Hey everyone!
I really enjoyed the last track feedback session, so I'd love to make it a regular thing... How about you post some tracks in here and when we have a few, we can do the next session...
Any regulars, you know the drill already! Any newcomers, just upload a track to your profile on this site and then post a link to it here. If you need any help with that, let us know.
Would be great to do one feedback session each month.
I'll be doing a feedback session for this on Zoom on Tuesday, so hope to see you all there!
Here's the invite:
Topic: Producertech Member Brass-ignment Feedback Session
Time: Sep 12, 2023 06:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84422984866
Meeting ID: 844 2298 4866
Liking the retro start to this Simon. The drums are reminding me of proper old school beats and breaks from back in the day too! I'm digging the bassline and vibe in general.
No major problems with the track really. The mix is a bit fuzzy like you say (although that sounds quite genre-apropriate I'd say). That can be a very hard thing to get right. On the drums side, you can improve it by focussing on the transients - transient shapers like Drum Buss or iZotope Neutron. Eventide Split EQ can be good for EQing transients too. Sometimes when you over compress drums, they sound really beefy but lose their punch so that's something to bear in mind too.
I kind of wanted a bit more variety in general. You've got some nice subtle variation throughout, but could have had another lead or 2 to alternate with the one you have (which does get a little much when you have it playing for so long). I'm liking the bits with just drums and extra delay though, which sounded nice. The breakdown started really well and I love the piano and harmony, but it feels a bit lost as it progresses. Parts start to sound a little disjointed - this is the weakest area of the track for me, but it's by no means disastrous, just felt like a slight loss in direction. Generally a very good track though - nice work!
Nice track Tone. Yes, as Simon says, the fully sustained pad is adding continual low and high mid frequencies into the mix, which are adding a lot of extra noise and masking vocal, drums etc. I know sometimes it can be tempting to keep sounds like this in a mix and when you filter them down, it can sound empty. However, even after adding fairly extreme filtering, the addition of saturation/excitement and so on to the upper frequency parts of the signal can add a fair bit of extra character back in, whilst maintaining the space you need for other parts. Bright and resonant pads can be a tricky one in a mix for sure!
The last livestream was a bit disastrous on the technical side so you might want to swerve that one! I'm considering doing all of the follow up ones on Zoom, although I have worked out the CPU issue I was getting now.
Yes, we can absolutely do feedback sessions - I think it's a great idea going forward, not just for assignments but regularly in between as well. Thanks for the suggestion.
For the next few weeks I'll be doing some livestreams expanding on subjects covered in the recent Singomakers course..... the idea is for people who've checked out the course (which is good but a bit quick and extremely light on explanations) and have questions, to be able to ask me in realtime as I demonstrate some of the sound design, mixing and arranging techniques from the course.
So yeah, anyone of intermediate/advanced level wanting to make Tech House, please check out the Singomakers course and join me on future streams to see how far we can all take our music. I for one plan to get as much as I can from the course and put together a couple of tracks or maybe even an EP for release, so you'll be able to follow my progress in streams to see how far I get!
Also, there'll be plugins to win in each stream! (Well done Simon for picking up Singomakers tasty distortion plugin Faturist in the easiest giveaway competition of all time in the last stream!)
If you have any questions about the course in between streams, please post them on this thread and I'll try to address them in the following stream...
Also, I'll start a Tech House thread so we can all be more prepared for next time....
Sorry about the nightmare stream issues!! I will fix everything by next week I promise
Anyone who wants to watch the stream post event (although I must pre-warn you about the horrific audio glitches if so), skip ahead by 15 mins so you're not watching me talking with the mic muted! I blame you guys for joining late and not telling me on chat!! 
Yes! Great job! I much prefer this rework! And well done for turning it around so quickly. This has actually made my day - I was worried the feedback was too critical and maybe you wouldn't take it onboard. I think it was just my mindset after the technically disastrous stream though!
I still find the volume drop at the beginning of the breakdown a touch odd, and would maybe have the synth that comes in louder rather than fading in, but it's definitely much better than before.
You've certainly kept the tripping out 4am vibe but I think it's got a nicer balance of randomness and consistency now.
I would probably add even more layers to the drums (tops etc.) to fill them out some more, but it's definitely better with what you've done. I'm looking forward to hearing how your music develops 
Tight mix for sure! Nice arrangement too - great contrasts and hypnotic harmonies in the breakdowns. As Simon says, the dissonances need some attention.
Is the dissonance at 3.00 intentional? It jumps out a bit too much for me personally (it's the C# in the melody clashing with a D in another part). Saying that, I did get used to it as the track went on.
There's another worse tuning issue at 4.00 though with the arp - you've got an Eb that should be an E. So the arp is playing a C minor chord whilst the main harmony is C major. (This clash is extended into the build up from 4.15-4.30.)
Apart from the tuning issues though, the track is really good. Awesome work!
