See below for updated version!



Any comments much appreciated. Be it about how entertaining (or not) the track is to production quality/suckiness. I am thankful for every word! Thanks for listening! Work in progress.

 

Last edited: Jan 12, 2023

Woulda been better without that cringy-ass line with horrible accent every 4 bars.
Also perhaps too much subs? They barely leave any space for the kick subs. I'd personally saturate them so there are more upper harmonics and tune down the sub frequencies a bit, emphasizing kick subs instead. Would groove and pump better instead of feeling like construction works rumble.

 

Thanks for the advice! Yeah, it's rumbling quite a bit...But i find the XTC sample sexy. Mmmhh.

 

The bass should be slighty better now:

 

It's actually more overbearing now, but better balanced between itself
You can now bring up the loudness of the high- and mid-frequencies instruments and end up with a louder track overall with better balance.
I didn't say that, but I find the composition enjoyable. I especially like how every bar the subs stop for the last 16th note, to kick in with the first beat of the next bar. Makes it push through quite nicely.

 

Well, i am not too fond of the track myself. Will have to listen to it on mdma...lol

 

That is the wrong kick for minimal house. U need to shave off a few hundred ms to keep it tight. The rim shots are too busy and reptivie, a lot of elements are repetitive, and the kick bottom end is very overpowering. the sounds are okay in the mix, but that kick is not right at all.

 

Ok, thanks! BTW here are the stems you wanted: https://rapidgator.net/file/b6c156f9e5ebefeda31188e4f7049d2c/living_dead_girl_Project.rar.html
But show us what you do with it!

 

Reminds me of me when i started making music. I had no ability to discern the mid and micro details in similar songs and lived with the impression that a house song is just a 4-bar loop repeated for 10 minutes. There's really no feedback to give at this point. You (as I did in the past) basically miss like 50% of the details in similar songs in the genre (in terms of energy management throught the song, tension buildup and release, microfills and so on) and the only way to overcome this and get better at picking up details is both de-composing and also making music.

Don't get me wrong, when I say tension buildup and release I don't expect to hear bigroom epic risers or the likes. I'm expecting tiny interventions like temporarily removing elements, filters, change in accents, fx throws. Even the most boring and static style out there is absolutely filled with micro changes that can drag a repetitive loop for minutes.

My suggestion is to stop with this one as it is and make many many new ones. Good luck!

 

Well, it is a work in progress...Thanks for the advice though and your time!

 

If you already have a week working on it, then is done. You won't be able to add something that will significantly change it for the better. Trust me on this. Just move on, this is not a material to spend any more time.

 

By the sound of it, this track is influenced by Shit and Shine (this track for reference:

)
Their production noticeably lacks the fillers you've mentioned.
This style of dance music overall is more repetitive and monotonous then mainstream kinds. Tho maybe some background sounds on and off would benefit the track indeed.

I also woundn't listen to the "wrong kick for the genre" guy. This only applies for a very famous samples, like the snare Amen Break for example, and for cultural reasons mostly, due to them being recognizably associated with something else - and even then you can get away with it in many cases. It's not the sample, it's what you do with it. And your kick can be as rumbly as you want as long as it doesn't interfere with the bass and supports the groove.

 

Can you connect my words "temporarily removing elements" and the hihat layers in your own example that appear and dissapear? Not to mention the additional synth layers. That was my whole point: you (and OP) miss 50% of the song and live with the impression that OP and Shit and Shine made the exact same thing

 

You make it seem like it consists of one loop, that's my issue. Granted, it would benefit from some more subtle variety, but first, what you say is not true at a face value (there are two hihat layers, with the more intense one exclusive for the second part of the track, there are multiple middle instruments, the voice sample goes in and out), and second, too much tension-release would compromise the monotonous vibe of the track, which seem to be kinda be the whole point? I can't know for sure, Rudy should say that outright.

 

Tough on the ears without eq.

You might be ready to get some auratones, calib. mic for the room correction because when it get´s cleaned up it get´s groovy.

my 2c

 

When i listen to Ricardo Villalobos tracks on my monitors i get wet, they sound so awesome and pristine. So for me my monitors are good enough. But EQing is definitely one of my weak points. Practice, practice, practice, i guess. Your eq settings definitely helped, thanks!

 

Well, good reasoning, nothing against it.

Do your thing, things will fit in for sure.

Cheers