My songs are not as good as I want them - What can I improve?

DominikGX

I want to improve. Unfortunately I always compare myself to other producers, who are more professional than me. I recently created my seventh song:

https://youtu.be/ZOgSUeZ_0Kw

The music I make does not get better. I started using modulation on my synth.

How have you started creating music? Can you give me some guidance and tips to make better music? How can I give a song more depth? Is there a good music theory website out there?

How do you handle it listening to your songs all over again when creating them? Does this get boring for you? Or am I just to slow to produce music so I get used to it? I think the songs I did with my DAW where better than using my MK3. I already understood the concept of patterns, groups etc. and did arrange everything to this song. But the melodies I do on it are not as complex as I did them in my DAW. Is this only my perception? For example I did this song: https://youtu.be/I5y_yROkVV0 which is my favorite but was done entirely with DAW..

JesterMgee

Well, time, patience and persistence will get you there eventually. 7 songs isn't all that much in the scheme of things. I could throw you the first 200 songs I produced over the first 5 years of my journey 30 years ago and you would think they are trash as I do, but I also see the progress along the way and TBH, I still am learning different skills and techniques, it's kind of a life long package really.

As a suggestion, maybe ditch the lyrical part for the moment and just focus on the melodies. The reason it sounds "flat" is because you don't yet have skills to know what you need to do to flesh it out and there is not enough time to explain it on a forum.

Melody can be very simple, many songs I create these days I use the minimum of tracks and instruments and focus on picking sounds that layer well. Often I will have strings for high end or higher pitch synths, guitars, horns and bass. Piano is good for a lead.

The rest comes after you have a melody and that can be weeks/months of trying to balance some basic effects and mixing. Learning about the frequency range of the layers you have and trying to push the most out each part. There aren't really shortcuts to skills, like asking someone to expolain the best way to reverse a trailer up a windy road, you can read all you like about it but will never really have a feel for it without spending the time to learn and practice.

And stop comparing too much to professionals, they often pay actual professionals who are way better than you will ever be, with actual bankable skills.

Kubrak

It seems to me the drum is sort of dull. Maybe use some other, or layer two three over. And use compresor.

If using harmonizer, I would use some other or different settings.

And add more layers, more sounds on background.

And do not try to sound like someone else. Find your own way that will distinguish you from others. Beeing n-th copy of someone else does not bring any real value...

Also your song does not have sort of breathing, an element that regullary moves there and back and measures time. Imagine it like a point on the revolving wheel. It goes regullary up-down. Or like breathing.

Also, everything that Jester has suggested is valuable.

One may start with melody as Jester suggests. I personally start with rhytm and when I am satisfied with it, I add melody.

Nico_NI

Some good questions here.

I guess you should not want to rush it if it's your 7th track only. For most producers, I would bet it takes 50 to 100 tracks to start being okay/good technically and a tiny bit more objective about what you're actually doing (you will never ever be fully objective about your own tracks).

Experimentation, information/learning and inspiration are keys in making progress imo.

Being obsessive with my mixdowns has been way more rewarding than what I thought. Don't sleep on that part.

Last crucial point for me would be the workflow. If you prefer to do the melodies in your DAW, keep doing them here and use the MK3 for anything else you feel comfortable doing there. The more you know your tools, the more straightforward you make them be, the fastest the ideas flow. The best tracks are usually made in a couple hours.

DominikGX

I

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/40389#Comment_40389

I have to admit that I suffer from depression, which makes music production quite difficult at first. I think my major problem is expressing my true feelings. Being open for other thougths. (Still I decided to buy Komplete 14 Collectors edition, as I want freedom in production. Probably was a mistake, as synth are already the most in Standard and Ultimate. Nonetheless...) I found out that it is great for me to practice this. I also believe comparing with other people is way more different than getting inspiration. Music is some sort of therapy, but only working on music all the time makes me too focused on things. I should allow myself to take some sort of break, without getting pressure on inspiring myself to further improve.

I am also thankful for your comments. Some really helped me and some others strenghten the way I thought how I should do it.

It is quite difficult to arrange a whole melody in Mk3 for a production beginner? Sure, there are great harmonizers as someone sugested. I do drums on Mk3 which is easier, some simple "filling melodies" to make the song bigger. By telling me I should layer the song, you mean using the pan with the same voice, to make it a bit more full? I did this on my latest track, which will go online soon if I manage to do video editing.

Yeah the breathing is way more interesting. I missed that. I will add this on future projects.

DominikGX

Indeed, using breath makes things more lively. I have recorded myself this time. With bx_crispytuner and flair on top. Nonetheless I don't get this brilliant autotune effect as in the MK3 part 3 video tutorial, allthough I made the level more extreme. It seems it is not working?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riyYRnIkN5A

Milos

I would recommend using compression or dynamics plugin for the master chain (ST supercharger or KiloHearts Dynamics)

Just make sure to use dry/wet settings so that you can hear the compressed and raw mix.

With dry/wet settings you can make a high quality and stable mix while retaining emotions from the tracks!