WORKS-IN-PROGRESS for DECEMBER, 2010

[Grime Syndicate]

Squabblesmynig: I really like the ideas man, it just lacks a bit of life. I wanna hear some pads or some verbs, and those drums need more punch. It has the potential to be proper sick, but just needs some oomph if you get me?

thanks dude, hmm yeah forsure i feel you, i gotta start experimenting, and i'll def try to beef up the kicks. thanks for the listen and tips man, appreciate that, i'll def work on it

No worries. The thing that helped me a lot with drum sounds was a Stenchman Q and A on here. He said that he uses often 4 or 5 kicks and snares layered. So have a really toned down bottom heavy kick and a high end clicky one blended together

Also, look up parallel compression (also called New York compression when using the technique on your drums)... Basically, its setting up a return that you you send you drums to. You then put a compressor on this return. You can turn the settings way up on this compressor, and really compress the shit out of it. So you have your dry drum signal playing (which preserves all your dynamics), and a highly compressed version playing. This allows them both to be turned down relatively quiet to preserve headroom, and still have kicks and snares that knock you about the face and chest... I myself use three different returns (and three different corresponding drum racks) One for kicks, one for snares, and one for hats/rimshots/etc... This, combined with a little izotope Trash on your snares and maybe your hats, some individual compression on your layered hits (the snares and kicks) to glue them together, some eq'ing of the hits your layering, so you don't have frequency clashes, and I promise you, your drums will reach out of your DAW and punch you right in your grill... Also, make space for your snare and kick. Your kick should be peaking around 100 hz and your snare around 200-250... High pass your kicks at about 75-90 hz, and your snares a bit higher than that. Then, when your kick and snare are peaking in the right spot, cut some space out of your sub and bass in these frequency ranges so you have space for them to be heard. If you're making aggressive dubstep, you may want both loud punchy bass AND loud punchy kicks. Accomplish this by the above method and some minor sidechaining. Not so much that your track is pumping and sucking, but enough that, again, allows your kick to cut through the mix...

@ LouieB: Yeah man, you can throw whatever you want on here for feedback. I don't think anyone would mind if it's just a loop or whatever. However, the more you have down, the more feedback we'll have to give... Feel me?

Now, I realize I haven't given feedback on three different tracks right HERE, but i've given random feedback over the last few pages here and there, and I'll also jump on and give some more tonight. Right now, I'm at work and we can't stream audio at the office.

I asked this a few pages back didn't get much feedback on it (only one person, saying they liked it, but without critical suggestions...)
I'm considering scrapping the first portion, (from the first drop up until where it shifts into the second vibe) or maybe just revamping it heavily... I'd like to hear what people think about this first bit, and the song as a whole. To me, it seems like the second half is much stronger, but I'd like to get some outside opinion.

Soundcloud

Thanks in advance ya'll...

[sqwuabblesmynig]

wow dude, thanks alot for your post! ^^^ definitely going to keep all of that in mind, btw diggin your tune man, nice basses, and dope breakdown bro, i like how faint the skanks are, then it just drops into that dark bassline, good shit man

@debaser hmm forsure dude good looking out on the advice, may just check that out right now

[sirminus]

@ Sirminus- it would make a far better 4 x 4 track in my opinion. The buildup sound doesn't fit and then that bass drowns everything out. Melodically it's a bit predictable maybe, but a more interesting main synth sound could help with that. I like the vibe though by the way, because that all sounds negative.

It sucks, cause I get to this point on all my tracks and say fuck it lol. I get bored way to easily

[T0X1K]

Hey what's goin on. Brand new to this site and to music production in general, and I've been interested in Dubs for round a year and electronic music probably 6 years. I'm really drunk right now so I'll try and remember to come back tomorrow to post feedback for some people, I love listening to dubstep so it won't be a problem. Check out my Works in Progress... I've got a few more, and keep in mind PLEASE that most of this stuff is just me practicing with sounds and that I have no backround in musical theory or anything like that.

http://soundcloud.com/polojoseph/showdown-update

http://soundcloud.com/polojoseph/justmessingaround

Yeah those are the only ones worth really uploading let me know whatcha think or whatever... or wait until i give someone else feedback first haha

[bradicle]

@ sqwuabblesmynig. Intro sounds like it could be one of those tunes you hear when you ring internet/phone companys aha. Nice bass, think drums could do with a bit more work, nice little reverb on it.

@ Kes-Es. Digging this intro for sure! lovely drums, that atmosphere is tops! Gives real airy feeling, but a nice warm feel to it aswell. Bass suits it!!! Great work on the sub. Is that other synth panned to the left? can't quite hear on these speakers. That definitely needs to be neutral, would give a mad spaced out feel to it. When your melody comes in, keep that same synth in before, just lower vol. Going to sound tops bro!

@ Debaser1. Liking this little melody bro. It could be a hiphop beat this tune aha!

New tune i started. The drop bass isn't staying. I've just put it in there to get a feel on where I should go with the track. Mainly after a bit of feedback on the intro.

/edit. Ok might stick with drop that i've added vox. Any feedback welcome, cheers

Soundcloud

[kidstrange]

when i log back on ill throw down the comments i owe untill now feel free to say what you need on this WIP

Soundcloud

[kidstrange]

@ Kes-Es -To Sleep- hell yeah great tune have to agree with others make it longer some slight variations possibly a break or two.

@sqwuabblesmynig loving the intro make it longer and of course flow in that drop...beef it all up... add some variations the herbs and spices you know good start

@ Grime Syndicate oh this is very nice the 2nd half reminds me of a zombie film dont know if that was the feel you where going for either way sick. im personally feeling both parts i would not scrap it..the second half is stronger i dont see anything wrong with that. the only suggestion without major work or scraping would be to somehow incorporate the strength of the 2nd half into the first half but without totally giving away the in the 2nd half if that makes sense because as of now the feel is like ahhh yeahhh....then the 2nd half comes in and its like whoaaaa! just some balance between the two..cant hurt to try..

@T0X1K You need to clean it up a lot... EQ a lot. ....you song Showdown could use some more variations in the drums and towards the end is to much going on, its understood you where practicing with sounds if you keep working at it keep sending it back here youll have a song in no time.

@bradicle hmm this is nice i cant complain to much i feel the vox are good great add but could use some more atmosphere to go with the rest of the song.. fool around with the tweaking on those other than that nice ass job man!

[arfus]

@mr hello Wow. This song is quite good. I genuinely enjoyed listening to the entire thing. I don't really have any criticisms.

[Bartz]

Soundcloud

enjoy and commpent pls

[Kes-Es]

Soundcloud


Hitting soundclouds! Tell me what you think guys I'm not totally sure where to go yet.

[Blanx]

sup guys just wanted to know what u guys thought about The "Blindfold" Drip-Drop is my collab team check it out!

[alexvont12]

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[Grime Syndicate]

@Kidstrange: Damn bruv... this one is killing it. From 0:55 to 1:15 is ridiculous. Really really spot on compositionally. And sound-design-wise as well. Keep this shit up. My only real crit is in the mixdown. Sounds a touch muddy and if it were my track, I'd make that kick hit a bit harder, and probably the snare too. Just seems like you need to carve out the unnecessary freq's from some of your track elements. But, really, keep doing what you're doing man. You just scored yourself a new soundcloud follower.

Edit: Just realized I listened to enter the strange, and not the one you actually wanted feedback on. God's way of telling me I should be asleep right now.

[Grime Syndicate]

@kidstrange: and now, upon listening to the watch it go remake, the mixdown is much more proper than enter the strange, but I'm not feeling the composition as much. A(nother) switch up or two maybe? To me, it feels a bit drive drive drive, all tension and not enough release. I mean, you've got a couple sections that aren't hard wobblin, but, but, well i dunno. I'm confident you'll sort it out...

[nefarious]

brettheaslewood, (far-east-movement remix): I know this is a remix, so I'm not sure what's going to be possible to sort out (depending on whether you have all the stems complete with synths etc, or whether you just have audio stems), but here goes! I really like the drum pattern, although I reckon a little bit more variation wouldn't go amiss. The snare might be a little too prominent/bright. The lower lead (if that makes any sense) could maybe do with a little switch-up, to add a little variation/interest. Also (on my monitors at least) there doesn't seem to be much in the way of a sub-line...so you might either need to work on your eqing in general to give space for your sub to come through a little more (taking low end out of tracks where it's not needed) and/or bring other levels down a little to give room for your sub to come through. Failing that maybe working on the synth used to create the sub could do the trick...maybe try using just a simple sine wave peaking around 60-80 Hz and go from there? Speaking of eqing I'd maybe work on getting individual tracks to sound a little cleaner both on their own AND in the mix as a whole...the mixdown sounds a little muddy in general and lacks a little clarity...both eq and panning could help here. In general though I really like the track and think it's definitely worth working on!

Grime Syndicate, (thedevilwearscastrato): I really like the intro...it's got a nice amount of energy to it. Maybe the rise starting at 0.10 could have a steadily increasing lfo rate rather than a static one - I think this might add to the feeling of energy building up. The synth coming in at 0.28 is maybe a little too bitcrushed or distorted in my opinion, but that's probably just me! In terms of the drums I feel they're a little lacking in substance. They sound a bit too washed out or undefined (possibly down to reverb?); the kick sounds a little muddy/hollow as does the snare, and to me at least the hi-hats and other percussion ride a little too high in the mix (in comparison to the snare/kick). I like the high lead you have in the drop, but the lower synth coming in at 1.15 sounds a little out of place. It would be interesting to see what the drop sounds like with the two synths playing together - I reckon it might glue the track a little more. I like the breakdown a lot leading into the second drop and the feel of the second drop as a whole. I'm not so keen on the synth-monks chanting at 2.31, but that's probably just a matter of personal taste! In terms of arrangement I honestly think that if you combined the two synth-lines in the first half of the first drop and kept the rest of the track pretty much the same it would sound a lot more together...The mixdown as a whole (drums aside) is pretty good; there is a nice amount of stereo imaging going on, but maybe a little more automation to give movement to the track would finish it off nicely. To me it sounds like you've put a compressor/limiter on the master channel...but i think maybe it's squashing the dynamics a bit too much, if there is one on there, maybe try reducing the ratio/threshold a bit. Keep working on the bugger as I reckon it's worth it!

kidstrange, (enter-the-strange): You're not subscribing to the norm here which I like a lot! The mixdown as a whole sounds really good - lots of space and movement and everything seems to be be around the right levels (except the snare which seems a little too low in the mix). The arrangement is pretty nice too...I really like the bridge at 0.55 and the synth lead from 1.02 is sweet!!! I reckon you could get a way with a little more fx-processing on the main lead, other than that, great job!


If anyone else wants to give feedback on the track in my sig I'd be truly grateful!

[nefarious]

kidstrange - I did the same as Grime Syndicate! Watch It Go Remake has a good mixdown on it, with everything sitting pretty nicely in it. The intro is really nice, although I reckon the lead in on the lfo-rise from 0.40 needs more work. I've gotta say that I'm not so keen on the lead synths you've got going on in this track, but that could just be a matter of taste. Also to me it sounds like the sub at 1.19 isn't quite sitting right...it might be slightly too detuned or maybe just a little too distorted, but something's not quite right to my ears. I like a lot of the incidentals and atmospheres in the track, but to me as a whole I prefer the vibe/sound of enter-the-strange...but don't give up on it as it has potential!

[Debaser1]

Bradicle: Those drums are heavy. Really pounding intro, I knew where this one was going right from the off. When that sub came in it was lovely. And those vocals or whatever they are add a really nice texture. You clearly know what you're doing, and that drop is really well done. I think you could explore more sounds after the drop itself, but I think the ideas in general here, and the production, are top notch.

Nefarious: Intro had plenty of atmosphere. Really liked that. Maybe the speech could have a bit more reverb or delay to give some more texture. I was really intrigued by this drop actually. Very moody and unconventional. I think those hi hats stick out a little bit though, and the snare could do with more punch in the mix. But I reckon you're not far off from this being a properly good tune. Very original man.

Alexvont12: I think this tune could do with an intro. I thought the start was an intro, in which case I would have said remove some bass and textures to give it some room. I think you could have a real nice track here if you dropped a few ideas at first and brought them in later.

Right this is my first attempt at a house track. I've never tried it before so its rather interesting.
Soundcloud
Any feedback would be very welcome, as I don't really know what to do when it comes to house. I'm a dubstep man really haha.

Cheers anyway people

[ibscotty]

So after hearing the feedback from here I have taken your advice and done a lot of work on the high hats and drums and also built myself a bit of an intro.

Soundcloud

love to know what you lot think now? I feel the drums give it an almost Mountain Dread March feel but with a darker edge.
Can anyone give me tips on adding variation and instances?

<3

[Debaser1]

Ibscotty: Really nice atmospheres man. I think your bass drum could do with more presence though, still a tad muddy for my taste. I absolutely love that texture you've created in there though. I think this track would benefit from a break down and then layering back up again. It needs some variation. Excellent work though.

[ed24]

Sup everyone. Thanks for the lovely feedback last time, I'm going to give this to a friend to resample to bass but here's where I'm up to with this one. The sample is my Dad, incase you were wondering.
Soundcloud