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FinaLee

106 Audio Reviews

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Good mashup!

There's a lot of things going on here that ultimately culminate into a solid synthwave beat. The mixing is there, the panning of the instruments gives interest, and the song structure is distinct in each section while remaining cohesive enough to flow well from one to the next. I want to particularly note that listening for the first time did not give the impression of the song being 3 minutes and 50 seconds, and that is something worth remarking in a time when many listeners are gravitating towards songs only lasting as little as 2 minutes and change.

There were some things that would have been done differently if I were behind the computer screen, and I believe it to be partially a matter of stylistic choice, especially considering you appear to have a decent grasp of production techniques and mixing. First, as someone who thoroughly enjoys compression, I wonder if the amount of compression you're using on some of these channels can maybe be dialed back or at least reexamined. It's not a vibe-killer, and doesn't really get too distracting with the one exception being the first verse of the vocals. I think that because of the lower register singing in this section, the weight of the vocals sound like they are submerging the bass. If not the compression, then maybe another look at a HPF EQ? Either way, there is a noticeable difference in clarity between the two verses.

My only other complaint would be the autopanning that is deployed on certain vocal phrases. I know it adds a lot of dimension to the singing, but as a matter of taste, it makes it sound more sporadic to me, and that somewhat detracts from the overall mood as it relates to what I think you're going for in this track.

Other than that, I'm vibin' 🌆

Ziondiac responds:

Thanks for taking the time to make this in depth review, really appreciate it

I'd say that if you were going for a retro game menu/shopping/safe zone kind of sound, the essence of it is very much there. The grooving bass and melody slides, the "heel/toe" kicks of the drums, the brief use of chromatic scale; all of these really tie together for a pretty cool vibe!

For me, my main issue is how conflicted I feel about the mono sound. It certainly adds to that retro quality that you may have been going for, and I could easily picture it coming out of a very old radio. Despite this, I think even an additional splash of subtle panning could give it some much-needed dimension. I already hear some slight panning in the snare, and while I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, if you considered that then maybe look at something like the hi-hats as well. Your lead synth opened things up a little bit, but in totality I don't think it was quite enough for me.

You mention in your comments that you went a little overboard with the synth melodies, but in my opinion you could have added more melodic interest with an additional lead instrument noodling around after the synth and piano took their turns. The division between the synth and piano taking the lead was really neat (and that solo fill at 00:53 was easily my favorite part!), so why not grab the listener again with a third instrument butting in?

I say these things with the spirit of your piece in mind, and I don't believe they would conflict much with the style you have going on here. Good luck at the competition!

From one amateur to another,

Lee

Crysstal712 responds:

thank you for the review! I was thinking about adding a third lead but i had spent a REALLY long amount of time trying to get the vibe that i wanted, and I was feeling tired overall. I can definitely try a panning effect in my free time though! As always, good luck on the competition, <3

I can see some video game application in a track like this. It is a perfectly simple minor-sounding melody, but it does hearken to some kind of disturbing setting, and the atonal sound effects used throughout certainly complement this theme well.

If this is not a completely finished work, I would encourage you to expand upon this idea because the main issue that this track suffers from is its lack of dimension. The main melody, while great, seems to be a little too heavily relied upon, and the track sounds like it is struggling to flow from one section to the next without sounding forced.

The loud production also does not lend any favors to this problem. As a stylistic choice, I think it is fine for something like this, and I happen to like it. However, if a track is sounding a little too one-note, taking dynamics out of the picture can also put a spotlight on that issue.

My favorite part, however, was the reverse bass sound effect at the end. I had to play that back a couple of times because of how cool it was!

From one amateur to the next,

Lee

coquettishconcubine responds:

thank you so much for taking the time to write all that!!!<33

Mmm definitely detecting some RHCP influence in this. It's hard for me to peg you for what instrument you primarily play because they each have a chance to occupy the focal point of the song at some point. It's also always impressive to see and hear someone that is committed to playing every instrument and learning some basic production techniques like vocal layering. A talent like that in itself can really command respect among musicians, and I just wanted to give kudos for that.

The issue I have is that, as commendable as it is to be so technically proficient with so many analog instruments, the final result is still rudimentary, production-wise. Going for a dry sound isn't necessarily bad, but I think that a Saraha Desert recording like this can benefit from a touch of ambience and subtle reverb, particularly in the drums. There are certain points where they are really struggling to make the most of their presence in the mix. Have you considered taking a channel and making a recording of how they sound from across the room to open them up a little in the mix? That's basically your makeshift reverb that you can adjust to taste.

Those would be my primary complaints. The song is very much carried by your playing, and that's fine. I just think that taking some time to expand on the mixing will make your technical ability pop even more.

Gus-ildirim responds:

Thank you so much for your feedback, that really helps me a lot !
Although I'm still trying to learn how to mix each track properly, mixing has always been a struggle for me when I work with analog instruments. I usually spend a lot of time just trying to add things to each track to see if they will sound better when I don't really know what to do with it, but I'm always afraid of doing too much, and most of the time it turns out not great. And this applies to every instrument I record, though I think I've been getting a little better at mixing guitar over time.
In this song, I mostly struggled with bass, especially at some specific moments of the song where I wanted the bass to stand out a little more without being too loud and crushing out the other instruments. But I just didn't really know how I could do that so I just kept the mix as it was.

wearing an oversized shirt and drinking a sprite in the club. Just feels like those kinda vibes

Tritnew responds:

Definitely got those vibes goin'.

This one does not sound nearly as adventurous as some of your other uploads. While you seem to have a general atmosphere in place, I'm having a hard time staying engaged given what has been presented.

Looking at the title, it appears that the objective was to give the listener a sense of floating off the ground. With the timbre of the chords and your choice of minimal bass presence, I believe you accomplished that very well. The saw chords with the attack provide that "airy" tone I think you were looking for, and the lack of bass allows the mix of the track to be untethered from any rigid groove.

An issue that seems to have escaped you, however, is the lack of interest in the track required to keep someone absorbed to your theme. We have a fairly simple chord progression, a standard set of not-punchy drum samples, and a lead (I think?) that is almost too wispy to be able to discern the melody. In my opinion, this is the biggest flaw; there simply isn't enough variation in this upload, and it sounds more like a concept than a finished track.

All the best.

Maevings responds:

I will take this into consideration, Thanks!

Super duper dirty track. What did you do to get that bass lead in the beginning? There's so much modulation going on that I would be very impressed if only one synth was used.

AzanFox responds:

It's a mix of few oscillators put through separate filters and bass sidechained to them, I've put that into one mixer track and added a little distortion so that all together creates that heavy bass

I would want to hear a final cut from this. It has a lot of interesting elements to it, some of which work for me and some that I am more ambivalent about. After giving it some thought, I think my problem with this project lies mostly on your drum sample selection and song structure.

For example, it sounds like you're wanting the track to really explode at :54. If that is your goal, then may I suggest looking into making the dynamics a little quieter right before it crescendos? A subtle change in volume of the mix can go a long way in making :54 really pop out. This is just one idea that I feel would be more effective than using a reverse cymbal and keeping the melodies playing at the same level.

And the drum samples are a bit too punchy for something like this, in my opinion. They sound like they belong in a dance track. For this kind of project, I would look for something that fits more comfortably with the instrumentation and is less in-your-face. As it sounds now, they are more distracting than complimenting.

I would be remiss to not mention that these melodies are so on point. They have a lot of life in them, and there is enough variation between sections to keep them interesting. Love em.

So that's just a couple of my thoughts on this. I would really like to see this revisited soon because it has a number of really cool things going for it. Hope to see more work from you!

nixtly responds:

First:
thanks for hearing this!
======================================
Second:
Well uhhhh I wanted to do a "Symphonic Metal" type, it's like Metal but with feelings adding Choirs etc etc
and the theme of the parts of the drums I did not have others that worked well for me, that hit well in the song at least that I feel,
I was looking for a Ready-To-Mix drums and it was the only thing I had for it :(, I'll have to look for other drums,
I'm glad you like this, I did it with some effort, usually this is inspired by a song from an au of the game "UNDERTALE" Called NK!Dustbelief, but that's another thing that I don't want to get too much into the subject of that Game, being that it is in beta and a new new version came out,

Thanks for the feedback!

Very strong track! The pad and acid arpeggio really give this project its color. Dark, brooding, and harrowing. It almost makes me forget that this game involves teletubbies.

There's a few things that are really going with this track. First, I think that the main melody does a lot of the legwork here, especially when you have the other synth playing in harmony with it. It has a nice energetic feel to it.

One of the things that detracts from this tune though is how it sounds very anemic. Maybe you're not using the full spectrum of sound in the mix, but that could be a stylistic choice depending on what the intention of this track was. Even for a chipstep song, however, I think you could have explored beefing up the mix on the lower end.

It sounds like you tried to compensate for this a little bit by adding reverb, which can be a good idea, and I think that method worked well when you added some to the snare, but you may have gone a little overboard with it on the bitcrushed bass wobble.

Song structure-wise, I actually like it a lot! There was some foundation to it with the melody/buildup/drop/cooldown format, but you chose to include some variation in the second half of the track, and that makes it a lot more interesting.

Overall, I'd say you have a pretty good concept of composition, but the track suffers from some lackluster mixing choices. Hope to see some more work from you in the future!

MAffiliates responds:

nice feedback, will take into account

Woah! Yeah!

Lee @FinaLee

Age 30, o

Florida

Joined on 11/4/09

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