Really cool sounds you have going there!
You might want to change up the texture sometimes. By that I mean get a different beat going with the drums and maybe a different melodic synth other than the one you have going for the entire time, and maybe go into a different key center in a B section.
You get some distortion at the end when you put the lowpass filter on your main synth -- you might want to look into why that is happening.
Altogether, cool sounds and good ideas. Keep making music!
I think you have really cool melodic and harmonic ideas, but your production quality doesn't quite match your harmonic and melodic creativity.
If anything, I think this could benefit from better quality samples, but I know not everyone has access to them on account of their price tag.
I really think you have great ideas, and maybe if you altered the velocities throughout your melodic ideas you would generate a more dynamic orchestration. Right now everything seems to be at a constant volume throughout, but more dynamic contrast could certainly add to it.
All in all, really nice ideas, just need a little work on the technical side. I look forward to seeing more of your work!
Thanks for the post!
This piece was conducted on a Gravis Soundcard using MIDI. My samples were limited by the hardware itself (The card came out in the 90's)
Hey,
If you're worried about the hi-hat, you should try panning it center rather than over to the right like you have right now, and maybe give it a bit of stereo separation. Same with your ride cymbal -- it doesn't need to be all the way on the left. Overall your panning seems to be a bit haphazard -- you should only pan things if you for sure know that you want them to sound that way. Panning the guitars was probably a good idea.
Overall, you have some really nice sounds, but i know you're doing this mostly for the mixing part. Honestly, it doesn't sound that out of balance, but fixing the cymbal panning, then maybe boosting the bass drum more than you have now (along with eq-ing the bass drum's frequencies out of your other instruments (or use sidechaining)), and boosting the snare a bit could all help your mix.
I hope that helps!
- CS
Thanks, that's all very helpful to know. Actually, I didn't pan the drumset at all; apparently the font I was using automatically panned all of the instruments from its default position >_>; I hadn't even noticed until you pointed it out, so thanks for that.
I'll keep it all in mind for the next time! :)
Hey, this was pretty cool. I don't really like the sound that comes in at around 0:25 -- maybe use something less strange haha. I think with some more work this could be really nice.
- CS
Nice! I really think this will be great when finished.
Do you mind if I ask what synth you're using at around 0:30 for those chords?
its sylenth1 at 0.30 ;)
Love your musical ideas, and the atmosphere you're creating with this piece!
It sounds like it's getting over compressed. This might be because you have a limiter on the master channel and have your levels too high on the individual tracks, or it might be intentional. I would mess with the settings on your compression to try to get a more open sounding mix.
You also seem to have reverb on your kick, at least at the beginning. This is a personal choice, but I would normally advise against it. If you do have reverb, make sure it is not so powerful that it starts getting compressed by your limiter (same issue as above).
Altogether, really cool sounds, and nice work!
- CS
Yay someone likes my ideas! Yeah I really want to create a moving atmosphere.
Alright thank you. Will try my best to fix this. I had a reverb in the kick for a more dramatic effect, but I will try to tone it down.
Thank you very much! Love getting any feedback I can.
Really loved this. You have some really nice ideas.
Some things you could try for next time:
1. I think you should vary the drums more. Right you have basically two different beat patterns, and you only switch to one of them for a short time. Drum tracks are one of the most commonly overlooked parts of pattern based music, and taking the time to make it unique can really add a lot to your piece.
2. You can try varying your melody more -- this one is really your choice though. For credits music it's probably good the way it is, but there are a lot of sections that don't seem to be moving anywhere because they don't have a strong melody. I'm not saying every section of your piece has to have a soaring melody, but adding in some melodic elements in some places could help some.
Altogether though, really cool, and I saw it as more of a credits theme myself.
- CS
Thank you for listening!
"1. I think you should vary the drums more. Right you have basically two different beat patterns, and you only switch to one of them for a short time. Drum tracks are one of the most commonly overlooked parts of pattern based music, and taking the time to make it unique can really add a lot to your piece."
I couldn't agree with you more. I am terrible at coming up with unique percussion patterns, so I'll definitely work on that!
"2. You can try varying your melody more -- this one is really your choice though. For credits music it's probably good the way it is, but there are a lot of sections that don't seem to be moving anywhere because they don't have a strong melody. I'm not saying every section of your piece has to have a soaring melody, but adding in some melodic elements in some places could help some."
Essentially, this song is an experimental mixing session at best haha! I could definitely have put more emphasis on the melody, though usually most of my songs contain a strong melody (or at least I think so, so perhaps this is a saving grace of sorts :) ).
I really appreciate you taking the time to listen! Have a good one! :)
You have some really nice ideas here!
A couple things to improve:
1. I think you could have chosen a less over-used chord progression for this piece. If not, then maybe vary the progression a bit sometimes, it will add a lot more interest to the piece.
2. You need a strong melody over your ensemble. Right now you have a lot of nice orchestrated chords throughout all of the instruments, but to have a memorable piece you need to have more melodic content. This comes in a bit around 1:20 with your violin solo, but you should have more of that throughout.
Overall though, really nice sounds you have going!
- Conor S.
Thank you very much. Really helpful points but I wanted a basic chord progression throughout the song, and you can see I am trying not to be repetitive with variations in it. Thanks again for your input.
Really nice chord progression you have going there. I like the sound of the drums as well. The only reason I didn't give you a higher score was because I felt like you could have transferred the melody into more synths than the one you seemed to use throughout most of the song. Also you could let up a tiny bit on the reverb/delay, but overall really nice!
- Conor S.
thanks for the review!
I've actually considered the things you mentioned as I was writing the song, but it seems the extent to which I implemented these considerations was not significant enough. The main arp melody does indeed get layered with another synth as the song progresses, but the change is gradual and the supplementary synth is rather quiet.
Same goes for the reverb/delay, I've decreased those incrementally as I was writing the song, but only by very slight amouts, I'm afraid.
It is unlikely that I will re-edit this particular piece, but I will certainly try to find ways to implement your critique in future projects!
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