WORKS-IN-PROGRESS for DECEMBER, 2010

[Cubicle]

@ Skaven - love the vibe in this one, can't think of anything bad to say about. Drop is an absolute banger, really curious how it'll end up with the MC on it!

@ Samkablaam - liking the intro and those background vocals, I was expecting the drop to be bigger but i'm feeling the dark atmosphere really well.

@ Skydroid - Those synth notes are awesome, flow nicely with the synth, however I would (personally) pump the synth a tad.

Bear in mind that I'm a rediculous amateur and am just giving comments on how I am feeling the tracks.



Been working alot on mine, i haven't mastered the skill of mixdown yet so I think it should be pretty horrible quality.
Please give it a listen and give me some pointers that I could adjust.
Soundcloud

Thanks!

[Bassmagnet]

@Bassmagnet: This has a ton of potential. I'd say the intro length is fine, it just seems long since the rest of the track isn't quite finished yet. There's a bunch of tension and I want it to drop, which is wicked. Also, when your bass kicks in it sounds pretty wicked. The drums behind it are really tight. I've been looking for that type of drum for a while, is it a loop you've cut up or do you program drums? The computer like texture you have is pretty killer too!

I programmed the drums personally, but I want to get them more crispy!
Thanks for all the feedback guys, ace!

[Sub South]

loving the December tunes!.. here's my work in progress: Soundcloud

let me know what you think, prefer negative comments (as i will then know where to improve )

Thank you
SS

[mindcontrol]

Hey thanks for all the feedback, very helpful advice. When I get some time, i'll sit down and listen to your guys wips and hopefully give some constructive feedback.

[munkee]

I will comment on others when I get home... but this is what I've got so far.

...enjoy!



Soundcloud



[edit]oh yeah, it's umm... not really dubstep[/edit]

[Voodeedoo]

@Cubicle - listening to it right now; i think you might want to change up the piano/wobbles a bit since most of the time i hear them playing the same thing; maybe a secondary melody or something would increase teh dynamics. i like the samples :D

@Sub South - pretty wicked; i think the drums might be a bit quiet in the beginning [or just the fx being a bit loud], cause i thought the drums would fade in or something, but then the drop kicked in and the song was quieter than i expected. other than that, accccce!

@munkee - like the breaks. i think the low bass might be drowning out some of the song though. so far, interesting concept :D


This is a bit of an experiment I'm working on to practice making breaks; so far it's a concept on Logic Studio. Eventually I may add in real drums [or just keep the 8-bit vibe]
Soundcloud

And this is an age-old demo I back back when I was 15; it was before I knew crap about EQ and was one of my first dubstep attempts. I got writers block but now I feel I need to finish it; any ideas? negative feedback appreciated :D
Soundcloud

[Funicular]

@Munkee
Damn your drum beats are sick, and i love the pan around :35 nice.

@Sub South
sounding dope dude, makes me feel like my toons arn't dubstep enough.


Heres one i've been working on the past little while, lemme know what you think of it.

Soundcloud

[kaiori breathe]

@Cubicle

lovely intro, love those rides, it's the little details that matter, love the thomas newman reverby piano feel, great sample use too, really nice piano lines, i'd maybe not repeat that big block chord three times in a row, just once and let it ring maybe, kinda makes it seem a little more ... amateur to me, sorry if that offends :/ just it sounds so good the rest of the time, so well written and almost film score esque and im imagining a thomas newman score, then BLUMP BLUMP BLUMP, it seems kinda outta place to me, normally i don't really crit this hard by the way, but since it's the wip thread i figure people will appreciate honestly. The bass sounds themselves are great, but personally I feel you could do a lot better than the progression you went with. It's kinda like you used up everything you had writing the intro finding that sample cutting it just right and getting a great overall atmosphere but didn't know how to follow it to me. I'm being insanely harsh though man, I mean most people wouldn't think that or care I reckon, just when I'm really picky these are the things that stand out to me. Don't get me wrong though man, ace production value and over all it is very good but I think considering the talent you display in your arrangement and general writing you really have the potential to turn this one into something special. Hope my cruel judgement upon your track helps and doesn't upset lol.

@ Sub South

nice intro, great sounds, not a fan of that much noize in mah snares, but that's personal taste, nice hats, it's as well it kicks up when it does because any longer and i'd have been thinking "ok... I get the picture" so good call on that one, nice progression in the bass, a little more variation rhythmically with the bass lfo (that is if that progression repeats again, if not i'd leave it as is) and you'll have a sick tune, nice jumpy feeling drums, good over all production

@ munkee

feels a bit empty for a bit too long to me during the intro, nice when it kicks in though, stange feels like im in half time and regular time at once, odd, but nice, cool little arabic sounding riff on that high synth, would love to hear more of this one,

@ Voodeedoo

:/ not sure what to make of it, i'm sure it's full form will be good, just seems VERY early stages to me, nice programming on the drums mind you, and those little bits where you get the lead panned out are nice

can't help you much with regards to where to go on the second one because it's not really mah thing, but i do like it over all, production value isn't bad for a first attempt either

@ Funicular

reminds me of deus ex, nice 90s feel (probably not intended but that's what i got from it) great yois with a nice progression, well thought out, I'm not gonna lie though, I instantly started clicking through the tune fastforwarding to the next parts to see if you changed it up, i did in the end force myself to listen to it, again this isn't my style so maybe that's just me lacking an attention span long enough to listen to this style, but when i listened to it in full there are some nice sounds and nice melodies and ideas, it's just hard for me personally to pay attention long enough to enjoy them and I'm really not sure why.

To all of you, i never really post in the wips thread, i've been really harsh on your tracks but you could all completely get away with ignoring everything i've said, they are really minor details that i have picked out, i hope maybe to have helped one of you in some minor way, if not i apologize.

Soundcloud this is a cover of a song by Frodus of the same name that I'm working on, full version will have vocals which you can read in the description. Volume might be a little low as I'm mixing using headphones atm, other than that feedback welcome as always.

[Grime Syndicate]

Cubicle: Seems like your track falls in and out of key... maybe consider revising some of the notes you hit to sound better together. You called it, your mixdown could use some love, and in my opinion, your synth sounds could use a bit more beefing up with resampling or just some for effecting. Also, didn't hear much sub bass. Check out the moneyshot thread, and threads describing pairing your basses with a pure sine wave, etc. Seems you've got the big picture stuff handled though as far as song structure, build and release, etc. Nice track all in all, but it needs some love. Also, the kick lacks thump to my ear, but this again falls into mixdown stuff. Try checking out new york/parallel compression techniques...

@Kaiori Breathe: It IS a bit quiet. Have you considered light limiting? I know overdoing it destroys dynamics, but 2-4db reduction might really point this track in the right direction. Just a thought. All in all, its not my thing, but it does sound nice...

@Bassmagnet: I really like the build around 1:15-1:20... Sounds great. There's definitely some production skill that goes into this song. Sorta busy, and not at all into that Yeah formant/vocoder sound. And it never falls into a solid groove, least not to my ear. I guess i mean to say some more melody would be nice, as its all rather dissonanat. Some parts of this track really work though man... Keep going

Ok, here's my newest track. Soundcloud

and here's one I added alot to since the last round of feedback about a month ago.
Soundcloud

[Akkep]

@bugsky, GLITCHY! Feeling this one, have nothing bad to say about it!

@carmen, Midrange yoyoy gets boring very easily, I personally don't like it,
but the vocal sample is cool.

@samkablaam, Proper dark! This is just the way I like my dubstep, lurking,
deep and low freq. Big track!

Made some minor changes to my wip:
Soundcloud

[Fatach]

@Grime Syndicate I really like the groove.. something is missing for me though, I can tell exactly what...

@Funicular - the bass at the beginning is a little too loud in my opinion, plus i think the claps are a bit over-used.. but maybe that's just me


working on this tune, already posted here and got some good comments..
anyways: there it is. A big problem about it is that I just can't get the drop to kick-ass, i tryed mastering it (the first one isn't mastered) but still...
any help?

1st one: not mastered
Soundcloud
2nd one: mastered (poorly..)
Soundcloud

[sectionattack]

Being a bit of a mong I posted this in last months by mistake.

Cheers for the comments fellas, really appreciated. Going to go back to it when I can think of what direction to take it.

@Skydroid - Would work well as an intro, what you got in mind for the rest of the track? Would like to hear a bit more to be honest.

@Luke Raith - It's all there mate, you just need to move sections about (the melody for instance) and take a look at EQing as some of the bass sounds seem to be muddying the mix, but then again it could be the gash headphones I'm using. Like someone else said...credit for the synth sounds.

@Superginger - Being a bit of a closet MM fan I loved this... Kudos for even thinking it would work!

@ninthy4 - Loving those synths, especially in the second tune you've got up... made me f**kin' moist!

Anyways, been working on another tune of late, in the process of fleshing out the intro and drums and am going to re-arrange the bassline with the other bass sounds a touch.

Let me know what you think

Peas
Soundcloud

[Johnst]

I hope to hear slay bells in your tunes!

woah... is that like a gnarly man version of a sleigh?

Akkep: I like the percussion, it sounds nice, but i think it could use a little bit more variation and some more instruments in it, but maybe not... i think it may have just been that the high hats stuck out to me too much. the sub could use a little boost possibly, but my headphones aren’t the best at making those decisions, i guess just play it on a few systems and see what you come up with. also, the rhodesy piano-y thing sounds really nice, but maybe do just one hit with some delay? i think it would add to the groove a lot more. or you could just automate the volume on each hit. overall, nice though, it’s got a good dark atmosphere and the notes are all in key. i enjoyed it!

Fatach: is your drop at 1:21? i can see what you mean! dude i think your problem could actually be solved pretty simply. just by looking at your soundcloud you can see that there’s absolutely no dynamic change throughout the whole song. meaning, you just have to remove/turn down elements before the drop so that the drop has a purpose. maybe try high passing that bass and high passing the drums a little? or just use quieter, airy pads instead? also, have you subtractive eq’d everything? it usually helps me to make things sound louder. i can see this being really cool, it just needs that shock value on the drop. good luck man, feel free to ask me about anything i said!

Sectionattack: pretty cool bass sounds, but the absolute lack of percussion breaks my heart. right now, i feel like all this song has going for it is some cool bass sounds. if you make some bad ass drums to compliment this then you should be set.

Grime Syndicate: very nice so far. i can’t really hear any sub in it though, were you thinking of adding one or have you already and i just can’t hear it? i like the funkiness of the bassline, but i do think the drums could help out some more with pushing the rhythm. good though, i liked it

MB616: dude, very fucking cool song. great bass sounds all around, if a little on the more typical side. well produced basses though nonetheless, and dirty. the song also flows nicely too, it doesn’t get too repetitive. my biggest complaint is that the kick and snare seem lost behind the basses. and obviously it needs a bit of a mixdown/eqing fix up. but i think it’s gonna be a banger once your done!

EDIT: i changed a bunch of stuff, would love to get feedback on wether the wobbles sound on beat/with the rhythm and how i can make the lead (:43) work with the bass better. cheers!

my tuuune
Soundcloud

[Cubicle]

@Cubicle

lovely intro, love those rides, it's the little details that matter, love the thomas newman reverby piano feel, great sample use too, really nice piano lines, i'd maybe not repeat that big block chord three times in a row, just once and let it ring maybe, kinda makes it seem a little more ... amateur to me, sorry if that offends :/ just it sounds so good the rest of the time, so well written and almost film score esque and im imagining a thomas newman score, then BLUMP BLUMP BLUMP, it seems kinda outta place to me, normally i don't really crit this hard by the way, but since it's the wip thread i figure people will appreciate honestly. The bass sounds themselves are great, but personally I feel you could do a lot better than the progression you went with. It's kinda like you used up everything you had writing the intro finding that sample cutting it just right and getting a great overall atmosphere but didn't know how to follow it to me. I'm being insanely harsh though man, I mean most people wouldn't think that or care I reckon, just when I'm really picky these are the things that stand out to me. Don't get me wrong though man, ace production value and over all it is very good but I think considering the talent you display in your arrangement and general writing you really have the potential to turn this one into something special. Hope my cruel judgement upon your track helps and doesn't upset lol.

I'm absolutely amazed that you gave me this feedback, been following your work for a while and got to honestly say that you are an inspiration to me.
Track after track is pure gold, so seeing as you even put the time into writing such a wall of text of pointers I'm extremely happy.
As you said "amateur" I basically started taking production seriously with this track so I'm definitely not offended by that criticism
I honestly didn't expect such positive feedback on it.

The sample itself gives it kind of an uplifting mood and that's where I wanted my track to go.
However, I went completely shitfaced and tunnelvisioned on the wobble itself, therefor leaving the essence of the track behind.
I'll take everything that you said into consideration and I thank you for your effort in giving me some pointers!

[MB616]

@Cubicle: Change up the piano part a bit and make sure it is always in time with your other parts. Also the bassline seems like it could gel a lot better with the rest of the tune but this is probably a task reserved for your mixdown. Also the kick drum seems a little bit intense.

@voodeedoo: This seems like a very good starting point, nice programming here, but it definitley needs more. Make a few varying drum loops, you might want to work some groove and "steppiness" in as you continue to develop this into an entire track.

@Funicular: I really like your bass sounds, very cool. The drums seem to be hidden behind everything however so make sure those get brought out a bit. Also you might want to think about adding some variation in the back ground noises and make sure all your switch-ups transition effectivley.
Soundcloud

[s3f]

newbie alert here, still gonna try to give your songs some reviews (although i dont think i have any idea what im talking about) here goes nothing:

@MB616 intro seems kinda dull... more variation, vocal samples at first drop are amazing, really liking how you layered your synths (low+hi), i like how you introduced the bassline that starts at 1:10, really great switch up at 1:50 but your drums get kinda lost in the background. but the best thing is all those little fx thats what really makes the song interesting. I WANNA HEAR THIS WHEN ITS DONE

@johnst sry m8 that synth is not for me but the bassline is really sweet. what i would do is keep the bassline and rework your melody. as for songs structure, why dont you with the bassline and introduce it slowly, dunno how to say this properly, like build from your root note, with a slow rhythm and let it come in (highpass?) together with your hihats? change the sound of the synth a lil (just my personal taste here) dunno what kinda sound your going for though...

@sectionattack: killer intro, but the kick drum is waaaaay too loud on my end, liking the vocal samples before the drop, drop building flawlessly from your intro. not liking the snare sounds very similar to your kick. wobble sound is nice maybe dirty it up a bit, give it some resonance maybe? the wobble coming in at 1:40 is awesome. just before those started i thought it was getting a little boring, very nice timing there.
i hope this was clear if not feel free to ask or shout at me
alright so here's one of mine. please keep your cirticism understandable for a newb not mastered or eq'd, volume is kinda all over the place... btw can anyone explain this to me? didnt really understand the mastering thread?

Soundcloud

[Grime Syndicate]

@johnst: thanks for the feedback! I just haven't gotten around to the sub yet... about the drums, you mean more tailored to the synth-line? or what?

[Johnst]

@johnst: thanks for the feedback! I just haven't gotten around to the sub yet... about the drums, you mean more tailored to the synth-line? or what?

i'm trying to think of exactly what i mean... and i guess tailored to the synth line would make sense. i just really enjoy busy, complicated drums. i was thinking of something along the lines of some more high hats/cymbals, maybe some rim shots or something, and of course, lots of kicks

mostly i was referring to that just cause so far there's pretty much only snare, kick, and some hats. obviously if that's what you're going for then you can tell me to fuck off, but imo it would fill it out a lot to have that extra percussion. let me know if that doesn't make sense still, i hope i explained it well enough!

[Johnst]

@johnst sry m8 that synth is not for me but the bassline is really sweet. what i would do is keep the bassline and rework your melody. as for songs structure, why dont you with the bassline and introduce it slowly, dunno how to say this properly, like build from your root note, with a slow rhythm and let it come in (highpass?) together with your hihats? change the sound of the synth a lil (just my personal taste here) dunno what kinda sound your going for though...

i like your thinking . i haven't really even thought about structure yet, as is obvious lol, but i'll definitely keep that in mind when trying to structure it! good advice, much appreciated buddy.

and in terms of your song, the structure sounds good to me. the basses are basic, but a damn good start dude. the song is set up well. in terms of the volume/mixing and mastering thread, just read it again. then make a song. then read it again. and make a song. then read it again. and make a song. and eventually, after you keep reading and keep practicing, it'll start making sense and coming together. lame advice, but i think it's what everyone does. the drums also work well, just need to be eq'd and all that stuff, which again, will come with time. my favorite part was the piano going in the background, good atmosphere, i would even have brought that out a little more to make it more prominent.

honestly good work! beginning this stuff is difficult. i've been on it almost 6 months and i'm still nowhere near what i want to be, but i'm dramatically better, so whatever crits people give you take them and apply them. also, like i said, just keeeeep reeeeading and keeeep practicing. it's fucking fun to make music, and the more you do it the more satisfying it becomes

[raincoatdisaster]

Johnst - I rarely post and generally just lurk these production boards but i had to come on here to give a fellow Santa Barbarba homie some love. Really impressed with your wip. Breaking away from the norm and doing something different panned out for this track. I dig it. Finish the track! and PM me when you do haha.