{WIP} First Song! (Looking for critiques and advice)

[Dabrenn]

So this is the first rough draft of my first song ever, thinking I'm going to call it "Chocolate Mousse Moose" or something related to MMMystery on the Friendship express.

I'm VERY new to this whole music production thing so I would love it if you guys are as honest as possible and help me put the finishing touches on this project. I know next to nothing about more advanced Ableton effects and mastering.

Without further ado, here it is.


http://soundcloud.com/dabrenn/rough-draft-1



I'm having lots of trouble introducing the filth wobble thing for some reason, it just doesn't enter well.



Thank you guys so much~

[the4thImpulse]

The wobble doesnt sound like its playing in the right time as the drums in some parts (very noticable when you first bring it in). The track is really empty, the drums are simple and static, the bassline is to simple for what its tring to be, you have no spacial effects filling your ears.

There is a lot of work to be done in this track so I would say let this track be, dont come back to it for a while, and start something new. Keep learning new things about ableton and the genre you want to make (dubstep I take it) and apply what you learn into your music and keep making stuff even if it sounds bad. The more stuff you finish the better you will get, and there is much more for you to learn then what anyone could write in a simple forum post.

Also about the name, there has been a big discussion on MLR about what a true <pony> means and from what I gather from it simply giving a song a title with ponies in it does not make a pony song. You need to write about how the song is pony, in what ways has the show inspired you when you created the song.. stuff like that.

[Dabrenn]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I'd love to ask you for a few clarification points if you wouldn't mind.

The wobble doesnt sound like its playing in the right time as the drums in some parts (very noticable when you first bring it in).

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the wobble isn't playing at the right time. Like i said in the original post, I can't get it to enter well, but Once it starts it seems to me to stay on beat pretty well, except for maybe one small part, but who knows? I could just be a little deaf heh.

The track is really empty, the drums are simple and static, the bassline is to simple for what its tring to be, you have no spacial effects filling your ears.

I definately agree the drums are extremely static, this is a WIP and my first song ever.

But I'm unsure as to exactly what constitutes as making a track "empty" and "spacial effects". Could you give some examples or advice?

There is a lot of work to be done in this track so I would say let this track be, dont come back to it for a while, and start something new.

I would only say that I'm maybe 70% done with this track. This is very much a WIP. But why not come back for awhile? Wouldn't it do me just as much good to work on this and apply this to future songs rather than create 10+ WIP's and then try to finish them all at once?

(dubstep I take it)

haha I'd like to make all sorts of things. I'm not really a Skrillex fan or a filth step fan actually, it just sort of happened this way on this song.

I'd actually like to produce Progressive House if anything.

Also about the name, there has been a big discussion on MLR about what a true <pony> means and from what I gather from it simply giving a song a title with ponies in it does not make a pony song.

Oh I definitely agree. I hope to (possibly) add some Pony vocals and try to complement the slightly mysterious feel of the song before the final product is finished. As it stands it is not a pony song.


Once again thank you so much for taking the time to write that out for me, it means a lot.

[the4thImpulse]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I'd love to ask you for a few clarification points if you wouldn't mind.

1. I'm not quite sure what you mean by the wobble isn't playing at the right time. Like i said in the original post, I can't get it to enter well, but Once it starts it seems to me to stay on beat pretty well, but who knows? I could just be a little deaf heh.

2. But I'm unsure as to exactly what constitutes as making a track "empty" and "spacial effects". Could you give some examples or advice?

3. I would only say that I'm maybe 70% done with this track. This is very much a WIP. But why not come back for awhile? Wouldn't it do me just as much good to work on this and apply this to future songs rather than create 10+ WIP's and then try to finish them all at once?


4. I'd actually like to produce Progressive House if anything.

Oh I definitely agree. I hope to (possibly) add some Pony vocals and try to complement the slightly mysterious feel of the song before the final product is finished. As it stands it is not a pony song.

Clarification!

1. Its kind of hard to explain and it will like be more noticable while playing just the wobble and a metronome and looping the part (1:41), it just doesn't feel natural i guess. I think its because you play two wobbles then pause then go play more.. I'm sorry I cant explain it anymore then that.

2. I mean you have the essentials in here (ie. drums, bassline, lead) but there is nothing else. Listen to this song by deadmau5 at 4:06 he has 4 synths lines playing seperate melodies, a hihat shuffle overlay over a common drum line, reversed cymbals a noise sweeps. All those elements help the song flow, each part takes its own space in the stereo image so you head is a always full of sounds (to the extent where you cant keep track of them all when you first hear it so you come back for more). Filling a song like this is a hard skill to learn at first but when you do your music will sound much better.

3. You can keep working on it to finish it up, but talking from my own experience the best way to learn and become a better producer is to finish stuff and never return to it. Your music will never sound great when you first start and its real easy to over work stuff and waste your time doing so for a result that your never completely happy with. So instead of tweaking every part of a track everytime you learn something new simply turn around and start a new track with your new knowledge.

4. Progressive house will be a much easier genre to start with then dubstep so I would suggest make more prog stuff as you learn.

Hope this helps clarify everything.

[colortwelve]

I think this track definitely has potential, but there are of course a few things holding it back in a big way. Like 4thImpulse said, it feels sort of empty, so you might want to try layering melodies, and definitely make use of stereo separation. I feel like the drum track could stand to have a bit more to it - not necessarily hats, just more going on (check out some KOAN Sound to hear what I'm talking about, they're the kings of drums in EDM). And as for the sort of dubsteppy section, I like the basic melody, but again you could stand to expand the melody, and maybe add one to make the progression more solid. Try using a few different wobbles, maybe a reece bass, and try a little alternation between the dirty bass and some cleaner synths.

However, all this would make it a much heavier track and much closer to dubstep, so if that's not what you're going for, maybe try lowpassing the wobble, adding more sub-bass, and expounding on that section with a different, multi-parted synth melody.

(Hope this helps. Look forward to hearing the finished version! )

[Dabrenn]

I mean you have the essentials in here (ie. drums, bassline, lead) but there is nothing else. Listen to this song by deadmau5 at 4:06 he has 4 synths lines playing seperate melodies, a hihat shuffle overlay over a common drum line, reversed cymbals a noise sweeps.

ah. I see what you're getting at much more. I've (somewhat) attempted something more along those line and I think my musical theory is just a little rusty considering I stopped playing piano (consistently) when I was 12. As such, it didn't really sound right.

But as for the whole "spacial sounds", in all my limited experience i had have the toughest time finding sounds (specifically pads and bass) that I like. I hear stuff all around in my music that I can never come close to duplicating at all, even the simplest of things. This problem has frustrated me to no end.

I guess as i move along I'll pick it up some more though :D

never return to it.

Ok, that makes more sense than "come back to it after awhile". I'll probably spend a couple more hours here and move along to a shameless Avicii rip off hehe.

After that I'll tackle a Drum'n'bass track hopefully.

If I get ambitious, I'd love to so good Complextro but that is way way way way wayyy far down the road.


Thanks again!

[the4thImpulse]

One more quick tip on "spacial" sounds, simply adding reverb to alead can make a huge diffrence. Get to know abletons built in reverb, turning the stereo knob will push the reverb 'outside the speakers so it won't sound like apart of you leaed but some random sound you added in. Just mess arond with to figure it out or find a youtube tutorial (I couldn't find a good one).

[Dabrenn]

One more quick tip on "spacial" sounds, simply adding reverb to alead can make a huge diffrence. Get to know abletons built in reverb, turning the stereo knob will push the reverb 'outside the speakers so it won't sound like apart of you leaed but some random sound you added in. Just mess arond with to figure it out or find a youtube tutorial (I couldn't find a good one).

I had messed around with some reverb a little bit, but I was a little lazy with it and ended up dropping it because I didn't really like it. I'll look into it some more as I'm finishing it up.

I like the basic melody, but again you could stand to expand the melody, and maybe add one to make the progression more solid. Try using a few different wobbles, maybe a reece bass, and try a little alternation between the dirty bass and some cleaner synths.

Thanks for the compliment! I was actually intending to add a whole other progression, just thought I'd post this for some more feedback before moving forward.
I've tried some basic dirty-clean transitions but it sounded pretty terrible. I think it's a little out of my league at the moment but I will definitely keep this in mind.

However, all this would make it a much heavier track and much closer to dubstep,

I actually wasn't going for a heavy/filthy dubstep sound, more of a smoother and more Chill mood. Not really a Dance-Floor track like Skrillex. The Wobble was actually a little dirtier than I intended, but it took me so long of just screwing around in massive trying to learn it to get that I stuck with it haha :D.

adding more sub-bass

Are there any particular sub-bass sounds you could recommend? I can't find any i really like. In fact, finding sounds has been my #1 problem.

Thanks again!

[colortwelve]

I'd recommend getting the VST TAL-Bassline. Its preset 'soft bass' can be manipulated into a very powerful sub-bass. Or a very low-key one, etc. It's all in how you utilize effects.

[Dabrenn]

I'd recommend getting the VST TAL-Bassline. Its preset 'soft bass' can be manipulated into a very powerful sub-bass. Or a very low-key one, etc. It's all in how you utilize effects.

Thanks! I'll Look into it.

[Dabrenn]

Shameless bump in the hopes of any more feedback! I've been swamped lately, no time to work on it unfortunately.