Sick dude, how are you making these instruments sound like vowels and shit?
Reviews for "Descent (MSB)"
GrantBowtie responds:
LFOs are your friend
This is an NGADM Round 2 Review.
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Dude, you're really aiming to impress for this competition. Every track of yours has pristine production, great sounds... it's all so well-made. It's hard finding anything wrong with them.
What I think I liked most about this track is the fact that despite having its generic elements in it, such as the very very typical beat, the transition from 1:33 - 1:48, some typical sounds like that house pad thing that first shows up in the background at 1:04, etc... you use them right and execute them very skilfully. You make them work really well like they're supposed to.
On top of that, despite all these clearly mainstream and generic elements, this still offers a fairly unique listening experience. Unlike most people who use these generic elements simply because they're uncreative and want to add something to their track which they know will sound decent, you actually do creative stuff with this track, and so it ends up sounding pretty unique!
You've also got great production, as is the case in both your Round 1 and your audition piece. There was one aspect of the production I didn't quite like but I'll mention that later on. Basically your production is brilliant. Everything is so clear and each sound is mixed very well. This is seriously a professional-quality mix, I swear. You put in tonnes of pretty small details here and there that make this track just ear-candy to listen to, such as all those occasional breaks and that little disco-like hit at 2:08/2:16. Great sounds too, and on a smaller note, you've got a good intro and outro too!
My primary issue with this track is most likely personal preference but anyway... There just seems to be too much over-compression man. This seems mastered to be thrown on the radio or something, rather than for actual listening, since it's brickwalled nastily. Sure, there are no audible clipping noises or compression issues (which is the mark of brilliant mastering skills) but despite that everything is so over-compressed and loud that I've got to turn my volume down just to hear this track at the right volume. More than that, it makes everything just blare out so much, especially the lead synths (which could be where BrokenDeck is coming from on the lead synth being too present). It just makes this pretty tiring to listen to after a while.
Overall, I'm very impressed with this. I docked half a point for the over-compression which was most likely intentional anyway, and even then it's probably just me. This is profession-quality music and I can't wait to hear what you cook up for Round 3!
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SCORE:
9.5/10
GrantBowtie responds:
Wow thank you so much for such an in-depth review and it's so awesome that you liked it so much!
What can I say man? This is amazing for a single person in such little time. This has a great flow and I can really get into it. I'm no music critic, but I can really appreciate the intricacies within the sound and the skill this took. Great job man, and I hope to hear more!
GrantBowtie responds:
Thanks man - glad you liked it!
Like your round one, the sound fits together, pretty nice song. Love the part around 2:00 pretty cool sounds :P
GrantBowtie responds:
Thanks.
loved it!! :D i like what you're doing! Keep it up!