Score: 8
"Not bad..."
date: February 16, 2009
I must say, not bad at all. Let me lay out some criticism, but this is just for your own improvement: You don't have to take it if you don't want to.
First off, the EQing. That's the big problem here. The kick sounds great, but it lacks in punch in the mid-frequency regions. More distortion can help here, or layer with a mid-heavy clap for help.
The synths, though, felt very thin. That's 3xOsc's classic problem: It doesn't sound full or rich like the analog synths it was designed after. Instead, it sounds damn thin, and the odd EQing/Filtering you used didn't help at all.
Next criticism is the structure. It isn't really friendly to DJs like the genre is supposed to be, but that's ok, since this was more of an experimentation song.
Personally, I like the tempo faster, but to each his own.
The positives were that the kick sounds cool... The patterns you used were fine, and you have some good ideas going. Just listen to more hardcore. Try to flesh the ideas out more fully. Download some nice freeware VSTs and mess with patches... fuck around with synth programming... experiment! It will turn out well in the end!
Overall... 8/10, 5/5
February 16, 2009
Author's Response:
I gotta say, thanks so much for not hesitating with the criticism. This is why I'm on Newgrounds; to get better at my craft, and I'd much rather be told that I suck and how to get better than to be praised emptily. But anyways...
The structure is far from final. This is merely a rough mix of a song that came out of me inventing a cool kick and seeing what it would sound like in a finished product. If I make a final version of this, it will certainly be more standard in structure.
I also completely agree with your statement about the thin lead synth. It's actually a z3ta+, and not a 3xosc, but as I said in the previous review, I removed a huge chunk of low and mid frequency for the sake of sound clarity. I then compressed it to make it sound more saturated and energetic. I guess this was a bit of a misstep.
AS to the kick, I think if I fill out the mix in other ways, it can probably remain more or less unchanged, at least that's what I think.
Thanks for the awesome review, man! Much appreciated!
Peace.
