How to get useful feedback on your tracks without paying for a course

Start with the free routes: the feedback threads on Reddit and an Ableton User Group if one meets near you. Both cost nothing, and both expect you to give feedback before you get it. Peer feedback is good at telling you where a track loses people and poor at telling you why, so once you are finishing tracks and the same problems keep coming back, pay for one month of a platform's feedback tier or one hour with a tutor. That costs £40 to £70, against £229 to £468 for a year of the same platforms.

We checked the platform prices and community rules below on 5 October 2026. Reddit rules come from the text posted at the top of each subreddit's feedback thread, and moderators change them, so read the current version before you post.

Peer feedback and tutor feedback answer different questions

Another producer at your level can tell you the drop felt flat or they skipped at 1:40. That is useful, because it is how a listener hears the track. What they usually cannot tell you is that the drop is flat because the kick and bass are fighting in the same frequencies, or that the 1:40 skip comes from an eight-bar section with nothing new in it. That diagnosis is the part a tutor sells.

Our comparison of Udemy, Coursera and the specialist platforms found the same split in the prices. Video libraries cost under £100 a year. The platforms where an experienced producer hears your tracks start at £229 a year, and at Studio Orbit the feedback is the only difference between the two tiers. You do not need to pay that for a whole year to get the benefit.

Reddit's feedback threads: free if you give first

r/edmproduction runs a daily feedback thread. Its rules ask you to comment on other people's tracks before posting your own, to link to the feedback you have left in your comment, to be specific about what you want feedback on, and to use timecodes when you give it. Comments that do not follow the format are removed automatically.

r/WeAreTheMusicMakers runs a weekly thread that is replaced every seven days. You may post one song only, you must write at least three constructive comments on other people's tracks, and posting a track for feedback anywhere else on the subreddit gets the post deleted and a temporary ban.

The give-first rule is the useful part. Listening to five tracks by other beginners and putting into words what is wrong with them trains the same ear you need for your own. The downside is depth: most replies are a few lines, from people with no more experience than you, and a track posted late in the week's thread gets fewer listens.

Discord servers: read the pinned rules before you post

Most production Discord servers have a feedback channel, and most run some version of the Reddit rule: review other tracks before you post, one track at a time, no promotion. The rules sit in a pinned message or a rules channel, and breaking them on your first post is the quickest way to get ignored.

Some of the platforms we list run Discord communities for members. Studio Orbit's standard membership includes its Discord, where members share music for feedback from each other. Syntho's 7-day trial costs £9.99 and gives guest access to its Discord, but the trial does not include the track reviews or the live feedback sessions, which start with paid membership. Feedback in a paid community comes from people learning the same genre as you, which is an advantage over a general subreddit, but it is still peer feedback.

Ableton User Groups and local meet-ups

Ableton's user group directory lists six groups in the UK: Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and Point Blank London. They are run by users rather than by Ableton, most organise through Facebook, and the meetings described on the page are free. Some organisers are Ableton Certified Trainers.

A user group is mostly workshops, talks and jams, so ask the organiser whether there is a slot for playing members' tracks before you turn up expecting one. Where there is, hearing your track on a proper system in a room of producers tells you things headphones do not, and you can ask a follow-up question face to face, which no comment thread allows. Outside the six cities, the same thing happens at evening production groups run by local schools; The Music Box in Pudsey, for example, runs an adult music production group.

SubmitHub sells promotion, and the feedback is a by-product

SubmitHub gets recommended for feedback because curators who decline your track have to say why. Under its rules since August 2023, a curator paid in premium credits must listen for at least 60 seconds and write at least 20 words, within 72 hours. Credits start at $1 each, with most users paying around $0.80, and a curator costs 1 to 5 credits.

Twenty words from a blogger deciding whether your track fits their playlist is a reaction to a finished release, which is a different thing from notes on an unfinished mix. Use it when the track is done and you want it heard. Do not use it to find out why your mix is muddy.

When paying a little is worth it

None of the online platforms we list sells a standalone one-off track review. Constant Studio's site does not offer one, and Syntho's reviews come with membership. The workaround is to buy one month of a rolling membership, use the feedback, and cancel. Tutors who sell 1-to-1 time by the hour are the other option, and an hour spent going through one track is a track review by another name.

Timing matters on a single month. Studio Orbit records its VIP feedback sessions on the 10th and 25th, with one track per submission window, so joining a few days before the 10th gets you both in one billing month. Its FAQ also says it gives no refund if you forget to cancel, so put the renewal date in your calendar on the day you join. Constant Studio does not say how often Burnski's feedback comes round, so ask before paying for a single month. Syntho at £69.99 is the dearest month here, and the only one with a personal review plus a live session every week.

For 1-to-1 time, LSEM quotes from £50 an hour online or at its studios in Elephant & Castle and Hackney Wick, though it recommends packages of at least four two-hour lessons and the rate depends on the tutor. The Music Box lists £40 an hour on its lessons page. Tell either one in advance that you want to spend the hour on one track, and send it beforehand.

How to ask so the feedback is useful

• Say what the track is meant to be: genre, tempo and one released track you are aiming at. Feedback on a minimal house track judged as tech house is wasted on both sides.
• Say what stage it is at. Arrangement notes on a finished mix, or mix notes on an eight-bar loop, help nobody.
• Ask one or two specific questions, such as whether the bass sits under the kick or whether the breakdown is too long.
• Send a private streaming link or a full-quality file, not a phone recording, and make sure nothing on the master is clipping.
• When you give feedback, use timecodes. It is required on r/edmproduction and it is the habit that makes your own notes useful.

How to read what comes back

One person disliking your snare is taste. Three people flagging the same 20 seconds is a problem with the track, even if each describes it differently. Write down every comment that points at a timecode and see where they cluster; that tells you where to start. Ignore advice to change genre, tempo or style unless it comes from someone who makes that music.

Mark, who runs this site, has had both kinds. Track feedback from Syntho's community kept him going early on, when he had no other way to judge whether a track worked. Later, 1:1 lessons booked directly with house and techno producers Denney and Audiojack gave him the structural and mix notes that peer feedback had not, which is the gap described above. Our 10 things I wish I knew as a new producer covers the rest of what he would do differently.

If you are deciding whether to pay for a full course rather than a month of feedback, online vs in-person music production courses compares what each format charges and what a room with a tutor adds.