Hello Everyone!, My name is Ste Ollerton, Firstly id like to say there is some great content on this site, both from sonic themselves as well as the forum community, This is my first post, if anyone could spare the time to take a listen to my efforts, any feedback would be greatly appreciated as I have quite a bit of difficulty in actually finishing tracks.
id like to thank you in advance, Happy Producing!
Ste
https://soundcloud.com/dj-defiant-007/summer-drivev2/s-8zCP2
Hey Stephen !
It’s a bit late to say welcome to S.A & the Forums, but hey ! If you don’t shout, we won’t hear you !! 
So with some delay… : Welcome to Sonic Academy & the Forums !! Glad to see you on board and to read that
you’re finding great content & thanks for the kind words.
I’m now listening to your track and I have a problem man : I can’t really get straight to critical listening because I’m too much enjoying the music !! So I’ll try to get there later but I need to listen to it a few times.
I’m very curious about your work as well : is it an original track or are you Dj’ing only ??
(According to your SoundCloud )
If it’s production work, Is it all digital “in the box” or do you also use analog gears, what DAW are you using ??
If you’re Dj’ing only then of course the following comments are going to be inappropriate.
For now I would like to ask what you exactly mean by " I have quite a bit difficulty in actually finishing tracks. "
Are you talking about finishing a all mix or just the end of a track ?? 'Cause I went to your SoundCloud & noticed that your tracks are always like truncated at the end ( can’t tell 'cause it seems more remixes that single tracks, so not sure why there’s the cut at the end ).
So more critical comments to come in another post, but for now I have to manage to pass over the driving effect of this “Summer Drive” 
It’s really a lovely piece, digging the vibe, the arrangement is brilliant too !!
So 'till next post then… Probably plenty to say ( yeah, well, I know I talk too much !! )
Cheers !
So back to business again… 
This track is really catchy, the vibe & the arrangement makes it very entertaining from start to end, the tension builds & release is very nice. The driving synths & nice chords progression is really adding to that feel. I just don’t get this hard cut at the end of it !!
Now in terms of mixing, I don’t know how you processed your mix but it’s sounding very mono, meaning that the track is not sounding full. Your kick & snare are a bit too much in the front compare to the other sounds.
You have a hell of head room in there ( the track is rarely peaking above -12 dB ) but still have quite a lot of loudness in the track, which makes me wonder how you processed your track again…
So to summarize, the track would benefit of some tiny levels adjustments and needs to be expanded & widened as well as being raised in final mix level to make it sound full & more stereo.
Cheers !
Hi
Thank you so much for your comments and kind words, I am currently producing on NI Maschine Studio, I do DJ aswell but this is my own production. The song does come to a abrupt end, I need to work on that as the song is quite long, but with regards to the finishing, it sounds like there is elements missing, it just doesn’t sound complete to me. I’m not sure whether something else needs to introduced, but I fear then of making it over complicated.
thank you again for your feedback, I will have a tweak around bearing your comments in mind.
Ste
Hi,
Thanks for your reply as well, the track is already long, you take the chance to make it repetitive if going more than 8 minutes and so far it’s not. I don’t find it too much complicated, you could very well bring new elements into the track because you have much clarity in the all mix but one common practice is to go the opposite way in fact : subtracting elements is also a good way to manage intro & ends.
As written before, the weakest point of the track ( well according to my listening experience ) is that it should be expanded & spread out next to the tiny levels adjustments. I find NI Maschine Software less friendly than a regular DAW in terms of effects & automation but great for creativity. But if you’re not using a DAW aside of Maschine, you should be able to get the same result by adding effects per sound / group & finally master output.
And again, really catchy vibe and nice progression, just missing that “full” sounding and some notable effects to make it more alive & less “mono-bloc” ( if I may say… )
Would definitely like to hear a final master of that one once !!
Cheers !
thank you, yes I totally agree, Maschine is great for creativity but does struggle on some elements, especially automation etc again thank you for taking the time to listen and provide your feedback, its certainly given me some more direction.
All the best
Ste