[MUSIC] Heroes of old

So I made this the past couple of days. It’s a kind of merge between Chillout and EDM. I hope you enjoy it, feedback is welcome!

https://soundcloud.com/strophoid/heroes-of-old

Very nice…you’ve kept it interesting with some really nice changes throughout the piece, when the distorted bass came in I was a little worried that it was gonna stay there for the rest of the track…but no, a very nice arrangement and like the title…Kevin

First thing that I think the piece is lacking is a lack of layers in the instruments. It just sounds too empty despite some different parts. On the rare occasion that I try to do something electronic I try to think of it in a similar way of orchestration as orchestra. I think not only about how things are in pitch from low to high and if it sounds like there are missing pitch ranges between the lowest and highest parts but I’m also very conscience of how they also stack up left to right on the stage. I just visualize my electronic sounds as an extra or replaced seat on my imaginary orchestra stage. :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyway, I think the ideas are coming along nicely. Makes me think of some videogame stuff, very cool atmosphere when I imagine a 2D platformer with your track. But like the melody section at 3:20, the bass is louder than the melody instrument which should never be the case, ever, in any genre. I think the melody could be layered up or just something in addition to being raised in volume. Experiment a bit with adding some subtle layers left and right and experiment with panning instruments specifically in the context of layering in unison, could be really cool!

The clap/snare sound could do with being a touch louder at some points and quieter at others and the overall balancing of instruments/percussion in general too. I’m listening on earphones but I’m pretty sure I’d still hear it that way on headphones too. If I’m imagining an ice level at like 2:20 for the clap/snare it’d be cool to create 2 of the tracks and have the reverb much bigger at that point to give it that “cold” sound. It doesn’t sound like there is much reverb on at all anyway. I think a bit more would really help gel the sounds together as a composition.

Good start though, enjoyable so far. Keyboard sounds make me think a bit of a snow/ice level. xD Keep working at it unless you’re already onto something new. :stuck_out_tongue:

Thanks guys :slight_smile:

That’s some good feedback Johnathan, thanks for that.
I’ll admit I didn’t do too much panning on this track so there’s room for improvement there. I agree with you on the ‘empty’ sound, especially after listening the 2nd half of the track, the first half does sound a bit bland (the acoustic guitar + strings in the 2nd half do a decent job of filling the piece up in my opinion.)

There’s some small mixing things I noticed in certain passages as well when listening to the track today, so I’ll get back to fixing those.

There is a reverb track actually, but I tried to keep it on the low side because it would quickly drown the song when I increased the reverb times. I could automate it a bit to make the ‘cooler’ passages a bit smoother.

As for layering, both the bass and the lead are actually layered sounds. I’ll try to seperate the layers a bit with some panning, I didn’t think of that.

Cheers for the feedback, I’ll hopefully get a chance to go back to it soon :slight_smile:

“the present music” on Soundcloud actually guessed it right, it’s the Anna Hop kit from Groove Agent One.

:smiley:
Anna hop was the very first drum preset I ever used in Cubase, so…
I guess I used it because it is at the top of the presets list in GA1

Nice spot regardless! I thought it fit the song nicely.
Thanks for your comments :slight_smile:

Did a new mix, you can find it in the link in my Sig. I’m a bit torn on it, will need to listen again later with fresh ears. The additional reverb and panning I added do gel the piece together better, but I feel the mix lost some focus and definition because of it.
I also added a delay to the keyboard the track starts with as a filler, because any additional part I tried didn’t really work well


Edit: I used datube on the master bus in both mixes, but it adds significant noise to the track, is that intentional?

Personally, I like the sound of this version better.
Wider, spacier, less in your face.
I think this piece could really benefit from a strong lead vocal or lead melody, there’s plenty of room for that.
I Like the tempo changes too.