Comparing your music to "popular tunes"

[serox]

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.

Good advice.

[Railo]

I think it was Reso who said in his production masterclass video that it's good if you get your tune sounding half as good as the professionally mastered ones.

[Mad_EP]

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.

I totally disagree.. I think if one aims low, the result will always be low. Try to get your pre-master mix sounding almost, if not as good, as a mastered track and you will be ahead of the game.
Too many people use "let the ME make it sound good" as an excuse.

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

This on the other hand is true - relative volume is the name of the game.

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.

I disagree with this as well. While it is certainly true some great songs have been banged out in no time - some other great tracks have literally taken ages to complete.

[sketchyderek]

Well, I try not to do that, because it can be pretty discouraging.
I guess some people use reference tunes and all? Whatever works though.

What I was always bad for was when I'd hear a shitty track and be all "holy fuck that sucks, I'm going to get a track released so soon!" Wrong way to go about, that's for sure.

[arktrix45hz]

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..

Absolute bollocks.

Its a bit big headed to use my own example, but me and a mate did this in two six hour sessions...

Soundcloud

[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.

I totally disagree.. I think if one aims low, the result will always be low. Try to get your pre-master mix sounding almost, if not as good, as a mastered track and you will be ahead of the game.
Too many people use "let the ME make it sound good" as an excuse.

Notice the slight sarcastic undertone?
I will try my utmost to get my track done without an ME.
He might or might not be an added bonus.