(Pop, Synthwave) Painting Your Body

[fokker]

Hey guys, long time lurker, new participant

Always a bit scary to ask for feedback like this, but I'm finally starting to enjoy the music I'm putting together in Reason, and I thought it'd be nice to see if anyone has any tips or suggestions. I also want to get to that final final level of polish, but I'm not sure what Reason features I'm missing out on playing around with to accomplish this.

ARTIST: Fokker (that's me)
TRACK: Painting Your Body
GENRE: Not sure, some kind of pop? [Edit: Maybe a bit of houseish synthwave in there too]

[rogerraa]

Hey. Just listened to your song. Nice pop song you got here.
You have talent and can write songs for sure. I wasn't planning on replying when I hit play, but after listening and reading your post, you deserve a reply. My feedback may be short or blunt but please believe me when I say... its only cuz its late. I would be happy to go into detail or help you further if you would like.

The Feedback..
Its needs a producer to objectively make some tough decisions ( Not engineering wise so much, but for the song ).
Engineering wise its hard to tell exactly due to the brick wall limiting/master buss processing going on. I mean I think I could give some specifics if I were forced, but who knows how accurate they would be.

Like I said, you clearly deserve some support and I would be happy to help were I can. You know what to do. And if not, well good luck and keep writing man, Good shit.

[fokker]

Thanks! Means tons rogerraa. I know the song's probably the main issue, and I am trying to partner up down the line to get better source material to work with... not sure if I can work miracles with the current song.

I welcome criticism, however blunt it may be, as it's better than blindly stumbling forward.

That said I'm glad you didn't perceive any significant problems. Perhaps the master compression is something that should be tweaked for better dynamics...

[rogerraa]

No worries.. I think a lot could be done with what you've got. Depends on a few things really, but again, if you would like to explore what I'm talking about, I'd be happy to work with you. Just send me PM with contact info so we can discuss a strategy. ( preferably in skype or the like. I'm assuming there won't be a language barrier )

[fokker]

Awesome. I'll take you up on it next time for sure! You've already helped A LOT more than you think.

After you mentioned the brick wall compression/limiting, I sat down and did a bit of a sanity check. It always bothered me that the dynamics in the track were non-existent, especially when benchmarking against well-mixed top list tracks. Because of the brick wall, everything was quite muddy. A bit happier with the whole thing now - I split the vocals and instrumentals into different buses, putting an individual compressor on each and removing the big master compressor. In the end, the vocals are now a lot higher in the mix, which gives a clearer sound. Many smaller volume and EQ tweaks as well, but removing the master compressor was the big thing. Thanks man!

[jjpscott01]

I really like this track man. The 80's influence is all over it and its got a nice hook too. I'd love to hear a nice "reverby" guitar layered with those synths to give the track some weight but other than that i really like the sound your going for. Keep it up brother!

[DeltaHotelVictory]

I really like this track man. The 80's influence is all over it and its got a nice hook too. I'd love to hear a nice "reverby" guitar layered with those synths to give the track some weight but other than that i really like the sound your going for. Keep it up brother!

What jjpscott01 said!

[Skullture]

I like it, but that snare man. Throw it away quickly! You need something with way more ooomph, start layering until you get something awesome. Otherwise, nice track man.

[fokker]

Thanks guys. Aero - say no more. I had substantial problems finding a good layering I liked, and the result is something I settled for. I need to go revisit that.

About the guitar... I can see where you're coming from. I love those too.