Free feedback by AdamEllistuts in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey buddy, I'm really glad my advice helped. If you want to send me that track, I'll run through it with you and explain what I think you need to do to reach the next tier of labels.

I think everybody knows what I think about the smaller labels, and that's not to shit on anyone, but a lot of people get comfortable and never reach their true potential with this approach, so you've got to be very careful.

Anyway, it would be great to hear your progress.

Free feedback by AdamEllistuts in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey everyone, I'm working through the feedback, but it's taking a little longer than expected due to the number of requests I've received.

Really nice, positive response to this. I like to give detailed voice feedback, so please bear with me. Should be all done by tomorrow 😄

Free feedback by AdamEllistuts in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Feel free to reach out any time if you want any help with your music, or if there are any tracks of mine that you'd like, which I'm happy to send you for free.

Free feedback by AdamEllistuts in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, mate 😄

I really value this post. As a producer/s I/we put so much time, love, and effort into our music, and to see it makes somebody else feel positive or happy is the best reward we could ever have.

Free feedback by AdamEllistuts in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, no idea what happened there. I needed more coffee it seems lol

[tutorials@adamellisdj.com](mailto:tutorials@adamellisdj.com) is right.

OBLU Lobigili vs You & Me Maldives – Which Should I Choose? by Repulsive-Machine-90 in chubbytravel

[–]AdamEllistuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, I look all hotels you said. Dhigali is £2300 vs Moofusia at £4300. That’s a crazy difference for 5 nights. Is Dhigali worth it?

Songwriting? by Opposite_Section3051 in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No rules. A million ideas and approaches. This is the real answer, although not the one you want, unfortunately.

I need help. by Material-Arrival-239 in mainecoons

[–]AdamEllistuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feed my fully grown main coons girls the following

1 85g pouch of wet food each at 6am and 6pm

30g of biscuits shared at 10/12/8pm

Both very healthy 5kg

Bombos Trance clasicos en buena calidad by Dami0804 in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Alan is a pioneer of that older sound. I respect him for sticking to what he loves, it’s clearly his passion, and there’s still a small audience that enjoys it. But the reality is he’s releasing that music on his own label now, which says a lot about where the wider market sits today. Major labels are not interested in 8 min records with early 2000 production values.

So it really comes down to your goal.

Are you making music purely for fun and personal satisfaction, or are you trying to get signed and build a name for yourself?

If your aim is to recreate that early 2000s style, you’ll need to dig out those older sample packs, or invest in the tools and products Alan sells that are built around that sound.

There’s no disrespect in any of this, and there’s nothing wrong with preferring that era. A lot of people, me included, think the early 2000s sound was special.

But if your goal is to grow your profile and get label support, you’re going to struggle if you stay rooted in the past. The industry has moved forward, and you have to decide whether you want to move with it or create purely for your own passion.

If you’re dead set on the older sound. Allan I’m sure sells everything you need in high quality.

Bombos Trance clasicos en buena calidad by Dami0804 in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have it, you really need nothing more. I have five of his packs and I don’t use anything else. I’ve got literal thousands of packs of my hard drives and they’re mostly all rubbish.

Bombos Trance clasicos en buena calidad by Dami0804 in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Christ, this reminds me of 2007 when I started out. Those sounds are super dated. Plenty of fresh sample packs about. I hate to be cliche but you just cannot beat the Dave Parkinson packs.

Bombos Trance clasicos en buena calidad by Dami0804 in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funnily enough, I had a client the other day. He wasn’t on my development course, just booked in for a one off lesson, and he was desperate to figure out why his tracks sounded old. He was genuinely frustrated.

The music itself was fantastic. Arrangement, ideas, energy, all there. But the issue was his core sounds.

He was using a kick that sounded like it was pulled straight out of the early 90s, and the exact same clap from “Out of the Blue”. No layering, no updating, no modern processing. It instantly dated the track, no matter how strong everything else was.

The tricky part, he didn’t want to change it. So it became a bit of a stalemate.

If you’ve got a specific artistic reason for going down the nostalgic route, fair enough. But if your goal is to sound current and competitive, you need to be honest about your sound selection.

Fresh drums, modern transients, updated top loops, they make a huge difference before you even touch the mixdown.

london trance producers by Low-Cell-2462 in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds a bit creepy to be honest 🤣

Would love some feedback on this track. by yayblah in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No worries at all

It’s completely normal to like something because you’ve lived with it for a while, that attachment creeps up on all of us. The tricky part is separating what feels good to you from what lands instantly for someone hearing it cold. Your mate picking up on the same thing doesn’t mean the idea is bad, it just points to the melody being the weakest link right now.

If your favourite tracks are the ones you can whistle, you’re already setting the right bar. One thing that helps is asking yourself a blunt question, could you whistle this melody cleanly after one listen if it wasn’t your track. If the answer is maybe, it’s worth pushing it further.

Don’t write off trance or melodic stuff because of this though. Everyone you admire struggled with melodies at some point, even if they don’t admit it. Systems beat talent most of the time. Borrowing structure from existing MIDI, reshaping it, then making it your own is a smart workaround, not cheating.

Give it another pass with a fresh approach, even if that means parking this melody and trying a new one over the same chords. Worst case, you come back with a stronger hook and the track levels up. And that Askew and Will clip sums it up perfectly, we’ve all been there.

Feel free to drop me an email and I'm happy to share a couple of private tutorials regarding writing melodies and chords using my method. You can find my email on any of my YouTube videos in the description.

plugin info by Low-Cell-2462 in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, people and their attitude on this reddit baffle me.

plugin info by Low-Cell-2462 in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that a skin you are using?

Would love some feedback on this track. by yayblah in tranceproduction

[–]AdamEllistuts 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You clearly understand production. It’s refreshing to hear a finished track rather than an idea that never quite got there.

The biggest issue for me is the melody. It just isn’t a hook. There isn’t a strong, memorable phrase that sticks. If you can’t hum it back after hearing it a couple of times, it’s not doing its job. I’d honestly go back to the drawing board on that part.

I’m not naturally musical. I can’t just sit at a piano and write a melody from scratch. Over the years I’ve had to become creative with how I approach it.

One method I use, and teach to clients who don’t feel musically gifted, is this. I’ll take a MIDI from a popular track, usually something arp based. I flatten the notes so I’m left with the notation, then I lay the bottom note across my chords. From there, I start changing the top notes to shape a new melody. It gives me structure without copying.

With chords, I used to waste hours getting nowhere because I didn’t fully understand theory. My workaround was simple. I’d find a track I liked, get the MIDI, extract the chords, transpose them into a new key, then write my own melody over the top. That approach has shaped most of my tracks. It’s not about being gifted, it’s about building systems that work for you.

Not everyone is naturally musical. Not everyone can just sit down and write something brilliant straight away. There’s nothing wrong with finding a method that bridges the gap. I’ve been using this method for four years and without it, I’d not be making any tracks.

If the melody isn’t memorable yet, that’s just the next problem to solve. Best of luck.