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comment by rezzeJ
rezzeJ  ·  3481 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Some Deep Housey Shit I Made

Overall this is pleasantly listenable.

I'd say, in terms of composition, you main area to look at should be repetition and variation. Remember that at base level, music is communication. Therefore, all the rules of communication apply. If you were talk about the exactly same thing continuously you would soon lose the interest of your listeners. On the other hand, if you were to constantly change subjects in rapid-fire succession, no-one would understand you.

The same applies for music. You're looking for that balance keeps the audience enticed whilst not confusing them. So for example, your first drop does almost the exactly the same thing for 2 minutes. Now you added in some sfx, vocals and piano development, but for the most part this doesn't develop your idea, but rather crowds and dilutes it.

What you're looking to do is explore that original idea. To my ears, you base elements are the rhythmic groove and the single piano stabs. One way to extrapolate those ideas would be to start adding syncopated percussion to bounce of the kick. You could throw in some jazzy piano runs, or fill out the progression. Constantly be on the look out for where things can go. If all the same elements from the first part of your track are still there by the end, you're doing it wrong.

Take a look at this great article on theme and variation.

Production wise, your drums and your EQ prove to be the areas that require most attention. Your kick, arguably the most important element of your chosen style, is lost under everything. Look into the concept of drum layering, where you take elements from multiple samples and combine them. The low end from a nice round thud of a kick and the high end of a punchy sample, for example.

Also, look into sidechain compression, which allows you to duck certain elements (e.g. bass) automatically when the kick hits. If used correctly it can strengthen your kicks. Another compression technique to consider is New York/Parallel Compression. With this you send your drums to two group busses. On one, you leave it alone, but on the other, you compress and mangle the hell out of it. Seriously, go nuts until it's all distorted, crunchy and wacky. Then, you mix these two signal chains together and get a nice clean and dynamic sound with lots of depth.

This will also serve to humanise your drum sound a bit more. At the moment it's very robotic, hitting the same way at the same place every time. Real drums are not like that. There's dynamics and pushing and pulling of the beat. Using multiple hats sounds and subtle displacement from the grid can gift your beat much more life and groove.

Gaining a better hold on your EQ would also do wonders for you mix. The reason one EQs is to cut unnecessary frequencies from sounds. A lot of instruments take up energy in your mix where they don't need to, so cutting them not only makes said instrument clearer, but also carves out room for sound it might be overlapping with. Whilst trusting your ears are the best tool for this job, take a look at this EQ guide. It will show you what frequencies do what for a whole load of instruments and sounds.

But yet, nice work man. Keep it up and I look forward to hearing more. Sorry for any typos, I'm tired and haven't checked.





theholywombat  ·  3477 days ago  ·  link  ·  

thanks man, thats some good critiscism. i definitely have a lot to learn and this will help a lot! also sorry for the late answer, i've been on a trip to iceland the last week