Do You Love Me - Bloomonkey

Hi, Bloomonkey! Hello from Ottawa! Nice to meet you! (Inverness is one our our favourite places in Scotland, especially the River Walk.)

Saw your post in the forum and took a listen to your track. I agree with Bear on most of his comments. I liked the way you introduced different elements as the track progressed. Panning is good. I didn't hear it more pronounced on the left side, but probably worth checking how your Master level meters are looking in Logic. (I use Logic as well.) I was pleased to see that you had quite a good bit of dynamic range in the track. It doesn't just max out continuously in the wave form display.

That said, I do have some suggestions. First: there are only two chords in the track, played repeatedly by the synth pad. The other elements do help to make the track not overwhelming repetitive and boring, but it really would be improved by adding in at least one additional chord progression.

Second, I also think there's no variation in the drum pattern throughout the track, at least not enough to be noticeable. I'm guilty of the same thing in my tracks, but your track really needs more elements that will maintain interest. So, I'd consider layering some other drum/percussion patterns at points. Not sure what you have other than Ultrabeat (the drum synth that comes with Logic), but it actually has lots of patterns as presets and is easy to program patterns from scratch.

I think the bass line is good, but should be more pronounced in the mix. It is submerged relative to the two-chord pad part. The timbre of the bass patch is OK, but in addition to increasing the level in the mix, you might experiment with EQ settings to give it a bit more bite and some compression also if you don't have that already on the bass track.

You can't go wrong with using one of Patricia's vocals. If you create an arrangement with an additional chord progression, you might be able to use something else from her acapella, not just repeat the same phrase.

Overall, I think the mix is a bit muddy, largely due I think to the prominence of the synth pad which dominates the middle to upper low frequency range. I would experiment with EQing the synth pad track to make room for the bass line and reduce the level of the synth pad track in the mix as well, relative to other parts.

Those are my comments, for what it's worth. I did like the track. I'd say it represents a good foundation. Needs a little bit of fine-tuning of the mix and, as Bear also said, a tempo or chord change (I favour a chord progression change) to make the arrangement even more engaging for the listener.

Eric

Nice work here. I think the mix is actually pretty good. I like the panning on the piano/bell synth (it has some really nice movement from left to right). The pad on both intro sections could possibly use a bit wider stereo field. Also, it could be my ancient ears, but most of the instruments seem to be centered or skewed to the left, leaving the right side of things seeming a little neglected (I hope that makes sense - it could just be my hearing too, haha). I did enjoy this a lot and I'm a fan of good chilled music. All in all, it was an enjoyable listen and your production skills are really pretty good. Compositionally it was also Well done. If you wanted to get crazy you could throw a tempo or chord change in the middle and then transition back. There are lots of changes you could do, but you could also just leave it as it is...it's a solid effort. I hope all is well.

Bear