DJ Recharge - Summer Is Back (ethereal melodic progressive)

Recharge

Elite Member
Sep 26, 2020
1,153 Posts
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39
Life is funny, 5 days ago through my own stupidity I almost broke my hand. I managed to slip away with a sprained finger, but that was enough to plunger me into that state of deep depression and self hatred I go through from time to time. I always knew that when I am at my worst I do my best music, how and why I will never know, but there it is. It almost feels like I channel my frustration into my music.

There are a lot of small details that are almost not noticeable, but I hope they will make the song at least a bit less boring since, my biggest weakness has always been bringing variety in my music.

https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdj-recharge-summer-is-back
 

Bobby Summa

Elite Member
Sep 7, 2022
1,389 Posts
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Brighton UK
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soundcloud.app.goo.gl
Life is funny, 5 days ago through my own stupidity I almost broke my hand. I managed to slip away with a sprained finger, but that was enough to plunger me into that state of deep depression and self hatred I go through from time to time. I always knew that when I am at my worst I do my best music, how and why I will never know, but there it is. It almost feels like I channel my frustration into my music.

There are a lot of small details that are almost not noticeable, but I hope they will make the song at least a bit less boring since, my biggest weakness has always been bringing variety in my music.

https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdj-recharge-summer-is-back
Sorry to hear about your misfortune dude!

I am very much liking what you have done here. Has a real nice ambient groove with very reflective atmospheric and subtly uplifting feel with also touch of sadness. But the sadness doesn’t hit you like the uplifting feel does ( i mean that in a good way). Its almost like a passage, and i reckon you might have a philosophy to your music like i used to when i used to write in the 90s. That however sad the vibe went, i never wanted to let it hang there. Always finished it with a lift back up. Its as if thats what the repeated chord progression sections are about in this track. With the four or five chords in the progression, it ends on one with a happy feel when the ones before it were sadder feeling. Your productions are generally more cohesive than what i was doing back in the 90s.

On my first listen, I can’t really pick out any fault with this track. I know some bits go on for quite a while, but i think that works. Nice job. Elements like the beat ( kick in particular) and some sounds ( certain pad or may have been a vox) , had an anjunadeep feel. If you wanted to try, a different arrangement / remix and fx settings plus replacing a few sounds and i could definitely see an Anjunadeep style track there.
 
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Recharge

Elite Member
Sep 26, 2020
1,153 Posts
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I don't know how I made it so long. It was supposed to be 6.30-7min max, but I actually didn't plan to have a huge 2nd drop. Just the pad and melody sounded so good together I had to make that melodic drop and build up.

I think working within Serato Studio helps me a bit. The Daw is limited to 32 bars so if I want to make a song that is long I either have to copy some bars or use the 32 bar limit.

I am guessing one thing that saved the song from being too boring is that there are no 2 bars that are the same this time. Normally I take the easy way and copy some bars here and there.

I did made some small automation adjustments just now, but I am trying to not obsess with the song.
Sorry to hear about your misfortune dude!
Well I am all better now, until next time I guess. Music has always been a huge relief for me even when I was just a listener. That's why discovering trance was basically a life saver for me.

I've always said that my biggest weakness that needs improvement is the melody and lead, but lately I am noticing a lot of my arrangements are predictable and kind of boring. but no worries.

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marvas

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Nov 10, 2020
116 Posts
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I first listened to this back when you posted it, I was on the beach and had no headphones, so I had to listen to it through my phone's speakers. And you know what? I thought it sounded pretty good.

Today I gave it another listen, and you know what? I still think it sounds pretty good.

Making it a bit more diverse and creating a bit of tension could transform this into a proper song.
 
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Recharge

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Sep 26, 2020
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Sorry to revive this, but I was so hyped about the new mix. Something always bugged me about the bassline and kick and couldn't fix so I left it. I've been putting this off for so long, but I finally decide to tackle it.

I decided to a completely new mix, Kept almost everything the same, but added small changes so the song can shine better. Well I felt asleep with my headphones last night listening to it so I think I am close to properly finishing it. One of the most relaxing songs I've ever made...

This is for a big album of unreleased songs I slowly started working on. Yet another thing I spend more than 6 months procrastinating with just a few songs done for now.

Original version
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdj-recharge-summer-is-back
New Mix
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdj-recharge-summer-is-back-wip%2Fs-DqcGiHMyQpc
I loved the breakdown in the original, but I think that new simplified one is a lot better, I play only 2 notes of the pad chords for most of it and you can hear around 5.40 the full pads coming in and omg if that's not magical.
 
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Recharge

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Sep 26, 2020
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Age
39
I worked more on the overall mix, bassline sounded too loud (still does, might dial it back a little bit more).

Drums were probably panned too much on left/right so I made the pan less. There is an extra drum loop as a texture that I made more quieter since it felt like it didn't fit so well, probably should have it more quiet from the beginning. You can always tell if I did the drums myself. I still don't think my drums like here for example are good enough, but I don't want to replace them. Its the same drums from the original version too, but I still have a long way to go.

Lowered the lead volume as I want the song to revolve more around the Kalimba, ambient vocals and pads with bassline and lead giving it an extra push.

Edit: I lowered the bassline volume and leads a bit more, trying to do small changes. I also added an extra pad sound to balance out the bass and mid more.
 
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Bobby Summa

Elite Member
Sep 7, 2022
1,389 Posts
1,054 Thanked
Age
48
Brighton UK
Website
soundcloud.app.goo.gl
I worked more on the overall mix, bassline sounded too loud (still does, might dial it back a little bit more).

Drums were probably panned too much on left/right so I made the pan less. There is an extra drum loop as a texture that I made more quieter since it felt like it didn't fit so well, probably should have it more quiet from the beginning. You can always tell if I did the drums myself. I still don't think my drums like here for example are good enough, but I don't want to replace them. Its the same drums from the original version too, but I still have a long way to go.

Lowered the lead volume as I want the song to revolve more around the Kalimba, ambient vocals and pads with bassline and lead giving it an extra push.
I know what you mean about the drums. I quite like the fact that it sounds the way it does. A little straight. But Infact an accompanying light rolling drum beat might be effective in areas. I often use preset tops and when I do a rolling drum beat it’s often from a sample pack or drum synth with beat presets as I’m a bit lacking in certain types of drum beat invention skills. Izotope beat tweaker is a lovely drum synth/ beat maker I use a lot. You can edit much. I also like the fact it has ‘no’ fx like reverb or delay so you can use plugins you know well to add fx.
 
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