Score: 8

"Interesting Trip Hop Alternative experIment..."

submission: My Iiving City

date: December 18, 2009

I thought the beat was maybe a bit too compressed, but otherwise, the vocals are well mastered to not overpower the backing in the track. It's very ambient, until the scratching comes in, at which point (while the scratching was well executed) I thought I was sitting somewhere between alternative and Trip Hop, without being able to make my mind up as to which I was listening to. As an experimental track I thought this was well mastered and well executed, but I also feel like it might have benefited from a slightly more varied piano riff.

Score: 4

"Producing was good, but that's all."

submission: (KKK) - Rudolf dat red nose ho

date: December 18, 2009

You did a great job of sampling a classic tune, but it was badly sync'd with the preset synths for the first 1:20 or so, but the instrumental section matched really well with the beat you had put together. It's too bad because this had the potential to be a lot better. Also, I felt like the gradiose kick and snare that you picked were a bit too loud for the vocals you had sampled.

It's a very drunk sounding rat pack Xmas mix you have goin' on here, but hopefully you'll make improving this track your resolution for 2010.

Score: 9

"Where was this in your other tracks?"

submission: nothing_changed

date: December 9, 2009

I listened to a couple of your other tracks and you were making me think I wouldn't be able to give you a good review, but THANK YOU for proving me wrong. I hate giving out bad reviews. At least here I can say that you some really interesting beats and pads. I wasn't a huge fan of the bell synth, but that's just personal taste. All in all, this I thought was really well executed; it just needed a bit of EQ tweaking to bring the strings further into the backgrounds (consider using a stereo effect).

NJ!

4/5 9/10

Score: 4

"Not a big fan"

submission: dementia_

date: December 9, 2009

This was something like a car trying to start, 10 octaves lower than it ought to. I was not all that impressed by anything that happened until about 1:25 of the track. and only for about 10 seconds. Then, another big bomb goes off and my subwoofer starts squealing.

Score: 7

"Sean paul and a Cowbell?"

submission: Wobble ur Brainz Out [DubStep]

date: December 4, 2009

I'll be honest with you, there were a lot of things about this song that I disliked. Foremost was the cow bell. Totally the wrong sound for this track. I also wasn't a big fan of the echo effect you used on it. So I think it's fair for me to say this was far from my favorite track of the week.

HOWEVER, I'm not just rating you based on how much I personally liked the track, but on how well-put-together it is in general. So, speaking more objectively, the sweeper you used was a bit loud, but the EQ was otherwise pretty spotless. Even on the echoing cow bell I hated, I still gotta admit, it was well executed.

So all in all, I hate your track, but I respect your abilities as a producer.

Score: 9

"Ear candy anyone?"

submission: Quantum Dot [SFPL]

date: November 27, 2009

Nice buildup from the beginning until 1:40, but your beat really drops in unexpectedly at that point; i think it might have been better had you faded it in more gradually. I did like the way your synths never really took a back-seat to the kick punch beat though (not that I'm a big fan of kick punch, myself).

Really well mastered track, all around and with a great variety of synths that don't get too repetitive. However, at 3:05 you have this one sort-of drum roll and you ramp the volume up for the finale, but if i may humbly suggest trying fruity compressor, i think it might achieve the 'hard' sound you were looking for over that section without having to turn the volume up so much. Anyway, it's a fairly small complaint for 5 seconds out of 4 minutes, so nice work!

Score: 8

"nice track!"

submission: The World Below Us [SFPL]

date: November 27, 2009

It's a bit long on the intro, considering the whole track's only 2:41 long, but it was a nice intro... I also liked the drum roll you used to close out the chord progression. Strange bell synth though during that break around 2:00/ I was expecting something a bit chunkier. All in all, it was a good track, but maybe a bit quieter than I'm used to from you. If I didn't know you were capable of better, I'd have given you a 9 or a 10, but you know it as well as I do.

Score: 9

"Nice job trying to make the flute stand alone..."

submission: [RM] - Rising Sun WIP

date: November 17, 2009

Really nice use of the flute at the beginning, and I liked how you kept the strings subtle in the background. My only comment would have been to drop the echo effect after 1:20, when you started sustaining the notes. I would have liked to see it progress a little quicker, too. It felt a bit like bare bones by the 2:00 mark when the flute was still the only instrument in the foreground.

It was nice, though, when you did bring other instruments into the mix, like that timpani. Well done, and nice EQ all 'round.
4/5
9/10

Score: 8

"Sweet, its trance I don't hate too much!"

submission: Over Those Hills

date: November 17, 2009

The way you syncopated the hands-up bass so that it was a bit off the timing in the intro, I thought was awesome. It's very rare that I give a good review to something that uses the hands-up bass with a 1/2 kick/clap beat. Still, it could have used a better fade effect and less delay before the loop started again... but those are very minor complaints. That said, It was a simple track, but you picked your synths well and you had a nice chorus synth.

Not bad at all.
8/10
4/5

Score: 9

"Not quite techno, but technically great."

submission: Lost -KN

date: November 17, 2009

I really liked the way this track came on gradually, without using any really overbearing synths. I just wish you'd faded the kick in a bit, because during the intro it's overpowering even though it's at the right level during the remainder of the track. It's funny to me that you missed that, because the rest of the EQ I thought was pretty spotless (especially the way you made that gretch synth ping pong).

I really liked the gerenally relaxing and ambient feel to the song (in fact, I think I would have classified it as ambient if it hadn't been for that kick drum), but because you called it techno, I was expecting a bit more build-up. Still it was a great track. Usually something 4:00 long turns out to be longer than it should; in this case, I wanted to hear more of it.

Nice work!

5/5
9/10