Second Nature - Longing For The Infinite EP

Daysleeper

Lost in Trancelation
Jul 13, 2020
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Sweden
tenor.gif


Edit: Starts off good. I like most percussions you've chosen. The little build melody is quite nice. The break is quites nice yes. The lead synth is also nice-sounding. But thats about it really.

The kick has a little to much attack force and the bassline feels very rumbly/too sub-bassy and undefined . The structure/arrangement feels a little too straight-forward for my taste. I would try and pay more attention to the details. Its really not a bad foundation you have here but I would like to see a more eloborated production. Maybe try to make the rhythms stand out more or add some cool off-beat rhythms, play more with layers. Dont be too rigid with how to build the track. Remember the GOTE tracks like europa for example? DONT let the percs/build just be a thing that leads to the break/takeoff. Make it matter aswell ! Would love to see a more refined and eloborated production, but still with your vision of the old millenium trance sound.

But this is daysleeper critque you know. Maybe you want it be this straight-forward on point etc. You have a good vision what sound you want to create. And now I even see you didnt ask for critiqe :p
 
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SecondNature

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Oct 27, 2020
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Not my thing, but a couple of people here will surely appreciate it.

Not enough Steroid Trance, @Gagi? 😝 Appreciate you for checking it out, man, haha.

tenor.gif


Edit: Starts off good. I like most percussions you've chosen. The little build melody is quite nice. The break is quites nice yes. The lead synth is also nice-sounding. But thats about it really.

The kick has a little to much attack force and the bassline feels very rumbly/too sub-bassy and undefined . The structure/arrangement feels a little too straight-forward for my taste. I would try and pay more attention to the details. Its really not a bad foundation you have here but I would like to see a more eloborated production. Maybe try to make the rhythms stand out more or add some cool off-beat rhythms, play more with layers. Dont be too rigid with how to build the track. Remember the GOTE tracks like europa for example? DONT let the percs/build just be a thing that leads to the break/takeoff. Make it matter aswell ! Would love to see a more refined and eloborated production, but still with your vision of the old millenium trance sound.

But this is daysleeper critque you know. Maybe you want it be this straight-forward on point etc. You have a good vision what sound you want to create. And now I even see you didnt ask for critiqe :p
Haha, I always welcome your critique, @Daysleeper! You're def one who knows what makes trance special and how it should sound like. And just FYI, these were all made and finalized before I released my last EP, so they're all around the same vibe. The GOTE critiques wasn't taken in consideration yet, so the rest of the EP may fall short of what you're expecting it to sound like.

I'm glad you picked up on me being straight forward with the structure, that was what I was going for. That was also the trance I listened to when I was younger, so I guess I'm just a little more biased towards that sound. I really do like your constructive critique of changing the rhythms and making the percussion interesting and will incorporate that in future tracks. For me, melody was always at the forefront and I pay attention to that more so than the percussions. But overall, always glad to hear your perspective!
 
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Recharge

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Sep 26, 2020
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I love it. More pure and raw then what some people call 'steroid trance'. I love both, but lately I had too much of bass pumping uplifting trance. That's why I oriented myself to deep progressive sounds. Anyways 👍
 
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Manofearth

Senior Member
Sep 24, 2020
436 Posts
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Fantastic job. Agree with some of the above comments about it being maybe too simple, but nether the less it has a good Trance approach and I think its better than most labels output today so...

Interested to hear the rest
 
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Daysleeper

Lost in Trancelation
Jul 13, 2020
2,495 Posts
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Listening now.

I like this more right from the bat. I like what you did with the claps in the beginning, the rhythm pattern of it. The bassline is more refined in this. althought the second bassline that goes together with the kick is still a little too much sub-bass/rumbly for my taste. Kind of distracts and burries the other more bouncy one-note bassline. I like how you introduced the melodies. The weakest part for me is maybe the takeoff. It feels a little flat ,although those chords do work, but it feels like you could have added just a tad more stuff maybe or elevated it to a higher level It lacks in energy somehow. Just a gut feeling I had. Personally I wouldnt have used those power chords for the main-lead/takeoff. It feels more like a build-up ingredient to me.

Overall though I do like to listen to it.

Getting some Matt Darey/Gamemaster vibes. Def uk trance vibes. BUT also some S&G vibes :O

A nice friday present, thanks.

Ps. I asked you before about GOTE. One other older "web" trance producer you remind me of is Trance[]Control. Heard of them?

 
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SecondNature

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Oct 27, 2020
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Listening now.

I like this more right from the bat. I like what you did with the claps in the beginning, the rhythm pattern of it. The bassline is more refined in this. althought the second bassline that goes together with the kick is still a little too much sub-bass/rumbly for my taste. Kind of distracts and burries the other more bouncy one-note bassline. I like how you introduced the melodies. The weakest part for me is maybe the takeoff. It feels a little flat ,although those chords do work, but it feels like you could have added just a tad more stuff maybe or elevated it to a higher level It lacks in energy somehow. Just a gut feeling I had. Personally I wouldnt have used those power chords for the main-lead/takeoff. It feels more like a build-up ingredient to me.

Overall though I do like to listen to it.

Getting some Matt Darey/Gamemaster vibes. Def uk trance vibes. BUT also some S&G vibes :O

A nice friday present, thanks.

Ps. I asked you before about GOTE. One other older "web" trance producer you remind me of is Trance[]Control. Heard of them?


You hit the nail on the head again. I really love Matt Darey's arpeggiator work, and I use that technique as an homage to older trance. It's prominent in his work and it's just like the one you said on "Gamemaster."

I know what you mean about the chorus not having enough power to push it to the next level, which was why I added the background melodies behind it to help complete the structure. It's subtle...maybe too subtle, but the more I listened to it, it started to work, which is kind of a weird phenomenon, as I thought my ears were just playing tricks on me...I sat on this track for a while and made edits before approving it for release, but after banging my head on the desk many times, I felt this was as far as I could push the track's potential, haha, so I gave it the green light.

Maybe I'll re-visit this one again at another time and get new ideas on how to improve it.

And as for the S&G vibes, which track/s?

I haven't heard of Trance Control, but I like the track you embedded. Exploring their discogs now :)

Hope you had a good weekend!
 
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Hensmon

Admin
TranceFix Crew
Jun 27, 2020
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Great job, like both of these. You captured an old Trance spirit very well.

Longing for the infinite - love that build/outro up synth, especially over the top of the 2.35 breakdown, miss that kind of dreamy stuff. The synth at 2.51 as well is good and works nice with the piano, although I find the fade out swoosh thing (dont know what its called, higher pitched element that dissipates and appears again) too repetitive and over-used, distracting. The main take off synth is pretty epic, nice one. Agree with Daysleepers comments about making the percussion worker harder at parts and have its own musical spirit, even if its just for a short period. Overall its very cool.

Euphoric - Great percs, love the bounce, how it breathes and the baseline. Intro melody is very cool, like that its subtle. It kind of reminds me of one the intro synth melodies of Rafael Front - Red. The second synth that comes in at 1:39 I find too repetitive, maybe because its too simple or its execution is not subtle? Feel kind of the same about the main melody too .Matt Darey vibes for sure though ;) Maybe its not the melody itself but wanting more variation in the execution, its a bit too stab stab stab. Still enjoyable though, if I heard in a club I would love it im sure.
 
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SecondNature

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Oct 27, 2020
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Great job, like both of these. You captured an old Trance spirit very well.

Longing for the infinite - love that build/outro up synth, especially over the top of the 2.35 breakdown, miss that kind of dreamy stuff. The synth at 2.51 as well is good and works nice with the piano, although I find the fade out swoosh thing (dont know what its called, higher pitched element that dissipates and appears again) too repetitive and over-used, distracting. The main take off synth is pretty epic, nice one. Agree with Daysleepers comments about making the percussion worker harder at parts and have its own musical spirit, even if its just for a short period. Overall its very cool.

Euphoric - Great percs, love the bounce, how it breathes and the baseline. Intro melody is very cool, like that its subtle. It kind of reminds me of one the intro synth melodies of Rafael Front - Red. The second synth that comes in at 1:39 I find too repetitive, maybe because its too simple or its execution is not subtle? Feel kind of the same about the main melody too .Matt Darey vibes for sure though ;) Maybe its not the melody itself but wanting more variation in the execution, its a bit too stab stab stab. Still enjoyable though, if I heard in a club I would love it im sure.
The stabs from Euphoric were definitely inspired by "stabby" trance tracks, i.e. "Dj Tatana - Words" or "Chemistry - We Are One," I thought it best to introduce it slowly, as it doesn't have much variation. But I believed the underlying subtle synths working in the background help keep it from being boring. It may have needed a little more volume, but I thought it did the job well.

I often try to imagine the music I produce as if I'm hearing it at a rave or a club and try to capture that vibe and have it translate to the song, and in this case, it passed the test for me.

Thanks for the comments/feedback!
 

Julian Del Agranda

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Jul 3, 2020
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It's great to see you try and do this genre. I'm experimenting myself with it now too. Not as good as you though.

As for the first two tracks though: I really dislike the main leads. They really sound "Software-supersaw"-ish. While oldschool detuned saws sound very phat (a la Svenson & Gielen), yours sound a bit weak and annoying. I would try and improve that. There are better sounds, also with software.

Perhaps more layers will help too. In the second track, when the melody is playing in the breakdown, it could use some bottom end. Will make the melody sound more 'phat'.

I like the bottom track the most, as it doesn't go for a big supersaw, but has that typical 90's pluck.

Another thought for the bottom track: I would try to work with more subtle drums. More soft kick, smaller bass sounds. It's a bit 2004-Airbase now, with that big kick. While your melodic parts are more 1996. Not sure if I like those type of sounds blended. But that's taste I guess.

But again, keep doing this style, it's underrated. You will improve more and more and will nail it at some point.

(Bit chaotic post with random thoughts... but oh well. I will just click Post reply.)
 

Daysleeper

Lost in Trancelation
Jul 13, 2020
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Mmmm

This was my least liked track of these tbh, sorry to say. I liked the intro but then it fell completely flat for me. It doesnt feel inspired,lacks drive, way too basic. way too simple melody. Not finished or needs improvements (alot). Its VERY basic what-sounds-does-trance-use-in-the-90s sort of track. Like how-to-arrange-your-90s-trance-basic beginners tutorial. C'mon man, listen to it. Set a higher standard for upcoming tracks! I know you can do better!

Thats all I can say, sorry man. The style is good though, and I liked the intro, but as a complete track it fell completely flat for me.
 
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Archon

Gagi
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Jun 27, 2020
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Seemed directionless for me, this latest one. Not a huge fan of the styles, so can't really give honest and "actionable" feedback. Keep doing this if it's your thing, though.
 
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SecondNature

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Oct 27, 2020
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All valid points and opinions, guys. No need to say sorry at all!! You can't please everybody. I liked it enough to release it and just wanted to share.

The idea of the last song was to play with the melodic structure and have it transform into different versions of itself. Paragliders - Oasis does this, which I really love and was inspired by it.

 

LostLegend

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Dec 5, 2020
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Third track is "Map Point." Happy Friday, guys!

This gives me pure nostalgia for what the online trance production scene was like in the very early 2000's and the old MP3.com days.
When people were using the OG Reason, Fruityloops and ReBirth.
Just has the vibe of that era about it.

I'm not going to critique it by modern standards as I know from your other stuff that your vibe is to go for that sound of yesteryear. And if that was the era you were going for here you've nailed it. ;)
 
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SecondNature

Member
Oct 27, 2020
148 Posts
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This gives me pure nostalgia for what the online trance production scene was like in the very early 2000's and the old MP3.com days.
When people were using the OG Reason, Fruityloops and ReBirth.
Just has the vibe of that era about it.

I'm not going to critique it by modern standards as I know from your other stuff that your vibe is to go for that sound of yesteryear. And if that was the era you were going for here you've nailed it. ;)
Appreciate it, man, thanks for listening. Looking forward to more of your music!