First time releasing music: would love feedback

[somethingelse]

Hello!

I hope everyone is as well as can be.
I haven't posted here for a while - life happens and you move with the currents.
This is the first time I've released something official, and would really like some honest feedback.
This was recorded, mixed and 'mastered' by myself so it's not quite up to par with a lot of stuff today.
However, one learns by doing so hopefully as time goes on I can improve.

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/solitude_nois...levenfiftynine

Bandcamp: https://solitudenoise.bandcamp.com/

[antediluvian]

Hi! Fellow amateur musician here. Not an expert by any means, but I'll leave you my two cents:

- the drums feel buried and aren't impactful as they want to be (or at least I think, considering the parts), unless this is an artistic choice.
- some instruments feel too loud, examples, guitars on "From Here we can see" and the main synth on "Filtered Doorway".
- overall speaking, is the bass clean? Maybe some grit on the mids/hi-mids would help it to be more present, and to carry more weight to the songs?
- to my ears I feel that the songs are a bit dry and there's some space missing (ambiance on percussions, delays on some guitars...), but I might have the opposite problem as I use tons of reverbs and delays all the time

But, I really like your music. You're very creative in terms of sounds and effects, which keeps the song interesting since there's no vocals or conventional song structures. I love "We Fragment", probably my favourite. The change of the pace of drums in "Space to fall apart" (the "rockabilly" rhythm at 2:10-ish, so to say) is awesome "The distance remains the same" has a beautiful vibe, different from the other songs, but beautiful.

You should be proud though, doing literally everything by yourself isn't easy at all. Keep it up!!

[somethingelse]

Thank you @antediluvian for taking the time to listen and critique the tracks - super appreciated!
I agree on your thoughts about the drums, it has been a struggle to give them their own space and definition. Perhaps this is due to them not being live drums, but pre-programmed.
I feel like the mix of the other instruments is fine and it's really down to personal choice. The main synth in 'Filtered Doorway' to me is what drives the track hence why they are so prominent. In saying that I can hear why you came to this conclusion.
Hmm... I'm curious about your tips for the bass... I will endeavour to add some 'grit' to those frequencies in the bass and see how it fits in the mix
I feel like I pushed the reverb and delays as much as I could for the mixes, but this makes a most interesting point - how much is enough?

Thank you for your perspective, I am glad that you enjoy the sounds overall.
Have you posted a link for your own music? (I haven't searched the thread for such) I'm interested to hear your sounds.

[antediluvian]

Thank you @antediluvian for taking the time to listen and critique the tracks - super appreciated!
I agree on your thoughts about the drums, it has been a struggle to give them their own space and definition. Perhaps this is due to them not being live drums, but pre-programmed.
I feel like the mix of the other instruments is fine and it's really down to personal choice. The main synth in 'Filtered Doorway' to me is what drives the track hence why they are so prominent. In saying that I can hear why you came to this conclusion.
Hmm... I'm curious about your tips for the bass... I will endeavour to add some 'grit' to those frequencies in the bass and see how it fits in the mix

No problem, always a pleasure for me to listen to independently made music

For the bass, this is what I usually do. I record the bass DI and clean, and once I'm happy with the performance I'll have two tracks of it: the first one through an amp sim and the other one to a Sans Amp pedal emulation (I use this one, it's free). The idea is, the amp bass focuses on the lows and clean tones, the Sans Amp bass adds grit and/or body (depending on how aggressive the song is).
Finally, I blend the two tracks to taste: the amp bass sound is dominant and I first set the volume for it in context, then I turn the fader of the Sans Amp bass up until I get the sound that I want. Lastly, I route the two tracks on a bus track and do EQ, compression, overall volume, automation, etc on that bus. Again, same exact performance but layered in two sounds.

For the drums.. are you a Logic user? I use it too and I seem to recognize the drum sounds I use Logic's drum kit for drums but what I do is routing every piece of the drums to a dedicate audio track, and I record the performance in real time, just like you were recording a real drummer. Usually these tracks are cymbals, kick, snare, separate toms, hi-hat, and the room. To me, the room is very important to get a more live sound for the drums. I heavily compress the room track to get a more "live expression" (if you have Soundtoys' DevilLoc, go for it but with caution) and then I blend this track in. It really makes a difference for me.
Also, 99% of the times I treat the snare with some overdrive (without crushing it, still sounding like a snare) to get the smack and impact that it needs to poke out in the mix. And a couple of reverbs on it too - not to make it sound like a 80s snare, but just to create some ambiance that helps to make it more present.
The rest of the kit I usually do basic EQ/compression, plus some overall compression on the drum bus.

I feel like I pushed the reverb and delays as much as I could for the mixes, but this makes a most interesting point - how much is enough?

Usually I tend to use reverbs and delays in a way that you can feel it but not hear it. As in, they're not really distinguishable when you listen to the whole mix, but you would hear a difference if you take them out. A touch on one or more fx usually works.

A little trick is to EQ/filter reverbs and delays, especially in the lows because they tend to build up a lot of frequencies down there and this can muddy up the mix without getting the feeling of the reverb/delay.

Have you posted a link for your own music? (I haven't searched the thread for such) I'm interested to hear your sounds.

I don't have my music on the internet. I'm finishing up mixing an album of my own music, I'll upload it on Bandcamp if I find the courage to put myself out there