Hey, guys! Just joined your forum and had a look around. I decided to post my latest song here to get some feedback and spread the word. I hope you'll like it and perhaps check out my account while you're at it ;)
Lyrics: Sound the alarm we are under attack The herd's in upheaval the heaven's runs black Fear runs unchecked through our once peaceful flock Who shall we turn to, who shall be our rock
Stand fast my brothers, for I say to thee We shall prevail, a new dawn we shall see We are too strong, we are victims to none We raise our fists to the heaven as one
Chorus We don't give in and we do not back down We hold the line, we stand our ground We fly our banners and march, steady on Ours is the path to be broken by none We raise our fists to the heaven as one We hold the line, we stand our ground
The times may be trying, the outlook seem bleak Your arms may be tired your moral grows weak But I decree, we shall stand 'gainst the flood Ours is resolve, wrought in steel, bound in blood
Thank you so much for your detailed and in depth feedback! I sincerely appreciate it and am going to keep quite a bit of it in mind for future projects. Please allow me to try answering a few of your concerns. (I am not arguing that you are wrong on any of your points)
Samples: I was trying to create sort of a story with them, with news reports about people rioting and rampaging through the streets, then the FOX News part about bronies, to give people a reason to get angry, and then total warfare :D (Not to be taken seriously, some people have gotten a bit defensive over that) Was I able to pull it off? It doesn't seem like it, since both you and on other have felt they were a bit out of place and didn't really have anything to do with the song. Maybe my head reads connections in a strange way, who knows?
Sound structure: I was planning on doing a simple ABABCB structure on the song, as with almost all my others, but decided against it because the song got to the 6 min mark. Cut a few places and replaced some stuff. Perhaps it got too chaotic. I'll keep it in mind.
Mixing: This is a big problem for me. I don't have any training or experience and have only been doing this for 4 months now. I'm sure it's stuff that will come with time, but you're right. The mix in this, as with all my other songs, leaves a lot to be desired. The point you bring up about the 3-4 kHz spectrum is very interesting. Are you suggesting I should lower the volume in those areas and keep the rest? So the overall Spectrum would look more of a reverse bell curve than the rather balanced one I have now?
Stereo Design: I have no idea how to do that. I just turn on the Stereo Separation wheel until the rounder saws are wider than the high attack spikes and noises. Perhaps it's something to look into, although I've got the feeling we're talking an ocean of knowledge to sink in...
Soundfont: I don't know what you mean by this. (I tried googling Soundfont and just found something about a filename and ways to make sound)
Sounddesign: Here is a very interesting point, where you're hearing sawtunes muddling together in the top frequencies. I'm not sure how to rectify that, but perhaps some rolloffs in those areas would work? I tried cutting a lot of stuff in the top and just keep the main saw, but it felt so weaksauce. I do have a weakspot for distorted sawtunes...
I don't really know anything about sounddesign. I just turn on knobs and adjust values at random until I've got something I like. But then again, I'm doing aggro. Compression and Distortion are our biggest tropes.
Compression: Dynamic range isn't really a factor in Aggrotech. At least not for me. I'm certain some people, especially those with trained ears, are sensitive to heavy compression, though. I'll try working on finding a middle ground to straddle. The vocals have almost no compression, though. Unless my distortion plugin also compresses. Is that normal? (I don't know how distortion works. I just turn the knobs and stuff gets cool)
TL;DR: Thank you so much for your feedback. Some of it sailed right above my head, but it's given me some places to start looking for improvements. For reference, please check out the embedded videos to understand sorta what I'm aiming for with my music. Hope you have a nice day :)