Requesting feedback for dubstep library tracks

[jessecarrigan]

Hey all, I posted here about some feedback I got from the music library that contacted me about my dubstep track; they didn't love the ones I sent over. I'm aiming to get more in the ballpark of what they want. Here are the reference tracks from the listing:

Knife Party - Centipede
Kill the Noise - Rockers
Skrillex - Bangarang

Here's my Taxi submission, which they were way into: The Underminer

Here's my latest attempt: Feeding Frenzy

In the ballpark? Foul ball? What do you think?

[jessecarrigan]

Ugh. Copy and paste error. Thanks Graham.

Fixed: Feeding Frenzy

[andygabrys]

it seems as though the refs and the track or yours that got through are a little more weighty on the kick.

Your latest attempt lacks the punch on the kick and snare.

2 cents FWIW.

[jessecarrigan]

it seems as though the refs and the track or yours that got through are a little more weighty on the kick.

Your latest attempt lacks the punch on the kick and snare.

Great observation, thanks. Does the overall feel and sound match, notwithstanding those things?

[andygabrys]

Hard to say. I listened very quickly and hat was the biggest thing that stood out.

Since you did some other ones that didn't make it - compare those against the refs again and to the libraries feedback and see what you come up with.

[jessecarrigan]

Ok. I've been doing that at the suggestion of some other folks and feel much better about these overall, but I'll look at the drums. Thanks a ton for listening to them.

[Cruciform]

+1 to Andy's comment. The kick and snare in your track are too light. The overall vibe seems right.

[jessecarrigan]

Beefed up the drums a bit and it really got going. Thanks for the advice.

[jessecarrigan]

Just wanted to send everyone another thank you; that feedback was spot on and we have a winner. Going to put together some more in that vein and I know what to pay attention to. Thank you all very very much for your help.

[cosmicdolphin]

Hey Jesse

A few things I notice...yeah the drums are weak on the new one,,the kick on " The Underminer " sounds quite subby so it underpins the track. On " Feeding Frenzy " at around 13s I was expecting that same keep kick to come in and it never did...the mix was also a bit grating, maybe too much 5k ? Sounded like something you'd mixed when your ears were tired.

The other thing I was going to mention was I watched a video masterclass by Deadmau5 recently about producing EDM and something I took on board was how long he spent getting the chords and melody parts right with just a basic sound like a piano before fleshing out the full arrangement.

Feeding Frenzy sounds like it's all played on one chord and something I am guilty of myself when making EDM tracks is finding some cool sounds / beat and then just making it up I went along without much thought for a chord structure..an A / B section or melody...trying to stretch it out for 2 minutes basically with no overarching game plan. Which is strange because I write songs too and when I do , I start by trying to write a catchy verse or chorus using chords and melody so why not with EDM.

His point was , once he had about 90 seconds worth of interesting chords and a melody over the top then he was pretty much home and dry...He then took that midi data, copied , pasted , chopped it up , transposed it, split bits of it across various synths and hey presto, with some good production chops out comes a good track. And this guy writes all his music with his mouse ! He didn't "play" anything !!

It's funny because in the old days when all there was were midi sequencers that's how I approached it ..I've tried going back to it on the last couple of tunes I wrote and they certainly have a more musical quality about them and it although it was slower to get started , once I had my main midi sections it was quite quick to find sounds that slotted together. We'll wait to hear what the screeners think but I think it's been a good lesson

Mark