I normally never post tracks online because I simply don't think they're good enough. This time, I've lowered my threshold and am curious to hear what people have to say, for example, if it's worth investing in software or plugins. I'm not a mixing or mastering engineer. I want an honest review of everything, for example, the sounds I use, arrangements, etc. I'm uploading five tracks I've made in the past three months. I have more, but for now, I just want feedback on what's good and what's not, so I can focus on the things that aren't. I uploaded them to my Google Drive.

LINKS

01 - Enjoy Music

02 - Let it Roll

03 - Push The Tempo

04 - Command Your Soul
This one i updated a little

05 - i Like it

06 - Voice of Choise
I don't normally do hardstyle, but I gave it a try. It's not really good, but here's a snippet inspired by older hardstyle not those annoying tracks with pitched kicks.

07 - insane Asylum

And yes I used Some copyrighted stuff like acapellas and one mean lead of a famous song so don't bother me with that, I built the rest around it myself and I just want an honest opinion that's it

 

Last edited: Nov 14, 2025

Not my cup of tea, but the balance between elements is good overall, there's nothing inherently wrong imho except the first two tracks where the snare/clap are too tinny for the tracks, maybe you removed too much lowend from the samples.

I don't like the clap panned to the right in the first track: mono centered or stereo but balanced from L to R.

Voice in the second track could have some more low frequencies too and slightly more volume overall just to make it more present. The same goes for vocals in the other tracks.

Last thing I don't particularly like is the kick sample in the first track, I'd swap it for another one.

Just my 2c!

 

I like the first one the most, but that is a genre thing. The first and fifth are the better ones, for me. In a couple of them, there are a few spots where it sounds static and starts to get repetitive, but not for long. Like if you cut 16 bars out, it would be fine. I hate hardstyle for the most part, so I skipped that one. I didn't like much about the second one, but particularly the chord progression that starts around 40 seconds. You probably want them this way, but I think your kick might be a little heavy on the click. The second one sounds like some sort of Pitbull track, or something. Shazam that one and it will probably figure it out. It sounds ok, but it sounds like that kind of track. You probably want it that way.

oh, I'm not too into the vocal sample on Push the Tempo intro. It is already repetitive in that spot. You could maybe chop it more, alternae it, or put it later probably. But as it stands it is just there until it is out of the mix; kind of leaving me questioning why it is there.

They are definitely good enough to post. They sound good, but maybe need a little tweak here and there.

 

The more you do the better you'll get as long as you can learn from your mistakes, be more discerning, stop asking for approval, a lot of people will give advice who aren't up to your standard, perhaps you could tell them summink eh.

They're ideas, very good ones at that, so improve, music isn't subjective, you need to recognise what is bad as well as what is good, great even, settle on a genre, Tech House is most popular and it gives you more scope for Afro, techno etc.

As a beginner it's fair to query your ability so that is encouraging for your progress.

Learn the difference between a Club mix und a single, i only do EPs single und extended club mixes, at first stick wiv singles til sussed, cos they're shorter, easier to get the gist of, then try a club mix, finnish them, FINNISH THEM, start plenty but finnish songs as well, you'll never be able to master and you will become an engineer as you work, let others, pro mixers mix your stems, take care, be good und keep at it.

 

All the rest sounds very polished I would say it sounds like a template the elements of the track sounds like it, in a good way of course

track 4: is nice, sounds very peak time techno and not very repetitive i like the filter moves, the mix is normal here just like a Charlotte de witte track.

track 5: These days producers are not using this "Umek" kind of super strong kickdrum, i would suggest you to make it more softer, also I think it sounds a little bit like 90s techno on terms of synth selection.

but yeah, in my opinion you should focus on making these techno tracks because they sound better than the other stuff

 

The problem is I can't commit to a specific genre. I like a lot of music I grew up in the 80s and 90s. Since I was 10, I've been into hardcore, trance, hardtrance, early hardstyle, techno, and hardtechno.
I like to mix all these styles into one, but I know that's not possible.
I think I'll stick with techno and hardtechno.

 

I listened to first one up to about 3mins, the essence of it is there but it needs to be a lot better if you want to compete wiv da big boys.

You need to get the flow, well, flowing, yours kinda stops und starts, the idea is there but the structure seems to defeat you and it doesn't help that you run out of ideas.

You can and should bring all your influence to your mixes, that's wot will give your music individuality, if my music's any good, it's because of what i listened to as a yoof, i reckon I'm just repeating wot i've already 'eard, so better listen to only great music eh.

All you need is a passion und a desire to write music, the rest will come a bit at a time, I send my raw stems, plus my mix, to my engineer, there is no processing of any kind, eq, compression etc, that's best left to him, but i use effects delay and geeter pedals, the real art is being able to listen intently objectively to your own work, i always take, er takes, as i like to hear a wav file not Cubase, then i hear were it falls down und i set about fixing it, this is much harder with a club track due to length.

Doing Singles is a good move cos its less strain on your judgement, its over quickly, sometimes, when rushed to fix summink after days of listening back, i cant bear to hear it anymore, but i must cos its not finished, ,i've recently learnt to pace myself now though, cos i'm releasing so much stuff at da mo.

It'll come if you stick wiv it and if you can get rid of some of the mistakes you're making, be patient, nothing worth 'avin' comes easy bruv.

If you're ever ready try Oli at Ghost Town for mixing, and Pete Maher for mastering, both cheap as chips both top notch pro's. Oli's a muso so he can play stuff in if you wanted.

But most of all, enjoy it maan, greatest job in da Whole Wide World innit.

 

Hi @MindCtrlDel, first of all, it's great that you're facing reality and sharing your songs. Making music is an ongoing process that lasts until death. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes things go wrong, just like in real life.

You shouldn't always measure music against what others are doing, and you should understand that some of the music that's stuck in your head wants to get out into the real world (information wants to be free...). As you've seen with other artists, a "Best Of" CD-ROM often comes out at the end of their lives or later, featuring their best songs, but that only reflects the artist's highlights.

Theoretically, the longer you're involved, the better you get. You develop a better feel for it, gain more listening experience, and your standards also rise. You have to love something, work hard, and have some talent to be successful. It takes about nine years to master the guitar, assuming you practice at least two hours every day.

Regarding your songs: I really like all of them. You have a great sense of style, you know what you're doing, and they're all enjoyable to listen to. You've got the bass down pat. You also incorporate interesting elements to keep the listening experience varied and not monotonous.

If you have a particularly great track, you should consider, if you have the money, taking it to a professional recording studio and engineer to get the best possible result.

Regarding style, I can only say that the broader the classification, the more people you'll reach. These days, there are so many terms that tend to confuse people, making it difficult to find anything. In the eighties and nineties, for me, there was: Techno, Rap, EBM, EDM, Pop, Synthpop, Italo Disco, and Industrial.

 

Thanks for the positive response, it gives me a bit of confidence. Before I did this, I did nothing for a year and a half and always got stuck on a lot of misinformation online. After that, I went my own way, and it works better than a lot of crap advice online.

 

Keep in mind that the internet is a global collection of information and disinformation, of truth and lies.
Check everything very carefully, be critical, believe little, and think for yourself.

Finally, you've realized that only your own path is the right one.
You are the captain of your ship and you set the course.

If everyone is playing the same music that is indistinguishable, it's stagnation.
If many people learn and try something new and different, there is progress.

Remember, if you have questions, it's better to ask people who know their stuff or people you trust. I know that many young people are insecure and therefore tend to imitate others. Develop stronger self-confidence and never doubt your own creative power and abilities.

If you fail, you should regain confidence after a few days and get back up. If you've gone down the wrong path, take a break and go back to your starting point. Nothing can be forced; everything changes—nothing stays the same.

 

That's the problem, I don't have people around me with knowledge, I'm not on Discord or social media, my friends don't listen to this kind of music or it's not hard enough because they grew up with hardcore, so yeah, I'll go my own way and see what happens.

 

Theoretically, there are currently 8.2 billion people living on this planet. We don't know how many of them listen to techno. How much we achieve with our music depends on many factors; basically, all musicians are fighting for the favor and attention of listeners. There is commercially successful techno music that is promoted by financially powerful labels so that they can make a profit from their music. Nobody likes producing music that ends up in the trash.

Theoretically, there are currently 8.2 billion people living on this planet. We don't know how many of them listen to techno. How much we achieve with our music depends on many factors; basically, all musicians are fighting for the favor and attention of listeners. There is commercially successful techno music that is promoted by financially powerful labels so that they can make a profit from their music. Nobody likes producing music that ends up in the trash.

In a small town, you can organize parties where you give your music to the DJ and ask them to play it. It's always advisable to connect with the music scene; in larger cities, it's usually easier because there are clubs and parties typical of the scene.

I would also suggest burning several CDs with your music or filling an MP3 stick with your music, which you can then give to someone who organizes parties. I don't know anything about where you live, so I can only offer general advice. Where I live, there were youth centers and small clubs where you could talk to musicians, and sometimes something would come of it.

With Wix (https://www.wix.com), you can create your own free website, and on SoundCloud, you can also upload songs for free, so that if you make contact, someone can give you their contact information. You can also include this information and your email address in the booklet on your CD-ROM.

Design a logo, start your own one-man business, go to school and ask the class representative when the next party is and if you can play your music there... make music – don't give up, if you stick with it for a few years something will come of it. Besides, you automatically get better the longer you do something. Check out what your city has to offer, talk to real people again.

Make a few videos on YouTube, choose carefully, and do less rather than too much, but do it right. Don't overwhelm yourself, but do something... nothing comes from nothing! Also, link your SoundCloud and your website there!

Print this out and create a to-do list (or list of possibilities) that you hang up somewhere visible.

I hope I was able to provide some assistance in the area of talent development. I am a sound designer. https://ohlenbostelhelge.wixsite.com/sonic-sirius-sound-d

 

Last edited: Nov 15, 2025 at 11:21 AM

Nice mixes, not much processing,dynamic, can be mastered a little harder so. you peak max -8 LUFS or put -1db out on the last limiter. use oversampling like Pro - L2

As far as the tracks go it's pretty good, good to try different styles, i like the first track the most,

Simple and effective, you can always try to add "ear candy" you do this already but try shape your sound and work on suprise elements that tracks make people remember, over all yeah good stuff.

Mixing wise, mastering wise, there is room for improvement, but i like the gainstaging, and the dynamics in track one.

You should keep working on lead sounds and sounddesign, you are on your way forward! Dont listen too much to other people,

Just keep making tracks, think of ways to improve tracks with suprises and yeah some well tought break and the drops should be different, can be small changes or added an arp or whatever.

Point is your making tracks, and thats what's gonna evolve you to become better and better.!!

I like it.

 

You know how I start? I start with the kick at 0 dB. After that, I put a fruity balance on the master channel with -6.0 dB. Mix everything around the kick.

I also use StandardCLIP on almost every channel or bus. I use a lot of SoundToys decapitator.

The only thing I use on the master is Fruity Balance then Alliance Townhouse bus compressor with tops 2 dB of gain reduction. After that, Ozone Imager, then another StandardCLIP just to tame the peaks before it goes into the L2 limiter.

This way, I don't even have to squash my mix. Sometimes I even don't add gain on L2 because it's already loud.

 

You know what, this is how i do,i use bx_limiter with -6db and i also mix with the kick at 0db haha and Pro L2 in the end.

Ive recently started to use Shadowhills Master comp on the bus with parallell settings so it squashes but keeps transients, and also some slight saturation with saturn 2, havent made a track this way yet, im a bit busy, but yeah we do the same and its good for gainstaging

edit: the -db is meant for headroom, if you fill the track so it hits idk 9 lufs on L2 you need to put another gain reduction on your master with a couple of -db 3-6 or so then export, and master, use dither on l2 in the master session, oversampling always on L2....

try separate master and mixing/creating, because a master session in time will make your tracks shine more, you learn as you go, but there is nothing wrong with just mixing like that and then be happy with it

i always say if you do a good mix, mastering is just loudness and dynamic controll.

 

Last edited: Nov 16, 2025 at 1:53 PM

ok nice I have no idea what dither is for

 

Dither is to minimize audio artifacts, so if you render in 24bit wav, you use dither for that bitrate, if 16bit use 16, it reduces signal ratio noise levels, if you have a mix with no dither, you can up the volume and look in various audio programs and see the "floor" of the noise.

Its rly no big deal, but it reduces artifacts, so use dither in L2 and choose the right export, so if you export 24 use that, when exporting 32bit float no dither is required, the bits are a measurement from -60db to 0db you can say, and more bit, gives more room, 24bit is most common due to dj gear and stuff, 16 is still used, 32bit float takes more space, and 24 bit is basically already good enough, but i use 24bit dither.

You can google on it. But its mostly un audable, but i like to use dither and oversampling to reduce artifacts. Just makes sense.

 

Ever since music became part of human culture around 43,000 years ago, people have liked what works for them.
My take for anyone is that if you are happy with what you create, then this is the singularly most important thing, because everything else is feedback. If you love doing it, keep doing it.