<Non-pony><EDM><Original> N-Tics - Apocalypse

[Diss Order]

Excuse the short duration of the track, it had to be less than 2 minutes. It's one of the tracks I'll hand in for my college admission assignment. :)

http://soundcloud.com/n-tics/apocalypse-hku-admission-edit

Any thoughts?

P.S. Free internet hugs for the people who can recognize where the vocals are from! :D

[CitricAcid]

What exactly is the assignment?

I would compress the noise stabs (or whatever you want to call them) more. They hit really hard right in mid range where the human ear is most sensitive, so they hurt a bit. And overall it needs more background elements. Maybe a bed of ambiance of some kind or a melodic ostinato. I would favor adding background elements with many high overtones that can generally be considered "pleasing" (piano, bells, etc.). Right now you have a lot of intense low and mid range sounds in the fore- and middle-ground, so I think this would help fill out the piece more.

[Twy]

I can't think of too much to say about this track. I don't really have any critiques or advice for the kind of thing your going for. Sounds like it would be pretty good in a soundtrack or as a backdrop to an intense movie scene.

Actually, listening to it a bit more, I would consider turning down the drums a bit and maybe bring up the strings a bit more, and maybe adding a few more elements to complement the strings as well. I know the drums are clearly the emphasis on this, but they feel a touch overpowering to the rest of the instruments as it is right now, I think.

Otherwise, sounds pretty cool. Good luck with your assignment, and keep up the good work!

[Diss Order]

CitricAcid: Oh. I always keep an eye on the midrange (mostly the high-mids, 1~2kHz), but I guess when I "mastered" it I put a little too much emphasis on the midrange. I kinda rushed that post-production part. Thanks for the tip.

The assignment is: Make 3 different tracks, and be as diverse as you can. They don't expect well mixed and produced products, they just want to hear what you're capable of already.

Also, about the "adding more things": I see what you mean, but I don't want any "pleasing" sounds though. It's meant to be kind of raw,"hard" and bass-heavy, if you will. And I meant to keep it minimal, because I only had limited time. I do plan on making an extended mix for this for this track during the summer so I can release it, and then I'll definitily "add more things". :P

Twy: In no way do I intend on "turning down the drums". I mean for this to be hard, pounding track, which can be played in clubs and festivals. In the unmastered project file, there's still space left in the mix to add more things, so I don't need to reduce the gain of the "drums" to be able to add more things. About the lead being in the background: It's meant to be in the background and slowly creep towards the foreground. I'll admit that I didn't really get to spend as much effort on that as I liked, but for the final version which I will release I'll definitely make it stand out more. ;)