Another new one...

Hey all,

I just finished up another track, and it'd be great to know what you all think as I continue to slowly get a grasp on the composing process. Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, as always.

Thanks and hope you enjoy!

http://soundcloud.com/jeffallenct/fooled-me-once

I thought the melodies were all good, like the chunkiness of the bass and swirling filter resonance of the synths, but i thought maybe there was a tad too much compression on the overall track, maybe loosen it up abit to give the track more space and breath, so it doesnt feel so tight packed and contained and just a tad flat on the ear. I really enjoyed it though, great change ups , the ending melodies are great.

Thanks for your input!

This was actually the first track I tried using compression, so I'm still trying to figure it out. I was hoping it would help even out the mix and help it sound better through different mediums (headphones vs car speakers vs large speakers, etc). But I can hear it making some of the melodies sound muddy and not cutting through as much as they should. The mix I posted was basically the best I was able to get it to sound after a good amount of tweaking, but I'm going to try a mix with no compression whatsoever and see how that goes.

Ah yeah! Leaps and bounds Jeff! Great job here. Smooth transitions as always, I like that it goes from sort of dark at the beginning to more uplifting halfway to the end. Great synth work. I really like the melodies, has a bit of a Phillip Glass thing going. Really fine job.

Yeah it's so compressed there's absolutely no space in the track, i do like it though. On a purely subjective note i didnt think the drums did the track justice, i think i would've preferred it without

Too loud for my taste. SOunds great, though. THe bass is massive, but the drums are tiny. Are you using a drummachine?

I'm not using a drum machine, but rather just choosing samples and mapping them out, usually via step sequencer.

I recently made a much more uncompressed version I'll be posting soon, and I think it helps the overall scope of the sound. I did a little too much experimenting with it on the original and I just ended up squashing everything down.

And Amen Warrior, regarding your comment, I never even considered not having drums... I'll definitely give that a whirl, and I may just end up posting that as well.