The Critique My Track Thread *read the rules, and whatnot*

[Toaster]

A few people have asked for a thread specifically for critiquing tracks-- a place where we put our tracks under the proverbial microscope, and get into the nitty gritty of what works and what doesn't. I think a good hard examination of what you're producing from time to time can help you improve-- be it musically or production wise. And while things are generally civil and thoughtful around here, a few rules usually help keep things tidy, so I'm asking that people follow a few basic ones:

1) Do not post a track unless you have posted a critique. Simply put, if you just want people to have a listen to your music, there's a whole section of the forum for it (and it's awesome, lots of good stuff in there). This thread isn't for that.

2) Offer constructive feedback. "This sounds like hot garbage" isn't constructive feedback. "I found the mix a little muddy, try a little EQing in the X, Y, or Z range", is. "Boy, I hated this song" isn't. "There is an emphasis on repetition of a single baseline here which I found a bit distracting, have you considered varying things up a bit?" is.

3) Don't be afraid to be nitpicky. This thread is here to help folk improve-- sometimes a small tweak can make a big difference.

4) If you are the recipient of a critique, and you disagree with it, it's probably not a good idea to respond, unless it's to ask for clarification. Music, mixing, and the like are subjective arts-- One person's genius is another person's noise, and it's best to just take the rough with the smooth and move on.

5) Don't post a track that you don't want critiqued. I know this sounds simple enough, but if you aren't ready for some criticism (I'm not always in the mood for it), then it's ok to just provide feedback-- there's never a *need* to post a track here.

6) When you post a track, feel free to ask for specific feedback-- "I'm looking to hear people's thoughts on how this is mixed". However, I encourage people offering critiques to add other notes they think will be helpful.

7) Let's keep tracks under 10 minutes. While I love (and indeed make) long form drones, it's hard to offer decent criticism of something that long on a web forum.

8) Be excellent to each other.

Ok, I'm not going to be the first one to post a track. The first one is 'free'-- whoever wants to step up for a critique can get theirs without giving one out. It's a one time offer.

[MetaDronos]

Let me start with my fresh track, "Kratrianeldor". I'm interested in every feedback.


http://soundcloud.com/metadronos/kratrianeldor

[Zach Zinn]

Cool track. I would have taken that tabla-like percussion and made it a more consistent part of the track, the constant change of the track is cool, but something to tie the elements together might be good, just a small amount of repetition maybe.

[Zach Zinn]

Here's my contribution:

https://soundcloud.com/zach-zinn/tangle


Of course I realize my stuff is pretty eclectic, and often just not most people's cup of tea..if you do "get it" though, i'd love some feedback on this track, it was recorded in one take and I felt like it need one more element to sound complete, but i'm not sure what that would be.

[Toaster]

Here's my contribution:

https://soundcloud.com/zach-zinn/tangle


Of course I realize my stuff is pretty eclectic, and often just not most people's cup of tea..if you do "get it" though, i'd love some feedback on this track, it was recorded in one take and I felt like it need one more element to sound complete, but i'm not sure what that would be.

Do you record with a room mic? This sounds like it needs some bass-- there's almost no low frequency here-- some bone rattling lows would help fill this out nicely. Drones should typically offer a set of 'layers' which allow the listener to shift focus in and out-- it gives them a sense of movement, a good bass part could do this.

The voice sample ("tri- Tri- angle") is also overused-- it's clever, but it's worn out it's welcome fairly early on. Try varying it up with some light effects; a little atmosphere reverb or some such.

I dig this overall; it's got a spooky feel to it-- but a little more attention to the individual elements would really 'sell' that feeling.

[Zach Zinn]

Thanks, that's helpful. I was thinking about going back and redoing this, with less repetition of the phrase (maybe something like 3 or 4 times max), then also a low end melodic phrase loop or something, maybe just a tonic note and a second really stretched out. Most of this piece is actually field recordings, so I think you are onto something that I need some bass tones.

It's funny because this was ALMOST one of my favorite things i've done recently, and as I was recording it I was like "damn, that's too many triangles", and knew it was missing something.