Snack Master music feedback thread

[snack master]

Hey everybody,

 

I'm pretty excited about some tracks I recorded recently, and I'd like to share them here with you all:

• Inside
• Today
• Smooth
• In The Cold
• This Moment

They were all recorded live with the following gear:  Roland Alpha Juno, Mutable Instruments Shruthi-1, DSI Toraiz AS-1, DSI Evolver, and an MPC 500, with the breaks coming off of a laptop.  Ableton was sequencing everything, and my Focusrite interface took care of recording the performance.

 

The recordings are a bit rough in places, but once I get proper recordings, I think I'm going to try to find a label that might release them, such as WeMe Records, or a label similar to them.  Let me know if you think there's a better label for this sort of stuff!

[Hugh Mughnus]

Sounding good man! "Inside" was my fav. 

 

Sorry I don't have any meaningful feedback really lol.

[snack master]

Sounding good man! "Inside" was my fav. 

 

Sorry I don't have any meaningful feedback really lol.

 

Thanks!  Just knowing which track stands out to other people is helpful :)

 

My current recording and "mastering" environment is pretty crude, so I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement somewhere.  That said, I am pleased with where I'm at so far.

[Hugh Mughnus]

 

Sounding good man! "Inside" was my fav. 

 

Sorry I don't have any meaningful feedback really lol.

 

Thanks!  Just knowing which track stands out to other people is helpful :)

 

My current recording and "mastering" environment is pretty crude, so I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement somewhere.  That said, I am pleased with where I'm at so far.

 

 

Oh np! 

 

They were all pretty solid - my second fav would be "In the Cold". 

 

Have you been making tunes for a while?

[snack master]

 

Have you been making tunes for a while?

 

 

I've been mucking about with music in various forms since I was a kid, but only got serious with electronic music about five years ago.  If you check out my Bandcamp page, I've posted a bunch of stuff from over the years, so you can actually chart my own progress as an artist over time   

[dingformung]

I listened to first two and like them very much. I reposted them on soundcloud, maybe that helpt to get some attention

[snack master]

I listened to first two and like them very much. I reposted them on soundcloud, maybe that helpt to get some attention

 

That means a lot to me, thanks so much!

[auxien]

Inside is good if a little too condensed maybe. Probably more my tastes, but it felt like it needed to breathe and let some emotion in, I felt like it was a track I'd hear on a commercial and not think twice about.

 

This Moment has a bit more feels in it, but the drums were very much stock in sounds and tbh sounded just like you pressed play on a preset. Don't think you did that necessarily but they came off that way.

 

In The Cold is without any direction or center on my first listen...couple of nice melodies but just, nothing there. Pretty sounds but nothing beneath.

 

I think maybe just your type of music isn't made for me, which is totally okay of course. Just giving my thoughts. All the best.

[Ragnar]

I heard some of the live stuff too, sounds like pretty honest "I just wanted to make some tunes" kind of music. I'd say it works better than some stuff trying too hard to re-live 90s idm because the musical ideas are there regardless

[whosebrian]

 

How about considering mindcolormusic as a potential label.

 

https://www.discogs.com/label/575477-mindcolormusic

[snack master]

Auxien, thanks for posting, I thought a while about your comments today.  Some of what you said resonated with thoughts I've had in the past regarding composing, pacing, and stylistic decisions, so it gave me some nice inspiration for when I next sit down to write a track.

 

Ragnar's right on the money about my intentions behind this project.  I started writing my own tracks after realizing my own love for synthesizers and electronic music, so the tracks all have at least a little DNA from the desire to simply make some tunes.  That said, I definitely do want to expand the project beyond where it's at and test my own potential as well, so I really appreciate being able to share my stuff with everybody here.  In my earlier stages of development, my whole approach, studio, and toolkit was much more primitive, and as I've refined things here and there, I find myself aiming higher and higher with my own songwriting ambitions, so I know for that to truly happen, there's a lot of work to be had to get from here to wherever "there" is.

 

Thanks for suggesting mindcolormusic, whosebrian.  I hadn't heard of them before, though I do see they've released Microlith (RIP) and Fah, so I'll check them out.  My girlfriend is encouraging me to submit my tracks to a label, but I've struggled to find very many labels that release this sort of music and are small enough to have interest in this scene.

[Ragnar]

yeah I was totally sincere about the reaction 'whoa this is just a guy making tunes for once', if I just looked at your avatar I would think the music contained was gonna be some overly tribute-y ceephax type stuff, and maybe it is a little ceephax but it's not DISTRACTINGLY so. But yeah a warning the avatar does come across as ceephax-y, if you want a more unique image for your project

[snack master]

Hey everybody!

 

I ended up really enjoying the feedback Auxien provided.  I thought about what they said for quite a bit and ended up adjusting my approach and workflow to make the freshest material possible.  With that goal in mind, I ended up hooking up my V Synth, my Nord Drum 2, and my TQ5 all together today, and here are the sketches that came from that brief recording session:

• Fun Jam
• Digital Orchestra

Like I mentioned earlier, they're still sketchy around the edges, so even I can hear some stuff now that could be done to improve the tracks a tad.  That said, I'm still looking for everybody's feedback and hope you enjoy what you hear.  Cheers!

[snack master]

And then there's this guy:  Digital

[snack master]

Hey Snack

 

I've realised I haven't posted on your music a fair bit and came across a YouTube video from 2014 that I enjoyed.

 

My fav tunes from you are those like In the Cold , This Moment , One Off Jam. Can't really give you any feedback other than that ... those tunes are killer though so for a listener like me , if you can get into that headspace you were in while writing those tunes I'll be there to listen to what you make. The most recent tracks , to me at least , and I'm sure this thread informs my position , they are lush obviously, but lack the spontaniety of those other tracks I mentioned .. but still , great and lush ... but I'd rather have an acid workout . your music is some of the music I enjoy the most posted in this sub forum at the moment

 

Wow, thanks for taking the time to post, I enjoyed what you wrote.  It's always fun to hear which tracks of mine stand out to other people, and it can some times be radically different than what I prefer as the author.  That said, I do like the tracks you mentioned, of course :)

 

I find a lot of passion and meaning in making music and involving myself in the IDM community, so I fully intend on continuing to make tracks of every type for many years to come including acid bangers, jungle / DnB jams, IDM cuts, ambient sessions, and possibly even poppy / italo stuff stuff if I find the right collaborators...  Really, I feel like there's not enough time for all the music I want to make.

 

That said, I can sometimes struggle with how to approach making a track.  When I first started, I would simply make whatever I liked, but now that other people listen to my tunes, I have at least a mild interest in possibly meeting their interests if it intersects with stuff I'd like to make and if the response is good enough.  However, this could be more of a philosophical question for me and my direction as an artist, and not so much reflective on what I do with Snack Master.  For instance, I actually set aside my primary acid synth a while back to write some tracks specifically without it, as I felt that it had too strong of an influence on the songwriting process.  However, hearing that you'd like more acid tracks from me is definitely positively encouraging to bust out some acid lines.

 

Thanks again for your feedback, it felt great reading your post, especially the last part.

[snack master]

Hey everybody--I hope you're all doing well. 

 

I just posted a remix of Greenravor's Ancient Stone, and I'm pretty happy with the track, though it may be edited even further over time:

 

Greenravor - Ancient Stone (Snack Master acid mix)

 

Cheers!

[worms]

Sounds bright and punchy, hope you achieve your dream and get signed.

[auxien]

Hey everybody!

 

I ended up really enjoying the feedback Auxien provided.  I thought about what they said for quite a bit and ended up adjusting my approach and workflow to make the freshest material possible.  With that goal in mind, I ended up hooking up my V Synth, my Nord Drum 2, and my TQ5 all together today, and here are the sketches that came from that brief recording session:

• Fun Jam
• Digital Orchestra

Like I mentioned earlier, they're still sketchy around the edges, so even I can hear some stuff now that could be done to improve the tracks a tad.  That said, I'm still looking for everybody's feedback and hope you enjoy what you hear.  Cheers!

 

Reading my comments back, I may have come across a bit curt but that wasn't my intent, I was intending to just be to the point and clear. I'm glad my lack of friendliness didn't cause any offense or anything of the sort, just honest impressions.

 

That said, Fun Jam is honestly pretty fun. Catchy little melodic plays and groove going on throughout that feel pretty fresh to my ear, I was nodding along with it. Great basis for a track. Digital orchestra had some great components too (really enjoyed the atmosphere and then the higher playful melody coming in about a minute in) it all comes together to evoke a range of emotions within it's 6 minutes, which is no easy feat. Both do come across as sketches though, maybe just a little refinement, along with some clearer mixing, would really open them up. I know that's not always the easiest with hardware (definitely an issue I've run into often with my own music) but also I don't know how your setup/recording situation is so maybe that's not a big deal at all for you to polish and tweak....both are very good starts to tracks though.

 

Also listened to Digital which has some really nice components (melody was very catchy!) but was maybe missing something? I felt maybe it needed another section to the track, or maybe just revisiting it with fresh ears? The chords and generally just the sounds of each instrument sounded good (that main chord sound was great in fact) but I think it was missing just some cohesion or something? I liked it, no matter.

 

Also I checked out Acid Chords on your Soundcloud and I know you didn't post it here asking for opinions, but it's good stuff. Again, the mix is an issue for me (drums particularly here) but the song structure, melody, strength and tone of the chords and interplay between all of it? Not usually my sort of thing but it works VERY well for what it's going for (what it seems like it's going for? lol). I do like the drums in this one if that's not clear, they're just mixed so low/behind everything I can't really feel them, ya know? Great little sorta nostalgic catchy piece. :)

[snack master]

 

Hey everybody!

 

I ended up really enjoying the feedback Auxien provided.  I thought about what they said for quite a bit and ended up adjusting my approach and workflow to make the freshest material possible.  With that goal in mind, I ended up hooking up my V Synth, my Nord Drum 2, and my TQ5 all together today, and here are the sketches that came from that brief recording session:

• Fun Jam
• Digital Orchestra

Like I mentioned earlier, they're still sketchy around the edges, so even I can hear some stuff now that could be done to improve the tracks a tad.  That said, I'm still looking for everybody's feedback and hope you enjoy what you hear.  Cheers!

 

Reading my comments back, I may have come across a bit curt but that wasn't my intent, I was intending to just be to the point and clear. I'm glad my lack of friendliness didn't cause any offense or anything of the sort, just honest impressions.

 

That said, Fun Jam is honestly pretty fun. Catchy little melodic plays and groove going on throughout that feel pretty fresh to my ear, I was nodding along with it. Great basis for a track. Digital orchestra had some great components too (really enjoyed the atmosphere and then the higher playful melody coming in about a minute in) it all comes together to evoke a range of emotions within it's 6 minutes, which is no easy feat. Both do come across as sketches though, maybe just a little refinement, along with some clearer mixing, would really open them up. I know that's not always the easiest with hardware (definitely an issue I've run into often with my own music) but also I don't know how your setup/recording situation is so maybe that's not a big deal at all for you to polish and tweak....both are very good starts to tracks though.

 

Also listened to Digital which has some really nice components (melody was very catchy!) but was maybe missing something? I felt maybe it needed another section to the track, or maybe just revisiting it with fresh ears? The chords and generally just the sounds of each instrument sounded good (that main chord sound was great in fact) but I think it was missing just some cohesion or something? I liked it, no matter.

 

Also I checked out Acid Chords on your Soundcloud and I know you didn't post it here asking for opinions, but it's good stuff. Again, the mix is an issue for me (drums particularly here) but the song structure, melody, strength and tone of the chords and interplay between all of it? Not usually my sort of thing but it works VERY well for what it's going for (what it seems like it's going for? lol). I do like the drums in this one if that's not clear, they're just mixed so low/behind everything I can't really feel them, ya know? Great little sorta nostalgic catchy piece. :)

 

 

Don't worry about possibly coming off as curt--I asked for opinions and truly appreciated what you had to offer.  I'd rather get a more honest and curt opinion than something that is softened opinion to protect "my feelings", especially when it's clear that thought was put into the feedback.

 

I definitely need to improve my mixing / "mastering", as it's pretty basic right now.  I usually just try to get levels correct, compress wherever necessary, and then slap Ableton's stock limiter on the master channel.  If anybody has specific recommendations for me based on what they've heard so far, please feel free to share your thoughts.

 

Regarding the feeling you had about something missing, I'm not terribly surprised.  Working with the limited setup of the TQ5, the V-Synth and the Nord Drum 2, I think limited myself too much and might need to adjust my workflow to take advantage of the TQ5's or the V-Synth's multitimbral capacity to lay a few more lines down in these tracks.  It was fun trying to write a whole song out of just three boxes and eight parts, and it definitely encouraged some novel approaches, but it did sometimes lend itself to frustrating rather than helping the writing process.

 

Thanks for listening!

[thawkins]

Hey, I just happened on this thread by mistake, but this is really good music.

 

Particularly what I like about this stuff (and by "this stuff" I mean I have just listened to a lot of your Soundcloud) is that it's not very complex technically - sometimes I get exasperated by IDM songs that keep changing and glitching every other moment, but this is not one of those cases. I think the minimalism in gear is not something you need to be worried about, in fact I think it has helped you to be more expressive with the things that you do have.

 

Also there is a hint of this kind of positive rawness in your music, as in it is not too polished so that every automation curve is aligned with some rule of thirds or whatever visual/mental feng shui I sometimes catch myself doing when mixing tracks. 

 

Anyways if you ever do a live set of that material, I think it would be really interesting to listen to. Also hope you get that record deal - for some reason this stuff sounds refreshing and nice to listen to even if it is not maybe something truly revolutionary in terms of IDMness. However it does feel like it's got a potential to just be taking the listener away to some space and telling them a story, which I think is really important in a record.

[snack master]

Hey, I just happened on this thread by mistake, but this is really good music.

 

Particularly what I like about this stuff (and by "this stuff" I mean I have just listened to a lot of your Soundcloud) is that it's not very complex technically - sometimes I get exasperated by IDM songs that keep changing and glitching every other moment, but this is not one of those cases. I think the minimalism in gear is not something you need to be worried about, in fact I think it has helped you to be more expressive with the things that you do have.

 

Also there is a hint of this kind of positive rawness in your music, as in it is not too polished so that every automation curve is aligned with some rule of thirds or whatever visual/mental feng shui I sometimes catch myself doing when mixing tracks. 

 

Anyways if you ever do a live set of that material, I think it would be really interesting to listen to. Also hope you get that record deal - for some reason this stuff sounds refreshing and nice to listen to even if it is not maybe something truly revolutionary in terms of IDMness. However it does feel like it's got a potential to just be taking the listener away to some space and telling them a story, which I think is really important in a record.

 

I'm really glad you stumbled upon my music!  Everything you say is extremely flattering and encouraging to me, so thanks for the feedback! 

 

I agree with what you said about IDM sometimes being overly complicated.  I'm a fan of most types of IDM, but was first exposed to IDM through things like LFO, SAW 85-92, and Ceephax, so I think I'm generally more a fan of the traditional IDM sound than the more complicated stuff that's come out since then.  Now that I think about it, I generally loathe overly complicated things in general, so that's probably a bigger factor in my approach to songwriting than I ever realized before.

[snack master]

Here's some acid I recorded today:

 

https://soundcloud.com/johnzn/acid-rhythms

 

I'm thinking the kick may be a bit too heavy, but other than that, I'm pretty pleased with this piece.  It's really only a sketch, though.  I plan on making proper pieces in this vein some time soon when I'm in my new studio space.

[snack master]

Back with some new acid sounds:

 

https://soundcloud.com/johnzn/nice-acid

 

I'm still allowing myself to be a little sloppy with the mix and such, but this is also a first draft, so the final piece will be a little more refined.

[fxbip]

This is some

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice Acid :D

 

intense dirty beat!

lovely shit keep it up

Edited July 4, 2018 by fxbip

[snack master]

Hey everybody!

 

I'm wondering what you all have to say about the following tracks:

• Hard Snack
• Summer Feeling
• Energetic Acid
• Look At That
• Gamelan remix track