New To Ableton, Thoughts on First Song?
New To Ableton, Thoughts on First Song? Posted on: 03.03.2013 by Teressa Firicano Hey guys.Been a fan of this community for a while now but it took me till last week to get hold of ableton and actually start producing. Its been hard going even learning the basics but i've managed to get something down to record after a week of working. I don't believe i've stopped since I installed last saturday. Was hoping someone on here could take a look and see what they make of it? EDIT - Updated with trimmed down version of the track based on suggestions from here. https://soundcloud.com/wintermuteuk/calling-all-cars | |
| Teressa Firicano 04.03.2013 |
Originally Posted by grazz16
Hell, you aren't alone, I don't even know what Italodisco really is, it was the common genre with a lot of stuff that I based my track on so I thought it'd be a safe bet after you said about the misclassification earlier. I'm terrible on genres anyway, have very little idea where one ends and where one begins! Excuse me in advance if I end up mislabelling my tracks! |
| Berta Baie 04.03.2013 |
Originally Posted by Patch
For example, if i write a progressive house track, ask ppl who only listen to techno to critique it, and label it techno, they are going to tear it apart. Give the same track to someone who only listens to progressive house and they might have a completely different opinion. |
| Teressa Firicano 03.03.2013 | Hey guys. Been a fan of this community for a while now but it took me till last week to get hold of ableton and actually start producing. Its been hard going even learning the basics but i've managed to get something down to record after a week of working. I don't believe i've stopped since I installed last saturday. Was hoping someone on here could take a look and see what they make of it? EDIT - Updated with trimmed down version of the track based on suggestions from here. https://soundcloud.com/wintermuteuk/calling-all-cars |
| Sylvia Greener 14.03.2013 | To be honest mastering is way overrated in electronic music and that's not just what I say but what a lot of really big artists from all over the world say. For a lot of them mastering is not much more than gaining a few more decibels of loudness. If a song is meant to sound good this has to be done before the song hits the master. It's not about the mastering, it's all about the song structure, choice of sounds, sounddesign, EQing, compression, reverb, delay and so on on every single track and doing the mixing right. The best way to improve is probably listening carefully to a lot of music of the genre you want to produce. Try not only to listen to it as the whole song, as normal consumers do but try to listen analytically and concentrate on what's going in every second, how does the artist achieve the fact the song doesn't get boring the longer you listen to it, how it is structured and so on. I believe these are the most useful tips. Keep in mind: Mastering is something for masters and it's definitely not what makes the song! Don't care about mastering as long as you don't know every tool in your DAW, music theory and song structuring in and out! |
| Teressa Firicano 13.03.2013 | Also, any tips on mastering? I've tried a few tutorials, and that cut was the best I could come out with, but I know that i've only scratched the surface. Also if anyone has any ideas on variation? Any ideas for where I could put some new sequences and hooks without it sounding too overblown or cluttered, that would be great. Thanks for your help so far guys! |
| Teressa Firicano 05.03.2013 | Okay, taken a lot of what you guys have said on board, trimmed the track down, done a little work on the levels, although i'm still finding a lot of stuff out about Live so bare with me. I've come up with this, which hopefully isn't nearly as repetitive sounding, and the kick seems to pop out a little more, even if I switch to my shitty laptop speakers. Take a look, hope this sounds better. https://soundcloud.com/wintermuteuk/calling-all-cars Thanks for all your feedback guys, been really helpful, i'll do what I can to take it all on board as I carry on. |
| Zulma Ramji 05.03.2013 | also i use saturator on every channel. great shit - just use very little of it. |
| Zulma Ramji 05.03.2013 | 1. does get pretty repetitive - i'd cut it by 40% in length. 2. Dont use EQeight on Master. Use EQeight on each individual channel so that you can give room for various frequencies. eg. made a dip at 100hz for Bass and boost 100hz for kick etc. 3. layering the kick also - take on sub kick and filter out high frequencies. take a punchy kick and filter out low frequencies. so you get a full kick that doesnt sound muddy. 4. add automation 5. add raises 6. work on arrangement - try add/remove something every 16 bars max. its a process so just keep trying. ive probably put together like 20 songs before anything actually decent start coming out. what also helped is copying a track you like on the first channel and copying the structure and elements. none would ever be tell since all sounds are different but at least you get a structure that proven to work. |
| Sylvia Greener 04.03.2013 | To me it sounds a bit like a house/techno kind of thing. Not that easy to classify properly for me though. |
| Teressa Firicano 04.03.2013 |
Originally Posted by grazz16
Hell, you aren't alone, I don't even know what Italodisco really is, it was the common genre with a lot of stuff that I based my track on so I thought it'd be a safe bet after you said about the misclassification earlier. I'm terrible on genres anyway, have very little idea where one ends and where one begins! Excuse me in advance if I end up mislabelling my tracks! |
| Berta Baie 04.03.2013 |
Originally Posted by Patch
For example, if i write a progressive house track, ask ppl who only listen to techno to critique it, and label it techno, they are going to tear it apart. Give the same track to someone who only listens to progressive house and they might have a completely different opinion. |
| Brunilda Kora 04.03.2013 |
Originally Posted by grazz16
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| Teressa Firicano 04.03.2013 | So layer a second kick on top of the existing one? Or am I getting that wrong? After shelling out for Ableton recently I don't believe i'll be able to get hold of Ozone anytime soon. But are there any programs you can get hold of for free/cheap? As i've been told that mastering does make a massive difference. Thanks for being so helpful by the way, I can imagine you guys get these kind of questions all the time. |
| Berta Baie 04.03.2013 | As far as the kick goes try layering more than one sample on top of one another and give it some EQ, Ableton has some good kick EQ's. A lot of the issues you mention are mixing problems, thats just a matter of playing around with the levels of the tracks to make sure everything sits properly. Mastering the track with Ableton alone gets difficult in terms of making it sound really good. Im sure it can be done but i have a specific mastering vst, Ozone, for that. |
| Teressa Firicano 04.03.2013 | Thanks for the feedback. I believe i'd class it as synth-pop or Italodisco, judging by the kind of stuff i've been listening to as of late. I wouldn't know what else to categorise it under. I'm believeing of cutting the entire track down to around the three/four minute mark, that might stop some of the repetition and make some of the sections a little more punchy. Anything else i've tried just sounds like i'm stacking sounds and overcomplicating, but that could just be me. In terms of the kick, i've got a compressor on there, but is there anything else I could do to make it pop out a little more. Also having a lot of trouble getting the claps not to strangle the melody, especially during the breakdown, i've got EQ 8 on the master track and tried to take the high frequencies down, but thats the best I could do. Pretty sure a little more familiarity with Live could iron that one out. There must be something i'm missing. Again, thanks a lot for the feedback, any constructive criticism is really helpful, as I definitely want to get into producing. |
| Berta Baie 03.03.2013 | Good first attempt, although its hard to know exactly what you were going for here to be honest. What genre is this supposed to be? Like this could be the most amazing song ever but if this is in a genre i've never heard of, i cant really comment. You have it labeled as electro but it really is nothing of the sort. Regardless here are some general tips: General thoughts: - that synth is mixed a bit loud at like 2:19ish - the structure is a bit odd, not sure i could define regular sections - it needs more variation, it gets little repetitive in the synths and drums - drums need to be beefed up, i can barely hear the kick at all for example - i like some of the sounds you used tho, i like the bass line and those bell sounds If this is truly supposed to be electro, listen to some electro, then listen to your track, should be pretty easy to see how it stacks up. |
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