mau5y style prog house (?) "breaking through" f4f

J

joshyc89

New member
HI! first time reaching out for actual feedback so please be nice! kidding.. well, dont be dumb, but i do want critical feedback. all ive head is "good music brah" and crap like that. i mean, i like that, and if you do like it please let me know! but i need more helpful stuff cuz i know pretty much nothing about what im doing haha i know basses are kinda wonky and it doesnt sound amazing. but id love to know where to improve and all that. so anything help!! feedback for feedback! also comment for comment on soundcloud or whatever else. cool. thanks!

https://soundcloud.com/pimppistol/breaking-through

****and if people see stories and such with their music, this might give you some whatever about where my mind was in this. reason its called "breaking through".. i kinda see it as space travel or something. the begining being take off, or warp speed type thing. the build up all the music, just whatever you see with that. the break down is it kinda failing, or falling, but slowly recovering, getting past the part it couldnt get though. the title. thats the second "drop" or whatever. then the rest is it leaving and taking off into space. lame i know haha but wont go into too much detail because its kinda lame, and ill leave the rest for your imagination to break through....... c wut i did thurr?? teehee
 
So first off I really like:
- the clap at around 1:30, sounds very crunchy and well layered
- the breakdown at 2:00 with the airy effects and the following arpeggio
- the melody itself is interesting
- the drums are good, nice rhythm and groove

Now some points where you could improve according to my ears:

- the "boom" fx at the beginning and the end sound muddy and don't really add to the flow of the track, they could be more subtle, replaced, or cut them out completely
- kick is weak, could use more beef, try to layer it and EQ it so it sticks out more, at some points it is barely hearable
- the bass "stabs" at around 1:30 and 4:00 are to loud and seem to interfere with the flow, maybe you could put a filter on them so it won't interfere with other sounds
- when you increase the cutoff of your main synth, things get out of control, the sounds are competing for frequencies

Well, I do really like the idea of the track and the musical elements in it, but you could improve your technique, e.g. EQ'ing, compressing, layering, mixing and mastering.
If you improve these things, you have a lot of potential, keep it up! :)
Peace,
Chimp
 
"e.g. EQ'ing, compressing, layering, mixing and mastering." the exact things i new i had problems with, just no one to tell me! i dont know if i just try too hard sometimes, but i feel like when i start trying those, i get waaayyy farther from the sounds and stuff i wanted, and end up making it sound like crap when i stop listening. ill get sooo into the zone, ill do the eqing and stuff forever, then i have to stop working on it cuz im hearing it so much, and i come back and ive completely ruined everything lol

are there any good videos (free( about all that? im a horrible read it learner, and the videos i find on youtube are just ridiculously boring. some of the ppl sound like they dont even know what their talking about just making the video to make a video about it..
 
I agree with Chimp .. bass too loud it feels wierd and kick needs more presence also, and also when you open the cutoff things get too messy. I would like to the percussions that you add at 1:35 to b louder or maybe eq them better so they cut though the mix.
WIth the second drop i think its a good idea to leave a space between the build up and drop, so it has a bigger impact.
I quite liked the arp you made. sounds good and catchy.
Hope this helped.
 
Hello, thanks for providing feedback on my track. Like the melody and progression here, and the breakdown in the middle is real nice. I would suggest either getting the most you possibly can out of your drum samples through EQ and compression or possibly even choosing different ones entirely. Like Yves said, the kick needs more presence, its too thin sounding. I'd go for something with more of a thud. At around the 1:15 area, the bass takes over too much (I'm listening on a stereo system, btw). I also think you might want to aim for meatier claps and wood block? as well.
I love how clean the part at 3:00 sounds, and like what you've achieved with this frequency. I would maybe look to return to this same sound later in the track. Let this lead be the allstar of the track.

One final suggestion: at around 4:54, you introduce some percussion thats only slightly audible. It's a change in the track that should be heard, be confident with it!
 
ok so, i recently moved to a house. was living in an apt. i have a couple krk rokit 6. ive never really had the volume above half because of that, or very rarely. since i moved, never been passed half lol and ive noticed, ive always had the speakers all screwed up in a crappy position. ive learned if i back up a little, i can hear the full bass and everything. even now my set up isnt too great cuz of the way everything is positioned. starting to hear all the clumpyness(?) how it all gets messy n crap. the way its been set up, i cant FEEL/HEAR the bass as full as i should unless i back up. so from exactly where i am, the kick and all sounds good until i get to that "sweet spot" and i completely hear it all. thats one thing i need to work on.

the percussion you hear at around 1:35, the blocks/ claps, i added that instead of the 1/3 claps. to vary it a little. agree it should be turned up but like Averisinia said, was a little unconfident about it. thats also the exact same pattern as 4:45ish. same pattern, just not as drowned i guess.

ill be honest, when it comes to eq, compression, frequencies... i dont really understand all that, so its more of a listening thing for me, and like i said, the way my speakers and me are positioned, makes everything funky for others. i have fixed a lot since moving here a few weeks ago, that track was uploaded half a year ago. while i still see how relevant everything yall are 200% true lol some has changed. the kick i agree needs more, as weel as clap, and everything else. my biggest problem since day 1 even has been kick/hats/snare/claps and making them fit and sound good. i want that bassy feel, with deep tones and undertones and i always want a dark ass feel to all my songs usually. but i do need t work on it, cuz usually i do over do it lol MOAR BASS /= what im trying to achieve. also have worked on sidechains on most songs cuz i noticed i pump way too much. sidechain more bass and less highs/melodies right? (also keep in mind that soundcloud doesnt have greatest quality. not using as an excuse though)

and ive noticed i automate way too much, at the same time maybe not automating enough? like you said about when i change the cutoff, everything gets nasty.. i guess how do i go about that the right way? i usually automate the cutoff of the synth, also the freq of the delay, and sometimes reverb to get more of the darker/lighter feels i go for. should i add low/high passes and automate those as well, or could there be a different way?

one more thing, sorry. yvesb, yo umention about adding a pause before the second drop. can i have a bar or 2 between some other bars like that? i usually keep stuff neat and everything, but have always wondered if added an extra 1 bar for a pause, or fill or something is ok. to me, it seems like it throws off the rhythm or whatever, though ive never actually payed attention when listening to other songs. i dont really count when listening, i just listen and hear others. would it be ok to do 4/4/4/4/1/4/4/4/4 if that makes sense? something ive never really understood or had the courge to carry out. ive done it plenty of times, and on plenty of projects, but ive never had a "finished: song like that
 
Great Track, the sub seems to be clipping a bit, i don't know if that is an effect you wanted or if it really is clipping, when producing i would recommend when working in Progressive/electro house or vocal trance to shy away from KRK's because they are EQ'ed and dont give a realistic bass, its very exaggerated thus when you replay your music on other monitors or on a decent stereo the bass/kick/sub will sound much different than what you hear in your studio
 
hi, nice track. Here my 5 cents: Tame the bass. Cut the very low frequencies of your bass. Let the kick take over in the frequency band of 80-120 hz. Carve out the bass there. leave very little below 80 hz for the bass. The kick will fill in there. Add a guitar amp plug in to the bass and mess with the distortion ratio. Make the hihat 1.5 db louder. cheers
 
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