I generally dislike most dubstep but I think this is really good. I actually read all the comments before pressing play so was expecting to hear some really weak ass drums.
However, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that they're pretty damn good. I like those scratchy hats (they're not muffled), which is quite a different sort of sound, and also don't see a problem with the kick.
I guess everything can be improved (and I spend a lot of time on doing that in great detail in my own tracks) but I don't see a problem in general with your drums - they're doing a good job.
1:24 that lead and its pitch bend/portamento (?) is very cool. Nice melody.
I don't like to criticise other reviewers but I don't understand Spudsy's response to your reply to him, which seemed quite reasonable and not all "protective of your end result".
Therefore, the following seems quite unnecessary and perhaps a little unpleasant: "However you look at it opinions, unfortunately rarely trump facts. I wouldn't have replied again but you were so protective of your end result what was the point in asking for people's input?"
I like the vibe you've got going on and the sureal slightly ambiental sound is great. Really layed back. Great use of filters and effects for the transitions, that is hard to do and get it right but you've done it really well.
As far as mastering goes I must admit you need to do a bit of mix work first. Although things could be fixed with mastering, it would be a bit limited in terms of fixes that could be done.
The first thing I noticed was a bit of harshness in the upper mids and some boxiness overall, which I tend to atribute to a not so great monitoring environment.
The kick is a pretty good kick but it's boxy and sounds muddy, you could try removing a bit of 180-250hz and if that makes it sound to thin you could go a bit higher around 300hz or so. These are just some general frequencies that tend to cause problems. You could also slightly sidechain compress the bass to better blend it with the kick.
The snare/clap sound is pretty good and works as is to keep that chill vibe. Personally I would've boosted some 180hz to give it a bit more weight but that might be a matter of taste.
The hihats are really muffled and while I get that you are going for a darker sound they really muffle the track a lot and sound way to dark when in contrast with the effects which are nice and silky.
Overall it ain't to bad but it ain't perfect either as some elements are way to dark while others are way to shinny and silky.
As for mastering you could always try mid-side eq to widen the track and work separatelly on the mid and side sections. On the sides you could high pass a lot and that will really enable you to push it in terms of loudness, it ain't really a necesity but it would give you that option if so you wish.
Lately clippers are used a lot in mastering along with multiband compression and wideband compression.
You could also try something like Sonnox transient designer on the master, it could give you the edge you are looking for.
Anyways just my thoughts man. I like the song and the arrangement and I'm glad you didn't go in the general direction of dubstep/chillstep.
Regardless of what others may have said about the bass kick being too weak, I think I understand what you were going for on this track and I must say that I think you hit it on the head :) I like this because it's different and mysterious. The drums don't suck up all the space so your mind has freedom to absorb the other sounds going on in the track. Cheers to you :) I think it sounds great :P
First thing that strikes me is the track is great but needs some work before the mastering process had begun.
The sounds are nice and they all work well together and all the elements are there and could come together to make the track.
Your snare sound is good but the kick is a little weak, dub step kick tends to hit quite hard and have a 'pffft' style tail to it (check out redneks stuff on youtube)
The drums as a whole could use multiband compression and exciting. Think of it as bringing out certain sound elements in the drums and then bringing them into focus with the multiband exciter.
once you have done that some room reverb on the drums and on the track as a whole followed will gel the track together.
New york style compression could work well on the drums group and the bass group to give them some harmonics to fill the frequency spectrum a bit.
Well, I did choose the kick for a reason, and that's because I wanted the kick to be punchy for this track. I didn't want a kick with a low end clashing with the sub frequencies of the bass. Overall, I wanted the drums to be simple, not taking away from the chill feel of the track. But I will check the multiband stuff you mentioned, out. Thanks!
Hey, this is cool and sounds good! I'm not too into dubstep any more, but this has a unique quality, in that it is not the generic pop dance oriented stuff. I like the unusual bass sounds you used as well. As far as the mastering goes, I can't complain at all, especially considering it was done with stock FL plugins. I think the overall volume is good, as I have room to turn it up if I want, but it's not so loud that I have to turn my speakers almost all the way down. You know... balance. I think for a simple EQ/limiter master such as this, a big improvement would be to procure and use a linear phase sort of EQ as opposed to PEQ2. There has been much talk on the image line forum about the possibility of PEQ3 being developed. Hopefully it will be linear phase like some more advanced plugins out there. An added bonus would be mid/side options, but I'm not holding my breath on either of these. But sorry to ramble... I like your song and how you made it sound.
Well thanks, Spiv! I mainly used Parametric EQ 2 so I could get rid of pesky sounds that were only around in one area of the spectrum. Sounds I liked, but if I turned them down, they'd lose their quality or become nearly inaudible, so I used it to just dip down that specific area, keep it from resonating so loudly. The bass and the kick were especially hard for me to manage. I learned that it is better to sacrifice kick volume for bass volume when you're looking for a heavy bass sound, and I ended up using some pretty punchy kicks, anyhow.
As for the Basses, There was the basic sub in there, there was a gnarled bass sound that was FM'd to hell, and then that there wobble was just a re-purposed Grand Piano preset in Sytrus. I find a lot of cool uses for presets, I find.
Cool track has a lot of taste, not over done it's
Musical not Noiseical, if you get my drift...
Solid mix hard chore groove, what good songs
are made of...
nice intro and build up. Not really that heavy dubstep imo but nicely balanced bass and nice used synths. I like the use of the bells. Did you use a phaser on it?
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
I generally dislike most dubstep but I think this is really good. I actually read all the comments before pressing play so was expecting to hear some really weak ass drums.
However, I'm pleasantly surprised to find that they're pretty damn good. I like those scratchy hats (they're not muffled), which is quite a different sort of sound, and also don't see a problem with the kick.
I guess everything can be improved (and I spend a lot of time on doing that in great detail in my own tracks) but I don't see a problem in general with your drums - they're doing a good job.
1:24 that lead and its pitch bend/portamento (?) is very cool. Nice melody.
I don't like to criticise other reviewers but I don't understand Spudsy's response to your reply to him, which seemed quite reasonable and not all "protective of your end result".
Therefore, the following seems quite unnecessary and perhaps a little unpleasant: "However you look at it opinions, unfortunately rarely trump facts. I wouldn't have replied again but you were so protective of your end result what was the point in asking for people's input?"
Good work...
The hats at the beginning were not actually hats at all! Technically. They were a heavily effected drum loop.
Yes, that was pitch bent, and thank you!
I appreciate your comment!
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
As far as mastering goes I must admit you need to do a bit of mix work first. Although things could be fixed with mastering, it would be a bit limited in terms of fixes that could be done.
The first thing I noticed was a bit of harshness in the upper mids and some boxiness overall, which I tend to atribute to a not so great monitoring environment.
The kick is a pretty good kick but it's boxy and sounds muddy, you could try removing a bit of 180-250hz and if that makes it sound to thin you could go a bit higher around 300hz or so. These are just some general frequencies that tend to cause problems. You could also slightly sidechain compress the bass to better blend it with the kick.
The snare/clap sound is pretty good and works as is to keep that chill vibe. Personally I would've boosted some 180hz to give it a bit more weight but that might be a matter of taste.
The hihats are really muffled and while I get that you are going for a darker sound they really muffle the track a lot and sound way to dark when in contrast with the effects which are nice and silky.
Overall it ain't to bad but it ain't perfect either as some elements are way to dark while others are way to shinny and silky.
As for mastering you could always try mid-side eq to widen the track and work separatelly on the mid and side sections. On the sides you could high pass a lot and that will really enable you to push it in terms of loudness, it ain't really a necesity but it would give you that option if so you wish.
Lately clippers are used a lot in mastering along with multiband compression and wideband compression.
You could also try something like Sonnox transient designer on the master, it could give you the edge you are looking for.
Anyways just my thoughts man. I like the song and the arrangement and I'm glad you didn't go in the general direction of dubstep/chillstep.
Cheers!
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
ER
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
Well, you did ask for critique.
The drums are too weak. Drums and/or bass underpin most or all electronic music.
This Caspa track even though it's mellow still has drums that hit, have space and do there job.
However you look at it opinions, unfortunately rarely trump facts.
I wouldn't have replied again but you were so protective of your end result what was the point in asking for people's input?
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
First thing that strikes me is the track is great but needs some work before the mastering process had begun.
The sounds are nice and they all work well together and all the elements are there and could come together to make the track.
Your snare sound is good but the kick is a little weak, dub step kick tends to hit quite hard and have a 'pffft' style tail to it (check out redneks stuff on youtube)
The drums as a whole could use multiband compression and exciting. Think of it as bringing out certain sound elements in the drums and then bringing them into focus with the multiband exciter.
once you have done that some room reverb on the drums and on the track as a whole followed will gel the track together.
New york style compression could work well on the drums group and the bass group to give them some harmonics to fill the frequency spectrum a bit.
Thanks for sharing dude, tight track.
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
As for the Basses, There was the basic sub in there, there was a gnarled bass sound that was FM'd to hell, and then that there wobble was just a re-purposed Grand Piano preset in Sytrus. I find a lot of cool uses for presets, I find.
Anyhow, thanks again, Spiv.
on Intricacies of the Mind by EphyMusic
on Fear Itself by EphyMusic
on Fear Itself by EphyMusic
Musical not Noiseical, if you get my drift...
Solid mix hard chore groove, what good songs
are made of...
Nicely done...
Peace...TG.
on Fear Itself by EphyMusic