I liked it. Thanks dude.

anybody else care to take a listen?

I've been told I need to lift the percs a bit so was thinking of taking all the percussion out and starting over.

Also mixed reports about the side chained swoosh pad.

May need to add another lead from the break?

Reno

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Hey man, listened to this yesterday morning before work but was running stupidly late as it was so had to run haha...

The main synth is perhaps a bit too light, but has some nice fx on it and reminds me a little of the main lead from Synaesthesia! Which of course means it sounds a little oldskool, but i do like the way it waxes and wanes - keep that effect but beef it up with some layering in different octaves and some stereo widening/panning. I actually like what you're trying to do with the sidechained swoosh pad because its movement complements the wax and wane of your main lead, but I'd side-chain it a little less so that its not so choppy - see if you can lengthen each note so it sounds more wispy (EQ out some of the mid and take its master level down if you have to).

Yes DEFINITELY go more nuts with the percs, as your high end is quite empty right now - You've left out a clap and mid-beat hat, is this intentional? The producer always has artistic licence, but there are certain conventions which make trance trance, and I really think the track will immediately sound more polished with a nice clap and mid-beat hat.

Low end: kick needs to stand out a little more, try generally upping the levels and layering another kick over the top, a "high kick" with all the bass filtered out, then filter out the high end from the original kick, so that you end up with a click sound which overlays over the low kick and helps it cut through the mix. If your new louder kick is interfering with your bassline then try some side-chaining between these two elements so that they play nice together.

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I agree with the above poster there needs to be another clicky sounding kick on top of the one you currently have or you need to just change samples all together. Also, a clap and an offbeat hat would make this sound much better. Even with those though you still need to add more percussion because the high end is basically empty.

Hi dude. Nice track, nice and relaxed, reminds me of the good old days. Like the effect on the delay of the melody, keeps it moving nicely, and the swoosh effect works well with it. I tend to agree with people that it could benefit from more layers though, particularly on the drums.

Good work though man.

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Cheers for the comments. Will work on all the elements mentioned as I agree with everything. No criticism of structure or melodies so hopefully they were decent.

cheers
Reno

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chaps,

To all those that listened to this originally I'm looking for some tips based on your feedback. I also sent this to a label and they said pretty much the same thing so general consensus is:

Melodies, Arrangement and mixing are good.
The percs need some work.
The kick needs some work.

So I need some tips on the percs. Is the suggestion that I add some additional percs into the mix or raise the volume of the current percs? Generally I use a lot of loops but I guess I need to add in individual percs to fill the high spaces? Is Reason a good tool to use for this? I find I don't have the same control in Guru. Also is it a good idea to create some drum type sounds with synths?

Also the feedback I got was that the kick was a bit weak. Does this mean I need to add a few more layers or add more compression to give it a boost? I've never quite understood how to get more from my kicks!!

Oh yes - if you need to listen again track is here.

[[ LINK REMOVED ]]


cheers
Reno

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...and one last question.

Do you think I can accomplish all this work on top of the currently finished product as a wav file or is it best to go add these things into the original Cubase file?

cheers

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Ok here goes my review:

It starts up nice with a flowing pad. Some nice noises and spot on percussions. Do not remove them! The reversed kick is a bit untight at 0:42 but just raise the pitch slightly on it to get it tidy. The synths are splendid in it's complex simplicity. I like the track alot.

my thoughts are that yes it needs a few more percs and the ones that are there arent prominant or crispy enough, not good enough quality to be in a commercial track in their current state.
i wouldnt go too mad with it though as the blank space u have helps give it a relaxed feel.
i also think the whole thing would benefit from a stereo expander.
re. tips on drums, personally i wouldnt use sample loops, its best to put in each hit in your midi sequencer. generally keyboard drums arent as good as good samples.

the bass is odd, i think the problem is the kick is a little dull sounding and combined with the bassline it doesnt cut through. i dont think volume is the problem with it as if anything it sounds a little too overpowering in the mix, so if u cant eq that sample use a different kick, i think a decent sample would sound better than extensive processing of a mediocre one.