Producer intensive: B-LAM

[misk]

hey all, a few weeks ago, i made a thread asking what i need to work on. i asked if anyone else would be interested in getting lots of feedback on their style here on the production forum. B-LAM responded, saying he could use the feedback. so here it is, a long overdue thread! Check out B-LAMs tunes and lets pick apart his style and see what needs work, and whats good. this isn't a public hanging tho, so be polite! Everyone heres really good about constructive criticism tho.

www.myspace.com/blamstep

ill review em later, as i gotta head to work!

[misk]

okay, after the drop on sicko the track is pretty dope!

[dougd]

I've just listened to Sicko so far...

After the drop, yes, it has a great rhythm. It gets cluttered at times though, especially in the intro and when the two synth lines overlap. You could probably raise one of them by an octave, or eq them somehow. In the intro the main synth line and the "woo woo" line clash, and sound like they're not in the same key or something. I'd just have the main line at that point, and not both.

Also, some of the elements need reverb. It's so dry sounding!

[Sub Shifter]

I've just listened to Sicko so far...

After the drop, yes, it has a great rhythm. It gets cluttered at times though, especially in the intro and when the two synth lines overlap. You could probably raise one of them by an octave, or eq them somehow. In the intro the main synth line and the "woo woo" line clash, and sound like they're not in the same key or something. I'd just have the main line at that point, and not both.

Also, some of the elements need reverb. It's so dry sounding!

^^^^^^^^
what he said

gemini on the other hand is a monsta big up B-LAN

[jahtao]

Just kind of quickly coz i'm really hungry. Firstly, thanks for putting your self out there like this, i hope you find what i'm saying here helpful. Take it all with a massive grain of salt, its just my own personal taste, you should always make shit that you are feeling not second guess what you think is going on in other peoples heads. Well thats my view.

For me personally, the tracks get better and better as you go down the list. Here's why: Sicko suffered from 'one bar loop' syndrome for me, i'm affraid, even tho' you switch it up a lot, which although that works surprisingly well, overall it left me a little bit cold in the same way Gemini did, (more on that in a second).

But Street Lights' sort of said 'don't fuck with me' in a way i really liked, the groove is tight, and there's a lot of nice touches there for you to arrange into the finished version. (whats up with the way it is atm? i don't think i've ever seen that before lol).

'Traitor' is fire, and is the rememedy for Sicko and Gemini's short comings. That is: its got variety and more of character of its own. Sicko and Gemini feel a bit flat and safe and standard to me, Traitor has a wider variety of different types of sounds, and its an achievement to make them fit together in a way that works = more flavour, and you feel more like your listening to a human individual than a formula.

Its also got more depth in terms of dry/wetness of reverb and panning = less one dimensional = more 3D = nice.

The sounds in Gemini/Sicko seemed selected and mixed for their safeness, or dance floor friendlyness and not their character/individuality.

Plus programming wise you're doing a lot more detail in the last two. Thats not say more detail is always better, raw and 'to the point' tunes like... errr.... Kalawanji or Haunted for example, i think are just as good as epic joints. But things like the hi-hat patttern in Sicko and the bass drum Brrrrrrrrrrrr thing at 3:40 felt kinda lazy or just flat to me, rather than simple and effective, (ooh can i say that? Sorry!), where as Traitor took me by surprise in a way that made me wonder what will happen next.... but still with the mad head nod.

bah gotta go, hope that helped, anyone tell me i'm chatting shit if you think i am.

[b-lam]

okay, after the drop on sicko the track is pretty dope!

glad u like... would you tend to agree with jahtao or not tho? i'm guessin ur not keen on the intro either...

would be interested in ur thoughts on the other tracks.

thanks for setting this up tho

[b-lam]

I've just listened to Sicko so far...

After the drop, yes, it has a great rhythm. It gets cluttered at times though, especially in the intro and when the two synth lines overlap. You could probably raise one of them by an octave, or eq them somehow. In the intro the main synth line and the "woo woo" line clash, and sound like they're not in the same key or something. I'd just have the main line at that point, and not both.

Also, some of the elements need reverb. It's so dry sounding!

yeh i'll sort out the intro, it's a good point about the lead line, cheers! i'll also see if things can be simpler later too...

yeh i was goin for a kinda lofi grime sound with this tune, hence the dryness, but in the spirit of things i'll experiment with a bit of reverb and see if it works better.

[b-lam]

I've just listened to Sicko so far...

After the drop, yes, it has a great rhythm. It gets cluttered at times though, especially in the intro and when the two synth lines overlap. You could probably raise one of them by an octave, or eq them somehow. In the intro the main synth line and the "woo woo" line clash, and sound like they're not in the same key or something. I'd just have the main line at that point, and not both.

Also, some of the elements need reverb. It's so dry sounding!

^^^^^^^^
what he said

gemini on the other hand is a monsta big up B-LAN

glad u like dude
and lol at blamstep :edit: b-lan when its really b-lam

[b-lam]

Just kind of quickly coz i'm really hungry. Firstly, thanks for putting your self out there like this, i hope you find what i'm saying here helpful. Take it all with a massive grain of salt, its just my own personal taste, you should always make shit that you are feeling not second guess what you think is going on in other peoples heads. Well thats my view.

wise words my man, and thanks for such an in-depth response, it's been very helpful indeed, and I hope we can keep this kind of thing going for other producers, it's a very rare oppurtunity to get some truly un-biased and honest opinions from people who know...so producers step up!

For me personally, the tracks get better and better as you go down the list. Here's why: Sicko suffered from 'one bar loop' syndrome for me, i'm affraid, even tho' you switch it up a lot, which although that works surprisingly well, overall it left me a little bit cold in the same way Gemini did, (more on that in a second).

interestingly, the tracks higher on the list were more recent (u may have guessed that). interesting u say that about sicko, it is a tune i made with a different production method, building up a solid loop with some possibilities for switch ups, then gettin high and arranging it as quickly as possible. i kinda liked this because it's quick as fuck, but perhaps this method stunts the tracks growth...

But Street Lights' sort of said 'don't fuck with me' in a way i really liked, the groove is tight, and there's a lot of nice touches there for you to arrange into the finished version. (whats up with the way it is atm? i don't think i've ever seen that before lol).

thanks . I like this tune too, it is actually finished, but when i uploaded it to myspace I decided to fade bits out to stop ppl from stealing it...its kinda stupid tho so i'll upload the proper copy soon. that reminds me to sort that.

'Traitor' is fire, and is the rememedy for Sicko and Gemini's short comings. That is: its got variety and more of character of its own. Sicko and Gemini feel a bit flat and safe and standard to me, Traitor has a wider variety of different types of sounds, and its an achievement to make them fit together in a way that works = more flavour, and you feel more like your listening to a human individual than a formula.

this is the first dubstep tune i ever finished. you'll also be happy to know you can pick it up on vinyl in the next two months cus its coming out on ruff records! I'm not overly sure about this track, since making it i've been trying conciously to cut down my sound. I feel there's a little too much going on, the tunes I like and listen to in dubstep are incredibly simple and sparse. I've been trying to build space into compositions, I find it far too easy to build an epic wall of sound (more like traitor) than a simplistic but effective beat...i've also developed an allergy to music that makes u chinstroke too much, I'm tryin to make dance music essentially.

Its also got more depth in terms of dry/wetness of reverb and panning = less one dimensional = more 3D = nice.

The sounds in Gemini/Sicko seemed selected and mixed for their safeness, or dance floor friendlyness and not their character/individuality.

yeh, you're probably right here...I think this is where I should be working on. I have been thinking more recently about the dancefloor and about what ppl will think of the tune, mayb a little unhealthily. You've made a really good point, and its gonna stick with me...character ftw!

Plus programming wise you're doing a lot more detail in the last two. Thats not say more detail is always better, raw and 'to the point' tunes like... errr.... Kalawanji or Haunted for example, i think are just as good as epic joints. But things like the hi-hat patttern in Sicko and the bass drum Brrrrrrrrrrrr thing at 3:40 felt kinda lazy or just flat to me, rather than simple and effective, (ooh can i say that? Sorry!), where as Traitor took me by surprise in a way that made me wonder what will happen next.... but still with the mad head nod.

yeh I think this is just a product of the fact i'm still in early days as a producer, i'm trying to make simple and effective music, but I know as well as you that I'm not a pro producer yet! But fair point (and you can say that!).

bah gotta go, hope that helped, anyone tell me i'm chatting shit if you think i am.

phew! thank you so much for that, u don't know how much that's helped... I don't think i'm going to go back to makin tunes like traitor, just cus it's so dense, but one veeery important thing i've taken away from what you've said is the character thing... this is gonna be my focus from now

peace

[b-lam]

so, anyone else got thoughts?

ppl agree with jahtao?

thanks

[Sub Shifter]

I've just listened to Sicko so far...

After the drop, yes, it has a great rhythm. It gets cluttered at times though, especially in the intro and when the two synth lines overlap. You could probably raise one of them by an octave, or eq them somehow. In the intro the main synth line and the "woo woo" line clash, and sound like they're not in the same key or something. I'd just have the main line at that point, and not both.

Also, some of the elements need reverb. It's so dry sounding!

^^^^^^^^
what he said

gemini on the other hand is a monsta big up B-LAN

glad u like dude
and lol at blamstep :edit: b-lan when its really b-lam

haha you sore that then i was lean when i wrote that

[b-lam]

I've just listened to Sicko so far...

After the drop, yes, it has a great rhythm. It gets cluttered at times though, especially in the intro and when the two synth lines overlap. You could probably raise one of them by an octave, or eq them somehow. In the intro the main synth line and the "woo woo" line clash, and sound like they're not in the same key or something. I'd just have the main line at that point, and not both.

Also, some of the elements need reverb. It's so dry sounding!

^^^^^^^^
what he said

gemini on the other hand is a monsta big up B-LAN

glad u like dude
and lol at blamstep :edit: b-lan when its really b-lam

haha you sore that then i was lean when i wrote that

haha ur excused then!

[jahtao]

phew! thank you so much for that, u don't know how much that's helped...

Ahh. Wicked. Nice 1 Happy to be of service

[grizzle]

I agree with everything said so far. Traitor is lovely. More melodic and stereo wide. I'm also a sucker for strings anways