Ableton Forum

hey people, please listen to this to tracks ive been working on and give some constructive criticism

or just criticism

soundcloud.com/beanwagon/newmood-sample



im pretty new to ableton and music/production in general

i dont really know what direction to take it

so any advice/tips would help as im new to all this

*updated*

http://soundcloud.com/beanwagon/newmood-updated-sample

Well, it's a start bro! I'm not gonna lie and say it's fucking amazing or anything. But this is what everyones stuff sounds like when they first start. Right now is really the crucial time in your musical journey. If you have the motivation to keep at it and learn and experiment and get better, than you will. Or, if your not really into it you'll give up.
About the song. It's pretty basic. Not a lot going on. It definitely needs some air and more layers of substance. You can basically pick out the 4 or 5 elements happening and separate them in your mind. It's not just about playing sounds together in sequence, it's about how those sounds fit together in relation to each other. Also, atmosphere. Experiment w/ reverb, filters and compression.
Just keep making stuff and read as much as you can about audio, mixing, sound design, synthesis.

Theo Void wrote:Well, it's a start bro! I'm not gonna lie and say it's fucking amazing or anything. But this is what everyones stuff sounds like when they first start. Right now is really the crucial time in your musical journey. If you have the motivation to keep at it and learn and experiment and get better, than you will. Or, if your not really into it you'll give up.
About the song. It's pretty basic. Not a lot going on. It definitely needs some air and more layers of substance. You can basically pick out the 4 or 5 elements happening and separate them in your mind. It's not just about playing sounds together in sequence, it's about how those sounds fit together in relation to each other. Also, atmosphere. Experiment w/ reverb, filters and compression.
Just keep making stuff and read as much as you can about audio, mixing, sound design, synthesis.

thanks, i appreciate the input, atm im obsessed with ableton i cant keep away from it the only thing is i dont know what im doing haha

ill keep experementing with it and post my progress

funken wrote:Get a track you like and put it on an audio track. Route it to External Out to bypass the master. Compare your stuff to it in terms of loudness, EQ, dynamic range, structure and so on. Plus what was said by Theo.

good idea,

i just found this, anyone used it ?

"The Swish & Glitch is a fun and rather deep Rack that can be applied in many different ways. It is a great tool for generating random movement as well as destroying and working over any signal that happens to pass in it's way. Don't think about it to much just start turning the knobs!"

http://www.listen-learn-live.com/racks- ... nd-glitch/

gonna see if i can make the track dynamic

I liked it until about half way through and then for me it got a bit boring.

I liked the sounds a lot and thought the programming and production were good.

I would have liked the nice bass/lead sound from the first section develop rather than start a new idea.

But I thought the production and programming were really rather good.

Stick at it

ian_halsall wrote:I liked it until about half way through and then for me it got a bit boring.

I liked the sounds a lot and thought the programming and production were good.

I would have liked the nice bass/lead sound from the first section develop rather than start a new idea.

But I thought the production and programming were really rather good.

Stick at it

thanks yeah definately repetative at this stage, ill upload my progress tomorrow for you guys to hear

YA man you have a long, fun road ahead of you! Honestly, I miss the days when I was just starting out and experimenting and didn't have all the hang-ups I do now. The first 6 months I had Live were possibly the most fun.
Producing electronic music is an interesting mix of different areas and fields of knowledge and practice. It's music, programming, synthesis, mixing, sound design, mastering, arranging, even networking. So many different ways one can go w/ it. For these reasons it's AWESOME!!! and it can also be over-whelming. Seems like your having fun though.

Oh ya, I wanted to say this about the track. Try and break it down into sections in your mind. Look at it as 32 bar sections. Or even 8 bar sections and maybe bring in new elements or take away other elements as these sections progress. One of the best things about electronic music (IMO) is tension. Use it build up and break down the song. A section where the drums stop and it's just pads, then slowly add more elements to build it up, so the tension is rising, you know SOMEthing is about to happen, then, drop the climax!!! Doing that kinda stuff is super fun and effective.
Good luck bro, and have fun!!

Lol NewMood, I thought you were a Joe Rogan Experience when I heard that, because of Onnit.

Thought that was funny...

I would EQ the master, it's really loud, and the base was shaking my whole house. (not in a good way, my eardrums were bleeding) You're db levels are bad.

Other then that, I do enjoy it, it's very chill which I love.

footsy wrote:Lol NewMood, I thought you were a Joe Rogan Experience when I heard that, because of Onnit.

Thought that was funny...

I would EQ the master, it's really loud, and the base was shaking my whole house. (not in a good way, my eardrums were bleeding) You're db levels are bad.

Other then that, I do enjoy it, it's very chill which I love.

hahahaha sorry bout the ears, year im a huge joe rogan experience fan

Theo Void wrote:YA man you have a long, fun road ahead of you! Honestly, I miss the days when I was just starting out and experimenting and didn't have all the hang-ups I do now. The first 6 months I had Live were possibly the most fun.
Producing electronic music is an interesting mix of different areas and fields of knowledge and practice. It's music, programming, synthesis, mixing, sound design, mastering, arranging, even networking. So many different ways one can go w/ it. For these reasons it's AWESOME!!! and it can also be over-whelming. Seems like your having fun though.

Oh ya, I wanted to say this about the track. Try and break it down into sections in your mind. Look at it as 32 bar sections. Or even 8 bar sections and maybe bring in new elements or take away other elements as these sections progress. One of the best things about electronic music (IMO) is tension. Use it build up and break down the song. A section where the drums stop and it's just pads, then slowly add more elements to build it up, so the tension is rising, you know SOMEthing is about to happen, then, drop the climax!!! Doing that kinda stuff is super fun and effective.
Good luck bro, and have fun!!

great advice,

if anyone is interested hereis a new sample
still lots of experimentation with effects etc
not a huge change
http://soundcloud.com/beanwagon/newmood-updated-sample

beanwagon wrote:if anyone is interested hereis a new sample
still lots of experimentation with effects etc
not a huge change
http://soundcloud.com/beanwagon/newmood-updated-sample

bump

Mate if you can get anyone to listen to your music be grateful - I now have listened to this twice!

Anyway - it's good - sounds kind of finished.

I wouldn't listen to this at home but I can see Jeff Mills playing something like this.

Send it to him.

Maybe put a compressor on the master and limit it after that.

You can't beat those loudness maximiser plugs for this though it's a long time since I used one....

ian_halsall wrote:Mate if you can get anyone to listen to your music be grateful - I now have listened to this twice!

Anyway - it's good - sounds kind of finished.

I wouldn't listen to this at home but I can see Jeff Mills playing something like this.

Send it to him.

Maybe put a compressor on the master and limit it after that.

You can't beat those loudness maximiser plugs for this though it's a long time since I used one....

i am extremely grateful dont you worry
cheers ill try the compressor