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Critique me

Posted: 24 Dec 2017, 06:44
by Kangaroo
Be harsh, please. Really want to know what you like and dislike. Been working hard at becoming comfortable with eurobeat and producing music in general over the past year and I think I'm starting to get it. I use VOCALOID for the vocals.

https://soundcloud.com/anttaffy/miriam- ... e-feelings

Posted: 24 Dec 2017, 10:15
by xiao
  

Re: Critique me

Posted: 24 Dec 2017, 10:17
by alpines
Now I gotta say, I was pleasantly surpised! :)

The melody is catchy, the vocals are also pretty good but one thing that really bothered me was the tempo.
The track is way, waaaaaay too slow for my taste (the opinions about that might stray very hard from mine). If I speed it up on audacity from 143 to 150/155 BPM the songs automatically gains more energy.

I can't really say something about the vocals (technically) but VOCALOID seems to emphasise some vocals strangely and that results in some really weird parts: For example "Dancing in the CIIITY STREET".

I really wonder how this track would sound if a human singer gave a shot at it.
But for now I think you are on a very good way, keep it going, always good to have some fresh air in the eurobeat scene. :grin:

Posted: 24 Dec 2017, 10:50
by xiao
  

Re: Critique me

Posted: 24 Dec 2017, 13:14
by alpines
xiao wrote: 24 Dec 2017, 10:50.. human or a little neco Image
Image Image Image That's what I call unplugged. Your speaking voice is so much deeper, might wanna give a shot singing energetic songs with that too.

Re: Critique me

Posted: 25 Dec 2017, 21:38
by Kat
Vocaloid and Eurobeat? WOW
Nice song.
Can you create a Hi-NRG Attack song?

Re: Critique me

Posted: 26 Dec 2017, 05:12
by Kangaroo
xiao wrote: 24 Dec 2017, 10:15
Kangaroo wrote: 24 Dec 2017, 06:44Be harsh, please.
I wanna hear you singing next time. ♪

Otherwise pretty catchy song .. I enjoyed the melody ~ it reminded me of Spring time. 🌸
Thank you <3 I've always been rather shy, but admittedly I'm not opposed to doing some vocals. I might try it for my next song!
alpines wrote: 24 Dec 2017, 10:17 Now I gotta say, I was pleasantly surpised! :)

The melody is catchy, the vocals are also pretty good but one thing that really bothered me was the tempo.
The track is way, waaaaaay too slow for my taste (the opinions about that might stray very hard from mine). If I speed it up on audacity from 143 to 150/155 BPM the songs automatically gains more energy.

I can't really say something about the vocals (technically) but VOCALOID seems to emphasise some vocals strangely and that results in some really weird parts: For example "Dancing in the CIIITY STREET".

I really wonder how this track would sound if a human singer gave a shot at it.
But for now I think you are on a very good way, keep it going, always good to have some fresh air in the eurobeat scene. :grin:
I used to do a lot of trance music so 140~143 is just a force of habit for me, haha. The vocaloid vocals are definitely more grating than I wanted them to be, I use the oldest iteration of the engine because it's the most simplistic and easiest for me to use, but it does have its drawbacks. I think once I get more practice with writing lyrics I'll be more confident putting my voice to them. :P
Kat wrote: 25 Dec 2017, 21:38 Vocaloid and Eurobeat? WOW
Nice song.
Can you create a Hi-NRG Attack song?
Thanks! I'd very much like to push future songs towards that direction, but I do also have a soft spot for the older, more italo-disco styled tracks as well. I guess we'll see what the future holds!

Thanks all for the feedback <3

Re: Critique me

Posted: 27 Dec 2017, 08:49
by johnjohnjohnnycake
the vocals made me laugh a bit at first, and the volume is a bit loud, probably for me.
other than that, that's pretty good.

Re: Critique me

Posted: 28 Dec 2017, 08:23
by Lebon14
The song is way too loud. I could hear the quieter parts becoming as loud as the louder ones every beat. Let go of that hard limiting a bit.
Otherwise, it was good.

Re: Critique me

Posted: 29 Dec 2017, 11:32
by Akira
As has already been said, the track is amazing but the dynamic range is too tiny. Don't limit/compress that hard and be careful of levels throughout the mixing of your track. It will improve a lot your songs! Otherwise, the track is beatiful. The melody is catchy and the song has all the sounds that make eurobeat what it is, and in the perfect places. Congratulations!

Re: Critique me

Posted: 03 Jan 2018, 05:22
by Kangaroo
johnjohnjohnnycake wrote: 27 Dec 2017, 08:49 the vocals made me laugh a bit at first, and the volume is a bit loud, probably for me.
other than that, that's pretty good.
Lebon14 wrote: 28 Dec 2017, 08:23 The song is way too loud. I could hear the quieter parts becoming as loud as the louder ones every beat. Let go of that hard limiting a bit.
Otherwise, it was good.
Akira wrote: 29 Dec 2017, 11:32 As has already been said, the track is amazing but the dynamic range is too tiny. Don't limit/compress that hard and be careful of levels throughout the mixing of your track. It will improve a lot your songs! Otherwise, the track is beatiful. The melody is catchy and the song has all the sounds that make eurobeat what it is, and in the perfect places. Congratulations!
Thank you so much <3 Could you guys please expand on the dynamic range and limiting things a bit, if its not too much trouble? Mixing and mastering is my weakest skill. I try not to compress unless I find it helps on things like percussion to make it stand out, and use limiting/compression on the vocals, and tend to do little tiny adjustments on most other things. I'm entirely self taught so I struggle with the more technical things. A lot of the times it feels like a shot in the dark.

Re: Critique me

Posted: 03 Jan 2018, 08:01
by Lebon14
You need visuals. So, here's a waveform of "Eurobeat" by Dr. Love (original mastering version):
Image
This is ideal mastering. Loud is loud, quiet is quiet. Everything stands out perfectly.

Now, for the sake of demonstration, I've added added an hard limit of +16db with max limit of -0,01db. Here's how it looks:
Image
Of course, this is exaggerated. However, that second pic is how your song will probably look like once opened in audition or audacity. Everything is loud, it distorts, etc. Here's a sound comparision:
https://vocaroo.com/i/s0Up45KL4iQo
The first 33sec is the original mastering, the other 33 seconds are with the hard limit. (Copyright SinclaireStyle, for educational purpose)

As you can hear, the first sample sounds good (well, the website makes it low quality; but that's not the point) but the second one... it's way too loud, do you agree? Well, the problem of your song is similar to the second clip. You need to disable hard limiting or "auto mastering" then drop all volume by half at least.

Hope that helps

Disclaimer: I'm personally not a producer but I've dabbled in mastering and I'm quite against loudness war in general.

Re: Critique me

Posted: 03 Jan 2018, 12:28
by Twinstar
 

Re: Critique me

Posted: 03 Jan 2018, 15:21
by Kangaroo
Ahhh, thank you, I totally get it now. Definitely a visual learner, haha :D Much appreciated! I've always been leaving the auto mastering on. Gonna start mixing without it and at a lower volume and see where that takes me.