I mostly write rock oriented songs, but decided to try something different and try a "dub lite" route. Since I haven't done very many mostly synths mixes, I'm wondering how this sounds and if anyone has any suggestions to make it better.
Everything's me with much use of U-he free synths and Audiothing's Outer Space.

https://app.box.com/s/3ojdpdjyzp5a86dv5o1g31cnsayjsvaw

Here's the raw stems...well mostly. A couple of sections the dub verb is burned in on my vocal, but there's still no eq, comp, etc on the actual stem. They're wavs, but I included aiff for the Mac'rs. If someone gets them, please let me know if all went ok.
WAV:

AIFF:

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2018

Now make the beat and bass more fuller/fatter, the drums and bass are thin for dub sound, other than that top notch dub sound

 

Perfect Legotron. On it...

 

I would use a more round-sounding bass (often named round or wood bass in presets), yours sound too distorted.

 

Good old reason 2 subtractive synth preset subbass could also work for layering

 

Thanks man. I purposely made it distorted, but if it ain't working, I'll give something smoother a try--or just less distort what I have.

 

I'd like to see this track finished in a Dystopian-like Soundtrack.

 

This is nice! Agree with the make bass fatter suggestion...

 

Nice track! This has an epic Massive Attack vibe to me. The music and vocals are really awesome but I agree with others about the mix. If you can get the proper mix and master work done I would think this would be a solid demo track for you. Btw I would also add my name into the title text on your song file before you upload to box.com so we can know who wrote this cool thing

 

Like the song! My first thought was the same: turn up the base & drum, but the advantage of the way it sounds right now is there’s lots of ‘space’ for the beautiful vocal. Don’t change that, keep the track ‘open’.. I would put in a little more variation, maybe use the guitar and percussion thingys as a break more often?

 

love It! just less distort, dubbed with sub bass?

 

Good once the vocals kick in. The track works nicely, needs more production but I've heard releases that sound similar. I'd add a solo either guitar or synth lead in there for variation and a few fills with some classic dub echo effects throughout and on the intro. The bass sound makes it more modern, I don't mind it but needs a tweak to make it sit better, also needs better hi-hat pattern.

 

Gonna upload the raw stems to Google Drive later today. Wanna give the dystopian version a try? I'd LOVE to hear it!

 

Thanks beatmagnus, great idea. I'll prob start doing that from now on.
As above, I'll update the OP with a link to the raw stems, so have at if you'd like. ...And give me a copy!

 

This is a learning thing for me. I think I'm pretty good at writing and mixing most genres, but the electronic route is fairly new for me. I think it takes a different arrangement/mixing mindset that goes beyond my "safe" style. But I'm listening and absorbing. Thanks a lot man.

 

I was going for minimalistic, but that's partially from trying this style for the first time and not really knowing how to go about it. I used AD2 for the drums, but I think I deleted the midi after rendering to wav, so I'm stuck with the patterns unless I start all over. I'll check to make sure I don't have the midi. If I do find it, I'll include it in the Stems that I'll upload later.
Feel free to take a crack. Wanna hear it.
EDIT: I actually did save the midi. I'll include it with the stems.

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2018

I was fearing the worse....the usual cobbled together loops that most people think is being creative...... but it seems you write and understand music! Ignore advice especially mine by the way. Make it sound the way YOU like. Bollocks to genres...you may well have just invented one if the current trend is still prevalent.
Sounds good....do your own thing .....plough your own furrow

 

That's just it Tvandlover, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted. That's why I wanted to post to see what others thought could make it better, I've already learned a thing or two from the replies.
A friend sent me the bass line idea, and as simple as it was, I thought I could write an entire song around it. It started out on an acoustic guitar, then I said "no, this ain't working." So I pulled out my ancient history, antique Oxy8 keyboard, cleaned off the dust, and started mucking around with the u-he synths. I started thinking "Eno", and started to get spacey. Threw on Outer Space and it was all over. haha!
And thanks for the props. It's early morning here in Georgia and that was a most-positive way to start out the day.

 

Files uploaded in OP. wav (top) and aiff (below). Hope they download ok.

 

Quickie, no drums
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iUtle1aUjdjOZDBh_-Gj_wg2r5tONTlo