Static Progression (w/ Vocal) (Press button to listen
Static Progression (no vocal) (Press button to listen)
Two versions up, first with a vocal and second without a vocal (if anyone has ideas on what vocal to actually use, please let me know; looking for something short and sexy). I’m feeling pretty good about this version, and have gotten some good feedback. Probably the best produced song I’ve made so far (given that production is relatively easy for this thing; composition, on the other hand, not so easy). Anyways, hopefully enjoy!
Hello grasshopper!! nice track… has a lot of different things going on. and the voice is cool….. but I am not sure about the lyric?
might just be me… but, usuallly ” make me sweat ” ” this is night ” ” hold me in your arms ” ” what a feeling ” are good picks… then there is the other side of ” she died of an overdose ” ” we stand at the end of time ” ” there is nothing left of humanity ”
just something to think about….
nice first track Smile
Left by Joel on October 1st, 2007
From: Jazzyspoon
To: racemize
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:55 pm
Subject: Re: adding lyric to song Quote message
First, I wouldn’t have done this if i didn’t like th track and thought it had great potential.
Second,
it will need some serious editing and arranging, but you can drop this vocal onto your track from the zero mark and get ’some’ results. Enjoy, and if you don’t use this let me know, cuz I got a lot of people who are asking this kind of thing from me….
peace
Jazzy
http://jazzyspoon.com/JAZZYSPOON/JAZZYSPOON%20REMIX%20FILES/vocals%201 20bpm.zip
24 bit 44100mhz
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
i used to like dance and electronica music… but you ruined it for me forever.
Ok maybe that was harsh, but it sounds like it would be background static for something, not really a song on its own.
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
as dance tracks they’re OK. Drums are a little static pattern-wise, so maybe some
more rhythmic ideas might help there.
Cheers
Phil
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
race, the new links are great. This isn’t my thing, but it sounds like you have a good start on it. To me, it needs more variation, like Phil, I suggest you work the beat. I’d say for the first time out, this is going well.
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
what did you pm him? i want to hear. full lyrics or 1 line? dance song lyrics are so cheesy they can be anything, you just need a little more than ” jonathan is a douche bag ” which is the current lyric, can’t remember listened hours ago…
I was just think… ” so I went home with a drag queen ” that could be your one line… in that guys voice it would sound cool, especially if you pitched it up
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
Bass could be a bit more prominent, it sounds a bit quiet, but your kicks are nice and weighty. :thumbsup:
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
OK I just listened to most of the track. Here’s what I would do. Cut that little intro section out, but put the melody aside to use in a different part of it.
Start the song with just heavy hitting bass with that funky little melody you have going once the dance part of the song actually starts. Have it build up the same way you have it pretty much, but then right before it gets to that little break down where the static comes in, before that, just drop the percussion and let that melody play out and make it blend into the static shit that you have in there.
As soon as the static builds up to destructive levels, then bring in that breakbeat pattern without any melody, but add some hi-hats or something. Download some “Plump DJs” or “DJ Icey” songs to get an idea of what I mean. Cowbells work too. One thing though, during this breakbeat pattern, add a flanger effect to it or something. Let it go for about 64 beats, then start slowing it down. Slower and slower and slower until its dead, then you go four beats with a hi-hat and get right back into the original four-to-the-floor pattern.
Thats what I would do anyway.
If you’re making a dance song, you usually don’t start with a breaks pattern, but it can be used as a nice middle break to mess with people. It has to be raunchy as fuck though.
-Cigga-Weed
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
Your transitions are getting better! It sounds good!
Remember, it’s like a painting…keep adding paint
until you get the right color. I think I will have to
make the table purchase around Christmas. I will let
you know.
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
well, whatever that is, i think it’s a good example of it.
so, is jonathan really a douchebag?
signed,
grumpy archaic musician
Left by Joel on October 2nd, 2007
First observation: your kick drum is clipping. It’s up so loud that it’s maxing out, distorting very audibly and preventing the rest of the track from coming through for a moment. If you have a decibel meter in your music package, it’s probably going into the red. If you look at the waveform in an audio editor you’ll see flat peaks across the top and bottom of the kicks, like someone cut it off with a ruler. I know you want it to sound loud, but there’s better ways than hard digital clipping. First, try to produce a clean, undistorted signal that never goes over (and sounds great when you turn your speakers up a bit). Then look into applying compression and soft clipping on top of that to bring up the volume - you’ll get a cleaner result.
Okay. Favourites: I really like the section from 2:24 - 3:01 and the cut at the end of it. It starts off strong, builds and evolves gently towards a climax and then breaks out in style - it’s got a strategy and it never leaves people hanging. Nice. If you haven’t already, see if you can dig up a copy of Daft Punk’s CD “Homework” - this part reminded me very strongly of that vibe.
The structural sensibility in that section’s missing elsewhere. Large sections of the track don’t seem to be heading in any particular direction.
Try to think about the energy the track has. A simple long term strategy is very important in a dance track. Think of a wave building and crashing over the course of two to five minutes. That’s the general, repeating pattern of dance music, from progressive house like this to drum and bass, and once you start listening for it you’ll hear it everywhere. Try graphing the energy/intensity of your track over time; it should rise and fall steadily, jumping up or down at most once or twice every few minutes. If it skips up and down faster than this, like the drums cutting in and out during 0:38 - 1:38, you’re going to lose the listener.
When major, instantaneous changes to the texture of the track happen - like a new drum part cutting in, or something cutting out - they should happen on multiples of 8 or 16 bars. You must know the importance of powers of two in music: quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes… etc. That extends the other way, too. Try to build your track in sections that are powers-of-2 bars long, like 8, 16 or 32. Don’t make big sudden changes to the track except when changing from one block to the next; those are the natural points when people will subconciously expect something to happen, and between those points dance music in particular relies on a very steady, predictable, danceable beat.
Often people mark these transition points as well to keep the listener in sync and add some interest: quick drum riffs happen before them to say “something’s about to happen”, or there’s a cymbal crash on them, or similar. The main thing, however, is just to stick to those numbers. The 3:01 - 3:20 build is nice, but it’s 9 bars long. That’s going to throw people off. Try cutting it back to 8 bars instead and see if it doesn’t flow a little better
You’ve got some decent sounds here. You’re weakest on structure, I think, but that’s entirely understandable. Dance works by slightly different rules than most music but the fundamentals are the same, just on a more long-term scale.
You might find it helpful to analyse and copy the structure of a track you like in the same style by a major artist. Try to work out when and how the energy builds up and falls away over the course of the track and then recreate that general surge and release, bar by bar, in a track of your own. Getting a feel for this sort of thing will help in anything you do in any genre - it’s certainly not dance specific, though dance certainly emphasises it.
Sorry for writing an essay on you! I hope you find this helpful, and hopefully not too mean or anything. I’m certainly no guru - I’m still very much learning this stuff myself. The stuff above is just some of the rules of thumb I’ve found that work for me - maybe you can tell me why I’m wrong
Left by Joel on October 18th, 2007