[Calum]

OCRemix has been essential in improving my music production skills. I can tell i've come a long way but at this point I hit a relative standstill and i want to assess my skills right now and see how to take them further.

Here are probably four standout tracks for me at the moment in terms of production.

CHIPTUNE http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/returning-to-earth
ELECTRO/CHILL http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/space-float
HIPHOP http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/silent-infiltration
ORCHESTRAL http://soundcloud.com/calumbowen/frantic-flight

Please feel free to chime in with feedback on what does and doesn't work with these.

I would also love to trade tracks and discuss with someone regularly who is at a similar level to me (perhaps a little better ; )). I know this kind of thing goes on so i'll happily listen to someone's tracks and give feedback if anyone's willing to start a kind of active feedback session thing.

ANYWAY, please anyone feel free to give me feedback of any kind.
I hope the advice that may be in this thread can be useful to other people.

[Damashii!!]

that hip hop track was neckbreaking material right from the start. niiiiiice, i dig it.

man, i think it's incredible how you yourself feel like you're peaking but imo you're also capable of displaying highly versatile ksc in many different styles. all i can say is if you feel like you're at a plateau right now then you should try listening to different things (not things you hate for the sake of difference, but actual styles that you don't explore regularly) and try taking a few alternative/unconventional/experimental approaches to random recordings. and the best advice i ever heard was to just take a break every once in a while.

there was a really good thread several months ago that had a bunch of people sharing back and forth a few mixes based on a rough demo recording somebody made. i'll try to find it later today since i'm about to crash now, but monitoring threads like that always help me and i think it's really good to have ping-pong comparison sessions every once in a while and see the perspectives of others.

sorry if this doesn't help at all, but i do like your tracks a lot, man. that space float beat was refreshing and another neckbreaker as well. def played that back more than once.

[GallenWolf]

Really don't know what to say, 'cept you've got some really good stuff going!

[SnappleMan]

From my experience I've found that you can learn a lot from people of any skill level. Don't limit yourself or others by setting invisible lines of class and status. Sometimes I get more help from non-musicians who don't get hung up on technical things but instead can tell me if a song feels right to them for whatever simply worded reasons.

As musicians we always seem to give feedback by applying our own methods and principles to a composition/instrumentation/mix, and sometimes that isn't really the best type of feedback.

[Calum]

Thank you for the responses. I guess I don't think i've plateaued, I know I can do better... it's just I suppose I can't find a clear answer right now and thought someone may have gone through this and could recognise that i'm failing to do this or that... i'm sure i will slowly progress on my own but speeding up the process with some feedback/just assessing where i'm at at the moment would be great for me! : )

SnappleMan: I think your advice is useful, not sure where the class and status thing came from... It would be good to gauge what a non-musician thinks and i often ask my girlfriend... to be honest though, purely in terms of production, firstly, i don't think many non-musicians can distinguish subtle differences between a what is considered a good mix and a bad mix and they have a hard time articulating it. I do not wish to come off as a snob but I see that as a useful process as a general gauge of how someone experiences your music but i'm not confident they'll necessarily give me what i'm looking for right now. Unless you're saying i'm looking for the wrong direction, which perhaps you are.

Sir Jordanius: that helps! it does. I'd be interested in having a look at that ping-pong comparison stuff. I'm really glad you like the tracks. Looking into different styles will certainly help i think. And maybe too, taking a break! : )

GallenWolf: thank you! : )

[Chimpazilla]

Originally Posted by SnappleMan

From my experience I've found that you can learn a lot from people of any skill level. Don't limit yourself or others by setting invisible lines of class and status. Sometimes I get more help from non-musicians who don't get hung up on technical things but instead can tell me if a song feels right to them for whatever simply worded reasons.

As musicians we always seem to give feedback by applying our own methods and principles to a composition/instrumentation/mix, and sometimes that isn't really the best type of feedback.

Wow, this is a great post. I think by "class and status" maybe you meant skill level? (or maybe posted vs. not-yet-posted vs. not-getting-posted-anytime-soon haha)

I've gotten great feedback from suprising sources. My 84 year old mother was the one to tell me my bassoons were too loud in my current mix, and she was right!

[Damashii!!]

man i got to page 21 and gave up searching. i'm 97.43% sure that this ISN'T the thread i was thinking of, but you get the idea... and i don't think i have it in me to look through 20+ more pages.

Originally Posted by SnappleMan

From my experience I've found that you can learn a lot from people of any skill level. Don't limit yourself or others by setting invisible lines of class and status. Sometimes I get more help from non-musicians who don't get hung up on technical things but instead can tell me if a song feels right to them for whatever simply worded reasons.

As musicians we always seem to give feedback by applying our own methods and principles to a composition/instrumentation/mix, and sometimes that isn't really the best type of feedback.

qft
depends on the person(s) you have available to you for feedback. one of my best friends is great at giving advice for aggressive rock songs because he listens to bands like mudvayne and godsmack, etc., a lot. although he has no idea what "width," "panning," or "compression" means in music production terms he does know what he likes and expects to hear.

[theshaggyfreak]

Never stop learning! The great thing about the times that we live in is that information is abundant. Sure, a lot of it is just noise but there are many good sources to keep you going. I'm quite the evangelist for the magazine Tape-op. It's free and you end up learning more than just the technical end of things. There's a lot of stuff to consider when going from point A to point B and it's not all about the ones and zeros.

Snappleman makes an excellent point. While my wife does play piano, she doesn't get into composition or any of the technical stuff. When she listens to something I'm working on, though, she can quickly point out something that doesn't sound right. That sort of thing has always made a difference in the finished song.

[Calum]

@theshaggyfreak - i'm checking out tape-op right now - it's proving to be a very interesting read. Might have to sign up for a sub!

@sirjordanius - i appreciate the effort you went to, that thread still looks interesting, i may have a play around with some of the stems posted there. Don't worry about finding the other one.

I am wholly grateful for all the suggestions from everyone but I suppose in a way I was looking for feedback here not feedback on how to find feedback

As stated in the first post, i'd love to trade tracks with anyone swapping feedback back and forth etc. at any time. Just PM me if you're interested.

[theshaggyfreak]

I've been reading Tape-op for several years now and it's one of the few magazines that I actually keep. There are a couple of compilation books of some of the best stuff that magazine put out in their earlier years. They're still a good read!

http://amzn.to/MmBh2o
http://amzn.to/LcbKLs