Ambient techno package - Spiders and sound design

[celome]

Holà muchachos !

I am glad to share wiv you two tunes I've ended recently.
Since I changed my mixing routine a bit I found them quite relevant to share with the community.

First one is called 'shaping a nation'. I tried to bring the listener to a wrong track, meaning starting with something really ambient then bring heavy low end after few minutes. This way, I found that tension was really emphasized.
Organic stuffs from the background were created via sampling then I used some distortion + resonator and frequency shifter.
Stabs were synthesized thanks to sylenth1 (saturation <-> flavor). Kick is a two-layer construction (low one + top one).
Used lexicon verbs (LXP).
Sub bass was synthesized via operator, thus it's FM synthesis + a bit of noise added (erosion).

The 2nd track was named 'Arachnida Build Webs For Hunting' (heh heh)... It's more about classic techno. I tended to go heavy on the bass drum, thus I used a solid 909 one and I added a big verb beneath it (triggered by the same kick) with side chain compression.
The main pads brings some dramatic orientation as density. Again sylenth1 for the delayed stabs in the 2Nd part.
Claps were melt into a cascade of LP filters... i.e. sounding quite muffled

Premastering was just a bit of eq'ing (LP & HP slightly) then i used the two-way compression with glue compressor and the API emulation from waves. Final leveling was brought by the mighty Pro-L from fabfilter.





Tell me what you think then !

Have fun !

Célome

[tsaro]

FIrst one: Nice fx and little details there, but the intro is just too long imo, no real sense of direction. Also this really sounds like what they used to call 'trance' during the 90's, especially with those bright stabs and pads.

The 2nd track gives off more or less the same vibe, I guess you made this about 20 years too late

I did enjoy listening to it though.

[celome]

Thx dude ! Best comment for me ! (90s feeliiiin')

[Lost to the Void]

First track is lovely until the beats come in, and then it kinda falls apart due to mix issues.

firstly, where is the low end?
The bass feels restricted and too tucked up with the kick, it also just feels like the wrong notes for the track, it should be on the root note of one of the chords.
The kick has no real weight either, but it does cut through the mix.
those lovely pads and stabs are crying out to be supported by a thick, warm low end, and it just doesn`t happen, making the whole track sound really brittle.
The high hats jolt in to the mix and then come down in volume which really reveals bad (pre)mastering technique, they also sit a little too high and overly resonant, making quite uncomfortable listening at volume.
I suspect this would sound a whole lot better if you dumped all the compression and limiting and eq on the master channel.

this has the potential to be a great track, but the mixing totally lets it down.

2nd track has similar issues, it sounds, overall, brittle and spikey when it should be warm and full.
Restricted, muffled low end, scratchy top end, lack of warmth in the mix, overall the mix isn`t gelling together it feels separated and not working as one.

But, another nice tech trance track. Really look at the warmth and width of the track, better EQ is needed, and maybe dump the premastering as it doesn`t sound like you are doing anything positive with it.

[celome]

Thx for your comment voidloss.

Really looking for this kind of comment as it helps me focusing on wrong choices. You were as precise as a sharped knife !

Also great to see that in a way they've some potential !

Cheers

[Lost to the Void]

Tracks are great mate. Worth polishing up for sure.

[TimBuys]

I think the stabs in the first track are great, but they get dragged on for a little bit too long. They bring a lot of suspense but the kicks that jumps in didn't satisfy me fully. I think you should either add some more variations to the stabs but otherwise if you want to keep it more minimal add some more percussion elements? With that said the pads and percussion elements that you do have are sounding really great.

Second track sounds good to me but it feels to me that it is still lacking some elements?

Nice potential here!

[celome]

Hey ! I finally made an update on 'Arachnida...'. Taking into account every advice you gave me (voidloss^^).
The track sounds now as a real floor filler.

[Lost to the Void]

It`s better, the mix is still very brittle and digital sounding. Could do with some warmth, some softer high end, more weight in the mids, and there is no sub weight at all to the low end which itself is lacking punch and clarity.

[celome]

Thanks for the feedback again !
Yep, I am pretty sure that most of these issues have to deal with the fact that I relying too much on digital eq'ing. I should probably revise my mixing chains in order to add more vintage eqs' emulations. Also my be some tape saturation with character.
Last word, this lack of low end is because I did shitty choices/ should have used a proper sine for example !

[Lost to the Void]

Digital EQ is fine. It's not what you eq with but how you do it.

[celome]

Okay guys ! so new & final update since my production skills can't go beyond that !!!

[TimBuys]

solid track IMO

[celome]

Thx ! timbuys. I will probably rework the 1st one too.

[Lost to the Void]

Final version is pretty solid man.
Probably a little too much reverb in the mix overall, but yeah, this is a huge improvement over the very first version.
Low end is much better, deep but with more clarity, the dynamics are there now, so the sounds have more punch, top end has transient snap but is no longer scratchy or too resonant.
The overall tone is a little warmer, less digital sounding.

Yeah you did a job, and you also dealt with the critique really well.

Well done mate.

[celome]

You pushed me in the corner ! that was great.
But you were so accurate in your former comment that i knew how to fix the whole thing hahah !

[Lost to the Void]

I do my listening to peoples stuff in this forum when I am in the mastering studio in-between printing tracks down.
So I do have the advantage of a very critical environment. I just don`t have time to sugar coat the problems I hear, so I just get to the point.