Just Starting And Looking for Feedback.

[Xumtosis]

Good-day. Or Night. Or Both. Both? Nevermind.

I'm rather new to all this, And figured a good way to help me get better at it would be to ask people who know what their talking about for some feedback and/or advise.

It hasn't bin very long since I started, and since I never studied music before, This is all new. I decided if I'm going to get any good at this, Might as well start here and try to get a little help.

I practiced a bit, and decided to start simple. All the songs listed are MIDIs with their sounds changed, With little, If any, Note Altering. Their just for reference. I'll start small, And work my way up.

Well, These are the ones I think turned out the best. There's only a few, So I'll just link to my main soundcloud page for conviniance.

Here it is: http://soundcloud.com/xumtosis

I have to stress, These are only for reference on improvement. So don't expect them to be great.

Any Feedback, Tips, Advice, Help, Or anything else is appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

[Rozovian]

Hi and welcome to ocr.

The feedback board is for one track only (albums are exceptions), so pick one track you want feedback on and we'll focus on that. That way you won't have to deal with ppl listening to different tracks and contradicting each other eg "the drums are too loud" "no they're too soft". (and don't clog up the board with a dozen threads for individual tracks, either. it's happened.)

If you're just starting out, we've got some reading material for you. zircon's remixing compendium is a good read, and I have my (albeit in-progress) remixing guide linked in my sig.

Using midis is a great place to start familiarizing yourself with making music, especially the mixing/production side of it, but it can be limiting to have so many complete tracks. At some point in your learning process, try taking only the important melodies from a midi and write the rest of it yourself. That way you'll learn to write your own rhythms and chords and stuff.

When it comes to production, the main two tools are level (aka volume) and frequencies (adjusted with equalizer, aka EQ). Figure out which tracks should be loud and which ones can be soft. Use EQ to separate tracks with eq and to cut out frequencies they don't need (eg low frequencies from mid/high-range instruments). Details in your assigned reading material.

From a quick listen, albeit on laptop speakers; it seems you need to get your ears in gear. Listen critically to your tracks to figure out what's wrong with them, and start changing that. For example, your SkyDeck track has really loud crashes and a really high and soft bass. Start finding specific flaws and learn to fix and avoid them.

This stuff isn't easy, but it's really rewarding when you notice you've improved and your music starts to sound good. Again, welcome to ocr. Good luck and have fun.

[Xumtosis]

I do have problems with the volume of tracks, Mainly because I'm not completely sure what I'm doing. Sometimes it works, Sometimes it's all messed up.

I'll do some more practices and tests, and try to get a few solid and improved tracks before I look for more feedback.

Thanks for all the help and info. You'v bin very helpful.

Now, Hopefully next time I have something to show, It will be a good track. Or at least the start of one. or at least better then they are now. Better would be nice.

Thanks again. Now, I'v got some work to do. Alot of work probably.

Thanks for taking the time to read and help.