All you electronic music types, some pointers please..

frobisher

Over on the recording forum we did a project where I put up one of my songs with acoustic guitar and we all take it and do as we wish to it. I normally make acousticy rock stuff but over the last few years a lot of clubbing has created an electronic music shaped hole in my heart so I tried something electronic for the first time ever. I really enjoyed working in this way and definitely want to do more. I'd appreciate if those here who know about this music could take a listen, give some feedback, and based on how it sounds recommend artists.
Cheers!
http://www.box.net/public/6te82pp7e6

scop

How did you make this? I enjoyed it, but it was a bit too repetitive for my personal taste. For a first stab it is well-done, and would not be amiss on some of the earlier stuff I have lying around here. Good voice too. Thumbs up from me anyway. I am actually unsure what I could recommend.

frobisher

scop wrote:

How did you make this? I enjoyed it, but it was a bit too repetitive for my personal taste. For a first stab it is well-done, and would not be amiss on some of the earlier stuff I have lying around here. Good voice too. Thumbs up from me anyway. I am actually unsure what I could recommend.

Thanks. The synths and samples are from Reason and the audio is done in Cubase. Whe you say repitive do you mean that the same things go on for too long or that it needs for more things to come in as the song progresses?

Anima

Yeah I'd say bring more things in and out every now and then.

empirix

Excellent attempt and very well put together, as a man who is just starting out in this myself(you've already given me advice on setups etc - cheers) i would be well pleased with putting something like that together quality wise. Not my taste at all, i prefer Aphex twin , plaid, Dnb scene. Are you a peppers fan? - guitar playing seems to be quite similar, it is repetitive though, like to hear a bit more variation.

All in all, good stuff

cornbb

Sounds great frobisher but I'll give you a bit of constructive criticism seeing as thats what you're after

I love the "fat" synth sound you're using, but it is a bit repetitive as someone else pointed out. I think the problem is that (to my ears anyway) it mostly retains the feel of an acoustic tune. Acoustic music relies on techniques like key/tonality modulation and verse/chorus/verse structures in order to keep it interesting. Electronic music offers you loads of other options to keep things fresh throughout the tune. A few things you could try:

- You could try automating the filters on the synth you're using in order to morph their sounds as the tune progresses. That, or cross-fade between radically different synths in some places.
- Try using a sample slicer or some sort of glitch tool on the guitar samples you're using - this could reduce the "acoustic" feel and give it more of an electro feel without comprimising the melodic structure of the tune.
- I found the drum sounds a bit conservative - you could make them more interesting by using more kits or by making them a bit more complex, e.g. by layering at least one more "drum" on top of the existing drums, but in a different time sig or in a "quirky" position in each bar, if you know what I mean.

Thats just me being picky though, I thought it was good overall.

frobisher

Empirix: Thanks for that! I see your point about the Chilli's guitar thing. I'm not their biggest fan but I love what John Frusciante does and that twangy guitar sound of his.

Cornbb: Good to see that you exist outside of your excellent contributions to the recording forum! I tried some of the tricks you suggested. Good stuff. I put a different 4/4 loop underneath starting on the 2 beat and it gives the thing a subtle shift in the feel. It makes it more organic and shuffles it along a little. I've also put another bass drum on each beat that has more click than the original because I wanted the bass drum to feel like it was really occupying its own space in the mix. I'm not fully there but it's better. I'll try the automated filters, although I've never done this in Reason so time to break out the manual. I'll re-post the chages I've made in a day or two and get your feedback.

jimi_t

The vocal solo at 1:45 was the standout bit of the song for me, even though it was a tad out of key at the end

The bass line is a bit repetitive and could do with a bit of slicing up. What you could try is to use some sidechain compression EQ'd in with the kickdrum - it would make the bassline "breathe" and add a bit more motion. Also its a bit slow and sounds like the demo from a Casio keyboard...Sorry!

That guitar line... ehm... Well the song doesn't really do it for me, but thats grand as its not my style. If you're in the mood for experimenting you could slice the guitar line into samples arranged by chord and then trigger them, giving a bit more of an electro feel to it.

Try mixing it up a bit, some selective EQ'ing would make it sound a little less flat and some coloured compression on the vocals might bring them out more.

Also, where's the 909 kick?!

Great work though, very sound production values - keep it up !

frobisher

Thanks jimi_t. Good feedback.

Does anyone know which kick drum in Reason's redrum is an 808 clone (presuming there is one of course)?