Workshop #231: Electribe Child by The Short Films
tuts workshop

Workshop #231: Electribe Child by The Short Films

on May 5th 2012 with 4 comments

This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. What useful feedback can you give the artist? The floor is yours to talk about the track and how they can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song.

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Description of the track:

A drum kit sampled. A guitar jangled. A story about expecting the best, though accepting the worst.

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Have a listen to the track and offer your constructive criticism for this Workshop in the comments section. Feel free to offer any type of advice – arrangement, mix, lyrics, performance. And remember to play nice – be constructive!

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Adrian is writer and editor for Audiotuts+ and Envato Notes. He has been playing keys and acoustic guitar for three decades, and has six kids. Follow him on Twitter at @envatoaudio.  

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  • Soft Hand

    What do you want out of this song? Better sounding drums? A great mix? What production issues do you find yourself getting into? What DAW do you use?

  • Jeremiah

    The buzzy synth sound seems a little out of place and masks the vocals quite a bit. You could try playing a different sound or in a lower register maybe, or just try dipping the mids down on it with an EQ. The vocals are pretty washed out with reverb. You could try dialing it back a bit or again, dip the mids with an EQ to increase the intelligibility of the vocals, if intelligibility is what you’re going for. The drums are cool, although the shaker or whatever sound pops out slightly more than the rest of the percussion.

    • TC

      Hey dudes,
      Thank you both for lending your ears and thoughts! Soft Hands, you bring up some fundamental questions that I should be asking myself throughout the process. I find myself shooting in the dark quite a bit when it comes to adding layers which tends to result in all of the parts fighting for sonic real estate.

      Jeremiah, thank you for your suggestions regarding the conflicting synth and vocal tracks. I took the synth down an octave and added some side-chain compression triggered by the vocals which relegated it to more of an atmospheric role. I still am a bit uncertain as far as the EQ is concerned. I need to develop my ability to spot and diagnose frequency issues.

  • http://acid42.wordpress.com Lionel

    The vocal reverb sounds quite like a Jesus and Mary Chain track, and it’s cool as is. The buzz synth does tend to compete with the guitar for audio space. I would soften the distortion on the synth (or the frequency or resonance knobs if you have them) and pan it more to one side with the guitar parts to the other. I might even keep a duplicate copy of the guitar in the center– but EQ’d so it’s less bass and mid heavy. Finally, I would add a bass frequency (bass guitar, bass synth, tuba?) somewhere as the track seems lost without it.