Hypergenesis Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Hi Everyone on OC REMIX , My Names Gavin aka Hypergenesis on here or Retromegahero on deviantart, 32 years old from the UK , just got into making remixes and original tracks in FL studio and havent had any previous musical experience . Im just looking for some feedback and pointers about musical structure and composition please listen to my attached songs and let me know any feedback is greatly needed. Thanks Ps also check out my deviant art account http://retromegahero.deviantart.com/ https://soundcloud.com/gavin-lee-1/altered-state-final-mix-2015 https://soundcloud.com/gavin-lee-1/safe-in-your-arms https://soundcloud.com/gavin-lee-1/track-2-dub-moon-rising Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 Welcome to the OCR forums! Glad to see you around here, using the WIP forums. I gave the Altered Beast track a listen, and it actually isn't too bad. The production isn't bad, and the drums are pretty tight. If I were to give a quick critique I would say the structure is rather repetitive, looping the same bassline over and over again. Starting at 2:46 there are some odd melodic lines that don't harmonize very well, so be sure to make sure that the melody and harmonies match up. It's a good start, though, and shows that with time I think you'll get better.A quick tip on posting on here - if you post one track per thread and label the thread after the game track being arranged it may attract more comments. Hopefully you'll have a good experience around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 I gave a quick listen to each track, and it sounds like the main thing I think you could improve on is avoiding overcompression (or overly intense sidechaining) in Safe in your Arms and in Altered State. Similarly, Dub Moon Rising is strangely quiet overall, and feels overcompressed, or you have a dull kick drum that is coupled with overly intense sidechaining. It's odd since it's dubstep and I usually find dubstep songs on soundcloud to be very loud. It's not wrong to be too quiet, but I don't want to have to turn my volume up for your song but then turn it down for others. Mainly I would work on trying to find a better limiter that is more tolerant to your loud mixing (relative to the limiter threshold), such as TLs-Pocket Limiter or FabFilter Pro-L, but I would agree that compositionally the songs could have a more well-defined structure and a more logical flow to the arrangement. Currently I can skip through them without missing anything climactic or hearing textural contrasts. If you can skip about 15 seconds along your song a few times and you can tell that something feels substantially different, you'll be on the right track IMO. An experiment you could try is to listen to your songs with your computer monitor turned off. Soundcloud may cloud your judgment on how good or bad your transitions and flow are because you can see the waveform and you can usually tell what's going to happen (it's gonna get quiet here; it's gonna drop here, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypergenesis Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 @gario and @timaeus222 , Cheers for the feedback , I think the volume issues are mainly due to the selected knob in Fl studio being set low when exporting to Mp3 on some of the tracks . I agree that there are issues with flow on all the tracks. I just think i'm still getting to grips with what type of style and structure I can work easily with. I have a vast amount of ideas in my head and i've not got much musical understanding , I.e. I cant read music so mostly i used a midi keyboard and the Fl studio Piano role to figure things out , My main vst's used are nexus and massive currently and i am influenced by artist such as ARAN (JP) and Singularity . I have followed people on OC remix for years , Guys like Rexy , AVIEN , Mcvaffe to name a few . I just need some pointers for composition . And maybe something to challenge myself to work towards a better workflow and plan out my music. Thanks again for the feedback its awesome and well needed Guys : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypergenesis Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Could you Guys check out my artwork and comment also please i could do with an outside view on if my work is ok , link below , thanks Gav http://ocremix.org/community/topic/41161-some-of-my-video-game-art/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 @gario and @timaeus222 , Cheers for the feedback , I think the volume issues are mainly due to the selected knob in Fl studio being set low when exporting to Mp3 on some of the tracks .[...] Thanks again for the feedback its awesome and well needed Guys : ) What "selected knob"? I think it's more likely that your individual instrument volumes were too loud, and your Limiter just pushed them down. Without the Limiter on, does your Master track read red? Regardless, did you change your default sound settings on Windows? You need to make sure the Sound settings for the so-called "Playback Enhancements" are turned off, because they alter the final result of your listening experience, especially the loudness. They will affect how you mix, and won't give you an accurate perception of your music. On Windows 7 (Sound > Playback Device > Properties > Enhancements), the options are called "Environment", "Voice Cancellation", "Pitch Shift", "Equalizer", "Headphone Virtualization", and "Loudness Equalization". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypergenesis Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 Oh you meant the volume is lower in the certain areas , listening to it back with headphones on i understand where you mean the drums are faint , whats the best way to add more bass ? sine wave ? or just overlay a bassier drum beat ? I think your right about the individuals levels , I will adjust them and see how i get on. Thanks again for the feedback . Its appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted June 9, 2015 Share Posted June 9, 2015 You should check your bass sounds and see how much frequency content there is below 200 Hz. Try low passing near 200 Hz and seeing if the frequencies below that feel strong. If not, try looking at how the sound was made in your synth and see what could have decreased the amount of bass below 200 Hz. Maybe you decreased it in an EQ plugin, or you used too much overdrive/distortion in a filter within the synth, or something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypergenesis Posted June 9, 2015 Author Share Posted June 9, 2015 @timaeus222 , Thanks i will check the 200hz low pass as you advised . I think that might be the issue i think the EQ may be set inconsistently also though. Thanks so much for the advice , guess i need to practice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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