My first try at something you can dance to.
 
https://soundcloud.com/jeroen-van-engelenhoven/digital-photograph
 
Please let me know if you have any ideas to make it sound better/more DJ/more professional/more club-like/etc.!
 
And also let me know what style you could call this (apart from 'crap', that is... )

nice track! I like the melodies you are creating with the synth, and the constant background (string) synth tone makes it lean towards some kind of ambient style. what I am missing are vocals, at least some short vocal samples.

Thanks for listening!

Well, it IS an instrumental...  but a vocal sample might be a good idea indeed. I didn't want to make an actual song of it (too much trouble with writing lyrics  ) but indeed, adding at least something human, might add some more life to it all. Then again, there are quite a lot of 'hits' that are completely instrumental.

Definitely ambient, nice chilled groove.  Good work.
 
Would check out adding some transitions and FX.  Also, some vocal or even natural sounds, doesn't have to be human. :-)

I listened to There It Is and Join In (which was so much different to the other two) too, while I was there.

Nice stuff

What synths and stuff do you use?

forkol


Definitely ambient, nice chilled groove.  Good work. 
  
Would check out adding some transitions and FX.  Also, some vocal or even natural sounds, doesn't have to be human. :-) 

Thanks! So ambient it is, ok, thanks!  

Yes, I know about the missing transitions and FX. My first goal was to make some basic dance music and work out how things work a little: next on the list are indeed the almost mandatory transitions and 'build ups'.  And another vote for some vocals so I will definitely look into that!

synkrotron


I listened to There It Is and Join In (which was so much different to the other two) too, while I was there.

Nice stuff

What synths and stuff do you use?

LOL Yes, Join in is something different indeed.  
Thanks for listening to it all and for the compliment!

For the dance tunes I only used (various instances of) Battery and Massive (the versions that came with Komplete 8). I only used presets and didn't yet edit sounds. I usually don't use a lot of different synths: I rather get to know one well then a lot not too well. I did of course add some reverb, delay, EQ, etc. on some tracks. I used Ozone on the master (one of the Electronic dance presets).




BTW I was expecting some remarks about the bass drum and the bass but apparently they are quite okay and not too hidden (drowned) in the mix...? On There it is I used side chaining to keep the bass drum out of the synths but in the end only the effect it has on the synth stands out (the deliberate pumping), not so much the advantage of keeping the bass drum upfront. I think the biggest challenge with the upcoming similar projects will be just that: keeping things transparent and the bass upfront.

BTW 2 On Join in I used an EZdrummer preset (usually I don't use drum pattern presets) and for the instruments mainly Dim Pro (I think) and RealGuitar and RealStrat.

Loved the sounds. Great job and groove.

Wonderful sonic imagination, the sound you chose fit together very well. This is definitely 'Ambient'--it's the unchanging chord that comes in at 0:17 and then stays that makes it ambient. Figuring out style gets pretty complicated, there are so many categories--tempo, bass pattern and sounds, kick pattern, sampling and what's being sampled, much more. BassNectar gives a fascinating interview here talking about dance music style differences: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFLe3MEDwv4

 
This is cool.
 
Production is very crisp and clear, and I really like how you've built up the various parts of the song as it progresses.
 
Great job!
 
Steve

Wow, thanks for listening and the compliments, chasmcg, UltimateMusicSnob and SteveStrummerUK!!! 

And thanks for the link to that interview, UltimateMusicSnob: just watched, it was very helpful! I never really knew what all those terms meant.