Guest BillyMcTreeSnap Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 They sound flat to me, also comments on anything are appreciated! https://soundcloud.com/clockwork-tickler/woofy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptowen Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Drums actually don't sound that bad compared to a lot of SC stuff. Snare's kinda flat though (maybe try making it a bit louder?) Imma be honest though, the melodic structure of this song sounds totally random to me. There's no real sense of shape, because of it having so many notes & no repetition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillyMcTreeSnap Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpyLoo Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Here are my impressions: 1) if you have a way to perform the melodies (and maybe even the drums)--perhaps on a midi keyboard--I would suggest that. Everything is locked to grid pretty hardcore (save for the occassion triplet in the drums). If you can find a way to vary the dynamics and breathe some life and swagger into the rhythms, I would highly suggest that. 2) Your sounds are very 'stock.' ELO meets Wesley Willis. Maybe find a different snare and a more finely-tuned organ. 3) compression is suffocating the snare drum, giving it a bit of 400hz-ish stuffiness. I love compression, but I think it's more important for sounds to 'breathe.' Tone down the compression (whether it's on the mix-bus or the drum bus or just the snare), even if all you do is lower the threshold so that the meter is barely moving. 4) EQ-wise, I would recommend 'carving' all of your sounds and assigning them to a general frequency range. Your bass is too quiet and being masked by the other instruments. I would HPF all of the instruments (except the kick and bass) at roughly 150hz. I would advise using a spectral analyzer and make sure that there aren't 'build-ups' in certain frequency ranges. Most muddy mixes have too much 350-400hz and not enough 'air' above 15khz. So maybe you HPF your hi-hat at like 200-300hz and boost 10khz+ (with a broad 'Q' so it doesn't get shrill), and if your hi-hat doesn't have information above 10khz, you might consider adding a touch of saturation/harmonic-distortion to get some info up there. You might try turning the snare drum up 1db and giving it a subtle presence boost at like 4-5khz (once again with a broad 'Q' so that it doesn't get shrill), and/or maybe a touch of saturation/HD so that it cuts through the mix. 5) Reverb on the drums would supply some much-need atmosphere. Make sure to HPF the reverb at like 300 so as to maintain clarity and not get muddy and indistinct. In general I would suggest putting atmosphere higher on your radar, as one could argue that vibe is as important--if not moreso--than the actual notes. 6) Arrangement-wise, experiment with different things cutting out or rising and falling. Perhaps--just for argument's sake--imagine that your audience has ADHD and you are constantly trying to hold their attention with details and embellishments. 7) And most importantly, if I were you I would try to envision what you want your music to sound like, and then put all your effort into executing that, instead of randomly sequencing melodies and beats on a grid and scrolling through presets and settling on something satisfactory for each instrument. All of the electronic musicians I admire put an obsessive amount of attention into every single little detail, from the EQ of the hi-hat to the velocity of each note of the melody to the interesting and unique quality of the instruments. Anyways cheers and best of luck. -LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterE Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 limpy gave lots of good advices. the snares being compressed may be what's making you feel like they aren't standing out. you could either back off on the compression there, as limpy suggests, or you could try increasing the attack time to somewhere around 20-50ms. let some of that initial snap come through. you might have to re-adjust your thresh and/or ratio settings afterwards. you could also try boosting around 4khz with a few db with EQ, to try to enhance the transient a bit. oh limpy already suggested the eq. but anyway, if the samples you are using are already squeezed to heck and back and have no attack in them (or more accurately, the attack isn't peaking above the 'body'), then you would either have to get another sample, or try using a compressor (and a little EQ) to actually emphasize/bring out the attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillyMcTreeSnap Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Thank you both for all the information! Any idea where I can get good samples? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpyLoo Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 How about this: send me your 'stems' and I'll mix them in a way that demonstrates my points. Probably more useful to hear it (and actually feel it) than to read it and try to imagine it. [remove all the compression and eq and effects, mix to stereo 24bit .WAV] (p.s. Your sounds are workable, they just need some OCD-ing) (p.p.s. as far as drums samples go, I personally think the best source of is (still) chopping 60's and 70's drum breaks) (p.p.p.s. if you could seperate the kick and hat and snare, that'd be super useful) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillyMcTreeSnap Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 https://soundcloud.com/clockwork-tickler/woofy-drum-samples Here, thank you for your time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpyLoo Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Okay. There's nothing I can do with that. But if you do wanna send me your stems (via dropbox or whatever), I'm happy to demonstrate. If not, then try pitching the drums up or down, or maybe apply a bitcrusher and reduce the drums to 12bits/26khz and give it a SP-1200 vibe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest I Am Beyond Human Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 What are stems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweepstakes Posted December 15, 2012 Share Posted December 15, 2012 What are stems? The individual parts/tracks of the piece rendered down. One stem for bass. One stem for chords. One stem for kick. One stem for snare. etc. 2) Your sounds are very 'stock.' ELO meets Wesley Willis. Maybe find a different snare and a more finely-tuned organ. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Erothyme Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 If you pan all your drums hard left they are guaranteed to stand out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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