im on a laptop, so i'll be judging this song from what i hear on it.

I'm not a fan of that happy sound at all. Sorry man. It sounds very dated. I don't like the outro, i feel it ends a bit suddenly. Other than that, the mixing needs work (maybe compression on the synths that change volume levels will do the trick rather than just mastering, you don't want to make your song sound worse if you don't know how to master imo.), but I feel that minus the mix, it is on par with pro tracks of that sound, i could see your song in a video game i played called "mabinogi" it totally fits with the vibe of the game and the other songs in that game.

With that said, when i hear trance these days i never hear stuff that's made in major at all. All of us who think that your song sounds generic might be the ones who have generic taste. many of us who like experimental tech/ambient/polka/whatever sounds that are popular today are pretty much conforming. it's really hard to be original.

just a thought.

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd just start on a new track. No sense in beating yourself up trying to constantly rework this one when you have already put so much time into it. Once you have a track near completion, its very difficult to rework it, because you now have a distorted perspective on how you think it should sound. By the time you rework it, you'll have spent just as much time on a rework than if you just started a new project. Better to start fresh with a new idea and a new perspective. I know its hard to shelve a track, especially if you have spent a good deal of time working on it, but sometimes it's better to just chalk some tracks up to experience and move on. I hear loads of "big" producers talk about how many unfinished and unreleased projects they have just lying around, so it happens to everyone. It is a natural part of the creative process.

I haven't put a huge amount of time into it. I don't like working for weeks on a single track. I choose the song idea I want to build into a piece, and build it. If I spent too long fine tuning I'd fine tune things to death. But yes, I have plenty of other ideas to work on. Next time I'll likely go with a melody in a minor key!

I may use this one as album filler sometime....heh heh heh....

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd just start on a new track. No sense in beating yourself up trying to constantly rework this one when you have already put so much time into it. Once you have a track near completion, its very difficult to rework it, because you now have a distorted perspective on how you think it should sound. By the time you rework it, you'll have spent just as much time on a rework than if you just started a new project. Better to start fresh with a new idea and a new perspective. I know its hard to shelve a track, especially if you have spent a good deal of time working on it, but sometimes it's better to just chalk some tracks up to experience and move on. I hear loads of "big" producers talk about how many unfinished and unreleased projects they have just lying around, so it happens to everyone. It is a natural part of the creative process.

Eric's right your over anerlising your track to much it's allways best to side step when you make something new. Even thoe you may not want to (why waste all your good ideas in one tune)? The best example i can give as regards to your melodie concerns is mike's strange world (push)i recermend you down load this track from someware because it will give you some clear answers.

I think this thread was a bit harsh, derail puts a lot into this community, and its not right to jump down his throat so viciously.
That said, I don't like the track very much mate, the key change is a good idea but not well executed, and the melodies, although well executed are cheesy and sound like something out of a computer game. Maybe just sit in front of a keyboard and write a bit, since your production is very good but the actual melodies in your songs can be a bit off IMO.
I should add that there is nothing wrong with a track changing keys, we don't write stuff to make it easier for slack DJs to mix FFS If they like the track, they'l find a way even if they can't even beat match it.

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quote:

Originally posted by kitphillips I think this thread was a bit harsh, derail puts a lot into this community, and its not right to jump down his throat so viciously. That said, I don't like the track very much mate, the key change is a good idea but not well executed, and the melodies, although well executed are cheesy and sound like something out of a computer game. Maybe just sit in front of a keyboard and write a bit, since your production is very good but the actual melodies in your songs can be a bit off IMO. I should add that there is nothing wrong with a track changing keys, we don't write stuff to make it easier for slack DJs to mix FFS If they like the track, they'l find a way even if they can't even beat match it.

Cetra was a little harsh but I thought everyone else was fair but honest towards Derail because we recognise how much he has given to this forum.

I'd also like to add that there is nothing wrong with having a key change in a track. If thats what you want to do and it feels right to you, then do it. After all, you are aiming to make music that you like, not what you think others will want to hear.

Derail, its difficult to give examples of melodies in other tracks for you to listen to as we all have different taste with different ideas on what we want to hear from a melody.

You seem to be asking for pointers on what sort of melody you should be doing. I find this strange. Do what you like and what sounds good to you. If you can achieve this, then you will have accomplished the main reason for producing in the first place - to make music that YOU like and that means something to YOU.

Sometimes other people will also like a tune you've done, sometimes many will, sometimes no one will.

But thats something you have no control over...

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quote:

Originally posted by derail Did you listen to my song at all? You're right, it is reasonably flat, and quite innocent. It's not "edgy" - do you feel every trance song needs to be harder-edged? When you talk about songs being the same from beginning to end, do you mean in consistency of production/sound, or harmonic structure? Because I have a (really annoying, apparently) key change in this one. Could you clarify what you mean by "studying melodic progression using midi effects"? I'm not clear what you mean by that.

I did listen to the track entirely, I thought was if I were going to make a credible opinion of your track, I would have to.

I didn't mean for every element to be edgy as hell but a track never works great if it doesn't have anything special in it. I like it call it research because you're actually looking forward to creating something new.

When I talk about tracks being the same from beginning to end, I mean this: okay I play my mp3 file then the track starts "umm okay not bad" then you fast forward a little bit and it's still the same everything and you fast forward again and again and again you find out that the track it PRETTY MUCH a giant 16 bar loop.

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quote:

Originally posted by Eric J Also, I think you can simplify the melodies a lot. It seems like you are trying to fit too many ideas in a single track, which gives the impression that the track is lacking in focus.

I Agree. I think you should try sticking to the one melody!

i like the chord progression if it was meant for a game or something. but not for trance realy. sounds like something on final fantasy etc

quote:

Originally posted by G-Con You seem to be asking for pointers on what sort of melody you should be doing.

I was trying to get an idea of what kind of melodies people are listening to these days, to get some perspective on their critiques. And hopefully to hear some big time melodies, which is the main thing I look for in trance songs - melodies like in ATB's '9pm til I come', Tilt's 'Invisible' (the lost tribe remix, I think PVD also had a hand in that one), Jurgen Vries' 'The Theme'...classic songs, even if the production quality wasn't particularly brilliant...

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'll let this one die gracefully for the time being. On to the next song, with some good lessons under my belt!

Fabian

Im listening while critiqueing

Start bit too soft be difficult to mix when you have 800w monitors in your face.

Do get the sense that the melody is outside the chord seq which at times sounds to me like hmm nice melody but theres a something wrong. There are times when the jump from one chord to another doesnt harmonise for me anyway.

Key change is bad. Also I get the neverending story bit its the "hands up" bell lead you used sounds too coca cola christmas ad to me.

The major scale thing is ok but only on japanese cartoon snowboarding games. I think to be constructive if it had a nice moody change on the chords an unexpected but nice movement down to a minor chord then I would like it more.

I like the structure of the song the way you bring back the melody towards the end with more emotion thats nice. I think for me its too happy if you understand all trance makes me happy but this is sort of BE HAPPY NOW OR I WILL STAB YOU kind of happy.

I like the bassline i really do I never found out how to make those sorts of lines im still stuck on off beat bouncers.

If i could pick out the one thing that could change I would say some of the chord changes. If this was in d Minor I think it would work

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Processing a highly structured and complex pattern of sensory input as a unified percept of "music" is probably one of the most elaborate features of the human brain.....understanding how music is perceived and how it may elicit intense sensations is far from being understood.

Also i didnt read everyone elses post. Just did and others are saying the chords belong to games so I cant be far off hope ur not mad

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Processing a highly structured and complex pattern of sensory input as a unified percept of "music" is probably one of the most elaborate features of the human brain.....understanding how music is perceived and how it may elicit intense sensations is far from being understood.

quote:

Originally posted by Sonic_c Also i didnt read everyone elses post. Just did and others are saying the chords belong to games so I cant be far off hope ur not mad

I agree, don't walk away mad with your head down after this thread. You have the arrangement down and the transitions from phrase to phrase felt smooth and not sudden, but the outro to me didn't feel right. Sound selection is there.

But it seems that you're changing your sound due to TA'S reactions. If you want to please yourself and you want to keep your sound, you should do so. Not many trance heads will enjoy it, but if YOU enjoy it, then that's good. With that said there is absolutely nothing wrong in having a DJ's mentality towards making music, which is making music that you think people will dance to, maybe even sacrificing your own tastes for the sake of an audience.