Feedback Requested

Mehalic · Post by **Mehalic** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:27 pm

Hey guys,

would love some feedback on an almost finished track. I'm pretty happy with this one, but would love some feedback.

Free Speech:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/10/29 ... ion%29.mp3

Thanks in advance guys....

amigo · Post by **amigo** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:22 pm

I like the mood that you create with the track but feel some of the sounds do not compliment this mood. Perhaps this is what you were going for.

It has some moments that I really like and others I don't but overall I like it.

Thanks for sharing.

Mehalic · Post by **Mehalic** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:27 pm

Thanks Amigo, appreciate you taking the time to listen and give some input, greatly appreciated! Just curious, but which parts did you feel didn't fit with the mood of the track? It's kinda a dark, brooding track and I tried to keep the sounds pretty sharp and aggressive!

Thanks again man!

amigo · Post by **amigo** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:37 pm

Having listened to it again I find the deep 303 bass type sounds to be the one thing that stands out. I can see the contrast in using them but I just don't like them.

Mehalic · Post by **Mehalic** » Thu May 08, 2008 8:26 pm

No problem at all Amigo - I appreciate the feedback man! It's good to hear other peoples perspectives - and considering I have been having a hell of a time trying to get feedback, anything at all is good with me!

amigo · Post by **amigo** » Thu May 08, 2008 8:50 pm

Mehalic wrote:considering I have been having a hell of a time trying to get feedback, anything at all is good with me!

Tell me about it. Feedback is very important, even if it is just somebody saying that they like it.

abort · Post by **abort** » Fri May 09, 2008 1:38 am

That 303 is good enough to eat. Nice groooove.

Mehalic · Post by **Mehalic** » Fri May 09, 2008 3:31 pm

I know man, I've been trying to get feedback on some tracks cuz I want to send them away and it's like friggin pulling teeth with people....

Thanks abort, appreciate you taking the time to listen man!

MM

djfm · Post by **djfm** » Sat May 10, 2008 8:38 pm

i like the track overall
a few things i would change
maybe take some of the reverb of the vocal, add a few pecussion pieces
apart from those i think its a good track

Mehalic · Post by **Mehalic** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:39 pm

Thanks DJFM, appreciate your in put man!

subunit23 · Post by **subunit23** » Wed May 14, 2008 9:48 pm

I like it overall too. I understand you want to send this track away and I think you need to work on certain areas before you do so.

My main concern is the mixdown. You need to spend more time and efforts on that to really give more polish and gloss to the track.
There is also something wrong with the relative dynamic of certain sounds/loops (especially this oscillating pad at the beginning and the end of the track). Maybe some sort of light compression and EQ would significantly improve your overall sound.
I also think you should pay special attention to the low end of your mix.

In terms of sound design, I think you drum kit could be more punchy and crispy, especially those snare and hi-hats.
I liked the 303 deep bass sound, could be sharper and deeper though.
Very good work on the voice thing. Good effects and atmosphere. Could be improved by balancing more the dynamic (a bit of EQ and compression could help here).
I think the reverb effect at 1:15 and 5:00 is weird. I know that's an artistic point of view and that's something you came up with but IMO it sounds really awkward. I think you could keep the reverb idea but use it differently.

In terms of arrangement, I overall liked it. Good atmosphere, good storyline. IMO the section 3:20-5:00 is weaker than the rest of the track, especially those bass sounds at the beginning of the section (dynamic sounds wrong again).

Overall I think that's a good track, it's dark and moody. More work on it could really take it to the next level. There are plenty of very good things here. I hope you'll find something useful in my comments.

Mehalic · Post by **Mehalic** » Wed May 14, 2008 10:51 pm

subunit23 wrote:I like it overall too. I understand you want to send this track away and I think you need to work on certain areas before you do so.

My main concern is the mixdown. You need to spend more time and efforts on that to really give more polish and gloss to the track.
There is also something wrong with the relative dynamic of certain sounds/loops (especially this oscillating pad at the beginning and the end of the track). Maybe some sort of light compression and EQ would significantly improve your overall sound.
I also think you should pay special attention to the low end of your mix.

In terms of sound design, I think you drum kit could be more punchy and crispy, especially those snare and hi-hats.
I liked the 303 deep bass sound, could be sharper and deeper though.
Very good work on the voice thing. Good effects and atmosphere. Could be improved by balancing more the dynamic (a bit of EQ and compression could help here).
I think the reverb effect at 1:15 and 5:00 is weird. I know that's an artistic point of view and that's something you came up with but IMO it sounds really awkward. I think you could keep the reverb idea but use it differently.

In terms of arrangement, I overall liked it. Good atmosphere, good storyline. IMO the section 3:20-5:00 is weaker than the rest of the track, especially those bass sounds at the beginning of the section (dynamic sounds wrong again).

Overall I think that's a good track, it's dark and moody. More work on it could really take it to the next level. There are plenty of very good things here. I hope you'll find something useful in my comments.

Thanks Subunit, that's awesome feedback man - exactly what I was looking for!

Any tips on the mix down - I've been trying to focus on that lately and have made improvements, but still have a ways to go. I was using compressions on various channels, but did not want to over do it, maybe I need to review and push the compression some more or add some to various channels along with EQ'ing - I just find that after you listen to it for the n'th time, if tough to pick stuff out, so your feedback is great... really!

I was using the reverb as sort of a fill for transition points, I agree though, something more effective could be used, my creative just wasn't there when trying to bridge the sections.

I find myself trying to really pay attention the the master level and find that I'm clipping a lot, so maybe the steps I've taken to try and fix this have had a negative effect on the overall dynamics of the track...

Thanks again man, this is the best feedback I've had to date - really needed this!!!!

subunit23 · Post by **subunit23** » Thu May 15, 2008 7:51 am

I have made huge progress in terms of mixdown by using Tarekith's guide (http://tarekith.com/assets/mixdowns.html). Try to do what he says there, it makes loads of sense and with time and efforts it will help to improve your track dramatically.
There is also a very good book called The Mixing Engineer's Handbook by B. Owsinski which I use a lot. It is mainly focused on audio mixing but there are plenty of good advices there.

Something you could do to improve your track is actually to leave it alone for some time and work on something else. When you come back to it, you'll find plenty of ideas too make it more effective, especially a way of improving this reverb filling.
You can have a good look at Chris Lake's masterclass (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 6425116569), he creates a similar kind of reverb filling and he does it quite effectively, maybe a good starting point for your track.
Finally I think you could develop and improve your drum kit a bit. Again that video has got a good section on drums. Very useful tips indeed.

Good luck with everything.