Score: 8

"nice concept"

submission: Journey To Paradise (EP2 Demo)

date: October 7, 2009

this was a pretty decent song. ill jst comment as i listen.

first off, the mix is getting absolutely destroyed by the bass drum. its killing off all the other instruments once it comes in, so take that down a notch. the other effect of that is that it seems pretty much like there's no bass instrument. i think you were intending for the chord stabs to do that. but its jst not there anymore. its jst the bass drum, so that makes the song come off as a little superficial.

the lead chords are really soothing. you chose an excellent sound for that, and the chimes complement them more or less perfectly. good job, its a memorable and simple chord sequence that works really well.

other pet peeves: the speeding up snare roll in the build up at the start is trite. it works, but id try something different ;) the song doesnt evolve in the 30 seconds when the beat came in. play around with your lead chords. also, try to play with more percussion to make the beat deeper. finally, as a suggestion, in the build up with the chords, maybe you can try to exaggerate the chords more than you did in terms of sustain/release to make a really full sound with a strong, soft bass pad (some derivative of sine would work probably). that would plunge the listener into warm depth right off the bat.

apart from that, i think that overall this is a decent composition. its not very interesting at this point, but thats probably because its a 1 minute sample, so keep at it. good luck!

Score: 9

"word"

submission: {DjF}Hotel Room Service (WIP)

date: October 3, 2009

hahaha nice! some mixing suggestions first--1) its good to keep the vocals a little more centered. it seemed to spaced out a lot of the time. 2) maybe raise the level on the vocals a bit more too, because it seemed to compete a little too much with the background. otherwise, good job on the mix.

i thought you did an overall good job with this remix. its a really simplistic melody, so it comes off as a good anthem, though too uninteresting to have any real lasting value. it would do well in a club setting though. as a suggestion...

1) find some more interesting transitions between sections than silences and reversed cymbals. thats fine once or twice, but it gets boring after a while.

2) try adding more auxiliary percussion like another hat line, bells, shakers, tambourines, whatever. it would add some depth to teh song, and fill out the high end of the spectrum a bit (right now it feels very bass heavy).

3) try sidechaining the bass with the pattern that you currently have against the bass drum. i know sidechaining is trite and all, but it seems like it would work well in this situation.

gj overall though, its a solid submission.

Score: 8

"this was good but could have been a lot better"

submission: Chateaubriand Demo (EP #2)

date: September 30, 2009

i think you have a really good concept here. but, it's mixed oddly and so it comes off as a little bit... off.

the drums shouldnt be sidechained out on this one. have a strong beat, because the ducking on everything else is driving the personality of the song, and the beat and rhythm behind it shouldnt just be ducking out. your bass drum is completely unhearable, and it would have been so fuckin tight if your bass drum, snare, and hats/crackling were hard and punchy.

second, it needs more variety even for just a 1 min run through of the meat of the song. try modulating into different keys so the song explores more.

third, sometimes it feels like the ducking is a little bit off beat. i think it's okay, but i dont think its really necessary if that was an intentional effect.

i could probably go into more detail but since its jst a short demo, work on it more for later. oh, and as a heads up, ur jst supposed to give a 1 min or so demo for the EP, so this is a bit long. but whatever lolz.

Score: 9

"this one is way better anyway"

submission: 100% Volume Plx

date: September 27, 2009

too short to really leave a very substantive review, but the concept is sweet. the popping sound is awesome, and makes the whole mix feel tight, though i think you can arrange their timing better than that; try accentuating offbeats more with them. perhaps you should layer the bass with a fat subbass [not listening to this on ballin headphones but the woofers are feeling that way].

i expect the first 3 seconds to go crazy as the song grows, so you better do it. rock steady

Score: 8

"cool stuff"

submission: Tell Me Why (Remix EP Demo)

date: September 1, 2009

i like what you did with the intense compression and sidechaining. this demo seems to be lacking in the bass department [try layering the bg synth with stronger basses when this grows up]. also the compression can be a little dizzying, not quite sure what about it is doign that but on my 5.1 setup its kinda freaking me out after a while haha.

judging by ur name, you might like how my demo sounds [and my last song] :)

Score: 6

"blehhhhh"

submission: Fredgy - Eurodancer {Remix}

date: August 15, 2009

with the intro and the chord progression, it just sounded soo.... generic. but getting away from the triteness of this track, lets go to production

whats supposed to be the bass synth i suppose isnt very bassy at all [no thats nota problem with my bass, i have a fat woofer sitting next to me]. instead it comes off as abraisive and at times painful.

the beat is really weak--the bass drum is too short and light. try layering it with another bass drum that has a longer bass release. the snare doesnt really mesh with the bass drum either, and the high hats stand out too much to the point that they take over the beat instead of complimenting it.

your lead synth has too much reverb so it just sounds kinda wishywashy, and all the synths in the song sound too much like simple square waves and saws that they just feel weak and synthetic.

idk its a pretty meh song for me. youve got the right ideas though for structuring a trance song, so keep at it!

[maybe you can check out my latest. i think itd help you see what i mean. :)]

Score: 8

"haha"

submission: Crazy Foo

date: August 15, 2009

this was soooo cheesy that i kinda love it [the start tricked me into thinking of flight of the bumblebees haha and then it becomes like 8-bit evil carnival fare YES!]. even though its so simplistic with jst one vst, you made some cool sfx with it, and the sound of the lead makes it sound soo... smarmy! i guess thats the word for it. although i find it hard to really treat this a serious song, i found it to be entertaining. win!

[if u got time, plz check out my latest. its only fair :)]

Score: 8

"mehhhh"

submission: DJ5o9-Mayhem

date: August 15, 2009

thats a cool, fat synth you got goin there. i can totally see this being used in the ali g show hahaha. and how u play wiht it is pretty cool. so even though this pretty much only has 2 instruments, is overcompressed [take that down a notch], and the amen breaks are way too soft and routinely get drowned out, im still kinda digging this haha. i hope ppl use it in flashes.

[plz check out my stuff if u got time. its only fair ;)]

Score: 9

"i see where you're coming from."

submission: Chases Always Begin Quiet

date: August 15, 2009

yeah, that is a very nice piano sound [though i think it could use a) some clever reverb-ing maybe, and b) some boosting in lower frequencies to make it have a little more presence] [actually, check this out: http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/70 79/frequencyguide7slrd3.jpg]

then again pretty much the entire track can use a bass boost, so it might jst be the mix overall.

but this is really nice. i think you could make it a more intense chase once the breakbeats come in by making it a little more complex beat with other forms of percussion.

the chord that you center on has a beautiful dissonance and gives the feeling of a more emotional chase rather than a stereotypical vicious one, and for that, it plays out very strongly. good job.

btw the breakbeats that continue after all the instruments are gone... yeah, take that out plz and make a proper outro haha. though u werent really being serious as the description implies, so whatever haha

[wanna check out my latest? ive been gone from the portal for a while haha. i'd appreciate it :)]

Score: 7

"hmmmm"

submission: (-Kasura-)

date: August 15, 2009

well in terms of production this was kinda shoddy, just because everythign sounded so lo-fi and blatantly fake forms of orchestral instruments, but i guess that might be the aim seeing that this is in the video game section haha. when the drums come in they destroy the mix and clip like crazy--specifically the kick--so tone that down a bit and maybe compress it so it sounds punchier.

i liked the beat though when it came in and it was well composed, giving the song a strong foreboding yet emotional feel. it blends classical instruments with synth sounds and the amen break, so it also has a mixed organic and synthetic feel that comes off as pretty interesting [mech combat in medieval times HELLLZ YEAHH] good job on that! just the actual production can use work in those aspects. keep it up.

[and plz check out my latest if u got time. its only fair ;)]