Fairies Yo this is tight, glad I randomly went through latest posts for this genre tag lol
54 Audio Reviews w/ Response
All 104 Reviews
Jackhammer Was this all played live and tracked? If so then that's pretty cool. Always give props if that's the case. The guitars sound really muddy, and the drums don't really fit into the mix, just sounds like midi thrown right on top of a really muddy song. It doesn't have that punch that it really needs to have, overall. The solo was kind of okay, but it really didn't fit in the key (and not in a jazzy sort of way). All things said, though, despite the repetitive nature of this track, it's still not that bad. The mixing and mastering really need work though, and without that, it's not the most pleasant thing to listen to.
TSRBand responds:
Thanks for your response! It's much appreciated, always looking to improve :) Guitars and bass are live but the drums are midi here.
Manifest Destiny The second synth that comes in at 00:14 felt out of place, though I'm not sure what about it didn't fit. The kick drum pattern is.. annoying, if only because the kick sample itself is annoying, too hard for this style of music. Look for a more subby, booming sort of kick (though still short) that a noisy and dry kick. For the most part, the mixing is fairly decent. Transitions could be a little bit better (they are a bit abrupt and it doesn't feel like the piece can breathe). Aside from that, nothing was really wrong with it as far as from a compositional standpoint, and being made with only the demo is its own sort of triumph. I hope that you can keep getting better, and maybe get the full version of FL studio some day.
xxUltimaWeapon responds:
The samples I use are usually random and hastily chosen so I can see how they don't feel fluid together at times. Especially since it was a piano mixed with some random ambience haha. I felt confident with the transitions in this, so I appreciate you pointing that out. My perspective can only get me so far. And in regards to the kick. I used the default FL kick and added a bass kick with it. Just straight up laziness. Haha. I do appreciate your feedback, as it's helpful to keep me moving in a good direction. Thanks for taking a deeper look into this!
Electrical Assassin Eh, it took a while to get anywhere. I have to commend you for making it quite a solid loop, though, and everything sounded nice together! So props for that. I realize the "techno" genre is usually extremely minimalistic in nature, so that's fine anyway. The drums feel a bit stale (not sure if it's the repetition or the samples themselves, I just don't feel that they fit the best), and the arp is just a bit overpowering at times.
overall, it's fairly simple and it works pretty well, aside from some things I would have done differently, and slight mixing/mastering problems (but maybe you like it that way, so I can't really judge). After listening to it 5-6 times, I do have to say that I hardly even notice that it looped until the vocal sample kicks back in, and the track itself is growing on me, so I feel a 4/5 is a solid score for this.
ADR3-N responds:
Thanks for the review! I do agree the percussion could have used a little extra work. I couldn't find a proper snare to fit in my library, which left me with some hats and the BIGROOMKIX synth I used for the chorded kick. Not too much mastering to speak of, as I only took a few hours on the piece. I really appreciate the in depth critique, very helpful. :)
Rathunas - Cinematic Trailer All of the instruments sound good and fit together well. Transitions are done very well, nothing to be improved upon there. Sometimes it does feel a bit dense/compressed, but aside from that there is very little to complain about. Certain instruments could be taken up a bit in terms of volume, but I know how difficult that THAT can be (as well as highly subjective). Everything could be a little brighter (just sounds a little bit muffled, could just be MP3 encoding though) so you may want to look at that. Overall, however, the mixing is quite good, and mastering is almost (if not) professional level stuff, and everything you did is compositionally sound - good job.
SoundChris responds:
Hey there, thanks a lot for your nice review! Yeah its right what you say about the volumes. I always find it hard to bring out all the instruments clearly without causing issues in others instruments ... also the compression is a difficult thing to handle in orchestral pieces. I always try to avoid to compress in an orchestral setup, but sometimes i just dont find another way to add more power to some single instrument tracks.
Thanks a lot for leaving your thoughts here - highly appreciated!
All the best,
Chris
Shores of Dysphoria The instruments go really well with each other. The mixing is very well done, and the guitar was a really nice touch as well. The voice that came in near the end fit really nicely into the mix. Not much else I can say about it, other than it was over kinda quickly for my liking (as in, you did a good job and I wanted to hear more, but was sad it was over so quickly).
Chemiqals responds:
Thank you! I hit a bit of a roadblock writing this. Couldn't come up with anything that wasn't redundant or repetitive to add to it. I might work on it some more in the future. Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Wonder Eh, it sounds good, except that the instruments sound a little off and highly synthetic, the panning throws me off at times, the notes feel really really quantized and robotic, which is probably not the sound you were going for.. but as for the compositional side of it, it works really well and nothing sounds out of place note-wise and the instruments all go together, transitions work well.. and yeah. Not sure what else I can say.
DSykMusic responds:
Thanks for your critique! Could you pinpoint what it is about the panning that's throwing you off at times?
Nope. It's got the right drum rhythm for DnB, but all in all it sounds like... synthpop, I guess :P Not to say that in a bad way, it's really extremely happy sounding and upbeat, and I really personally like it. But not what I would call drum and bass at all lol
Anyways, yeah.. that's kinda really different from punk :P like, when I read that, I thought maybe there'd be some celldweller-esque elements.. nope, I was pleasantly surprised, really.
MonkeyToast responds:
First of all, thanks a lot for listening!
And yeah, I now understand it's not DnB.. Need to get used to labeling my tracks to the right genre. But hey, I'm new to electronic music so ^^
I'm really happy you enjoyed it though! When I make electronic music I'm all for happy tunes, so I understand that I might give others strange expectations when I say that I'm also working on punk-music.
Anyhow, thanks for the nice comment, and I hope you'll have a look on my future stuff as well, as more is to come soon.
There will probably be some chiptunes if you're into those ;)
Chipped Tooth It reminds me a bit of a song I did a long time ago, funnily... just, without the breakbeat. I felt that the kick drum was a teeny bit overpowering. I don't quite now what to say here, I suppose that you have an interesting rhythm and such going for you. I like that you changed up the melody a tiny bit (I think?) but I could do with maybe some kind of lead-synth going on, maybe also some lower bass type stuff (of course, just simple square waves or something would work and maintain the 8-bit esque sound).. A key change could make this last a little longer without tiring it too much, if you'd want to go there (not issues, just pointing out some things that you could do to it to add a little bit) - I could definitely see like an ambient break in the middle, and then throwing the drums in and bringing back that melodic line... that would be interesting. Although, as for the song, it's good, and I feel like it has a lot of potential, and would maybe like to see it evolve a bit more, even)
BassMZero responds:
I totally get you. Truth be told, I did get a bit lazy with this track haha.
This is beautiful.. I wish I could make something like this lol
DJT3chnic responds:
Thanks, but curious.. You have nothing negative to say? Why 4.5 stars? Anyways, I do appreciate the review very much!
