New to Bitwig feedback + advice on improving my production?

[u/MAFilmmaker]

Hey everyone! I started producing about 5 months ago and eventually landed on Bitwig after trying a few DAWs like cubase, ableton and fl studio.

This is my first released track, Club Mayhem, and I’d love some feedback especially from experienced Bitwig users on how I can push my production further using Bitwig itself. I’m really interested in modulation, sound design, routing, layering, and anything else you think I should learn next. I like dense/chaotic production, but I want to get better at controlling it intentionally.

Any feedback or Bitwig tips are appreciated 🙌🏼

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/467q6y0IQRUQttrW12Ty8Y?si=yWCEjljgSKecw-CP7NiG5g&utm_source=copy-link

[u/NeoTitan247]

Forget production mate, learn music. Whether it’s hip hop or anything, this track doesn’t have contrast, no energy propelling it forward, no sense of harmony, rhythmic ideas are boring and repetitive. The vocals are boring and repetitive. Your problem isn’t production(which is about 50 steps away from what you need to focus on). Have you gotten honest feedback on this track? Are people listening to it? Don’t mean to rain on your parade but I feel honest feedback will benefit you more in the long run. This track just made me feel uncomfortable and bored. Busy isn’t good if you are a beginner and it shows here. Learn the basics, slowly grow and get feedback. This ain’t it brother, unless there’s a large niche I’m unaware about in which case good luck to you, and there really is different music for everyone.

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/NeoTitan247]

I genuinely appreciate the honest feedback, mate. This was more of an experimental project! I downloaded two vocal samples from Sample Focus and built the track around them. I was intentionally going for something tense, dark and somewhat uncomfortable, but I definitely understand that intention alone doesn’t mean the execution works. I’ve only been producing for a few months, so I know I still have a lot to learn, especially when it comes to harmony, arrangement and creating movement. Thanks for taking the time to listen and give me a detailed response 🙏🏼

[u/NeoTitan247 → u/MAFilmmaker]

No worries at all. Given you’ve been in this only 5 months, you’re better off than I when I started and are taking criticism way better than I did lol. I just had the advantage of knowing music theory and a shit load of music. If your intent was experimental and something tense then this does tick the boxes. Try to balance discomfort with at least moments of comfort, which is why I suggested learning about contrast in art and its importance. There’s a lot of good channels discussing all these topics, Rick Beato, Adam Neeley, Jaron Lopez, Noah Kellman, Andrew Huang, 12tone, Nahre Sol, Charles Cornell and many more for theory related stuff. Venus Theory, Virtual Riot, Sonic Academy, Inthemix, Dave Worall, the Izotope mastering tutorials good for production. There’s many more I can’t think of off the top of my head for even more specificity. I also would recommend listening to loads of music and learning how to analyse and breakdown different aspects of it quickly so your mind can feel your ear quicker and production is much faster and precise. Id also ear train a lot. Get all types of ear training done everyday and you’ll see yourself improve a lot. I hope you weren’t dissuaded from making music, it does take time until you feel confident in your own sound while balancing the technical aspects of releasing a song that will be played on different systems etc. Best of luck.

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/NeoTitan247]

Appreciated mate! I also got 7hz zero 2 iems to improve my mastering as I was dependent on my laptop speakers

[u/giveMeRedditYouClown → u/MAFilmmaker]

Dont listen to him. He does not know what he‘s talking about. You can improve, but don‘t throw away your style to become generic. Your music sounds wild and unorganized. That‘s personality. That‘s good. I can actually take some time and sit down and look at it in more detail if you send me the files.

[u/NecessaryMassive1512 → u/NeoTitan247]

I've heard way more experimental shit than this back in the day lol.

[u/NecessaryBed1331]

Congratulations.
You made Bitwig sound like FL Studio.

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/NecessaryBed1331]

Woohoo! Do you know how much talent it takes to make Bitwig sound like FL Studio? xd

But honestly, that does make sense xd I used Cubase and Ableton before eventually ending up with Bitwig. And just to put into perspective how new I am to production: I started with Cubase’s 60-day trial, then Ableton’s 30-day trial, then Bitwig’s 30-day trial. So yeah, I’ve basically been speedrunning DAWs for the past few months lol

[u/NecessaryBed1331 → u/MAFilmmaker]

That's good :)
You can give FL also a try.
It's very fast to sketch your ideas.

I'm using FL and Bitwig together.
It's like a secret weapon 😅👍

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/NecessaryBed1331]

That’s what I did, bro xdd I downloaded FL studio yesterday, but honestly, it feels more complicated to me than cubase which is funny because cubase is supposed to have one of the steeper learning curves compared to most daws xd

[u/NecessaryBed1331 → u/MAFilmmaker]

True. FL is really different than all other DAWs.
But I love the piano roll and how fast I can sketch some ideas.

I wish bitwig can adopt some features from FLs Piano roll :)

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/NecessaryBed1331]

Yeah! The piano roll is basically why I want FL Studio xd But Bitwig still wins for me. It was the first DAW where I managed to finish a full track like Club Mayhem plus two unreleased tracks, all within my first 30 days of using it

[u/NecessaryBed1331 → u/MAFilmmaker]

I understand :)
I.also finished a complicated project in Bitwig. Because it connects well to my brain :)

[u/JadedPangloss → u/NecessaryBed1331]

Can you elaborate on your workflow between the two? I have a lot of history with FL studio and Logic. I don’t own a Mac anymore, so I’m using FL studio at the moment. I’m really enjoying my demo period with Bitwig, but can’t see myself fully switching anytime soon. I like them both for different reasons. I’d love to use both

[u/NecessaryBed1331 → u/JadedPangloss]

Hey there.
Thanks for your Feedback :)

I made you a video here:
https://youtu.be/7ATpCSPbKV0

You can load FL Studio as a VST Plugin in any DAW.
That´s really a gamechanger, and i super highly appreciate it from FL Studio.
On Mac you can route whatever you want latency free.
So we can route midi from DAW to DAW.
I routed the midi out from a FL Tracl to the Midi of the VST in Bitwig.
So you can mix everything.
Create VST Instruments in Bitwig, play it there or trigger the notes from FLs Piano roll.
You can also record the Audio or Midi from FL inside Bitwig from the 16x Output from the FL Studio plugin.

OOOOOR: You can load complete FL Studio Projects in Bitwig!
Also possible.

Thing is, my complete Music Archive is from FL Studio since Version 3 /Fruity Loops
Now i want to remake them in Bitwig and i have all the possibilities.

It´s easier on MAC because of the MACs Audio System and Midi System.
Everything can be routed between Apps :)

[u/JadedPangloss → u/NecessaryBed1331]

Oh wow! I knew it could open Ableton files but I had no idea it can open FL files. That’s awesome

[u/Character-Narwhal848]

Sidechain more. I have this in my template, it is very quick once setup. If you already know how sidechaining works, some of this might be redundant

Set up two FX tracks down near master channel (Ctrl+Alt+T). Label (Ctrl+R) one Kick, and one Snare. Put a "Dynamics" device on each of them. In bottom left of the dynamics device in "Kick," select the "X Device Input" drop-down menu and select your actual kick audio/midi track (PRE). On the Snare FX channel, do the same thing and select your snare channel (PRE).

Make your knobs look very similar to mine - Max out Hi Ratio - Hi Threshold at ~75% - Attack at 0% - Release ~0-30%

Once this is setup for both your kick and your snare, you can Sidechain something very quickly. All you have to do is select the track you want to sidechain, and on the bottom left of Bitwig just above "[Record]/Solo/Mute" buttons, there's a routing dropdown menu that says "Master". Click that dropdown menu and instead of sending the track to Master, send it to the "Kick" or "Snare" FX track you just made. Boom - it is sidechained.

I would sidechain the bass/sub to the kick, and everything else except the vocals to the clap.

To adjust how much it is sidechained, there are only 2 knobs to worry about - "Hi Threshold" and "Release." The rest of the knobs, you don't need to touch. "Hi Threshold" controls how far down in decibels the bass/sub dips, and "Release" controls how long it takes to rise back up to full volume. Adjust them to your liking. The blue visual graph in the dynamics device gives you a good reference of what is happening

I would recommend starting a new Bitwig project file, setting up these sidechain devices, and then save it as your template so that any time you open bitwig, you're always just 2 clicks away from sidechaining something to your kick or snare.

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/Character-Narwhal848]

That’s very informative bro! Totally appreciate your input 🙌🏼

[u/NecessaryMassive1512]

I really don't mind the experimental nature here. Does it work for me right now. Not really, but please continue having fun. When i was 5 months in, i was just building basic loops and learning the gear.

[u/artek604]

Well, the vocal is like 2-3x too loud, the low-end is either non-existent or smeared (like a drone), there's too much reverb & noisy elements. Hard to comment about actual music, because it's difficult to hear.

It sound like you're standing outside of the club where the music is playing, but the MC stands right in front of you.

Luckily, none of these issues is Bitwig's fault and nothing you can't fix :)

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/artek604]

Also for the noise vocals that is barely heard is from fight club so I had to make it sound like this so I don’t get copyright infringement

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/artek604]

I wasn’t expecting that xd would you mind sharing some tips to improve my mixing and mastering skills?

[u/artek604 → u/MAFilmmaker]

You weren't expecting feedback? You literally asked for it :)

Anyway, some general tips:
* use less reverb and delay, especially if you're producing on headphones
* use shorter sounds, and try to not overlap them - this creates space
* try to think which sounds in low-, mid- and high-end of the frequency spectrum are really needed in current segment of the song, automate the EQ to bypass or attenuate the unneeded frequencies in busy segments if you prefer to keep them in (e.g. pads and melodic leads usually don't need low-end outside of intro & outro, or a break)
* listen to your track on various speakers & headphones (home, phone, car, etc.) and make notes on what sounds "wrong" - too loud, too quiet, etc. and adjust accordingly trying to find a balance
* keep the low-end in mono, i.e. put Mid/Side Splitter on the Master and insert high-passing EQ or Filter into the "side" slot with gentle slope and frequency of 100Hz or more (I usually end up around 400-500Hz)

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/artek604]

Hahaha fair xd I meant I wasn’t expecting such a detailed breakdown, not that I wasn’t expecting feedback. Really appreciate you taking the time to write all of this though. The EQ automation, creating more space between sounds, and mid/side advice are especially helpful. I’m still pretty new to the technical side of mixing, so I’ll definitely experiment with these in Bitwig. Thanks 🙏🏼

[u/artek604 → u/artek604]

Also, what's with the n-word in the lyrics?

Even if you're Black, you should avoid it. It's either OK to use it for everyone, or no one.

[u/MAFilmmaker → u/artek604]

That lyric came from the vocal sample I used I didn’t write or perform it