SOCIAL SKILLS

[sunn0glasses]

https://soundcloud.com/socialskills2016

this is my baby music project

pls give constructive crits

[djaero]

giving some dynamic range to your music wouldn't hurt. my ears feel like they have been aurally raped, and it was not fun. seriously tho, the mix is grating and the composition is confusing, I think a change in direction could be beneficial.

[Dinglesberry]

Honestly Cherry MX Blues is pretty sick, I like that reverse bass or w/e it is for the beat.

I think its kinda cool with that BPM, I don't make music or anything (I've done it before though and am not dumb so I know what it means to layer, master, etc) but I like this kind of junk, and to be honest I think it would be cooler with a more slower paced beat like this:

https://youtu.be/GcDuFmWxUlM?t=20s

Or if you were going to go with the faster paced drum beat like you did, I wish you somehow put more emphasis on it, made it deeper u kno? like this:

https://youtu.be/-FwV0cNUV4s?t=30s

Overall its decent though, I just feel like the drum is a bit too weak and it kind of clashes with the reverse bass rather than meshing with it u kno?

[sunn0glasses]

Originally Posted by djaero

giving some dynamic range to your music wouldn't hurt. my ears feel like they have been aurally raped, and it was not fun. seriously tho, the mix is grating and the composition is confusing, I think a change in direction could be beneficial.

hey dude, not to be a dick or anything, but could you be more specific? what about the mix is grating? trebles too high? bass to low? i mean, i know i'm far from bein pro at mixing and mastering, but i do put effort into getting a balance in the mix. the last thing i wanna do is rape you. in the ears. did you have this reaction to a specific song or a specific moment? it'd help to pinpoint things that would work better. thanks dog

[sunn0glasses]

Originally Posted by Dinglesberry

Honestly Cherry MX Blues is pretty sick, I like that reverse bass or w/e it is for the beat.

I think its kinda cool with that BPM, I don't make music or anything (I've done it before though and am not dumb so I know what it means to layer, master, etc) but I like this kind of junk, and to be honest I think it would be cooler with a more slower paced beat like this:

https://youtu.be/GcDuFmWxUlM?t=20s

Or if you were going to go with the faster paced drum beat like you did, I wish you somehow put more emphasis on it, made it deeper u kno? like this:

https://youtu.be/-FwV0cNUV4s?t=30s

Overall its decent though, I just feel like the drum is a bit too weak and it kind of clashes with the reverse bass rather than meshing with it u kno?

thanks for the feedback sir

im not a fan of dubstep really, but i get what u mean, im workin on gettin punchier with the drums

[MarcusHawkins]

Social skills? I unfortunately have none.

[V-Ormix]

Good stuff

[djaero]

Originally Posted by sunn0glasses

hey dude, not to be a dick or anything, but could you be more specific? what about the mix is grating? trebles too high? bass to low? i mean, i know i'm far from bein pro at mixing and mastering, but i do put effort into getting a balance in the mix. the last thing i wanna do is rape you. in the ears. did you have this reaction to a specific song or a specific moment? it'd help to pinpoint things that would work better. thanks dog

Okay, this is just a cursory glance of the first track on your soundcloud and not at all meant to be comprehensive.

The main problem I see here, and often see with songs in the same general genre, is that everything is at 100% all the time, in arrangement and mix. It gives the song nowhere to go and frankly makes things boring through excessive repetition. Even glitchy/dub stuff can be emotionally evocative in something other than intensity.

The song sounds a bit disjointed and lacking in rhythmic motifs for a listener to attach to. What I mean is that the rhythmic phrases are there, but they don't reoccur in a way that is thematically sensible. In other words, its very linear and without a very pleasing sense of structure. If this is by choice, okay fine, but realize that reoccurring musical motifs are a cornerstone of nearly every genre in music and is what most listeners consciously or unconsciously listen for.

The bass frequency range is sorely deficient and the song sounds a bit stagnant as a result. Adding a well placed bassline would really help to give the song a sense of movement and groove, and a warmer, less punchy bassdrum may help. Some subtle phasing, flanging, or filtering automation in the mids and highs could also help imbue a sense of movement as well, but I realize that's more of a stylistic choice.

The granulated glitch leads sound too hot and dry, in the upper midrange especially. In addition to paring them down with some EQ, I would suggest some gated reverb or delay to soften the sounds a bit without muddying the mix up unnecessarily. That's just a suggestion, you may find other types of processing more palatable. An artist's choice of effects can be as important as choices in timbre and composition, as often is the case with electronic music.

-----

And a few more general notes. After skimming though a few your songs, the mids and highs are consistently mixed too hot and harsh. Because this occurs across all the songs I've sampled, I'm assuming this is a monitoring issue, but may just be a questionable stylistic choice :P Basic advice that never gets old; listen to your mix on different setups and adjust accordingly, use monitors that are as flat as possible, and wait a week before re-listening to a mix so you can judge it with fresh ears. These days, demoing your mixes on a car stereo and Earpod earphones would probably cover your mix with the biggest segment of a potential audience.

Last but certainly not least, I think its especially pertinent here to note the importance of mixing in ALL 3 dimension. The 3 dimensions being amplitude (volume and EQ), panning, and depth (time-based processing). I hear a lack of all three, especially the latter two. Some panning and stereo separation as well as time-based processing would really help your mixes sound less monotonous and dry. Be more liberal with the equalization to give the individual parts better definition. Remember to EQ subtractively, to give your parts room to breathe and to avoid distortion.

In the future, it would help to be more specific with your request for critique, like mentioning a specific aspect of your mix or arrangement that you are struggling with, or at the very least say what song you want feedback on, don't just link your soundcloud and say hey this my music listen up yo. You'll probably get more responses that way. I've written a general highlight reel of what stands out to me, and I was hesitant to write anything at all because I could go on in several different directions because of the lack of specificity.

[Son Paimon]

To be honest, it sounds like so much noise is going off at once. So sorry, but I had to turn down the volume (which wasn't high at all) just to be able to hear it. And yeah, Cherry Mx Blues wasn't super bad, but the clash of sounds reminded me of a old NES game that wants to desperately work, but your character ends up pixelated and the background doesn't render.