The advice I've been trying to follow lately is just to finish tracks off despite finding this the most difficult and tedious part of the process.

Here's my latest effort where I was following this principle despite the fact that the longer I spent on it, the less I liked it.



What is it about the track that makes it sound so lame?

Is it the poor choice of sounds?
Are the drums too repetitive?
Are the transitions too rushed?
Is the arrangement too "paint by numbers"

I'm fairly confident getting a melodies and chord progressions together.
I'm fairly comfortable with the theory of mixing.
But something about my end products always sounds old-fashioned, or too "midi" even when I try to introduce grooves, movement etc.

All advice welcome as I seem to be making the same mistakes over and over again.

 

I'm not in this type of music. But why you define it as lame??
Every musical piece should be unique and not be compared to others!
The issues start when people start to compare.
I find the track in its essence good as it is, of course one could master it better, if wanted.
Don't take other pieces too much as reference, it will decrease your originality.

 

I agree with Kook ... first of all you should be happy with the song. And because you asked. I can nothing say against the sounds or mastering but for me there is not to much happen in the track. Some slight variation to keep the ears busy, some breaks to keep it interesting... What made me smile is the rolling snare at 0:13 ....its just a matter of taste but this thingy is some kind of outdated (for me)
But keep in mind this is just my point of view. Just suggestions. Its easier to make suggestions then to do by myself.

 

Ok, I'll try to explain. Before adding the drums, when all I had was the melodies and sounds, it sounded like the theme from some kind of TV drama. I didn't particularly want to make a track in this genre (if that is a genre) so I deliberately tried using house type drums to try and take it another direction. But the longer I spent on it, the more the track sounded like it was repeating itself so I reduced the track time to less than 3 minute. This completely disrupted the original intro/build/breakdown/build/drop/outro that I started with.
The fills and vocal snippits were just added as shortcuts to try and get the track finished.

 

Lol... yes most of the transititions are Vengenace samples rather than programmed. Seemed a bit pointless putting in lots of effort into the transitions when I was becoming more and more unhappy with the overall.

 

try the other way.

don't care about final result but try your best to enjoy producing and have a fun time...best if you approach a track like a live set ;)

 

hi there!
I am fairly new to music production but this is what i would say in layman's term:

the intro is actually quite good and groovy to me
the section between 0:45 to 1:15 seems a but too long and get lost in direction
from 1:17 to 1:47 it sounds a bit empty because there's not much bass there?

most importantly the intro and outro seems to have more energy than the middle of the song (which should be the most energetic part in a song in theory), a little rearrangement them and may make it sound better

but never call your music lame, just stick with your own style and keep trying)

 

As it stands, you've created a complete piece - and you can feel proud about that. It's like a newly built house that only requires some furnishings and a touch of personal decoration. Perhaps a key change, or some contra rhythms, maybe a sneaky little bit of arpeggiator... different tempo. Fool around with it. It won't hurt. Think of it as the workbench upon which you'll build the track that gets you where you want to be. It's your piece, your pied-a-terre. You made this. From nothing.

Thank you for sharing it here.

You've made yourself a real cool "keeper". Each and every one of us have a fair few of these tucked away. They're the little things that we come back to after months of doing other projects and, more often than not, listening with fresh ears makes us go like "Holy crap! Did I make that? Wow!".

On a piece of paper, create two columns. In one column, write down all of the things that you like about the piece. In the other column, write down all of the things that you think are bad, shitty and terrible. Then, cut the piece of paper in half. Now, you have two pieces of paper. One of the pieces contains all the positive things that you wrote down, whereas the other piece is your personal list of negative impressions. BURN the negative list. That's the one that's holding you back. You don't need it, so get rid of the fekker.

 

Hmmm... I know what you mean. The intro and outro don't fit the main part of the song. In a way, this is true because the drums + intro + outro were one of the last things to be added to complete the track. Maybe a slower BPM/ less energetic drums would have made the rest of the track make sense.

 

Lol... I thought you were going to say re-work the track using the negative list!

I think I'll just park this one for now, and then come back to it in a few months time like you suggest. Hopefully I will be able to find more positive aspects to the track then I can currently. Thanks for listening.

 

Don't be so hard on yourself! "Finishing" tracks is pretty hard and I'm sure most of us have got endless "ideas" sitting on our hard drives.

I feel the same way as you (kind of disliking half the tracks I start) but I'm much more ruthless these days and if I don't enjoy the process of working on a track I scrap it and start again!

 

The problem is that I've only finished about 8 tracks in the last 3 years.
The more music theory I acquire, the harder I find it to write songs I actually enjoy listening back to!

 

Sometimes I wish I had a Non-creative job that I could just get on with! I think it's part of the process for any artist and I've had writers block many times and wanted to sell the studio and quit. But then after some time I miss it and come back for more!

 

i'm the same.. the more i work on a track the less i like it.. but you finished it and you should be proud of that.. well done

 

one of the first things that came to mind was the use of the voice samples, they sound very dated tbh, the placing of some of them (bring that beat back fe.) feels wrong, try placing it so that 'back' falls on the last kick in the break. you could also try to change the last note of the melody every 2nd run it makes or 4th run

 

I know how it feels, it sucks yes.
But sometimes it's like that, nothing comes...you should allow yourself some breaks when time is right.
Well, procrastination can be a real *bad habit*, there's so much interesting stuff on the www,
read this, look @ that, download the stuff, answer requests, keep contact to facebook friends etc...
...all this can prevent you from doing what you actually would like to do!!

 

im in the same boat out of 500 + tunes only about 10 made it to the end that i like
is to easy to get side tracked and board ,and when you hear the same tune over and over its over
anyways found these that could help a bit,
http://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/using-a-reference-track-when-producing-edm--audio-21102
http://getthatprosound.com/50-pro-tips-for-breathing-life-into-your-electronic-music/

but im finding the more i learn the less i do now ?
fl 6 to 10, 500 tunes half made fl 12 ,5 tunes half made lol
i blam self control sometimes we just need a good kick in the ass as a wakeup call

 

I've got a whole 1TB full of unfinished songs, some of them people even claim could be real hits, but I for some reason like yourself view my music as 'lame'. I think its all in the head. This effect also seems to come back and forth if you work in loops eg. constantly going back and forth and listening to the same 30 second bit you made. The more you listen, the more lame it sounds, trust me we've all been there. While the track wasn't top notch, and you can certainly always improve on something (don't get me wrong, there is always something you can do to change and make a track better, mixing wise etc), it doesn't mean that you should hate on it.

Try this instead, (easier said than done). Make as many tracks as possible, and reference them to your favorite ones. I'm sure you've got a few artists that you follow and like and wish you could sound like. Take their track, drop it in ableton (I'm assuming thats what you use, can be in any DAW), warp it so that its in the same BPM and mark down each part and listen carefully to what they're using to keep the listeners interested, and try to note down what you hear. Also notice how drum patterns change, what is added what is taken away. You'll start to notice that what pros do isn't even that phenomenal or special, but it works. The more you analyze the music you don't find lame, the more you acquire techniques that will make your own tracks sound the way you want them to. I can't think of any other way to get the sound you want apart from taking apart surgically the music you want to sound like.

And another advice is, have separate sessions (as opposed all in one composing/sound design/drums) where you ONLY work on drums, ONLY work on synth sounds etc and save those patches and drum patterns you make, so that next time when you sit down you have a quicker way to jot down your ideas. It's easy to get lost in production when you've got so much to take care of at once. Take it one step at a time and you'll get there sooner than you think.

 

This is what causing the following:

Lose that confidence and learn more about harmonic functions and reharmonization. That should give you the initial spark to bring more life into your stuff.

Good luck.

 

Here's my take. As a "jazz" pianist, I'm always looking for something unique, innovative (and especially) improvisational. Answers to your questions, are at best, are going to be "subjective". Even though I've been reared (like a horse) on a steady diet of traditional scales and such, I am always challenging the so-called "norm".

The listener's taste in music, sound, effects, rhythm, patterns, etc., will determine the kind of feedback (and advice) that will either deter or compliment. From a personal perspective (and, I've been at my chosen form of music for quite some time) it's invariably a crap-shoot as to how your music will be received.

Listen. When there is an emphasis on drums (as the focused element) it is important that you, as the progenitor, 'emphasize' or 'de-emphasize' its main role in any piece you're creating. As they say in the boxing vernacular, "style make fights". Depending on what musical style you're trying to convey, basically it is advisable to rely on what you 'hear', as opposed to what you want others to 'hear'. If you get some good advice that melds into what is comparable to your "inner-ear", believe me, you've accomplished about half of your original vision, man. For me, that's usually enough. Remember, I'm coming from "my" perspective.