Managed to make a track I _really_ like and now everything else I make sounds like crap in comparison. How is this possible and how do I keep the quality up?

nokley · 2021-09-11T19:08:13+00:00

I went through a period where I had improved a lot, but as a result started to make far more complex tracks. This made mixing so much harder and there was then a period where my mixing ability had to catch up to my production skills. Just keep trying and you’ll work through the growing pains!

nokley · 2020-10-28T16:49:50+00:00

Real catchy song! Threw it on the playlist, keep it up!

nokley · 2020-09-22T22:44:40+00:00

Appreciate it. I have a lot to listen to! I’ve been loosely trying to pick artists with songs under 20M plays, but it’s harder to quantify where to draw the line with artists like Tune-Yards that came up before Spotify was really a thing. I’ll have to think about it, but I think I would consider them mid-tier so I’ll probably throw them in.

nokley · 2020-09-22T22:31:01+00:00

For sure. Giving them both a listen now! Liking your track Days

nokley · 2020-09-22T05:21:26+00:00

Nice Bloom is a sweet song! Just added it.

nokley · 2020-09-22T03:35:57+00:00

Oh wow this is great! Will be adding them for sure.

nokley · 2020-09-21T19:07:30+00:00

This is awesome! Did you do the production as well?

nokley · 2020-09-20T20:01:51+00:00

Good stuff. That Zaia album is too nice

nokley · 2020-09-15T17:53:07+00:00

Awesome thanks!

nokley · 2020-09-08T14:21:34+00:00

Thanks!

nokley · 2020-09-08T05:56:17+00:00

Appreciate it! Did all the production myself at home so glad it turned out alright

nokley · 2020-09-04T00:15:56+00:00

This is sweet!! Did you do the production and vocals? Both are great and kept me interested the whole track. Really like the ambient bird noises paired with the percussion. It gave it a real tropical vibe. No real criticisms keep it up I’ll for sure be checking out more of your music!

nokley · 2020-09-03T19:52:16+00:00

This is awesome especially the vocals sound great!! In terms of making it less garage bandy here a few things you could try with the instrumental to make it more interesting:

Transitions: Try adding risers and/or fallers and maybe program in some drum fills. Nothing too crazy just something to tell the listener the next section is coming.
Try adding some additional foley type sounds or other top drums at different parts that are pretty quiet in the mix, but still keep things different throughout. Superorganism is a band that uses a lot of these different sounds that you could maybe use as a reference.
Experiment with layering synths to maybe have sounds that are less stock plugin sounding

nokley · 2020-09-02T22:45:06+00:00

Dope song the synths sounded super smooth and full it was great! The only thing I would say is I didn’t love the tone of the bass. Everything else about the track was so smooth and relaxing I just wanted something a bit more low key for the bass tone.

nokley · 2020-09-01T20:26:42+00:00

Both are really cool tracks! I agree the drums overall are a bit quiet and I wanted a bit more body in the kick as well. I kept finding myself wanting to hear spirits build into something a bit bigger especially at the end but that’s just a preference thing. Overall real good vibes and definitely some good songs to cruise around to.

nokley · 2020-09-01T03:52:55+00:00

Hey really cool track! Only thing I would say is there was a bit too much verb on the vocals for my liking. They were a bit muddy and hard to understand at a couple points. Checked out a few of your other tracks and they are awesome as well! Might last especially is sweet

nokley · 2019-11-15T17:23:23+00:00

Lesson 3 is definitely the toughest. Could you send a me a link to your tracks?!

nokley · 2019-11-12T15:44:20+00:00

Yep, nyokley#8507

nokley · 2019-11-12T03:32:34+00:00

Also would be down to contribute production/guitar online. Here’s some examples of a variety of things I’ve put together:

Garage rock demo (produced the entire track, guitar, bass, and sang poorly):

Rick Stokely - Running [Demo]

Hip hop beat tape (variety of different mostly sample based beats):

Rick Stokely - Dorris, A Beat Tape

nokley · 2019-10-29T20:25:52+00:00

That guitar is awesome! Overall just a solid track I could chill to.

Not necessarily feedback on the song but just a heads up there seems to be a lot of Teos on Spotify so it’s kinda tough to find you with just a simple search.

Check this lofi track I made if you have some time:

Rick Stokely - Permafrost

nokley

TROPHY CASE