New ambient dance track

[ivymike52]

Recorded entirely with Ableton Live 8.1.1 with multiple instances of Operator. Thanks for looking in!

Alphawave by The Teller Light
http://thetellerlight.bandcamp.com/track/alphawave

[tlennon]

Okay... I got it... an arpeggiator. Pretty nice chord progressions but you play the bass part with the same recording... no? It kept going in and out as you hands reached a different register. A ton of reverb make everything swooshie and undefined. May sound great in your space but doesn't translate very well IMO. Very nice idea needs variety and some breaks as it doesn't get anywhere even though your chords get resolved. Thanks for the share and keep it going.

[ivymike52]

Thanks tlennon for your thoughts. Your opinion are always very blunt, but well-considered and honest. I think I agree with your criticisms on my previous track, but here I like the washy, undefined sound of the synths. I auditioned the track on a variety of systems and it pretty much sounds as intended in that respect. But if you don't think it works, fair enough. As for the arp -- overused, or some other problem?

I agree on the bassline and plan on reworking it. I didn't want it to follow to strictly with with the chords -- not just roots anyway. But there are too many places where the bass notes pop out of the mix too much.

Thanks again for your thoughts. I am reconsidering the track in light of your criticisms.

[tlennon]

As for the remark about the arp.... I was trying to be funny but forgot the happy face. It's fine just the way it is. As far as verb... there is nothing so soothing as to the sound it produces. Especially in headphones. Kind of euphoric and very pleasing to the soul. Controlling it can be a nightmare if left unchecked so do what you can. Maybe with damping and filtering some of the offensive frequencies (if any). The bassline doesn't have to be the root but if you track that to a seperate track, you will have more control over what IMO is one the foundations of most mixes. Keep up the hard work. Look forward to hearing your progress. Respectfully!

[ivymike52]

New mix is now up replacing the old -- it's at the same web address as the old. tlennon's -- I took your advice (mostly) to heart. Thanks for the suggestions -- I liked the original song structure and arrangement, so they stayed the same, but I agreed on the muddiness of the old mix. This one (hopefully) is far cleaner/more balanced/more controlled.

[walnut]

Maybe a softer kick attack would work better with this song?

[ivymike52]

Maybe a softer kick attack would work better with this song?

Initially I thought so myself, but I brought it up a bit on the advice of some listeners. Guess I haven't found the happy medium yet.

[beats me]

I like it overall. I'd maybe trying layering or changing the kick to something with a little more bottom end. This one seems a little too flappy. Also maybe add some more variety to the drums every so often with some swoosh or reversed sounds or snare hits that aren't just on the 2 and 4.