Hedges - As Opposed To What.

[Hedges]

I remember promising in my previous post in members tracks that the next track I posted up would be a banger. Hopefully I've delivered on that promise.
I personally think it's a little rough around the edges as I rushed the finish a little bit to get it ready for a gig I'm playing this weekend. To be honest, I'm tired of listening to this track at this stage so I won't be doing any more on it, but feedback of the most brutal and honest kind is welcome, as always!

[mattie]

I like the down the scrapyard beats buzz and the ghost ship foghorn sound,Im not so mad on the rising and falling sound its too generic techno(no offense) for me.@ around the 5 min mark there are too many beats going on and it takes away from the power of the rhythm, the less is more approach across the whole track i think would be best. Again only my own opinion, hope some of its useful.

[Hedges]

I like the down the scrapyard beats buzz and the ghost ship foghorn sound,Im not so mad on the rising and falling sound its too generic techno for me.@ around the 5 min mark there are too many beats going on and it takes away from the power of the rhythm, the less is more approach across the whole track i think would be best.Again only my own opinion, hope some of its useful.

Yeah, I see where you are coming from. The whole track was created in fits and bursts and I slapped together one or two early versions to play out in a few clubs. I'm not totally happy with this one and you've really just echoed a couple of things that I was thinking, but not admitting to. Thanks for the feedback man.

[Planar]

Sounds good, I like the found sounds hits like the broken beat track you did for the Subsekt mix (sorry for not including it). Got a distinctive style to it that I like.

I don't love the hi hat however, it sounds a bit grating after a while, I think a softer, ride like sound would contrast a bit better.

[Hedges]

Sounds good, I like the found sounds hits like the broken beat track you did for the Subsekt mix (sorry for not including it). Got a distinctive style to it that I like.

I don't love the hi hat however, it sounds a bit grating after a while, I think a softer, ride like sound would contrast a bit better.

No worries on not including the other one man, I rarely play it out myself on account of its unconventional nature so I can't really expect others to do the same!

I'm not mad about the hat either to be honest. The more I listen to this track the more I actually find myself not liking it very much. I'll give it a few plays out though to justify how long I spent on it.

[Lost to the Void]

I like all the bang and clatter in this but it almost sounds like it`s separate from the rest of the track.

All the junk percussion is really done nicely, great groove, nice edits, all sits together really well, but the underneath of it is like a generic berghein type track.

It sounds like the junk percussion is another tune being mixed over the top of a berghein plod track.

I think there are a coupld of reasons for this, there is a disconnect in both sound and space between the low end of the track and the mid range.

The low end has that muffled, lo-fi kind of loopy berlin vibe going on, where the overall mix would tend to be softer, more saturated, smoother transients etc, we all know that sound...
But then the percussion is really sharp, bright, gritty attack transients, bright detailed reverb, wide stereo field (and also overall too loud in the mix).
The juxtaposition is too jarring for the track to gel, and it isn`t something that could really be pulled back together in mastering.

I try to veer away from the subjective when I deal with other peoples music, and just talk about the objective, measurable, technique based stuff, rather than musical decisions which are none of my business.

However, forgive me for making some music suggestions over technique and mix fix suggestions for a moment.

But I would change completely the elements of this track and build them around the main "feature" which is that cracking percussion. And it is cracking, it`s holding all my interest.
I`d go for a much more pounding, crunchy kick, something with some oomph in the lows and some really gritty punchy mid-high crunch and thwack, and maybe have the low end of the kick in mono, but the mid high range just a little more in stereo, so the overall weight of the mix feels more balanced with those wide, panned spacious percussion hits.

I`d maybe go for a more grimey bassline, something more raspy, less cliche, but not too overpowering.
The trumbone like bassy sweep fits nicely in this, I think that works well.
The polyrhythmic synth works really well too.

You`ve got really nice stand out elements sitting over what (in my opinion obviously) sounds like a generic techno skeleton.


Now ignoring my musical criticisms, to fix what you already have without making music changes, you could just pull down the overall level of all the junk percussion, so that they balance more with the weight of the kick. Also maybe reduce the amount of stereo field and panning on them, and just have the reverb wide, so the mix sits more comfortable from top to bottom, frequency wise, in the virtual space it all exists in.

Our ears are used to hearing stuff come from the environment around us, if we are in a room, then the reverbation of the room effects everything we hear in that room, even things outside of that room. Same for being in a warehouse, or in an urban environment.

So try to picture your music within a space. You might have sounds that are say, in a warehouse, whilst you are in an office in that warehouse, so the sounds outside of that office might have a booming warehouse resonance, but that sound then comes in to the small office space you are in, so it is painted, overall, with the sound of that room, so the low end will drop off, and a more boxy sound will taint it. So it`s important within your tune to make all the elements be coloured overall to blend together, but also to be coloured spacially.



So there you go, apologies for the in-depth essay, I just clicked on your tune and immediately thought,
wow, this tune has the potential to be awesome, if only......

[Dust Layer]

Some great elements here, as said before there is just "the little something" missing to have a very good track (but can't tell exactly what)
Maybe let it rest a bit and come back in few weeks to see what to change, add or remove?

This one has a great potential i think, very actual sounds!
Reminds me stuff like blawan for example.

[A.M.Smith]

The "junk yard" percussion is defo my favorite part of this track. I like that crunchy...I guess 'fog horn' sound as well...I usually don't like super banging techno, as I find not at the fault of the artist, it often grates on my ears for some reason...but this I like overall. I'm very into noisy, crunchy stuff at the moment, though most of what I'm liking is more laid back than this...certainly a prime time banger this...so you've succeed at that imo.

[jordanneke]

Can't really give any meaningful comment, as apart from '!!!!!, shit that sounds good'

[Smith and king]

Really good production my friend good work

[Hedges]

I like all the bang and clatter in this but it almost sounds like it`s separate from the rest of the track.

All the junk percussion is really done nicely, great groove, nice edits, all sits together really well, but the underneath of it is like a generic berghein type track.

It sounds like the junk percussion is another tune being mixed over the top of a berghein plod track.

I think there are a coupld of reasons for this, there is a disconnect in both sound and space between the low end of the track and the mid range.

The low end has that muffled, lo-fi kind of loopy berlin vibe going on, where the overall mix would tend to be softer, more saturated, smoother transients etc, we all know that sound...
But then the percussion is really sharp, bright, gritty attack transients, bright detailed reverb, wide stereo field (and also overall too loud in the mix).
The juxtaposition is too jarring for the track to gel, and it isn`t something that could really be pulled back together in mastering.

I try to veer away from the subjective when I deal with other peoples music, and just talk about the objective, measurable, technique based stuff, rather than musical decisions which are none of my business.

However, forgive me for making some music suggestions over technique and mix fix suggestions for a moment.

But I would change completely the elements of this track and build them around the main "feature" which is that cracking percussion. And it is cracking, it`s holding all my interest.
I`d go for a much more pounding, crunchy kick, something with some oomph in the lows and some really gritty punchy mid-high crunch and thwack, and maybe have the low end of the kick in mono, but the mid high range just a little more in stereo, so the overall weight of the mix feels more balanced with those wide, panned spacious percussion hits.

I`d maybe go for a more grimey bassline, something more raspy, less cliche, but not too overpowering.
The trumbone like bassy sweep fits nicely in this, I think that works well.
The polyrhythmic synth works really well too.

You`ve got really nice stand out elements sitting over what (in my opinion obviously) sounds like a generic techno skeleton.


Now ignoring my musical criticisms, to fix what you already have without making music changes, you could just pull down the overall level of all the junk percussion, so that they balance more with the weight of the kick. Also maybe reduce the amount of stereo field and panning on them, and just have the reverb wide, so the mix sits more comfortable from top to bottom, frequency wise, in the virtual space it all exists in.

Our ears are used to hearing stuff come from the environment around us, if we are in a room, then the reverbation of the room effects everything we hear in that room, even things outside of that room. Same for being in a warehouse, or in an urban environment.

So try to picture your music within a space. You might have sounds that are say, in a warehouse, whilst you are in an office in that warehouse, so the sounds outside of that office might have a booming warehouse resonance, but that sound then comes in to the small office space you are in, so it is painted, overall, with the sound of that room, so the low end will drop off, and a more boxy sound will taint it. So it`s important within your tune to make all the elements be coloured overall to blend together, but also to be coloured spacially.



So there you go, apologies for the in-depth essay, I just clicked on your tune and immediately thought,
wow, this tune has the potential to be awesome, if only......

I'm sorry that I'm resurrecting a dead post here but I actually meant to respond to this a long time ago and kept putting it off. I've taken all of this information to heart and have been using it in some of the new stuff I've been working on, I just never got around to thanking you for it. This is exactly the type of carefully considered criticism and feedback that I keep coming back to this forum for and I don't want anyone to think that I follow the 'hit and run' approach when it comes to posting here. You are all a bunch of sound cunts.

Thanks everybody for the feedback, it is much appreciated.

[EKT]

This is massive! Would like to become 19 again with this tune in a club... Stomper!