First Mixdown

[Swede]

Hi Guys!

I'd like some opinions on my first real mixdown


go to www.mp3.com/defunka and take a listen to "Water Solidarity".

The tune was made for a project in school and the only way I could think of doing a song about "water solidarity" was to do it techno-style.

Here's my recording gear:

Soundcard: SB Audigy
Synth: Roland RS-5
Microphone: Sony ECM-MS907 (sucks, big time!)
Cakewalk Sonar

What do you think?

[Blue Bear Sound]

Needs WAAAYYYYY more bass and thump for that kind of style......... even with the volume cranked the low-end was weak............ that kick really needs to hit you in the chest!

Noticeable distortion on the synths in some places........

Reasonable effort but there wasn't much to the song to keep interested.... kind of "stock-sample" sounding.......

[mixmkr]

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
Needs WAAAYYYYY more bass and thump for that kind of style......... even with the volume cranked the low-end was weak............ that kick really needs to hit you in the chest!

Noticeable distortion on the synths in some places........

Reasonable effort but there wasn't much to the song to keep interested.... kind of "stock-sample" sounding.......

ditto

[W.I.S.C.]

Cool,but like the other two fellas said...I wanna be thumped hard in the head,I got a thick fuckin' head so thump me baby.I'm gonna have sex to this tune...oh...wait ...I...forgot...that takes two people But,anyway nice basic techno for the kiddies...pop some E and get loose.Shoulda called it ICE.Get it...Solid water..

[Pinky]

Originally posted by Swede
I'd like some opinions on my first real mixdown

Came to the wrong place to save your feelings on a FIRST mixdown!

I know some things about producing this form of music and know a lot of this was already done for you (via loops you downloaded, I would guess). Think I even have a few of these loops laying around . Might even be the drums samples for that synth, dunno...

In either case, after taking something intended to be used for free anyway (no crime there, assuming these weren't loops intended for sale from acid.com), it's about composition. There's very little of this happening. Pretty typical techno, but even for techno there's not a lot of variety and 'feel' in the mix. I add guitars and fills and all types of myhem into my techno stuff. Don't be afraid to get brave, and heaven forbid you spend some time on this!! But if you're going for ordinary, bland, ecstasy club driven sweat until you drop dead beat, then just save this and change the tempo every twenty minutes, they'll never know the difference. If you want us straight (well, some of us aren't loaded right now ) people to find any interest, you'll need to 'take it up' a notch creatively.

[Swede]

I know some things about producing this form of music and know a lot of this was already done for you (via loops you downloaded, I would guess). Think I even have a few of these loops laying around . Might even be the drums samples for that synth, dunno...

In either case, after taking something intended to be used for free anyway (no crime there, assuming these weren't loops intended for sale from acid.com), it's about composition. There's very little of this happening. Pretty typical techno, but even for techno there's not a lot of variety and 'feel' in the mix. I add guitars and fills and all types of myhem into my techno stuff. Don't be afraid to get brave, and heaven forbid you spend some time on this!! But if you're going for ordinary, bland, ecstasy club driven sweat until you drop dead beat, then just save this and change the tempo every twenty minutes, they'll never know the difference. If you want us straight (well, some of us aren't loaded right now ) people to find any interest, you'll need to 'take it up' a notch creatively..

No, Pinky, I didn't use a single downloaded loop for this song. All tracks were recorded with my Roland RS-5 directly to sonar. On some tracks I used the arpeggiator on the synt, but that's it. I agree though that the song is kind of dull and there isn't much vareity in it. I'm really not into this kind of music, It's just a project for school, so I guess I didn't know how to make it intresting, but a little vareity wouldn't hurt it.

Yes, Blue bear and mixmkr, the bass is waaay to low and the synths DO sound distorted. I noticed it on the mp3:s, but I couldn't hear it in Sonar untill I played each track individually. Then you could actually hear some distortion, even though my monitoring system manages to hide it very well ( I just have an old 200$ home stereo).

Thank you for listening and giving opinions!