Jay Pace - Riggle : Dirty funky techno

[Jay Pace]

Aye

Looking for some opinions on a new tune I'm working on. Dirty twisty techno with a bit of a break to it and a big bassline.

Click the link to download : Riggle

Comments and feedback much appreciated.

ta' very much

[Evil G]

i'm digging the grimey bass, cool stereo effects, and old school claps and finger snaps.

my only real complaint is that the kick lacks top end and is getting buried. maybe bring down the volume of some of the synth parts and make room for the kick to punch through better.

cheers

[xfive]

Interesting style ya got goin on in this one!

Nice use of sounds... I do agree about the kick needing to cut through the mix a bit more, and the grungy bass synth can be toned down a bit as its quite a bit overpowering compared to the topend.

[smeerkees]

The bassdrum sounds like old skool to me. It's an very 'easy' build up. Not very special. That synth pumps hard. A bit too hard in my opinion. I like the part at 01:55. That has a pretty good drive. I'm not a big fan of those 'computertones'. I think you can get more out of this track with a few changes. Good luck!

[AcidTrash]

needs to do more. develop your percussion. The bass being the main feature is not enough on its own. I soon got bored.

[Jay Pace]

Useful comments. I thought the track still needed a fair bit of work and I wanted input on where to concentrate. So thanks peeps.

I keep losing my kicks when I master things - they seem to get swallowed when I maximise the track.

What are "computertones" though? Curious on that one.

[audioinjection]

yeah, the mix gets really squashed once that bassline comes in, probably due to limiting/compression....................you might wanna try eqing that bassline or bass drum, maybe roll off some low end to bring through the punch of that kick

a little plain beginning also, could do with some more percussion, but seems like a nice idea for a track, kinda old school sounding

[dirty_bass]

Old skool.
hehe
I`d sidechain that bass to the kick, and roll off the unnecessary sub frequencies to add more room to the mix.
And you`ve probably over done the maximisation.
With bass like this, you really need to fit the other sounds around it with the eq.
At the moment the bass just sits over everything, drowning it all out.
I don`t mean to be mean but this is a pretty bad mixdown.
And it should be pretty apparent to you.
I would suggest taking everything down to zero.
bringing in the kick and the bass, and balancing them.
Then one by one bring in the other elements, sculpting them to fit in.

[Jay Pace]

Thats not mean at all, its good advice. This is fourth track I have done and I learn a lot of stuff each time. The mixdown is messy but I quite liked the grungyness of it, plus I wasn't too sure how to de-grunge it.

I haven't quite got my head round subtractive eq'ing yet, among other things. Or even what order to do things in. But I've found this place is an invaluable resource to bounce ideas about, get production advice and inspiration and pointers on where I'm going wrong.

So please by all means keep the advice coming.
;)

[dirty_bass]

Well, a good pointer is to balance opposites.
Kick should balance the Hats.
If you go down low with the bass, then you need some fizz at the top end to balance out.
Work your way in to the mid frequencies.
Generally a good guide to building a solid groove.
Is to get the kick and the hats to sit right.
THEN gor for a sound that hits the very mid frequency right inbetween the kick and the hats. If you get this balance right, then anything you then fit inbetween these 3 key points will work into the already nicely balanced groove.
Then you can either work in the bass slightly above, or slightly below the kick.
Or when you get really clever, you can plonk the kick right inside the bass.
But this is another matter.

[Jay Pace]

I've tried sidechaining before - is that what you mean with getting the kick to sit inside the bass? This usually creates a pretty unsubtle pumping effect, which is nice but very noticeable, and not what I hear other people doing.

I've even tried splitting the bassline in two using filters, then sidechaining the kick to the low frequency part, but not without much success. And I get the feeling I'm stabbing about in the dark not quite knowing what I am trying to achieve with all these shennanigans.

Oh, for a comprehensive book that explains all these things.

[dirty_bass]

Well, if you get good with your EQ, you can pull the kick frequencies out of the bass, just right, so the kick sits right in the middle of it, yet, it sounds like the bass hasn`t been touched.

[Evil G]

Well, if you get good with your EQ, you can pull the kick frequencies out of the bass, just right, so the kick sits right in the middle of it, yet, it sounds like the bass hasn`t been touched.

for the nerds in the house, this is a psychoacoustic effect called "perceptual completion". it works best with white noise (if a sound is muted off, some white noise played, then the sound unmuted, we will tend to imagine that the sound was playing the whole time and the white noise just played on top), but with clever eqing it's possible with other sounds as well. i think it's really the key to making a track sound fuller than full.