Sonic The Hedgehog: Technical Difficulties

[MannieFresh555]

The judges told me to ask for advice on my song and resubmit, so here it is.

Idk maybe it's my style of music that makes it different, but I honestly do not know what to do. I feel I worked my hardest on it but unfortunately I did some stuff wrong.

Help if you can. Advice is needed alot

[timaeus222]

This song is the first song I made once I downloaded FL Studio 10, so it is very special to me.

Hopefully by "once I downloaded FL Studio 10", you mean you purchased FL Studio 10, because you'd have to go back into it, not recompose it completely; that's not going to work out well.

Some sounds are nice, lots are generic. The first synth is very dry, but the sound itself is sufficient. i.e. The ambience is lacking. I hear some slight ping pong delay, but it doesn't sound like it's in a room, so the wet mix is a bit low on your reverb. Just don't overdo it. It's been said so many times, but use your ears. It's possible to overdo reverb and make things blend together too well. If that happens, your song will sound distant, and no instrument will be obviously "close to you" 3D-wise and leading.

At 0:12, the low-passed almost-supersaw synth is one thing that's causing muddiness. Either you low-passed it because you were on bad headphones with excessive treble, or the sound itself was lacking treble in its internal EQ, so consider both. It's likely that this synth's EQ is clashing a lot with your first synth as well as the saw leads that come later.

At 0:38, when the kick's clarity starts being important, it's not clear in the bass frequencies. Knowing how the people who like to use these hip-hop style of samples (Roland-TR808, 909) love that sub bass (no offense), it'll do you loads of good to sidechain the kick to any actual bass instrument you might have going, or you'll have an overload in sub bass frequencies, really. That would clutter your mix and either cause overcompression under a hard-knee limiter like Fruity Limiter or clog up space and obscure other instruments under a soft-knee limiter like TLs-Pocket Limiter. Something else you could do is to cut out the most unnecessary bass frequencies (below 35 Hz) using Parametric EQ 2, or maybe use a compressor like endorphin to cut out bass frequencies in general to tighten the sustain on the kicks and leave room for instruments playing near the current time in the song.

Instruments overcrowd each other around 0:48 and create overcompression, so it's likely you're using Fruity Limiter. Try mixing without a limiter first, and then putting it on when you're ready.

Make sure your drums are the loudest instrument in your remix, and everything else does not hit the limiter significantly hard. That way, your drums will be heard. Seeing as how they carry the rhythm and excitement, it's essential they're clearly heard all the time. Since that is expected, it'd be in your best interest to practice layering drum samples in FL Studio using the "Layer" tool. Try watching this

for help on this. I'm sure you could apply that to your 808 and 909 samples. Also, apply a good quality compressor to your drums so that they will sound powerful, but not hit the limiter. Since a compressor acts almost like a limiter, it would not only give your drums a powerful punch if done right, but also stop the limiter from pushing the drums down.

Another reason for overcrowding is the instrument choice. Think about what you can "afford" to replace, and replace them with something better! Don't, for example, choose a saw wave for a lead, a bass, AND backup. It'll sound terrible, and it won't work. The same applies to more varied instrument sets. For example, a supersaw as a lead can work, but when combined with a PWM bass like this as well as some acid arpeggios (3o3's come to mind) and un-sidechained hip-hop kicks, things will sound extremely muddled, messy, and incomprehensible. Choose instruments wisely. Pick ones that can logically occupy their own spot in the frequency spectrum without significant EQ cuts or boosts, and mixing will be a lot easier.

If you don't have any good instruments that you know of, well then find some. There are lots of free things out there that you can get and they could sound great if you process them well enough. If you like music enough, you could save up money to buy something great that you would definitely use and like. Most commercial products have audio demos and/or video demos, so remember to check.

The arrangement itself is alright. Put bluntly, I was able to skip through over 3/4 of the mix and not miss anything interesting. It might do you some good to cut out repeated sections and shorten the mix. I'd recommend shortening it somehow until it's about 3-4 minutes, at least for this arrangement. I'd recommend replacing instruments first, and then deciding what part of the arrangement you want to keep, and then working on the production.

[Trinity Dragon]

I think your biggest problem is the lack of dynamics. I love the transitions and the textures, but it sounds flat without varying the volume. Fade-ins and fade-outs and the like. But I absolutely love the concept. It's a fantastic idea.