Im lucky enough to be having a track put out on a little house label, for the first time.

I heard it played out in a club the other day and had mixed feelings about it.
Firstly I noticed a lot of detail was lost and it really hit home how important the basic groove of the tune - drums and bass are.
It also hit home that parts of the track wasn't the most danceable, in fact a more housey remix of the same track seemed to work much better in that club situation if im honest.
On the other hand parts of it sounded good to me, and stood up to the professional tracks either side.

Im sure the sound system wasn't the best as i noticed elements lost from pro tracks too, particularly high mids and anything further back in the mix with reverbs or delays.

Although I was a bit disappointed initially it was a good learning experience for me though, especially as i don't go clubbing much these days and don't DJ (well at least not yet)

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience, or any thoughts on making tracks that are club/dj friendly?

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Yup, had me second guessing my timing, and later-on content. Its very important to keep building!!! Timing and execution is key in a club setting.

It can be scary. First time I heard mine in a club was in San Francisco back in 08, it sounded OK, but my production value was weak compared to where I'm at now so it sounded as good as it could. But, I had it mastered by a very experienced musician and studio engineer. I really think that if you have an experienced person working with your master, that will make the greatest difference. Obviously if your track doesn't hold up through multiple referencing, it probably won't sound good at all in the club.

Yes, playing your track on a live system sounds entirely different than producing it on studio monitors or headphones. Live there is almost no detail, and only the loudest elements are audible.

If I had the money, I would simply buy a club system. I'd either put it in my studio or somewhere else in my house/apartment. It would be great to be able to hear what my productions sound like on a live system, and it would be great when I bring people over and party.

i realized two things:

-My speakers were underrepresenting the bass.
-Kicks had too much low end
-Percussion sounded a lot better.

I have developed a natural instinct to make tracks that do well on clubs, when i go clubbing i look for people reactions to tracks and the only thing you need to make a good club track is:

-Groove, not drive, groove on a simple pattern.
-A short catchy melody
-Some kind of vocal hook, whistle melodies work wonders also.

It doesn't mean that it's going to work on the beatport top 100 chart but generally all the songs that do well on clubs (and that people generally hasn't got on ther ipods but love when partying) achieve this.

Said this for me is a bit disappointing that when i go clubbing i am aproaching the night more like a scientific than a party animal, as a dj shazam is a great tool i like traveling to different areas/countries this way i discover tracks that aren't heard in my area but that might work.

I've only heard one of my tracks played once by someone who wasn't me, on that time i didn't notice anything bcause i was too astonished

Good food for thought there thanks guys

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quote:

Originally posted by chris marsh Im lucky enough to be having a track put out on a little house label, for the first time. I heard it played out in a club the other day and had mixed feelings about it. Firstly I noticed a lot of detail was lost and it really hit home how important the basic groove of the tune - drums and bass are. It also hit home that parts of the track wasn't the most danceable, in fact a more housey remix of the same track seemed to work much better in that club situation if im honest. On the other hand parts of it sounded good to me, and stood up to the professional tracks either side. Im sure the sound system wasn't the best as i noticed elements lost from pro tracks too, particularly high mids and anything further back in the mix with reverbs or delays. Although I was a bit disappointed initially it was a good learning experience for me though, especially as i don't go clubbing much these days and don't DJ (well at least not yet) Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience, or any thoughts on making tracks that are club/dj friendly?

This is the reason I want to start keeping tracks a lot less cluttered and try to avoid too much layering.

Also I notice lots of people love those big washes of zizzling highs in thier tracks but these can be pretty dire in a club enviroment.

You really get found out for lack of groove in a club. I think this could be a reason a lot apparntly very well made tracks don't get signed now, as the fundamental groove just ain't there.

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Kick

Bass

Lead

Hats

If you're lucky one more element.

You can't hear more than 4 or 5 elements at any one time.

All of those little details just get thrown under the bus.

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.

Only fags use leads. Real men just put more percussion in. Oh and cayenne pepper.

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux Kick Bass Lead Hats If you're lucky one more element. You can't hear more than 4 or 5 elements at any one time. All of those little details just get thrown under the bus.

not true in the sense that maybe you can't listen to 4 at a time but can listen different combinations of 5 sounds. Most tracks use 8-10 layers of sounds indeed. Techno and minimal are more sober but prog.house and trance for sure.

the human brain can apparently only consciously and continuously follow 4 things, but it's all a bit fluid as to what it thinks is a thing

my experience with my stuff on really loud systems are:

- even soft bassdrums can KICK LIKE FUCK when everything is loud
- bass and kick tend to overpower mids
- the groove is alive, and it can be different in loud
- delay and reverb tend to be overexpressed


edit: this, for example, sounded like shit on a loud system. the kick and the bass came out as one continuous sausage of sound. it sounds really good on headphones though, which is where i mixed it

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Chronology – a wayfinder discography in progress. Roughly sorted by date of creation.

Last edited by wayfinder on Sep-24-2012 at 18:31

you also have to ponder the room acoustics AND the technician setting up the sound.

if "profssional" tracks sound bad on the system, then it is to question more the system and setup and acoustics.

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quote:

Originally posted by meriter Your primary focus should be making good music. That's all. No one gives a shit how you do it. And the people that do are fags.