<Non-Pony><EDM><WIP>- Arcadia

[Guthey]

https://soundcloud.com/guthey/arcadia

Okay, so this is my next project. It's not really inspired by anything, it's pretty much just to keep me busy since I finished that remix for TLT's challenge. I haven't really decided where I'm going with this either, i'm pretty much just making it. As for the actual genre I have no idea, I made this in a 110 bpm, which in edm is considered glitch-hop, but I don't know if this is glitch-hop or not. When it comes to genres I deviate them between how they sound, which, to my ear, this doesn't sound like anything i'm familiar with so I just classify it as a 110 bpm EDM song.

Notes:
1. So how is the bass? I guess you could say it's distinctively different from the style used in the remix song, and for the past month or two, I've only been spending my time with more resampled basses than those just made with a synthesizer. The reason I switched in the first place was because they tended to sound a little to wet or extremely mushy, which is the last thing I want to do. The one utilized in this is a simple bandpass with an automated resonance width and amount, a built in harmor phaser with all parameters but the phaser amount under slight automation, a custom prism engaged, 6 voices of unison with all parameters under automation, phase randomness automations with some slight hints of the seconds timbre, harmonizer engaged both shifted and a small gap, lastly it is being vocoded with parameters i'm not going to go into. It is not being resampled at all. In total there are 11 things being automated in the bass alone. What I want to know is does it sound okay? It's pretty complex, which I tend to like, but does the complexity destroy it's uniqueness? :22 seconds is when it is in harmony,sort of, so I would use that as reference.
2. How is the beat? I tried to go with a little more groove in it, I think, which is something I always liked, and so I'm just wondering how well it is executed. Is it jarring? The last thing I want is to give someone a headache with it.
3. How are the melodic elements? My friend said that the lead sounded like that one Chinese instrument. Does it fit well with the bass? How are the chords? I tired to keep them low and plucked, should I extend them a little or are they fine? One thing about the chords is that at :22 I used the lead to make a lead chord, which is completely different from the chords I am talking about. I also have a small lowpassed, plucked saw+sine wave "bump" sound that plays during the lead and chords, how is that? is it too low, does it not fit? I tried to make that the arp in this song, just wondering if I should change it a little so it blends in with the other sounds.
4. How does it sound so far? I obviously need to do some mixing and stuff, and I did a little before I posted this, but does a certain frequency sound too obnoxious, something that could probably use some toning down? I want this to be of a better quality than the remix, as I wish to improve, as well as train my ear so I can pick out annoying little sounds before I continue producing a track.

That's all for now, any sort of feedback is welcomed, aswell as any pointers and advice about anything anyone might have is gladly received.

[Injustrial]

I agree with Kyoga in that the melodic parts are taking a back seat here. I think your bass is sounding pretty good and with the swingy sort of rhythm you've got, it's a nice groovy beat. I'm not sure I completely agree with rewriting the melody, so I'd suggest bringing it out more so you can hear it properly. Then think about adjusting and readjusting. You've got some cool pizza hits, but they feel very lonely atm. It might not be what you'd normally want in music like this, but some heavily digitized saws could help bring the melody out. Think Glaze and Tombstone-esque sounds, though definitely try making your own unique leads.

All in all, this show potential and it differs from what I've heard you post before.

[Guthey]

1: the bass sounds pretty good. relatively clean in the upper harmonic register and overall sounds pretty good. you are having cutout issues with your phasing as you move in and out of the bass which tells me you don't really have any good control over the thing.

It moves in and out of its, I guess normal pattern because I am automating all its parameters. I have full control over it, I probably should just tone it down a little on the automations if it comes as unstable to someone else.

2: The beat is actually really good and a joy to listen to, but it's very random and has seemingly no structure to it.

I'll definitely try and put some more definition to it instead of just randomness, thanks for the heads-up.

3: The melodic elements are very hard to identify in this mix, but the elements I can hear aren't really particularly interesting. I would suggest referring to your chord progressions when choosing the notes to play in your melody. When changing chords, it's a good practice to play one of the chord tones (or a suspension of the chord tones) in your melody. it helps keep the song sounding more or less 'together' and it's a good formula for keeping the listener's attention.

The chords are indeed hard to actually listen for since they are low as hell, probably something I should have changed before posting this, but I was lazy. I was pretty much just letting the lead do all the work, letting it guide the song and pretty much hoping for the best. And as I kept listening to this I do notice that it sounds extremely disjunctive as it continues with no actual flow to it.

4: so far it sounds like a good wip, but nothing more. there's a lot of work to do concerning making your phased bass work well with itself and the melody should, in my opinion, be completely rewritten. This song has potential, but I feel that you're really going to need to get some kind of inspiration as to what you're going for here. currently what comes across to me is a wide array of conflicting ideas which almost work together but don't quite accommodate. You can fix this if you pour some more time into it, but atm it's just not working.

I can see where you are coming from, and I agree with alot of what you are saying now that I think about it. inspiration right now is pretty scarce on me, whenever I make something it starts out as a random project then inevitably something worth working on. I'll see what I can do about the melody later today when I have sometime. So basically I'm going to spend the afternoon fixing the issues that came up, and I'll probably throw up another version of this on wednesday. And now that I've had time to sleep it over and read your comments I think I have an idea as to were I actually want to go with this, thanks for that.

Injustrial:
Hmm, what's a pizza hit? I'll definitely take that into consideration since I like learning new things. I'll see if I can rearrange the melody a little bit and bring it out some more.

Thanks for the uplifting feedback, I will surely put as much time into this as I did in the last one, and of a much better quality.