Its not (only) the drums per se, its the actual rhythms and how they interact with eachother more so that I find to be the problem... its too bareboned (if thats a word,prolly not), too sterile, too 'basic' , and the drums just barely gets the tracks pushed forward. It lacks some momentum and drive.. and variation. Simply put it lacks good exciting rhythm. Lower bpm isnt necessarily the villian here either btw.
Seondly I think theres not enough musical/melodic/themes ideas you present us with here. If you dont want/cant work with that I suggest trying to bring in a bit more variation to the arrangement, it could be rhythmically, sonically or dynamically. The atmosphere of the track is good, but its not enough unfortunaly. But what ive heard from you before this isnt something you seem to work that much with, as your tracks in the past are also in this more slow/deep/atmosheric more 'sterile' style. Maybe we are criticizing something that can not be critiqued and the style you present is just the style you like and our opinions might not really apply to your work because we are wishing for something completely different than what you intended for.
I think the track has some potential, and i know its so easy to sit on front of a keyboard and just moan about others work not being "good enough", but its hard to to really put into words what many tracks are missing in trance these days.
Hello! Thanks, totally understand what you mean, don't worry!
As you said my productions have been very often focused on being atmospheric rather than very-extra melodic, besides of some exceptions I suppose back to when I was making 138 uplifting stuff with the old moniker.
The musical-them idea you mean I feel like you meant to say you don't recognise a proper leading top melody that could be somehow "remembered" when thinking about this tune, at least that's how I understood your feedback. In that case then...yes, it is true, simply 'cause I felt like giving more importance to the background sounds, which, some may say are well done, some other may instead dislike them anyway.
It's all part of "the game", isn't it?
With regards to the first (and imo) more important feedback, you're focusing on the fact the writing is mainly focused on sounding "schoolish". Which, might still be understandable since I am trying to put every single element in its right place, so sometimes it could happen that I am so focused on that sound (don't know, let's say for example on that specific open hat) that I forget about the overall impact of the sound once blended into the mix: is this sound still interesting or is it adding something unique?
When you produce there's always an important aspect to keep in mind: the mood. The excitement you may have when you really feel "this" to be the perfect tune, according to your mood. The tune that describes exactly what you feel in that moment. So, this can sometimes drive you away from being rational: I guess the lack of "non-basic" sounds could be due to the fact that in that specific occasion(s) I might have felt like that groove being exactly what I wanted. The momentum, the drive, the variations which you felt lacking, to me where instead the long wait for those subtle elements (like sub-bass or mid pads) changing or evolving with one-two extra layers.
And I totally agree with you, it's not about bpm, rather what the general impact of the tune sounds like to someone who has never sat in the studio during the making of. (Not criticizing uh! Just saying, only the person sitting in front of the pc making that track understands exactly WHY something is there or why something is not there, so the other people will always have a more rational approach to the track).
Last thing, about atmosphere: I've done a lot horizons productions indeed, and only a few of them had some sort of "more solid" melodic theme/riff (Thinkinh now of my Last Stop Bloemendaal or probably The hanging gardens of babyloon). Most of my tracks are mainly supposed to describe my mood rather than being "club-only" oriented. Which is some kind of suicide for someone who "pretends" (lol) to make club music I know BUT...here's why I feel I am doing it right. Because I love exactly what I am doing and know that I will need to improve technically to achieve the perfection of this style of mine, without getting to close or identical to the mainstream trends of these days which I rarely feel like mine.
Hope this helps understanding! But thanks, as always, for stopping by!
