So, all of this talk about epic house and music from the 90's in general inspired me to make a track which retained some of the attributes. This track (hopefully) has some lush synths and melodies whcih are a tribute to that time, and I would love some feedback. This is basically my first complete draft.

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edited to add: Of course it's unmastered, uncompressed, no limiter, no sidechain, bla bla, etc. So it may not sound as bright as a finished track.

Edited:

Here is the MP3 dounload @ 320kpbs
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Last edited by OurManFlint on Jan-14-2009 at 20:30

Interested.

Downloading.

First thought: LOVE the abundance of synth work, and the way you let each synth have a place in the mix rather than letting one of them dominate all the others. A lot of the synth sounds are pretty nice and lush, too.

Now some criticisms: (1) I think you went too heavy with reverb and delay on some sounds, because sometimes when you have a bunch of synths playing together it sounds "washed out." (2) IMO that initial synth sound shouldn't be in the track for as long as it is. It sounded kind of dissonant in some parts. (3) The melodies are pretty good, but nothing that would make me go totally crazy like some of the old school stuff. (4) I think you could do more with the percussion, especially with adding stuff or taking it away to create tension rather than basically letting the same elements run throughout the track.

All in all, though, very good effort. Would be great to see you continue making this style.

By the way, you should really make this an MP3 file rather than an M4A. Not everybody has iTunes...

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles By the way, you should really make this an MP3 file rather than an M4A. Not everybody has iTunes...

Thanks for the input! Makes it really helpful because it becomes hard to critique yourself when listening over and over to the same track.

And I just put up the MP3 file....

Holy crap, you're alive? I'll give this one a go.

This is a nice little track, but I don't think it sounds much like epic house. It does, however, remind me of Arkham Asylum for some reason, which was definitely a lush and melodic 90s progressive track. I do like how it finishes in a very different place to how it begins as well.

I wasn't really feeling the bottom end. It was nice and fluffy in the mid-range but there wasn't anything happening in the bassline. The percussion wasn't very interesting either and didn't really do anything.

Overall, although it doesn't really resemble the epic house style of composition, you definitely got the lush synths bit right. If the percussion and bass were stronger I think this would be a very solid track.

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Thanks for the reply I would say that I produce more downtempo, ambient music, but I had a lot of fun making this track. The epic house sound is not an easy one to recreate, and IMO, it really came to life under analogue equipment. I made this track only using my typing keyboard, so you an imagine the limitations. I will take these observations into mind and work more on the track.