Please just give a honest opinion. I don’t want to continue making crappy tracks. Can’t really find a group that will help out amateurs. I am a hobbyist that wants to be good at the art.
the song is quite alright actually. the mixing and the choice of samples/synths are okay … could be better, the structure of your song is alright, but i feel like you had a problem with writing the melody.
harmonically it’s confusing and i don’t know if you’re just guessing which notes or chords might work well together or if you’re intentionally trying to throw off the listener. it ends up being a little bit annoying to listen to, especially when the other synths/effects/voices have a hard time supporting your melody. they sound just as unsure which notes to play.
since you’ve uploaded only one song i can’t give you any advice because i don’t know if you were just lucky with the mixing or if the problem with the melody is a reoccurring thing or not.
I think I see what you are talking about. I was trying to be different but I guess keeping it more simple is the best idea. I really had no direction honestly, maybe that my problem. People actually like the song I made before than one better but I thought it sucked and was too simple.
i listened to both songs again and analized them as good as i can so that i can pinpoint what i think is strange. maybe i was too harsh in my first reply but i still think that there’s something off with your harmonies.
in Modshift you constantly seem to switch between what sounds like A minor and A major (transposed down from C sharp for simplicity) because you put in F sharps and C sharps whereever you think they would fit the best. your other instruments seem to adjust to it quickly but all in all it sounds kind of unconventional.
all synths in the first minute of Beat9 are essentialy playing the same thing at the same time and the notes only change when the kick comes in which creates gaps. Modshift is more complex in the sense that you use different instruments, playing different notes at different times, etc. which is good.
what left me with an odd feeling again was when you switch the synth at 1:02 and the melody switches from playing E-4, G-4 and B-4 to E-4, G-4 and C-5. the moment the bell sound hits C-5 on the 3rd beat it sounds like the bassline and the airy synth are still playing B-4. this leaves you with a semitone difference in notes which sounds odd.
maybe that’s nitpicking. i personally would try to go for a more conventional approach. when switching between minor and major scales switch to the relative key i.e. for A minor it would be C major. this way you avoid a lot of problems. to make a song interesting you could switch between tonic, subdominant and dominant harmonies which is very common in music.
if you don’t know what i’m talking about, read up on some music theory.
that’s all i can say for now
I think the song sounds good, but could use more atmosphere and maybe a little more crunch/distortion somewhere. :] It has a certain Depeche Mode feel to it. Martin Gore uses a lot of dissonance in his melodies, so I wasn’t overly bothered by some odd key transitions.
Anyhoo, the vibe that I get from your song… Melancholic. Deranged. Cyberpunk. Industrial. The 80’s.
Since you put down Experimental as part of the genre, I’ll assume this isn’t your normal style. As long as you can diversify easily, I’ll give you a thumbs up! If all your stuff sounds like this, then I might think otherwise. :]
now thats what i call supportive and constructive feedback!
regarding that track im with mandulin.
Thank you all for your good feedback. I think I will make my melodies more simple and catchy instead thinking too hard. I notice a lot of my tunes are kinda emo.
I find it amazing how some can analyze music so well, hearing tonality and even notes. I’ve much too few experience with this. But I my 2 cents: Modshift and beat9 sound very “eerie”, not in a bad sense, but the general atmosphere is a bit weird/off/scary. I guess thats what Mandulin mean, just on a more emotional level. The arrangement and structure of the songs seem solid, sounds are good and dancable, beat is good too. I guess just try to stick a bit more close to a scale.