I just finished making my first track ever using Ableton. I did this whole thing today and just want some feedback on how I can improve? Please feel free to say whatever comes to mind (if it's s%#t let me know too lol) and also offer constructive criticism.
way to slow and no real progression you could have said all that in 30 to 45 sec.
piano was nice...
Haha yeah I get what you mean. I'm totally new to Ableton and producing in general so I'll keep that in mind. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to make a song that has a lot more elements in it so it doesn't sound flat.
Nice piano beginning but your bass sounds pretty choppy, you need to give it more flow. Right now I can easily tell that you are using loops and it just sounds as if your repeating these loops with a few different loops thrown in there to give it some variety. Now I am not saying don't use loops because everyone dose but you just need them to flow well together. Look at your piano piece for example, this is a set of loops that work and flow well with each other. In your bass lines it is almost as if there is a split second pause between some of the loops and really throws off the flow of the song. Hope this helps!
Thank you for the feedback. I don't know if you thought I was using premade loops or not but I made the whole thing from scratch using VSTs except for the drum kick, snare and hi-hat samples. I basically played everything on a midi keyboard along with Ableton's metronome to keep me in time.
The reason why the wobble bass was choppy was because I had just started messing with it an hour before and decided to put together something that I could incorporate it into. I mapped the LFO to my mod wheel but it was a bit fiddly and I hadn't quite figured out the rhythm just yet.
Given that it was around three hours work I'm determined to make something better and use the feedback I got.
Not really, most of it I've learned on my own to be quite honest with you, since youtube wasn't giving me much help and the books can only get you so far. I'm sorry I'm not as much help as you would like, but the one thing I have to say is keep trying, make music as often as you can. Its the best way of becoming better, eventually you'll learn how to make your drums go from decent to great, and stuff like that, this is how I learned.
I'd say check out youtube for Mastering videos that's how I learned, and to be honest I'm still learning about it, take's a long time man. Basically check out youtube, type in on google books on mastering, that should come up with some results, just keep trying man and you'll the hang of it.
Thanks for the google books suggestion! Never thought of that! Well yeah I've been looking at youtube videos but so far its just been ones about EQing specific instruments and not doing a full mastering of the whole track. Are there any resources in particular that you found helpful to you?
Ok thanks I'll work on those snares and that drop. I'm honestly just doing this as I go along so I guess I'll need to research "how to make a tighter snare sound" or something. Something tells me I need to shorten the "release"? I'll figure it out. :P
Ahh ok that makes sense. I have to get some mastering or EQ knowledge in me haha. I'm still figuring it out. Any good suggestions on books or videos that might help?
Ok I'll give the delay and reverb a go. I don't know an ounce of music theory and haven't had any musical training apart from teaching myself how to DJ. Also good call on the gating I believe it might come in handy for that drop somehow.
Thank you guys for the feedback! I will work on improving the track or possibly try and come up with a new one to improve my production chops!
I'd say check out youtube for Mastering videos that's how I learned, and to be honest I'm still learning about it, take's a long time man. Basically check out youtube, type in on google books on mastering, that should come up with some results, just keep trying man and you'll the hang of it.
In my opinion, I believe the snares at the start need to be tighter. Needs to be like, a solid 'tish' not a 'tissssh'.
Then maybe the bass on the drop needs to be a bit deeper.
Only constructive criticism though, it's a good start
Ok thanks I'll work on those snares and that drop. I'm honestly just doing this as I go along so I guess I'll need to research "how to make a tighter snare sound" or something. Something tells me I need to shorten the "release"? I'll figure it out. :P
Originally Posted by Johnnystorm
I like the track man, good work on it keep it up. The only thing I would have to say is the snare's and the Kick's need a little working on, and the bass can also be worked on but other then that it's a good start for a first song.
Ahh ok that makes sense. I have to get some mastering or EQ knowledge in me haha. I'm still figuring it out. Any good suggestions on books or videos that might help?
Originally Posted by Deejaesnafu
nice first track dude
you must have some musical training other than producing?
(im far from where i want to be on the production tip so this is just from a listeners chair here)
try a little delay or reverb on the higher freq drums like hh and snare, experiment with some more effects in your drums for sure. watch some vids on gating drums in ableton.
in the end the drums make or break a track to me, and its something im struggling with myself. but any tricks for creating better drums you can come across on youtube, the better. theres a ton of stuff out there
awesome job on the production tho imo... expert first track, keep it up!
Ok I'll give the delay and reverb a go. I don't know an ounce of music theory and haven't had any musical training apart from teaching myself how to DJ. Also good call on the gating I believe it might come in handy for that drop somehow.
Thank you guys for the feedback! I will work on improving the track or possibly try and come up with a new one to improve my production chops!
I just finished making my first track ever using Ableton. I did this whole thing today and just want some feedback on how I can improve? Please feel free to say whatever comes to mind (if it's s%#t let me know too lol) and also offer constructive criticism.
I agree with pretty much every body. drop that bass an octave maybe and add some subbass in there, its feeling sorta flat . but over all good first production, I wish my first production wouldve been this good XD
In keeping with what most people have said on here, the drums need a bit of tightening. If you're just learning, I'd suggest taking time to learn each element of building a track. Solid drum production and layering make a massive difference to a track.
For example, I usually use 3 snares layed for my hits, even if really quiet in the mix, one for low end, one for mid and one for hi / tail end.
There's a YouTube channel called DubSpot which dabbles in Ableton tutorials, I'm pretty sure there will be tuts on EQing and drum processing. Also consult this site - it seems to have a lot of cool tutorials on it...
Keep it up though. for a first tracks it doesn't sound too cluttered or muddy, which is a good start. Just keep ploughing on and experimenting. and keep posting on here for feedback.
Oh, and one more thing - sometime when you're starting out it can feel like you're not making progress. Save that tune as it is, and leave it for say, 2 months... in 2 months time, reopen it and tweak it using techniques you've picked up. Save it (keeping the old one for reference). Leave it again for 2 months. And repeat. It's just a good way of showing yourself that you're taking it on board and making progess.
I'd concentrate on programming some variation into the drum rhythm to keep the interest up - you know, little changes or additions at the end of every four bars, adding and subtracting more elements, etc. A small amount of swing can go a long way too, towards helping out with rigidity. I feel like the bass could be more fluid and might benefit from a little verb and chorus. Actually using it less often can build more drama when you drop it too.
way to slow and no real progression you could have said all that in 30 to 45 sec.
piano was nice...
Haha yeah I get what you mean. I'm totally new to Ableton and producing in general so I'll keep that in mind. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to make a song that has a lot more elements in it so it doesn't sound flat.
Nice piano beginning but your bass sounds pretty choppy, you need to give it more flow. Right now I can easily tell that you are using loops and it just sounds as if your repeating these loops with a few different loops thrown in there to give it some variety. Now I am not saying don't use loops because everyone dose but you just need them to flow well together. Look at your piano piece for example, this is a set of loops that work and flow well with each other. In your bass lines it is almost as if there is a split second pause between some of the loops and really throws off the flow of the song. Hope this helps!
Thank you for the feedback. I don't know if you thought I was using premade loops or not but I made the whole thing from scratch using VSTs except for the drum kick, snare and hi-hat samples. I basically played everything on a midi keyboard along with Ableton's metronome to keep me in time.
The reason why the wobble bass was choppy was because I had just started messing with it an hour before and decided to put together something that I could incorporate it into. I mapped the LFO to my mod wheel but it was a bit fiddly and I hadn't quite figured out the rhythm just yet.
Given that it was around three hours work I'm determined to make something better and use the feedback I got.
Nice piano beginning but your bass sounds pretty choppy, you need to give it more flow. Right now I can easily tell that you are using loops and it just sounds as if your repeating these loops with a few different loops thrown in there to give it some variety. Now I am not saying don't use loops because everyone dose but you just need them to flow well together. Look at your piano piece for example, this is a set of loops that work and flow well with each other. In your bass lines it is almost as if there is a split second pause between some of the loops and really throws off the flow of the song. Hope this helps!
Not really, most of it I've learned on my own to be quite honest with you, since youtube wasn't giving me much help and the books can only get you so far. I'm sorry I'm not as much help as you would like, but the one thing I have to say is keep trying, make music as often as you can. Its the best way of becoming better, eventually you'll learn how to make your drums go from decent to great, and stuff like that, this is how I learned.
Not really, most of it I've learned on my own to be quite honest with you, since youtube wasn't giving me much help and the books can only get you so far. I'm sorry I'm not as much help as you would like, but the one thing I have to say is keep trying, make music as often as you can. Its the best way of becoming better, eventually you'll learn how to make your drums go from decent to great, and stuff like that, this is how I learned.
I'd say check out youtube for Mastering videos that's how I learned, and to be honest I'm still learning about it, take's a long time man. Basically check out youtube, type in on google books on mastering, that should come up with some results, just keep trying man and you'll the hang of it.
Thanks for the google books suggestion! Never thought of that! Well yeah I've been looking at youtube videos but so far its just been ones about EQing specific instruments and not doing a full mastering of the whole track. Are there any resources in particular that you found helpful to you?
Ok thanks I'll work on those snares and that drop. I'm honestly just doing this as I go along so I guess I'll need to research "how to make a tighter snare sound" or something. Something tells me I need to shorten the "release"? I'll figure it out. :P
Ahh ok that makes sense. I have to get some mastering or EQ knowledge in me haha. I'm still figuring it out. Any good suggestions on books or videos that might help?
Ok I'll give the delay and reverb a go. I don't know an ounce of music theory and haven't had any musical training apart from teaching myself how to DJ. Also good call on the gating I believe it might come in handy for that drop somehow.
Thank you guys for the feedback! I will work on improving the track or possibly try and come up with a new one to improve my production chops!
I'd say check out youtube for Mastering videos that's how I learned, and to be honest I'm still learning about it, take's a long time man. Basically check out youtube, type in on google books on mastering, that should come up with some results, just keep trying man and you'll the hang of it.
In my opinion, I believe the snares at the start need to be tighter. Needs to be like, a solid 'tish' not a 'tissssh'.
Then maybe the bass on the drop needs to be a bit deeper.
Only constructive criticism though, it's a good start
Ok thanks I'll work on those snares and that drop. I'm honestly just doing this as I go along so I guess I'll need to research "how to make a tighter snare sound" or something. Something tells me I need to shorten the "release"? I'll figure it out. :P
Originally Posted by Johnnystorm
I like the track man, good work on it keep it up. The only thing I would have to say is the snare's and the Kick's need a little working on, and the bass can also be worked on but other then that it's a good start for a first song.
Ahh ok that makes sense. I have to get some mastering or EQ knowledge in me haha. I'm still figuring it out. Any good suggestions on books or videos that might help?
Originally Posted by Deejaesnafu
nice first track dude
you must have some musical training other than producing?
(im far from where i want to be on the production tip so this is just from a listeners chair here)
try a little delay or reverb on the higher freq drums like hh and snare, experiment with some more effects in your drums for sure. watch some vids on gating drums in ableton.
in the end the drums make or break a track to me, and its something im struggling with myself. but any tricks for creating better drums you can come across on youtube, the better. theres a ton of stuff out there
awesome job on the production tho imo... expert first track, keep it up!
Ok I'll give the delay and reverb a go. I don't know an ounce of music theory and haven't had any musical training apart from teaching myself how to DJ. Also good call on the gating I believe it might come in handy for that drop somehow.
Thank you guys for the feedback! I will work on improving the track or possibly try and come up with a new one to improve my production chops!
you must have some musical training other than producing?
(im far from where i want to be on the production tip so this is just from a listeners chair here)
try a little delay or reverb on the higher freq drums like hh and snare, experiment with some more effects in your drums for sure. watch some vids on gating drums in ableton.
in the end the drums make or break a track to me, and its something im struggling with myself. but any tricks for creating better drums you can come across on youtube, the better. theres a ton of stuff out there
awesome job on the production tho imo... expert first track, keep it up!
I like the track man, good work on it keep it up. The only thing I would have to say is the snare's and the Kick's need a little working on, and the bass can also be worked on but other then that it's a good start for a first song.
