The Lab - An 80s inspired Synth Piece

Hey all! Today I come with something a bit different. A synth piece! I venture into this genre every now and then because I really do find it fun. All of this was put together in FL Studio using sounds from Analog Lab V. I chose sounds in there that were inspired by 80s synths. My goal was to make something mysterious...and the image that came to my mind was a secret laboratory. It's not a long or really complex piece, but thought it could be fun to bring it here and get some feedback! I've been sitting on this one for a bit, I made it last month. Just now getting around to posting. Hope you enjoy it and looking forward to the conversation and feedback.

Hi @Layne!

This is kinda cool - I like the mixture between major and minor.  How much do you know about music theory?  It seems sometimes like your chord voicings are kinda stark.  Also - even though the ideas in this piece are pretty cool you mostly just repeat the same idea for the whole time (except for that short respite at around 0:50).  But you do add unique melodic layers on top of the pattern.  It does sound like a secret laboratory though - I can imagine all the beakers, clamps, burners, and microscopes.  So great job there!  Thanks for sharing.

On 4/23/2024 at 11:34 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Hi @Layne!

This is kinda cool - I like the mixture between major and minor.  How much do you know about music theory?  It seems sometimes like your chord voicings are kinda stark.  Also - even though the ideas in this piece are pretty cool you mostly just repeat the same idea for the whole time (except for that short respite at around 0:50).  But you do add unique melodic layers on top of the pattern.  It does sound like a secret laboratory though - I can imagine all the beakers, clamps, burners, and microscopes.  So great job there!  Thanks for sharing.

 

Apologies for the extremely delayed message. I have been meaning to get back to you! But life has been crazy. I appreciate you listening and your feedback! I don't have a lot of what I'd call true music theory knowledge. My dad is a musician, so music has always been in my life. And I played cello through elementary and middle school. But in terms of formal training outside of that...I have none other than what I've learned from listening to classical and soundtracks.

Also, glad to hear it encompasses the idea well!

Hi, @Layne 🙂

Really imaginative piece! I was immediately hooked on the delicious harmonies and I am even more impressed if you're relying more on intuition than theory knowledge.

I didn't find the chord voicings too sparse personally -- I think they work well in this style of music, and they were fairly consistent throughout the piece which I again think is no problem in such a short work. If you still wanted to thicken the texture at all, I wonder how it would sound at the end of you doubled the lead in octaves. It might be a nice strong last impression to leave the listeners with; I have heard it done for effect at the end of some short pieces -- just an idea. 

Well done! And, that's awesome that you played the cello for a few years. I played throughout my high school years. Would love to get familiar with more of your music!

Have a lovely day,
Gwen

39 minutes ago, Gwendolyn Przyjazna said:

Hi, @Layne 🙂

Really imaginative piece! I was immediately hooked on the delicious harmonies and I am even more impressed if you're relying more on intuition than theory knowledge.

I didn't find the chord voicings too sparse personally -- I think they work well in this style of music, and they were fairly consistent throughout the piece which I again think is no problem in such a short work. If you still wanted to thicken the texture at all, I wonder how it would sound at the end of you doubled the lead in octaves. It might be a nice strong last impression to leave the listeners with; I have heard it done for effect at the end of some short pieces -- just an idea. 

Well done! And, that's awesome that you played the cello for a few years. I played throughout my high school years. Would love to get familiar with more of your music!

Have a lovely day,
Gwen

 

Thank you so much, Gwendolyn!! I greatly appreciate your feedback and taking your time to listen! Happy to hear you enjoyed the piece. It was fun to put together. I'm not usually doing a lot of synth things. So wanted to play around in that field a bit. Aiming to just keep trying different things and figuring out to capture the ideas and themes that I have. It's a fun challenge, but I do want to further my knowledge in theory. I like the idea of doubling at the end. I'll play around with that!

I do post things to YouTube occasionally. That's here. Then also pieces I'm workshopping over on Soundcloud.

Then I actually made a new post over in the Orchestral and Large Ensemble forum last night!

46 minutes ago, Layne said:

Thank you so much, Gwendolyn!! I greatly appreciate your feedback and taking your time to listen! Happy to hear you enjoyed the piece. It was fun to put together. I'm not usually doing a lot of synth things. So wanted to play around in that field a bit. Aiming to just keep trying different things and figuring out to capture the ideas and themes that I have. It's a fun challenge, but I do want to further my knowledge in theory. I like the idea of doubling at the end. I'll play around with that!

I do post things to YouTube occasionally. That's here. Then also pieces I'm workshopping over on Soundcloud.

Then I actually made a new post over in the Orchestral and Large Ensemble forum last night!

 

Hi there! It was a pleasure. I will be sure to check out your YouTube and your SoundCloud in a bit; thanks so much for sharing them. I bookmarked your Orchestral and Large Ensemble post. 🙂

I'm a film scoring student and I also happen to do mainly orchestral and traditionally instrumented projects (with the occasional synth piece here and there, similar to you), and if your new piece has a Lord of the Rings vibe I'm sure I would really enjoy it.

Glad we could connect!
 

39 minutes ago, Gwendolyn Przyjazna said:

Hi there! It was a pleasure. I will be sure to check out your YouTube and your SoundCloud in a bit; thanks so much for sharing them. I bookmarked your Orchestral and Large Ensemble post. 🙂

I'm a film scoring student and I also happen to do mainly orchestral and traditionally instrumented projects (with the occasional synth piece here and there, similar to you), and if your new piece has a Lord of the Rings vibe I'm sure I would really enjoy it.

Glad we could connect!
 

 

Same to you!!

It has some LOTR feels within! Not throughout the whole piece, but in certain sections! Hope you enjoy the listen!

WOW, an amazing piece of work!!

Kind regards,

alecia

On 8/12/2024 at 12:10 AM, powertabber said:

WOW, an amazing piece of work!!

 

Kind regards,

alecia

 

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the listen!