I've been making tracks in my free time for about a year now. I was hoping you could give me some advice - pretty much just say anything that comes to mind.
I spent a couple hours making this track today, and I believe it reflects about where I am in terms of producing.
EDIT: Here's a different track I've done since I took the last one down. July 8th 2010 by jbswan
Thank you!
EddieZilker
Echo/reverb on bass is weird - not sure about it.
Chord stabs a touch too bright.
Why did the bass-line disappear.
Oh, God it's going all out of time.
Then the transition sound completely like a different song... kind of cool with the pizicato lead.
Circus chord progression, though, has got to go after four to eight measures - it's interesting, at first, but then it gets really, really tired.
Next transition and we are now Paul Van Dyk stumbling through 1994.
Lots of good ideas, dude - seriously.
I normally don't like white noise washes, but you did those in a cool way.
Musically, it's completely incongruous. It sounds more like an excerpt from an old-school Deep House mix I once heard - so old I can't remember the name of the DJ. The ideas kind of work together but they're not really part and parcel to one another. You could take them away from the piece and show it to someone who hadn't heard it, before, and he or she'd never be any wiser.
Some of the notes sounded rhythmically off. They really should be quantized. Maybe you bumped them, or something, but they just sounded weird.
The mix could use some work. Some parts are way too bright. The kick and bass line could have a little more presence throughout the entire mix and the highs - well they're kind of too high. Every part of the mix just kept pushing me out of it. It was like putting a giant sculpture in the middle of your bed-room, pushy. I like mixes which pull the listener in. This had me reaching for my volume knob to turn it down.
Anyway. Don't give up. You're definitely not lazy, letting the loop do all the work for you. You should probably work on those transitions though. Take one idea at a time and relate the other instruments to each of the ideas which follow from them - piggyback call and response. Then change the musical phrase of the idea you started out with relating it to all of the new parts which have come in... and so on.
jayxthekoolest
EDIT: By the way, I honestly do not know what you mean by "quantized".
Thank you for your comments, and they'll definitely be helpful. I think you pretty nailed the parts I need to work on. I suppose the hardest thing right now is I know that the song does not sound quite right in certain places, but I find it difficult to figure out what the problem is. Therefore, I needed another ear.
I think I'm already doing a better job of making the instruments work together. That is perhaps my biggest problem right now in my opinion, and it's something you mentioned as well.
quote:
Originally posted by EddieZilker
Echo/reverb on bass is weird - not sure about it.
Chord stabs a touch too bright.
Why did the bass-line disappear.
Oh, God it's going all out of time.
Then the transition sound completely like a different song... kind of cool with the pizicato lead.
Circus chord progression, though, has got to go after four to eight measures - it's interesting, at first, but then it gets really, really tired.
Next transition and we are now Paul Van Dyk stumbling through 1994.
Lots of good ideas, dude - seriously.
I normally don't like white noise washes, but you did those in a cool way.
Musically, it's completely incongruous. It sounds more like an excerpt from an old-school Deep House mix I once heard - so old I can't remember the name of the DJ. The ideas kind of work together but they're not really part and parcel to one another. You could take them away from the piece and show it to someone who hadn't heard it, before, and he or she'd never be any wiser.
Some of the notes sounded rhythmically off. They really should be quantized. Maybe you bumped them, or something, but they just sounded weird.
The mix could use some work. Some parts are way too bright. The kick and bass line could have a little more presence throughout the entire mix and the highs - well they're kind of too high. Every part of the mix just kept pushing me out of it. It was like putting a giant sculpture in the middle of your bed-room, pushy. I like mixes which pull the listener in. This had me reaching for my volume knob to turn it down.
Anyway. Don't give up. You're definitely not lazy, letting the loop do all the work for you. You should probably work on those transitions though. Take one idea at a time and relate the other instruments to each of the ideas which follow from them - piggyback call and response. Then change the musical phrase of the idea you started out with relating it to all of the new parts which have come in... and so on.
tehlord
The only thing I'll add to what's already been mentioned is that it sounds like you're not high passing any of the parts that aren't kick or bass.
Other than that just keep at it, it takes years to get good :)
jayxthekoolest
quote:
Originally posted by tehlord
The only thing I'll add to what's already been mentioned is that it sounds like you're not high passing any of the parts that aren't kick or bass.
Other than that just keep at it, it takes years to get good :)
No, I am not. I'll definitely play around with that. Thank you.
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by jayxthekoolest
EDIT: By the way, I honestly do not know what you mean by "quantized".
Meant to get to this, earlier.
Quantization is simply forcing the notes to fit to their exact timing. When you record a phrase of notes, unless you're highly, highly proficient with the keyboard, you're not going to be able to get them exactly where they should be. Sometimes it's important not to quantize a track or even just a phrase of notes because you're trying to impart a 'natural' timing or groove to the piece, but 99% of the time, you'll want to go ahead an quantize in order to obtain precision within the mix and the music. There are very few of my songs where even one of my tracks hasn't been quantized.
meriter
quote:
Originally posted by EddieZilker
Next transition and we are now Paul Van Dyk stumbling through 1994.
