The night that changed it all

[Zaevod]

I'm not... Entirely sure it's ready.
https://soundcloud.com/zaevod/the-night-that-changed-it-all

[Zaevod]

Originally Posted by KgZ

This might seem like a silly question to you, but why did you choose these instruments in your song?

I was thinking about a specific moment in a story I'm writing. I liked the initial delayed guitar and the synth because they really gave me a "night" vibe, and added the bass and strings to fill it up. You think the choice was weird?

[Zaevod]

The only decent drums I have.

Yeah, my options are still somewhat limited.

... So?

[Zaevod]

What should I use in this case? (maybe that's why I didn't feel it was ready, lol)

[StoneMcKnuckle]

Alternatively tone down the drums by practicing a conventional 4/4 pattern. Your drums are always really busy with lots of snares and hats and whatnot, and that's fine except they sound a little erratic. I'd also say making the bass as prominent as it is in this song when your sample library sounds so murky was a mistake. I'd use the bass as a backing track and copypaste all the crazier stuff it's doing to some other channel. I do think it works the way it is right now, but I still see where KgZ is coming from. Generally though, this sounds pretty good. Lead takes up a lot of space, but sounds good. As far as mixing and production quality goes, you've come a long way. Your biggest problem is still drums tho.

A tip: Aside from the weird drum patterns you should probably tone down, it might also be a good idea to split up your drum track so you can mix parts of it individually. The way I do it is I make a separate channel for the kick, snare, toms and hats/crashes, and then route them to different mixer inserts. This is really important when you're using analog drums as they tend to sound rather weak without mixing.

[Zaevod]

Originally Posted by StoneMcKnuckle

Alternatively tone down the drums by practicing a conventional 4/4 pattern. Your drums are always really busy with lots of snares and hats and whatnot, and that's fine except they sound a little erratic. I'd also say making the bass as prominent as it is in this song when your sample library sounds so murky was a mistake. I'd use the bass as a backing track and copypaste all the crazier stuff it's doing to some other channel. I do think it works the way it is right now, but I still see where KgZ is coming from. Generally though, this sounds pretty good. Lead takes up a lot of space, but sounds good. As far as mixing and production quality goes, you've come a long way. Your biggest problem is still drums tho.

A tip: Aside from the weird drum patterns you should probably tone down, it might also be a good idea to split up your drum track so you can mix parts of it individually. The way I do it is I make a separate channel for the kick, snare, toms and hats/crashes, and then route them to different mixer inserts. This is really important when you're using analog drums as they tend to sound rather weak without mixing.

I see. I'll try putting each drum instrument in different channels from now on. But I'm a bit surprised because I made the drums so slow and simple in this song, I didn't think they were busy at all (I was actually thinking about what you told me when I made it).

[StoneMcKnuckle]

Another tip regarding drums is to mess with velocity settings, especially for hats and snares.

[Zaevod]

I already do that, but thanks anyway :P (maybe I rushed this one and forgot to change the values, I'll check. It was literally the quickest song I've ever made.)