New minimal

[url]http://soundcloud.com/the-ax-man/ax[/url]



new minimal…did the bulk of this with operator.





lemme have it lol…

I enjoyed that, has some nice elements. I did feel that some elements needed to be more “wet” like the lazer’ish transition fx you use, not to mention I felt it was overpowering and smacked me in the ears every time I heard it (should be a bit quieter?).

The kick definately needed more thump, the bass overpowers it and its hardly noticeable.

Liked the background, but maybe if you added a change in the background it’d be a bit nicer?

right on, i appreciate the feedback my man. im gonna get back to the eqin’ on this one…:smiley:

Hey Ax, the risers and downers should have some more EQ-ing and gain reduction.

That last thing might be caused by heavy limiting. When the kick is gone, all other elements will sound louder.



Besides that, the kick is overwhelmed by the off beat bass. Might have a closer look at that as well.



In addition, you could have some variation in the hats section. Use a few more different hats. Play some slightly different patterns.



That loop I hear in the background is cool though. Can’t really make out what it is, but keeps it interesting.


eqin’ seems to be something im struggling with…



i have a spectrum analyzer up and ready to use while im producing, however im still unsure how to use this as effectively as possible…also im still unsure as to what i am trying to maintain across the spectrum analyzer ( making sure all frequencies are equal?? some less than others?)



any help would be greatly appreciated

Common thing to do is dipping the main freq of the kick in the bass, and viceversa. Sidechain the bass with the kick. Add the kick and bass to a group and slightly compress the the group.



For the proper gain on all different elements, you could try to solo the kick and lower the master volume so you can just hear the kick. Now you check each element by increasing the volume of each track to the point you just hear it alongside the kick. For those risers and downers you need to loop the part that is loudest of course :wink:



There’s not much in the track above the 5000kHz region. You could spice that region up with compression of the master, EQ on the master or simply by increasing the volume of the elements that are in that region.



I have a spectrum analyzer on all the different tracks. When adding elements I check the frequencies of the added track in comparison with the master, and EQ already what I need of the added track and what needs to be lost.



For minimal it’s not necessary to fill in the entire frequency spectrum by different elements. That is what you like to do for progressive & electro tracks like SHM, Afrojack and the likes to get that BOOM. For minimal and techno you need to highlight the small changes. Automate and modulate the hell out of it :slight_smile: Use lots of different hihat and percussive patterns.



I often have a Return track with a filter and saturator. I gradually increase the send amount on the higher frequency elements to increase the tension and presence.



Try lots of thing Ax. You will get there.

Well I was gonna give some feedback on it but looks like Daniaan has beaten me to it and his advice sounds a lot more professional and to the point so I’ll just give my thoughts instead:



It was a cool intro dude and my feet were tapping from the off which is always a good sign :smiley:



I think the laser sounds a little too loud from the rest of the track and there needed to be something bigger after that last breakdown as the laser suggested it was about to go off!!!



Other than that I liked it…

thanks a million daniaan. this is def. shedding some light on an otherwise dark page for me…lol



and i agree with you enigma about the fx, even knowing how the song is arranged i expect something bigger when i hear it myself. but im glad i had you tappin’ your feet.:slight_smile:



thanks again guys