Rainbow & Rooted: One Last Shot

[Nine Volt]

I'm glad this thread hasn't turned into the atrocity the R&R thread became...I guess i'll post a WIP soon...

Yes, because having an opinion you disagree with = atrocity
Also, argument = atrocity

[UltimateRiff]

I'll probably start something for this... I'm thinking synthpunk would be fun to do.

And a few questions... Could I submit a song of my own and a collab as well? Is there a limit to how many songs I can submit?

[Alycs]

I'm like 99% sure yes as nothing was said about it and its been okay for every other album in the series; and no, but as a general rule you should concentrate on making one or two goods songs rather than a lot of mediocre.

Also, I'm going to do a lot of reviews later tonight once I get back from Karate, but my computer with dropbox on it is about to loose its charge and I lost the charger so here is a WIP.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5vw5038eic1cy ... 20Bang.mp3

I promise the review like every track in about two hours

[GCKrastin]

Made a second track for this, I still might change it a tiny bit though.
https://soundcloud.com/gckrastin/crystal-mountains-preview
The sub is far more prominent in the final track (I'm actually completely done with it), that's just a short clip with the sub taken out so people on SoundCloud don't steal the song. :3
This is my first try at liquid dnb, so gimme some advice!
And if you missed it, my first track for this was here, which I also would like criticism for.

I'll work on reviews for some of the wips posted here later today, possibly tomorrow.

[cheztheguy]

Are we allowed to participate in this even if we didn't participate in the original R&R?

[UltimateRiff]

@AlycsYeah, I was thinking of working on one, or maybe two songs if an idea comes to me.

@Chez: I would assume so.

[Alycs]

Symphon: Off the bat it’s really good. I like the intro and the talking bass you bring in shortly after; however, by 0:35 its gotten firmly repetitive. I’d change up the chording or the rhythm to keep it interesting. Maybe do a fast “glitch” and slice it up into 16th and 32nd notes and do a Skrillex style vocal drop san-vocals (I’d do this around 0:55) and start a new chord progression or push it up an octave. It just needs something to make it interesting.
At 1:03, that piano sounds fake as hell. The main problem is the lack of low-end depth, and the fact that the sustained staccato articulation sounds mechanical and not like anything except maybe a hyper-Baroque performer. EQ the lows back in, add a reverb on the highs, add a (very) slight chorus on the lows and mids, and finish it up with a slight delay, and you might have a passable piano sound. What I’d do to make it easier is to get the 4front piano VST and substitute the current sample with that.
I liked the drop at 1:17. But the part afterwards seems a little empty in the lower end and the mids. I’d boost the bass frequencies on the kick and maybe the 500Hz on the snare. Also, the high synth could use a little more stereo presence. Its not bad, and it dominates it frequency range so it’s easily hearable, but as the sole melody holder with no backing harmonies, I’d recommend a slight stereo enhancer to bring it out. This is personal preference, though.
The build-back was fairly solid, but I’d still swap out the piano. Getting a better emulation can really do nothing but help you. Also, I feel like it went a little too high before dropping in, and then didn’t quite come back fast enough. It felt more like a “wave” of sound rather than a “drop”; this could be intended, but it didn’t fit in my opinion with the rest of the track.
Subsequent part is a fairly nice simplification of the previous section; nothing really to say. I like you playing around with the various counter-melodies. This section is solid.
The final part is pretty decent too. I have the same feelings as its predecessor (paragraph 3), and I’d recommend bringing in the piano as backing just to give it a nice closure.
Overall, it’s a pretty solid song, but it needs a few minor tweaks.


Cyphers Wolf: Okay, I’m going to review this, but I’m just going to tell you that the album won’t accept it just because it’s a rejected track. Sorry, that’s just how it goes. Anyway:
The lead in synth has a resonance that is self-clashing. When playing the melody, its causing distortion that, while a nice effect, leaves a slightly unpleasant feeling when you add the reverb. The piano you follow it up with sounds pretty fake, too. I’d recommend you read what I said to Symphon (but don’t add more reverb, it has more than enough already). The electric synth right afterwards is nice, and it fits with the theme, but it doesn’t fit with the piano. The piano and the synth clash when playing the same melody, which could be due to the heavy reverb you put on both, or the fact that the normally rich sound of the piano sounds much more compressed in this song, and thus its frequency range is more sharp than normal, leading it to clash with the synth above it. Whatever the reason, they are not blending, and as they make up a good part of the song, they really need to. I’d use a more accurate VST and see if that helps by adding more depth to the frequency range.
I really the sidechain you have going; that is nicely done. However, the kick is still being lost because you sidechained it to a more mid-level frequency, and its being lost in the sub. For a more powerful sound, I’d recommend EQing back in the mid-level frequencies to the kick (assuming it had them to begin with, if not, get a kick that does), this with will give it more presence.
The melody is good, but it gets repetitive. Even though you throw variations in, its too simplistic and rhythmically repetitive to hold interest.
Also, 1:44 onward… I know what you are trying to do… but it didn’t quite work that way. The synth you held is simply too “big” both frequency and stereo-wise to hold the drone. It overpowers the drums and the other instruments. I don’t know a good way to fix it and still keep the feeling, but it needs something else. When if first started, I didn’t even register it was the song and thought it was my computer freezing up. The backing behind it is good, and it’s a fairly solid leading in, but the drone frequency just kinda ruins it for me.
In the part past that it’s the same problem I had before. The piano and the synths don’t blend and the melody is far too repetitive.
Everything past that would be me repeating myself, so I’ll stop here. I think it’s a fairly decent song, and it has merit, but it needs some mixing.

((Okay, at this point I know I said I’d review ALL the recent tracks, but I’ve realized that there are too many to do an indepth like this; so I’m only going to do the actual WIP’s for this album past this; I’ll do the others later if I have time))

Ocular Invisible:
Okay, I don’t listen to “Techstep” or whatever this is, but I’m going to rate it from a generic music standpoint, so I’m sorry if I criticize generic qualities of the genre.
Its hallow. That’s the thing that hit me most. It has really nice synth design and rhythms and I think its already a pretty solid song, but it didn’t have any meat for me. The drop felts “staged” without any real lead in, and I spent the entire song waiting for a melody or harmony or chord change that never came. Instead, it was basically one wobble bass with thick reverb over a drum track. There was nothing really there. It had a great drum line (I’d like a fuller snare with more in the line of lower frequencies, as the current one stands above the mix too much for my liking), but the song as a whole didn’t do it.
EDIT: I just listened to like 20 minutes of some guy on youtube’s compo of techstep and I’ll have to say, I still think yours needs something. A lot of their songs employed pitched drums and background FX’s to fill out the song and occasional breaks of other synths and rhythms and breakdowns to keep it interesting. One that stood out to me was Dom&Roland’s “Peace Keeper”. You probably know more about the genre than me; but theirs seemed to be much more interesting just because it did more. That’s all your song needs. Its really well mixed, but it needs its meat to fill out the bones.

Wisp: It leads in quite nicely. Having the synths filter in was really nice with the harmonic backing… very nice. If I could really be bugged by anything it’s that the snares at 0:14 are too “clicky”. I’d just use a different sample or slow down the roll. However, I’d get rid of that slight gap at 0:44 before going into the piano; imo its too early in the song to start recapitulating the beginning.
Also the piano… read above; though this one sounds much, much better; really, at this point its actually pretty good, but it could be a little better.
The drop after 1:25 is pretty solid, but I feel it needs a melody. The side chained synth you have going is nice, but it is chordier. I’d have just a small saw or square lead to provide a simple melody. (Maybe a simple version of the one you had at the beginning?)
In the section after 1:40, the main thing that got me was the clap/snare. It sounded very distorted and unpleasant with the rest of the mix. Either swap the sample or turn it down a little and see if you can have it sounding a little smoother.
And that’s it! I actually really like this and I think it has a lot of potential if you keep going with it.

GCKrastin:
This is actually quite good. It’s a little simplistic though in terms of structure (both synth/drum and progression wise) The pianoish thing (I’m not going to complain because I don’t think its even a piano…) is nice, but the chords are all done the same way. While this would be fine for a backing arp, for a solo melody it needs more variation. Try fitting in some neighbor notes and sus. chords to add character, and switch the direction every once and a while, add a few repeating notes… just give it a little more character.
In the breakdown section… it has good chording, but the kick needs a little more punch, as it is now, the whole thing seems very cut-paste. Also, when you start the kick-roll, you are leaving the backing in the dust. Bring in a short melody or harmony so it has something to keep up with the kicks.
The break at 1:33 is REALLY awkward. Its not short enough to provide character, and not long enough to provide suspense. It sounds like a mistake, and you have to do something about that. Either find what caused it and fix it, or extend it. The part afterwards has the same issue I said before. The arp needs more character.
I look forward to seeing where you go with this after the sub is added back in. It has potential but atm it’s a little simple.

</end tome>

[cheztheguy]

If someone can tell me how to make this cruddy track better (as it's a WIP), go for it :3
I'm a beginner so...

https://soundcloud.com/cheztheguy/untitled-stuff

[v.lossity]

If someone can tell me how to make this cruddy track better (as it's a WIP), go for it :3
I'm a beginner so...

https://soundcloud.com/cheztheguy/untitled-stuff

give, and ye shall receive

[DXsmiley]

If someone can tell me how to make this cruddy track better (as it's a WIP), go for it :3
I'm a beginner so...

https://soundcloud.com/cheztheguy/untitled-stuff

Synth at start needs an echo & reverb.
With that long attack (reversed?) synth, it sounds slightly off beat. Bring the whole thing forwards a tiny bit (make it sooner).
Turn down your hi-hats, I think they're clipping slightly and are quite dominating.
Add a bass. A smooth one.

---

Anyhow, I've got the second version of my WIP here. I'm not really sure when people said the bass is 'off beat'. I swapped out the harsh bass for something smoother, though I'm not certain I prefer it. I've also shortened the intro and made the ending stronger (it turns out it was returning to the original key for those final two bars).
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/454 ... IP%202.mp3

[Ocular]

Chez - Your song is really good. I wasn't expecting that. The reversed lead is just fine. The beginning part needs a bit more in the high end and a bit cut off of the low end. If you have too much low end on your pluck it'll clash with the sub bass. The drums sound great. Overall, definitely a song I'd listen to.

GCKrastin - I'd like to give you feedback, but if you take the sub out before you upload there's a chance that our feedback won't sound right when you implement it. I do like it, though.

Now here's an entirely different song that I'm gonna stick with. Scratch out that techstep idea.

http://soundcloud.com/theocularinvisible/bliss-wip-r-r-ols

[Alycs]

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/5vw5038eic1cyml/Bang%20Bang%20Bang.mp3

I promise the review like every track in about two hours

plz guys...

i'll review the two tracks above shortly

[OrionMelody]

Can someone tell me how much time is left for submission? I may have actually started on a song that I can finish.. yay!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbl0rndyp3g4l ... mer_3.mp3c
There isn't much to it, as I just started working on it.

[LoreRD]

They extended the deadline by 5 days or so, so around the 28th of June

[Belgerum]

Well, this thread looks to be much more productive than others I've seen. Might as well drop my WIP, ask for some much needed advice on it and such, (I've been trying to work on my mixing/mastering/sounding good)and give some other people feedback, despite being inferior to almost everypony here.

Direct:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/45k ... HBmqKx6osg
DL for those who can't do direct:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/45knifate7dcg ... ystals.mp3

I hope you guys like 11/8 and 14/8 time.

If anyone else wants some feedback on their things, I'll be following this thread for a little while, so feel free to ask.

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/5vw5038eic1cyml/Bang%20Bang%20Bang.mp3

I promise the review like every track in about two hours

plz guys...

What the horse. I'll do it.

First of all, I don't even know what you're trying to do with that introductory 45 seconds. It might be musical in a way, but it isn't what people are looking for in music that's to be taken seriously. I certainly was surprised by it, and not necessarily positively. What's more, it doesn't seem to fit with the theme of the track much at all, once the actual meat of the track comes in. I don't know if you want to shorten the intro, or replace it, or just get rid of it altogether, or do whatever you want to do, but as things are, I don't really like it, and I'm not sure others will either.

As for the track itself, most of the low end I'm getting is from the kick, but I'm not getting much actual bass material coming through my speakers. I might add a bit more to that part of the spectrum. Other than that, I'm notgetting a lot of bad stuff from it.

[GCKrastin]

Gigantic wall of text incoming, I hope you guys don't mind.

Might as well drop my WIP, ask for some much needed advice on it and such, (I've been trying to work on my mixing/mastering/sounding good)and give some other people feedback, despite being inferior to almost everypony here.

Direct:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/45k ... HBmqKx6osg

I hope you guys like 11/8 and 14/8 time.

Everything I'm about to say just comes from a generic "this sounds good, this sounds bad" standpoint, as this is not at all my style of music. Some of the stuff I say might be characteristics of the genre, idk.
The guitar at the beginning comes in a little bit abruptly, perhaps have some sort of reverse reverb to transition it in.
The synths at 0:32 are very quiet and don't have much depth to them. I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about fixing it, but I think boosting the highs a little bit or maybe adding a chorus of some type would help.
The piano at 0:55 doesn't fit, and it seems panned to the right which bugs me a little bit. Perhaps have it move slowly from left to right, or something?
The hihats are panned to the left, which also bugs me. Something I generally do with drum and bass is to have two different hihats that alternate playing and one is panned left and the other is panned right, although I don't know if that would work for this style of music.
All in all, it has potential, but there are some things that could be improved.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5vw5038eic1cyml/Bang%20Bang%20Bang.mp3

I promise the review like every track in about two hours

Still don't like the tempo change at the end, and the sub in the kick drum is panned to the right EDIT: I think the sub panned to the right is caused by my headphones, I've heard it on every song I've listened to in the last two hours and most of that was pro stuff that's all perfect and whatnot. Always center your sub, any sort of stereo separation in the sub makes it almost painful to listen to with headphones. Also, the kick at the beginning (0:54) seems off beat to me, but that might just be the sample. Make sure there's no silence at the beginning of the sample, and make sure your drum pattern is lined up with the lead pattern in the playlist.
The lead still has a weird volume pulsing thing at the start which throws me off a little bit.
The random samples at the beginning are cool, but they don't transition between each other very well. Put a little piece of radio noise (I believe FL Studio has a default sample somewhere containing radio noise, if you use FL) that flickers in volume a bit in between each sample, it'll make it sound more like a coherent mess rather than a messy mess.
Also, I agree with Belgerum's opinion on the intro in that it doesn't fit with the rest of the song. It's definitely a cool idea, (it reminds me of sci's Hurricane Dial from Balloon Party) I'm just not sure it really works in such a bouncy song.
All in all, better than the last wip, but still needs a little work.

If someone can tell me how to make this cruddy track better (as it's a WIP), go for it :3
I'm a beginner so...

https://soundcloud.com/cheztheguy/untitled-stuff

If it's dnb, I personally think it should be faster. I tapped the tempo and it seems like it's either 168 or 170, which is a bit slow for my tastes. All of the dnb I make is 175, although most of what I listen to is anywhere from 174 to 180. However, this is really more of a personal taste and less of a rule.
The melody is fantastic, if a bit repetitive.
The lead at the beginning should have less of that lowpass envelope when the drums kick in, it seems a little watered down (for lack of a better expression) and suppresses the energy that it would otherwise convey.
There needs to be more of a transition to the drums, perhaps a reversed crash cymbal, or a reversed kick drum, something to help the drums come in.
It's hard for me to tell if you've already done this, but make sure to EQ out everything below 100 Hz on your kick drum, otherwise the sub from the kick will mess with the sub from the bass. Another option would be to sidechain the kick with everything, but it kinda sounds like you've already done that.
There's not much of a buildup before the drums and bass come in, so it seems kind of abrupt and awkward. (Although this also was touched on with the lack of transition before the drums)
Very nice, but has some things that could be improved.


Anyways, (and no it's not a rejected entry just because it's on YouTube, I made it pretty much the day after One Last Shot was announced)

Link

Tear it up, I need some good criticism on it. (And yes I know it's repetitive, I'm working on that)

coughcoughcriticismplzcough

[Symphon]

@Alycs
Thanks for the feedback. I'll send some back to ya when I get home?

[Ocular]

Chez - Your song is really good. I wasn't expecting that. The reversed lead is just fine. The beginning part needs a bit more in the high end and a bit cut off of the low end. If you have too much low end on your pluck it'll clash with the sub bass. The drums sound great. Overall, definitely a song I'd listen to.

GCKrastin - I'd like to give you feedback, but if you take the sub out before you upload there's a chance that our feedback won't sound right when you implement it. I do like it, though.

Now here's an entirely different song that I'm gonna stick with. Scratch out that techstep idea.

http://soundcloud.com/theocularinvisible/bliss-wip-r-r-ols

guys?

[GCKrastin]

-snip-

guys?

It's very repetitive, I'd add some more variation to the drums (maybe a couple of tom rolls or something?) at some points. Because it's so short it's kinda hard to give much criticism because it's just a small part of the song. The bell in the background is a teeny bit quiet, and I think the chord that plays with the bass should have that filter or something open up throughout the course of the clip to give more of a rising feeling up to the drop. Other than that, it's pretty good I'd say.

[MYCUTIEMARKISAGUN]

i unno wtf i'm doing w/ this desert walker shit anymore, i should just submit swagcompo06 or something

[tofer95]

Hey I almost never use this site but when I heard about Rainbow and Rooted i thought it was a cool idea but I never finished the track for it but here's the track I ended up finishing. http://soundcloud.com/christofer95/overwhelmed

[Ocular]

Hey I almost never use this site but when I heard about Rainbow and Rooted i thought it was a cool idea but I never finished the track for it but here's the track I ended up finishing. http://soundcloud.com/christofer95/overwhelmed

I like it. It needs some sidechaining though. Also, get rid of the dimension expander.

[TheAnonymousColt]

https://soundcloud.com/the-anonymous-colt/untitled-wip-rainbow-and


Can someone give me some criticism on my track? I haven't had the time to properly master it yet, but it should be enough for now.

[OrionMelody]

https://soundcloud.com/the-anonymous-colt/untitled-wip-rainbow-and


Can someone give me some criticism on my track? I haven't had the time to properly master it yet, but it should be enough for now.

You might add a stronger crash or downward sweep at 1:19? It sounds a bit empty, in my opinion. Also, that synth you have going on behind the drop could be turned up a bit. I think everything else is fine, though.

[Lyonize]

Dang! Why didn't I see this earlier? I don't think I'v got time but I might as well try. While I'm at it, here's my R&R submission. Feedback would be appreciated a TON.