Why do my songs sound so thin

[Hirosashii]

You know the difference between a beefy-sounding song that has tons of presence? That's the sound I want (and I'm sure any musician would want this sound.) If you have the time, take the song in my signature, for example. Am I just being too hard on myself or does it indeed feel like it's lacking in some umph. And if it is lacking, could someone tell me what the thing it's lacking is (repetitiveness aside)?

I read an EQing tutorial and it was a pretty good read and it helped me make my songs feel fatter, but it's still not quite what I hear in other songs. So I'm kinda lost for ideas at this point.


Edit: The song in my signature now is the finished product of what I was speaking about in this post.

[penguindf12]

It's lacking any bass at all. It's not an EQ issue, there's just not any lower-frequency instruments in there. Try adding a bass guitar-type sound to pin down the bottoms of some of those chords. Otherwise, sounds very cool! And definitely quite floaty in its current state, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

[Versilaryan]

Something else that will definitely help is to increase the drum presence. When it was just bass drum at the beginning, I was thinking, "Man, this would be SMOKING with some serious drum action!" And then it kind of happened.

This song may or may not benefit with a strong bass, but /definitely/ up the drums. Find a punchier bass drum with more attack (try reading Voodoopony's thread about fat drum sounds in the Technique forum), then side-chain the pads ever so slightly to the bass. Don't make it extreme, house-style sidechaining, but maybe duck one or two DB when the kick drum comes in. That'll help the kick punch through a lot better, and if you don't duck it too much, it shouldn't be audible at all.

Also, make that snare a lot louder. I can hardly hear it. Adding some more complex hi-hat patterns would be cool. Just really short, really soft hi-hat sounds to add some rhythmic sparkle.

This is purely a personal suggestion that you're free to throw out the window, but I think it would sound /really/ cool if you put some white noise in the background. Make it slightly audible, then side-chain it to the bass, so you get some pumping sparkle on the offbeats. It would definitely help the cymbals blend in with the song some more.

Also! Things to do if you aren't doing them already. EQ each and every individual sound in that song. There should be an EQ on every layer. Then, using that EQ, highpass every single sound as high as you can make it without making it sound different (unless it sounds better). Exceptions, of course, the the kick and the basses. You'd be surprised at how much low there can be in hi-hats. Then, lowpass all the lower sounds as low as you can make them without making them sound different.

All of a sudden, you have more dynamic room to work with. You can make everything sound louder without really affecting the sound at all or compressing the hell out of it. Plus, your basses will sound a lot less muddy!

[Hirosashii]

I... think I'm getting it, actually. Had to look up tutorials on side-chaining because I had never heard of it. The bass did make my song sound fatter. It's much closer to what I want (I'm basically comparing my songs to the crème de la crème of pony songs (probably a bad idea)). I got the punchier bass. This is definitely a step in the right direction. Thank you :3

[[voodoopony]]

There are a lot of methods I use to fatten up sounds since DAW midis/kits tend to be weak. You can try adding some overdrive, a dab of slightly audible reverb, and throw a compressor on it that squeezes it just right. Or you could try messing with modulation, depending on the instrument [I tend to avoid pitch altering mods on notes].

The rest is just my opinion:
If you're going to use sidechain I'd only intensify just enough to showcase it's presence. Since this song isn't 4/4, the sidechain sticks out more and doesn't always sound pleasant, so I'd make it quick and subtle [or just bypass the sidechain when the beat changes]. To maintain the atmosphere I'd avoid sidechaining ambience and dissonant pad. The snare sounds slightly muffled, maybe it'd sound cool with a little bit more high end freq's. With the pads, try spacing them out to each end of the stereo [panned left/right completely] and move it behind you, if you're able to. Add a little bit of stereo delay, and if done right it should sound bitchin'. Also no reverb on any bass freq's if there are any, or at least, take freq's below 250ish away from all reverb to clear up muddiness.

[randomblockfilms]

Yeah even a simple sine wave bassline would make it sound beefy. other than that, I dont see any other obvious problems with it!