Originally posted by SystematicX1
Awww damn. I "thought" I was hearing something you wrote about bad mixes and mis read it. Cause I got a doozy still hanging around....ready? Protect your ears at all cost rofl
No actually, I have always wanted to go back in and re do my worst pieces. Unfortunately, for me it means going in and stripping it to bare bones. I was so dumb back then...I wouldn't know what to do with it
Good stuff, super clean. I might have a few remarks if you really want me to. But overall this is a really good track. Solid mixdown, sound selection. Very enjoyable!
Posted by SystematicX1 on Feb-12-2024 20:15:
quote:
Originally posted by Storyteller
Good stuff, super clean. I might have a few remarks if you really want me to. But overall this is a really good track. Solid mixdown, sound selection. Very enjoyable!
Ok...I guess that example failed miserably as it was completely opposite than what I expected. To me, that mix is /was a train wreck and that was 9 years ago
Posted by theterran on Feb-16-2024 04:05:
Here's a fun little tune I've been working on a little while...Think I might have posted it once before?
Got the mix pretty much to my liking...but I am dead stuck on arrangement...Simply no clue what to do after the melody ends, with nothing springing to mind.
Much sad, for as uplifting as this tune's trying to be.
Oh and yeah, that initial arp is supposed to border on the annoying side a little until everything kicks in. Maybe a subconscious nod to Tiesto's suburban train perhaps...
Originally posted by theterran
Here's a fun little tune I've been working on a little while...Think I might have posted it once before?
Got the mix pretty much to my liking...but I am dead stuck on arrangement...Simply no clue what to do after the melody ends, with nothing springing to mind.
Much sad, for as uplifting as this tune's trying to be.
Oh and yeah, that initial arp is supposed to border on the annoying side a little until everything kicks in. Maybe a subconscious nod to Tiesto's suburban train perhaps...
Ok...going to be a little defined and critical because this track deserves it.
First off The Arp....So the first introduction to this Arp is nice. I like the delay and unsure if that is a cutoff filter or notch/auto filter but it is fine, actually dig the distorted feel. Suggestion, EQ it and give it some mids. It needs some body now. I wouldn't cross into sub level but just something to give it some depth. Also, one good way of bringing that in is automation on like a 3 band basic EQ. Start the automation High and automate the mids in. Same technique can be utilized with the delay to that Arp. Delay>Feedback>Automate dots at 0 & 35 (or whatever you want it to be)
I am only mentioning this because this also ties in with your composition.
See, If you use automation on multiple parts at once, you can blend and extend the pattern you are creating without it getting old and stale (in & Out, Overlapping, All parts at the same time. Depends on your creative). However in this case it is the opposite. I feel sorta rushed and then I feel stale,then rushed and then stale. So, one of my rule of thumbs now are 8-10 second intervals max before introducing something new until, the chorus. I break everything up into sections and try to follow the one minute mark for Intro.
In this case you have a Kick that starts on the 15 second mark. Suggestion: Using the same technique above using automation Auto Filter>Automation>115hz>19.9kHz and extend your kick out a little while giving it time to build up. This Kick desperately needs some bottom end. And, you (yep,once again) could implore the same EQ Filter automation and build that from a flat kick until a break and then BOOM!EQ3>Gain Low>-35.0dB>Automate>)0dB (or your desired)
Moving to your first real movement around the 30 second mark. Again, with the intention of building , it is my preference to actually try to stay away from any kind of cymbal work in an Intro. My reasoning is based on being a percussionist. Cymbals are the primary accompaniment, they add swing and the add body to that swing and can easily be built upon. Introducing them to soon takes away from the tension you should be trying to achieve in a build and eventually a drop.
47 seconds. Love it...
00:01:00 - Bass line needs sub. At least an Octave lower to get that boom. Wouldn't hurt to throw on some Compression and sidechain that to your Kick to get that pulse rolling. Plus, it will bring out that Kick a LOT more
00:01:13-15 - Uh yea! Emphasize that break, big time!
00:01:31 - "The Pads are coming! The Pads are coming!" Suggestions. Take those chords. Take your lead note ( G? ) and place another note an octave below your already lowest note in every chord. This will build also to your bottom end.
I like the tonality. I believe it may be a tad bit to loud. I would also , yet again like to see more build. Those automation techniques work just as good on pads,especially the auto filter
Dig the break at your two minute mark. Suggestion : I would began starting at this point that you use this area to build yet another tension part and drop. You can achieve this by extending that first note (that G ) and nothing else fading it out or at least to a much lower volume in order to bring in the Lead you actually start with at 00:02:45. It would be a great introduction to what is coming up and you could add like a rolling snare behind it with some sweeps and a riser leading straight into your full swing pattern and lead appearing again.
Lead suggestion : A few notes were odd note signatures,might want to check that.
Man...this has a TON of potential and you are right there, I totally see where you are with it and where it can go. This can't be left undone. Please finish and post updates,very seriously want to see it's development
Posted by theterran on Feb-16-2024 09:41:
quote:
Originally posted by SystematicX1
Ok...going to be a little defined and critical because this track deserves it.
That's good. Really do appreciate you taking the time to do so. There's a couple things here and there I'd probably want to inquire further upon...but it might come across as defensive or what-have you, so I shall [try desperately] to refrain. (Though, I'd be up for further discussion in a PM, or something...if you'd entertain such a thing)
Again, big thanks...for listening and taking the time to write out your thoughts in detail. I quite like this tune, and it seems kinda unique to me. I really want to see it reach completion.
Despite what I said...I *am* rather curious about the low-end part...Shall be interesting to see if/how anyone else chimes in on this...
And, since this is also rather fun and interesting...for any 4 bar phrase, the kick only lands on the bass once...after it releases.
This is what the side-chain compressor looks like for about 8 measures / ~29 bars [should you pedantically count the kicks] (Sidechain is there...btw...). The little blips are just the high-pass delay echos off the bass.
A neat little syncopation trick...to avoid the typical pump-action side-chain. Also adds more swing by softening beat 2 kick, and accentuating beat 3 kick, which is what I want.
Posted by szm on Feb-17-2024 02:02:
@ TT - galaxies.
my ears are fried from trying to mix a wall of sound but my take.
I can maybe hear what system wants, maybe a tucking a little more sub in there but honestly I think for this style of music I think a warmy midbass centric bass works, based on what I recall hearing in the past. I suppose u can try tucking in a sub and see how your kick bounces off it. I find lower toms sidechained also can give a sense of low end bounce. im not sure u even want bounce tho idk.
reminds me of some of tom cloud's 15 year old work for some reason, I know some of his basses go a tiny bit deeper than this one but not by much from what I can hear, he also uses more sidechain to get a pump drive going but again not sure if u want it or need it.
sounds good to me bro idk.
Posted by szm on Feb-17-2024 02:26:
not really a track just another slab of sounds tried mixing together, trying to get the juices going. its clippin a bit, no limiter. mix might be poor idk.
Posted by theterran on Feb-17-2024 03:19:
quote:
Originally posted by szm
@ TT - galaxies.
All good! And I appreciate your feedback as well.
I think based on both sets of feedback now...I might let the pads do a little more low-range work. Was just trying to keep things clean and tidy for once.
Extra perc. is definitely a good idea...Drumkit is kinda simple and there's def. some room for more.
Yeah definitely sounds similar to some of the tunes Tom's done, having listened to a few. And yeah, I'd have to actually add in more bass to actually get the side-chain pump going, as the kick and bass operate on fairly independent beats as-is.
Thanks again!
Posted by theterran on Feb-17-2024 05:07:
quote:
Originally posted by szm
not really a track just another slab of sounds tried mixing together, trying to get the juices going. its clippin a bit, no limiter. mix might be poor idk.
Any specific sorta feedback you're lookin' for on this one?
Overall mix seems ok to me...Clap could start it's fade-in with a scoche more presence perhaps.
It sounds like there's some additional sub/harmonics that occur at 00:40, creating a pumpy, up-and-down tone that interferes with the bass notes. At least I seem to have a harder time discerning the notes of the bass-line, on my sub-heavy system than on my mains after that particular effect kicks in at the aforementioned time.
Maybe not a bad thing, but personal preference wanted to hear that smooth bass-line underneath the groove once it kicked in.
Didn't hear any clipping that stuck out...Did hear some of the low-end getting pushed down in certain spots though.
A touch more passive / atmospheric work in the background, and this would make for a nice ambient track I think.
I dig it.
Posted by szm on Feb-17-2024 05:45:
many thanks for the critical listen, I think I know what you're talking about, just some deep drums layered in to give more meat/pressure, but it is vague for sure.
i envy you and your larger system, I would love to get one, one day.
Posted by SystematicX1 on Feb-18-2024 00:49:
quote:
Originally posted by szm
not really a track just another slab of sounds tried mixing together, trying to get the juices going. its clippin a bit, no limiter. mix might be poor idk.
This sounds dope! Loving the fuzz and the journey
Posted by Storyteller on Feb-18-2024 09:52:
quote:
Originally posted by szm
not really a track just another slab of sounds tried mixing together, trying to get the juices going. its clippin a bit, no limiter. mix might be poor idk.
Listening on earbuds so hard to say anything about the low end (which is usually the point I have most to say about in your mixes. I like the tribal vibe in the beat. It feels like there mostly challenges balancing volume between elements in the mix. Personally I prefer the lead synth to remain more filtered and see if some of the notes can be complemented by making them chords (which could be highlighted wih long wide reverb tails) or slightly out of tempo notes in between for some push/pull type of tension.
Great pads, really loving them.
Posted by szm on Feb-19-2024 09:08:
cheers, cant take much credit for the pads; lazy kontakt player rompler.
Posted by theterran on Feb-20-2024 23:14:
Another one survives the night!...Sharing to keep things lively around here . (If it's too much though, I'm fine with going away for awhile again :P)
(Definitely needs a lot of work..and maybe some hi-hats and a clap or something...still, happy to have more things to work on!)
taking a listen, it had me guessing. at first I thought it was gonna be a tribal prog track because of the bass, then the pads came in, then the melody work, it sounds really unique to me. ofcourse there is sonic clash with stuff, mainly im picking out the bass being masked quickly, not a big deal. I really enjoy your "space-leads" from this one and the previous one.
have you ever heard haylon - starfighter/jonas steur remix from back in the day, not really anything to do with your tracks other than giving me some into-space feeling, dunno why I brought it up, thought maybe you'd enjoy it at least.
Posted by theterran on Feb-21-2024 04:00:
quote:
Originally posted by szm
taking a listen, it had me guessing. at first I thought it was gonna be a tribal prog track because of the bass, then the pads came in, then the melody work, it sounds really unique to me. ofcourse there is sonic clash with stuff, mainly im picking out the bass being masked quickly, not a big deal. I really enjoy your "space-leads" from this one and the previous one.
have you ever heard haylon - starfighter/jonas steur remix from back in the day, not really anything to do with your tracks other than giving me some into-space feeling, dunno why I brought it up, thought maybe you'd enjoy it at least.
Haven't heard it before, but I gave it a listen and I do like it. Kinda reminds me a lot of the original North Pole mix for some reason...Maybe the lead synth.
Would be nice to arrange an original trance tune like that one of these days...
Appreciate the feedback! Yeah, bass does start out of context the way things sit now...but I thought it fit nicely with the rest of the sounds. Maybe I'll have a listen through more of them and try to find a softer one that isn't as "techy" in the mids.
I do want it to blend in to the backdrop and be a little more subtle... but not get washed away completely. Having just some of the low-mid/sub poking out would be ideal. Will be an area of focus for sure when it comes final mixdown/ghetto-master time.
And thank you! Can't take credit for all of them though. Some are mine, some are rompled, some are presets...I'm not too picky long as it sounds nice!
Posted by szm on Feb-21-2024 04:44:
honestly I think it works fine, maybe notch out a few db out of the lower mids on the pads, see how the balance is, solo the two and go back and forth. I dunno what the kids are doing now, automated eq sidechain or something of the sort and have the bass take precedence. before trying to try a new sound and have to adjust everyyyyything
dont mind my banter ive been listening to a lot of tribaly prog thats all.
Posted by theterran on Feb-21-2024 06:36:
quote:
Originally posted by szm
honestly I think it works fine, maybe notch out a few db out of the lower mids on the pads, see how the balance is, solo the two and go back and forth. I dunno what the kids are doing now, automated eq sidechain or something of the sort and have the bass take precedence. before trying to try a new sound and have to adjust everyyyyything
dont mind my banter ive been listening to a lot of tribaly prog thats all.
That is a great idea...and that should actually be pretty fun for organizing complex bass-lines moving forward too...didn't realize TDR Nova could even do that...as it's a relatively new addition to my plugin arsenal.
Though, I kinda forgot to EQ the dreamy background plucks that come in on the intro as well...Still, it made an immediate/appreciable/positive difference, I think...having just tried it. And side-chaining conflicting frequencies is a bonus to being lazy...Since whatever synth can then easily be solo'd without being directly affected by that ultra-specific EQ. (just thinking out loud here...)
Have mostly been using the para-EQ/comp functionality to control resonant spikes in certain sounds, that would be pretty much unusable otherwise...such as the lead sound for that track...which otherwise makes my ears bleed.
I also don't know what the kids are doing now either...I'm still stuck in the year 2000.
Posted by Fuxzz on Feb-21-2024 22:33:
quote:
Originally posted by theterran
Another one survives the night!...Sharing to keep things lively around here . (If it's too much though, I'm fine with going away for awhile again :P)
(Definitely needs a lot of work..and maybe some hi-hats and a clap or something...still, happy to have more things to work on!)
Nice melodies. Listening on shite speakers so can't say much more. But it sounds interesting.
I also liked the trancey one with vocals, how's it coming along? You left us out on the drop.
Some good stuff by other members as well I wanted to comment on. But haven't had much time over lately.
Posted by theterran on Feb-22-2024 05:26:
quote:
Originally posted by fuxzz
Nice melodies. Listening on shite speakers so can't say much more. But it sounds interesting.
I also liked the trancey one with vocals, how's it coming along? You left us out on the drop.
Some good stuff by other members as well I wanted to comment on. But haven't had much time over lately.
I know...Ending at the drop was mean wasn't it...
Seems like you're busy based on what you say...but if you got production going on, you should post one up! .
And of course you can say more...Does it at least sound ok through those shite speakers? Shite speakers are great for that.
As for the tune in question...haven't figured out a driving bass-line for it, and I didn't want to hear about it xD...The initial syncopated one is just awful afterwards and has zero drive to it...
-edit- nevermind...think I just figured one out. Hybrid of typical stereotype and it follows the arps + some of the syncopation thrown in. One way or the other sounds weird...together it seems to be ok.
Thanks though! Always appreciative of feedback, good/bad/otherwise.
Also sorting out high-hats...But the skeleton is definitely laid out, and I have a pretty good idea on how to continue...Which is good, because the place I always get stuck is in post-drop breakdowns.
Posted by Fuxzz on Feb-22-2024 22:21:
quote:
Originally posted by theterran
I know...Ending at the drop was mean wasn't it...
Seems like you're busy based on what you say...but if you got production going on, you should post one up! .
And of course you can say more...Does it at least sound ok through those shite speakers? Shite speakers are great for that.
As for the tune in question...haven't figured out a driving bass-line for it, and I didn't want to hear about it xD...The initial syncopated one is just awful afterwards and has zero drive to it...
-edit- nevermind...think I just figured one out. Hybrid of typical stereotype and it follows the arps + some of the syncopation thrown in. One way or the other sounds weird...together it seems to be ok.
Thanks though! Always appreciative of feedback, good/bad/otherwise.
Also sorting out high-hats...But the skeleton is definitely laid out, and I have a pretty good idea on how to continue...Which is good, because the place I always get stuck is in post-drop breakdowns.
Yes it was pretty mean. No but I understand not wanting to share at that point. I would'nt either. But sounds good you have some ides on how to move forward.
And yes, it sounds very good in the shite speakers. If you get some matching drums and good buildup it will be a great piece. It is groovy even now without any additional drums.
And I got some stuff going on, will see if I might come around to posting something in the following weeks.
Posted by Storyteller on Feb-23-2024 07:43:
quote:
Originally posted by theterran
Another one survives the night!...Sharing to keep things lively around here . (If it's too much though, I'm fine with going away for awhile again :P)
(Definitely needs a lot of work..and maybe some hi-hats and a clap or something...still, happy to have more things to work on!)
Not sure why but I feel the reference to Dario G - Sunchyme in the beginning. Overall nice melody and vibe. The synth at 1:49 I'm not liking a lot personally, surely a preference thing you shouldn't be bothered by . The melody it plays is nice. Nice and clean oldschool piece of work you have here!
Posted by SystematicX1 on Feb-26-2024 05:02:
Another remix this time from Illineum. Dunno...it just may be a little too heavy on the guitar even though the song really does have a lot of different guitar progressions. It is driving but it may be too long...dunno about this cut
Originally posted by SystematicX1
Another remix this time from Illineum. Dunno...it just may be a little too heavy on the guitar even though the song really does have a lot of different guitar progressions. It is driving but it may be too long...dunno about this cut
This is not my genre, but I'll tell you what I think and you can do what you want with it. I was anticipating everything to kick in right at the beginning. The drum sweep really made me believe it would, and I got disapointed when it did'nt. I.e I would like kick and bass to come in around the same time as the vocals.
I also would like kick and bass to take more room and be "heard" better. Alot of sub but I would like more bass/low mids, and less sub.
Other then that I think it sounds good. But I feel it never really gets going because of the way kick and bass is lacking prominence relative to the vocals.
Edit: The highs are pretty harsh also.
Posted by theterran on Feb-26-2024 21:57:
quote:
Originally posted by SystematicX1
Another remix this time from Illineum. Dunno...it just may be a little too heavy on the guitar even though the song really does have a lot of different guitar progressions. It is driving but it may be too long...dunno about this cut
Your initial mixes lately have been quite good, but for this one...there seems to be a lotta mid/high range clash. The way the vocals are EQ'd + pickup feedback from the guitars + crunchy hi-hats and then the distortion seem to be really stuffing up the mid/high range and making it harsh. (had to turn volume down)
Thing that stuck out to me the most is the rhythm. For this one, it just seems like the vocals clash rhythmically with what's supporting it...Like, it just doesn't wanna synch up. A solution, might be to ease up on the rhythmic elements when the vocals are noodling around within the rhythm, like at around 0:33.
Sometimes, less can be more.
Could also be interesting to transition between that rough, crunchy distortion, and a cleaner/crisper sound. Clean melody, crunchy chorus...as an example. Or visa versa...
. (If it's too much though, I'm fine with going away for awhile again :P)
