Dance electronica - How can I improve my drums?

[mazz]

After re-reading these comments, all of the great and appreciated... I am thinking about starting over with this post and question.

By that I mean that with all these suggestions it is obvious that "dance and electronica" is not the proper genre to call this thing.

I agree that drums should do something different but I am also leaning towards this is miscategorized. I think it could work for a commercial if it is for the right genre. So, in it's current state... what would you classify it under?

Or would you just classify it as "recycle" HAHAHAHA

Mike,

This still feels like a demo to me. The drums sound like they use the same fill almost every time they do a fill. This piece feels a bit schizophrenic in the genre department, the drums are rock and the synths sound like 80s synth pop. I think you need to go one direction or the other. If you put a dance beat under it that would improve it but the synth sounds and the chord progression still feel a bit dated. It could work under a corporate training video or something like that, but if I were you I'd aim for higher production quality.

My 2c

Mazz

[Casey H]

PS - A friend of mine gave me a visual one time that helped me "get" what the music is all about. All these people on the dance floor are wide-eyed and totally tweaked out on all kinds of sweat-inducing drugs. They can't focus on much of anything so you have to give them something VERY simple to lock on to. When you lock them in with the beat, if you do anything too sudden or abrupt, you'll lose them and they'll all walk off the dance floor. You have to keep them in a trance, which as a sub-genre of Dance/Electronicia, didn't get it's name for nothing.

Priceless, Dave!
Casey

[Len911]

PS - A friend of mine gave me a visual one time that helped me "get" what the music is all about. All these people on the dance floor are wide-eyed and totally tweaked out on all kinds of sweat-inducing drugs. They can't focus on much of anything so you have to give them something VERY simple to lock on to. When you lock them in with the beat, if you do anything too sudden or abrupt, you'll lose them and they'll all walk off the dance floor. You have to keep them in a trance, which as a sub-genre of Dance/Electronicia, didn't get it's name for nothing.

Priceless, Dave!
Casey

I'm kinda curious what Dave's friend's visual about the sub-genre of country that is entranced with pickups, tractors, beer and cowboy hats!

[mikeymike2000]

OK well I think I am going to shelve this one for a while then.

I like the notes and the melody. Was going to try for a guitar and make it more rock-pop but I am not sure a guitar player could actually play the keyboardist style melody. For the record I titled this wrong, the listings I submitted this to were all along the lines of indy pop. - That does not change things too much, it is still apparently just not good overall.

I guess going outside your comfort zone is not always a good thing. Personally I think the synth sounds are cool and to me they are not dated but what I think is irrelevant. It is what everyone else thinks that matters if I want to get something placed.

What I learned from this is that it is better to focus on one or two genres and only do that over trying to branch out and try to be something I am not. Although I am in the process of taking a stab at adult contemporary with lyrics. See how that goes in a few days...

[RichardCharles]

You might find this video series a good source also. They share quite a bit of information.

Here is the 1st one. Yes it's dubstep, but still I think you can apply quite a bit.


Dodge & Fuski dubstep production tutorial - #1 drums

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C21KZPuft-Y

[Len911]

OK well I think I am going to shelve this one for a while then.

I like the notes and the melody. Was going to try for a guitar and make it more rock-pop but I am not sure a guitar player could actually play the keyboardist style melody. For the record I titled this wrong, the listings I submitted this to were all along the lines of indy pop. - That does not change things too much, it is still apparently just not good overall.

I guess going outside your comfort zone is not always a good thing. Personally I think the synth sounds are cool and to me they are not dated but what I think is irrelevant. It is what everyone else thinks that matters if I want to get something placed.

What I learned from this is that it is better to focus on one or two genres and only do that over trying to branch out and try to be something I am not. Although I am in the process of taking a stab at adult contemporary with lyrics. See how that goes in a few days...

"Look like nothing's gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can't do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I'll remain the same, yes..."
~Otis Redding

Those lyrics popped into my head for some reason as I was reading this. I don't want to interfere with your internal debate, but what I am hearing versus what you wrote in the last paragraph is, "What I learned of others' opinions is that it is better to focus on one or two genres, however I am going to try a few more than that and experiment with adult contemporary." I'm not going to commit either way, I'm thinking, maybe, maybe not. Thinking is good, I think,lol! Advice and opinions can be overwhelming and the difficult part sometimes is making sense of them. Good luck Mike!

[mikeymike2000]

Rich:

Thanks for the link, sounds like they are good drum programmers! I am going to have to watch it again to really get what they were talking about.

Len:

I truly appreciate what you are saying and the way in which you are saying it.

It's kinda like this: no matter if it's me or any other Taxi member, when we post anywhere on this board asking for others' opinions what we are really asking is not so much "is this good enough" or "am I good enough" or "is my mixing etc good enough"... what we are really asking is "Tell me what is wrong with this".

Then after people speak, sometimes we agree sometimes we get upset but hopefully either way we learn.

I think this song is more of a rock or pop song now that I know what dance really is. (before, to me, anything that did not sound like John Williams was 'dance' ) For me to start a genre that would require a new sound library, and another learning curve (AKA needs a lot of work and polishing) would be a waste of my time at the moment cause I am working in other areas that I would consider the path of least resistance.

Usually when comments come in about my stuff there is at least some kind of positive aspect and compliment to the overall composition and structure. In this case it seems that nothing at all was interesting to anyone. Now, that is only opinions of someone else but that is the way this whole Taxi game works. I like the song, I really do but not one person here said they liked the song or much anything about it. That is fine by me, not everyone will like everything I do but compared to the comments from other listings, this is just not my area of specialty so I should not invest my time in this genre.

The title "Screener" alone tells you they will look for every reason not to forward your work along. I am fine with that, I know the odds are stacked against me but I also know I have great music that has and will continue to make it through. Just, in this case it is not the right time for me to devote to learning a new genre.

Stretching out to adult contemporary from classic and orchestral is not nearly as big as a leap as 'trying my hand at dance'. I may as well have said 'while I am at it, I will see if I can be an astronaut'.

[RichardCharles]

Hey,

Glad you liked the link. If you watch the whole series you will see one where they are hung over and one of them is wearing a WWI helmet.


I think if you put copies of the listing you might have more comments on the music.

Like peope said, it doesn't sound like Dance Electronic. To me you music sounds quite a bit like Manheim Steam Rollers (sp) I don't know what genre that is, but to me that is the style/genre this music would be a bullseye for. Whatever their style is called would be a great style for you to work in since you abviously enjoy it.

Drum wise the kik sounds great, the snare sounds fine, the toms are ok, and I didn't like the cymbals really much at all. They sound fake to me which is the opposite of the kit. The bass drum part it self never seemed to find the groove. But that is just me probably. The groove seems just a bit akward and it seems like the bass drum might be worth chaging around.

But yeah it rocks in its own way for sure....and it is a pretty historic drum fill. I could see a College using this music for sure.

[mikeymike2000]

Thanks, Rich.

I am just about to put up a new peer to peer for a different song with the listing so hopefully I will get a good number of feedbacks. I should have posted the listing for this one too.

I am guessing the drums will need some work on that one too... so I am ready for the "beating" JK