v.redd.itPosted Mar 22, 2021, 9:11 PM UTC
Some good advice in these comments. Im going to applaud the musical journey in this. The composition is really on point. I would agree some tiny bits of ear candy would go a long way but this is pretty solid.
Thank you! It's been a long time since I sat down and really tried to write something other than rock, and it's taken me a while to write something that I actually felt was decent, so I am incredibly appreciative of the kind words.
That's really nice, reminds me of a song I'd hear in Rocket League. Keep up the good work
Thank you! Rocket League. If only. haha
Really cool. I just wish the drop at 0:40 was a little bigger otherwise I think it sounds good! (from my phone)
Maybe extend the waiting part some more and add a few fx? Or even slow down the tempo during the buildup. Would be awesome.
Yeah, I've thought about this a few times too. Sometimes I'm not sure if I wanted it to be a bit more pop-songish or a bit more edm-songish, and I think it's not fulfilling either of those right now with how it just gradually builds into it without any kind of quick gap to let it hit in hard. Thanks for bringing this up.
I don't think you need to worry about genres too much at this stage ;) Most people will not care what genre it is as long as it sounds good to them and this could probably be in Rocket League tbh
I like the feel and the chord progression. Try working on mixing the drums and possibly sound selection.
I like it a lot. Gives me playing video games in the summer as a kid type vibes
dope as fuck
I love it, keep up the good work and force yourself to finish it, that's the most important thing
Coming here to say that when I hit play I accidently simultaneously started Spotify and the mix of tunes made my ears bleed. Once I stopped Spotify I could hear it for what it really was.
It feels very relaxing, but I agree with other comments. The snares seem a little lack luster, almost kind of dry. Not sure how to advise you on this. Keep up the good work man.
Dude, this is really good! Nice work.
This has a really nice retro vibe however I do have some suggestions.
For example, the drums cut through the mix more than they should to fit the vibe I think you are going for. If I were you I would replace them with smoother and more organic percussions.
Also, an other issue is that the instruments feel way too synthsizy to me. I suggest you low-pass them or replace them, move the notes a little beat after turning off the grid and add a slight bit of reverb to make sound more natural...
The melody is great tho.
Going for that Porter Robinson vibe, huh? I like it! There's quite some stuff that needs work on, but I think the drums need it most. Well, the snare. It's very much in the background right, where I feel (opinion) it should be more upfront. You can hear that the transient of the snare has a hard time punching through the mix.
I also think that a lot of synths are fighting for the same spot in the spectrum. Try to make choices where each sounds sits in the mix. You can also pan some more stuff, I feel. I always think it's pretty interesting when leads that play solos are a bit off center.
The piano is nice and a nice sound, but sounds too static for me. Try to humanize it more by slightly delaying some notes and by varying the velocities more. (A good guide is to have the 1st and 3rd chord a bit louder than the 2nd and 4th, so you get that emphasis on the downbeat which creates groove and momentum)
Personally I think the sidechain is a bit too much. It's an aestethic choice, but I don't quite like it. Maybe if the beat was a straight 4 to the floor house beat it could work, but right now it actually throws me off a bit.
I also feel like the track overall needs some more small details. You've got some nice ones already, like you do before the choruses, but some more stuff mid-chorus or mid-verse could really help to make it more interesting overall. Also try some more variations in drums and make some drum fills. I'm not sure how many you have already, but I think there's not enough.
Like I said, it's all small things, but they add up. Hope you can work with this and if you disagree with my opinions, just let me know so we can talk.
Cheers
Excellent. This is exactly what I was looking for.
This is something I've been thinking about the last few times I've listened to the song. I usually use the strum tool to try to give it a more "fingers pressing at slightly different times" feel, but something still felt off. I'll play with the velocities and see what that does for it. I think the piano might benefit most from doing a bit of panning on the notes as well, to go with the other point.
This last playthrough I was on the fence about this as well. At some points I was thinking that it might be sidechaining too hard, but was also thinking that maybe I was paying too much attention to it. This confirms that. While I still want some sidechaining just due to how big the synth is, I definitely think that it can be toned down some to let it shine through a bit more without it feeling like "whoa that's a sidechained sawpad".
This is probably my biggest weakness, especially finding drum fills that work in EDM since so much of it is sample selection, which is why I think I try to do too many snare and kick fills.
Thank you for the incredibly helpful input. I have some stuff to work on. 💪
Good luck mate. Just an extra tip: Listen to and analyze other songs you like. Figure out what elements make what work. Like: Why has this track suck a nice groove? Why does this hit so hard? How did he do this/that?
You have the musical skills, I think. Nice melodies, nice chords. Mixing is definitely something you can learn, so go for it dude!