Comparing your music to "popular tunes"

[Cyren]

maybe you know what im talking about. You produce for hours and think you made something awesome. Then you grab some of your favourite tunes (most times is use somethings thats in the beatport top100 atm) and listen to them - then you listen to your work again, and it suddenly sounds totally boring. Your Mix sounds empty and your bassline are not fat enough. You get pushed down by this and get frustrated, feels like your hard work was for nothing. How do you deal with this? Do you even care how other succesful producers sound or just do your own thing?

I'm especially interrested if bigger names in this forum, like excision, do this too, or just "know" that what they are doing sounds fat enough to compete with others.

[nowaysj]

Don't get down dood, at least you've got a shiny metallic logo with, not one, but two swooshes. It's a start.

[Electric_Head]

Don't get down dood, at least you've got a shiny metallic logo with, not one, but two swooshes. It's a start.

classic

SWOOOSH

[Electric_Head]

don`t reference your tunes to the big names.
It`s a futile effort.
Get your tracks sounding sweet and let the ME make it sound like the big name.

If you are going to compare your tunes to the big names then don`t forget to compare at similar volume levels.

[benjam]

I do this too usually with modepth as im in love with his mixdowns. But remember to listen through all your old work as well its a good way to gauge how much youve improved.

[Perfecture]

don`t reference your tunes to the big names.
It`s a futile effort.
Get your tracks sounding sweet and let the ME make it sound like the big name.

If you are going to compare your tunes to the big names then don`t forget to compare at similar volume levels.

Yeah proper true, I have itunes open all the time when I am producing and I have made a playlist of tracks that I like the sound of by other producers and I always switch back and forth from my track to theirs to A-B comparison. I also make sure that my itunes is at the same level as my track so I that I get a true comparison in sound rather than volume as I know that can be increased later by an ME.

I good tip is to match elements separately to a 'big name' track rather than the whole track at once.
So do an A-B check on drums first, then drums with SUB bass, then the drop as a whole. That way you can hear if your track is hitting how you want it to in comparison to the 'big name track' of which you like the overall sound and mixdown of.

[Electric_Head]

^Good point.

I reference elements over the entire track.
If my drums are hitting as hard, is the bass effective enough compared to A.

[stevemac]

You have to remember that the majority of the reference tracks you listen to have been professionally mastered.

Don't forget that the track you listen to is probably going to be much louder if you keep your speakers output level the same when A-B testing - louder can often initially sound better when it whacks you in the face, but you need to turn the reference track down to the same level as yours to understand the differences.

[RandoRando]

comparing a song you just started to a song that has 10-20 hours of work that has also been professional mastered in a professional studio is like comparing your 2001 honda civic lx to a lamborghing reventon.

you can compare to the two but there is no point.
now put some more work into that civic and it can beat the reventon.








did i really just say a honda civic will beat a reventon?

[nowaysj]

comparing a song you just started to a song that has 10-20 hours of work

Jokes

[TekWarfare]

You've got 99 problems but the bitch aint one

[RandoRando]

comparing a song you just started to a song that has 80-90 hours of work

facts

fixed

[Cyren]

comparing a song you just started to a song that has 80-90 hours of work

facts

fixed

80-90 hours maybe if you start totally from scratch. But if you already have some favourite presets or sounds, or maybe a whole soundset that works for you it's more like 10-20 hours.

[Words]

work on a sound so fresh theres nothing out there to compare it to and feel bad about

prob solved

[FuzionDubstep]

comparing a song you just started to a song that has 80-90 hours of work

facts

fixed

80-90 hours maybe if you start totally from scratch. But if you already have some favourite presets or sounds, or maybe a whole soundset that works for you it's more like 10-20 hours.

I doubt anyone spending 10-20 hours on a tune will come up with anything remotely original and good at the same time, takes me like 40 hours probably and I'm not exactly brilliant so I guess someone very good at producing will spend much longer perhaps..

[rob13572468]

maybe you know what im talking about. You produce for hours and think you made something awesome. Then you grab some of your favourite tunes (most times is use somethings thats in the beatport top100 atm) and listen to them - then you listen to your work again, and it suddenly sounds totally boring. Your Mix sounds empty and your bassline are not fat enough. You get pushed down by this and get frustrated, feels like your hard work was for nothing. How do you deal with this? Do you even care how other succesful producers sound or just do your own thing?

I'm especially interrested if bigger names in this forum, like excision, do this too, or just "know" that what they are doing sounds fat enough to compete with others.

i would say that means at least you are on the right track... e.g. theres alot of guys out there that slap stuff together, throw it up on soundcloud and actually think its good... part of being a musician is routinely hating most of what you create and thats not necessarily bad because it can make you strive to improve your craft...

The really great songs are literally 1 in maybe 10,000... it may take a while but when you can make something really great it will be well worth it...

[BoldEquation]

Popular tunes are a good reference. You need to spend a long long time and stay dedicated to achieve a sound you want. Once you figure out how to do it the rest comes easy. Not every song you make will work how you want unless you use the exact same drums or synths.

In reference to the time spent making a song, I've had some tracks come together in a matter of hours, while others I spent 100 hours on, and in the end I appreciated the quickly made ones more.

If you want huge drums, huge bass etc etc you need to learn your mixdown, compression techniques and proper selection of drums and other sounds... it's all trial and error until you figure out what works.

[ToxicBass]

How do you deal with this?

I simply produce even more. To gain the experience and skills to help me better translate my creative ideas.
It will probably take a long time but you should use that feeling of inferiority as a fuel to step up your game.
If you give up producing you will never even have a chance of being better than the big names. Get that DAW open!

[Sharmaji]

2 things:

1, it's just volume. turn the beatport player down and things will sound markedly less exciting. Everything sounds better when it's louder. You may think it's brighter, it's fuller, it's got "that extra 3db of compression" etc, but in truth-- 90% of the difference in vibe is volume.

2, the best songs start with a good idea and are worked on extremely quickly. 90 hours of work on one song sounds like a tilting-at-windmills moment to me; it either has that spark or it doesn't.

[Sine69]

Don't get down dood, at least you've got a shiny metallic logo with, not one, but two swooshes. It's a start.

Well now I feel like shit because I don't have ANY swooshes!