He's right y'know..

Hey,


I like this overall, here's a couple of things I would do:


Do something different with that vocal snippet. Maybe use a delay of 3/4 beat instead of 1 beat and use an LFO to filter and/or pan it, something like that.


I would lose or change the last couple of notes from that piano hook, but that's just me. When I first listened, it seemed to come in from the same stereo position and frequency range as that arpeggio too.


That riser in the build-up sounds a bit harsh (or at least the way it jumps straight in). Something softer might fit better with the rest of the track.


Those things aside though, I like where this track is going. I like the bassline progression, and the use of modulation and subtle effects. It needs a few more things going on to feel like a complete track, but it's off to a good start. Reminds me of some of my favourite bits on Anjunadeep.

(For example, "lyrics" might seem totally subjective but a band that just sings about girls and partying will probably get a lower score than a band that sings about more sophisticated ideas.)

For sure. For me it's more about how lyrics explore a subject than the subject itself. Coldplay's lyrics for example make me nauseous and occasionally irate (ditto all other music that sounds like it was written for bedwetters and crybabies), but on the other hand I think Smashing Pumpkin's Mellon Collie is a great album, even though I'd be hard pressed to say what exactly is different about the lyrics. On the whole I prefer instrumental stuff tbh. And again that's part of why I'm drawn to a lot of (vocal-free) dance music.

Yup. This is a well-documented aspect of the psychology of decision-making. If I expand my spreadsheet a lot and it still has no predictive power, then I'll have to conclude that my tastes have no pattern and are based on my idiosyncrasies.

Well good luck. I'm convinced there are some patterns there so I hope you find some

I like this man. The sub is about right in the mix I think (in my headphones anyway). I'm not totally sold on that snare sound, but maybe it just needs to come down in the mix a little

Link isn't working brah

I was stuck in this same rut a few years back. I'd give up on production, then I'd come back to it, then I'd give up on it again, over and over until I basically gave up on it for good and spent years making barely anything. I'm just gonna throw out a bunch of thoughts about my experience and maybe you'll find something you relate to.


1) I was too self-conscious about how much I sucked and how novice I was. I worked mostly using monitors, so anybody who was around could hear my amateur attempts at everything. I didn't have the confidence not to let that get to me. I sold my monitors way back so I do everything in headphones these days, then take my stuff to try out on a mate's system once it's starting to shape up.


2) Everybody sucks at first. It's easy to think that people who put out amazing music have some kind of innate gift. Not true. It's just that you only hear of them once they get good enough to make release-quality music. Every artist who consistently pumps out good music has spent thousands of hours 'sanding the edges off their sucking', to quote an article I like. These days I don't believe in the idea of 'natural talent' at all. I used to, but I think I was just giving myself excuses not to try and improve.


3) You'll get demotivated easily if a) you don't have the right level of challenge; b) you don't get feedback, or can't understand the feedback you're getting (from your ears, from other people or wherever); c) you don't feel like you're learning anything or making progress. Setting your sights on making amazing music out of the box will instantly demotivate you. The challenge is too big, and until you learn enough about making music, the differences you hear between what you make and what you want to make won't mean anything to you. Start at the bottom and take it one step at a time. Have big goals, but work with tiny challenges to get there. Maybe learn music theory. Then learn synthesis. Try and do things in some kind of logical order and have the patience not to get distracted by things like mixing and mastering if you're still getting to grips with the basics. And never stop learning.


4) Following on from the above point, and as I said elsewhere: focus. Focus, persistence and patience. Saint-like levels of patience.


5) I used to think (without even really realising it) that because I had good ideas, that meant I would make good tracks. When I didn't, I got disillusioned and bored because I wasn't getting results as quickly as I thought I should. Being able to execute is much more important than having ideas. People come up with great ideas all the time that they do nothing with. Don't pat yourself on the back just because you're coming up with ideas. Everybody does it. Great producers are the ones who are able to execute well.


6) At some level, confidence and belief in yourself is important, because without it you won't have the determination needed to keep at it. I'm reluctant to say something that's so self-evident while also being utterly impractical as advice goes, but it does matter.


Good luck!

I've used this before... some thoughts:

-If done quickly, it sounds bad

Interesting, can you explain a bit more about this? I've been using some fairly rapid mono-stereo transitions to enhance certain sounds, just wondering if I should avoid that trick.. cheers