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816 Reviews | 563 w/ Responses
Hi Kawika,
What does Pacifica mean? I don't want to turn up the bass. Its you who should raise the bass for me when you mix a song. Here is what I thought.
The intro is okay. Not something amazing considering the bass and lead are playing the same pattern. I do like the bass sound though. Maybe use a better lead instrument next time. Especially at 42 seconds. That's a generic sample right there.
Not a bad transition at 56 seconds. Good job with the panning vox fx.
56 seconds again I think the bass works well here. The drums are good. Just that generic lead really destroys the experience. Some mean bass and some cheesy happy hardcore lead just doesn't mesh well for me.
Some of your fx sounds are actually quite neat. Kudos on making them. I also like the instrument at 2:33 seconds. However, again that fuzzy lead and generic sample ruins the moment. You should have used that 2:33 instrument more in this song.
So the song pretty much repeats until the end. No need to repeat myself again.
Overall, I feel this song isn't fully complete. Some instruments sound like you spent a good deal of time on. Some just feel like you got lazy and took the easy route to finish this song at a faster rate. The patterns of your fuzzy instrument is like 1/8 notes over and over again. There is essentially no change to this 1/8 pattern. Try to come up with more complicated patterns or you could always mix 1/8 stuff with quarter notes, half notes, 1/16, or anything else to get me a bit more surprised thus excited. Your song ain't that bad, but there definitely is room for improvement. Your on the right track though. Keep it up. 5/5 and 9/10 review
Bye for now
Author's Response:
Pacifica= a generic tropical name. Usually names dont really have to mean anything except give the right message. What i ment by turn up the bass is a figure of speach.
I do agree that this piece can use some work, i think that way with all of my musics.
I really do appreciate your review, its criticism like this is what actually causes improvements.
Kavi
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You already got enough indepth reviews already. I'll probably just repeat stuff you already know. Plus this song is pretty old now. You are most likely much better now. Anyway, you wanted a review for this one so I'll give.
Intro drums sound clear. Like the hi hats playing. Your cymbal splash may need some more. Try some sidechain on it? Possibly some modulations as the cymbal decays?
0:19-0:27 sounds like a very weak transition to the climax. Your fx is way overpowered by the kick. Not that I don't like the kick....just make that fx louder.
0:28 I don't mind the bass pattern. Its the bass instrument that is lacking. It has a lot of sub or a high sine level to it, but it isn't clear sounding. You might need to raise the more higher frequencies like 300-400hz.
1:07 but more obviously at 1:37 I am not a fan of these kinds of instruments that sound so eurodance like. Noise is good if used in the right way. You and your collaborator made this song not for the euro dance fans but for the more emotional deeper feeling you would get at more popular clubs or trance events. This euro dance type instrument just destroys that more mainstream club feel. In my opinion these noisy instruments should only be used as a background instrument in these types of songs. As for happy hardcore, sure why not use these noise instruments as the lead.
Kudos on your "midnight" low cutoff instrument. Something I would hear in professional trance songs.
Big exciting transition coming. The anticipations for the climax is high and then 2:33.....???? Where is the climax? Okay, sure you had the right idea. In the earlier sections of your songs you had the instruments pretty much separate from eachother, and at 2:33 you bring them all together. Nice job on that. However, even with them all together, it just doesn't get me excited. I'm not like jumping up and down like what you would see in any climax for many trance songs. You have to help me here on this one. I don't know if you made this song for the listener to relax to or if you wanted to make this song to get the listener in adrenaline mood. If the former than I can't really complain about the climax, but if the latter there needs to be some changes made.
3:28 is it just me or does the song just cut off and change to some piano part? More gradual transition might be better here. Now here is where that noise instrument really shows its problems. Piano, noisy instrument, choir pad, midnight instrument.....it just sounds so messy. Strip out that noisy instrument and things would be way more clearer. Sorry, this part just got on my nerves because of that white noise.
4:33 okay I'm digging the drums better here. Sounds better than the first climax at 2:33. Maybe cause now you have a extra instrument (the piano) to bring more fill to the song. You also dampened that noisy instrument (thank goodness) so it didn't ruin the experience.
So the song pretty much repeats. Yes, typical of trance and not something I dock marks off of. I do like more diverse music though.
Overall, you obviously can see my frustration in that white noise instrument. Yes, you can use it in these kinds of trance songs but there is a very fine line as to when that kind of instrument can just ruin a song or make it better. I probably am just saying stuff that the past reviewers have already said. Your definitely on the right track here. Your production skills are at a good level right now. Just be wary about the instruments you use and as a bonus try for more diverse music.
5/5 and 9/10.
Bye for now
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Hmm, I knew a song like this would make it to the top 5. Arpeggiated trance....obviously most people like it on here, however it is so over used thus unoriginal. Not that hard to make with a arpeggiator. However, its near christmas so I'm more in a happy mood today. I won't be harsh on the arpeggios.
Around 30 seconds I'm not a fan off. Your lead is copying what the bass is doing on every upbeat. The only difference is that your lead is actually changing notes. This is your typical electronic dance stuff here. Again, not very original.
Off topic...cool, I just noticed what NG did with the video player. Extra features = better.
1:50 okay something different here. Great job on those digital sounds. However, the pattern used does not get me all excited. You need to stop using that boring bass on every upbeat. Come up with something other than quarter notes and 1/8 notes.
Okay, sure a long ending. That's just your style. I like to finish a song with a climax...just me so not taking any marks off for your long ending.
Overall, your song screams unoriginal. Yes, arpeggios sound cool, the upbeat dance bass pattern can get people feeling the vibes, but in the end its all been done before. Generally, I don't mind the bass on the upbeat because that's the bread and butter in dance music, but your lead is essentially copying what the bass is doing. It needs to play something different so I don't get distracted from the repetitiveness.
However, I give you kudos for making the digital instrument sound good. Just need to make some more unique patterns rather than it just playing arpeggios again.
5/5 and 9/10 review. Have a great christmas holidays
Bye for now
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Hi Hania,
I thought this was going to be a typical silent night song. Then the song goes minor. Switch noticed it, I did too. Unfortunately, I thought it took away the mellow tone. Why so loud at 54 seconds? The piano just sounds off tune here. I suppose some new idea, but not the best idea.
Maybe its just me, but I feel your trying too hard to sing good. It could be your mic because I hear some fuzziness to your voice. This applies to mostly all your songs. Those professionals got really expensive sound equipment so maybe that's why they sound so good. Actually I bet that's it. They don't sound very good without the help of good equipment. Exceptions go to those broadway singers who sound almost angelic even without a mic. Anyway, I think you should get a duet going....not with your voice layered on top of well your voice again.
Good job on making the piano sound clear.
Just one question to ask you. Are you able to make your voice make some tremelo effect like what you here in those opera singers? That would bring a even bigger emotional factor to your songs.
Despite all I said, don't even for a moment think your voice is not good. Again it is great on NG. Out of NG your voice is still good and your almost at that professional level. I can't sing so I can not even imagine how hard it was to get your voice to the current level it is. What I will do though is root for you as you go for that professional voice. Best of luck
5/5 and 9/10 review
Bye for now
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Thanks for letting me know about your new stuff. Makes my life easier so I don't have to keep looking at your account. Continue pm me about your new songs and I'll continue checking them out.
Here is what I thought:
Beginning of the song, sorry I didn't like that lead pattern. It sounds almost exactly like a folk or child song I heard back when I was a kid. I don't remember the original song which bugs me since it is a popular song. However, the octaves alternating instrument wasn't so bad. I think it would have sounded much better with delay on it.
Nice build up to 1:03. I like the patterns used and the octave playing instrument now seems to work better in this section. I would have liked the bass to be slightly more distorted, but its good enough.
Like always, I don't take marks off for repetitiveness in trance so this is just to make you aware. I felt the 1:03 to 3 just felt dragged out. Plus the transition really only transitions into the same thing to 4:00. You could at least add some more instruments or drums on top.
Overall, some parts stood out, but some parts seemed lacking too. I know its tough to make a song from 0:00 to the very end sound exciting, but who said making good music is easy. I have a feeling you wanted some beautiful trance at 3:03. Your going to need a lot more reverb on that lead instrument (the one playing one note from time to time) The ending portion of the song is strange. The song should have started with that part and jump straight into the main beat. However, this is just a opinion.
Keep it up. 5/5 and 9//10
Bye for now
Author's Response:
Really appreciate you reviewing our mixes. They have been a valuable resource for our productions. Thanks!
_submergence
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Hi Elph,
Interesting song you have here. Sounds weird with the phaser or phaser type of effect you used in this song....weird can be good at times. I think what heavytank meant is more dynamic sounding instruments. Everything feels muffled as if you raised all the eq bands rather than specifically select one range. I know its the easy way to bring fill to your songs, but easy doesn't always mean better.
As for the composition, you got some nice panning going on. The effects are quite nice. Filter modulations are decent. You know what you should do with your explosion fx sounds? Sidechain them. It sounds way more better when you do that instead of just fading or decaying them out. Also try to have your patterns move around more instead of having them stay on one note. Eg. C chords and patterns transition to A chords and patterns, to F, G etc.
As for your series of songs on this type of music, go for it. It has that weird feeling that makes it different from your typical song. Just work more on the dynamics of your instruments, add some sidechaining not just tremelo or panning. And just a personal opinion add some more distortion. I love distorted instruments.
Keep it up. 5/5 and 9/10
Bye for now
Author's Response:
Mmk, ill take all of you suggestions into consideration when i do my new song.
Thanks. :)
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I think I responded to one of your reviews (the Yurei song) where I told you some steps to improve. Check that review response out.
Supposed to sound like fart noise? Well then I guess your song is good. :) Not sure where your title name came from.
You mentioned about volume differences. I think if you use the "normalize" feature in any audio editor program you can balance out the too loud and too quiet instruments. I do all that within my music program saving me the time of using any editor program (eg. audacity, soundtrack pro). Audacity is pretty poor at normalizing so a better way is to use "EQUALIZERS" and "SPREADERS". I like to use a 8 band EQ and simply mess around with all the bands until something clear comes out. Every instrument you have (even drums) should have a eq on it. No exceptions because EQ is the best sound shaping tool in electronic music programs.
A spreader will essentially control where your instruments sound the loudest in your headphones. For eg, you can make one instrument play louder in the far left of the speaker while another is more louder in the middle left of your speakers. This is different from panning because the instrument signal is not 100% transferring to where ever you want the instrument to pan. The instrument is still playing through the whole range of the speakers (just like as if you had no panning) but has more loud areas in specific areas of your speaker. It really helps organize your instruments thus more clarity. Your trying to get all the instruments playing loudly in one area of the speakers thus damping the "less louder" instruments.
Try using those two plugins I said....and experiment alot with them. There are other helpful plugins to use to help make your music sound a bit more better, but take things one at a time.
5/5 and sure 9/10 for the farting noises.
Bye for now
Author's Response:
- I hope you listened to the whole song and not just the farting noises throughout the beginning...
- Yes, I read your response to my review of Yurei, and it's easier said than done.
- Now I have a few things to say: I will try implementing an equalizer with a spreader, and not just panning. BUT, I have this 1 major problem. You, whenever you make music, you just go with whatever you feel like doing, then make some changes, because you know how to completely manipulate your program, logic pro 8, correct? Well I cannot work with such ease, because I am still trying to figure out how most of my program works. This is why my music is very limited to presets and other things. I cannot even properly use a free filter, or any kind of filter for that matter, by using it with transitions. I have to have it either on or off. I don't even know all the terms used for such production of music. I am still a lowly beginner. I know, I know, you'll say to go watch some tutorials. But those are very time-consuming. And not all of them are GOOD tutorials. Maybe you know a few good ones?
- I noticed in your reply that you said you used a regular keyboard. Logic Pro 8 allows for such implementation? I myself use everything that's already there, and I don't use any samples or import anything. Very limited, I know.
- Well, I hope you understand my situation.
P.S. Besides the usual "be a harsh judge on your own work", "look at a professional's work" and "be motivated", is there any other general tips I could use? (Besides me looking up tutorials on how to actually use my program)
~Thanks for the review, your help is appreciated.~
-SKM
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Hmm, I like your classical instruments. The violin sounds very depressing, lots of emotion in this song. Good job.
I would have to agree with Linden that more instruments need to be in this song. Also, many people make this sad kind of classical music. Classical music is probably the hardest genre to be original in since classical music has been made way back in time. The only way I can think of making a classical song original is if you have a huge symphony playing...obviously that means your going to need way more instruments. Somewhere in all those instruments one unique pattern should pop out. The second way is to spend many many hours/days/weeks/months to figure out something unique because an hours time is not enough. Your a genius if you could do that.
Due to the emotion spoken in this song I'll give you a 9/10 review and 5/5 vote.
Bye for now
Author's Response:
Thanks. Yeah, I really focused on emotion since I'm a beginner at classical and I'm bad at doing symphony.
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Bone breaker....interesting title. This song seems to be quite popular. Your doing something right. Here is what I thought,
Its just me, be I don't like instruments that sound generic. (Exception goes to classical instruments and drums. Your lead instrument just didn't seem well made. Possibly if the pattern was changed up a bit the lead instrument might have worked better?
I don't mind the drums. Nice hard kick, the snare is clear...no complaints here.
21 seconds the transition works. Just at 25 seconds things sound a bit out of tune. Your fuzzy bass which I assume you didn't detune does not match perfectly with your detuned lead instrument.
1:17 brought back old memories. I would finish my old songs like that....yours is different in that it doesn't end the song. Good idea.
So the issues here are the off key moments and the typical octaves back and forth composition. Its been done many times before. What would be a better idea for your lead is to not make it so legato. Your reverb on it makes all the notes sound slurred. I would like to here some nice staccato's here with a fast attack and quick decay to bring extra diversity to your song.
Just for an experiment, not a bad attempt at all. You learn the most through trying new things out. 5/5 and 9/10 review
Author's Response:
Thanks I see. I will save this review and read it over once I go on dictionary.com and learn what these words mean:
"octave, legato, staccato."
Thanks for the review!
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"I'm going to follow you around a bit"
Hi Sub,
I feel like good things may happen to you (or your collab) if you keep making the improvements so you are worth my time to review.
The criticism is pretty obviously in this song. Oh that familiar bass pattern. Didn't you use that in your last song? Well, I don't have to say more right?
Okay so side chaining your choir like sound gets actually annoying after a while. Fortunately it isn't some really deep hard sidechaining going on. That would just frustrate me soo much.
57 seconds in I'm not sure if your transition really counts. You kinda transitioned into the same stuff. I think that silent transition was not even necessary. Yeah, I don't count the bass changing notes as a significant diversity change.
I think its time to cut out that choir soon....I don't take marks off for repetitiveness in trance, however I just feel like you don't progress anywhere. Even those long progressive trance songs slowly add in something new much faster than you did. About 2 minutes for those long progressive trances...yours took 3 minutes and 26 seconds! That's like already one song of limited instruments used and very similar patterns. You can keep your song structure, but at least add a new instrument on top gradually.
3:26 I don't have to tell you where that composition came from. You know you heard that exact composition used before in another trance song. I don't know the name of the trance song, but I assume your trance background is probably better than mine meaning you definitely should know or at least heard that pattern before if I did.
Overall, the song is lacking some originality. Your production skills are great. However, in the end of the day it doesn't matter how good your song sounds, it has to be original and sound good. That's why I like trance critics because they go for originality while other famous musicians in other genres like pop/rock eg. Miley Cyrus can produce unoriginal copies of other people's music (slap on new vocals) and sell millions. Exception goes to vocal contemporary trance because they keep using that same deadmaus inspired instrument or those simple guitar riffs. Keep the standard high for trance music fans.
5/5 and 9/10 review
Bye for now
Author's Response:
Appreciate your support!
_submergence
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