Uplifting trance (I need help)

Recharge

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I decided after I recorded an uplifting mix to make my first real attempt at cracking the recipe. I made a small demo at 136 and decided to post a deconstruct of it for some feedback and help. I used a 4 bar loop since there is very small changes in the chords/drums/ synths every few bars

Let's start with the drums . I watched a video about them, simple enough they follow a certain pattern and I added a shaker. Goes a little like this
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdrums%2Fs-9Mlq27OQJ4N
Then I did the bassline. I used 6 different ones(1 for sub). They all follow the chord, so they can be used on its own. One has typical uplifting trance shape and 2 I added with a groovy shape to give it a little bit more feeling.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fbass%2Fs-cMdl78TqAhX
Now the synth I wasn't sure how to write, so I used 2 samples, one prog trance and one prog psy trance. They actually sound very nice together.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fsynth%2Fs-oJ71OwZyU3H
For the chords I used 5 different sound - 2 pads, 1 synt and 2 piano synth. There is slight change at the end of bar 1 and 2, repeated in 3 and 4.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fchords%2Fs-x41kZBmY0w2
Vocal - easily the weakest part, very cheesy l but I kind of like it. And this is a vocal I wanted to use for a long time.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fvocal%2Fs-1n4sxhL2YoZ

And now lets see them all working together

To be continued as comment...
 
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Recharge

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Drums+Bass
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdrums-bass%2Fs-nbrYO6VIoy0
Drums+Bass+Synth
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdrums-bass-synth%2Fs-nYjnPWvO66Y
Drums+Bass+Synth+Chords
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdrums-bass-synth-chords%2Fs-GEL3lvKAWgS
Drums+Bass+Synth+Chords+Vocal
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdrums-bass-synth-chords-vocal%2Fs-56kZMBp9sRV


Now is that enough(keep in mind its my first try) and should I start adding effect and building the song. If I need to add more, any ideas and constructive criticism will be appreciated.

Also I believe the vocal is a bit off I tried to cut and shape it better. Bar 3 and 4 is for the main part of the songs when there is drums and the bar 1 and 2 should be used for the drop part I think. See example build up:
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fbuild-up-idea%2Fs-YLq7lhgiCuH
For the first part of the song I can use the bassline without it following the chords so I can introduce the bassline that follows the chord pattern for more dramatic effect.
 
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Jetflag

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I decided after I recorded an uplifting mix to make my first real attempt at cracking the recipe. I made a small demo at 136 and decided to post a deconstruct of it for some feedback and help. I used a 4 bar loop since there is very small changes in the chords/drums/ synths every few bars

Let's start with the drums . I watched a video about them, simple enough they follow a certain pattern and I added a shaker. Goes a little like this
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fdrums%2Fs-9Mlq27OQJ4N

Aight, so first follows a production- technical set of comments. and in the end i'll review the music part of it.

so first. your (low end) kick lacks attack and has way to much release/length. A kick as an architypical sonic element is basically a transient. I would recommend treating it as such, Short and punchy. you can alter this by either choosing a more appropriate sample or cutting in length and/or layering with (drum) sounds that have more attack presence in the mid/high range, aswell as compression. Saves up a lot of space for the rest of the low to mid end elements aswell, speaking of which....

Then I did the bassline. I used 6 different ones(1 for sub). They all follow the chord, so they can be used on its own. One has typical uplifting trance shape and 2 I added with a groovy shape to give it a little bit more feeling.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fbass%2Fs-cMdl78TqAhX

the sequence you're using works nicely, but the sound itself is extremely muddy and has way to much presence in the 60-160 hz range. its very "whompy" right now, not ideal for a fast pasted uplifting trancebass apreggio. you can change this by either altering the parameters on your synth or eqíng/ using a multiband compressor.


Now the synth I wasn't sure how to write, so I used 2 samples, one prog trance and one prog psy trance. They actually sound very nice together.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fsynth%2Fs-oJ71OwZyU3H
by far the best sounds of the pack imo. love the grainy texture and thrillseeker esq dreamyness of it. but again there's a lot of presence in the low end, leading to a very muddy mix, especially when blended with the previous elements. Clean it up. and maybe don't go all over the place with the notes. Keep it simply and effective. Less is usually more. (I know, I know, coming from me thats ironic since most of my demo's get rejected on that note, but still, the best helmsmen stand on shore etc...)

For the chords I used 5 different sound - 2 pads, 1 synt and 2 piano synth. There is slight change at the end of bar 1 and 2, repeated in 3 and 4.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fchords%2Fs-x41kZBmY0w2
Very retro sounding, I like it in and of itself but I wonder if it fits in the track, this however is more of an artistic choice so i'm not going to either left or right on that. I will say that on the technical side, where the other sounds have way to much low end present this could do with some fullness. The layering works well, but you might want to add some delay/reverb to make it less "casio esq" if you follow me. For uplifting I find it better, pad wise, to go with full sounding first, and later tone it down using sidechain or regular compression/eq to make it blend in more, then the other way around,

Vocal - easily the weakest part, very cheesy l but I kind of like it. And this is a vocal I wanted to use for a long time.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fvocal%2Fs-1n4sxhL2YoZ
I think its a great element, not cheesy at all, Well sung and in a proper key, (Chapter 47 can suck a tip on that for sure) The reverb is OTT though, definitly tone down on that. Also i'm curious to see how this fits in the mix after the rest has been cleaned up. Right now its drowning in the rest of the elements you have, that might not be the case anymore if the mix is cleaner. If, however, its still has problems rising to prominence in the mix (which is generally what you want with vocals in an uplifting trance setting) you can try boosting the high mid range a bit, and applying (vox) compression for some more definition. Then slowly add reverb but don't overdo it,


And now lets see them all working together

To be continued as comment...

This comment mostly applies to the latter 3 elements, Vox, Strings, Lead. All of them seem to be doing their own thing without minding the others... each has its own chord/melody sequence, that isn't in sync with the rest (including the bass) Invidiually they sound ok and even great sometimes..but remember, they have to work together or else i'tll just be chaos when combined.

My advice would be trying the following. Start with the vox and its melody pattern as its hard to change.. Tune the strings/pads, melody/note wise to that first, then the bass and then finally make the lead fit.

after that you can start building the track out and add transitions etc. :)

good luck 🍺 (y)
 
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Recharge

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Progress Update 1

I added a synth following one of the bass sounds adds a bit more detail, its a small difference and had to lower the sound so it doesn't overpower the total mix. Also I love how each synth is doing its own thing, but they sound great together.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fsynth-1%2Fs-YmO7vuDHfiQ
I added vox, believe it or not I found this one in progressive house pack, nothing new to me oldschool 128 prog house sound very anthemic when sped up naturally. While I want to write most of it I am not opposed to use some sample to enhance it.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fsynth-vox%2Fs-ppZnfIuX8O9
I followed your advice and cut a lot of frequencies. Thank god for Ozone 9 being a free plugin for my DAW, And this is all together, I left the vocal for now, still haven't given up on it though. It all comes together pretty nice.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fall-toghether%2Fs-UZbd2ljizNb
So that leaves a lead and string. I almost put some generic sample for string, but I actually want to shape one myself.

Here is possible use for the vocal only as hook and the rest in drop
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fall-toghether-vocal-hook%2Fs-kOC5sTgxOXA
 
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Archon

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Let's do it one by one:



Drums - pretty nice. Thrillseekers-ish, soft but carry enough energy. Would personally include more creative drums/perc/FX to make it top notch.

Bass - bit melodic for a bassline but I sort of like that. You don't hear that nowadays much because it's hard to mix.

Synths - great. Love the ideas, although you could make the main melody sound a bit better (it's to basic now).

Chords - basic. Really, really basic, and very dry. Need much more work IMO.

Vocals - I would make sure to include a dub as well. These vocals sound like off a pop track for me, not really suited for trance, apart from the Armin/A&B type stuff.



Drums+Bass - hmm, it fits but only just.

Drums+Bass+Synth - the bass clearly muddies up some frequencies, it'd be good cleaning it up a bit. It's a pretty clean track in an of itself so it shouldn't really stand out in that way.

Drums+Bass+Synth+Chords - the chords are still the problem here IMO.

Drums+Bass+Synth+Chords+Vocals - vocals don't fit. It's the processing, but also the style.

Build Up Idea - read line above.



Synth - the gated stuff sounds amateurish. So either make it sound better and have a point in the track, or lose it entirely.

Synth + Vox - same here, where are the vocals though?

All Toghether - read everything above.



Overall, some nice ideas but far from a finished track, idea-wise, and also arrangement- and mix-wise. You need a lot more work and some magic to turn it into a very good track, but it still needs lots of work. Keep it up though, because the potential is there.
 
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Recharge

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I did a little more tinkering.

I wrote a lead, I will probably wait for black friday to finally upgrade to some professional vst synth since atm I don't have a lot of options/knowledge to shape a proper trance lead.

And omg it does sound like Armin's pop oriented uplifting tracks. I am not sure if that's a good or a bad thing

https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fprogress-2%2Fs-JPdCn7tlP1V


I got rid of the vocal for this one and used yet another progressive house sample as lead for the song. Can we just stop and appreciate how progressive house and trance go together like bread & butter...

https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fprogress-21%2Fs-ixsAV7adHq8
 
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Archon

Gagi
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Something feels a bit off-key here, can't figure out what it is. And some of the sounds really don't sound like they are cohesive within the track. But yeah, good title - progress.
 
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LostLegend

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Think the replies have most of it covered already.
The track lacks balance within the frequency spectrum. Everything seems to be happening in the high mids and sub area with little punch in the mid range.

What stands out to me is how muddy the low mids and the sub bass area sounds.

The kick needs to have more punch & cut through the mix. Doesn't sound like you've given the kick much room either. Maybe look at sidechaining the bass with the kick as the trigger.
If you are looking for some decent kick samples, drop me a PM and I'll send you a selection as I have a ludicrous amount of trance/prog style kick drums in my samples folder... too many really.... As Ned Rush would say "I have more kicks than friends" :LOL:

Some nice ideas with the synths in the early versions. Makes it stand out, rather than going for the standard supersaw soundset (Nothing wrong with that, mind - it's a guilty pleasure!)

Not sure on the chord progression overall. That's definitely an area you need to work on.
A good place to start is to look for some standard chord progressions and apply them to what key you are working in. Then tweak them as you need to customise them for your track:


 
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IXM

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hey, I have no technical knowledge in general. I think that you can stick together a nice piece of samples. Overall, you have great enthusiasm that will pay off soon. We have many hours of work ahead of us on each element of the production, so it's great that you described the steps that make the quality of the piece better. great posts. Good luck
 

Recharge

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So I've been working a little bit here and there mostly tuning the sounds. I slowed down the tempo from 136 to 132, the difference is night and day...

Chords are practically the same, but I did a stupid mistake, the chords I've written are meant for sustained instruments so I replaced the 2 pianos for sustained violin and sustain string orchestra sounds. Those 2 paired with the 2 ethereal pads and the synths string sound way different.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fchords-1%2Fs-Q81D2N43MQV
I added a little acid sound to the bassline
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fbass-drums%2Fs-7jg5197le0Q
This are the synths and the vox + pads
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fsynth-vox-pads%2Fs-2EEqhWv9d1e
And this is how it sounds all together now.
https://soundcloud.com/lq5vxcb1rzbn%2Fall-toghether-1%2Fs-6fSBzGRFgzw
I know it feels overpowering, but keep in mind that there will be just a few parts of the song where everything will come all together. Going to write a melody soon that will play through most parts instead of some synths.