Advice on a track!

S

Sam2604

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Joined
Jun 22, 2009
I did a remix of Ellie Goulding's Under The Sheets, it's my first ever go at dnb and I was wondering if anyone had some opinions/advice/constructive criticism to offer? I know it's far from perfect but I'd like to know what it needs to make it better! I feel like it gets a bit boring but I don't really know what to change.

Thanks guys! Here's the link; http://soundcloud.com/eyes-1/under-the-sheets-eyes-remix

I've also tried a dubstep remix of One Shot by JLS, if that interests anyone I'll post the link but not sure if that's the kinda thing to post here!

(Sorry if I've broken any rules posting this thread or that link, I did look around for a rules thing but didn't find it, please feel free to delete/move as appropriate! )
 
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the snare is pathetic bro , beef it up abit , it sounds like an old woman farting :D
you've got the mix going well , the vocals and beat together

your tune as a whole sounds very tame and flat , it sounds like its underwater and its scared to come out of its shell , i think the bass needs to beef up too and eq all your sections like vocals, bass, drum hits ect so each one has its own proper frequency.

also your drum beat is generic and gets quite boring.

im sorry there are more cons than pros with my input but hopefully you can benefit from it (y)
 
Indigo said:
the snare is pathetic bro , beef it up abit , it sounds like an old woman farting :D
you've got the mix going well , the vocals and beat together

your tune as a whole sounds very tame and flat , it sounds like its underwater and its scared to come out of its shell , i think the bass needs to beef up too and eq all your sections like vocals, bass, drum hits ect so each one has its own proper frequency.

also your drum beat is generic and gets quite boring.

im sorry there are more cons than pros with my input but hopefully you can benefit from it (y)
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Thanks for the speedy feedback!

I agree with the snare comment, I was messing with it for a while and I think I got to the point where I sorta forgot what I was aiming for and it ended up a little pants really, I'll have another go with fresh ears! Definitely look at the individual track EQ'ing as well, fair comment.

Yeah with the drum beat that's what I meant about it getting boring! Wasn't really sure how to alter it, would you suggest different patterns for different sections? Like ABABCAB sorta thing? Or just a constant progression throughout the track? As I say I'm not really used to dnb yet so haven't quite grasped the average structure when it comes to drums. Thanks again for the feedback, for a first go it's awesome to get any feedback at all!
 
Like ABABCAB sorta thing? Or just a constant progression throughout the track?
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a mix of both , personally , not saying its the best idea but i usually have my first break which is just a snare and a hi hat or two , then the second with kick snare and full hi hats going , then a third which is the main with a really nice grove going with everything plus some tamborine/shaker going.

advice on making your drum patterns i have the snare - hi hats - kicks - shakers on all different channel so you can use each for side chaining and individual eqing , its a long process but has great results
 
another thing that is important that i forgot to add is to LAYER UP parts in your tracks , for instance using several layers in your bass or using 3 snares to give it that pop and depth
 
Indigo said:
a mix of both , personally , not saying its the best idea but i usually have my first break which is just a snare and a hi hat or two , then the second with kick snare and full hi hats going , then a third which is the main with a really nice grove going with everything plus some tamborine/shaker going.

advice on making your drum patterns i have the snare - hi hats - kicks - shakers on all different channel so you can use each for side chaining and individual eqing , its a long process but has great results
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Okay, I'll have a mess around with it! See if I can get it more interesting, cheers.

I'm actually doing the same thing! I haven't done any sidechaining yet, tried it with the lower bass I've got going and it just got a bit messy and choppy, what would you usually sidechain? I'm guessing the kick against the bass but that's just a guess?
 
if i was doing an electro house tune i would side chain the kick with the bass , dillinja and harder dnb artists might but it seems that your going for a more chilled out tone , only because your vocal is rather soft , you dont want your vocals contrasting your tune to much!

i would side chain the shaker with the hi hats so the high frequencies don't clash.

ultimately i would listen to what you want to side chain and then match it with - is it high frequencies lows or mids and then sidechain with another thing that falls under that frequency band so ... kick and bass , snare and pad , shaker and hi hats , you can experiment to get your own sound , this isnt what you have to do , just advice , take it or leave it bro
 
Indigo said:
if i was doing an electro house tune i would side chain the kick with the bass , dillinja and harder dnb artists might but it seems that your going for a more chilled out tone , only because your vocal is rather soft , you dont want your vocals contrasting your tune to much!

i would side chain the shaker with the hi hats so the high frequencies don't clash.

ultimately i would listen to what you want to side chain and then match it with - is it high frequencies lows or mids and then sidechain with another thing that falls under that frequency band so ... kick and bass , snare and pad , shaker and hi hats , you can experiment to get your own sound , this isnt what you have to do , just advice , take it or leave it bro
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Just spotted about layering, you reckon that would help the snare? I just tried putting a bass drum underneath and EQ'ing to make it fit but no real luck, what would you say's the best thing to beef it up?

Haha yeah that's why I guessed bass, I make electro sorta stuff usually and that's what I usually do. Yeah that's good advice, stuff that now I read I wonder why I didn't think about it like that before! Cheers for this! EQ'ed the background pads and bass and it's sounding a bit fatter already.
 
okay if the bass kick had a nice attack and mid to it yes! , you want a rimshot something fast and short with lots of mid to fill it out

p.s sorry about late reply!
 
Indigo said:
okay if the bass kick had a nice attack and mid to it yes! , you want a rimshot something fast and short with lots of mid to fill it out

p.s sorry about late reply!
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Cheers! I'll get on it today when I'm not feeling last night so much haha. No worries about the late reply, sorry about this late reply!
 
Also one thing that you've deffo forgot to mention that if your samples are shit, then there is no point in layering up and Eqin the fuck out of it when you could of just used a more powerful snare to start with. Same goes for kicks etc etc. Worth thinking about before you spend hours on snare that originally was a pile of turd.

"You can't polish a turd" ... Standard!
 
the bpm is a bit quick i think.


It kinda sounds like its trying to run faster than it can. just drop it by maybe 5 bpm?

its just sounds a bit tooooo frantic for my taste..

really good concept though. nice tune... like the others said... just needs more work.

Indigo said:
the snare is pathetic bro , beef it up abit , it sounds like an old woman farting :D
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haha. this ^
 
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