Final Kingdom Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 https://soundcloud.com/britney-blevins/an-adepts-house-party This is a mix I made for the compo Remixing with the Stars sometime last year. Drums and mixing aren't my strong suit. I figured I'd put this here for some feedback, so lemme know what I can do to make this mix better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argle Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Honestly, nothing sounds like it gels. The beat doesn't groove, it's just "there". There isn't really interplay between the drums and bass. The sounds are pretty generic and uninspiring, and feel like they all exist in their own space without regard for synergizing with the other sounds. The middle transition is pretty abrupt. There's nothing particular about the arrangement that hooks me. Sorry for the harsh review, but I believe this would need quite a bit of work to address the problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nostalvania Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) I think the two source tunes fit well together, although i don't know the sources (source links?), but it sounds like one song so good job. IMO, the bass drum is way too loud and heavy and doesn't fit with the mood of the arrangement. The drum writing is also a bit minimalistic (and repetitive), i think you could add more elements and some percussion. The soundscape is a bit empty in some places like at 1:53 - 2:24. There's a very dissonant note at 2:49 (guitar). I noticed that the most of your leads are panned to the right, like at 2:55 you have a synth lead and a (fake)Guitar lead and both are on the right side, makes it sound a bit imbalanced, i think. I hope i wasn't too harsh and negative, i just pointed out some things which i think could be improved. There are actually some cool arrangement ideas and i think the strings writing was decent. Keep it up, maybe someone else can give some more in-depth feedback. Edited January 22, 2014 by Nostalvania Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Final Kingdom Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) Argle, Nostalvania, thanks for the feedback, I'll try to work on that. There's a lot of stuff that I don't know, so don't worry about being "harsh". And I'll put up the sources in the OP soon. Argle, if possible, could you give an example of drums and bass interplaying? I understand the relationship between them and how very important they are, but I think if I heard it, it would drive your point home. Edited January 22, 2014 by Final Kingdom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garpocalypse Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 If I can throw my two cents in here. Off the bat you have an eight bar intro with a sudden four bar phrase that feels really out of place when the rest of the remix is 8 bar phrases. Easy fix would be to just expand that four bar to an 8 bar and find some way to fill it and then the drums would feel less like they are kicking the legs out from under the listener. The drums could use some variation, there seems to be 2 patterns one with a clap on 3 and another with claps on 2 and 3, but most importantly they need to be humanized in some way. I'd recommend actually playing them on a keyboard because even if your timing isn't great you can quantize it and it's still going to sound better than the current flat-line velocity percussion that's there now. As far as the strings go I would say to figure out how to set up a vst to have 2 audio track outputs in your DAW then pan them equally outward. 50L/50R would be a good starting point but experiment and see what other settings sound like too. It would keep the sound even and the strings would wrap around what you have instead of being pushed off to the side. Or, if you are going to have a string part hardpanned to the side underneath that noise synth it would be a good idea to hard pan another vst with the same part to the other side. This is a great way to get a ton of width in the track but it's a design choice that people will have different opinions on. Hope that helps! good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argle Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Argle, if possible, could you give an example of drums and bass interplaying? I understand the relationship between them and how very important they are, but I think if I heard it, it would drive your point home. Hmm, a bit difficult to come up with examples. You should focus on making the drums and bass more groovy I think. The two of them together should form the basis of a solid low end that grooves along and blends with the other instruments, while your track feels like the drums are separate from the rest of the track. I don't think your current drum sounds are doing ya any favors. First things first ditch the reverb, sounds strange. Try a different kick sound, and maybe a snare rather than a clap. I'm not a fan of electronic claps 99% of the time, I think they sound too dated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timaeus222 Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 You're using an acoustic kick with an electronic clap in an ambient track. That's why it's not clicking. The rhythm also sounds awkward to me. It's hip-hop-ish in 6/4, and for a long time. It's cool for a while, then it gets plodding. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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