city life (demo)

so i've been working on this new project for awhile (a new alias, not going to be releasing these as cats on earth), more on the dancey electro disco tip. pretty different from my usual shit, so i'm not completely confident in it. here's one of the tracks i've been working on that i'd like some input on, if possible.

moto_slave___city_life__demo_.mp3 5.98 MB · 25 downloads

it's in demo state right now, mainly because i'd like to redo the vocals with a better mic (but i dunno, the lo-fi aspect is kinda growing on me, so maybe not), so general as well as specific comments are appreciated.

one of the main problems i've been having in general is the transition from progressive music to dance music. since most of my old tracks revolved around constantly evolving elements it's been a little weird for me to juggle the fine line between dance-ability and repetitiveness. i want these tracks to have a consistent groove without a lot of moments of drop off, but i also want them to be musically interesting, so any input or tips on that front would be helpful.

My initial thoughts, I like this song, though it does seem a bit rough around the edges in places and can use some polish.

At first I thought the song could use a stronger opening, but then near the end of the track, when I started really picking up on the mood of the song, it seemed more like a low key song. That could have something to do with the current state of the vocals (which aren't bad) , the melodies your playing around with, or possibly the tempo. So maybe not, maybe the current opening can just be a little bit more fleshed out so that it catches your a attention a bit more.

The song definitely has a certain charm about it which makes me want to hear it again. I'd like to listen to this through headphones later, my preferred method of listening. At night too of course.

Thanks for sharing dude.

reminds me of mods from the early 90s

seems like maybe it could get a little larger toward the end, or more manic maybe

im not sure what i would change though, i like it

I like it more towards the end where all of the elements are together. It seems really thin at the beginning. I had a hard time hearing the vocals, but the track finds itself toward the end. I suggest just working on the beginning elements and mixing the vocals louder and cutting out some of the mud.

I was always under the impression that the quality of the mic doesn't matter when you're going to vocode it. I didn't really like this track at first, but it grew on me as it progressed. It has a fun italo disco/dance pop vibe. I agree with braintree on mixing the vocals a tad louder. I'd also suggest playing around with the synths and vocoder settings.

i totally couldnt get into this which was a disappointment cause im a big big fan of your old stuff

needs some polish but otherwise i like. vocals could be louder/clearer but maybe thats the idea.

could use maybe a breakdown or something to break up the continuous nature of it. but maybe thats the point

thanks for the comments and input, guys. very helpful. like i said, this is totally still in demo form, so nothing is set in stone. just needed some outside perspective before i went any further.

  beneboi said:

reminds me of mods from the early 90s

seems like maybe it could get a little larger toward the end, or more manic maybe

im not sure what i would change though, i like it

mods from the early 90s? not sure what that means.

yea, i think i am going to get a little crazier at the end. that spot at the end where the same vocals just repeat is a place holder for that, just not sure how exactly i want to fuck it up. i don't want to do something that's going to overshadow the rest of the track or seem out of place, like a crazy glitch workout, but you know...it's hard to deny your roots. i'll probably chop up the vocals or something once i get them re-recorded and go from there, but i didn't want to go through the effort of doing all that and then have to redo it with the new vocal track. thanks for the comments though. glad you like it.

  Braintree said:

I like it more towards the end where all of the elements are together. It seems really thin at the beginning. I had a hard time hearing the vocals, but the track finds itself toward the end. I suggest just working on the beginning elements and mixing the vocals louder and cutting out some of the mud.

yea, i think the consensus is that the beginning needs some attention. i'll get on that. i'm guessing you all are talking about the first few measures where the different instruments are coming in, yea? if so, i'm in agreement. it sounded alright on headphones, but the more i listen on different systems, the more it sounds janky and amateur to me.

  mrx said:

I was always under the impression that the quality of the mic doesn't matter when you're going to vocode it. I didn't really like this track at first, but it grew on me as it progressed. It has a fun italo disco/dance pop vibe. I agree with braintree on mixing the vocals a tad louder. I'd also suggest playing around with the synths and vocoder settings.

the quality of the mic doesn't really matter, but the mic i was using was picking up a TON of noise and the vocoder reads any signal passing through it and synthesizes the tone, so there's this constant noise tone in the background that makes the pitch shifts more audible and muddies up the mix overall, as if there were an organ playing behind the vocals at all times, which is annoying. that's also the main reason the vocals are mixed so low, the added noise was wreaking havoc on my mix, certain parts would clip for no reason because of weird background noises (some mofo decided to hammer and saw a bunch of shit on the one day i had to record last week). i don't think it'll be a problem once i re-do them though.

thanks again, everybody!

Be sure to share the finished track man, I love anything inspired by Retro Futurism.

lengthen the drums a bit (think depth) and try add a bit of shine to the upper mids (chopin, Gautier etc) It bores me rigid at the moment but i know there's a gem in there provided you give it a complete revamp. Keep it up.