Detached - Empty Promises (Liquid project WIP) Feedback appreciated.

J

JamesDetached

Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Hey guys,

I've been working on this project over the last few days as well as desperately trying to get my head around theory and sound design (areas I am severely lacking in)

I had some really good tips on the last track I posted and I've done my best to implement them in this project.

I'm going for the Minimal sound as I always do and was wondering if you guys had any ideas to spice things up (as I do always fall into the trap of keeping it too minimal and it becomes a little bit boring)

Any other feedback on the mixdown or anything that stands out as a bit odd is very much appreciated.

My ears have been pretty numb for the last 30 minutes I was working on it so I might have some issues with certain elements having too much top end.

Cheers

https://soundcloud.com/detached-281952268%2Fdetached-empty-promises-wip
 
You could try mixing up the drums a bit more, adding some little fills and sporadic percussion or break chops here and there. You do this a bit at the 2:20 mark with that bongo sounding thing, before that it sounds like its mostly the same loop without much variation.

Maybe add some more little subtle little vocal chops and jazzy samples here and there, with some nice spacey delay to make some atmospheric vibes
 
hello, what a nice liquid track. i like how calm it is, not rushing at all. to my ears, the vocal and sax are not key harmonic at some parts, pls check. drums are really nice on my system, clear and punchy but not overdone. it's true though you could use some more drum parts / fillers but that is down to personal taste, everyone does this differently. imo, the track lacks a bit in variations. not sure, at 1:30 the pads seem being ducked by some other instrument. will need to listen again on another system to tell what is it. nice tune, man !!
 
Hi man! The main harmonic riff is very nice and jazzy. Also the drums are good to me, but maschinstom is right about the vocal key.
If u want to use this vocal, u should try to little pitch it up. Now the sounds are little bit above the main harmony. Vocal section should be maybe one tone or half tone higher for my ears. Now im at work so i cant check it but try to play with the pitch.
Also the bassline is little bit to simple for me and im talking only about the melody, not the sound. It would be sound nicer if the bass would be more consistant with the main jazzy riff, not only one note like now.

I see big potential in this track and thats why i wrote all this shit and sorry for my english, i hope that you understand me :))
Cheers!
 
Linguist said:
You could try mixing up the drums a bit more, adding some little fills and sporadic percussion or break chops here and there. You do this a bit at the 2:20 mark with that bongo sounding thing, before that it sounds like its mostly the same loop without much variation.

Maybe add some more little subtle little vocal chops and jazzy samples here and there, with some nice spacey delay to make some atmospheric vibes
Click to expand...

Linguist said:
Maybe a bit of vinyl crackle or nature sounds really quietly in the background in places to give it a bit of character and atmosphere
Click to expand...

After taking a break from hearing it for a while, I came back to it and noticed how empty and repetitive it did sound. I think I might have slightly brainwashed myself at the time from hearing it so many times over. I took your advice on-board and it's really helped. I've added a new percussion line and a few edits and fills which really keep it more interesting throughout. I'm currently looking for my old phone as I had recorded tons of sounds while I was out in Japan so I could maybe use them as some background atmospherics! Thanks for the constructive feedback bro.

maschinistom said:
hello, what a nice liquid track. i like how calm it is, not rushing at all. to my ears, the vocal and sax are not key harmonic at some parts, pls check. drums are really nice on my system, clear and punchy but not overdone. it's true though you could use some more drum parts / fillers but that is down to personal taste, everyone does this differently. imo, the track lacks a bit in variations. not sure, at 1:30 the pads seem being ducked by some other instrument. will need to listen again on another system to tell what is it. nice tune, man !!
Click to expand...

Thank you Maschinistom, I'm glad you're kinda feeling the vibe I'm going for. You said the vocal and sax are not key harmonic at certain points, I'm a little confused on this as I know pretty much nothing about theory beyond a few basic chords and am completely going by ear. Does it mean the vocal and sax are out of tune in a sense? or that I need to bring them a little more forward in the mix? apologies if this seems like a stupid question.

Janek said:
Hi man! The main harmonic riff is very nice and jazzy. Also the drums are good to me, but maschinstom is right about the vocal key.
If u want to use this vocal, u should try to little pitch it up. Now the sounds are little bit above the main harmony. Vocal section should be maybe one tone or half tone higher for my ears. Now im at work so i cant check it but try to play with the pitch.
Also the bassline is little bit to simple for me and im talking only about the melody, not the sound. It would be sound nicer if the bass would be more consistant with the main jazzy riff, not only one note like now.

I see big potential in this track and thats why i wrote all this shit and sorry for my english, i hope that you understand me :))
Cheers!
Click to expand...

Thanks dude, going for that jazzy vibe too but yours completely blow mine out the water haha. I'm working on finding another vocal something that maybe sits better within the tune ans gives me more freedom. The vocal I'm using at the moment is from a Garage pack that has basically just a load of Ad-Libs and silly one shots (good vocals are such a pain to come by) I've done my best to add some variation to the drums and bassline especially (I think sometimes my liking for minimal music might also be my downfall) thanks for the feedback it helped a lot!

I'll post an updated version some time soon!
 
hello. the updated version sound better than the initial one, also the key issue seems to have been solved. what I meant was the chord at the end of the 4bar pattern, esp. when played together with the sax. still sounds a bit off tune to me (marginal), not really sure what it is. anyway, keep the chords as they are, sometimes off chords sound better then technically the right ones ;) nice tune man, very relaxed :)
 
Hi I didn't hear V1, so I can only comment on V2.

It sounds like you can put together a decent loop of drums and musical elements however the track doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. The pad you've got from the beginning sounded nice for about a minute, but it got boring real fast. I would suggest using some effects and automation on it for variation (delay/distort/filter). Or even experiment playing the same progression on another instrument to provide contrast.

Mixwise - I think you need to re-balance the levels. Your kick is nice and PHAT but I think it's too boomy for a track like this. It makes the other elements sound weak in comparison imo. I think the whole low frequency region is too loud. I'm guessing you boosted it so you could hear the bass. Instead try using a bit of distortion (multi-band if you can) to bring out some higher harmonics around the 800Hz area and your bass will come through clearer at a lower level even on small speakers.
I also think you should boost the high end on the musical elements and vocals so add a bit more excitement to the track as a whole. Again I'd try using distortion or filtered parallel distortion to add some high end fizzle and energy. And EQ obvs but sometimes large EQ boosts don't sound great.

Hope that was somewhat constructive :)
 
maschinistom said:
hello. the updated version sound better than the initial one, also the key issue seems to have been solved. what I meant was the chord at the end of the 4bar pattern, esp. when played together with the sax. still sounds a bit off tune to me (marginal), not really sure what it is. anyway, keep the chords as they are, sometimes off chords sound better then technically the right ones ;) nice tune man, very relaxed :)
Click to expand...

Thanks dude, I know it's going to be a slow journy to get it to an acceptable standard overall but if it's improving even slightly it is progress haha! I have had a listen back and now i know exactly what you meant with the sax. I'm gonna go back to the drawing board on that one. Thanks for the feedback M

Kyba said:
Hi I didn't hear V1, so I can only comment on V2.

It sounds like you can put together a decent loop of drums and musical elements however the track doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. The pad you've got from the beginning sounded nice for about a minute, but it got boring real fast. I would suggest using some effects and automation on it for variation (delay/distort/filter). Or even experiment playing the same progression on another instrument to provide contrast.

Mixwise - I think you need to re-balance the levels. Your kick is nice and PHAT but I think it's too boomy for a track like this. It makes the other elements sound weak in comparison imo. I think the whole low frequency region is too loud. I'm guessing you boosted it so you could hear the bass. Instead try using a bit of distortion (multi-band if you can) to bring out some higher harmonics around the 800Hz area and your bass will come through clearer at a lower level even on small speakers.
I also think you should boost the high end on the musical elements and vocals so add a bit more excitement to the track as a whole. Again I'd try using distortion or filtered parallel distortion to add some high end fizzle and energy. And EQ obvs but sometimes large EQ boosts don't sound great.

Hope that was somewhat constructive :)
Click to expand...

Great feedback. I'm still relatively new to everything and have been winging it for a while casually but this really sets me up to try and explore different avenues with the track.

I never thought about the progression side of things as I always get stuck listening to a loop I enjoy and try to build on it. (A habit I really am going to have to force myself out of)

I'm gonna spend the next few hours playing about with it and see if I can keep it interesting throughout.

My bottom end is exactly what you said. I have a tendency to boost it because of my room acoustics and monitor positioning.

Thanks for taking the time out to listen and leave feedback it's really appreciated.
 
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