Review the track(s) above you

[simonli2575]

@KillerAmp - What We Were V2
The opening sounds a bit too dry, it gets better after the white noise is introduced.
@0:31 I don't really like how you fade out the kicks, I think it's better that you don't put any kicks in that bar (not even the first one).
@1:01 I think you could have made the build up slightly longer.
@2:19 The crash sounds slightly wrong and slightly abrupt to me.
Overall, a nice WIP for a house track, but the build up could use some work. Keep it up.

Here's my WIP.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/531 ... 2017_6.mp3

[ArisingFlame]

I'll start with the reviews. XP
@simonli2575
Starting off, it is SUPER quiet. Like, the entire way through I was afraid it was going to explode with sound.
I like the intro pad. Almost sounds... foreboding. If I'm using the word properly.
@0:45 I like the fade in filter for the drums, t it feels like something is missing once they come in full force.
As for most everything else... It's not that there is anything wrong with it, but it feels like a background track for a game or something likewise.


@KillerAmp
Starting with "What We Were"
I ha to agree with you on the intro, but coming out of the intro is spectacular. I love it. Especially the high synth at 0:46. It feels like it is going to transform into a "I'm going to happily lose myself tonight" kind of feeling. And I love that.
@1:36 And that feeling doesn't disappoint. It's almost like tensions are high, but relaxed at the same time. I love the carefree vibe I get from it.

Awwh. It's over? ): Love it so far!

"Chords2-5"
Love the way you brought this in. The way it is filtered is pretty sexy.
@1:02 Good intro to the beat. Sounds like perfect levels on the sidechaining. Beautiful.
You definitely need to continue this. Maybe some high synths w/ punchy bass? I dunno. I'm not telling you how to make your track.




So, I've had this ALMOST done for quite a while, but the vocals weren't right, then I had to take a hiatus. But I'm back from that hiatus and fixed it up. Started working on it as soon as I saw the S3 Finale. I knew the second I heard this song that it was gonna be big in brony remix culture and I wanted a slice of that pie for myself. Seeing as it is my first MLP related song, I wanted to bring it to damn near perfection. *fingers crossed*
https://soundcloud.com/dj-broken-top/my-little-pony-i-have-to-find
(If you look at my SC profile, that is the only song because, seeing how I make several different styles of music, I wanted to differentiate between them more easily)

[itroitnyah]

Started working on it as soon as I saw the S3 Finale. I knew the second I heard this song that it was gonna be big in brony remix culture and I wanted a slice of that pie for myself

Erm, I'm not sure where you live, but the season three finale was a bit over 8 months ago. It's not gunna be big, it already is/was. Plus I think that there have already been some remixes of it. Idk, you may get some/a lot of recognition for it though.

Critiquing it, I love it. The composition is really well done. The structuring is a wee-bit off, imo. There are some parts that sorta just "jump" on, but at the same time sound like they belong (0.16 is where I'm referring to specifically. I sort have a theory about why the transition works out even though there isn't necessarily a transition element involved, such as a riser or sweep. It just relates to math and stuff, based on how many measures there are before the transition between the single element and the added element, and that our brains just sorta subconsciously expect the change to happen, even though there isn't any transition element indication that a change is coming. If this theory of mine is already a proven thing, I'd love to see a source or something). The sound design is well done, no comments here. The mixing is very well done. With the lyrics though, they could stand to be a bit quieter. Give the whole song a bit more headroom, and they would still be clearly understandable. Great job, 8.75/10



Alright. I have an edit of the WIP I linked above that I would like critiqued. [X] I removed the distorted bassline that jumps in later in the drop and replaced it with a bit more of the hoover-saw type bass thingy. My biggest concern is that the main bass in the drop/chorus, whichever you want to call it, will get too repetitive, and just make the song boring. My second biggest concern is that when the part replacing the distorted bass comes in, there feels like a big energy drop occurs, and it suddenly sounds very congested, despite the only changes I made were with removing the other bass, so I'm not sure why it suddenly sounds so congested. Which also makes me wonder whether I'm just hearing this or something.

[AyaneFukumi]

https://soundcloud.com/ayane-fukumi/ziq93-wip
a WIP I'm doing for ZIQ93

1. @ArisingFlame - The Piano is nice, and the synth is so cute :3 The vocals work good too :3

2. @KillerAmp https://soundcloud.com/officialaristoka ... we-were-v2 - This is amazing <3 I love the bounce on it and the synth is so beautiful and melodic~

[ArisingFlame]

@itroitnyah:

Erm, I'm not sure where you live, but the season three finale was a bit over 8 months ago. It's not gunna be big, it already is/was. Plus I think that there have already been some remixes of it. Idk, you may get some/a lot of recognition for it though.

Yeah. I saw it the moment it aired, but like I said... I had to take a hiatus involving no PC, ect. That's why it is just now being polished.

0.16 is where I'm referring to specifically

Yeah, I wasn't entirely sure how to bring that in, so I did it abruptly and it just kinda felt... right. I'll see if I can't make it fit any better.

The sound design is well done, no comments here. The mixing is very well done. With the lyrics though, they could stand to be a bit quieter.

Thank ye on both accounts. That has been the hardest part of making music to me until somewhat recently. As for the vocals, I'll bring 'em down a bit and see if that does improve it.



On to your song.


Awesome intro. (forgive me. I'm typing as I listen.) The pads feel very... Roomy and fluid.
0:32 Love the kick. It is beautiful. Mind if I ask where you got it? Same with the high synth. It feels basic, but perfect.
1:05 Sexy. I'm really enjoying the way you built into it. And yet again the pads you have are gorgeous and perfect.
2:10 I love the way you kinda brought out the bass to say "Hey! Look at me for a sec!" And all the little things onward that just add a very tasty flavor to it.
2:41 Love the drop off to rebuild it. Makes me excited for what is next while still enjoying the here and now.
3:36 I realize I'm saying "Love" a lot, but I do really love this track. It feels... Familiar. Not repetitive but familiar. The little variations go a long way.
4:40 Ooooooh. Getting me excited for the last hoorah. And it's great. Very fluid yet very defined.

All in all, love it. 9/10 because this is still a WIP, but it is a very gorgeous WIP.



@AyaneFukumi
Why, thank you. :3

On to the song

The vocals are almost too low to hear anything at all, especially with that high synth that seems to pierce everything else on the track, like it is demanding attention.

I found it kinda funny, simply because I did a mashup using "Lose Yourself" as well a LOOOOONG time ago. Well... I say loooooong but it was like 4-5 years ago. I wanna find that again now. XD




EDIT:

Updated version. Yaaay
https://soundcloud.com/dj-broken-top/my-little-pony-i-have-to

[itroitnyah]

On to your song.


Awesome intro. (forgive me. I'm typing as I listen.) The pads feel very... Roomy and fluid.
0:32 Love the kick. It is beautiful. Mind if I ask where you got it? Same with the high synth. It feels basic, but perfect.
1:05 Sexy. I'm really enjoying the way you built into it. And yet again the pads you have are gorgeous and perfect.
2:10 I love the way you kinda brought out the bass to say "Hey! Look at me for a sec!" And all the little things onward that just add a very tasty flavor to it.
2:41 Love the drop off to rebuild it. Makes me excited for what is next while still enjoying the here and now.
3:36 I realize I'm saying "Love" a lot, but I do really love this track. It feels... Familiar. Not repetitive but familiar. The little variations go a long way.
4:40 Ooooooh. Getting me excited for the last hoorah. And it's great. Very fluid yet very defined.

All in all, love it. 9/10 because this is still a WIP, but it is a very gorgeous WIP.

Thanks. The pads are just three separate choral pads of me holding out an "Ah", "O", and "E" with some blurring and reverb. They're pretty simple to make provided you have proper hardware, but they sound good and stuff.

The kick is from the vengeance club essentials 3 or whatever, under the trance kicks. I compressed it so that it would have more attack without squishing it, as well as put on a subtle reverb (which I rarely do with kicks, since I don't have a proper reverb to do so, and any of the presets on the reverb plugin don't sound very good).

The lead synth is just a simple square wave lead with 2 oscs, on pitched an octave lower than the other and a LP filter, with a dash of bitcrushing on the side

2:10 I love the way you kinda brought out the bass

The thing with that is that I'm not sure why the bass feels like it's suddenly brought out, as I didn't add any elements, as mentioned in my above post.

Other than that, thanks for all the compliments. I'll probably wait out a bit longer to see if there are any other people who critique the song before I decide it's finished and then master it.

[ArisingFlame]

2:10 I love the way you kinda brought out the bass

The thing with that is that I'm not sure why the bass feels like it's suddenly brought out, as I didn't add any elements, as mentioned in my above post.

I meant it in a way that, its attitude is changed. Not louder or softer or anything different with effects, but when it breaks away from what it was doing before to do its own thing

[Glitchhog]

Not sure where to pick this up, so I'll just post mine:

[ArisingFlame]

If you are going to put your track in here you HAVE to review a few tracks above you. One is nice, 2 is better, 3 is awesome, but be descriptive and specific on what you like and what you don't.

But nevertheless, I shall review.

Good intro. High energy, but basic. I like the sweep.
0:22 DEAR GOD WHOSE VOICE IS THIS? She shall be mine. Great atmosphere building up to 1:04
1:04 Beautiful. Love it all, although the kick is quite quiet. Hard to hear/feel.
2:03 Very high energy and a very positive feeling. Very beautifully put together.
2:44 Love the piano. Great way to create a dip in the track to add more flavor, while increasing the positivity of the track.

No real gripes with this track. I love it.

[KillerAmp]

@glitchhog
Love everything about this track except a bit in the mix, I feel like there is too much high end instead of low end which, at least in my monitors, distracts from the vibe, maybe that's a harmonic exciter? idk. Overall fantastic track.

https://soundcloud.com/officialaristokat/a-title-is-required

Only like 30 minutes went into this so far so its really rough, but this place has given me good advice for my other tracks so ill leave this here and see what you guys think. woop.

[Injustrial]

I think the chords in the intro are a bit too long. It starts to pick up when the leads come in. The gated leads after could benefit a lot from a background pad or something, so it's not completely quiet inbetween hits. As you say, rough yet. I'm sure it'll turn out something cool after a bit of work ^^

https://soundcloud.com/injustrial/shed-mp3-1

Mixed on £40 computer satelites. Might be a tad rough...

[ArisingFlame]

@KillerAmp
I really love this, but (you don't have to listen to me. Just a personal opinion) I think this track would benefit from you cutting each section (apart from the intro) in half. (0:30-0:45 instead of 0:30-1:00 to introduce the next section.) It'd give you a lot more room to fly with it without making it super lengthy. But aside from that, I have 0 gripes.

@Injustrial
Super high energy. Love it.
Is that you singing at 0:48? It suits the track very nicely. Although, around 1:00ish, I think you could benifit from lowering the reverb on the lead synth there.
Again, is that your scream? Awesomesauce.
LOVE the second verse area. Great instrument break between vocals



Backstory on this. I started making this back when I was in Iraq (2011-2012) and only had the choruses and the 2nd verse recorded. Last night I was all motivated and whatnot and went back to it, clearing out everything vocal-wise and trying to somewhat clean up the instrumental. (I know it still needs a LOT of work.) and starting re-recording the vocals today, inadvertently writing the 1st and 3rd verses at the same time. So all of these vocals were done tonight. Yay me.
This is totally different from my usual style, but I like to think that everything I do is different.
Lyrics are on the SC page
https://soundcloud.com/t-jayson/nightmare-wip

[Injustrial]

@ArisingFlame: Everything in that track was done by me, yeah. Those screams are my default vocal style. ;)

[v.lossity]

Not sure where to pick this up, so I'll just post mine:

I know its a bit out of order, but I just thought I'd drop in to say I see a distinct style developing, and I like it. I love the stutters and stops. Wonderful.

[ArisingFlame]

I just cranked out two WIPs. Yaaay. (Well... Four actually, bu two I wanna show off.) No official names for either yet.
https://soundcloud.com/dj-broken-top/bouncy-wip
https://soundcloud.com/dj-broken-top/jump-wip

[Glitchhog]

Not sure where to pick this up, so I'll just post mine:

I know its a bit out of order, but I just thought I'd drop in to say I see a distinct style developing, and I like it. I love the stutters and stops. Wonderful.

Thanks man. :)

[simonli2575]

@ArisingFlame - Bouncy WIP
All was good until I heard that you used the default FL snare, which kind of turned me off. I know it's just a WIP, but please still don't use the default FL samples.
Having only 1 synth plus a few drum sounds makes the track sound kind of boring and lonely, try adding some basses, arps and leads into it.

@ArisingFlame - Jump WIP
@0:16 That synth comes in too sudden and too sharp in my opinion. I like the first bass you have though.
@0:44 I kind of don't like how the lead is immediately cut off after being played and how the snares come in abruptly. Try making the snares a bit more gentle and the lead fade out smoothly.
@1:32 There's a bit of harmonic clash here, and not in a cool way.
Maybe it's just me, but the claps have way too much reverb and some other parts sound a bit dry.

@KillerAmp - A Title is Required
I like that wind sound.
@0:30 I might say you could fade out the lead a little smoother than it is now.
@0:59 There's too much reverb in the snares?
Also, my left ear doesn't hear the arps early on and feels lonely.
@1:30 It starts to sound better and more complete (?).
With only 30 minutes of work, that's quite a good start.

Here's my WIP track again [refined].
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/531 ... ight_4.mp3

[DJSadEyez]

Here's my WIP track again [refined].
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/531 ... ight_4.mp3

Yup, this one is interesting. I like it in a different way. It splits up from the weird Melo part to a nice Drums and (especially) Bass part. Nice Drum Pattern though.
The track's a little bit too long IMO, still nothing bad to say 'bout it. I guess it will fit person's taste. It did to mine ^^

Here is my latest:

https://soundcloud.com/djsadeyez/falling-skies

[Injustrial]

Those wind rod plucks are beautiful. I really like them. I'm thinking your saw lead might be a tad bit high in comparison to the other instruments in the track, but it has a nice dualsounding goodness to it. (Is it two separate leads melded into one line, or are there some sounddesign magic going on here?)
Would love for it to be a bit longer. I feel the song could have hit up a really cool new high and then gone for the intro. But on the other hand, it doesn't overstay it's welcome.



A song I feel has some potential, but there are some pretty big problems with the mix at this date. Especially the phasing is through the roof

[ArisingFlame]

@DJSadEyez
I like the intro. Super sexy. No complaints from me
0:31 I LOVE the way you brought those chords in.
In all honesty, I have nothing to nitpick on in this track. Beautiful


@Injustrial
Leveling things out would help a lot. But you did say you had to mix it, so I won't dig in to that.

As far as the song goes, it feels a little too busy when the vocals are going. too much reverb on some of the synths perhaps? I really like the vocals but the feel lost in the mix.
The whole thing feels muddy, but with some cleaning up (Especially on the reverb side of things) this could easily become one of my favorite tracks!



Okay, this is a song I'm currently working on vocals for. 0:38-0:58, 1:08-1:27, 2:54-3:14, and 3:23-3:43 all will have singing, whereas 1:37-2:54 and 3:52-5:10 will have rapping. I haven't decided for 5:10 onward
https://soundcloud.com/t-jayson/stand-tall-wip

[Belgerum]

@DJSadEyez
Okay, this is a song I'm currently working on vocals for. 0:38-0:58, 1:08-1:27, 2:54-3:14, and 3:23-3:43 all will have singing, whereas 1:37-2:54 and 3:52-5:10 will have rapping. I haven't decided for 5:10 onward
https://soundcloud.com/t-jayson/stand-tall-wip

Lots of good stuff going on all around, but there's a lot of repetitive material here. Not that it's a bad thing, and I'm sure that vocals will liven up many parts that seem such, but it does feel a bit that way.
One thing that my old composition teacher always told me that I think might help your technique a bit is noticing when your lines and sections start and end. It's very tempting to just have all your instrument changes, background lines, and everything happen on beat one of a measure every time, but sometimes, certain lines tend to work better coming in with pickups, or starting a little bit later. Try and fool around with that a little, and I think it might help.

A song I feel has some potential, but there are some pretty big problems with the mix at this date. Especially the phasing is through the roof

As was said earlier, I can't tell you much about the mix, as you say it's unfinished. all I can ssay is that I agree, and it needs some mixing and touching upon.
Other than that, it sounds pretty good, and I've got very little to say.

Anyway, here's my stuff. Comments on either of these would be very appreciated.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ohdsdna3ri08xzk/Blarg.wav
I'm definitely not that experienced with synths and electronic genres, so here's something of me trying at that. yeah.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/e2u ... %20WIP.wav
This one's got some vocals in the planning phase, to replace the obnoxious oboe melody, but everything else is mostly final.

[FrostShard]

Blarg.wav -
I really like the melody in this one.
The mix itself is nice and clean. Good crisp highs.

As you said you don't have a lot of experience with synth/electronic stuff and I think the biggest part of it is the drums. In this case they sound dry, small and a little repetitive.
The addition of hi-hats would be a good start, either at the start or introduced progressively. The kick needs to have more substance to it also, as well as the snare (layering?)

Another big thing is sound effects, they really help reinforce the pressure of a song by releasing and building tension. If you don't own any sample packs you can always try using some effected crashes or reverbkicks. Some noise sweeps would be a good addition to the buildup to indicate the tension over a greater time, it just sort of sneaks up on you at the moment.

The sort of guitar sounding lead at the drop works well.
I personally would stray from those 'vweb' sounding high wobbles but that might just be me. :)

Anyway, here is a track I'm working on for a compilation album. Sort of an acid/electronic funk blend. Still a few mixing issues here. (damn those pads)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/p0y ... tain_2.mp3

[Dr. Plague]

Anyway, here is a track I'm working on for a compilation album. Sort of an acid/electronic funk blend. Still a few mixing issues here. (damn those pads)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/p0y ... tain_2.mp3

Some parts feel somewhat discordant, but that could just be me. I really like this. You did/are doing a great job with the percussion. It doesn't have that head-bobbing-4x4 flow, but that's obviously not what you're going for. You have everything fitting the music, and it really comes together well.

Really like the part around 4:00 where that one synth starts to fade in. You have great creativity, and it really shows here. Great work, can't wait to hear the finished product! If you don't end up posting it here, shoot me a PM. ;D

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ohdsdna3ri08xzk/Blarg.wav
I'm definitely not that experienced with synths and electronic genres, so here's something of me trying at that. yeah.

Great intro melody and chords, love it! All I would really criticize there is that your drums sound a little soft for electronic, especially considering the harder synths you have come in shortly afterward.

I love the guitar (or guitar-esque synth?) you have going in the back. With the fast-paced drums, it's got a great metal/rock feel to it, and I love that kind of shit 'cause it takes me back to my metalhead days.

Goddamn, shoot me a PM when you're done with this too. Great stuff, man.

https://soundcloud.com/t-jayson/stand-tall-wip

Harder to judge because it's missing the vocals, which are generally central to a song and, well, the parts that should have vocals will obviously feel emptier without them. Keeping that in mind, though, I like what you've got so far. Kick could maybe do with a little more, well, kick to it (if my ears are correct, around the 200-300 Hz range? maybe??).

Same with Belgerum's track, love the fact that you've got guitar in this. There isn't enough electronic music that has full-on guitar in it (and isn't acoustic synth pop kind of stuff).

I'll save some of the tracks before these for whenever I upload another track. I hate falling behind in this thread because it takes me a good 5-10 mins of listening to a song repeatedly to really get an idea of what to criticize, so three reviews is already a good chunk of time. /excuses
srsly though, I'll get back to the rest

Here's my latest track. I want to call it finished, but who knows, I rarely stick with saying that, especially when I "finish" a track before I go to sleep. I took it from DnB to house, and I have to say, I'm really enjoying changing tempo mid-track. The gimmick is a little similar to "kitsunetsuki" from before (because, well, 166bpm to 115bpm then, 180 to 126 this time), but that's just a coincidence. :P

Now that I'm done rambling on about shit that literally doesn't matter...

https://soundcloud.com/dr_plague/olfo

[ArisingFlame]

@Belgerum
Blarg.wav
I wanna hear what you have when this is finished I love this. Like Dr. Plague and FrostShard said, It could use some heavier electronic drums, but aside from that, I have 0 gripes.

@FrostShard
I like it a lot. A very funky feel going on. The percussion is that strong point in this one. Aside from that, the Bass really stands out as well.

::EDIT::
I SO DID NOT MEAN TO CALL YOU FROSTSHART, BUT THAT SHIT WAS HILARIOUS


@Dr. Plague
Sexy intro. Gets you going right at the start. Maybe needs a little more definition on the notes for the growl, unless that's the intended effect, then don't mind me.
I am loving this breat @ 0:55. Brings my anticipation of what is to come
aaaaaaaand. The drop. Beautifully done.
2:49 is awesome. Love the way you brought down the tempo for a different kind of groove. Grat way to bring it to that awesome outro.



https://soundcloud.com/t-jayson/bottle-up-snippet
FL has started to go wonky on me so I though I'd save where I was and pick it up in a bit. The intro, 1st, and 2nd verses are yet to be recorded, so I just exported it from the bridge after the 2nd verse on.

Urk. Just realized how loud the vocals are on the 2nd chorus there. Gotta fix that.

[Snoopy 20111]

Anyway, here is a track I'm working on for a compilation album. Sort of an acid/electronic funk blend. Still a few mixing issues here. (damn those pads)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/p0y ... tain_2.mp3

Like others have said, your track has a really awesome discordiant funky sound. This interests me a lot because most "funky" stuff I've ever heard has been repetitive and resolved all the loops one way or another. This is just me, but I was expecting a lead or solo of some kind to come to the forefront at some point, although it is by no means necessary or really called for in any way. The piano at the end is phenomenal; it made me think you were about to slide into "Great Gig in the Sky" from Dark Side of the Moon. In fact, if you collabed with some vocalists, I'm sure you could most definitely do something similar to that for a great 2-parter.

Wait. THIS IS A WIP? WHAT?!? This is an incredible track. 3/3.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/e2u ... %20WIP.wav
This one's got some vocals in the planning phase, to replace the obnoxious oboe melody, but everything else is mostly final.

I wouldn't call it "obnoxious." Even as just an instrumental it sounds good, alibi more like a soundtrack to a video of something. As really my only gripe, at the beginning and end the music seems to abruptly begin and stop, which is bugging me for some reason. Take that with a grain of salt though. I have nothing else to say because there's really nothing wrong with this track. 2.8/3



I can't really critique anybody else due to SoundCloud being blocked where I am (curses!), so I'll now just post mine.

This was my first real venture into recording, minus simply screwing around with Garageband a year prior. The song is entitled "Little Wings," as it is a tribute and semi-cover of the similarly named Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix. It was really just me playing along to a backing track I found of the SRV version (thus why the bass and drums were left almost untouched).

I'm not doing any further edits to this in any way. I just want to know what I could have done better, from EQ to playing.