If anyone has a spare ten or twenty minutes and fancies giving me some constructive feedback check these. They're both fairly well along the way.

My two current tracks

I prefer Brisbane 4am, but sure I'll let you be the judge.

Cheers, Dec

Oh yeah they're at sucky 128kbps cause soundclick won't let higher than that. And I've tried dance-industries.com but for some reason I can't attach files. Some server problem.

EDIT: I hadn't listened to Elude in a few weeks. Putbuy pointed out that the string intro rips your ears apart. It's true. Be warned. Drop the volume! This is not a good thing.

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quote:
Originally posted by xenos_declan
Yeah, that's true. Was at an Armin set last Friday and by God my arms were sore at the end of some of the breaks! You end up taking your arms down every so often rubbing them in pain and then straight back up again. Worth it though.

Stratotek:
Man, that is the best description of a good trance set I ever heard...

Last edited by xenos_declan on Jun-10-2005 at 23:31

I'll only have time for one atm so I'll choose Elude (Strings Mix).

The intro pad is ugly. Downright ugly. And I don't mean that as a positive thing. The tune get's better around 2:00. The kick is great, I love does kicks. The hihat though, I think it got too much reverb.

I don't know if I love or hate does "industry" effects (if you know what I mean), but they fit okay. The rest of the tune is well: sick. Surely is unique, the melody and leads are amazing, though the synth programming isn't always tip-top. But I can't decide if I hate or love

Overall: sick, slightly euphoric, but it destroys your ears. which I normally like, but this is slightly too much. I would call this Hardcore Trance.

rating: 50%. Work on the sound programming, especially that pad :S I don't know if to hate or love this.

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Check out Crossfade Collective
Sebastian Zander - Hotel Chaplin
Sebastian Zander - Set Two [Electro/Tech House and Trance of some sort]
Paulo Da Costa - AVGN [Prog. House](128kbps])

quote:

Originally posted by PutBoy I'll only have time for one atm so I'll choose Elude (Strings Mix). The intro pad is ugly. Downright ugly. And I don't mean that as a positive thing. The tune get's better around 2:00. The kick is great, I love does kicks. The hihat though, I think it got too much reverb. I don't know if I love or hate does "industry" effects (if you know what I mean), but they fit okay. The rest of the tune is well: sick. Surely is unique, the melody and leads are amazing, though the synth programming isn't always tip-top. But I can't decide if I hate or love Overall: sick, slightly euphoric, but it destroys your ears. which I normally like, but this is slightly too much. I would call this Hardcore Trance. rating: 50%. Work on the sound programming, especially that pad :S I don't know if to hate or love this.

Cheers for the feedback. Yeah I love that kick as well. I compressed and EQ'd the shit out of it! I love the drive of it.

I had a problem with the hats in Brisbane 4am which may be wrong in Elude. I'll have to check. It was that there was a few milliseconds of of silence before the sound starts. Must check it.

I really do like the lead alright. I spent a while on the patches. It's definitely something to build on.

I haden't listened to the track in a few weeks and I checked the strings intro. It's very much too loud. Like you said it wrecks your ears. I like the sound but just not so loud!

There's a few things needing work. I've been finding it hard to make the time cause I'm really getting into the swing of Brisbane 4am. I will finish it at some stage though. I hate leaving stuff unfinished.

Cheers,
Dec

___________________
quote:
Originally posted by xenos_declan
Yeah, that's true. Was at an Armin set last Friday and by God my arms were sore at the end of some of the breaks! You end up taking your arms down every so often rubbing them in pain and then straight back up again. Worth it though.

Stratotek:
Man, that is the best description of a good trance set I ever heard...

Hey Dec,

Sorry it took me so long to get around to this man ... big apologies.

I've already sent you my thought's on brisbane 4am I think, so it's Elude this time ...


Yes, those strings do rip your ears apart! I don't think they need eq though, just level changes would fix it I think. And ouch! that 10k (-ish, maybe 9k) noise hurts my ears too ... it's very loud for that freq
But I'm jumping too far forward here ...

From the beginning,
The strings are good, good sequence. You have a stacatto on the beat ... I'd make that on the half beat (i.e. 8 times per bar), just to give them more energy. You could also do with a non-string bassline, but that's just personal preference.
The keys (from about 1:50): I like them again, but they don't flow from the previous string section. And that hf noise appears here first too. Try experimenting with some time varying filters here, you could add great interest that way.
4:11-ish: That key sequence, I know it (it the z3ta?). You'll find two schools of thought about using pre-programmed key sequences ... and I'm in the anti group
You've a bass noise running through this passage too ... it works for a while, but I think it maybe goes on too long. (again, some time varying filters could help here).
The detuning at 8:10: I'm not sure it works
And we're back to the string again. With some softening they'd be lovely at this point.


In summary dec, you've got some excellent production here, far better than what I could produce in most respects (so you can feel free to ignore me!). I think the structure might need to be looked at: pick out your favourite part of this tune, and build a tune around it.


Good work man. Sorry if I gave this a bit of a slating, I liked it more than it appears from the text above

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Installing Kubuntu & Beryl on a Windows PC

Yo, Dec Checking out Elude now.

I dont think the strings at the start are too bad really. They have a nice ammount of modulation on them.

I like it how the melody comes out of the strings. Nice work there.

1.50 I still really dig that distorted snare sound. You used it in Brisbane 4am and I think it works well here too. Getting signature sounds is pretty important as an artist. Dont use it too much though ro people will get sick of hearing it.

Your kick isnt doing it for me. It sounds too bouncey. Try a eq cut or a notch filter somewhere around 300-500 Hz. It might remove that hard house sound that it has going at the moment.

4.10 Loving the sound of this synth. I was waiting for it to do something but then it just sort of faded away. You could do a really cool melody with this one.

The mastering needs some work. It feels overcompressed at points and as a result has a sort of pulsing sound in places which is kinda distracting. I'm not getting much in the highs either. Try a harmonic exciter like Sonic Maximiser or Ozone to get a bit more sparkle in the upper end.

I think the structure needs a lot of attention too. Theres some nice elements all over the place. If you could bring them all together and work out a progression that draws the listener in a bit more I thnk you'll have a cool track here.

Anyway, I really like it. It has a very cold, dark feel to it. Not enough of that stuff around these days. Keep at it mate =)

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Didnt realise you'd updated Brisbane 4am too... might aswell post up my thoughts on that too.

Yeah those strings are sounding a while lot better. Melody is sounding much better too. Some variation throughout it could be good as it gets a bit repeditive at times but you've got some cool percussive elements in there that manage to keep it interesting most of the time. Nice work.

The change at 2.17 feels a bit sudden. You could try some pads or sweepy fx to cover up the transition a bit more.

Nice break around the 5 min mark. Not your typical buildup but I think bringing the beat in and out like that kinda works. Feels very techy.

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Well dudes. Thanks for all your feedback. There's plenty of it to take on board. And much work to be done! I'll have plenty to do once I hit Brisbane. I've taken so long to reply cause at the moment I'm in Singapore and have been travelling and sleeping for about 36 hours and getting ready back home for two days.

I'd say sometime next week or the next I'll be getting back to production. Until then I'll be popping up here and there for a chat. Gotta run. My pint's getting all warm and drank.

Laters, Dec

___________________
quote:
Originally posted by xenos_declan
Yeah, that's true. Was at an Armin set last Friday and by God my arms were sore at the end of some of the breaks! You end up taking your arms down every so often rubbing them in pain and then straight back up again. Worth it though.

Stratotek:
Man, that is the best description of a good trance set I ever heard...