Electronic Track- hope you prefer it to the last one!!

[rwafish]

Thanks to the guys who tore into me over the last track I uploaded. I hope this one is at least a little bit better...

[rwafish]

I've thought long and hard about the comments made on my last track, and while some were justified, I feel that a lot of the comments were posted for selfish bullshit reasons.

If you want to comment, good or bad, then go ahead.
My last track needed work, so what? Thants what these forums are for if i'm correct?

If you listen to my track and think it's shit, no problem.
BuT give me at least a chance to redeem myself.
There are too many "teachers" on the net, but we know what they say about teahers eh?
I appreciate feedback because it gives you a chance to feel people out, but if you want to just give me grief then your just doing it to sound off, so who's the attention seeker?

[djui5]

I didn't hear the last track I don't think.


I'm not really diggin this one though, since you asked. Musically it's not speaking to me. The performances and patterns seem kinda "expected" and don't grab me in a musical sense.

[rwafish]

yeah, your right mate, i was thinking of it just as a filler track. I suppose theres not really much happenin' there.
Thanks for the reply you've helped me make up my mind about it.

[Dopamine]

Not to discourage you, but this is a professional forum and you may want to spend a bit more time developing your sound before posting here.

How long have you been producing?

[rwafish]

Originally Posted by Dopamine

Not to discourage you, but this is a professional forum and you may want to spend a bit more time developing your sound before posting here.

How long have you been producing?

I've got as much right to post here as anyone else pal, so don't worry your comments will not discourage me in the slightest.

[scruffydog]

Yeahhh..cant speak for no one else..but dopamine aint paying my bills...

[elder rookie]

it sounds really unfinished and it's too repetitive with some of the sounds. in other words there's too much going on while at the same time there isn't hardly enough going on. so whatdya use to make this? maybe thats where the problem lies.

[rwafish]

Originally Posted by elder rookie

it sounds really unfinished and it's too repetitive with some of the sounds. in other words there's too much going on while at the same time there isn't hardly enough going on. so whatdya use to make this? maybe thats where the problem lies.

Point taken, yeah your exaclty right with that. Takes someone else to confirm things for you though, so thanks.
BTW I used a boss dr670 for the drums, a couple of soft synths for bass and "melody" *can't remeber which at moment but think Wavstation and Korg polysix. Also ex24mk11 Sample player.

It is unfinished by the way, got to have another crack at it. Thanks for the pointers, after all that is what this forum is about eh?

[NeoVXR]

normally you would expect more technical comments here, than artistic...
also many folks here like rock music or hip-hop styles.
maybe you could play back the ball and recommend an artistic electronic music forum?

[Quigley]

I like that idea!

[zarembo]

Hi rwafish (rawfish?) how's it going?

first I'd like to say congratulations for your courage and tenacity to post your sounds here to get comments and critique.

I agree you have as much right as anyone to post here. period.

About your track, when I listen to it I'm wondering what your intent is?

where is it going, what are you trying to say?

It sounds kind of like a 'wind er up and let er go' kind of thing, which, with
arrangement and sonic/textural variation electronic music does NOT have to be.

I really like the combination you get going at around 1:11 when the quiet pad comes in in the bg with the warp warp lead sound over the top but after a while why not bring that pad to the forefront and drop out the drums?

then take it somewhere else?

I mean there's a zillion things you could do with your stuff.

even if you're using a boss drum machine, double, triple, quad those tracks and
GET EM PUMPIN AND JUMPIN!!!

I'm wondering though also if the chap who suggested you polish your stuff a little more before you show it off may have a point....

now that you've elicited some various responses to your work head back to the studio and dig in.

I only just posted my first work last night and I'm a nervous nellie over showing it to this forum.

But it's the cats like you who are unafraid that give a shy guy like me courage.

so keep doing what you love and take care.

[rwafish]

Thanks Walter, and yeah your right it does need polishing finishing. There have been some relevant points made and have been taken on board.
Its the technical advice I was wanting, my sound may not be fully developed but I know this and am progressing all the time. Thats WHY I posted here, because there are some knowlegeable people here.
I'll continue posting until someone says that was awesome. Cos thats the way I am.

[ilovesound]

Hi .. being that I do alot of dance/electronic music commercially, I just wanted to know if this song is done for your personal enjoyment? or are you hoping to do something professionally with it? This is not a negative point. If you want something that is marketable, I always find it great to know what the crowd is 'diggin' at the moment. Electronic music really is all about the sounds and rhythm etc ... 909/808 drums are cool and all, but they tend to date yourself, which I am sure you don't want to do. Using a mixed kit of different sounds is cooler. If you like a particular genre of electronic music, see what your idols are doing these days.

Nice to see a fellow electronic guy on the board :) PM me if you want to chat further.

Ian

[Reggie Love]

Hey rwafish...

Since this thread has generated some debate, I thought I'd pass my ears over your track... Hope you don't mind.

There's some basic technical stuff here that you need to pay attention to...

From 1:28 to 1:44 there is a once per two second audio artifact, probably caused by a lack of a cross fade when you loop the sample you are using that is just plain annoying. From there on until 2:14 it speeds up to around once per second but does get quieter. Nonetheless it needs sorting.

The stereo image in you track remains somewhat unexploited. Almost everything is going on in the middle of my cans with the leads always sticking around 20% right. You might consider adding to the sense of space here just by moving the various leads around the image and making them "hold a conversation" with each other.

In general everything seem to be going on in 2D. The pads you have used to the left are so quiet they are barely impacting the mix. You could try dragging the fader much farther up and using reverb to make them sit back in the mix. This would also add to the sense of 3D space.

Generally the lead sounds are pretty small. A little quiet delay image thrown to the far opposite side of where you have placed your lead will "big up" the sound considerably. A little light chorus on this can add to this effect if used sparingly.

Beat construction is extremely important in this style of music... On the whole the snare sound lack any bite whatsover and you are in one of the few musical froms where the heavy use of compression/filtering and EQ forming of a sound is virtually de rigeur. The beats also have a nice simplicity to them but this is not gonna get people humping on the dance floor. I would strongly suggest some more work on the beats to get them up to scratch.

Oh and where the feck is the bassline here?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the mix needs alot more work, but also that in this style of music it's all about killer sounds. Some of these are produced by the synths software or hardware used and some are made killer by the mixing techniques used.

Anyway, please don't take this as anything other than encouragement to keep on building on your work here...

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by rwafish

Thanks to the guys who tore into me over the last track I uploaded. I hope this one is at least a little bit better...

Hi rwafish,

Putting yourself up for criticism, constructive or otherwise, is a difficult thing to do- so well done on having the gumption to do it.
I'm having trouble with you track though- it doesnt really develop, the choice of sounds is definitely dated and there is no bass there at all, really.
What are you looking to do with your music?

I'd look at maybe getting a few sample CD's or spend a lot of time designing the sounds.
808/909 stock sounds really go nowhere after a minute or two.
Were the drums programmed, or from loops?

Did you have a look at the final file in a stereo editor? The various sections are quite different in level, but are also quite soft.
I personally don't use Loudness Maximisers, but in this case it wouldnt hurt to boost everything.

I do think though that the track needs to be brought back to basics- perhaps think about what you want to say as a musician- if anything- and how you best want to go about it.

I found myself working in various genres a while back, but decided to concentrate on breaks/electro as I'm really into the darker/harder side of the clubbing scene.
When I am writing I think a lot about my audience- that was a hard stage to get to- I found that as I got a but older I simply wanted ppl to really enjoy the tunes and go nuts on the dance floor.
This is the sort of thing I think about when I am writing.

What do you want to do with this music?
Where do you think your audience is- and how are you gonna get it to them?

Good luck,

james

[rwafish]

Thanks guys. The last three comments have been awesome! Thats the reason I came here. I've only been doing this about a year and am still training my ear i suppose, however the points you have made, as i read them i am sitting here, thinking, he's right, thats true, spot on, so i suppose at least it indicates that i can recognise something when its pointed out.

Even though i tried not to let the other comments get to me since i posted i have had a bit of writers block and normally i am quite prolific, i can only put this down to an incredible knock to my ego!

I know my tracks are scruffy to say the least, but you guys have given me something i can really work with and understand a bit more when applying to other tracks-so thanks.

I am still trying to find my style musically, i love trip-hop/breakbeat stuff like the herbaliser but think these are getting a bit dated now.

But seriously now its back to work! Cheers!

[rwafish]

btw. i've just been asked to join a band which playes very hard metal (please excuse the terminology metalheadz) . They want some harsh, techno sounds, scratches an riffs, so i'm concentrating on that for a while. See how it goes.

[zarembo]

Originally Posted by rwafish

I am still trying to find my style musically, i love trip-hop/breakbeat stuff like the herbaliser but think these are getting a bit dated now.

But seriously now its back to work! Cheers!

and it's just my big-mouthed opinion but I think if you root around in the

(I prefer to call it) Downtempo/breakbeat trunk you can find new jems and
timeless classics, the Herbalizer, et al. among them.

and

if YOU love it then it's not dated.
that's the beauty about free will.
if it's good to you then it's GOOD

[rwafish]

I agree zarembo, and this is a bit off subject but the although the new Take London LP is an awesome production, I can't help but feel that I've been here before. Maybe when you make an album like Something Wicked its hard to follow.

[zarembo]

Originally Posted by rwafish

I agree zarembo, and this is a bit off subject but the although the new Take London LP is an awesome production, I can't help but feel that I've been here before. Maybe when you make an album like Something Wicked its hard to follow.

well it's fun to get off topic but I'll check out Take London for sure--

but since it's all been done before and blah blah, and the grooves are so well worn that when you come on a forum with seriously work-in-progress electronic music asking for technical suggestions that seems a bit strange to me. I mean, isn't the whole thing about electronic music is that it is YOUR vision as producer?

There's zillions of examples you could try and cop and learn from.

There's no shame in trying to copy someone else's tracks.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and you won't be able to duplicate it exactly anyhow.

So what I'm suggesting is that while you're taking suggestions from others about how your music should be composed, maybe try and produce your own version of an Herbalizer track or a Fila track or et, al. I mean you'll never get it exactly the same, but you'll develop your own thing and (i hate to say this but it's true) a lot of electronic music sounds so similar, few people would realize you were trying to nick someone elses thing in the first place.

And it may be a jumping off point for your own new path.

not sure if this makes sense--but underneath it all I'm saying do your own thing, take influence from those who have carved the path, or are at least claiming it as their own--who knows the difference any longer any how?

you want to hear some crappy badly produced electronic music?
you may just get me to post some of mine on here and that would be bad for us all

dude pm me if you want to chat about music more
as you can tell I do run on at the mouth and have many many favorites.