Hi (prosumely) guys,

I am 'Satchmo' from the Netherlands, producing as a hobbyist for some years but love to get beter so i love some feedback on a track i am working on.

Can't really find any good places online where there is a proper feedback community. Hopefully we can help each other out well here.

Love to get feedback on this one. Kinda snowed in.

 

This fits my mood right now so I'm digging it. Kind of strikes me more as straight disco more then house but that's ok in my book

 

a lot of potential! I think its mixed very well also. I think the piano tone needs a bit of work and overall the song needs a lot of humanization on the midi and percs. Some of the elements feel very digital becuase of it.

 

That's good.

The bass could benefit from a bit more attack sound, the hh from a bit less reverb and the track really needs if not to say deserves a good vocalist.

 

yeah i wrote it as a disco tune. always love those black women(dont wanna offend anyone, but let's be honest, those are the best voices around imho) soul voices. I made this track as some sort of 'bed' where such a voice must become the main part. you guys know sites where you can collab and to find something like that? Or do labels take this job connecting?

And for the human feel, which parts you mean? the drums as a whole? The kick i have it simply on the beat, not adjusted or ofsetted them. Same with the velocity. SHould i play with it and on the other elements? Maybe that does a good job.

The piano need work regarding repetition and variation or as a tone?

@kungfu, yeah i wanted to make a disco record, but cant really tell if i succedeed. Since you mentioned i guess i kinda did.

 

yeah i wrote it as a disco tune. always love those black women(dont wanna offend anyone, but let's be honest, those are the best voices around imho) soul voices. I made this track as some sort of 'bed' where such a voice must become the main part. you guys know sites where you can collab and to find something like that? Or do labels take this job connecting?
'

And for the human feel, which parts you mean? the drums as a whole? The kick i have it simply on the beat, not adjusted or ofsetted them. Same with the velocity. SHould i play with it and on the other elements? Maybe that does a good job.

The piano need work regarding repetition and variation or as a tone?

@kungfu, yeah i wanted to make a disco record, but cant really tell if i succedeed. Since you mentioned i guess i kinda did.

 

You got to work a bit on your quoting skills, huh?

 

strings and brass feel sterile, other than that well done.

what I've found really handful is to open multitracks of artists like chic, cerrone etc. and match to their mixing to own

 

The tone of the piano in my opinion, add a small strumming offset to each piano chord, and adjust the velocities, as well as change the piano library itself to something a bit more elegant. For the drums i was mainly talking about the congoes and the hats, basically humanize the midi so everything isnt to the grid so much. Also playing with a small reverb send on the congos and a bit of saturation will bring it to life in the mix

 

i like it...........

 

Great track! Well done!

 

Not Bad, like it, but as other have said it needs work.

 

Last edited: Sep 1, 2019

Good vibe, I enjoyed it, piano a bit rigid as are other elements, bottom end needs more character and definition. Otherwise a nice tune.

 

cool. not very original , it feels like i've heard it already. but cool. i eat the same porridge everyday and i still like it.

 

@satchmo official Nice track! I am digging it. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. I love disco, so tracks like this one always find their way into my head. One thing that no one has mentioned, the vinyl crackling sound. It sits too high in the mix. Back in the day, we did not play records that had that much noise unless the record was special. In fact, I can still recall after almost 40 years 2 of those records: Manu Dibango's Soul Makusa and Love Unlimited Orchestra's My Sweet Summer Suite. Those 2 were so hard to find that we use acetate test pressings copies that deteriorated rather quickly. The same goes for the Tamborine, which should not be as loud, and would help the song to move forward if it was playing a 1/8 or 1/ 16 note pattern in certain sections of the song. Finally, where is Nile Rodgers at?

 

Wow guys, i love all your specific feedback. really thankfull already. This forum is great.

Haha srry, i am new, trying to get the hang of it

Are there communities where those can be found or traded? Those youtube rips won't seal the deal obviously. Or can you recommend me reddit or whatever? Love to dive in some proper stems to find some thing out.

@The Pirate you mean more guitar? haha i cant play it. Am quite the beginner in the whole music production. Wil work on the crackle. Love the fact you are all so educated here, love the anecdote haha. Gonna try to add the tambourine that way(doubted it would make things to busy, so thats why i intentionally didn't do it).

 

Last edited: Sep 1, 2019

You did a very good job.

Automation is your best friend. Remember less is more. Lower the tambourine's overall volume. In the chorus, you can mute it or you can have it playing a 1/16 note pattern sitting way back in the mix ( e.g. it is there but you can't hear it) while bringing the open hats up a notch.

 

(BTW, I comment without reading previous comments)

Well I was a disco DJ in the 70s and 80s and I remember this genre very well.
I'm not sure what your intention is, but if it's to re-create that sound you're very nearly there. The music of that time grew out of a previous muisc, and I suppose all music is progressive in that it always does that. Disco music came in various flavours, one that grew out of Jazz, the type where you hear lots of horns and Funky guitars, then there was the electronic, the Soul-inspired and people forget that even Pop was considered danceable Disco music. ABBA was disco music, any popular song from the Top 40 that had a beat actually. So in discos you would hear a huge variety of music that people danced to. You're going for the Jazz-Funk type of Disco - people should kow that this is only one of many genres that was disco music, but it became the music of 'clubs' because this music was also available in 12" extended DJ or club versions for mixing.
You're 'nearly' there because you're not following the 'rules' of that music genre. Yes you try to include a 'middle 8' but it doesn't do its job, it's very deep in the mix, sounds very shy. Something needs to stand out from the mix, the horns or a guitar riff or the vocals. Your mix is so tight that nothing in it excites me, it all just plays along, on and on and on like background music which isn't getting my attention. The right elements are all there but the mix is not authentic-sounding yet. At that time people were excited by a guitar riff or vocals that made the track a great track. Listen to Jamiroquai. He tries to do something similar and succeeds, listen to him and try to hear what it is in his songs, even just muiscally, what makes them sound so good. Also listen to the music of Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards (Chic). And one final word about the crackles that people think adds autheticity. It doesn't. I would be seen dead playing any record that had lots of crackles, I'd buy another copy. You would hear very few crackles, it is just not true that records of that time sounded with lots of crackling. It is not a particularly good characterisation of 70s and 80s music to have it sounding with lots of crackles. Yes, when they were very worn that had crackels, and because the old, worn records some DJs are finding in old 'crates' are old and worn they have crackles, but people threw them away at that stage.
Best of luck, very good so far.

 

Last edited: Sep 1, 2019

Hey bro you need to read previous comments so you won't be repeating what I said about those crackles.

 

very nice track.
I can feel it!
nice mix too.
thanks for sharing!!