That was awesome.
I love how you had the bit from Rd.2 kinda appear in the middle. Sounds epic :D
Reviews for "~EnV~Heaven Rd. 3"
Possibly the luckiest song I've seen on the AP.
As you submitted it, and within an hour and 15 minutes or so it got more than 20 votes and made Weekly 1st. Quite a fanbase you've got there. XD Tons of effort in here, I can tell that, but I'm going to go through it point by point to explain why there definitely could have been more. As I'm no doubt going to spend a long amount of time on this, I'd appreciate a good response. ;)
Intro. Feels like I've heard 0:00-0:03 somewhere before. Just to make a point, let me list every element in this song I recognize:
-Intro (up to 0:03)
-Kick
-Bass Synth
-Hihats
-Clap
-Plucked Synth coming in at 0:31 (from Nexus's Plucked section)
-Bell (same deal here, I believe?)
-Vox ("caution")
-Hit (that comes after the vox, I recognize it out of VEC)
-"HOO" voice :P
-Lead Saws
-Piano
-Mutliple FX samples (recognize them from VEC)
-Fruity Flanger
Quite a few familiar elements in here, maybe they were used to help replicate the feel of Rd. 2, but it feels like you took the easy way out and used most or all of them. :\ The plucked synth, bell, FX sounds, and intro are new (I think) but they're all really recognizable from Nexus or, in the case of some other intro, some other thing I can't seem to put my finger on... thing is, using things people recognize and associate with things they've heard in the past makes it harder for people to associate with said things with you - basically, you'll have less of your style, and your song will sound more generic. ;) It's justifiable that you used, say, the caution vox, the "HOO" voice, the hit, and possibly the lead to recreate the feel of the original, but all of the drums, AND the bass from the original is just overboard in my opinion.
Second, I see you used 208 patterns and 98 Automation Clips. I'm guessing it's waaay too much, considering I used under half that number of patterns and a quarter that number of automation clips for a ten-minute song of mine nearly a month in the making. XD Now, this might be a stylistic, personal preferences in organization sort of thing, but maybe my suggestions will help speed up your song-making progress. ;) What I would do is create separate "sections" in the playlist - one only for the patterns with the kick, one only for the hihat patterns, one only for the bass, one only for the lead, etc. Separate each of them with an empty pattern named "-". This helps keep things a whole lot more organized, so you can keep your number of patterns in check, and things don't get too out of hand. Second, I'd create long automation clips stretching from the beginning of the song to the last point where they're needed, just so you can have one for each knob, and whenever you need one, instead of scrolling vertically and horizontally, you can just head to the front, scroll vertically until you find the want, then head horizontally to the point where you need it. :P Of course, if you're counting audio clips and some patterns as automations, then it's a completely different story, but hopefully this is relevant enough. :) Of course, delete the patterns and automation clips (and Step Sequencer and FX Channels while you're at it) that you aren't using.
Next - your bass synth! Its treble area becomes quiet later on, and I can hardly hear it - maybe you just want your boom, but I bet that crispness would really add to the song. :D There are also various other synths during the peaks, but I can hardly hear them at all, the saws overpower them all. Maybe the melody's important, but if you're going to use other synths, leave room for them. ;)
Your structure. If the review hasn't been helpful to this point (though HOPEFULLY it has XD) this is where it'll help for sure. Your problem here is that you manage to fit two breakdowns, buildups, and peaks, in just three and a half minutes. XD Maybe this is because I tend to review with certain trance-based criteria often regardless of genre, but I'd space things out a bit. You'll get a longer song, but more importantly, a more enjoyable one. You'll also get room for some extra elements, but don't overcrowd the song. ;)
Continuing on my alt...
Envy responds:
Sorry it took me a bit to respond, was trying to think of a way to respond to such a long review and explain my reasoning for certain things.
Okay, lets see here first up the recognizable elements:
I was actually trying to go for a heaven rd. 2 feel because I wanted it to be the same song but better. I didn't use the drums from the original, I made a new kick and I changed the bass's mixing. I think it sounds different, but everyone has their ear 8D.
"Second, I see you used 208 patterns and 98 Automation Clips. I'm guessing it's waaay too much," That's right, it is way too much. The way I make a song is by whoring patterns and automations because I go from start to finish, then backwards. I make the intro all the way to the end first kind of like a base for the song. After that I just go backwards and add tiny things like fx or vox here and there. This piles up my pattern numbers and automations, but it works for me. I usually never revisit patterns 1-50 anyways because theyre usually all the base stuff such as the kick,bass, and melody. (And thats why I place them before I go back and do all the other stuff) What I may do, and I didn't completely understand your reccomendation but I'll create different step sequencer sections? Like the one for automations/audio clips/patterns, but make more? I'll probably start doing that.
"Next - your bass synth! Its treble area becomes quiet later on" B0UNC3 made that bass and gave it to me, and it does have some trouble on a few things, higher notes, held notes, and when it's under alot it almost becomes inaudible. As for the other synths, I like to make people use their ears, and it worked. You had to strain yourself to hear them. This causes you to understand the song more, and feel it. Simply sitting back and listening is useless. I'm a fan of interactive listening. I'll try leaving more room for them in the future though.
"Your structure...three and a half minutes" Here's where your style and mine clash. The length. I DON'T LIKE LONG SONGS. My way of looking at it is this - I want to be able to listen to a song and move on. I don't want to have to set aside 5+ minutes to listen to some audio. Of course trance has the length aspect (This is probably why I never got into it) I'm more of a shove the song in your face as quickly as possible so that you have to listen to it again. It's harder to decide what you like/dislike about a song when it's uber long because you may dislike one part but wait... at minute 8 I like that synth or whatnot.
Now I'll respond to your alts review...
Holy @#$%
Lol at first i was like "this isn't heaven..." then a familiar tune creeped in, it sounded quite familiar, until you blasted the tune in our ears. And then i knew this was heaven Rd. 3, and once again im stuck here looping another one of your amazing songs. Gee thanks ^^
Id review the technical aspects but what is there to say? its friggn flawless. So moving on.
This has to be one of the best songs here on NG. The melody tweak here and there was a bit random, but it gave it a unique taste to those who enjoy a more experimental version of heaven. Once again, im amazed by your excellent work, i know you put a lot of work into this, (actually i really wouldn't know lol) but it truly paid off, you have a style like no other. This truly represents the electronica genre at its finest.
Great!
I think its really good but its not really dance and Heaven Rd. 2 was much better this has too much of an asian theme kinda thing.
O.o
Added to my next project lol. A fantastic song i can't say anything else.