[Original][Opinions Needed] Untitled Dubstep Attempt

[Sonic Breakbeat]

Alright, since I have yet to receive a serious opinion on this, I come here.

This is not the full song, which means at the moment there is no build up or breakdown or whatever; Just the chords in the beginning and then it goes straight into the drop (which is most important to me right now).

If you can't tell, this is closer to "old school dubstep", or "chillstep" than what a lot of brony musicians are doing in terms of dubstep; I'm not trying to make it extremely dirty sounding and wub wub bass cannon or anything like that.

Again, I'm looking for feedback on the drop only, but if you can think of anything else with the chords or something, that's great too.

Link: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/87169001/Previe ... Doodle.mp3

Here's some questions that might help:

1) How is the sound design?
2) Is it complex enough? Too complex? Too basic?
3) Are there any sounds that you like/don't like?
4) Is there enough bass, being in the sub-range or low-range in general?
5) How do the drums sound, and do they stand out enough in the mix?
6) Is it melodic enough, or does it just sound random?

Thanks! Dubstep is really not my genre, as I'm really picky about how it sounds. I've only attempted it three times in my whole life, but I'd like to make it a bit more if I could get it down.

[Ptepix]

The drums are great. They are unique and not cliche lol.
I think the melody is fantastic.
The Dubstep could be more pronounced. try and bring out the upper mids to define them a little more.
Yeah...just make the melody longer of course XD

[Sonic Breakbeat]

The drums are great. They are unique and not cliche lol.
I think the melody is fantastic.
The Dubstep could be more pronounced. try and bring out the upper mids to define them a little more.
Yeah...just make the melody longer of course XD

Alright, sounds good! I agree, the drop could use some more high frequencies, especially on some of the basses.

Thanks for the feedback!

[vladnuke]

To me, half the drop is the build up, and frankly, I didn't hear much of a build up going on there. As for the drop itself, it could benifit from leaving the comfort zones of plain lfos and venturing farther into the sound design. Also, the structure could benift from a reprise, or a cut away from the loop on the repeat. Throw in some charachter, dig out the meaning behind the song. Use a different technique, for a change.

Yes its melodic, but you're right, it needs more complexity.

[Sonic Breakbeat]

To me, half the drop is the build up, and frankly, I didn't hear much of a build up going on there. As for the drop itself, it could benifit from leaving the comfort zones of plain lfos and venturing farther into the sound design. Also, the structure could benift from a reprise, or a cut away from the loop on the repeat. Throw in some charachter, dig out the meaning behind the song. Use a different technique, for a change.

Yes its melodic, but you're right, it needs more complexity.

This is not the full song, which means at the moment there is no build up or breakdown or whatever; Just the chords in the beginning and then it goes straight into the drop (which is most important to me right now).

I'm not looking for any feedback on the buildup, because there IS no buildup right now. I'm only focusing on the drop right now.

Anyways, thanks for the feedback. I'll keep working on it.

[GumsOfGabby]

1) How is the sound design?
2) Is it complex enough? Too complex? Too basic?
3) Are there any sounds that you like/don't like?
4) Is there enough bass, being in the sub-range or low-range in general?
5) How do the drums sound, and do they stand out enough in the mix?
6) Is it melodic enough, or does it just sound random?

Please don't growl at me Sonic if this is too "harsh". This is what my ears picked up

1. Sound design seems fine to me. The main (let's call it) "wub" could be modulated to not let so much of the higher frequencies through. This is just to my taste, but I would like it if you brought the filter cutoff to around ~25% and modulated with an LFO 25% in both directions. The high-mids are making the sound weak to my ears. I would normally only modulate these kinds of wubs to let through up to 600-700Hz. That's where you'll get the most "wobbiness" out of the synth (so experiment with the amount of filter resonance). Try playing with chorus and phaser effects on that bass too. The chords in the middle sound thin and weak. Not sure if that's what you were going for, but to beef them up use 2 or more unison voices, detune to taste and spread. Add chorus and reverb. The synth that pitches down in the chorus could use a bit more definition. The filter modulation (if that's what you used) sounds sloppy and has less of a rhythmic feel to the other synths. Just go more extreme with the filter mod (increase the mod amount).

2. Sounds "complex" enough to not be boring and has enough repetition to be catchy. Good to my ears. But don't let that stop you from expanding.

3. Chord synth that plays during the chorus, it's a bit thin. The synth that pitches down in the chorus, lacks rhythmic definition"

4. More please. Usually commercial tracks get mastered so that the sub peaks at -9 or -6dB, depending on the type of track. Just use that as a guideline, obviously you can go louder or softer to your taste. Some tracks have the sub peak at -3dB. For this style, I think you'd want to go a bit heavier on the sub. Try syncing the sub's volume to the "wub's" LFO speed too, sometimes it sounds good.

5. Drums sound clear and present. I think the kick sounds great with the rest of the track. The snare is kind of ambiguous. It's sitting in between being too punchy and not punchy enough. For this style of music, you can really have either. Make the snare punchier, or find a sample that more resembles a rim shot or something, they're quite commonly used also in this type of dubstep.

6. Sounds fine to me. Just make sure you keep some repetition when you start expanding to keep it sounding logical.

General things I picked up on:
- Sidechain your synths to the kick and snare to give the track a bit of weight.
- The chord progression (before the "drop") iv-III-VII-I is quite commonly used. It sounds nice! Just keep it away from idmforums
- Right now, the track sounds quite flat. May just be because it's a WIP, but non-the-less get some filter and volume automations going!

Hope this helps in some way, shape or form. I hope I didn't make myself look like an ass. It is sounding SWEEEEEET at the moment. Love the groove, can't wait for the final product!

Also, screw editing thids

[Sonic Breakbeat]

1) How is the sound design?
2) Is it complex enough? Too complex? Too basic?
3) Are there any sounds that you like/don't like?
4) Is there enough bass, being in the sub-range or low-range in general?
5) How do the drums sound, and do they stand out enough in the mix?
6) Is it melodic enough, or does it just sound random?

Please don't growl at me Sonic if this is too "harsh". This is what my ears picked up

1. Sound design seems fine to me. The main (let's call it) "wub" could be modulated to not let so much of the higher frequencies through. This is just to my taste, but I would like it if you brought the filter cutoff to around ~25% and modulated with an LFO 25% in both directions. The high-mids are making the sound weak to my ears. I would normally only modulate these kinds of wubs to let through up to 600-700Hz. That's where you'll get the most "wobbiness" out of the synth (so experiment with the amount of filter resonance). Try playing with chorus and phaser effects on that bass too. The chords in the middle sound thin and weak. Not sure if that's what you were going for, but to beef them up use 2 or more unison voices, detune to taste and spread. Add chorus and reverb. The synth that pitches down in the chorus could use a bit more definition. The filter modulation (if that's what you used) sounds sloppy and has less of a rhythmic feel to the other synths. Just go more extreme with the filter mod (increase the mod amount).

2. Sounds "complex" enough to not be boring and has enough repetition to be catchy. Good to my ears. But don't let that stop you from expanding.

3. Chord synth that plays during the chorus, it's a bit thin. The synth that pitches down in the chorus, lacks rhythmic definition"

4. More please. Usually commercial tracks get mastered so that the sub peaks at -9 or -6dB, depending on the type of track. Just use that as a guideline, obviously you can go louder or softer to your taste. Some tracks have the sub peak at -3dB. For this style, I think you'd want to go a bit heavier on the sub. Try syncing the sub's volume to the "wub's" LFO speed too, sometimes it sounds good.

5. Drums sound clear and present. I think the kick sounds great with the rest of the track. The snare is kind of ambiguous. It's sitting in between being too punchy and not punchy enough. For this style of music, you can really have either. Make the snare punchier, or find a sample that more resembles a rim shot or something, they're quite commonly used also in this type of dubstep.

6. Sounds fine to me. Just make sure you keep some repetition when you start expanding to keep it sounding logical.

General things I picked up on:
- Sidechain your synths to the kick and snare to give the track a bit of weight.
- The chord progression (before the "drop") iv-III-VII-I is quite commonly used. It sounds nice! Just keep it away from idmforums
- Right now, the track sounds quite flat. May just be because it's a WIP, but non-the-less get some filter and volume automations going!

Hope this helps in some way, shape or form. I hope I didn't make myself look like an ass. It is sounding SWEEEEEET at the moment. Love the groove, can't wait for the final product!

Also, screw editing thids

-Growls-

Just kidding xD That was actually really good, and very informative. I didn't think you were being harsh at all.

As for your feedback, it's all really helpful. This track is still very early and that gives me room to change just about anything, so I will go ahead and try out everything you've suggested. It's also early enough that if I don't like where it's going, I can always scrap it and not feel bad about spending too much time on it!

Again, Dubstep is one of my least favorite genres in EDM, so advice from anyone who listens to it more than I do is really helpful.

Thanks!!