Hey to all.

Just finished making this number. Started last night, and because Reason is so intuitive, I was able to finish and somewhat master it. It's what I call Synthetic Retro House, because it reminds me of music they would dance to in the 80's and also because of the heavy synth use.

This track was partly inspired by Alan Braxe's Lumberjack. I love House like that. So I hope you guys enjoy this, please leave any feedback and comments and critiques. I cannot get better if you don't show me how ;]

Completely re-fucking-construckted! And now with more sense!
Los Angelgroove (6:32)

Last edited by FromAbove on Mar-13-2008 at 23:12

I like the idea you've got going on here, but feel like the overall sound of the track is still a bit to "tinny" sounding, if it were mixed down to soften the highs/mids a bit and was given a little more "untz" in the low end there's a good chance I could enjoy this one for a while.

Not bad at all

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last minute disco dot net

Thanks a lot brother! I have a habit of finalizing too quickly without getting any kind of outside opinions. I will continue to work on this, open it back up, because moving on wouldn't really help. You're only as good as your last track!

I like this. I'll agree with Rob and say that some of the higher synth sounds are too loud. Also, it might help to vary the percussion a bit more. Nice synth work, though.

i liked the lead synth, but the attack time on the background brass/organ synth seemed to long and set off the score so that it seemed like it was offbeat with the kick and bassline. which wasnt cool cause i liked the bassline a lot haha, i agree with the above poster in that the track would probably feel more powerful if you turned up the master compression on the hi and mids and let the lows come thru a bit more. a lot of good ideas here and some really cool sounds, liked listening a lot, keep it up !

Yay, I'm taking in all your feedback with great appreciation :]
It helps to have people like you guys give me technical advice over my friends' "Yeah, it's cool alright."

I keep tweaking this bitch. Lately I lowered the volume on the whole track so that it doesn't 'clip' I think is what it's called. And also made the high points of the synth not so high by tweaking the high-shelf in the EQ. I think it sounds a little more tolerable. Also I added a new little sound to the beginning and middle and ending and such that fits in rather well. And lastly, I've been adding a lot more automations. They are so fun to work with, and easy.

I will work on the compression bit next and also the background pad I'll fix up so it works better with the bassline/kick

I will keep updating and editing the song in my main post!

Checked this out.

Whilst I am not a House fan I still hear quite a lot of it.

This track started off as you would expect all good so far.
The bassline comes in a way which was slightly unexpected and perhaps even sounded a little strange but I will go with the flow for the time being.

The main melody is pretty hideous (Sorry) and sounds too random in some places.

The bassline has no real funk to it and quickly becomes very forgettable as it plods away in the background.

I would also say that the patches used sound very standard, very dry and give the track a very 'computer music' feel to the whole track.

On the positive, the song structure is there and you have still managed to get quite a nice balance to a lot of the sound with some minor things perhaps that niggle.

Sadly this track didn't communicate anything to me but thank you for sharing and keep at it as you can tell that there is potential there.

Cheers
Nem

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https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/

Negative feedback always sounds the loudest to me. It's the kind of opinion that helps me become better. Thank you Nem, I will try harder next time to create a more unique sound out of the patches I use

EDIT: Latest rework of this track has me ridding the unfitting pad and replacing with a more static-like atmospheric pad. Also added intro bit with the same instrument as the main lead. Shortened the song by removing the teaser synths and the bridge synths that really did come randomly.

Still isn't perfect ;[

Last edited by FromAbove on Mar-12-2008 at 23:50

quote:

Originally posted by FromAbove Negative feedback always sounds the loudest to me. It's the kind of opinion that helps me become better. Thank you Nem, I will try harder next time to create a more unique sound out of the patches I use EDIT: Latest rework of this track has me ridding the unfitting pad and replacing with a more static-like atmospheric pad. Also added intro bit with the same instrument as the main lead. Shortened the song by removing the teaser synths and the bridge synths that really did come randomly. Still isn't perfect ;[

Hope you didn’t’ take it too badly as it wasn’t meant in a nasty way.

Something that would probably help you in terms of your sound is a bit of reverb on some of the higher elements in your mix (Remember, reverb on bass can be bad as it makes your mix sound very muddy).

If you haven’t already done so, set up a bus with a reverb that is similar to a drum room or something not that big.
Set up another reverb for a larger area on another bus.
Send the signal to the first bus at about 30 to 40%. Send a separate signal to the second bus at about 50 to 60% volume.
On the second bus you might also want to mess around with the pre-delay just to ensure that the end of the original sound doesn’t merge too much with the tail of the reverb.

What this does is take away some of the real computerised sound in a track, as you create a sense of space and presence with the sound in the same way we might perceive someone beating a drum or playing piano if we were in the same room.

This technique is often used by producers to make VSTs sound more natural and convincing.

You may also find that you might want to stick a bit of compression on your reverb buses as this will make the reverb tail on each bus a bit more controllable in terms of EQ. Also make sure you roll off any low end frequencies so that your bass and percussion stays nice and tight.

With regards to the sounds you have used, maybe not the sounds themselves but what you have done with them is a little flat. Makes the track seem a little lifeless.

Cheers
Nem

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https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/