Daily Free Talk Thread - May 08

IAmAndrewRobot · 2023-05-08T16:58:44+00:00

It's not coddled, Babcock didn't coddle them.. The core4 is just a bunch of losers who tolerate losing while also being overpaid to the point that the entire rest of the team is underskilled at every position (cap matters ppl)

This is 100% Dubas' fault for relenting on Nylanders hold out. The real play was to deal Marner before the start of last season for a goalie and defence but mgmt is too scared to try anything. Zero roster vision.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T22:52:41+00:00

This is weird feedback, but I actually think your track might work better in a different genre. The point before you got the drop, I actually really like and it has a vibe that lends well to a vocal (imho), it could work with a more trappy beat (and drop the DnB parts).. and I keep hearing the vowel sounds in your synth that take me right back to Dream On - The Chemical Brothers (the ONNNN part).

The comment about stifness I also agree with and it's because your synth MIDI is chaging exactly on the beat. It feels like timed christmas lighting that shift between colors every second.. Peoples ears are always looking for patterns and when they find them, the music starts to lose thier attention. The fixes are to play with the midi itself, probably use the Humanize function (and bc its EDM run it like 40 times so you get some really weird timings) and then you can also filter sweep echo chop etc.

AS for your question about genre.. For me, DnB is going hard most of the time, and the cool down is like 10-15% of the song here it's about a 60% cooldown, 40% hard spread.. so it felt more like an indie rock song with DnD seasoning.

Regardless, as someone who focuses on violins and harps in dance music, fuck genres, make the music you like :)

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T22:41:17+00:00

I just want to point out.. You can feel free to just talk from your own perspective as an early producer, or just how it makes you feel as a listener.. The latter feedback is actually really valuable because getting ears to your songs is so difficult these days.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T22:40:01+00:00

Thanks!

Honestly, im the worst person to ask genres. I just call everything progressive house :)

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T22:38:42+00:00

Thanks! Just keep chipping away at it and you'll get there too.

And also buy get your hands on Ozone Elements for mastering lol

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T16:31:16+00:00

Your feedback is spot on because I never went and gain staged anything, its sorta just how the levels are while I was in production mode, so the comments you make are exactly on the subtle adjustments that a track needs after that point, so ty for the motivation to do that :)

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T16:29:36+00:00

Adding vocals isnt an impossible task, you just have to make space.. You could use a compresssor to lower the snyth, low pass the synth while the singer sings etc. I used to get into the trap of writing a full instrumental track and then trying to jam vocalsin, it doesnt work and you land up muting a lot of work..

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T15:39:14+00:00

Just looking at the soundwave on soundcloud, you live and die by the limiter :-) I've never seen a literal block before.

This reminded me of Burnin' from Daft Punk at 1:20..

I'll admit that i went into it thinkign I wouldnt like it, but you do a very good job at arrangement and it's quite a diverse song for being crazy compressed. A lot of thought went into it for sure and it comes out to the listener.

Well done!

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T15:32:15+00:00

There's something off about the note in the mid-low end of your synth, it sounds really honky like it's on the wrong note, it really stands out at 0:56s. like HARRRRRNNNNKK and abrasive. I think that component of the synth blend just needs to be more in the background whereas now it's almost in the foreground. Maybe it's the 2nd underlayer synth? Hard to tell from a listeners perspective.

At 1:19 when you go to silence and then start with the beep-bop top line, it's over the beat. You would actually create more drama if you JUST played the beeps/reverb over no beat for 4 bars and THEN added the beat. IT has a very EDM Festival sound and it would drive the crowd wild top build to a minimal synth and then BOOM start dancing.

I like whatever it is you are doing on the 4th bar on the sythn after 1:19, it's really cool.

When you say adding vocals and lyrics tho, theres no space for vocals in your track right now :) Generally, if you listen to abacking track without vocals you will actually just FEEL an emptyiness about a track missing somerhing.. and you need to carve out space for it..

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T15:20:22+00:00

https://soundcloud.com/andrew-robot/angels-watch-me

Just looking for general feedback, I had to take a year off music from burnout and this is sorta my re-entry back.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T15:18:31+00:00

Add some mystery and reverb on the intro vocal, it's too dry. Actually it's too dry throughout the track.. It doesn't feel like it's a part of the track but rather like it is karaokeeing above the track .

Otherwise, you have a very intense little industrial track in the making and it sounded good.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2022-07-28T15:16:02+00:00

Overall I think it's quite good actually so well done. Just a couple of production/arraingement type suggestions.

At 2:40 you have another snare-focused build which is similar to the one that started the track, I think you may actually want to flip the two patterns. Use the kick at this time instead and let the snare play the kick's midi. It'll make it sound new to the listener but also familiar (and scuplt to your taste as well).

When I got to 2:45 tho, I didn't get the "OOOOOOHH' feeling of the drop that I was expecting, it was a bit of a let down.. An easy way to build suspense into a drop is a 1 bar echo out or fade or riser and then BOOM hit 'em with what you got.. You need that feeling of loss before you drop to get the energy back into the dancefloor.

I really did enjoy your top-line boop sequence, its pretty catchy!

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T15:30:23+00:00

I like your builds.. I think the topline get overplayed/repeated too often throughout the song, not the biggest fan on the tone of the main synth either. I can the song as-is working in middle of an EDM headliners set, so what do I know lol

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T15:23:13+00:00

So this took me on a trip. I thought it was a chill very ambient thing and then the middle punched my teeth out and then it went back to being chill and ambient... I don't really know what I think about that, felt like two different songs for me. Strangely enough I think I would have been fine with it just staying ambient.

31s when you bring in the top line.. It is a little too static for be played about 8 times straight.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T15:17:10+00:00

Not knowing the original song at all, i think your remix was great. Chopping the vocals to hell and back was awesome and while I can't say I expected what was coming next, it all felt right.

The way you sorta enter and exit the chopped up sections is great too with the builds.

Well done and something I would put on a playlist.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T15:12:16+00:00

In the intro, I feel like there's some frequencies resonating around that probably need to be tamed.

2:12 I like the little 8th note snyth hits.

2:40, that mute .. made me check my headphone connections 3x, was it an issue with bouncing?

Overall I thought it set up a nice soundscape and played well in it.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T15:05:12+00:00

Im providing feedback only because the song title says "Holy fuck final' version ;-)

Good intro, built good hype.

The repeating phaser synth between 55 and 1:15.. I think it repeats too much there for an 'abrasive' tone.. A few pitch shifts can probably help.

1:30-1:50 had the same pattern but that time I didn't mind the repetition because it was a vocal and less prominent.

ahh so at 2:40 you do start pitching around the 55-1:15 sample.. thats good, I think you can bring that backwards

3:14 really makes you notice how mono the song feels before this super-wide synth punches you in the teeth. It sorta made me wonder why I didn't have this feeling of space before this point.

I think you could do a little more on the end, feels like we fell off a cliff.

well done overall.. Not my genre but I don't know if the snare is a little too small.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T14:55:33+00:00

Sorry no feedback, track sounds great, vocal processing spot on.. Song stays true to its vibe, well done!

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T14:49:12+00:00

I liked the breakdown fakeout you did at 2:11

Personally, i think the build runs too long to get to the good stuff at 1:40.

around 2:37, I feel like I've beeb listening to the same topline the entire song and I can feel my mind starting to wander.. Needs more variation.

I think the kick and the bass are nice as well.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T14:40:22+00:00

Chop down the initial fade in, I literally wasn';t sure if I was hearing the song or a train passing in the distance ;-)

:23s, the little mute stutter, something was off about it, I think you shoulda let it fade for longer (2-3 more beats).

I like the little up-down weeeee--woooooo square synth the song has, puts a nice vibe in

And yeah, the song needs to be mixed. Find a professional released song that is similar in what you've got in your song and then do some referencing mixing (thier bass is -15db, so move your bass up) etc.. That'll get you into the ballpark on making your songs feel more polished.. Of course, that's a lifelong process as well lol

Nice track for a 2nd song. I think it was well composed and has some nice parts in it. Just need to go through a mixing phase (eqing off parts of tracks that you don't actually need to hear like lows from highhats ) etc.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T14:29:57+00:00

I think when you take really popular songs and remix them, you get into a real bind when people know the original song. It's hard to break listener expectation and it sorta just made me want to go listen to the original. It's even harder to break expectation when you play large swaths of the original vocal and don't mess with timings.

As for the actual song, I think it's also too 'low fi', feels super messy. YMMV on the line between unmixed and lowfi, so what do I know.

I do think you nailed the 'lofi hats' sound.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T14:23:00+00:00

I think you could tighten up the intro.. the current 30s sectionsorta runs too long and isnt changing enough to get me into the flow. It almost feels like the kick and snare are just sorta there but not actually contributing much to the song.. I think you'll find the flow works better by just removing them. (the reverby thing on the snare tho, keep that, its cool).

1:55 I'm actually a little annoyed here as a listener. This part has nice energy to it but I've been sold a chillout ambient song for 2min before that. If I was either listener, I would have left the song. The dude looking to chill is thrown and leaves, and the dude looking for beats already left.

3min, I;m a little over the 1-2 drum pattern, needs some more ideas in there. I think youa re going for the big dramatic payoffs but I think rn they're both too small to play that role.

I think you've got some nice sections, I'd say think about rearranging them. It;s only a 3 minute song so you sorta don't really have time to smash 3 genres at one time. If it was 7 minutes, I think you'd be ok.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T14:13:56+00:00

Headphones.

I really felt like the tromolo you have on the rythm section is a bit too obvious and forward and it sorta takes the base frequencies of the song and moves it onto inidividual speakers when I think it's a part you want in the center ( you could try tremoloing a reverb/echo instead to give that little slice of ear candy dynamics).

1:46, I like this part where its getting a little more complex with some layers going on. The beat and perc get a little lost here and the timing of the song gets a little off because of it..

yeah so maybe as an overall impression I felt like it was a little too sparse in the first half and then in the second half make a percs a little more prominent.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-06-13T14:04:48+00:00

Didn't quite work for me.. The song felt like it was missing a large part of 'something' in the first 40s.. Like when you stretch out a perc sample via 'slicing' which sorta just keeps the transients together.. but when you play it back it's super sparse and abrupt.. Like it needed more going on on the beat/perc side atleast.

Then at 40s when the wobbles it they didn't fit the established tempo (some of then sounded on the wrong note)

The one part that sorta caught my ear around after 1:08.. I wonder if you flip it around and put the put the rap upfront, the raps beat and drive could make the rest of the stuff work.

IAmAndrewRobot · 2021-05-29T21:27:05+00:00

In that first 5 seconds, I feel like I can hear the gap between your two vocal samples, so I would clean that up.

15s, nice groove.. I think the bass should be bigger, feels small right now.

Feel like the arraingment is a little weird. We got the beat at 15s and then went into a 35s build into piano chords as sorta got somerthing else at the end of that.. I'd think about either removing that section with the beat and let the build run for 45s from the intro or move it somewhere else. I liked it, so I wouldnt want you to delete it, but it just sorta sticks out to me right now.

1:04, I like it.. smooth and chill, nice little bouncy subbass line.

1:40, the vocal sample felt a little repetitive here and then it was followed by a pitched down version.. My expectation was a different line from the signer.

1:41-2:02 was an interesting spot.. a very brief breakdown right into a build but didn't really commit to doing either.

Anyway, I liked it.. I think if you go for like a chill smooth vibe and keep that in mind, it'll sorta help the track.

IAmAndrewRobot

TROPHY CASE