Hello everyone! I’m new to audiojungle. My first 3 tracks have been hard rejected and I need some suggestions from you about the next one. I need to improve my tracks, I know, so please be honest!
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It sounds extremely midi, not realistic. Especially the instrument coming in at 0:14 sounds midi. Are you using a velocity sensitive keyboard? Also there is a lack of reverb. It should make them sound a lot more realistic.There are also serious mixing issues.
My advice would be to start with something simpler. Take a look at different categories and choose something easier.
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If you intend to seriously study music, do not despair and stop. We need to work on the sound, arrangement and composition. Personally, I initially had more than 10 hard rejects. It was very frustrating, I wanted to quit everything) But the desire to study music was stronger than the desire to retreat)) Work more and do not stop at reached. I think it’s no secret that success depends only on 10% of talent, and 90% of hard work))
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What mixing issues are you reffering to? Can you give me some examples? I mean I tried to mix it and I hear it sounds muffled, closed. All instruments are panned out and have their own frequencies and spacial position. A little advice would be very helpful. Thank you!
Yes you’re right. I lack work because I started producing 1 year ago and I worked very hard, but it takes more than that, right? It’s that step when you have those 2 final options: give up, it’s not for you or continue and get better…I know what you are saying. With people like you, here on envato, it’s hard to give up and I thank you for that!
First of all, I’m a beginner as well but I can hear some obvious issues when they’re ‘obvious enough’.
I can’t put my finger on a specific frequency and tell you that there are problems but the instruments don’t seem to blend together well, it doesn’t sound like a mixed track, it just sounds like midi instruments played together, do you know what I mean? But hopefully a correct use of reverb and choosing better samples will fix that. It will also be a lot easier to judge the mix after your track gets more realistic sounds. There’s no point in mixing until you choose your final VSTs.
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Yeah, you’re right. I just thought the vsts are ok I focused just on the mix. Thanks a lot!
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Don’t give up! One year is really not much. With a lot of work and determination, analyze etc you will get better and better and it will come more easy to determine what you have to do to get the result you want. I listen to my mixes from 6-7 years ago and they sounds really muddy and dull in comparion of my mixes today. It’s a long journey!
Do you have many articulations in your sound libraries for each instrument? Your lines need to sound more attached at the right places. Try to make each line sing in switching between many articulations (by examples the first note of a line could have a slow attack attaching with the second note with a fast attack and nice decay and vibrato before the third note…). You have to use MIDI controller often (modulation, expression, volume…) too. You need more dynamics. A difference in velocity between notes is more expressive/ realistic than if it stay static. By example your rhytmic strings motifs could fade in and fade out in velocity like a wave rather than stay static in velocity/volume. Putting the right expression in a line demands a certain musical sensibility and logic depending of the context. It’s a thing that can be developped with time with listening and practice.
For the mix, It sounds maybe too saturated / compressed in the louder part. You have a lot of gain in the mid between 500-3500 hertz approximately. It make the sounds harsh and muddy when you have some harmonics there that are to much resonant. Often in that spot (1500-3500 hz), when you have a massive orchestration, complex arrangement, you can get too, a lot of odd harmonics that did not fit too much with the chords. I use chirurgical narrow cuts a lot in that spot when I mix just to make that peaking harmonics more quieter. You can start by cleaning the percussion of all ringing harmonics there if necessary (Some can be completely cut, other need too stay a bit there to keep the character of the instrument). Already, you will hear that percussion and pitched instruments don’t sound one over the other as much as before (you don’t need a loud 2000 hz ringing harmonic on snare or cymbals that will compete with viloins by example (I don’t say it’s the case in your mix). So personally, I begin by attenuate too loud harmonics on all my tracks with sometime between 8-16 very narrow cuts on all the spectrum and after that, I make a place in the spectrum for the bass drum/low toms (30-60 hz) and another for the contrabasses (60-120 hz). Cellos above the contrabasses if they are playing in their low register (100-180 hz). For a round french horns sound (250-500 hz) etc. You need 2-3 instruments that make the hi end sparkle/air of the track (it can be the violins and cymbals). Not too much instruments with a lot of treble because it will just sound noisy and try to not make each instruments sounds narrow (they need definition). It’s a balance between everything is one over the other and everything have is place in the spectrum but keep enough definition.
Maybe you should check for a better, more expressive and cleaner sounding soundbank. But even with the best libraries you will have to program your line to make them expressive and clean the sound at least a bit.
The arrangement and melody are great and enough commercial for audio jungle for sure!
I hope it helps! 
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You are great! It’s exactly what I’m missing. I didn’t know how to clean up the instruments, I don’t know, I feel like the instrument looses too much power when I eq like you said. I guess I have to practice more until I figure that out. These are some eye opening tips. Thank you so much for your time.
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Thank you! 
Maybe you cut too wide or attenuate too much or not at the right place. If you looses the power in the sound, you cut too much low end (when it sounds tiny). If it sounds hollow and too quieter you cut to much in the mids (the agressive spot when it’s too much). If it sounds dull (not enough definition) you don’t have enough in hi mids and treble. It’s a very delicate thing to balance a sound. Here are some examples of my chirurgical narrow cut: 
As you see it’s only the too loud harmonics than I attenuate with very narrow cuts without touching those near. You have to find them precisely using your ears. A frequency analyzer can be helpful but use your ears to know what you have to cut and how much.
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I understand where I did wrong. I made wider cuts that’s why the instruments lost their original sound. I’ve listened to some of your tracks and I can definitely hear the difference. I hope these tips will bring me closer to that!
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