StaticNomad

Nice, sparse arrangement in the first minute or so, with all elemnts working nicely off each other and that bass doing so much of the work - ie providing bass, warmth and the feel of a pad.

Might be worth trying out some little subtle adjustments of the cutoff frequency on that bass, just for variety. Good as the bass, it's effective when we get a break from it as it allows you to bring it back in and gets things moving nicely again.

I quite like the little high vocal snippets.

If you're looking for a vocal for this, it probably only needs to nbe quite sparse, maybe just a couple of simple of repeated lines as this is pretty decent as just an instrumental.

All in all, it's good work as it's musical and the sounds have been well chosen and the mix is clear.

I like that final vocal in the last 30 secs. Maybe you could make more use of it during the rest of the track.

More good stuff from you. Simple guitar chugging at 0:35 helps break it up. Really nice lead guitar tone and sustain on 0:57. Good simple notes that hang and allow your bass to be heard.

Lots of beauty and emotion in this.

You can probably guess that I'm going to say some of the drums let it down a bit (that's why I'm planning to help you out with them plus a few other things). They're actually pretty decent, just could be better.

Even though you're doing lots in this track, it still sounds like it's missing vocals. I think they could be added in certain places and you wouldn't have to tone down your playing as there's quite a bit of room left in lots of the playing.

It's hard to make instrumental music that doesn't sound like
it's missing vocals (ie not enough going on) but also doesn't feature 9 million solos, as tends to happen in whole branches of instrumental music (especially the guitar shredders genre).

Oh, and that piano's good too. Did you prorgram or play that? Nice percussion at the end too.

A good theme and quite stirring when the beat kicks in on 0:50. Nice sparse grooves as well that don't interfere with all the melodic stuff and well chosen percussion sounds that also don't interfere.

Really quite mature and advanced composition - could definitely be used for all sorts of soundtracks.

My only obvious complaint is with your main string sound. It would be better if it were a higher quality string sample as it's too clearly a sample-based string part.

One other slight problem might be the electronic backing to the string part at the start. I think it starting right at the same time as the string interferes with it. You could try fading it in over about 10 seconds, which would be a lot subtler and build in even more of a "track building" feel (which is already there).

I don't listen to much orchestral stuff on here but this is probably the best one I've heard.

I have an electro/orchestral track I made years ago on here called Visible Aura which might interest you. Only drumless thing I've ever done. Much more romantic than yours, which is bold and empowering. Hero/quest/adventure theme, I'd say (of yours).

Do some others a bit like this (and maybe get some higher quality string samples, if you can spare the cash).

Good stuff and a great bass tone from you. I'd really need to get some new strings to get my bass to sound like that (I think I should, actually).

First half is complicated with some lovely intricate interplay between bass and guitar. Could maybe have done with some subtle percussion but it's OK to leave it out.

Second half is very different - so much so that perhaps there's a problem with them being in the same piece. However, 2nd half is absolutely rocking and good choice to pan the guitar hardish left. Bass is amazing and pretty much the lead instrument.Really sounds like guitar and bass playing equally rather than the bass sitting underneath guitar as is common in so much music (with good reason, I'm not necessarily complaining).

Drums are OK though the sounds let the track down quite a bit.

On 2:50 the guitar really reminds me of Tool and I'm sure is exactly the same sort of progressions as a couple of songs - perhaps Lateralus. Last 20 seconds are really nice and quite a surprise to cool and creative way to end.

It's an excellent piece of music let down by the production and the drums sounds in particular. I'm not saying the production and mix is bad, just could be better and meet the standard of the actual musicianship going on in the track.

This is decent work. What sort of msuic/beat do you normally make?

I'd say this is definitely dance rather than dubstep.

There are some good sounds and I'm sure people who like this genre a lot more than I do will enjoy this.

My problem with some of the sounds is that that they're a too loud and bright and fizzy. If you could close the cutoff fequency on some of them, that would help solve that (from my ears' perspective) though they also need to be turned down.

The little hi offbeat vocal is quite good fun.

If you play this on a club dancefloor, people will probably enjoy and it and move to it.

This is generally a genre I find boring though I like it when it's a melodic, musical piece such as this. People will go crazy on the dancefloor at 0:57 and also groove more when they hear those key changes.

Any mix can always be better but I'm struggling to find any advice on how to improve this. It sounds like fully professional work that could be as popular as pretty much anything else in the trance genre. Well done.

Do you happen to use any Dave Smith synths?

I'm not generally a fan of dubstep as I find it quite unmusical and boring and often annoying, though I accept that it is very powerful.

This is pretty decent and not annoying. Gets more musical in the second half.

That snare in the first half seems to be some sort of compulsory snare in dubstep. Does every single dubstep producer use it and does it have a particular name?

I like the guitar that comes in on 1:28. It's quite subtle but definitely makes a difference.

This is good work, as I'm sure many others will agree.

This isn't my kind of thing (too smooth, too "easy listening") but I think it's pretty well done and there is a lot of melody.

I didn't hear the previous version but there are definitely still a few problems.

I'm not particularly keen on the snare but don't particularly mind it. But it seems too far back in the mix because of the reverb on it. Whereas, you rlittle flute/penny whistle wind instrument that's panned left has no reverb. So it seems disconnected from the reverbed parts and as if it's not playing with them (even though it is, melodically-speaking).

I also think that ride is a bit too loud and prominent and also isn't quite matched with the other reverbed parts eg snare and strings.

Try applying some othe same reverb to the parts without and see if that binds things together a bit better.

Actually, I like it more on second listen. And I don't mind the fade out ending too much, something I find people tend do badly. However, it can be brilliant if done right, though you need to spend longer doing the fade and really make it so you take the listener town to zero, giving the sense that this track is just playing on forever in some club somewhere. That can have the effect of making the listener think about it going on forever so help it stick in their head.

I hope these ideas help and you can make it a bit better as I think people who are into this sort of music will like it.

I guarantee you will enjoy the music of a very creative guy called Son Of Dave as he makes music a lot like this ie he's a harmonica-playing beatboxing looper who makes really energetic old-time dancing blues. I saw him live a few weeks ago and it's still great. He's got a few good albums too.

However, he doesn't add the African stuff in so that's an odd and interesting addition on this track.

This definitely doesn't belong in 'weird'. Maybe just blues or fusion.

"Thanks man, appreciate the kind words. I am stoked to start working with Addictive Drums. Will be working on something this weekend.

Thanks for all your input, it helps. It's always good to get outside input and opinions. The support is highly appreciated."

No problem. I'll look out for a new track using Addictive Drums when you post it. I expect the drums to be much better and am sure they will be. I've just very briefly had a look at a review of AD and found this criticism: "It's not possible to have more than one kick, snare or ride cymbal in a kit."

The review was from 2007 but that's a bit annoying if (still) true.

I use Superior Drummer and you can add extra kit parts, which is great for mixing up the various add-on packs you buy (I have bought many).

With Addictive, what you might need to do is load a few instances of separate kits and then have a whole load of MIDI files on each track and just keep experimenting with moving them around until you get things to flow perfectly and sound quite distinctive. You might, for instance, want to have a different snare for verse and chorus so you can then try moving the MIDI parts between the different kits you have set up.

This is especially useful for someone like me who likes to mix up the genres and sort of force one on top of another. My detailed drum programming is a big part of that. Even if you just want to do straightish rock stuff, working with a lot of fills that you mix and match and edit and fine tune can really help make it sound as though you have a killer drummer rather than just a decent one, which is what you;d get if you lazily just used the MID files included in AD without much extra editing or layering.

Don't forget to pay close attention to your velocity levels of each kit piece. You can edit them in your sequencer. Sometimes, there's quite a heavy sound that plays at the top velocuty level (127) so sometimes you need to carefully reduce this (especially for snare and kick). The velocity levels of the playing is important for giving the right feel as the timing of the playing and the choice of kit part played.

If you don't already know all this, you'll probably find it out anyway but I thought I'd just give you a heads up and some things to think about early on. Ask me if any of this advice is not clear enough and I shall clarify...

Good luck!

"Haha, i've let the greatest critic on the loop say I have a potential no 1 hit. *taps himself on the shoulder*
But I doubt it mate, thx anyway for ur kind words."

I'm really not sure if me being "the greatest critic on the loop" is a positive or negative thing. I guess you must have read quite a few of my comments recently as I've only started using the site again in the last month or so.

Just in case you mean it negatively, I'll say that I try hard to offer something interesting for someone to read and also try to suggest ways they could make what they've done even better (partly because I want them to make the strack as good as I can hear it in my head). I very rarely comment on things I think are crap because there's probably not much point in just saying "This is awful - throw it away and start again".

Anyway, as regards you track, I meant what I said about the No.1 thing. Bear in mind that there's all sorts of annoying music that gets a high chart placing so that doesn't necessarily mean it's a brillliant piece of music. I wasn't trying to say that your track is the best thing I've heard this year (not even close) but I do think it's a good foundation for a really catchy piece (with the right vocal) and I do quite like it and I found the use of organs particularly good.

However, someone else has now said "Possibly the greatest Electro song I have heard on this website!" so you know you're doing something right with that sort of response. No 1 is, I agree, highly unlikely but if this does manage to get there, you can send me a free signed copy as a reward for my prediction abilities. Good luck...

"46 and 2, talk about the perfect bass tone. That's the one that hooked me.
I am floored by your comments. Thank you very much, truly.
And I would love to hear what others can do with this track, so be my guest, embellish, adorn, stretch and squash all you like.
Haven't done it before, so I don't know if you can use the download from here, or if you would need any raw tracks. Let me know and it will be done.

Maynard, at my income level, will not be contacted any time soon,... unless to tell him to make with the new Tool album, and to have more than 5 actual songs on it. We let 10,000 Days slide because of Jambi, The Pot and Rosetta Stoned.
And by the way, I would like to hear that 46 and 2 sometime as well."

If you want me to work on it, you'd have to send me all the raw tracks. I can write out what you need to do in full so best if you give me an email address so I can get in touch with you more easily(I can't see how to do personal messages on this site). It will take me quite a long time to do a finished version (many months, at a minimum) but I'll send you versions from time to time and you can let me know what you think and also add some other playing if you feel inspired.

I won't be able to stop myself doing my obsessive attention to detail thing so it'll take a long time to get it all sitting nicely. I'm also always busy doing a lot of other music.

I'll make it both electro and hardish alternative emotional, complex rock (Tool-style) and give it the much better drums it deserves. Your bass parts will still be the main feature but I'll cut some bits up and add particular effects and make new loops out of small portions. But I wouldn't offer I didn't think the playing was really good and offered lots of potential.

Basically, you want to make more interesting and complex music but don't seem to quite have the software or production knowledge to do so (yet). I (arrogantly?) feel I do and so think why not give it a go. I'd like to make something we're both pleased with and doing another Tool fan a favour would also be satisying. And I don't have a wife so have more time to work on these sorts of things.

I might put my 46&2 instrumental remix demo up sometime but that needs to be vastly improved too. Will let you know when I do. So, tell me your email address and I'll take it from there.

10,000 days has a few more good ones than you mentioned (eg Right In Two) but there are some duller ones such as Wings For Marie. If it had been Vicarious, Jambi, The Pot, Rosetta Stoned and Right In Two, that would have been possibly the greatest EP/short album ever.

Hope there's another album as 10,000 was....7 years ago!

Yes - there definitely is still a bit of clipping on that first note. I'm listening on hi quality headphones and on very cheap earbuds and it sounds the same.

I haven't actually tried on speakers (maybe I should).

Actually, there's still a bit of clipping on that main guitar riff (the one I said you'd fixed). But it's not really noticeable when the vocals come in. It's just there if you try to listen out for it and it's not a problem. But I guess it could be better, though maybe I'm being a bit perfectionist (you have to try!).

Wow, you really do have some cheap speakers! You must get something better if you can afford it. I have to do pretty much everything on headphones (I always hear that's not a good thing to do)because of the neighbours but at least I have some good headphones. They cost about £120 and are comfortable.

Anyway, it's still a good song, good mix and good musical crossover.

Very cool production and I'm struggling to criticise it at all. Everything so well balanced. With the right vocals, I can easily imagine this being a No 1 hit (I'm serious).

The organs are great and give it a really interesting vibe and feel. Those vocal parts are fun and it is indeed a very bouncy little number.

It's quite skilful how it's quite samey and repetitive but doesn't get boring. There are enough little stops and dropouts and you use the collection of sounds you've chosen very, very well.

That effected fade for the break on 2:15 is brilliant and great fun (can't help repeating that about this piece of music).

Probably one of the most distinctive and best things I've heard on this site.

I don't know why I didn't particularly like this at first - maybe I wasn't paying attention. On second listen, it's excellent and I probably agree with all the praise everyone else has already written.

I've never heard of Magix Music Maker (it sounds really cheap and tacky) but you clearly know how to put together a track in it.

There is great beauty in this and the bells work perfectly with the vocals.

Where do those vocals from?

It reminds of some of Enya's best and most haunting stuff though doesn't sound like her.

It doesn't need any other changes and doesn't get boring, is just about the right length and structure and I don't really have any criticisms of it!

This is good and there's a definite song in there for a songwriter to make something of.

It builds and gets better over that first minute and those twin guitars work really well. Nice mix between the rhythm riffs and the lead psychedelic stuff.

Glad to hear you're getting Addictive Drums. I haven't used it but have other, similar hypersampled. I have many times on here recommended such software to producers as lower quality loops just don't cut it and you can do so much with these hypersampled acoustic drum products. Your stuff will be way better and new grooves and fills will give you ideas for riffs and how to progress your music.

While this track is a bit samey, it's all good stuff but would benefit from those Addictive drums and the proper song over the top. Keep going because it's well worth pursuing but there's still a long way to go to make it as good as it could and should be.

"I agree with everything you say and plus some !! Just got lazy and fed up with this track until you posted your 'kick up the backside' feedback, which is warmly welcomed and appreciated. Thank you so much : )"

I'm glad you took what was meant as constructive criticism the right way as I very occasionally get people here who really, really take it the wrong way. I just try to be honest but helpful. I know from my own work that when there are problems that should be fixed but there are also cool ideas and raw material that you can always make it better. And you owe it to yourself and the material to do that. You have to get honest with yourself and admit when thing's aaren't working or you've been lazy with an edit or whatever.

The re-edit is definitely so much better and that main guitar riff is now no problem at all. All so much smoother, no pain on listening. Actually I think the only problem is that very first note as it's clipping a bit too much.

Everything else is cool and you also got rid of the vocal snippets I didn't think worked.

The autotune "I don't know what's going wrong" is actually pretty good and unusual for this sort of genre.

I think this is now a really good track. Don't forget to check out Skindred - you will be inspired!

I've never done an online collaboration with anyone or with anyone I haven't met but I'm seriously considering suggesting that you let me finish this track. I know I can make a really good job of it as there are loads of good parts to work with and there's a great vibe.

I wouldn't necessarily even add any guitar (though I probably would in the end) but I would look to make some of the bass parts sound more guitar-like eg by adding distortion or other effects.

Drums would be much improved and I'd make it quite a bit longer - at least 5 mins and, if I really get into it, it could well grow to 8 or even more. Or a second track might come out of it - I do that all the time with my own stuff.

I'd look to add some synth parts that work well with it (no, I wouldn't just turn it into trance or dubstep) and would keep it instrumental as I don't do vocals or really have access to any good singers.

If you might be interested, I'll suggest some reference tracks of mine to give you more of a feel of the direction I can take things in (though it's different every time). Three tracks on here which are relevant are Way Beyond Wrong, Lord Of Misrule and Circular Motion, though I have many others on different sites. And I'm also a massive Tool fan and have done a powerful remix of 46&2 (in 4/4) though that's not yet online.

Maynard James Keenan is who you need, as you probably already know. However, getting him won't be easy though I can't say I've tried.

This is probably your best one yet. I guess you haven't mixed it properly yet but were you aware that the energy drops on 0:56 when it kicks into that new riff? And then it stays there for too long so definitely needs to come up and match the energy/volume of the 50 sec intro.

But those bass riffs starting on 0:56 sound a lot like guitar so probably no need for one on this. Maybe just stick it through some controlled distortion (just play around with it and see if you can automate it on and off at precise points to add dynamics and variation).

Next section starting on 1:33 is probably even better and some cool background rapid chugging. This is really quite impressive for pure bass work and the kind of thing I hoped I might hear from you.

I don't know if you want to make longer tracks than this but if you could add more parts in the way that you do so well on bass (eg on keyboard) you could make some epics. That's what I do all the time.

Another good idea for you, as you're so into bass, is to go the synth route. So, if you get the Roland synth for guitar or bass (I think it's Roland, I can check) you just attach the pickup to your bass and then you can control any synth.

This would be an awesome way for you to get way, way more out of your bass playing and do what you do best. But you can play whatever synths you want from your bass. So, you can still do 'pure bass music' but no one will know it's all played from the bass.

OK, I've checked and it's the Roland GR-55 which is around £550 or maybe $1000.

I should probably go down this route but I play lots of guitar and banjo as well and am decent enough with the synth programming plus a bit of keyboard playing. All the same, in checking it out for you, I'm now very tempted so will give it some serious thought. Hope you do too.

Excellent track that will get better!

Yes, I love a good mix up of genres. If you haven't heard of the UK band called Skindred (terrible name) you must check them out. They are the greatest and possibly only proper mix of hard rock/metal and dub reggae. The singer is amazing and sings proper reggae and proper metal, often both in the space of a few seconds.

Anyway, your track is cool but there's a real problem for me with the guitar tone. It's too fuzzy and sounds like it's clipping but not in a good way. As it's a key feature it's bothering me and I hope you can fix it or re-record it.

Good vocals here and the drums are fine.

I really like the squealing, wailing high-ish guitar starting on 0:31 as it's a cool break after those vocals and good playing.

I didn't think the "uh!" snippet of vocal heard twice starting on 0:44 was good as it's too oviously an edit as it's too brief. I get the idea, I just don't like this particular snippet of vocal.

The shortish break without the guitar works well and then it's cool getting the high guitar back again. I also liked it as it gave my ears a rest from the tone of the rhythm guitar which sounds like an error to me rather than good distortion. I should add that what that guitar plays is just fine - the only problem is with the sound processing.

I hope you can fix that guitar as it's a powerful, direct track with some real balls.

Please remember to check out Skindred as I think you'll love them (perhaps start with the track Set It Off).

Overall: good work that people will definitely enjoy but needs some things fixing to help them enjoy it even more...

It rocks but it's definitely not heavy metal, as far as I hear it. Metal isn't only about the guitar and the drums would need to be a lot heavier to move it into that genre.

They're good riffs and some of the second (lead) guitar work with those trills is good and psychedelic though the drums let it down as they're using the same fills and patterns too often.

If you want to make a track like this as good as it could/should be, the drumming needs to improve so I hope you get some better software a range of hypersampled kits and start to make good use of the many MIDI files from professional drummers that such software generally comes with (or you can buy the MIDI packs separately). I have great fun all the time working with loads and loads of great professional patterns and mixing them up and layering them and using changes in groove to help me change riffs.

Apart from improved drums (both sounds and playing/patterns) I think this could do with some other change - perhaps something like another sort of instrument coming in (synth?) or the guitar dropping out to leave more space and let the track breathe a bit (allows you also to build it back up again and come back in with a blast).

Or could be good without making those changes I suggested but just having some vocals. Then the lead psychedelic trills could come in when the vocals are having a break and that would count as a change and create some excitement. GOod luck with it...

"If you can find it, there is an instrumental version of Digging in the dirt (somewhere I have a CD5 single of it) that is awesome as it just builds up the verse and then only at the end do you get the chorus, the anticipation of that is mind bogglingly good."

Thanks for telling me about that version. I searched and found an instrumental version on Youtube, which is great. It's one of those amazing tracks where the vocal is so good but kind of overshadows the brilliant music underneath it so it's great to bring the playing out more. The bass is so simple and powerful and I love the guitar - tone, fluidity of the playing, everything really.

Maybe it's not the same instrumental you've heard as I didn't hear a chorus "at the end". There were just small portions of the vocal, no proper verses or choruses.

I agree with the 90s pop vibe suggestion. It sounds like it would probably be the backing for a big No 1 anthem. If you're allowing download, why don't you see if someone wants to do some vocals for this?

And there is a little problem with the cutoff of the drums at 2:33.

Not my kind of thing but very effective as the music for a hit emotional pop anthem. Definitely a "lighters-in-the-air" kind of song.

Don't know your stuff but there's nothing in this to suggest you normally make nu-metal!

Much more hip hop than funk, I'd say though you're free to call it what you want. I like the scratched voice. Are you doing all the scratching? If so, are you using turntables or software?

Nice bassline coming in on 1:41 and some good fizzy synth swishes after that.

Definitely must be longer and not fade away.

I guess it's just a sketch for now as you're looking to collaborate on it. Good luck!

It's a good sample. Maybe if you could find a related one, you might have another change in this track, which I think is good fun and very much in your smooth chillout style.

I don't think it's that odd, really.

But I'd like it to be longer as it's over by the time you've got used to what the main themes are.