Badass - Last track I made

[badass]

Welll it's been a long arduous journey on this music production dream. It's very difficult to find time given I started late and I have full time career and am pursuing many different licenses and certifications for my profession.

Anyways, I made this in 2019. I haven't finished a track since. I used 127 channels on this track to challenge myself with mixing. I am practicing to improve my skills but like I said, finding time is hard. All comments and feedback welcome.

https://soundcloud.com/shumanahmed%2Fc-sharp-min-mastered

 

[badass]

PS I did the mastering without really knowing much. Just read Dance Music Manual and used that knowledge to master, but I do have tutorials and templates that I'm learning from

 

[Julian Del Agranda]

I'd say the mixing is the worst problem. Not the 'song'.

Although I don't like the piano. I think there might be some offkey tones in the piano line too. I would just completely remove that piano layer. I think the track won't lose any atmosphere without it.

The toms at 4:00 are too prominent. They are more bass-y than your actual bass.

The mid-low section is lacking the most, so the mid-bass sounds around 100-200 hz.

I think everything sounds very 'mono'. This makes it feel thin. The kick should be mono, but your pads/melodies could use the stereo spectrum more. Maybe some more wetness on the synths too. They are too dry for my taste now. It makes the synth thin, it doesn't blend in with the track too well.

Btw, 127 layers? There must be quite a lot of hardly audible layers then. The question is: do they really add something? If not > remove. They only clash with other layers, making your mix more muddy.

To conclude: The technical aspect is what you need to work on mostly. Not so much the song itself

 

[badass]

I'd say the mixing is the worst problem. Not the 'song'.

Although I don't like the piano. I think there might be some offkey tones in the piano line too. I would just completely remove that piano layer. I think the track won't lose any atmosphere without it.

The toms at 4:00 are too prominent. They are more bass-y than your actual bass.

The mid-low section is lacking the most, so the mid-bass sounds around 100-200 hz.

I think everything sounds very 'mono'. This makes it feel thin. The kick should be mono, but your pads/melodies could use the stereo spectrum more. Maybe some more wetness on the synths too. They are too dry for my taste now. It makes the synth thin, it doesn't blend in with the track too well.

Btw, 127 layers? There must be quite a lot of hardly audible layers then. The question is: do they really add something? If not > remove. They only clash with other layers, making your mix more muddy.

To conclude: The technical aspect is what you need to work on mostly. Not so much the song itself

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I will take all this into consideration next track. Thanks again!

 

[Hensmon]

I would agree with Magnevi's feedback, especially on thin/dryness. The sound that comes in at 14 seconds is exactly that. Very thin, pinched and whitenoise like. In fact there is too much white noise in general for my liking, maybe it has something to do with the 127 layers. Could a less is more approach work first? Really trying to make the individual sounds work first before putting everything together for a track...

I think the synth work is probably the best part, I quite like the melodic theme, but the percs/white noise kill it for me.

 

[dmgtz96]

That bass kicking in at 0:55 was nuts. I think this would work okay on a large sound system, but on headphones it feels off.
There's a "loudness war" going on. In this case, more silence and quieter sections would improve this track.
The piano at 3:14ish can be removed. The synths around it can stand on their own, no piano needed.

 

[Archon]

I think you sent me this a while ago, think I gave you some feedback. Anyways, will do it again, and in more detail, maybe I've missed something before.

Kick seems too rough on my speakers. There is a slight bit of distortion/clipping at the low end when the bass kicks in fully, and almost always when there is a crash cymbal along with the beat. The mixing could be improved, Magnevi said it best.

And the biggest thing here is the layers. I really couldn't notice much of them, every melody/riff/whatever seems to be played by one instrument, so I guess the most goes to the drums and FX, maybe basslines as well. I know ADD MOAR LAYERS is always recommended, and on the contrary less isn't always more - there has to be some balance here. I have nothing against layering heavily, but everything needs to have its place and not just be there for the sake of it. I mean, you have 127 layers but that main melody sounds too thin and weak in the climax.

The piano doesn't really belong in the climax of what's supposed to be a high-energy uplifter, actually that entire melody seems like an idea made in another project and just imported here for the sake of it.

I would also say that the musical ideas here don't excite me at all. It's everything you'd expect from an uplifting track, there is no 'you' here. You just made some melodies and that was the entire basis of your track. Everything feels like it is there because you need to 'respect' the structure and the arrangement. Now for a beginner, that's absolutely fine (I wasn't any different), and it's ok if you like that sort of music and want to make it. I am just not a fan of stuff like that - if you want to work in that exact style and want your tracks to be amazeballs, you need to make the best melodies ever, with great sound design. Otherwise, everyone else is making uplifting anyways, and your tracks will hardly make an impact.

 

[dmgtz96]

Everything feels like it is there because you need to 'respect' the structure and the arrangement.

Meanwhile, in dmgtz96 land: THE DISRESPECT


edit: but actually, this track sounds pretty professional. With a couple of tweaks I think this can get a label release

 

[LostLegend]

You've definitely done a lot of things right here.
Sound design and arrangement are on point. Not far from sounding like a good professional level.

I am stumped as to how this has 127 channels of audio, unless you are going ham on the FX channels & Sends.

My big criticism is the actual melody. That plucked/piano sounding synth is way out of tune in parts and the overall melody/chord progression doesn't grab me at all. The track needs a good hook or interesting progression to send it off.

Also getting a bit of distortion on a few parts of the track, lots of clipping in the kick and sub bass - you might wanna dial back the limiting on your master a bit or perhaps balance the low end of your track a bit before the master chain.

Overall, you've got a lot right here - a bit of tweaking for your next tune and you could be there!