Smooth Ambient Electro EDM

[BrainBeatMusic]

Hi everyone this is my new track that I am about to release very soon and would love any final feedback if you can hear anything that feels needs changing before I start distributing it and making it live.
This track is a remade version of a track I made when I was at University with software that unfortunately doesn't seem to work with modern PC software/hardware. It was a project for me to see how well I could replicate a track by ear using a modern DAW, instruments and effects.

If there is interest I will post the original track on my SoundCloud as a comparison.

Also if anyone has a better description of the genre to list it under I would appreciate suggestions.

I look forward to hearing what you think.

https://soundcloud.com/user-783020495/s ... al_sharing

[Medvedium]

It's somewhere in the middle of (chill) breaks and downtempo

Piano and other melo/harm lines are on the side, while piano is the lead - not a good idea imho

Low end lacks bass

Composition lacks finalizing by automations, transitions, fx, earcandies etc

Though musically it's not a bad track, if to add some variations and much more pronounced harmony.

I'd recommend to listen to a lot of references of downtempo and chill (with numerous subgenres like chill-step, chill-hop etc)

[BrainBeatMusic]

It's somewhere in the middle of (chill) breaks and downtempo

Piano and other melo/harm lines are on the side, while piano is the lead - not a good idea imho

Low end lacks bass

Composition lacks finalizing by automations, transitions, fx, earcandies etc

Though musically it's not a bad track, if to add some variations and much more pronounced harmony.

I'd recommend to listen to a lot of references of downtempo and chill (with numerous subgenres like chill-step, chill-hop etc)

Thanks for you suggestions Medvedium. I will for sure look at bass and try boosting it a bit more I never know if the sub in my speaker setup is making the lower frequencies too loud and seem to go for less than more. I do find a too strong bass can easily overpower the rest of a track too.

The genre suggestions I think are extremely fair and I might change or add them to the description here.

As for the other stuff I will see what I can/want to do as the whole point was to try and create a faithful recreation of a track made over 15 years ago which to be fair I have now deviated a decent amount especially with the instruments but it never had any automation or earcandy.

[Medvedium]

I do find a too strong bass can easily overpower the rest of a track too.

You can easily add some more audible bass without actually boosting the low end and giving excessive energy if you don't want to.

Simply try some bass enhancer or bass distortion - additional higher harmonics in the low mid will make any weak bass more audible without boosting it

[Medvedium]

Also there are plugins which can help you to tell whether you have enough bass or not - Izotope Tonal Balance Control and Noisebud Evouyn (free) - I added them here from KVR database

Though the first means in this case is comparing your low end to references

[BrainBeatMusic]

I do find a too strong bass can easily overpower the rest of a track too.

You can easily add some more audible bass without actually boosting the low end and giving excessive energy if you don't want to.

Simply try some bass enhancer or bass distortion - additional higher harmonics in the low mid will make any weak bass more audible without boosting it

Ok I have tried what you suggested and added another swelling bass thing too if you are happy to take another listen?

[Medvedium]

Yes, post it, let's see

[unkow]

I like; it sounds fine to me. My only criticisms are: 1) the string bass sound smothers the rest of the instruments a bit; 2) the tinkly lead starts a bit too late in the track, and the pad chords by themselves were not grabbing my squirrel-like attention span.

And, what's up with the abrupt ending?

[BrainBeatMusic]

I like; it sounds fine to me. My only criticisms are: 1) the string bass sound smothers the rest of the instruments a bit; 2) the tinkly lead starts a bit too late in the track, and the pad chords by themselves were not grabbing my squirrel-like attention span.

And, what's up with the abrupt ending?

Thanks for your feedback unknown seems I must have made the bass too loud now lol but that was an added extra over the last versions so I will turn it down a little. As for the tinkly lead It comes it where I had it come in for the original version of the track so just put it in the same place .

As for the ending I was in a hurry (it was dinner time) and maybe I guess I need to add an extra bar or 2 on the end of the export. Ableton seems to like to finish stuff on the end of where there is stuff instead of where there is still sound happening.

[Medvedium]

Ah, you've replaced the file in scloud, okay

about the bass - now it's pronounced and exposing it's mistakes:
- bass is either hipassed too much, so that it lost its fundamental freq and body, and then it needs to loose the HP filter; or it's how it sounds initially, and then it needs additional subbass layer
- reverb on a bass should be put only on a mid bass layer if you have one, and in much smaller dozes
- there's too much mid freq's after the bass enhancing, so do eq the bass so it could sit in the mix

[Rene Asologuitar]

Hi BBM,
Very atmospheric.
Love the beats!
The dark music is quite captivating. Deep bass so good!
Love the melodies, piano is great!
Nicely done!
Rene

[BrainBeatMusic]

Ah, you've replaced the file in scloud, okay

about the bass - now it's pronounced and exposing it's mistakes:
- bass is either hipassed too much, so that it lost its fundamental freq and body, and then it needs to loose the HP filter; or it's how it sounds initially, and then it needs additional subbass layer
- reverb on a bass should be put only on a mid bass layer if you have one, and in much smaller dozes
- there's too much mid freq's after the bass enhancing, so do eq the bass so it could sit in the mix

Yeah if you have Pro you can replace your tracks with updates on SoundCloud so you can keep one link and make improvements. In some ways, I could see it would be useful if it would show the last time the track was updated there so listeners would know that it may not be the same as when they last heard it.

I have uploaded another edit but I didn't see you comments so not sure if what I did will have solved some of what you said. I did mess with the EQ on a lot of channels again to try and get the high and low roll-offs better to try and remove more clashing sounds. I have also introduced the bell sound earlier. I think it is sounding very close now and is getting to the stage where it need to be just done as you can tinker forever. That said if there still are major flaws they should ideally fixed if possible before that.

There are maybe 2 things I am thinking of trying that I have not done yet. One is to add a random delay effect on the shaker to sometimes just ad a bit more variety without being programmed. The other when I just checked the file before uploading the chimes at the start seemed too harsh to something and maybe need some processing on them.

[BrainBeatMusic]

Hi BBM,
Very atmospheric.
Love the beats!
The dark music is quite captivating. Deep bass so good!
Love the melodies, piano is great!
Nicely done!
Rene

Thanks for your kind feedback.

[Medvedium]

Bass is much nicer now, but i still hear too much reverb on it. You can route a parallel track from the bass, only for reverb, hipass it till 500-1000hz, and only then put the reverb on it (also hipassed), if it's necessary part of your idea.

Well, I hear too much reverb on everything. Though usually there are 3 stereo-rows (or how they re called in english). 1st row is the closest one, without reverb, usually it's kick n bass. Leads and percs are a lil bit more distant, but not far away. And pads and textures are on the last row, pretty distant. It's a basic scheme, but if one decides to change it, he must be sure about what he's doing.

The rest is not so critical. Harshy chimes sound nicer than shaker/bass/etc with lots of reverb ))

[BrainBeatMusic]

Bass is much nicer now, but i still hear too much reverb on it. You can route a parallel track from the bass, only for reverb, hipass it till 500-1000hz, and only then put the reverb on it (also hipassed), if it's necessary part of your idea.

Well, I hear too much reverb on everything. Though usually there are 3 stereo-rows (or how they re called in english). 1st row is the closest one, without reverb, usually it's kick n bass. Leads and percs are a lil bit more distant, but not far away. And pads and textures are on the last row, pretty distant. It's a basic scheme, but if one decides to change it, he must be sure about what he's doing.

The rest is not so critical. Harshy chimes sound nicer than shaker/bass/etc with lots of reverb ))

Thanks for all your feedback I do really appreciate you taking the time to make all of these suggestions. I think I am happy now where I have gotten the track and I think I will release it how it is (I did make some final adjustments). The way I have the track setup I actually have 3 different bass elements, a sub-bass that is only from 0-100 Hz, and 2 different mid-bass elements. I think both of the mid-bass elements had some built-in reverb which I have removed. The swelling one still probably has more reverb-type sound than you would like but there is no way to remove it.

I toned down my EQ on the chimes a little in the upper frequencies too just a bit I think if anything to make them sound a bit more natural.

I do understand what you are saying with where you would normally place sounds in the audio space but rules are there to be broken sometimes and I like it how it is. I mostly intend this piece to be just used as background music in streams and maybe YouTube videos. If others appreciate it on its own that is just a bonus.