Hi all, thanks all for listening and giving some feedback.
DZM: Appreciate the kind words, not sure the preset + FX I used amounted to sound design but I'll take it. Now as for the issues yes I could hear something wasn't right with the kick but I'm still mastering how to fix that sort of stuff, will have to go back to the drawing board. It was probably the first time I've layered the drums so much and it looks like I'll need to study up a bit as well. As for structure, do you mean the flow of the track or the mix? I deliberately kept a simple flow to this one and honestly I'm probably happy with it other than the way the stabs were introduced, I didn't really have a better idea for how to drop them in. Finally, I struggle with "the drop" as a lot of them are very clichéd, so I decided to keep it simple and focus on the intensity of the music when it comes in. I might experiment with your idea of adding some silence though, that can be very effective.
stylist: thanks for listening, I think?
E1ghth Place: much appreciate the detailed feedback and encouragement, makes me want to hit up Ableton immediately! I had experimented with EQ on the kick but it never really resolved itself and eventually I gave up.
Edit: beyond horizon - missed your post as I was drafting this one, thanks for the kind words as well! I had looked at side-chaining but literally learnt how that worked a few days ago, and I must admit shied away from trying it out. I think the problem was that snare but I probably needed to duplicate the instrument in order to side-chain as they were in the same channel. I thought that about the bpm as well, but it sounded awful when bumped to 140 and would probably have needed some musical surgery to make the stabs etc. work!