indeed you are spot on. And yes I was entertaining myself. I did do a full-length mix of the last third of this piece, but I am not yet sure If I will release it.
I like the stutter in the initial beat. Sound like some interesting swing values. Nice warm mix on all the instruments. I like the chops in the guitar part.
Excellent mix. Loud without harshness. Great bass line.
I see what you mean about the vox reverb. Baked in FX can be an obstacle at times. I wish there were more dry acapellas on here, even if it sacrifices "perfection."
Yeah, I find wet acapellas seem to work better for dance genres but for others it can be a bit of a challenge. Regardless, there are still a lot of gems that can be found around here from where I stand.
Thanks for the great feedback and fav bringer, always appreciated.
Nice ethereal sound. I took me a sec to find the beat in the intro, but that's ok. Lots of good use of delay (ping pong mostly I assume). Very nice use of what almost sounds like vocoder at about 2:25 in the synth voice.
Guess you get another fav. So did you release anything elsewhere or is this stuff just sitting on a hard drive?
I used to have a soundcloud page full of stuff but I deleted it in a fit of frustration lol. I just started another one. Besides that I haven't really 'released' much. Tried a few tracks on Bandcamp and it's a no go, maybe not patient enough. So besides a couple family members, no one else listens to my stuff.
Might as well be that way. I'm to lazy to 'promote' and too inconsistent to cater to an audience. I don't know, feedback from unbiased ears is hard to find and I'm a bit insecure about my ability, lacking that.
So, in short, yes... this stuff is just sitting on a hard drive. Sorry for the rant, but you got me thinking lol
Thanks for the nice comment and the fav, really appreciated bringer. Always nice to hear from you. And I'm really enjoying your lofi. Let me know if you get your stuff out on YouTube. Would love to see it. =D
Nice mid-range on the synths. Didn't expect that piano to come in at about 3 min, nice touch. I like the "breathing" of the beat, nice and complex in the 16th/32nd note aspects of the beat (depending on your perspective).
Your mixes have that super bright, 80s shimmer. Are you singing the harmonies, pitch manipulating, or both?
I like the hiss in the snare, like pressure released. Nice synth choice, bass line, and funky guitar licks. Tim Henson would call those "boomer bends" :P
Great lyrics. I'll be honest with you, I about abandoned drill due to the lack of compelling subject matter. This doesn't sound like poser bullshit. It's real :D
You've done a good job of reinstating my faith, maybe I will mess with your acapellas a little.
Very nice mix. The first note almost knocked me over. I like the vocal chops and ethereal use of what sounds like a reverb and delay mixed. Good arpeggios in the "computer: sounding synth. Nice note choices in the brass and pitch dip fadeout. Lots of thick mid range in the timbre choices.
I thought the bass would hit my subs more, but not everything has to have a layer of 808s :)
Gracias amigo bringerofDOOM por tus comentarios tan cálidos y agradables. Me alegra que te haya gustado. Que tengas un buen dÃa compañero. Paz y salud en el mundo.
Very nice kick in the mix. I like the alternating chord progression, and then the keys layered over alternating at twice the speed (sort of, variations of the motif anyway).
Nice use of vox. It takes true guts to sing anything.
I can hide behind a sax or guitar all day, and feel truly apathetic, even undeservedly pretentious, but unless it's Karaoke Johnny Cash on the vox I shake like everyone else.
Excellent mix. Consider "fixing mixes" or "collaborative efforts" if you want break that comfort zone (that's what I had to do anyway).
I have to stop myself from layering too much sometimes. I love the psycho-acoustic effects that pop up doing that some times.
Trust me, I shake, and I don't know if it's just my voice or it's nerves or a combo. I never sang outside the shower before.
That's an interesting idea that I've never explored. I don't know if I'd be a good collaborator though. I feel really possessive of my tunes, and I'm a bit unreliable. But will keep it in mind. I definitely need to put myself 'out there' for reasons I won't get into.
Thanks for stopping by bringer. Always nice to hear from you and your ideas.
Nice music box. Took a second to find the beat, but when it came in is was crystal clear. Nice deep vox and melodic choices. Did you sing the harmony or cheat?
Very nice instrumentation and mix all the way through. Tasteful breaks.
Hey there, cheers for the listen and fav. Funny considering our wee conversation re trap genre. Well...I have sung some harmonies before but not on this one. However I did record two separate vocals (i.e. I didn't use a doubler).I used a harmonizer (aegean music pitchproof harmonizer) freebie. It sounds completely artificial if you have too much wet mix in it, but I tried to use it just enough to colour the vox. I guess if you weren't sure I may have been subtle enough.
Yes, isn't that amazing? It's the same as the appeal to produce with analog gear. The digital world can only barely approximate that beautiful warmth. But, for some of us, that's the best we can do.
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and for the nice comments. It made me very happy to see that you liked my tune. :D
I'm not going to keep blowing up the comments on this track.
This gist is, if you are simulating tape degradation how does a tape degrade? Usually, the highs get all scrambly, and the lows end up taking over, scrambling the highs every time they hit.
To simulate this, you are generally manipulating the master, using the information from the kick.
Here's one way to do it:
Run all tracks into a bus.
Make an additional track all alone for the "noise." Have the noise duck with the kick.
Run the bus, and noise, to another bus.
Put EQ on this bus to wash out some highs and compression to duck the mix with the kick (the noise gets a "double ducking")
Send this track to two separate tracks for separating out the highs.
Put a hint of phase on the highs (wobble). You could side-chain the degree of wobble to the kick for even more effect.
Run those to the master. EQ as needed.
Done.
That's one of many ways do tastefully degrade something. Your original take was very good... but you asked :)
Oh, and don't forget to distort the kicks and 808s (post any side-chaining) if you want your speakers to sound busted :D
*Quote "I'm not going to keep blowing up the comments on this track."
Yeah, sorry, that's why I asked you to send me a message, as in email, but I wasn't clear enough. But it's all good. You explained it perfectly. Will try it out. Thanks for taking the time. :D
Yeah, you knew exactly what I meant. It was too bright.
For reference:
tape fidelity is generally 30 Hz to 16 kHz
vinyl in theory could go as low as 7 Hz, as high as 50kHz, but that doesn't matter to me, I can only hear from about 30 Hz to about 16kHz (like most people). Anything lower than 30 Hz is pretty much a rhythm anyway. My jam band drummer's feet can technically play a "note."
Also a phone is usually about 80 Hz to 14kHz, so most of your listers couldn't hear the "brightness" we heard (it's also why most kick have ridiculous slap now). It's funny, the lowest "lofi" is everyone's crappy phone speaker, not tape or vinyl :D
In other words, watch out for reliance on gauges and meters. Your thermometer can tell a one degree difference in temperature, but all you care about is if it is "hot" or "cold." If it sounds like a phone playing a old digital recording of some degraded vinyl or tape, on your monitors and in nice headphones, then you probably nailed it.
Slicing some Hz off the top is a good "cheater" way to make it "Lofi", and did help the mix, but noise addition (brown or pink, and side-chained to duck with the kick with a long release), pitch wobble (manual or with a plugin), and other tricks will really get you there. You looking for tape or vinyl "degradation" not necessarily a change in fidelity.
If memory serves me correctly, slicing some highs has helped. I hint of side-chained mid-range noise will help more.
If you really want to cheat, try running the tracks through cabinet emulators (or several through the same one).
You certainly did open a can of worms. I did add mechanical noise, vinyl noise, and pitch wobble on the master and some separate but similar processing to the piano. Not sure what difference it makes to add noise at the master stage or as a separate bus if that's what you mean. But no matter, got plenty of info to work with. Thank you for taking the time to answer bringerofDOOM.
Yeah, kind of getting tired of house and I love lofi hip hop so why not.
So I think what you meant by "mixed too good" is that it was too bright. I uploaded a new version with less high end essentially knocking the air out :P It would mean the world to me if you gave it another listen and tell me what you think. You can shoot me a message if you wish?
Thank you bringerofDOOM for taking the time to listen =)
Almost forgot metal existed, I got tired of black hoodies and synchronized squats :D
The writing is great. The compression attack and release on the drums are too short, so it's clipping pretty bad, FYI.
Vox mix is great, guitar mix is great. It sounds like the guitarist mixed this :P
Time snapping and bands not recording while playing together at the same time basically killed metal for me for a while, so watch out for these pitfalls. Listen to an 8 or 16 track take of everyone together, you will see what I mean.
I hope you have more material, and I hope you team up with a producer that knows what to do with your sound. Keep it up.
Lol I feel that. Plenty of material from the older days but new stuff already in the works! Mix wise new cabs and some better live tracking on the drums is already planned ;) Next song will be intense!
Good job with the dirty mix. I like the tape sound in the beginning (and I'm assuming throughout). You have a good ear for sound quality, which ironically is needed to tastefully destroy a perfectly good clean sound.
All the saturation creates a perceived loudness, so you don't have to crank it to hear it. It sounds like you've watched a lot of tutorials... I guess literally :D
I have been crazy about the lofi hiphop and house on youtube and this is the result. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have a natural rhythm for hiphop or trap or I'd be making that as well.
Yes, I have watched hundreds of tutorials, taken a few online courses, read books, gotten ripped off by people who claimed they had a good product to teach me, etc. etc. Makes me wonder how so many talented people here went about their musical journey. I am so happy to be told that I didn't waste my time! You are the best!
Is the mix ducking a hair when the kick hits? I feel like there is a hint of compression there. If so you are miles ahead of the game, just FYI.
I saw in your profile that you don't play any instruments. As far as I am concerned, manipulating samples and using a MIDI piano rolls are instrumentation (and this is coming from a multi-instrumentalist).
If you are making these timbre, timing, and frequency choices naturally (without any formal music education), then you have competitive advantage (just FYI).
You may want to consider binge watching some traditional music theory content (I recommend Rick Beato), particularly to spice up your chord choices and arpeggio shapes (you will love using 9ths and 7ths). A little film scoring theory (for example) could expand your sound immensely as well.
Also, check out some "French House" if you haven't already, you could steal some of their unorthodox production tricks.
It's not like anything is missing, this is just some food for thought. Excellent work, keep it up.
Yes, I use a bit of ducking here and there when needed or when I think it will fit the rhythm overall.
I would give anything to be able to play the piano but alas, I'm lazy af. The piano roll and I are kinda best friends now. Might need to rethink that.
I have watched a few of Rick's videos, but I think I'll find some more. I never, ever snub good feedback. I would be a fool since it is so scarce as it is. Feedback is gold no matter if good or bad. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment and toss in your ideas. They won't go to waste.
You have very good sounding mixes. Super clean, specific, and intentional (and no harshness or tacky autotune). You sound like you know what you are doing.
Wow bringer, I must have missed this comment. I apologize. Sometimes I find it hard to keep up with things. Thank you so much for your kind remarks. And I believe I did listen can commented on your track.
Mixing vox has some standard practices, such as de-essing, volume correction/normalization, compression, saturation, and reverb/delay. I've struggled with it myself more than once.
That being said, in the end you have to close your eyes and trust your ears. Objective dials and gauges don't reflect the inherent subjectivity of the content.
Thanks for listening and again sharing some knowledge and great tips - love that about LM - so much talent and experience here that is really useful to be able to tap into : )
Nice filter sweeps at 1:14 and again before the reverse arpeggios.
Good bass line, I like how it opens up to a synth for a bit.
Nice work, better than most of the stuff on Airbit or similar sites. Usually with beats I'm done at 1:30ish but this one had variation and held my attention.
You have some timbre choices that could easily be mixed very harsh yet you managed to pull it off. Nice clean, crisp mix. Nice vocal choice as well. Good percussion with the foe toms and the swing-ish hats.
Hi bringeroofDOOM. I meant mixing. There was a frequency between the male vocals and the bass that kept eluding me. For some reason couldn't pin it down. It made the bass dull and muddy and made a rumble sort of low freq sound. I still don't know how but I got it to fit at the end.
Thank you very much for the listen and the comment!
So, definitely some future bass elements. The volumes are a bit all over the place, but there is lots of creativity in the parts.
I hear volume automation, which I used to use in leu of side-chained compression.
I think you have an interesting track here, just needs a few tweaks. Maybe keep the volume of each part between -6 and -12 DB. Also, not sure what DAW you are using, but there are lots of ways to wired the track that would lead to some interesting and creative results. You are already experimenting heavily with MIDI. Mine as well add post saturation, compression, reverb, delay, flange, phase, chorus... and experiment with automation of their parameters.
Don't worry about genre, that's for critics... just make whatever you want.
I'm so glad I pestered you into releasing your archives onto the world. All that gold collecting dust.
Lots of artist make great things, and simply don't have the courage to publish them. It's a drop in an ocean of information, and the track will never be perfect, because perfection doesn't exist. I know this doesn't apply to you much, but I have been especially seeing this with "fix my mix."
Also, I got kicked out of a band last year because I told them they should've wrote more than 5 songs in 15 years, so maybe its just me :P
Artists need to know that it is 90% execution and 10% talent. Believing in yourself has nothing to do with it (flea markets are full of self help books for a reason).
Great track, I feel like a broken record, sorry for the rant. Looking forward to more.
bringer, so the dilemma here for me is finding the right balance between good and best. Mix and mastering wise for example with my earlier works I didn't sidechain my bass guitar with a signal from my kick. Being self-taught I didn't see the need to get cooperation between the two instruments frequency range until I ran into conflicts. Now just by sidechaining, I've gained definition and eliminated mud. So I then go back and do some refining to add polish to some earlier works. You know we could go on for hours on this subject. Thanks, for your listen and interesting observation. Peace.
on Irrational Needs by crucethus
Nice sneaky transitions from one part to the next. I like the hint of shuffle in the beat.
I like that beep. The crashes are very "drum machine."
I love listening to music where it is clear the artist is entertaining themselves.
on You Trap Up by AtticElla
Excellent mix. Loud without harshness. Great bass line.
I see what you mean about the vox reverb. Baked in FX can be an obstacle at times. I wish there were more dry acapellas on here, even if it sacrifices "perfection."
Great mix. great track, faved.
Thanks for the great feedback and fav bringer, always appreciated.
on Recondite by AtticElla
Guess you get another fav. So did you release anything elsewhere or is this stuff just sitting on a hard drive?
:D
Might as well be that way. I'm to lazy to 'promote' and too inconsistent to cater to an audience. I don't know, feedback from unbiased ears is hard to find and I'm a bit insecure about my ability, lacking that.
So, in short, yes... this stuff is just sitting on a hard drive. Sorry for the rant, but you got me thinking lol
Thanks for the nice comment and the fav, really appreciated bringer. Always nice to hear from you. And I'm really enjoying your lofi. Let me know if you get your stuff out on YouTube. Would love to see it. =D
on Sojourn by HeathAlexander
Nice thick, dense work.
Faved.
on The Doctor by Micky
I like the hiss in the snare, like pressure released. Nice synth choice, bass line, and funky guitar licks. Tim Henson would call those "boomer bends" :P
Nice work, faved.
on LIFE Reference by natjamesworld
You've done a good job of reinstating my faith, maybe I will mess with your acapellas a little.
You are an asset to the genre.
Faved, keep it up.
on New generation trance by sirefox
I thought the bass would hit my subs more, but not everything has to have a layer of 808s :)
Nice work, faved, keep it up.
on Spooky Punch by randyrandomson
I like.
on Never Said by AtticElla
Nice use of vox. It takes true guts to sing anything.
I can hide behind a sax or guitar all day, and feel truly apathetic, even undeservedly pretentious, but unless it's Karaoke Johnny Cash on the vox I shake like everyone else.
Excellent mix. Consider "fixing mixes" or "collaborative efforts" if you want break that comfort zone (that's what I had to do anyway).
Keep it going.
Trust me, I shake, and I don't know if it's just my voice or it's nerves or a combo. I never sang outside the shower before.
That's an interesting idea that I've never explored. I don't know if I'd be a good collaborator though. I feel really possessive of my tunes, and I'm a bit unreliable. But will keep it in mind. I definitely need to put myself 'out there' for reasons I won't get into.
Thanks for stopping by bringer. Always nice to hear from you and your ideas.
on Not Waving But Drowning by Zootman
Very nice instrumentation and mix all the way through. Tasteful breaks.
Had to download this one, you get a fav.
on Midnight Stroll by AtticElla
Nice warm timbre choices also. I like all the keyboard interplay, nice breakdown also.
Great work, keep it up.
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and for the nice comments. It made me very happy to see that you liked my tune. :D
on Next to You by AtticElla
I'm not going to keep blowing up the comments on this track.
This gist is, if you are simulating tape degradation how does a tape degrade? Usually, the highs get all scrambly, and the lows end up taking over, scrambling the highs every time they hit.
To simulate this, you are generally manipulating the master, using the information from the kick.
Here's one way to do it:
Run all tracks into a bus.
Make an additional track all alone for the "noise." Have the noise duck with the kick.
Run the bus, and noise, to another bus.
Put EQ on this bus to wash out some highs and compression to duck the mix with the kick (the noise gets a "double ducking")
Send this track to two separate tracks for separating out the highs.
Put a hint of phase on the highs (wobble). You could side-chain the degree of wobble to the kick for even more effect.
Run those to the master. EQ as needed.
Done.
That's one of many ways do tastefully degrade something. Your original take was very good... but you asked :)
Oh, and don't forget to distort the kicks and 808s (post any side-chaining) if you want your speakers to sound busted :D
Yeah, sorry, that's why I asked you to send me a message, as in email, but I wasn't clear enough. But it's all good. You explained it perfectly. Will try it out. Thanks for taking the time. :D
on Next to You by AtticElla
For reference:
tape fidelity is generally 30 Hz to 16 kHz
vinyl in theory could go as low as 7 Hz, as high as 50kHz, but that doesn't matter to me, I can only hear from about 30 Hz to about 16kHz (like most people). Anything lower than 30 Hz is pretty much a rhythm anyway. My jam band drummer's feet can technically play a "note."
Also a phone is usually about 80 Hz to 14kHz, so most of your listers couldn't hear the "brightness" we heard (it's also why most kick have ridiculous slap now). It's funny, the lowest "lofi" is everyone's crappy phone speaker, not tape or vinyl :D
In other words, watch out for reliance on gauges and meters. Your thermometer can tell a one degree difference in temperature, but all you care about is if it is "hot" or "cold." If it sounds like a phone playing a old digital recording of some degraded vinyl or tape, on your monitors and in nice headphones, then you probably nailed it.
Slicing some Hz off the top is a good "cheater" way to make it "Lofi", and did help the mix, but noise addition (brown or pink, and side-chained to duck with the kick with a long release), pitch wobble (manual or with a plugin), and other tricks will really get you there. You looking for tape or vinyl "degradation" not necessarily a change in fidelity.
If memory serves me correctly, slicing some highs has helped. I hint of side-chained mid-range noise will help more.
If you really want to cheat, try running the tracks through cabinet emulators (or several through the same one).
I hope I opened a can of worms... have fun.
on Next to You by AtticElla
Nice chord. melodic, and timbre choices.
Mixed too good for lofi :P
But still excellent. Like kingmt77 said... classy.
Wonder what you would sound like if you explicitly avoided possible genre classification?
Keep it up.
So I think what you meant by "mixed too good" is that it was too bright. I uploaded a new version with less high end essentially knocking the air out :P It would mean the world to me if you gave it another listen and tell me what you think. You can shoot me a message if you wish?
Thank you bringerofDOOM for taking the time to listen =)
on Tides Of Agony by MOONLYTE
The writing is great. The compression attack and release on the drums are too short, so it's clipping pretty bad, FYI.
Vox mix is great, guitar mix is great. It sounds like the guitarist mixed this :P
Time snapping and bands not recording while playing together at the same time basically killed metal for me for a while, so watch out for these pitfalls. Listen to an 8 or 16 track take of everyone together, you will see what I mean.
I hope you have more material, and I hope you team up with a producer that knows what to do with your sound. Keep it up.
on Horizon by AtticElla
All the saturation creates a perceived loudness, so you don't have to crank it to hear it. It sounds like you've watched a lot of tutorials... I guess literally :D
Yes, I have watched hundreds of tutorials, taken a few online courses, read books, gotten ripped off by people who claimed they had a good product to teach me, etc. etc. Makes me wonder how so many talented people here went about their musical journey. I am so happy to be told that I didn't waste my time! You are the best!
on Shawl feat Odarka by AtticElla
I saw in your profile that you don't play any instruments. As far as I am concerned, manipulating samples and using a MIDI piano rolls are instrumentation (and this is coming from a multi-instrumentalist).
If you are making these timbre, timing, and frequency choices naturally (without any formal music education), then you have competitive advantage (just FYI).
You may want to consider binge watching some traditional music theory content (I recommend Rick Beato), particularly to spice up your chord choices and arpeggio shapes (you will love using 9ths and 7ths). A little film scoring theory (for example) could expand your sound immensely as well.
Also, check out some "French House" if you haven't already, you could steal some of their unorthodox production tricks.
It's not like anything is missing, this is just some food for thought. Excellent work, keep it up.
I would give anything to be able to play the piano but alas, I'm lazy af. The piano roll and I are kinda best friends now. Might need to rethink that.
I have watched a few of Rick's videos, but I think I'll find some more. I never, ever snub good feedback. I would be a fool since it is so scarce as it is. Feedback is gold no matter if good or bad. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment and toss in your ideas. They won't go to waste.
on Immortal by AtticElla
BTW, since you are into house, this is what house and fusion mashed together sounds like:
https://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/230057
Keep it up, I will be looking for more.
on I just wanna die - pseudoble remix - by AAP ft HDF by pseudoble
Here's a video to help with vocal mixing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Ggk2zBl4A&ab_channel=InTheMix
Mixing vox has some standard practices, such as de-essing, volume correction/normalization, compression, saturation, and reverb/delay. I've struggled with it myself more than once.
That being said, in the end you have to close your eyes and trust your ears. Objective dials and gauges don't reflect the inherent subjectivity of the content.
Nice work, I like the "sloppy lead," keep it up.
on NBA Young Boy Type Beat by randomuser13
Good bass line, I like how it opens up to a synth for a bit.
Nice work, better than most of the stuff on Airbit or similar sites. Usually with beats I'm done at 1:30ish but this one had variation and held my attention.
You get a fav.
on Close To Me feat VERONICA by AtticElla
Nice work, you get a fav :)
on Falling Apart by AtticElla
I like the chord building with the vocal tuning. Nice jazz-esque chord on the piano. Good contrasting melody in the vox. Good, crisp mix.
Nice work, you get a fav.
Thank you very much for the listen and the comment!
on PoolSide by igorsamanski
I hear volume automation, which I used to use in leu of side-chained compression.
I think you have an interesting track here, just needs a few tweaks. Maybe keep the volume of each part between -6 and -12 DB. Also, not sure what DAW you are using, but there are lots of ways to wired the track that would lead to some interesting and creative results. You are already experimenting heavily with MIDI. Mine as well add post saturation, compression, reverb, delay, flange, phase, chorus... and experiment with automation of their parameters.
Don't worry about genre, that's for critics... just make whatever you want.
Keep it up.
on Banana Beat 01 by BananaLu
Nice work.
on The Up Move by kingmt77
Lots of artist make great things, and simply don't have the courage to publish them. It's a drop in an ocean of information, and the track will never be perfect, because perfection doesn't exist. I know this doesn't apply to you much, but I have been especially seeing this with "fix my mix."
Also, I got kicked out of a band last year because I told them they should've wrote more than 5 songs in 15 years, so maybe its just me :P
Artists need to know that it is 90% execution and 10% talent. Believing in yourself has nothing to do with it (flea markets are full of self help books for a reason).
Great track, I feel like a broken record, sorry for the rant. Looking forward to more.