bobheads - first post; new track in progress
Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum but have been a long-time user of Nanostudio (first N1, and now N2) and have been creating sounds and music for as long as I can remember before that! I've dabbled in Garageband and other PC-centred DAWs, but tbh Nanostudio is always my go-to app - it's so quick and easy to get something started, and the sounds are simply fantastic.
I'm mightily impressed with the tracks I am discovering here on the forum, and would love to share some of mine for comments and feedback. First and foremost I'm a musician and composer, so I know I still have a lot to learn about mixing and mastering (producing) my own tracks - perhaps people here can help?
Here is something I'm working on at the moment and for one thing, I'm trying to figure out how to make the bass sound clearer and perhaps more distinct. Probably some masterful compression and EQ is required?* Also it sounds great on some speakers/headphones but not on others - these are the magic producer-skills I am hoping to learn! I find that I usually jump straight to Nanostudio presets for sounds, which is great for getting ideas down quickly - but wonder if I should be looking into shaping and sound design a bit more, so that things work well together in context with the other sounds present.
(*I've already learnt a lot about EQ and compression basics, but it seems to take a lot of practice and experience to really understand how to achieve the right results!)
As usual I always have several tracks 'on the go' and move from one to another until I feel something is complete. Recently I've also been trying to export completed stems into Auria Pro for final mixing - but it's all just an experiment really - just trying to learn more stuff..!
...Anyway - here's the first track (not finished yet, but you get the general picture) - let me know how you like it, first of all, and if anyone has some tips about mixing these sounds, I'd be very happy to hear them!
I might put up some other unfinished things here for advice/feedback - if this is the right place for that? ( if not, just let me know!).
Happy to join this diverse community of music-makers!
cheers
bobheads / patrick
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I've also been releasing many of my older tracks (mostly Nanostudio 1 on iPhone 3GS) on the usual platforms, so I'll include the links here in case anyone is interested in exploring! There are a lot - they are mostly quite short, pattern-based electronic grooves each with its own character and 'album cover'. Let me know if you listen to anything!
Comments
Hi Patrick and welcome
I like it, it doesn’t need too much fiddling to my ears
I had a listen and it felt like the bass (which is nice) was a little over powering. Maybe lower the volume a touch and also put a compressor on it and sidechain it to the kick which gets a little lost when both are playing together. I can elaborate further if needed 😉
I usually put a stereo filter/ high pass on all other sounds that should be out of the bass spectrum at around 300hz or above depending on the sound. That will help clean up when mixing.
Look out for problematic frequencies when mixing. I find areas such as 300-500hz, 1-1.5k, 3k and 6k to be areas where I tend to put most cuts on the e.q, again depending on the sound.
Hope that helps
@leeb thanks for all your feedback - really appreciated!
Thanks for the EQ tips! do you mean you put cuts on all tracks in those areas ( because there is just too much sound in those frequencies), or do you choose only some sounds to cut in that region, so that the others in that spectrum will be heard more clearly?
I'm also discovering the infinite subtleties of choosing a kick drum that matches the other instruments... tuning the pitch of it and so on - and here I notice that the kick I used is not a good match, aurally speaking (I think it has a sub bass pitch that holds on after it is hit, which I hadn't noticed when just picking the drumkit and playing a rhythm.) aaargghh!!
So I might also use a different kick before looking into the side-chain stuff for this track.
thanks a lot for your notes.
The e.q advice I gave was really where I find problematic areas in some sounds in the mix., especially when playing together.
Definitely not to cut all sounds in those areas. I should have worded it better.
The Kick is something I always fight with too. You are not on your own there.
Cheers
Hi there @bobheads
I have been listening your stuff (not all of it yet) on 🍏 music and I must say I like most I heard;) my favourites so far are slow motor, dreams of flight, The man who drunk from taps;)
When you first introduced yourself I thought you just starting out:D but you are definitely doing very good so keep up good work!;) I’ll listen rest of your stuff later on but I have some in my library already so will listen some more.
When I get home I’ll have listen to this track properly as I don’t have headphones but LeeB knows this stuff better than me (I’m pretty sure of that, his mixing is really clean and precise) anyway so his advice shouldn’t be taken lightly;)
>
haha I am discovering there are many and fiercely-argued religious denominations about low-end choices.... a whole universe of opinions and methods! 
Thanks for your tips!
@Cray23 Thanks for your kind words! It's funny to me that you mentioned three tracks from waaaaay back (pre 2007, pre Nanostudio for me). Two were made in early 2000's on a crappy Windows machine with free software (!) and the third was composed, written out, and actually recorded with 'real' musicians (and a click track/percussion track) during a composing module at Guildhall in London.
Nanostudio 1 opened doors for me, after having played with Logic Pro for a couple of years - then I got married and had kids, and my previous hours of spare time just disappeared - but I could still work on Nanostudio on a train commute - totally awesome!
I really just make the music I want to hear - and I'm always happy to hear from someone who enjoys the same sounds as me! (so let me know what else you enjoy, if you listen to any others)
For what it's worth (mutual appreciation club!) I am so impressed by your tracks here, and I can tell I still have so much to learn about iPad music-making in particular. It's true I've been doing stuff 'like' this for decades, but there is always new stuff to play with and to learn. Despite being a relative oldie round here (I suspect), I still have so much respect for the energy and punch of all these in-your-face DnB tracks! They are like espresso for me - once in a while is great, refreshing and stimulating, but too much/too long and I get tired/exhausted ears.... but in short bursts I really love it! So powerful! I would like to integrate some of these styles and sounds and aural environments into my composing repertoire.
Slowly, slowly.
...always collecting new inspirations and widening the field....
cheers
@bobheads yeah I have been listening some more couple of days ago, and last night. Arctic landscape, Proterozoic, Deep - Dive I did put into my library and I’ll listen rest today at work, I usually listen lot of music while at work so I have this playlist of people I mostly found here who produces music on their own and usually with ns2 so I’ll be adding your tracks there;)
Btw I’m getting old too:D half way to 40:D
But like Peter Pan:D never grow old in mind:D now I’m gonna look for my marbles:DDD
Just for reference I'm linking to the 'final' version I uploaded to Spotify as the Soundcloud link is no longer valid. All comments and feedback still always warmly welcomed :-)
https://open.spotify.com/album/65c6bjogeLoUISWYFxXIMz
oh now I'm not sure if it was this track or another - I'm trying to replace broken soundcloud links with spotify ones and the tracks have all changed names since then
ah well