Mind Stink - Cosmicinfluence

Man I gotta say that I'm impressed, so you say this is your first attempt at production..well congrats to a job well done.Everyone here is still learning and finding that special sound we can call our own.I'm not qualified to really give you any tips on production but I see already that a lot of people have already, so that's good looking out.Now it's on to the second track...blow it out the water.

Best man at your wedding and now your best man on looperman! haha, bro seriously, you picked the right place, really good to see you here and see the great and useful reviews you have gained already!..keep up the hard work and collabing, looking forward to working with you more. cheers bro!

Hello again. Yes, this is no doubt better than Spivkurl's first production and I'm sure it's better than mine.

You've got some pretty decent feedback here so keep reviewing others' work and asking for feedback in your tracks' descriptions and I'm sure you'll get it. I'm among those who doesn't mind writing a decent amount to try to help out.

Just starting out with production now must be amazing but confusing. So many very cheap and powerful 'sound toys' on offer and so very much to learn. It's going to be a blast for you and there will be so much to take in and all sorts of advice you don't fully understand.

You don't absolutely need a college course as there are all sorts of online tools and tips and guides. I can help you out with a few suggestions. One good place to go is the website of the best music tech magazine in the UK, called Sound On Sound. Check it and its forums out. Also has hundreds of interviews with all manner of big name artists over the years. Lots to learn there.

Good luck and try to move away from drum loops and get into programming some good acoustic drum software as it offers much more flexibility.

Hey, this is pretty original and fresh, which I like to hear! I really like the resonant bass synth parts, you don't hear that much in dub. Regarding the vocal effects, I get the feeling they were used as inserts. If I'm right, maybe you should try the effects as sends. This will give you better control over the levels and tone of the effects. You can automate the level of the send in different parts of the song to give variety. Effects like reverb and delay can be very useful in dub of course, but they can also be very distracting. This is way better than my first production though, so don't listen to me too much... ha ha! I like it! Keep going!

I would have to agree with my esteemed colleague (static) the verb is a bit much at the beginning but I know why you are using it as it can hide some imperfections ;-) . Let your natural voice come thru with a smaller verb but those dub (slap echo) effects are nice. Now when you are singing "Whoaaa" the verb effects are nice on that as it sounds like background singer. check out some drum loops on this site as static is correct as the drums are very monotonous. but this tune has some great potential.. keep working at it learning your pro-tools. And welcome to the loop!
Steve

Hi. This is good for your first production attempt. It's got a pretty clean sound, for a start.

I like the overall vibe, the bass, subtle chords from the keys (Rhodes?) and there's some psychedelic squelch in there.

I think it might be better if you start with bass and drums without the vocals.

In the first minute I think there's too much reverb on those vocals and they take up a bit too much space. I'd just turn the reverb down and then maybe turn it up to that sort of level at the most extreme parts - a bit like a guitarist turning on the heaviest distortion just for certain parts.

I think the track seems too long, probably because of the lack of changes. Same bass sound and quite possibly line for 5 minutes. Drums don't really change either. Need more fills or a change to the ride or change in groove. I guess it's just a loop and that's why there's always that open hat in the same place.

As with so much music, this is the sort of track that could really do with a real drummer (or quality programmed kits, which is how I work) to give it a lift in all sorts of places. That way you could probably get away with the same bassline for 5 minutes. But the same bass and drum loop is just a bit too much for that amount of time, in my biased opinion.

Good luck with it and feel free to let me know if you disagree with my observations.