Help With Music Production

copa, I think that the guitar track is really nice; did you record live guitar for that?
 
Pooky said:
Yeh so what must I do to improve?
Click to expand...

How about this? You listen critically to your track, and ask how to improve specific things.

Listening to it, I can't offer you a solution to the track's problems, as I'm not at a point where I can critique and fix other people's music, I struggle enough with my own FFS. :D

There's very little bass, and the kick is weak, two major issues with this type of music, obviously. Easiest way to begin fixing this is use the right samples/synths to begin with.

Did you compress the kick? Fast attack?

Happy to help as much as I can, but I'm no expert.
 
Well I don't really want to work on that track anymore.

The thing I most need to know is how to make a track sound like it isn't just samples layered over each other; give it some integration.
 
The kick drum is a good place to start

Most sampled kicks will sound quite feeble on their own as you can hear in this clip
http://www.syrrano.com/unprocessed_kick.mp3

A good way to build a nice kick is to use a plugin like ISM Bazzism which creates a kick using a sine wave
Use an EQ to roll off frequencies from around 200Hz upwards and around 80Hz downwards
This will give you a nice solid thump to base your kick on. Add some compression and a little transient boosting

Next you can mute the first kick and add a sampled kick then use an EQ to roll off all frequencies above 80Hz and below 40Hz
This will give you some low end sub bass. Try different kick samples till you find one that gives you a nice low end
Add some compression to it

Repeat this with another sampled kick but this time roll of the frequencies above and below 400Hz and add some transient boosting to this one too

Your kick should be quite solid by now. You can also layer a closed hat at low volume over it to give it some high end presence

Here is a layered kick that has been made with this method
http://www.syrrano.com/layered_kick.mp3
 
Pooky said:
Well I don't really want to work on that track anymore.

The thing I most need to know is how to make a track sound like it isn't just samples layered over each other; give it some integration.
Click to expand...

There's no simple answer to this.

That book, and that tutorial video I linked to earlier - If you read the book and watch the video, you will be ten-fold further than you are now.

Expecting a blanket answer to such a huge request is simply impossible.
 
To fatten up your basslines you can use a plugin like PSP Vintage Warmer to add saturation

Here is a clip without saturation
http://www.syrrano.com/unprocessed_bass.mp3

And here is one with saturation
http://www.syrrano.com/processed_bass.mp3

You can also make your bass sound fuller by widening the higher frequencies
Create 2 copies of your bass track
Apply an EQ to the main copy and roll off frequencies above 1000Hz or so
Apply EQ's to the two copies but roll of all frequencies under 1000Hz on these two
Now pan one of these copies hard left and the other one hard right
Apply a small but varied sample delay to each copy using a plugin like Voxengo Sound Delay
You will hear the sound appear to widen
http://www.syrrano.com/widened_bass.mp3

The widened bass may sound a bit weaker on its own, but it fits very well into the mix
 
When I have some spare time I'll download your tracks and give them a critique. Not going to be today though...
 
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