Facepunch Production Critique and Feedback Thread! - General

So we've got a what are you working on sort of deal set up already, but I wanted to make a thread where people can post to actually receive good feedback and critique on songs they are working on. The way this thread works is that you critique the song posted before you and then post the song you're looking for feedback on. Try to be specific and thoughtful with your comments, don't just say shit like "I like this song" because that isn't helpful at all and is completely against the goal of this thread. Oh, and you don't have to post a song to post critique! Feel free to give people feedback without posting your own tunes if you want to. Here's a song I started working on yesterday. I will also give feedback on the first track posted after mine to help get the ball rolling. [media]http://soundcloud.com/sonis/march[/media]

[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;28639091] [media]http://soundcloud.com/sonis/march[/media][/QUOTE] Good strong bass and beat. Can't really find anything at flaw with the mastering. The tune itself is a little bit repetitive though it's alrite. Maybe it could do with a break somewhere in there. [media]http://soundcloud.com/kilvert/fresh-beta-31-1-11[/media] I'd really appreciate feedback on this, I've been working on it a while. The mastering is my main concern, but I dont know what to do with it technically. The singing needed a lot of re-tuning and wasnt the best quality, which is why its caked in reverb.

I think the first thing I've actually finished. But I have no idea how to master. [media]http://soundcloud.com/thescannerdarkly/fake-space[/media]

Ignore people who don't give feedback, like the person above me. [QUOTE=cyanidem;28639406]Good strong bass and beat. Can't really find anything at flaw with the mastering. The tune itself is a little bit repetitive though it's alrite. Maybe it could do with a break somewhere in there. [URL="http://www.facepunch.com/"]Listen to Soundcloud recording[/URL] [URL]http://soundcloud.com/kilvert/fresh-beta-31-1-11[/URL] I'd really appreciate feedback on this, I've been working on it a while. The mastering is my main concern, but I dont know what to do with it technically. The singing needed a lot of re-tuning and wasnt the best quality, which is why its caked in reverb.[/QUOTE] The leads in the chords are done pretty well. The electric guitar is placed too far back, it needs to be in front. It could be your eq'ing, but it is hard to focus on. A harmonic on the guitar about 2:48 way a bit too shrill. The guitar is really hard to focus on, and I'd work on getting is really clear. The vocals really don't seem to have a place and are difficult to isolate. I'm hearing too much reverb at around 4:00. I don't like the muffled sound of the drums at 4:30, it doesn't sound like it belongs. Overall I really like it, my main criticism is that there is a lack in clarity and crispness and too much reverb. The music is done really well, sounds really unique. --- Plan on redoing the vocals with a real melody and fixing up some lead stuff. The chorus is going to remain pretty much the same, and most of the lead is going to be similar.[U] [U] [media]http://soundcloud.com/pepin/smarked-wip[/media][/U] [/U]

[QUOTE=cyanidem;28639406]Good strong bass and beat. Can't really find anything at flaw with the mastering. The tune itself is a little bit repetitive though it's alrite. Maybe it could do with a break somewhere in there. [media]http://soundcloud.com/kilvert/fresh-beta-31-1-11[/media] I'd really appreciate feedback on this, I've been working on it a while. The mastering is my main concern, but I dont know what to do with it technically. The singing needed a lot of re-tuning and wasnt the best quality, which is why its caked in reverb.[/QUOTE] Sorry about that before. I really like this, it gets great at 1:10, and 1:40. The vocals from what I can tell are nice, it might just be me but I they seem too quiet in comparison to the music. Might be on purpose but I have trouble hearing them at all. Overall really nice though.

[QUOTE=Pepin;28643074]Ignore people who don't give feedback, like the person above me. The leads in the chords are done pretty well. The electric guitar is placed too far back, it needs to be in front. It could be your eq'ing, but it is hard to focus on. A harmonic on the guitar about 2:48 way a bit too shrill. The guitar is really hard to focus on, and I'd work on getting is really clear. The vocals really don't seem to have a place and are difficult to isolate. I'm hearing too much reverb at around 4:00. I don't like the muffled sound of the drums at 4:30, it doesn't sound like it belongs. Overall I really like it, my main criticism is that there is a lack in clarity and crispness and too much reverb. The music is done really well, sounds really unique. --- Plan on redoing the vocals with a real melody and fixing up some lead stuff. The chorus is going to remain pretty much the same, and most of the lead is going to be similar.[U] [U] [media]http://soundcloud.com/pepin/smarked-wip[/media][/U] [/U][/QUOTE] The melodic electric guitar doesn't stand out in the mix that well. I can't really hear the vocals that well either, maybe compress them a little. Other than that it sounds really good.

[QUOTE=cyanidem;28639406]Good strong bass and beat. Can't really find anything at flaw with the mastering. The tune itself is a little bit repetitive though it's alrite. Maybe it could do with a break somewhere in there[/QUOTE] That one is right off Maschine so it's just a sketch right now, haven't done any work on arrangement or anything yet. The way I work is by putting together a bunch of patterns and gathering my sounds on Maschine, and after I lay down a sketch like the one above I take things over to Cubase and work on the arrangement and transitions and polishing the production off and all that. [QUOTE=cyanidem;28639406][media]http://soundcloud.com/kilvert/fresh-beta-31-1-11[/media] I'd really appreciate feedback on this, I've been working on it a while. The mastering is my main concern, but I dont know what to do with it technically. The singing needed a lot of re-tuning and wasnt the best quality, which is why its caked in reverb.[/QUOTE] Mix actually isn't bad, I really like the feeling in the intro too, sounds nice and full. I think the main issue is just how the vocals are mixed, they need a bit less reverb and a bit of EQ so they've got more presence, poke around a little in the 2KHz-10KHz area and find the sweet spot to boost those vocals presence a bit (just thinking a couple dB boost in the highs). If you want to keep heavy reverb on them too I would suggest setting the reverb up on a send (if it's not already) and sidechaining that to the vocal channel so that the verb is ducked down when the vocals are going. [editline]17th March 2011[/editline] Panning some stuff a little more might help free some space up in the mix too.

Sorry KmartSqrl, but you basically made a thread that steals the purpose of the subforum. This thread is pointless, and now I'm gonna have to listen to people saying "This belongs in the critique thread!" :sigh:

[QUOTE=Matix;28663321]Sorry KmartSqrl, but you basically made a thread that steals the purpose of the subforum. This thread is pointless, and now I'm gonna have to listen to people saying "This belongs in the critique thread!" :sigh:[/QUOTE] Well I feel like that this thread could be for WIPs, and then the normal thread posting could be for 'completed' tracks.

[QUOTE=Matix;28663321]Sorry KmartSqrl, but you basically made a thread that steals the purpose of the subforum. This thread is pointless, and now I'm gonna have to listen to people saying "This belongs in the critique thread!"[/QUOTE] You didn't read the OP. Here, I'll bold it for you. [QUOTE=KmartSqrl;28639091]So we've got a [B]what are you working[/B] on sort of deal set up already, but I wanted to make a thread where people can post to actually receive good feedback and critique on songs [B]they are working on[/B].[/quote] It is pretty clear that this thread is for WIP's and not for finished music. The refrence to what is already setup is the "Creative music in progress" thread.

[QUOTE=Matix;28663321]Sorry KmartSqrl, but you basically made a thread that steals the purpose of the subforum. This thread is pointless, and now I'm gonna have to listen to people saying "This belongs in the critique thread!" :sigh:[/QUOTE] The subforum is for discussing music production and songwriting, there's a lot more discussion involved in that than just trading crits. A thread where people trade feedback one for one is a lot more "fair" for people looking to get feedback on tracks than having a forum full of threads which, in my opinion, generally don't get very useful critique. There's no rule that says you can't still post incomplete tracks in the rest of the forum, this just gives people a place to go if they're looking for more in depth criticism.

I've posted a bunch of WIPs and gotten pretty good criticism on each. It's been a nice system, and I've seen no need for something like this yet. Maybe your experience has been different.

[QUOTE=Pepin;28643074]Ignore people who don't give feedback, like the person above me. The leads in the chords are done pretty well. The electric guitar is placed too far back, it needs to be in front. It could be your eq'ing, but it is hard to focus on. A harmonic on the guitar about 2:48 way a bit too shrill. The guitar is really hard to focus on, and I'd work on getting is really clear. The vocals really don't seem to have a place and are difficult to isolate. I'm hearing too much reverb at around 4:00. I don't like the muffled sound of the drums at 4:30, it doesn't sound like it belongs. Overall I really like it, my main criticism is that there is a lack in clarity and crispness and too much reverb. The music is done really well, sounds really unique. --- Plan on redoing the vocals with a real melody and fixing up some lead stuff. The chorus is going to remain pretty much the same, and most of the lead is going to be similar.[U] [U] [media]http://soundcloud.com/pepin/smarked-wip[/media][/U] [/U][/QUOTE] Maybe you could do something about the compression more. For the vocals, make it louder. [editline]18th March 2011[/editline] Anyways, I'd like to get some feedback on this track I made. [media]http://soundcloud.com/coeurdamour/true-sweet[/media]

[QUOTE=cyanidem;28639406]Good strong bass and beat. Can't really find anything at flaw with the mastering. [b]The tune itself is a little bit repetitive though it's alrite. Maybe it could do with a break somewhere in there.[/b] [media]http://soundcloud.com/kilvert/fresh-beta-31-1-11[/media] I'd really appreciate feedback on this, I've been working on it a while. The mastering is my main concern, but I dont know what to do with it technically. The singing needed a lot of re-tuning and wasnt the best quality, which is why its caked in reverb.[/QUOTE] Nah I like the repetitiveness of it, I would download it. I like the beginning of it, feels like your smoothly sinking into it instead of what I see in some other tracks where its quiet for like 15 seconds and the song just appears out of nowhere and knocks you out(whatever the fuck that means?) Anyways 4:20-4:53 is my favorite part 5/5 from me. (Quick question: can you teach me how to do that kind of ending to my songs? Like how the volume decreases until the end) My track [media]http://soundcloud.com/faceclef/seven-ways[/media]

[QUOTE=Deweze;28675818]Nah I like the repetitiveness of it, I would download it. I like the beginning of it, feels like your smoothly sinking into it instead of what I see in some other tracks where its quiet for like 15 seconds and the song just appears out of nowhere and knocks you out(whatever the fuck that means?) Anyways 4:20-4:53 is my favorite part 5/5 from me. (Quick question: can you teach me how to do that kind of ending to my songs? Like how the volume decreases until the end) My track [media]http://soundcloud.com/faceclef/seven-ways[/media][/QUOTE] Slide the master volume to 0. Perhaps, 8 bars.

[QUOTE=Deweze;28675818]Anyways 4:20-4:53 is my favorite part 5/5 from me. (Quick question: can you teach me how to do that kind of ending to my songs? Like how the volume decreases until the end)[/QUOTE] That is usually done at the mastering stage although you can do it when you're mixing. Just automate the master bus. If you don't want to do that, you just just do it in audacity after you export the song. [QUOTE=tomatmann;28675889]Slide the master volume to 0. Perhaps, 8 bars.[/QUOTE] That is increasing the volume because 0db is as loud as you can get in digital. I know what you're saying, I'm just nitpicking.

[media]http://soundcloud.com/patjoswe/brostep-preview[/media] Some brostep I'm working on.

[QUOTE=Patjo_sweden;28817053][media]http://soundcloud.com/patjoswe/brostep-preview[/media] Some brostep I'm working on.[/QUOTE] Building is crazy awesome, dropoff at :28 had me all like "waohhh dawggG" Although at :33 some of your wubwub get's a little odd but it's like two hits, everything else is sweet.

Can this thread also be used to ask production related questions? Even if we don't have anything to show.

[QUOTE=AshMan55;28907159]Can this thread also be used to ask production related questions? Even if we don't have anything to show.[/QUOTE] Well, we'd probably need a thread for that anyway, so why not?