Feedback my first Synthwave Track pls :-)

Hey,
it’s been a while since i was active here in the forum. The feedback I got here has always helped me a lot. So I am very happy about any kind of feedback for my “Synthwave” track. What else can / should I do to improve myself further?

Thank you very much and best regards

1 Like

Hey there @Bjoern_K

Like the track, there’s nice elements into it, great synth sounds and drums and nice use of panning to give movement. Issues or areas that I think could be improved are mainly sound choice, low end mixing and arrangement.

I’m divided to put this track in the classical “synthwave” genre, mainly because of the choice of certain sounds. The drums are ok, there’s also classical synth leads sounds that remind the Juno or Jupiter synths but next to this you’re using much more modern synth sounds for the pluck, a bass synth and also an arpeggio. Those sounds really contrast with the main lead synth, definitely more sounding like Serum or a similar much more modern synth, they sound less bright and more compressed, slightly taking away that classical “synthwave” vibe IMO.

The second point is low end, there’s a lot unwanted low end that you could cut using EQ and High pass filter directly on the instruments tracks. Again, this genre is more focusing on the mids and the brighter side of frequencies. So that’s just about taking care to filter unwanted low end, but more than this you have one bass or sub-bass synth which is really “holding down” the all mix. At first I thought it was too much compression or limiting on the mix, then I was thinking it could be the Kick & snare, but I then got it between 2:57 and 3:20 → This distorted bass synth is the one sound holding the all mix, not even sure if you need that low sub in this track but at least, it’s not the right sound for now.

Last suggestion would be about arrangement and progression, it’s a bit linear and static now, if it was not because of the nice synths and the good use of panning, it could get boring for the listener. I was expecting a much more pronounced break ans especially a peak time with big choruses like it’s classical to hear in this genre.

For referencing sounds, maybe check this guy YT channel where you’ll find covers of classic synths tunes ( all done on hardware synths ) and also this particular playlist from his own music that has a more modern twist.

And definitely have a look at the synthwave tutorials here on S.A website :

If you haven’t try it yet, there’s a free 7 days access to all S.A course available here

That’s it for my 2cts feedback, hope this helps :wink:

Cheers !