Skylander - Ayame-Hime (Demo version)

[Skylander]

Made some more oldschool trance stuff. Still working on it though, so I'd appreciate if you gave some feedback, suggestions. Link to Google Drive with the track is attached below.

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Edit: as it is mentioned on my bio, I'm from Russia. Because of the war happening in Ukraine lots of Russians face discrimination everywhere, including me. There are only a few people that support putin rubbish and his military campaign, but vast majority actually is against of war, and they go outside for demonstrations and riots. But people outside Russia don't care about that. They just attack us from everywhere: some owners of cafes ban Russians from entering, others don't hesitate to write offensive messages. That's unfair and disrespectful, I think. Moreover, I faced such discrimination by my own: I was recently evicted from my accommodation, and that is why I had to leave the country (I am studying abroad now). All of these show that there is a lot unjustified pressure on Russian people. My message is that no matter what dirty politics do, ordinary people like you and me are not involved here, so let's not create an international conflict, but support each other in those difficult times. Thank you for your attention!

 

[Daysleeper]

Liking it. I would work more with the drum arrangements, they are a bit flat/predictible/samey. The melodies work but are a little too simple for me.

 

[Skylander]

Liking it. I would work more with the drum arrangements, they are a bit flat/predictible/samey. The melodies work but are a little too simple for me.

Thank you for your feedback. Can you also elaborate more on your comments, please?)

 

[Archon]

Hi @Skylander, everything that's happening is really unfortunate. However, I don't think there is a need to discuss politics etc. along with your music. I do not believe you would be discriminated against here (but please do send me a PM if you see it happening), and if you really want to, you can discuss the politics etc. in the appropriate threads, ideally impassionately.

I will take the time to listen to your music too.

 

[Jetflag]

Privét Skylander. Welcome to the Forum,

Liking your basslines, loving your leads and arps. Track has a good, old school drive to it. I would recommend making your pads a bit fuller in the breakdown and I agree with Daysleeper, Your percussion/ fx work fine, but could be made a bit more interresting.

Solid 8 out of 10 for a first posting on this forum and would like to see/hear more from you

 

[Skylander]

Privét Skylander. Welcome to the Forum,

Liking your basslines, loving your leads and arps. Track has a good, old school drive to it. I would recommend making your pads a bit fuller in the breakdown and I agree with Daysleeper, Your percussion/ fx work fine, but could be made a bit more interresting.

Solid 8 out of 10 for a first posting on this forum and would like to see/hear more from you

Privet, Jetflag)
Actually, that's not my first posting here, but thanks for your message. Did you mean that I need to add more to pads in a breakdown BEFORE piano, or the pads should be fuller in the whole breakdown? Thank you for feedback!

 

[Skylander]

T

Hi @Skylander, everything that's happening is really unfortunate. However, I don't think there is a need to discuss politics etc. along with your music. I do not believe you would be discriminated against here (but please do send me a PM if you see it happening), and if you really want to, you can discuss the politics etc. in the appropriate threads, ideally impassionately.

I will take the time to listen to your music too.

Thank you for your message! I'll bear in mind your advise.

 

[Jetflag]

Privet, Jetflag)
Did you mean that I need to add more to pads in a breakdown BEFORE piano, or the pads should be fuller in the whole breakdown? Thank you for feedback!

Pads to tend to clutter the mix if you make them too full, So i would say: in places where the pad dominates. (like in parts of the breakdown) try layering those parts with addtional (pad) elements to make them sound a bit fuller

 

[Archon]

Love the sound and style of it. Indeed sounds like an early-to-mid 00s uplifter. I agree though with Daysleeper, these are areas of improvement for you. That, and little attention to detail would work wonders.

 

[Skylander]

Love the sound and style of it. Indeed sounds like an early-to-mid 00s uplifter. I agree though with Daysleeper, these are areas of improvement for you. That, and little attention to detail would work wonders.

Pads to tend to clutter the mix if you make them too full, So i would say: in places where the pad dominates. (like in parts of the breakdown) try layering those parts with addtional (pad) elements to make them sound a bit fuller

Thank you for your response, Gagi and Jetflag! So I should work on the pads and play around with percussions a bit, correct? I'll send the update here, in this thread. Anyway, is the track overall worth pressing into vinyl? Would sb buy it?)

 

[Jetflag]

Thank you for your response, Gagi and Jetflag! So I should work on the pads and play around with percussions a bit, correct? I'll send the update here, in this thread. Anyway, is the track overall worth pressing into vinyl? Would sb buy it?)

I wouldn't buy the vinyl, because I don't have a vinyl player. but I do like it and if managed to fix the earlier mentioned issues and give it a proper master I think its worth buying in a digital format

 

[IXM]

talent

 

[marvas]

oh wow, this sounds just great to me. I would add it to my work playlist if it were on youtube.

Good job and stay safe!

 

[Skylander]

I wouldn't buy the vinyl, because I don't have a vinyl player. but I do like it and if managed to fix the earlier mentioned issues and give it a proper master I think its worth buying in a digital format

Love the sound and style of it. Indeed sounds like an early-to-mid 00s uplifter. I agree though with Daysleeper, these are areas of improvement for you. That, and little attention to detail would work wonders.

Liking it. I would work more with the drum arrangements, they are a bit flat/predictible/samey. The melodies work but are a little too simple for me.

Hi there! I've made some changes on track. Please let me know if sth else also needs to be fixed) The link is the same, but the copy will be below

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[Skylander]

oh wow, this sounds just great to me. I would add it to my work playlist if it were on youtube.

Good job and stay safe!

I do have a YouTube channel) The track will be published as soon as I finish that. I'll let you know when that happens)

 

[Hensmon]

Nice job @Skylander ! There is one synth that when introduced really reminds me of an old track. I'm so bad with names so cant remember but really get a strong vibe of that, but different enough and subtle enough that I don't consider it a rip-off

You def capture an oldschool vibe with your track, and for that, I enjoy it.

I find the piano in the break too strong against the much nicer pads beneath. I would also like them to be a bit more complex rather than piano stab stab stab, like some subtle deviations in them that make them a touch less basic. I would say the same for the main synth in the breakdown to be too strong and a little basic in how each note falls. Could another more delicate/subtle synth play underneath it as it builds to add more complexity/rhythmn? Don't know.

I find the main melody a little basic too actually, like the melody is not that great (although not bad either). Kind of get tired of it very quickly because its too simple. Could just be a taste thing though. It works well when its used occasionally as a sub melody but for the main hook I don't think it has enough.

And finally there is a chip-tone-esque synth that comes back in around 7:06 which is not working at all for me. Sounds off-key, or melodically disjointed from the track + too strong. I think the synth sound itself could work, and makes sense where you placed it, but doesn't sound melodically right.

Overal I think you have loads of talent and there is a lot I like about what you've done. Look forward to seeing more from you!

 

[Skylander]

Nice job @Skylander ! There is one synth that when introduced really reminds me of an old track. I'm so bad with names so cant remember but really get a strong vibe of that, but different enough and subtle enough that I don't consider it a rip-off

You def capture an oldschool vibe with your track, and for that, I enjoy it.

I find the piano in the break too strong against the much nicer pads beneath. I would also like them to be a bit more complex rather than piano stab stab stab, like some subtle deviations in them that make them a touch less basic. I would say the same for the main synth in the breakdown to be too strong and a little basic in how each note falls. Could another more delicate/subtle synth play underneath it as it builds to add more complexity/rhythmn? Don't know.

I find the main melody a little basic too actually, like the melody is not that great (although not bad either). Kind of get tired of it very quickly because its too simple. Could just be a taste thing though. It works well when its used occasionally as a sub melody but for the main hook I don't think it has enough.

And finally there is a chip-tone-esque synth that comes back in around 7:06 which is not working at all for me. Sounds off-key, or melodically disjointed from the track + too strong. I think the synth sound itself could work, and makes sense where you placed it, but doesn't sound melodically right.

Overal I think you have loads of talent and there is a lot I like about what you've done. Look forward to seeing more from you!

Hi there! I am glad that you enjoyed the track. Thank you for the feedback. Although I am surprised that you didn't notice the same 8-bit sound at around 1:25 . Anyway, thanks for your reply. Would you like to see this track on vinyl?)

 

[Hensmon]

Although I am surprised that you didn't notice the same 8-bit sound at around 1:25

I did, just was writing that part of the note at the end section.

I would also worry less about vinyl application for now. I do think if you manage to do classic sounding Trance well it could have some small success on bandcamp selling via vinyl, but probably requires a label already doing this in order to get enough exposure. Unfortunately cant think of any labels doing vinyl for classic Trance at the moment.

 

[IXM]

When the premiere of a song is very atmospheric, maybe a video from the creative process?

You seem to create a lot of your own sounds, a lot of sounds fit together perfectly, I don't want to believe it's sampling

on the other hand, today nobody has time to create their own sounds. If it's sampling, you use everything in harmony

 

[Skylander]

When the premiere of a song is very atmospheric, maybe a video from the creative process?

IDK the exact date about the premiere myself, 'cuz I am planning to make one release for this and next track that I had started working on recently. Moreover, I am asking out Smug Peanut to help me working on those tracks, so it might take a month or two.

Video from creating process? Maybe, but no promises))) But there isn't that much to look at, 'cuz I didn't overwhelm the mix with different effects and 5-6 instruments for just side pluck , just the sounds like they sound separately.

You seem to create a lot of your own sounds, a lot of sounds fit together perfectly, I don't want to believe it's sampling

I don't want to upset you, but there are two samples. But I create samples for my tracks on my own and extract from other tracks of mine or hold them on special sample flp project until X time))) Talking about instruments, I created some presets from 0, some were based on existing ones but still altered somehow and adjusted to the mix. Moreover, I used only Sylenth as outsude plugin and only for one instrument. FL-based plugins like Harmless and Sytrus are my besties))) And DirectWave for piano, but even here I used one trick to make normal piano sound more like 90's trance)))

on the other hand, today nobody has time to create their own sounds. If it's sampling, you use everything in harmony

I cannot tell about others, but I am aiming to make my tracks sound a bit different and unique from others. For that I take oldschool, vintage and club-sounding (like Anjuunabeats of 2000-2007) on one hand and still outstanding from general european trance, leaning more to Japanese-like even more melodic, atmospheric and sorrowful anthems on the other hand (that 8-bit sound and "arpeggiated" bell was inspired on J-Trance). Here are some Japanese tracks that I really liked:
1. Graffias - Enthusiastic Cloudland (Original Mix)
2. DJ Noriken - Breakthrough (Lime Remix)
3. ZTS - Unfading Thoughts
4. ZTS - Emiya
5. Lawy - Miles Away
6. Junk - Angel's Voice
7. Dr.J - Sketches in Spring
And many-many others)))

If you have more questions, you are free to ask them)))


Edit: Actually, there's one more instrument from Sylenth)))