Care to give me some feedback or comments?

[hhuang9611]

Hi guys,

After producing craps for 9 months, I finally made something that I feel like...well, not so crappy. But certainly there is a lot of room for improvement.
It is (at least supposed to be) a uplifting trance track
https://soundcloud.com/ray_d8/argonradio-edit

BTW, I call it Radio Edit simply because I was too lazy to polish my intro so I only used the tail of the intro and fade the track directly to the first scene. Based on my listening experience, this seems to be the case for Radio Edit tracks.

Feel free to comment, or criticize if you will. (But maybe please try not to be so harsh on me, because I have only got into production for 9 months. However, don't let me stop you from giving useful suggestions )

Thanks in advance for all the replies!

[wagtunes]

My Feedback

Music - 8.5
Instruments - 9.5
Performance - 10
Mix - 9

Overall - 9.25

Comments: I am actually working on my first serious Trance track so I'm probably not going to be the most critical here. Mix sounds clean to me. No mud that I can hear. Track is actually more interesting than a lot of the Trance that I've been hearing that seems to be a 7 second loop repeated for 7 minutes. Anyway, nothing sticks out as being wrong to me. But like I said, I'm new to this genre so take my comments with a grain of salt. All in all, I like it.

[layzer]

agree with wags, mix was good.. but i didnt hear anything that sets it apart from all the other millions of trance tracks that use the same 4 on the floor beat with rolling fills, generic trance sounds, stabs and riffs.

[wagtunes]

agree with wags, mix was good.. but i didnt hear anything that sets it apart from all the other millions of trance tracks that use the same 4 on the floor beat with rolling fills, generic trance sounds, stabs and riffs.

Wait until you hear mine Layzer. WagsTrance. LMAO

It's definitely out there.

[ATS]

I think your on your way to becoming a great artist. I sort of agree with Layzer that nothing really separates it from the huge sea of similar tracks. Mix sounds really nice, so you got good skills for that! I really like trance a lot so I still enjoyed it even though it is samey. It would fit right in at a dance club.

[layzer]

agree with wags, mix was good.. but i didnt hear anything that sets it apart from all the other millions of trance tracks that use the same 4 on the floor beat with rolling fills, generic trance sounds, stabs and riffs.

Wait until you hear mine Layzer. WagsTrance. LMAO

It's definitely out there.

well, just remember to use rubber duckie squeeks instead of a 909 snare for the rolling fills to make it interesting!!

[hhuang9611]

My Feedback

Music - 8.5
Instruments - 9.5
Performance - 10
Mix - 9

Overall - 9.25

Comments: I am actually working on my first serious Trance track so I'm probably not going to be the most critical here. Mix sounds clean to me. No mud that I can hear. Track is actually more interesting than a lot of the Trance that I've been hearing that seems to be a 7 second loop repeated for 7 minutes. Anyway, nothing sticks out as being wrong to me. But like I said, I'm new to this genre so take my comments with a grain of salt. All in all, I like it.

Thanks wag! I am looking forward to hearing your trance track as well!

agree with wags, mix was good.. but i didnt hear anything that sets it apart from all the other millions of trance tracks that use the same 4 on the floor beat with rolling fills, generic trance sounds, stabs and riffs.

Thanks! I totally accept the fact that my track does not stand out. I feel like I am still on the early stage, so being just about average is enough to me for now

I think your on your way to becoming a great artist. I sort of agree with Layzer that nothing really separates it from the huge sea of similar tracks. Mix sounds really nice, so you got good skills for that! I really like trance a lot so I still enjoyed it even though it is samey. It would fit right in at a dance club.

Thanks a lot! I am really happy to know that you can enjoy it!

Thank you very much guys! I really appreciate all your comments and I am glad to know that this track isn't so bad. And I am totally cool with the fact that nothing really separates my track from others', because I know that I am still on my early stage. I think if I would like to stand out, I first need to stand among them, and I am so glad I am on my way there!
Another thing gets me excited is that I actually didn't have a dedicated mixing stage, all the mixing is done along the way while I was composing and arranging. As for mastering, I just put an eq, a multi-band compressor as well as a limiter and called it done. So I am so glad to know that you guys feel the mix is good! (Maybe I will consider being a mixing engineer as well )
Thanks again guys! Your comments mean a lot to me!

[ATS]

don't go so crazy with the limiter if you can live with your track being a little quieter than others. When volume matched it will almost always sound better not maximized so much.

[layzer]

don't go so crazy with the limiter if you can live with your track being a little quieter than others. When volume matched it will almost always sound better not maximized so much.

haaa! surprised i didn't say anything about the compression on the track?
i figured i nit picked his composition and couldn't bash him further with
the mastering too.

[recursive one]

Nice one! I used to love this kind of trance.

I can agree that it is made stirctly in line with the genre standards but I understand that this was the intended goal. The main melody/chord progression is great, the track has the right vibe and the production is not so bad. I'd love to hear a full version with proper intro and outro though.

The only thing which sounded really wrong to me was the kick, imo it seriously lacks power and punch. Other than that, really good for the first effort and with some polishing could be really good as such. Liked and followed

[hhuang9611]

don't go so crazy with the limiter if you can live with your track being a little quieter than others. When volume matched it will almost always sound better not maximized so much.

haaa! surprised i didn't say anything about the compression on the track?
i figured i nit picked his composition and couldn't bash him further with
the mastering too.

Thanks guys, I will keep that in my mind and pay some more attention to compression next time.

Nice one! I used to love this kind of trance.

I can agree that it is made stirctly in line with the genre standards but I understand that this was the intended goal. The main melody/chord progression is great, the track has the right vibe and the production is not so bad. I'd love to hear a full version with proper intro and outro though.

The only thing which sounded really wrong to me was the kick, imo it seriously lacks power and punch. Other than that, really good for the first effort and with some polishing could be really good as such. Liked and followed

Thank you very much for the comment! As for the full version, well, I think I might be taking a break from this track for a while, since I have worked on it for some time, but the full version will definitely happen in the future.
And for the kick, well, I actually designed it to be less punchy, because from some uplifting tracks I had listened before making this one, they all have this kind of kick. A sharp transient but quickly decays, more like a low end filler and a tempo keeper. But now that you mentioned it, I do feel like a more powerful and punchy kick can help with this track. I will take it into consideration when I make the full version in the future. Thanks!

[recursive one]

And for the kick, well, I actually designed it to be less punchy, because from some uplifting tracks I had listened before making this one, they all have this kind of kick. A sharp transient but quickly decays, more like a low end filler and a tempo keeper. But now that you mentioned it, I do feel like a more powerful and punchy kick can help with this track. I will take it into consideration when I make the full version in the future. Thanks!

When I was listening to uplifting trance most of the tracks had really punchy kicks, something like that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-gJGQZLbQw

I don't know if the trends have changed now, I didn't listen to mainstream trance much in the last few years. Anwyay when I listened to your track I thought that it would sould better as such (more groovy/danceable) with bigger/punchier kick. But it's just my opinion

[hhuang9611]

Anwyay when I listened to your track I thought that it would sould better as such (more groovy/danceable) with bigger/punchier kick. But it's just my opinion

And you are absolutely right! I just got some feedback from others and they also think that the track can certainly benefit from more punchy kick. I guess I started with this kick and maybe it worked at first place but as I built the track, the kick did not work so well any more and I just ignored it. When I come back to this track later, I will definitely spend some time on the kick.

[ATS]

I think this track is worth continuing on with. Also not limiting so much with make the kick better too.

[hhuang9611]

I think this track is worth continuing on with. Also not limiting so much with make the kick better too.

Definitely! I am just kind of tired right now, you know, like working on a project for a while and feeling like I need to back out a little bit. I think I will just work on something else for a short period of time and then come back to this. Maybe with a fresh pair of ears, I can make it much better!