a few months back i made my first trance tune after previously making drum n bass. it turned out quite well, but had quite a lot wrong with it.
i've finally had some time to start another one, and i'm quite liking where it's going, but it just feels like something is missing. i know it needs a proper intro and another drop (never seem to lay my tunes out properly!), but i just thought i'd see what you guys thought...
work on this pal it cud be good love the melody very similar to something ive heard before but most tunes are these days, like you said needs more arrangement mkae it dj friendly and i would play it out!!
motionblur
thank you! yeah i will make it DJ friendly. just thought i'd get all the important parts sorted out first though.
yeah i know what you mean about the melody. as soon as i played it i recognised it. but it is pretty simple to be honest. and you cant really copyright a melody so who cares :D
chick
nice idea, but mixdown is not the best.. percussion is sorta lost, specially the bassdrum
tehlord
Great start i'd say. You definately need a re-think on the mix and an extra element or two. Pehaps some vocals or a really catchy lead line.
It sounds like you've got a limiter on the master channel that's set a bit too hot, but nothing that can't easily be fixed.
I'd also say look at some of the EQ on certain channels and do a few small cuts around the 2-5k mark to help all those synth parts sit together. Maybe panning can help pull them apart a bit as well to give them more room.
I love the start, it's a really strong sound and over a beat for a DJ to mix into it'd work really well.
motionblur
yeah i know what you mean about the mixdown...
the bass and some of the synths do have an EQ which is sidechained to the kick drum, but it does need some work.
i know what you mean about it sounding as if theres a limiter.. i actually thought there was one on it from the after listening to it played back a few times, but there is actually no limiter! i think it might just be something to do with the EQ on the bass/sub bass.
and i also think some vocals would work really nicely on this tune. i've never really worked with vocals before, but i do have a fairly decent microphone, so might try to find somebody to do some. but if that fails i will just add a lead synth.
so i think my plans for this tune are to make it DJ-friendly, then work on the EQ/sidechaining a bit more, and then try to find a vocalist.
thanks very much for your comments!
tehlord
What is the master channel peaking at? It does sound very hot.
motionblur
aah yeah.. its peaking at over 0db once it all kicks in!! noooot good. looks like i'll have to turn a few things down. oooops.
Amfora
Realy like the beginning of this track, sweet sounds and melody. Only the drums and percusion dos not fit. A re-arrangement on that part would make this track a lot better imo!
tehlord
quote:
Originally posted by motionblur
aah yeah.. its peaking at over 0db once it all kicks in!! noooot good. looks like i'll have to turn a few things down. oooops.
Very easy to do ;)
I tend to start off with the kick about -6db then work round that. Make sure you compress what you hear is peaking a bit, a lot of soft synths can throw out a lot of energy. The compression doesnt have to smother the sounds but almost soft limit them. Mixing at low volumes is preferable most of the time as it's much easier to make the levels louder afterwards than the other way round. You want to try and leave the master channel peaking at roughly -6db to -8db to leave headroom for mastering.
motionblur
quote:
Originally posted by Amfora
Realy like the beginning of this track, sweet sounds and melody. Only the drums and percusion dos not fit. A re-arrangement on that part would make this track a lot better imo!
thanks for the advice! any ideas on how i could make the drums better? i seem to be finding the drums one of the hardest bits after moving from producing drum n bass. the bass drum has a much larger roll in trance tunes!
quote:
Originally posted by tehlord
Very easy to do ;)
I tend to start off with the kick about -6db then work round that. Make sure you compress what you hear is peaking a bit, a lot of soft synths can throw out a lot of energy. The compression doesnt have to smother the sounds but almost soft limit them. Mixing at low volumes is preferable most of the time as it's much easier to make the levels louder afterwards than the other way round. You want to try and leave the master channel peaking at roughly -6db to -8db to leave headroom for mastering.
yeah i think i will give this a go.. i think its mainly the bassline & bass drum pushing it over the edge. a bit of volume reduction + compression seems to be the way to go.
thanks people.
Richard Butler
Yea as you probably know the kick in drum n bass sends to be a bit higher freq than those of trance.
I messed about for a long time trying to get good kicks, but then found it's a lot easier using those from the right sample collections where they have the right outboard and desks to get a sweet kick. Can do it myself but takes to much time and energy.
Your side chaining when it all comes in needs a bit of toning down I think so it's still obvious but not so extreme.
Like the intro main sound - it's a really original and good sonic beast.
TBH I have found getting the kick and bass right very hard, so I had to work on just those for a while and I'm still not where I want to be. Trance is so fast and the melodies and soundscapes so big that getting the bass and kick right is for me a bit of a black art.
