Thanks Annie and others - all taken on board for the next one!

As Lydian said, it really doesn't matter which DAW you choose as long as you find one that suits you and work at it.

I've heard good things about Ableton Live - the stock plugins are great apparently.

Good luck 

Well aware of that. Was probably more just a case of encouraging genuine critique on peoples (not just mine) tunes.

Thanks Slunk, appreciate it

Yeah I'm from Tunbridge Wells. Really feeling the piano on your tune "The Penny Drops"...Don't You Know is good vibes too.

Going to leave that tune for now and probably go back to it in a few weeks.

I would recommend, instead of trawling through modern sample packs, sample directly from the sources Mussar mentioned above.

I'd probably dig deeper than those genres. Look back through records from their lineage and you'll find some good stuff.

www.reddit.com/r/vintageobscura would be a great place to start. Search that sub-reddit for genres

This probably only applies to those of you who have access to your works-in-progress whilst away from the studio;

If I've bounced an idea for a friend to listen to and have access to it on my phone (for example), I won't allow myself to listen to it until I'm back in the studio.

Reason for this, is that if I've had a long break from the tune (4+ hours), I'll usually know what needs fixing/adding the second I hear it back for the first time. If I listen while I'm away from the studio, I might have a great idea and then forget it by the time I get back.

Does anyone else go with this mindset? I would recommend trying it if not. Over-listening to your own stuff sort of clouds your outside vision of it.

Hi mate, thanks for the feedback.

I'm going to have a go at simplifying it tonight...I reckon there are some good ideas in there that I could make the most of.

I'll post an update later.

Cheers