Another Anjunadeep style thing

Hi all I would love and appreciate some feedback on my new project

Thanks much love.

https://soundcloud.com/user-868013455-804001334/vation-original-mix

Hey there @fred29

Another nice track with great synths sounds that are building well overtime, there’s definitely a nice blend of arps & pads that give a nice feel to the track, fx sounds are nice too. Adding some more effects like reverb, chorus, delays to spread the track in stereo and make it sound more full could be polished, but it seems that you’re more at ease with synths after listening to several of your tracks here :wink:

The weak point for me is the bass & kick and especially the bass in this track. It sounds crushed and a bit muddy and next to this the pattern is very linear and it’s not helping with the listening experience overtime. For the kick there’s a kind of metallic sound to it that for me doesn’t work well and again, strict 4x4 pattern and that repeating clap/snare makes the beat less interesting. So question : do you start with Kick & Bass and build the melodic elements on top of them or the reverse way starting with melody & synths ? I think you’re at a production stage where you need to focus on developing more solid drum & bass and break out from the linear patterns.

Another small suggestion for the vocals would be not to reveal the full vocals before the break but rather introduce it with effected small parts ( like what you did at around 3:42 for example ) in order to create a nice feel and give a reference to the listeners when it will come full during the break and towards part 2 of the track.

Like the track, but it could really be pushed further with kick & bass enhancement and a few tweaks in processing.

Hope this helps & you can submit your track for review on the Sonic Academy Live stream, there’s now a direct link on the website to upload mp3 BTW : Sign Up

Cheers !

Thanks Tekalight. I really appreciate your honesty with the feedback
I try and start with the main theme of the track first and build around that.
I’m going to write down these points you have made. because it’s not until people point things out That you realise these things need work
Thanks much love
Fred.

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Referencing & especially deconstructing tracks can be really helpful when it comes to analyze grooves patterns & structure. Artist like RÃœFÃœS DU SOL and ENAMOUR are really good references IMO. Listen and grab some tracks, load them into your DAW and zoom hard on different sections and try to deconstruct how the groove elements are placed relative to your Midi grid. You can use markers or empty midi tracks & clips as locators and cheat sheet.

For the rest it’s more techniques like how to get a solid Kick & Bass mix structure.

EDIT : as for starting with the main theme first. Maybe you should try to experiment with starting first with groove and bass or even just make short bars of those fundamental elements, just for exercising, not aiming at making a full track. Another point with this, is that when you first lay out your drums, it makes more sense as to where to place the bass notes & later on other elements on the midi grid.

A few tutorial resources on Sonic Academy than I think can help :slight_smile:

I’ve just signed up to the monthly subscription plan. Gonna watch the tutorials you suggested
Thanks
Fred

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And you did well ! :wink: Simply honest talk here : I’m just a forum moderator, so nothing to do with pushing people to subscribe, but honestly S.A is a great place to learn with amazing tutorials and very reasonably priced IMO.

Make sure to use the magnifier search icon on the top right page from the main tutorials sections on the website, you can search by keywords which is very handy. On the left hand side, you can also search tutorials by genres, courses types, tutors, software/DAW which is also handy to narrow down search results.

Then as usual, the forums are here to help, so each tutorial has got it’s own topic where you can ask questions & leave comments, either the tutors themselves, S.A team members or me will try to answer your questions.

Cheers & happy tutorial watching then :wink: