First tunes, please advise?

Centrepoint

Active Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2016
Location
Cambridgeshire UK
These are my first tunes i've done since starting writing about 5 months ago.

No mix down(cus i've never done it before, ha) or much else done on them yet, just keep going back tweeting and eq'ing.

Not particularly happy with the sound quality, not got a lot of beef on a 2k system.

Not finished arranging the end of 'Rattler', to be honest still not finished any of them to how i want them arranged or sounding.

Any advice on how i can get them sounding better or how i can get them moving on would be nice and very helpful, cheers.

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First tune intro is too long for me, you've got a nice vibe, it just needs more work eqing and playing about with the levels, drums need to sound bigger for instance.

Second one has loads of spacious sounds, but snare drum doesn't cut through and I can't hear your kick drum.

Last tune has a nice rolling energy to it!

The best advice I can give you is to just keep at it, make more tunes, compare your tunes to respected artists and your stuff will improve over time.
 
Hi CP, hello -- appy new year !!
finally I have some time to listen to your tracks and give a bit of feedback.

drumstarter: nice roller. good vibe and flow. pls check the snare. also, this one needs some scooping in mid mid range, check 500hz esp.
priorities: this is sounds quite good, i like the synths and vox in the break. maybe some variations in the drums would make this more interesting?
rattler: my favourite of the three. interesting vibe and atmo. not a bit fan of the dj vox in this one but this personal taste. drums and arrangement sound good in this one.

feel free to reach out of you have specific questions. cheers & all the best for 2017! :2thumbs:
 
First tune intro is too long for me, you've got a nice vibe, it just needs more work eqing and playing about with the levels, drums need to sound bigger for instance.

Second one has loads of spacious sounds, but snare drum doesn't cut through and I can't hear your kick drum.

Last tune has a nice rolling energy to it!

The best advice I can give you is to just keep at it, make more tunes, compare your tunes to respected artists and your stuff will improve over time.

Thanks for the reply, i agree, not getting drums punchy enough, i believe a lot of people compress their drums, i've tried, but not sure if i'm doing it right as they seem less punchy when i've compressed them?

I keep going back eq'ing like you suggest and you're right they do start to sound better each time.

I guess i need to keep working on my mixing skills, this seems like the key?

Thanks again, you've really helped.
 
Hi CP, hello -- appy new year !!
finally I have some time to listen to your tracks and give a bit of feedback.

drumstarter: nice roller. good vibe and flow. pls check the snare. also, this one needs some scooping in mid mid range, check 500hz esp.
priorities: this is sounds quite good, i like the synths and vox in the break. maybe some variations in the drums would make this more interesting?
rattler: my favourite of the three. interesting vibe and atmo. not a bit fan of the dj vox in this one but this personal taste. drums and arrangement sound good in this one.

feel free to reach out of you have specific questions. cheers & all the best for 2017! :2thumbs:

Thanks for taking the time in listening and replying, much appreciated.

I am starting to work out that eq'ing plays a large part in the mixing of the sounds, i'm not sure if every noise in the mix has to be a different frequency or if some can be mixed at the same? I know sub is down around 30-60 and the kick around 80 i think, i keep the hats right at the other end, the rest i just seem to be guessing with at the moment.

I'll keep working on it, got the whole day/night today, starting a new one, gonna crack on, cheers for the advice and critique, it really helps, trust me.
 
Thanks for the reply, i agree, not getting drums punchy enough, i believe a lot of people compress their drums, i've tried, but not sure if i'm doing it right as they seem less punchy when i've compressed them?

I keep going back eq'ing like you suggest and you're right they do start to sound better each time.

I guess i need to keep working on my mixing skills, this seems like the key?

Thanks again, you've really helped.

No problem mate, I think a lot of it is in the sample you choose, layering different samples together and then try eqing, compressing that kind of thing.
I swear by this guide, https://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/tutorials/ten-tips-better-drums it might go over your head as the techniques are a bit complex but its still well worth a read.

You just want to make sure your drums are pretty much the loudest part of the mix, then eq notches in the other parts of your track so they stick out, spectrum analyser is good for looking at your frequency peaks.
 
No problem mate, I think a lot of it is in the sample you choose, layering different samples together and then try eqing, compressing that kind of thing.
I swear by this guide, https://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/tutorials/ten-tips-better-drums it might go over your head as the techniques are a bit complex but its still well worth a read.

You just want to make sure your drums are pretty much the loudest part of the mix, then eq notches in the other parts of your track so they stick out, spectrum analyser is good for looking at your frequency peaks.

Dude, many thanks, you are a diamond geezer...this is just the kind of advice i need...top man!
 
Thanks for taking the time in listening and replying, much appreciated.

I am starting to work out that eq'ing plays a large part in the mixing of the sounds, i'm not sure if every noise in the mix has to be a different frequency or if some can be mixed at the same? I know sub is down around 30-60 and the kick around 80 i think, i keep the hats right at the other end, the rest i just seem to be guessing with at the moment.

I'll keep working on it, got the whole day/night today, starting a new one, gonna crack on, cheers for the advice and critique, it really helps, trust me.

I'm not so strong on this kind of thing so might get better advice from someone else, but separating drums and bass is fairly straightforward, you just need to decide whether you want your kick pitched lower than your bass, or the other way around. Ordinarily in dnb, your kick is like 110-ish hz and your sub will be from like 50hz-70hz, if you then low pass your sub to 70 hz and high pass your kick to 70hz then they won't be clashing, but these aren't concrete numbers it'll be different for every tune and often you'll still want some low end in your kick so you might not actually high pass your kick at all.

The way of writing tunes that works for me is by picturing the different parts of a tune as like building blocks, going from left to right lowest frequency to highest, then each instrument has got its own space. Like if we have a look at the frequency spectrum:

Screen-Shot-2014-06-02-at-09.39.47.png


Sub is like I said up to about 70 hz, your kick is then often 110-ish hz, snare 200hz, you might have a bit of a bass at like 300hz, the a piano a bit higher up etc. and it's just about making space for everything, making a good tune is more about decent selection of sounds than just good eqing in my opinion, the right combination of good sounds will always sound good together.

Get yourself voxengo span btw, it's a cut above the rest and it's free!
 
I'm not so strong on this kind of thing so might get better advice from someone else, but separating drums and bass is fairly straightforward, you just need to decide whether you want your kick pitched lower than your bass, or the other way around. Ordinarily in dnb, your kick is like 110-ish hz and your sub will be from like 50hz-70hz, if you then low pass your sub to 70 hz and high pass your kick to 70hz then they won't be clashing, but these aren't concrete numbers it'll be different for every tune and often you'll still want some low end in your kick so you might not actually high pass your kick at all.

The way of writing tunes that works for me is by picturing the different parts of a tune as like building blocks, going from left to right lowest frequency to highest, then each instrument has got its own space. Like if we have a look at the frequency spectrum:

Screen-Shot-2014-06-02-at-09.39.47.png


Sub is like I said up to about 70 hz, your kick is then often 110-ish hz, snare 200hz, you might have a bit of a bass at like 300hz, the a piano a bit higher up etc. and it's just about making space for everything, making a good tune is more about decent selection of sounds than just good eqing in my opinion, the right combination of good sounds will always sound good together.

Get yourself voxengo span btw, it's a cut above the rest and it's free!

Mate, this is pure gold for me, it helps a lot.
 
One last little tip, make sure you high pass absolutely everything apart from like bass and your kick drum, loads of stuff has unwanted low frequencies in that will basically fuck up your tune lol, like crash cymbals for instance.
 
One last little tip, make sure you high pass absolutely everything apart from like bass and your kick drum, loads of stuff has unwanted low frequencies in that will basically fuck up your tune lol, like crash cymbals for instance.

You see i haven't done that, interesting , looking forward to trying it and seeing what difference it makes, ta.
 
Hey man. Your tracks have potential, nice work for a such short production experience. I agree with others - you need to focus more on technical aspects of producion, becouse your musical ideas are very good and interesting. I'm not a technical expert, but it can help your tunes sound better.
I like very much what is happening in "Priorites" at 1:28 - such a beauty arragement!
Cheers!
 
Hey man. Your tracks have potential, nice work for a such short production experience. I agree with others - you need to focus more on technical aspects of producion, becouse your musical ideas are very good and interesting. I'm not a technical expert, but it can help your tunes sound better.
I like very much what is happening in "Priorites" at 1:28 - such a beauty arragement!
Cheers!

Cheers dude, you don't know what a bit of encouragement does for me, really appreciate your comment.
 
hey man, really like the drumstarter 5.7 track! really well set out. grea for an intro to a mix dude..... anly piece of advice is to have a look into eq'ing to get those snares tighter and popping out of the mix a little more and sharpen those hats! really nice structure though dude.
 
No problem mate, I think a lot of it is in the sample you choose, layering different samples together and then try eqing, compressing that kind of thing.
I swear by this guide, https://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/tutorials/ten-tips-better-drums it might go over your head as the techniques are a bit complex but its still well worth a read.

You just want to make sure your drums are pretty much the loudest part of the mix, then eq notches in the other parts of your track so they stick out, spectrum analyser is good for looking at your frequency peaks.

Had a little pop at something using compression on the drums, i think they sound punchier, quite happy with them really, cheers dude.

 
hey man, really like the drumstarter 5.7 track! really well set out. grea for an intro to a mix dude..... anly piece of advice is to have a look into eq'ing to get those snares tighter and popping out of the mix a little more and sharpen those hats! really nice structure though dude.

Cheers, glad you liked the arrangement on Drumstarter, i kinda know how i want it to sound, it's just having the skills to be able to do it. I'll keep working on it till i get the right sound i want...you're right about the drums, bit annoying because it's drum's i love...i will get my formula together in the near future.
 
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