends up unreleased .

 

Although i didn't exactly fully publish my fanfic(Which consists of two kinda short chapters), of course my motivation to write has been lost kinda :/. So i kinda gave up. Plus i got like no feedback on it really.

 

I kinda suck at writing anyways i guess.

 

Other then that there is ocasionally art i draw I don't release, but rare is that.

 

And um, music i never write, i've done plenty of failed recorded covers of MLP songs though .