Reviews for RAC5 Born Again

[jkap1]

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I am really struggling with how to rate this one, so I'm giving the standard cop-out "9" rating (sorry). I want to give +10s for the really good live instrumental performance, and for the overall concept - which is killer. But then there are small nitpicky things that keep it from being a 10 overall IMO. Stuff like the drums being mixed a bit too loud without enough dynamics, etc. But should I let small things like that take away from what is really a good, innovative, and well-preformed piece that's perfectly in the spirit of the contest? I dunno. Hence: "9". GL though! :)

SoulSecure responds:

That's fine, I have some problems with how I mixed and made it too (like putting reverb on the "ooh ooh" part gave it less impact somehow and I was too lazy to fix it). About the drums: I don't usually use drums in my music so I'm still learning about what sounds good. The problem is that I have so many influences that sometimes they clash. The reason the drums are so loud is probably because of my experiences with hip-hop and rap where there aren't very many dynamics or variations in the drums and they are usually loud, but I also did this intentionally because the instruments can drown out the beat sometimes. Also, I'm a stings musician so when it comes to making drum beats on the computer, I find it to be an agonizingly monotonous ordeal and so I get really lazy.

I also have a problem with the first "chorus" as I like to call it (since it occurs twice). The guitar at that point doesn't feel loud enough even though it was just supposed to introduce that guitar riff for the next time I play it, where I have overlapping guitars.

To sum it all up, I'm an experimental artist and when I make my songs, things just happen. This is the first time I've done a song like this and when I started out I wanted it to be a rock song. Start with sanshin and drums, add some neat bass lines and keyboard, then at the end I put in the guitar. This was a long process and I think I worked longer on this song than any other but as always it came out being something totally different from what I had intended.

[SeeD419]

Nice

Well it's not hard to see that you were passionate about making this song and put a lot of effort and research into it. It shows and I think it pays off quite well. The guitar part at the beginning is interesting, and very foreign sounding, but interesting nonetheless.

When the actual song starts it sounds much fuller and complete obviously. I think maybe a small transition from these two stages would have been nice...

The vocal was interesting for sure, that's you? Great job, sounds very well mixed in.

The piece was well mixed and well planned, and certainly does sound very foreign. A few things I can't quite explain keep me from giving this a 10, mainly probably because it's strange and foreign to me, but I do think it was very well done.

Keep up the great work.

-RRC-

SoulSecure responds:

About a transition from the sanshin opening to the rest of the song: I had not thought of that at all. Woah... That just made me think of several things I could do with this once the contest is over, but I doubt I will do them.

Oh shit, I thought that the way I mixed the vox was a little off myself, but I'm glad to hear that someone likes it.

About the strangeness: Ah, nahh. Generally, all my songs have something strange about them. Thanks for the review!

[RetromanOMG]

Chilled out to this.

The way you blended the musical structure of Thailand with the drums made this a pretty fun track to listen to.

Additionally, that part at the middle of the song gave it a bit of a grunge-y vibe, and that gave it some extra character.

I enjoyed listening to this.

SoulSecure responds:

Thanks, I didn't think about it that way. Grungey, eh? Now I'll be thinking about that for a while...

[HighBallers]

finally

we have a country that is actually represented very well by the style of music....that guitar thing is played horribly though at the beginning. im sorry bro. when the whole song kicked in...sounded better. way better.

SoulSecure responds:

Ah, I see your western ears are not attuned to the sounds of the east. I anticipated as much from the people here on NG but I never let it bother me.

Yeah, I guess the rest of the song is a nice view on Thai pop music from a westerners eyes. I know quite a bit about many countries and musics but Thailand was not a strong point for me. I knew Thai string instruments and had a generally muddled idea of what Thailand was before I started this but other than that I didn't know very much at all. I learned a lot about Thailand through this competition and whether I win or lose, I had a lot of fun with it and hope to do it again next year.

[NekoMika]

Interesting

The banjo at the start is very interesting to say the least and reminds e of the desert levels from Super Mario Bros. 3. The main beat is quite amazing though and I really like it a lot as well. The drums sound nice as well, kind of reminds me of Dobeck from Step Brothers playing his drums at the end with a simple start to them.

The vocals are cool and enjoyable when they do appear in the song which is cool. The banjo just sounds incredible with the beat overall though, really amazes me since it seems you put a lot of heart and effort into this beat. The keyboard wind instrument sound is like the cherry on top. It makes it even better.

Overall, this is a very good beat, nice work on it. Looking forward to more in the future as well.

Review Request Club

SoulSecure responds:

Lol at "banjo". It's an Okinawan Sanshin, but people often thought it was some sort of primitive banjo when they saw me play it. Then again, people also thought my mandolin was a banjo or a ukulele (both of which are nothing like mandolin so it was rather funny).

I've never seen Step Brothers so I'll have to look for this scene.

Thanks for your review!