i seldom post music here, particularly music that’s unfinished, but this track has seen so many iterations and revisions and has been so long in the making that i’m having a hard time being objective. there are multiple distinct parts here, it’s non-traditionally structured to put it plainly. i guess i’m looking for some general thoughts on the different movements, whether they do/could work with the right transitions, or if they should be omitted altogether in favor of a more concise composition. the mix is poor; i mainly exported the track for maximum volume, so i’m aware of the shortcomings there. that said, it sounds decent through your typical apple earbuds. my main concerns aren’t practical or technical, i’d like some more artistic feedback. thanks for listening.
Just when I said to myself “don’t make it all sad the whole time” you threw in a little humor and did some insainly brilliant sound design. Sounds finished to me. Mind if asked what you used for loudness/limiting?
hey thanks for the listen. it’s fabfilter pro L set to transparent and cranked to about +7. i think the attack is slow, release fast.
Lovely track!
If I had a piece of music in this state I would consider it finished when items comes to arrangement and focus on track level automation, eq and compression and send fx. (Well that’s mixing isn’t it?)
To my ears, listening with ear buds on my IPad, it’s pretty harsh in the upper frequencies, might be a track level thing or that the Pro-L is pushing single tracks to hard when they are playing on their own.
Subjective suggestions:
- Hihat shaker thingy could use a eq or high pass filter and/or be lower in volume by perhaps -4db.
- Subtile delay on some of the vocal parts would be nice. Perhaps a tape delay sound with some ping pong or stereo width.
- Volume automation in a DAW could help the track be more dynamic with some fade in/outs. Would help the transitions in the arrangement.
No feedback, just wanted to say: That’s lovely! Reminds me a bit of Supermodified/Permutation era Amon Tobin.
yeah those hats have been tough to mix. i think the limiter has something to do with it. i play around with your suggestions for the delay and reverb and see what happens. thanks!
its always hard to give feedback, because its your baby and everyone has there own opinion.
not totally sold on the rattlesnake hats. there’s a lot of really interesting stuff going on in here, stuff that could even be teased out even further. i feel like there’s maybe two or 3 different tracks in here, and rather than bookending try maybe separating them out in different pieces, and extending. i’ve made things like this, long, somewhat experimental passages that are kindve an extended ‘multi-track’ type track. there’s also some very frontal and sort of in your face sounds that jump out, one at the beginning and maybe one 2/3’rds of the way in, that maybe are more pronounced than they need to be. i always try and use the brain in a very base pscyhological way when trying to ascertain what works in a track. like, the human body, i think can see a candle in the distance on a mountain. a small whisp of a hair on human skin is detectable. when listening, try not to listen to the sounds, but let the sounds touch your brain, if that makes dumb sense. then its like giving the track a haircut, you can feel the weeds in the garden. its no crime to cut a whole hedge, pull whole parts out, whatever. its all about what you want to achieve. me personally, sometimes i just say fuck it, render, upload, done
excellent listening
thanks
at 5:20 it feels a little bit like a ruff cut
im absolutely in love with the sound at 3:38
what did you sample there?
thanks for the thoughtful response.
tracks like this always start out innocently enough and then after too much early morning tinkering, they can become unnecessary behemoths. it’s hard to split a track like this up for a lot of reasons, not least of which being that a new track = a new workload and this is track that i’m ready to be done with. alternatively, omission of ideas is killing your darlings, i think william faulkner coined that term. ideally, id prefer a graceful way to incorporate them better. all i know is that i’m ready to move on. this is one part of a bigger whole that was supposed to be competed a month ago, but you know, life happens and wandering happens and doubt happens. the hats are something i’ve been struggling with because they’ve been difficult to mix but taking them away is kinda like dimming the room and with everything being so dark, i felt they provided a contrast. so yeah, thanks again, you’ve given me a lot to think about.
all the guitars are from a spanish guitar record i found in a thrift store. that passage just sorta fell in my lap through experimentation
Great listen. Thanks for sharing
I like this, very unorthodox, only really possible on elektron gear to achieve that glitchy sound. Would leave it as is.
You could consider introducing a big tobin like breakbeat at some point of course. Or leave it as it is 
1st off, this track is killer. The track is so alive with activity that I feel as if I were just witness to an event of some sort. It’s as if I just lived through a documentary.
I say move on and just allow it to live as it is and learn to accept the fact that nothing can be perfect.
man, thanks for all of the nice, thoughtful responses.
when this project is finished i’ll make sure to post it here. i’m proud of what’s to come, i’ve been working hard at it.
If you struggle with finishing a track just make another one and get back to the first one a month later.
just bumping this up one more day