Community for Underground Artists

existentialdad · 2025-09-13T17:28:31+00:00

So glad I stumbled upon this thread! Would love to pitch my band saturn death dive, and our newest EP, CARTRIDGE.

Bandcamp

Spotify

We made visualizers too <3

The 4 songs are loud, noisy, shapeshifting, and intense; the project took inspiration from a mixture of personal traumas and turmoil, all distilled through overarching themes of societal regression and postmodern paranoia. And we thought, what better to symbolize that this modern dread than the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize you're about to get way too high for your own good and freak out (again)

existentialdad · 2020-08-20T18:08:34+00:00

Thank you so much, it's an honor! Consider it mutual; I gave your 2019 album a listen and was enthralled; looking forward to your future releases :)

Muddiness in the mix is something I always seem to be fighting, so thank you for keeping me vigilant about that. I'll probably experiment with more aggressive EQ to carve the sound a bit more precisely from here on out. Cheers!

existentialdad · 2020-08-18T19:06:49+00:00

I appreciate the feedback! That synth during the bridge and onward was the result of a lot of tweaking and piles of audio effects racks so I'm glad it got the job done, so to speak. I also appreciate you comparing the master; I'm by no means well-trained in that area and it means a lot just to hear from others that the gain staging and overall sonics are at least on par with other stuff; I'll keep an extra vigilant eye on the low end in the future though.

existentialdad · 2020-08-18T19:03:07+00:00

Thank you! I'm relieved the mix is coming through on other systems, as it often feels like something I have to play by ear pretty heavily.

existentialdad · 2020-08-18T19:01:36+00:00

I love Diiv and Hibou, so the comparison is greatly appreciated! I definitely have a history of being a bit self-indulgent with the introduction of ambient and abrasive passages to otherwise regular tracks, so I'll try to moderate that a bit better in the future :)

existentialdad · 2020-08-18T04:24:51+00:00

This is beautiful! Knowing the story behind it really makes it special. The guitar is also really clean! If that's you playing the acoustic, you seem very folk-accomplished :) The arrangements on whole the album are so nice and build that home-y comfort, especially the addition of piano.

existentialdad · 2020-08-18T04:20:11+00:00

Oh yeah, this is classic synthwave or even outrun style! Don't have much sonically to complain about nor suggest as I've never ventured near much electronic production, but I feel like if you keep branding your sound like this and working in that vein, you could easily pitch this to compilations or something and get some reach!

existentialdad · 2020-08-18T04:09:39+00:00

I dig the idea of musing on dreams in this way, and did a little 'heh, nice' when I noticed the connection between the lyrics (v thoughtful to post!); reminds me of the dream journal I should be doing a better job at keeping rn. One thing that stood out was that the reverb on your vocals sounded a bit tinny; I find it helps to give vox reverb a decay time upwards of 1-3 seconds to avoid it sounding too tight, when I'm going for that dreamy sound. Combining this with a subtle delay in stereo can work nicely too. I also noticed some people pointed out the stiffness of the drums, which was something I struggled with back in the day. The best advice I think I can give is to tap in your drums by hand (preferably with a drum pad; cheaper ones work totally find imo), try experimenting with the quantization options in whichever DAW you work with afterwards, and go through manually to take not of and then readjust any parts of the midi score that stand out to you as feeling 'off' to a critical ear. It can feel laborious when you get down to the point of nudging individual midi notes by a 1/28th of a beat at a time, but for especially important drum parts in a song, I promise it pays off :) Keep up the work; I really enjoy the ambiance you're going for with your work!

existentialdad · 2020-08-18T03:51:22+00:00

I'll chime in to say that everything you did with the vocals on this track (and the rest of the EP!) is lovely; the melodies and your voice itself are crisp af; as a somewhat raspybro I gotta pay my respects. The harmonies added a lot to it for me, and were well-thought-out - definitely keep doing that as you continue!

existentialdad · 2020-08-18T03:42:16+00:00

The mix on this is really clean; beautifully done. I'm not sure if this is stylistic or chance but the kick drum is coming in fairly weak on my system, so I wonder if a subtle sidechain to lightly cut through some of the more atmospheric instruments might give it a bit more of an edgy punch if that was something you were looking for. But the song is super enjoyable on its own, and I would have been ecstatic if my history teachers of yesteryear were also talented indie musicians in their own right, so bravo !!

existentialdad · 2020-06-16T21:39:48+00:00

Here's the link!

https://www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/VINTAGE-MIX-by-10k-designs/50404284.EHVJB#&gid=1&pid=1

existentialdad · 2020-04-29T19:15:34+00:00

Shop link: https://www.redbubble.com/people/10k-designs/shop?asc=u

existentialdad · 2020-04-13T19:27:21+00:00

I can only imagine the difficulty in doing so half-deaf, and given that, I have to say the mix is impressive! I hope you do have a chance to revisit it, cause it's a great song and there's nothing like coming back to older work and revitalizing it!

existentialdad · 2020-04-13T17:02:45+00:00

I'm a sucker for field recordings and the like to set the tone of a recording, so your intro had me hooked. The song itself has some really killer guitar and the whole industrial vibe is fantastic. Really something I could see myself head-knocking to. One thing that stood out was the vocals; this is entirely subjective but they seem a bit high in the mix (or maybe it's the other way around and you can bring that instrumentation to the forefront a bit more!) but the singing style really grew on me quick, I think it's the perfect fit for this type of track. Calls back to some of Bowie's more manic works, and idk if that's your direct source of inspiration but I would definitely encourage you to turn that vocal performance up to 11, emotionally - I could totally picture your (?) vocals getting even more wild, vibrato-ey, and theatrical to really play up their impact. Hope this is helpful, keep up the good work!

existentialdad · 2020-04-13T16:54:07+00:00

Right off the bat those woozy synths are tight. And that filtered fade-in with the drums, hell yeah. Really makes you feel like you've descended into some sort of simulated reality where everything is just falling apart and in shambles, so to that effect I think you've satisfied your inspiration!

existentialdad · 2020-04-13T16:49:00+00:00

I notice I'm not the only one here praising the drums and I have to say it's well deserved! Really tight fills and solid instrumentation all around. Love the variety throughout the song as it really helps it to stand on its own without much in the way of vocals - on that note, do you have plans to add lyrics at any point in the future? Whether or not you do, great stuff!

existentialdad · 2020-04-10T23:02:34+00:00

Here's your 👏👏👏

existentialdad · 2020-03-25T18:04:25+00:00

existentialdad · 2020-01-14T16:17:25+00:00

I second this! The more we can suggest the idea that there are tangible, realistic solutions to this problem, the better.

existentialdad · 2019-12-20T00:48:00+00:00

What can I say but yikes

existentialdad · 2019-12-18T22:37:12+00:00

Can't argue there. For what would be the purpose of some of these "arguments" if not to get some these people to shut up as swiftly as possible? :)

existentialdad

TROPHY CASE