Sweet
I liked it a lot, just a few thing to justify the 8/10.
0:13 I don't know about the chello, its tone is way too hard, maybe it's just too loud. I'd have expected a softer introduction of strings, maybe only violins instead of the chelli?
The melody has a few moments that sound weird to my ears. 1:16 for instance.
Otherwise this was well done and the mood really fits to the scene you've described. Keep up the good work
I see right to the point where you say that the cello is too loud. XD Actually, I just want to emphasize the cello as main melody for the introduction, but looks like I've done too much. On the 1:16, I just add the extension of 7 (FM7), so it sounds quite distinct, compared to the smooth melody that continuously plays before that bar.
Thank you for constructive criticism. I really appreciate it. And thanks for listening.
masterpiece
I've listened to this about 5 times in a row today and I'm happy for you that, in the meantime, it has reached a chart position it really deserves. I've read your journal and I honestly don't know what else a person has to do to be allowed to call himself a composer.
Your synths and the real instruments intertwine to a point where you can't tell which is which. It's expertly arranged and you did everything to keep the progression exciting. The melodies are needless to say magnifient, i love this thing.
Thank you for sharing.
Hundred bucks says it'll be zero-bombed like always :P
Thanks for the review though. Appreciated.
deep crush
0:00 - 0:45 A nice, eery intro complete with piano and strings, almost perfect. The introduction of the cymbals is a bit abrupt though. I think adding some kind of psychedelic delay (in the intro only) to the hi-hats while doing a volume fade would really fit to the intro style.
0:45 That bass/pad wall of sound is fairly awesome but what I like most about it is the phasing-effect, It might lack a tad of high mids though.
1:30 Cool main groove, the drums+hats work very well in the mix but when the bassline goes away, the cymbals become too shrill to my ears.
Being mostly a commercial-producer I miss some kind of main melody but of course that's not a necessary element.
Apart from that it's a kickass track, great job man!
cheers
-Luke
Thanks for the awesome review!
Yes, EQ tends to be my weak point. I'm always looking for more "punch" in the mix and I let myself get carried away with dipping all the mids out.
Also, the Firefight loop I used in this is quite old (it was a 22kHz WAV!) and it was already distorted and sounded like garbage to begin with. if you listen to the track 4808, you'll see I've since upgraded to a nice clean library of Tramen loops I found somewhere, and hopefully soon I can get around to stretching this out into a nice 8 minute ordeal, and clean up the shrill hats.
not bad
Reviewing as I listen...
I like the panning claps, you don't hear that kind of stuff a lot.
0:17 I'm not a fan of that kind of bassline-ish, kinda too "raw". Some kind of LFO might help maybe Vibrato/Filter-modulation/Tremolo.
0:34 That's a nice Percussion-line, but the new synth has the same issues as the bassline earlier, It's not very interesting.
0:51 Hmm, even though it's the main groove it doesn't really groove. The subbass-synth and the kick don't work together very well. I also prefer a more "off-beaty" bassline, but that might be a matter of taste.
1:25-2:00 That's a fun part, I like the reggae-like feel to this
2:17 The strings are okay, they're doing their job, no more, no less
Another more general thing: You should really turn down the reverb, in such amounts it just distracts from the main thing instead of adding dimension.
It has some nice ideas, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. I hope my suggestions were helpful to you, pm me if you've got any questions.
5/10, 3/5
Cheers, Luke
Beautiful
Okay I'll try something new: The bad first:
Although I like the phasing effect on the bassline it's a little too much. Below ~200hz there shouldn't be any phasing anymore because it makes the bass unfocused, Remember bass=mono
I'd suggest a 2. bass-synth for the lower area and a lowcut filter for the original one.
The Good:
This is almost exactly my taste, a silky, rich pad + a beautiful main melody. The intro reminds me of Vibrasphere, but I prefer your kind of mainpart.
I've enjoyed it a lot, good work
-Luke
Wow
You're very good at this it's pretty amazing considering it is your first try. I like your main synth(s) (even if it's more rhythmic than melodic), it has an nice drive to it. I wouldn't mind listening to more songs of this kind.
One thing that would've probably worked very well in this track is a more breakbeat-like groove, the 2 kicks per bar are simply too little, you could also double the number of kicks and make it a techno-track although I'd prefer the former.
The break needs some improvements, most people would expect the introduction of a new (main)melody at this point but you only give us a hint. Make the break longer and bigger :)
I'm looking forward to your 2. track, keep it up man
-Luke
Wow. thanks.
Thats a lot of good criticism and i'm glad you responded. Actually, the rating's a little better than i expected. I'll try to make the new ones a little better, and i agree about the kick. i should have put at leatst four in per bar.
thanks,
80sy
To be honest I expected this to become boring very fast because it has the typical 80ies videogame sound which I don't find too exciting.
The piano-ish sound reminded me of the Flintstones SNES game while the trumpets were more on the Turtles side which is pretty cool. There are a lot of contrasts melody,- and soundwise and it doesn't get boring at all, sorry or my initial misjudgement ;)
The melodies are catchy too, and you did an amazing job on the bassline!
I'l "only" give it a 4/5 because the style is a bit of of fashion
it reminds me of jazz jackrabbit yo
Nice SFX but part 2 is too hectic
I like EVERYTHING until the middle. It starts out with a nice ambience and a subtle little arp then a smooth BL (Which might be too loud) joins in - perfect so far! But what follows at 1:41 feels too abrupt and out of place. While the intro sounds like lounge/chillout, the 2. part is more on the eurodance side, 2 styles which, in my opinion, don't work together too well. It's like a preview of 2 completely different tracks.
Try to make the intro longer, introducing only the vocals at 1:41 would be pretty nice. The main groove seems too fast with everything playing in 16th notes, I'd like it more relaxed. The kick needs more sub-bass and a longer tail, It's too attack-y. The off-beat bassline (2:11) could also deal with more bass and seems too static - try adding a cutoff envelope.
As I said, the intro is very good, the main part needs some work. Due to not being a finished track I can't give you more than a 5/10 right now, but there's a lot of potential in it, so keep it up ;)
I hope that was helpful, if you want another aspect of the track listened to more closely, just tell me.
cheers, Luke
hmm... well i would feel terrible making this into two songs but man did you help me alot with this review, yeah the kick is a little to hard on velocity, i need to get out of my psy trance mode i guess haha, and as far as the cut off envelope on the bass part i think thats a good idea and would start doing that more, that will help me assign frequency space in the mix as well, maybe i would lengthen the beginning to make a longer middle and in the middle work on the build to the main part.
thank you for the review luke
soothing
The pad is beautiful, so lush and soft, the kind of sound you could listen to for hours. The harmonic progression is amazing too, always on the move but never out of place. The 2. half is a gem, especially where all the arps meet, I love that part.
The bell-y arp can get a bit tiresome though because it plays throughout the whole song (a LP/HP Filter-LFO might help).
That's why I'Il only give it a 9/10
A beautiful piece you can listen to over and over again.
wow that was a really good review, i wasnt sure if people would like this because it takes a long time to heat up, i was actually hoping people could enjoy the intro pad till then haha, oh and i actually only used one arp in the whole song and it was on a part towards. thank you for the suggestion i will remember it when i master this for my album
Sick bassline
I'm not a psy-trancer as such but I'm slowly growing fond of the genre. One reason is the hypnotic basslines and that's exactly the reason why I like this song. I didn't think Psytrance works with sidechaining but it does, very well.
Hm, I don't really like the lead-instrument (french accordion?) I find it too dominant, also the last third gets a bit too cluttered/loud with the e-guitar, pad and vox effect being introduced in very short intervals, but that might just be my taste.
Everything else was well done, I like it!
-Luke
psy takes a little getting used to because it doesnt have much structure and it can get some what daunting, but im glad you are getting into it. i used the side chaining to create a throb type effect on the bass line, the lead instrument is actually a synth i made and something about it seemed off to me, but compared to what else i had tried it felt right. but your concern was definitely shared by me before i posted the song.
thank you for the assessment
Age 37
Salzburg, Austria
Joined on 5/18/08
Xyirx - Tomorrow is Waiti 
Infinity Ambience