notMe Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Hello all- this is my first attempt at a remix, so any and all feedback is very welcome. I am rather green around the gills when it comes to mixing/production/digital music in general, so try use small words and speak slowly. Oh, and I'm pretty new to forums as well, so hopefully I'm doing everything okay. Anyway, here it is- Free MP3 download: My Favorite Couch-001.mp3 source: http://youtu.be/PGwfBvW3YA8 Thanks much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docnano Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 What a terrific treatment of this theme. You transformed a fairly arhythmic ambient track into a real toe-tapper, which is great. There's enough development to keep it interesting. I think you've also achieved a pretty good balance between too many and too few instruments at a time. Suggestions that come to my mind: 1. The bass synth is a little static for my taste. If you chose a bass sample with more of an distinct attack-decay it might be more interesting, otherwise you could experiment with adding some automation (phaser, frequency cutoffs, EQ changes over time, stuff that I'm not too great at myself). 2. The toy piano or glockenspiel is pretty dry. Maybe you want it this way, but I think a tiny bit more reverb wouldn't hurt. 3. Piano is nicely written but the performance sounds mechanical to me. It sounds like you might be using some different attack velocities, but IMO there should be a bigger contrast between accented and non-accented notes. 4. The last minute or so seems fairly repetitive. Maybe if you introduced a different solo instrument instead of the organ? Or changed up the drum beat/added some accent percussion? 5. Ending is cute but to me comes across as weak with that particular bass sample. Keep up the good work, and welcome to the forums! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 The bass lacks definition and needs rhythm. It's okay when the other instruments provide that for it, but when it's solo in the intro it doesn't quite work. The off-beat timing (syncopation) is cool but on those long solo notes it can just as well sound like you just suck at writing. Which I can hear you certainly don't, green as you may be. Actually, your main problems are sound design and mixing. Like the ending. The kick pretty much wrecks what'd otherwise work as a really sweet ending (except those very last notes, which take it from sweet to cheesy). I'll just list the instruments/sounds that I think you should work on: - the bass instrument, which could have a more closed filter - you can open it for some parts of the track (automation). it could also have more low frequency content. - kick drum and floor tom, which don't sound like they belong in the same kit, the kick being really short and dry while the tom is long and.. uh, open? also, during the softer parts of the track, lower the kick's velocity and/or use a softer kick. soften the low frequencies of the floor tom and find a softer kick for the softer parts of the track. - the higher organ doesn't quite fit with the electronic instruments - you can make it work but it's probably easier to replace it with something else, maybe a different organ, maybe a synth, whatever works. - the weirdly tuned sounds around the middle of the track have a lot of low frequency content - bass tones in them - which you could filter out with an equalizer. That's what I hear. Hope this helps. If there's anything you don't understand, google it. If you still don't get it, just ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notMe Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Thanks for the comments! It’s good for me to have someone’s fresh perspective on it, because after so many times listening to the same thing over and over, I get used to something that I might have thought was only so-so the first time I heard it. Anyway, I agree with the comments about the ending bass (I don’t know what I was thinking) and the beginning bass (I do know what I was thinking, but I couldn’t think of any other way to do it). I will definitely try to make it more interesting. As far as the piano goes, I had tried to use different attack velocities, but I could not hear any difference between really hard and really soft, so I gave up, thinking there was something wrong with the sound font. Now I'm trying a different font player (not sure if that’s what they’re called) and I seem to have control. So that will be fixed. - the higher organ doesn't quite fit with the electronic instruments - you can make it work but it's probably easier to replace it with something else, maybe a different organ, maybe a synth, whatever works. By “the higher organ”, do you mean the organ in general throughout the whole piece, or just the parts where it’s higher? I probably will at least try something different with the organ solo at the end per the doc’s request. And about the kick at the end- could I just take it out and end with the ride cymbal only? I have a really hard time figuring out how to bring instrument in and out if you can’t tell. Anyway, thanks again for the feedback! I will get to work, although I’m not sure how long it’ll be before an update with me being rather busy right now, and also extremely slow at this in general. You could probably feel me blush if I told you how long it took me to write that piece so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docnano Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 You could probably feel me blush if I told you how long it took me to write that piece so far. I doubt I'd be shocked. My first accepted mix (still not posted) took months of work, on and off, and another one took even longer. Keep at it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notMe Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 Ok. Got it updated. Here's a list of what I did- -added reverb to the glock -"humanized" the piano with more accents and stuff -replaced parts of the organ with a synth, changed the other parts -varied the drums more at the end -added automation with a phaser and some low frequency content to the bassline -took out the silly bass fart at the end -tried to "dry up" the floor tom a little bit -a few other tinkering things Some things I only barely changed, so please let me know if I didn't go far enough with your comments. And I would absolutely love any new/additional comments you may have! Fire away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Schwinghamer Posted October 21, 2011 Share Posted October 21, 2011 I really liked it a lot. I'm not sure if the link you have posted in the first post has been updated, but that's the one I listened to. Musically, I really enjoyed it. The intro that fades in and then ends abruptly kind of sounds weird in my opinion. I have trouble deciding if I would include it or not. If you like it, then please keep it there, it's your music. Technically... I'm not enjoying the synth that comes in at :56. Something about the attack bothers me. Looking forward to hearing an updated version! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notMe Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 So... I hate intros. I basically took out the abruptness of it, but it doesn't really floor me much. Changed that synth too; I don't know if I'm sold on it (I wasn't sold on it before, I just don't really know what kind of sound I'm looking for). Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notMe Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 I switched this to mod review... If I was wrong to do so, please let me know. I was feeling like I didn't know what else I could do here, and have not received any further feedback, so... hopefully peeps are fine with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avaris Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 PERCUSSION: The patterns and composition is very driving. Although the samples used are very soft. It makes the drums feel lifeless while the the note patterns feel more driving. IMO it just doesn't add anything beneficial to the track. STEREO FIELD: There is no stereo width to this track. Pan some instruments more. Add a wider reverb and delay when needed. Everything sounds like it has the same reverb setting. DYNAMICS: The song has no dynamics. For a song that feels like it is on auto-pilot create more interesting transitions and change-ups. Create some ebb n flow with some FX sounds. SOUND DESIGN: Overall the choice of sounds need more work. Try out some off the wall different synth patches. Layer sounds together. For a song that is arranged in this manner the sound design needs to be taken to a whole nother level. Just as a creative exercise. Make a copy of the project file. Replace all of the drums with some drums loops. Find some hand drum patterns, they would go great with this track. And then pick all new instruments. Don't be too picky about anything just have fun and experiment. You might a combination of sounds you really like. Don't ever fall in love too much with one sound or pattern. A song is more about the combination of the parts rather than the individual elements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I've listened to your remix and can't possibly put it better than Avaris did. He's got some great feedback, I'd try and incorporate as much of that as you can and really experiment with creating a more dynamic arrangement with more peaks and valleys, and see what you can come up with You've got some cool melodies and ideas going on here, and a great adaptation of the source, but it needs something a little bit more to pass as a remix. Shoot me a message when you get around to updating this, I actually really like the vibe of your arrangement and your solos sound really nice, let's see how far you can take this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esker Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 It's a nice arragement. I think you would came up with a better remix if you work on sound design side, as Avaris said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notMe Posted November 18, 2011 Author Share Posted November 18, 2011 Been busy, but I've finally got around to working on this a bit more. The updated version now includes a bit of panning, reverb and other such effects, so I think it has filled out a bit more. I don't know if I went far enough, but I'll let some fresh ears decide that. I tried to concentrate on sound design a bit- I've done some layering, a few completely new synths, and added some new backgrounds to compliment things (I hope nobody minds arpeggios:smile:). I'm terrible with drums, but I found something else I thought might work- I'll definitely want input here. Overall, I think I succeeded (on some small level, perhaps) at making it sound a little less amateur-ish. Let me know what you guys think! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level 99 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Been busy, but I've finally got around to working on this a bit more. The updated version now includes a bit of panning, reverb and other such effects, so I think it has filled out a bit more. I don't know if I went far enough, but I'll let some fresh ears decide that. I tried to concentrate on sound design a bit- I've done some layering, a few completely new synths, and added some new backgrounds to compliment things (I hope nobody minds arpeggios:smile:). I'm terrible with drums, but I found something else I thought might work- I'll definitely want input here. Overall, I think I succeeded (on some small level, perhaps) at making it sound a little less amateur-ish. Let me know what you guys think! Thanks! Tindeck link is expired/deleted. Can you reupload? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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