First electronic instrumental music. feedback is appreciated

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Zypheris

Zypheris

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Hello, I've been working on an electronic track and would love to get some feedback on the mix. Everything in this track was made using Vital. All synths, bass, and even some percussive elements. I wanted to challenge myself by limiting my sound design to just one synth and see how far I could push it.

I mixed it using Waveform with some EQ, compression, and reverb/delay where needed. Trying to keep it clean but still punchy.

Thanks for listening, just give me feedback so I can mix better..

 
I'm not anything close to an expert in this genre.

I thought there was some cool stuff going on throughout the song. That helps keep up listener interest - which can be difficult in an instrumental.

I would imagine a strong kick is important in this genre. But you may have gone a couple of dbs too far? I'd back it off just a bit. It will still be strong even if you do.

I like how everything has a rounded attack - no "sharp edges" to any sounds.

Anyway, I'm no expert but I thought it sounded pretty good.
 
Thanks Zypheris I found that interesting. Nothing stands out as wrong to me. I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be focusing on in some of it, but there's nothing prominent that feels like I'm NOT supposed to be focusing on it, if that means anything. The not knowing is actually cool. Also enjoyed the "rounded" sound quality as TripleM noted, to a lot of it. Has a lovely Vangelis/The Midnight feel. Maybe at 1:30, and 2:20 when there's kind of a quarter note to eighth note to sixteenth note thing, that progression is a little familiar in this genre, maybe substitute triplets for one section? Or something even zanier? Hah, the mix sounds good to me!
 
Deylight said:
Thanks Zypheris I found that interesting. Nothing stands out as wrong to me. I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be focusing on in some of it, but there's nothing prominent that feels like I'm NOT supposed to be focusing on it, if that means anything. The not knowing is actually cool. Also enjoyed the "rounded" sound quality as TripleM noted, to a lot of it. Has a lovely Vangelis/The Midnight feel. Maybe at 1:30, and 2:20 when there's kind of a quarter note to eighth note to sixteenth note thing, that progression is a little familiar in this genre, maybe substitute triplets for one section? Or something even zanier? Hah, the mix sounds good to me!
Click to expand...
Hey Deylight, Thanks so much! I really appreciate your thoughts. I’m glad you liked the rounded sound quality too. I totally get what you mean, I might experiment with that! Really appreciate you taking the time to listen and share your thoughts!
 
TripleM said:
I'm not anything close to an expert in this genre.

I thought there was some cool stuff going on throughout the song. That helps keep up listener interest - which can be difficult in an instrumental.

I would imagine a strong kick is important in this genre. But you may have gone a couple of dbs too far? I'd back it off just a bit. It will still be strong even if you do.

I like how everything has a rounded attack - no "sharp edges" to any sounds.

Anyway, I'm no expert but I thought it sounded pretty good.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for listening and sharing your thoughts! I really appreciate it, especially since instrumentals can be tricky to keep engaging. Glad you liked the rounded attack, I was definitely aiming for that kind of smooth, cohesive feel. And yeah, I hear you on the kick! I might dial it back just a bit to see how it sits better in the mix. Really appreciate your perspective, it means a lot!
 
Cool track. I have actually been doing something similar the past few months: I will record an entire track using only one hardware synth for all tonal parts (and drums/fx if the synth is equipped for it). It helps me develop my programming skills while at the same time showing what that particular synth is capable of. I've done 7 of these since December, and have learned a lot!

I haven't used Vital, but I think you got some good sounds out of it!

Anyway, while I am also into electronic stuff, I'm more into downtempo synthwave/outrun and trance, so I don't really have any genre-specific tips for you, but I can offer some general mixing suggestions:
  • The sort of piano part you use in the intro and outro is kind of lost in reverb to the point where it's hard to make out individual notes. You might look at adding a little more of an attack to that sound and/or lowering the reverb or EQing the reverb so there's more space for the original sound.
  • There are several parts of the track where multiple instruments are fighting for the same space in the frequency spectrum. Think about what you can do to give each part its own place (with high/low-pass filters or shelf filters).
  • You do seem to be thinking about which instrument should have the main focus at any time, which is good, but I hear some balance issues in the piece as a whole. You might want to look into the "pink noise mixing technique" which can be a great first step in balancing the mix. After that you can use automation to bring individual parts into/out of focus as needed.
  • You might look into doing some more modulation (filter/gain automation, automating reverb/delay sends) to keep things interesting. There's a synth line that plays straight 16ths beginning about halfway into the track that could benefit from some automation.
Rock on.
 
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