Sometimes I Wonder, Prog/Trance/Anjuna style

Sometimes I wonder… if I am getting better or not? Literally how I came up with the name :joy:

Started sculpting supersaws by each individual layer Still trying to chase that great sound when played in mono :rage:
I Cut off all high frequencies from 10k and up and used white noise instead while trying to balance each layer with M/S processing and then sending each layer to a bus and processing it further and using sends to add FX.

I have noticed I am having a lot of trouble now with sub frequencies from 140hz and below. I don’y have any type of sound treatment in my room, but I always tend to mix on headphones since I am usually getting off work around 11pm.

I always try to keep the kick and bass at the highest levels and try to mix around it. Everything sounds fine on a few systems. But I noticed in some cars, the sub bass and the kick are WAY too overpowering. Any thoughts?

Regardless, here is the track so far.

Hi there @andytheyoo

Some great elements in this one, was very curious about this punch & energy right from the start, that growling bass is very nice, but then I was lost in the breakdown and the drop afterwards. Not sure about the melody choice during those parts and the piano doesn’t fits in this track, especially when played at lower notes, sounds really dull comparing to the rest of the track., but that might be personal taste of course :wink:

Well, what’s this highest level you’re keeping for your Kick & Bass ? That’s the question :wink: If you start with Kick & Bass to loud, then you’re gonna make everything else louder to make it cut through the mix and compete with the level of the Kick & Bass. That main lead synth after the breakdown is a good example of that. Don’t be afraid to start with a Kick at -12 / -14 dB and build around this, you can still push the all mix louder afterwards.

You have a nasty “oomph” in this Kick, try to cut around 43 / 45 Hz and boost the punch of the kick at around 93 / 95 Hz, you should already hear a big difference. On the final Mix you could set an EQ with a high pass filter at 45 Hz and boost the mids, it should give a better balance to the all track. That’s just to get an idea, things need to be fixed per track.

And as for the words that inspired you the title, it’s a good thing to wonder, it means that you care about the result and of course you’re progressing, keep it up :wink:

Cheers !

For the overpowering and messyness in the low end try to Low Cut under 30Hz. Also put everything under 200Hz definitely in Mono. But I don’t think that’s an issue here. For me it helps a lot to take some reference tracks and try to “copy” it. So you get a feeling for your genre AND THEN you can be creative. Now I really don’t know why you are working with this bassline.
Second part: There is no bassline at all. You also should fix that. But it’s not that bad. Keep trying on!

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Good advice in your feedback, thanks for getting involved BTW :sunglasses:

Good point here, using reference track is very valuable as well as doing critical listening and deconstructing tracks from other producers, can’t be said enough !! :wink: