Lazerbeat
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Tokyo, Japan

Just had a quick spin through the CC forum and had a couple of thoughts. Most of the topics are variations of :

Topic : "here is a track, please give me some CC"

OP : "hey guys, I just wrote a track, what do you think?"

This is all well and good but it is a bit hard (for me at least) to know what angle to approach giving CC from. I think the CC forum should be about improving tracks and helping members of the community be better musicians. It is a bit hard for me to know how to help this poster so I am much more likely to get lost in a reddit click trance. Consider :


Topic : "How can I improve the structure in this c64 House tune?"

OP : "I like the sound design and the mix of this tune but I feel the track meanders a bit, I am not really sure how to transition from my verse to my chorus and I don't know how to end the song"

Nice and clear, eliminates a lot of things from the equation and give the CCer specific areas to focus on, thread title more likely to attract C64 users, house fans and structure experts.

Or

Topic "How can I toughen up the kick drum in this LSDJ track?"

OP "The kick drum seems to be a bit buried in the mix, any hints on how I can make it punchier? I think it gets particularly lost around 1:20 - 1:40 when the loud bass comes in."

Clear title, likely to attract LSDJ users with a knowledge of production


Or if you don't have a specific problem and want general feed back, take a pen and paper, listen to your track a few times write down 3 things you are happy with and three things you are less happy with, this narrows the range of things potentially helpful people will be listening for.

Topic : "Could I get some feedback on this FM funk track?"

OP : "I like the drums and the melody a lot, I think the chorus works well and the vocal samples work. I am less sure about the verses, the bassline and the mix."

Pretty vague title still but is likely to attract people who like FM (me) and people who like funk (me) who want to see more good FM funk. Also I am specifically thinking about verses, bassline and mix while listening. In general, if you are clear about what YOU as an artist think about your track there is a better chance other people will too!

ps : Thread title brought to you by the department of redundancy department.

8-Bit-Rex
Offline
Chepachet, Rhode Island

Though I agree with you...the problem is people posting CC threads are usually new and it'll be a cold day in hell before new people read a post like this beforehand.

Victory Road
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Gosford, Australia

A+ guide to making CC threads, but the drums need to be louder

AndrewKilpatrick
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Brighton | Portsmouth | UK

*mandatory moan about something because CC was in the thread title*

Though I agree with Rexxi.
I think this forum would be made 10x better if everything Lazerbeat posted was auto-stickied or a splash screen with your wise words before you can actually post anything (for the first time)

ChipsChallengeBand
Offline
Rochester, NY

good thread mate

George
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Cambridge UK

Most constructive post.
Needs to be read, stickied, retweeted, liked and licked.

herr_prof
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Unsubscribe

I think the biggest way to get more criticism is to stick around and become a member of the forum first. Would you ask strangers on the street to listen to your music ( if you are a midtown nyc rap crew dont answer this)?

George
Offline
Cambridge UK
herr_prof wrote:

I think the biggest way to get more criticism is to stick around and become a member of the forum first. Would you ask strangers on the street to listen to your music ( if you are a midtown nyc rap crew dont answer this)?

In any case, Lazerbeat's tutorial on how to get CC, if followed, would make those threads less annoying to us oldfags and maybe make us more welcoming of newcomers.

Just a thought.

herr_prof
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Unsubscribe

Totes.

Jake Allison
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Tulsa, OK

good words sir lazer

SketchMan3
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NC in the US of America

I thought this was a thread asking how to get more CC.

I will definitely take the advice posted here to heart.

DataFix
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orange county, CA

well said Lazerbeat.

ant1
Offline
uhajdafdfdfa

people aren't going to do this because they don't have any idea of what they want to improve or even believe that they can improve. they just want people to say  REALLY GOOD TRACK smile) YOU ARE GOOD i think most of the time. imho we don't need a constructive criticism section here

but i agree with you, if people are actually going to ask for help this is how they should do it

SketchMan3
Offline
NC in the US of America
ant1 wrote:

people aren't going to do this because they don't have any idea of what they want to improve or even believe that they can improve. they just want people to say  REALLY GOOD TRACK smile) YOU ARE GOOD i think most of the time. imho we don't need a constructive criticism section here

but i agree with you, if people are actually going to ask for help this is how they should do it

I think that's part of the reason CC threads are so vague sometimes. They KNOW there's probably something off, but they don't have the expertise to figure out what it is, so they(we?) bring it to you guys to critique and point out the flaws that they missed.

breakphase
Offline
Earth

I agree that sometimes(most of time) they want approval. But there are times when it's good to get a fresh pair of ears to listen to a track.

Je Mappelle
Offline

this thread is pointless

i'm telling you guys, the ONLY way to fix this problem is for people to see this shit before they explore the rest of the site, like i have suggested before, a page you're directed to after registration

jesus rollerblades it's not even a problem actually just get over it

inb4 je madragon for not pretending to be civil