r/FL_Studio • u/Ok-Chart-7441 • 1d ago
Discussion Any ideas on how to make this go harder?
[removed] — view removed post
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u/4D4M-ADAM 23h ago
Kick and snare need to cut through more. More sidechain. Go nuts on your drum fills.
Bounce these to stems and keep em in a folder for later if its not going how you want 2-3 hours from now
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u/_dvs1_ 1d ago
Anytime I get that feeling, I print it and move on to the next one. Took a lot of time for me to realize that. Adding to that isn’t going to make it better, it’s just going to make it different. If you feel like you’ve taken it as far as you can, then don’t force it past that point. You’ll end up wasting time on tracks that don’t need that much time. Just my two cents.
I thought this was cool overall. Also, I love Allan Watts.
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 1d ago
"isn't going to make it better, it's just going to make it different"
That's interesting. Thanks. That'll probably replay in my mind a lot for future tracks.
Alan Watts was a very wise man indeed.1
u/_dvs1_ 1d ago
Happy to share.
It still happens to me sometimes and I’ve been doing this for 14 years. I’ll be adding stuff that doesn’t need to be added, then all of the sudden I don’t even recognize what I’m working on. It’s like trying to get somewhere without know where the destination is. I save things in versions now for that reason. the Save As button has helped me more than anything else in this daw lol.
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u/Proud-Savings-9439 1d ago
Truer words of wisdom have never been spoken. My last two releases followed this exact principle. Whatever is missing has already been learned and will apply to the next track. There's something freeing about concluding a track & the freedom to move on to the next.
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u/srobbins250 1d ago
Obviously this is up to your personal taste. But this melody just screams a hardstyle song with a heavy distorted kick going 1-2-3-4 underneath everything.
This song would go so much harder with a driving kick pattern.
The melody is amazing thought, you did a great job with it.
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u/MothyThatLuvsLamps 23h ago
THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME! Its really good, I wanna make stuff like this if I ever get good enough.
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
Haha thanks man. You'll get there eventually if you keep learning and stick with it.
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u/quinart_ 21h ago
Have a low pass filter in the intro, it makes it go harder. Listen to Overthinker
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u/Solex_UK 18h ago
I just want to start by saying that I love that song already, has a very epic saw synth feel to it!
Carving out space before the drop is the way to go. Allow the buildup to do it's job and add tension by adding something like a low cut filter, a bit of reverb (just a couple of ideas but there are lots of things you could do).
If you feel the build has enough tension but to you the drop still doesn't hit or have enough release then adding more powerful elements could be more beneficial. Try adding a more powerful kick or a different drum pattern (kick on every beat to give it drive), maybe a crashing impact or layer more synths that the buildup didn't have.
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
Thanks man. Glad you like how it sounds. Love me my saw lead layers.
I'll experiment with reverb automation, thanks!
The current kick pattern is preferential. I had originally intended on having the kick pattern beat like a heartbeat. Added some reverse kick tails on the first and last kick of 4 bar but it's maybe a bit too subtle.
I'll experiment with some impacts and sfx as you suggested. Cheers legend
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u/BigTurdBlossom 17h ago
To be honest it feels like a build up to a great track. When the spoken word comes in for the second time you could continue the track with a key rise and a snare build, then go for like a Pendelum - faster your seatbelts style drop. Like a electrohouse/dubstep hybrid. I think that would be cool!
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
Sounds good. I'll do some experimenting with that. Thanks bro. Nice name btw haha
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u/the_anglonesian 17h ago
Leave a break before the drop and do a HPF sweep, or use an uplifter, drum fill or repeated cut of the vocal sample, or get creative with some reversed reverb. Drums sound a bit weak (might be my phone speaker), maybe push the RMS up a bit, and add some bus sidechain to emphasise the bass drum - that's all I got
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u/Fedginald 16h ago
Sounds really good. There's a couple of ways you could take it. Other people have suggested more low-end percussion to make it more hardstyle, but I think with some solid female vocals you could have a witch house banger
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u/CodeSilva873 15h ago
SUCH A FIRE BEAT MAN, all it needs is a little bit more space in the main beat Also, how did you get the multi coloured interface? I'd like to know please:)
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
Thanks man. Yeah I think you're right.
You can change the color of any channel by highlighting it by clicking on it and pressing F2 and click the color tab.
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u/OmenAhead 15h ago edited 15h ago
The melody and chords are really good as composition, this should make a hit (not sure about the vocal sample though, must be copyrighted or so?).
The sounds are a bit dull, could use some high frequency boost, or maybe less detuning/phasing/chorusing etc because that weakens them, especially in the drop (in the intro it's ok to not hit that hard). Or you can layer some new sounds that are "cleaner" for a stronger foundation.
A more energetic arpeggio line in the intro. I see you have one, but it's barely audible. You could also automate the speed/time of the arpeggio (at only a few places) to give it interest. Also maybe some cinematic/Hans Zimmer tom drum hits and brass could really pump it up.
A pre-drop drum fill. You can add 2 beats/half a measure more (or however long it takes) between the drop and the last intro beat, to give the fill its own space and also interrupt the pacing and "surprise" the listener on when the drop hits. At that place you can use an extra riser or wonky effects etc.
More sidechain to make the kick and snare hit alone (but be careful not to completely mute the main melody), and ALSO get new kick and snare samples because these are very "doofy" and they don't naturally cut through the mix. Maybe look for some dubstep or drum n bass drums which usually have a lot clank and oomph.
Other things could be that most stuff is just long / sustained, while, for example, you can make the bass play 8th's or 16ths or go to higher octaves at some places or follow the main melody a bit, so you give it more driving feel. And the chords could use some gate effect/pitchbends to give them some movement/unpredictability and also driving feel (but not too much).
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
Thanks man.
There's already a lot of detuning on the lead stack and the high end is dummy amped already. What audio were you listening to it through out of curiosity?I'll try to bring the arp more forward and experiment with it. Thanks!
There's a very aggressive sidechain on the kick already that's sidechained to almost every layer. I'll experiment with it some more if it's not coming through on all audio system. Thanks!
Sounds good. I'll experiment with pitch automation and see how it turns out.
Thanks for all the great advice and feedback. I appreciate it•
u/OmenAhead 6h ago
I listened through JBL 305's studio monitors. Actually it may be that, that you boosted the high end too much and they have become thin. It's always a delicate line with big saw chords, not as easy as they say lol.
About the phasing, nowadays I often take a step back on the detuning and reduce the use of chorus effects, because many plugins tend to f*ck the phase way too much sometimes. Usually (for example) Serum's Detuning on the oscillators is the most solid for that job, while TAL-Chorus and FL Studio's chorus effects are bit sloppy and thin (just giving out ideas).
Yeah well, then the kick/snare samples are just not working for this. Try out a few more, or maybe stack more than 1 kick and snare on top of each other. Once i was afraid to do that, but I figured there is a lot of things you can do with just their volume.
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u/Atateam_Atapac 13h ago
throw in a big impact on the drops/bridge
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u/Atateam_Atapac 13h ago
tons of sidechain on the drums
add thousands of chorus and/or flanger on the synths
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
Sounds good thanks. I'll experiment with impact and other sfx.
There's already a very aggressive sidechain from the kick to almost every channel but I'll experiment with it some more. Thanks!
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u/YeVkiN 12h ago
Dam, i like this one. Sounds great. Maybe a couple snappy drum fills if anything. I can imagine a bad ass scene in a movie with this as the soundtrack.
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
Thanks. I'm glad you like it.
I'll experiment with the drums and see how it goes.
Aha yeah that'd be cool!
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u/SloppyJrDetective 1d ago
I guess you want to highlight the dude speaking, so maybe drop a few instruments on the last beat, so the last part of his statement has some punch. It looks like you've done the opposite and added an additional layer.
You could also try a different riser, maybe double length.
Another thing I'd try is to print the last beat without him speaking so you have just that as a wav file. Pop it in there on a new bus or track or wtv it's called. Set to stretch and add a pitch envelope so it goes down right before the beat kicks in. You could also do exactly that, but only use a quarter of the last beat, copy paste it so it plays 4 times total in that beat, but drop the pitch by 100 or so on each quarter. You could also modulate the x y or whatever it's called, or do an eq sweep right there.
Some combination of all or none of these should do the trick. Also wanted to say it sounds pretty cool homie.
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 8h ago
Awesome suggestion. Thanks brother
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u/SloppyJrDetective 8h ago
Anytime. Also please free to dm me when you drop the track, suggestions or not. I like the vibe. Cheers
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 1h ago
There's a version of it uploaded on my YouTube channel, which is where I post my music. It's in my bio if you wanna check it out. Glad you like it
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u/Christowfur Synthwave 1d ago
This guy electronic musics. Any of these suggestions will do the trick
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u/ChrispyFry 1d ago
Add some cut outs of complete silence and some pther cut outs with short drum fills
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u/Specialist-Pair1252 1d ago
the build up before the drop could be a bit longer more drums in the buildup maybe then a small gap then boom drop that bady boy
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u/CalebKooMusic 23h ago
Ooh the concept for this track is really cool. I think typically to make songs "hit harder" on a drop, there needs to be elements of "delayed gratification". This can come in many forms, but you can try creating another 16-bar of build-up right before the drop; scoop some of the low end (or fade them out gradually) and put a filter on anything above 10-12k, then on the first down-beat of the drop, release the filter and allow all the low-end back in. You can also experiment with how to create suspense musically (suspending a chord with a moving bassline, etc.).
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u/SlipperyCatapilleza 20h ago
Driving a kick to get the listener to engage would be my suggestion. This more of a thought rather than actual advice cause i’m not a pro but i feel like if you have a underlying force that drives the tempo forward in an edm/house/dnb song it causes more engagement, add anything that goes fast like an arp or another layer of open hats (or a unique sound) that drives the beat forward through eight notes
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u/YeVkiN 12h ago
Would you consider sending me the stems? Probably terrible to even ask you for them but i would love to mess with this one. Mostly to try out different ideas for the drums.
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
No chance, but feel free to take inspiration from it and thanks for showing an interest. Hope your track turns out the way you want it to
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 7h ago
Thanks everyone for your suggestions and feedback. Post has been removed by mods. I appreciate you all. Happy producing!
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u/psitaxx 1d ago
a pre-drop drum fill
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u/Ok-Chart-7441 1d ago
Experimented with that but it drowned out the sample of Alan Watts, and I'm really keen on keeping that in there. I'll try again with some different EQ and see if I can get it to fit. Thanks
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u/Specialist-Pair1252 23h ago
have him talk even after the pre drop drum fill in the gap then drop it
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u/DanTyrano 1d ago edited 20h ago
Put that kick every beat in the measure that you want to go harder. Go back to the slower pattern when you want to let it rest.
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u/GooberDingle 1d ago
Sounds great but if you were to add more of a buildup before the drop it would sound amazing
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