Score: 9
"Noice"
date: April 17, 2009
All of the noise fx were really well done. They definitely take on their own sense of uniqueness. The acid wuff at the beginning was a little thin for my liking. I definitely like those thick phat wuffs that you almost want to call a growl due to the power. I'm not too sure, but I THINK it sounds like there could've been a bit more room to make it a little phatter.
The kick, was nice and punchy, and the claps, well they were alright. One thing I would like to mention is that when the claps first come in at 0:33, they're quieter, but at 0:42, they're ear-peircingly loud.
The acid line was stellar! I love it! You don't own an actual TB... do you? If not, would you mind teaching me a little about synthesizing a 303? I know that it involves rapid cutoff modulation, but not much other than that.
On a personal level, I don't really care that much for the melody. It's VERY repetitive. I sent this song to a buddy of mine last night, and said he thought it was good, and did agree with me that it is a little repetive, but he brought up the fact that you kept things interesting in the background. With your drums, the fx, and the acid line constantly being dynamic either through some sort of LFO/automation, or the sequencing in th drums' case, you were able to keep the listener hooked, and I agree with that.
The arrange was fairly generic, not really anything all that new.
Intro build up
Breakdown
Melody build up
Main song
Slow breakdown
Outro
But I know how hard it is to get away from over-used arrangement... Why change what seems to work...
The mixing was definitely top notch (for Newgrounds). Everything seemed to be clean, except the claps, like I said above, they sound like they're dominant somewhere around 12 kHz, but it's also where your rides are, which might explain why your claps seem to be ducked when your kick is playing. I know everyone has their own mixing style, but if I were in your shoes, I would probably give the claps a little more room to breathe, cutting the rides a db or two right in the mids. Rides should probably high-passed anyways...?
Anyways, great toon buddy. I hope to hear some collabs between you and chim on this account soon!
9/10 +download
April 18, 2009
Author's Response:
Thanks for the review! :) The wuff is also a 303-style synth... I didn't do too much FX processing, but some compression could potentially help it.
I'll need to take another look at the claps. I didn't notice that, and I doubt it would make too much of a difference in a mix, but it's definitely worth looking at.
No, I don't own a 303. And no, I don't just randomly synthesize them... I use a plugin called Phoscyon... go to "d16.pl" (that's a website) and look it up. It's a wonderful 303 emulator. The 303 is basically rapid cutoff modulation of a modified 24 db/oct filter (actually it's 18 db/oct, but the circuitry is closer to the 24). The resonance of the filter is what makes it interesting, as modulating the cutoff changes the perceived frequency of the 303. I'd love to talk more on MSN later.
The melody is the one part that I used from the original Future Trance Project 2, so yeah it's a bit repetitive. I tried to keep it mixed up, though :)
Arrangement was supposed to be generic. For short 1-off type things, I use that one-shot breakdown structure, but if I'm working on something bigger, I'd probably use a double-breakdown structure, to give some sort of option to the DJ... mix out after the first part, or let the weird second part play too.
The mixing really wasn't anything I spent time on... I basically threw the track together on my speakers, did a few headphones tweaks, and it was ready. No significant referencing went into it which could be why the mixing is a little bit off. Once again, I have to take a look at that clap. I was having a bit of difficulty deciding on samples, but I thought I did an OK job. It's a lot harder than it sounds :S. I don't generally high-pass my rides, but it's still a valid technique.
Thanks for the review! :) I'll see what I can do to return it later.
