Awesome, your mixing is getting really good! you definitely achieved the ice theme well this song has a very atmospheric feeling to it. I haven't listened to any music from the portal in a long time (trying to change that) but I remember the last time I came across one of your songs I thought it was great but it was missing a little mixing. You've made so much progress with sound clarity AND your song is catchy, an awesome combination. Good job dude.
Reviews for "Polargeist"
Step responds:
Heyyy! Nice to hear from you again.
Yeah I like to think I've been making improvements in the mixing department over the years. I've also found out how useful compressors are JUST RECENTLY, and I've been making music for nearly 5 years haha. I'm glad you think that my songs have improved clarity-wise though! However, I think I'm a bit better at mixing orchestral since that's what I make most of the time, along with the fact that it's a lot easier to mix than electronic songs.
Thanks for reviewing!
Very nice mate!!
Firstly can I say how (wonder)full this sounds, you seemed to have done really well in letting all your instruments come out - that kick for instance sounds great and everything is so audible and clean. Sound effects/pad/soundscapes or whatever you used made the song sound both arctic and stopped the song from sounding too empty at any point (omg that tick tock sound near the end reminds me so much of the crazy motercycle chase from ff7!! :P)
I was wondering how you made all those icey sounds
I love the saw synth melody and how slightly funky it all sounds :)
I think when you have your uplifts finish like at 0:38 it sounds like they clip a bit, maybe the kick's making it peak or something (a little sidechaining usually fixes that for me)
Honestly I think it's a bit too slow a bpm for dnb - what is it? like 155? and I would have loved just a few more hats/high end stuff in the main sections
but my main complaint: make it longer!!! oh my god I've heard it like 10 times now, good thing you made it loop perfectly haha
chords, melody and counter melodies all worked really really well
well done on this one - i'm sure the game'll be class :D
-aero
Step responds:
Hey man, thanks for the detailed review!
"Very nice mate!!"
D'aww thanks :3.
"Firstly can I say how (wonder)full this sounds, you seemed to have done really well in letting all your instruments come out - that kick for instance sounds great and everything is so audible and clean."
That's fantastic to hear because I don't have much experience mixing this kind of genre! Especially those kicks, man. Kicks can be absolute killers to get right because you really need to achieve the right balance between making it powerful and making sure it doesn't overpower.
"Sound effects/pad/soundscapes or whatever you used made the song sound both arctic and stopped the song from sounding too empty at any point"
Awesome.
"(omg that tick tock sound near the end reminds me so much of the crazy motercycle chase from ff7!! :P)"
I searched it on YouTube just now and heard it; yeah I'm hearing the resemblance!
"I was wondering how you made all those icey sounds"
This might take the shine off the story a bit, but I didn't really make them :P. They're Omnisphere presets. Omnisphere has a library of over 8,000 excellent sounds and while it offers plenty of synthesis features, all I ever do is browse it and find a sound I want. This is because me being mainly an orchestral artist I come from the mentality of picking a sound and then using it, rather than making my own, since the orchestra's already given to me rather than me having to reinvent the wheel each time.
I DO wish I was able to make my own sounds though, or at least have enough knowledge on synthesis to heavily edit sounds that are given to me.
"I love the saw synth melody and how slightly funky it all sounds :)"
Haha yeah, my friend called it 'Techno Penguin Funk'.
"I think when you have your uplifts finish like at 0:38 it sounds like they clip a bit, maybe the kick's making it peak or something (a little sidechaining usually fixes that for me)"
That's very possible, I'm half-deaf and not really that good at picking out clipping, so I might've accidentally overlooked it. I don't even know how to sidechain though haha. I'll have to look into it.
"Honestly I think it's a bit too slow a bpm for dnb - what is it? like 155?"
Yeah 155 I think. drum'n'bass is really the closest genre I can put it in from all the Newgrounds genres (except maybe techno)... I agree it's too slow for drum'n'bass though. Didn't want to make it too quick, since this is a tower-defence game, after all, not a racing game :P.
"and I would have loved just a few more hats/high end stuff in the main sections"
That's an interesting point! Maybe I should've added some more layers of hat lines over what I have now.
"but my main complaint: make it longer!!! oh my god I've heard it like 10 times now, good thing you made it loop perfectly haha"
Haha man, I wish I had the time to make it longer! I was running out of ideas though I'll admit :3.
"chords, melody and counter melodies all worked really really well
well done on this one - i'm sure the game'll be class :D"
I do hope so, they're putting a lot of work into it!
Thanks again for the excellent review, I owe you!
Dear Artist,(Step)
this song incorporates a lot of what i like in music.(piano,drum and bass, and a clean sound)
there are a very few people(10) i know who can make loops so good, and keep it fast paced.
I love fast paced music like this and i wish you made more to support.
this hard work does not go overlooked!
keep it up!
Step responds:
Awesome man, thanks! I actually don't have that much experience looping stuff, but this time round it seemed to work really well.
:O :O :O
Enjoying this.
It's extremely... arctic. I can really feel that. I'm enjoying how clean the mix sounds, the plucky bass, and the diverse melodic nature of the track. I also accidentally listened to it about a dozen times, because I didn't realize it was a loop. So there's that :P
This is only my subjective idea of what Drum and Bass should be, but I do feel that the snare should be heavier. The kick sounds pretty good in terms of volume and its punchiness, and the hats, while not that interesting, sound good.
Video-game music and Drum and Bass are such great genres to combine, and I enjoyed the cross-over here.
Definitely a 10/10.
Step responds:
omghi, thanks for reviewing!
":O :O :O
Enjoying this."
Haha straight to the point. I'm glad you are enjoying this!
"It's extremely... arctic. I can really feel that."
Mission objective completed then :3.
"I'm enjoying how clean the mix sounds, the plucky bass, and the diverse melodic nature of the track."
Awesome. I'm quite happy with the mix too; I'm surprised it even came out this well since I almost never do electronic tracks; they're a lot harder to mix than orchestral that's for sure. Or at least for me they are.
"I also accidentally listened to it about a dozen times, because I didn't realize it was a loop. So there's that :P"
Awesum. I think this track loops the best from all of the loops I've ever done.
"This is only my subjective idea of what Drum and Bass should be, but I do feel that the snare should be heavier. The kick sounds pretty good in terms of volume and its punchiness, and the hats, while not that interesting, sound good."
Good advice. I am convinced that a snare is the toughest drum sample to mix in electronic music; I ALWAYS have trouble choosing it, mixing it, etc.
"Video-game music and Drum and Bass are such great genres to combine, and I enjoyed the cross-over here."
I totally agree, Drum'n'Bass fits really well in video games. I had to make this a lot slower than most Drum'n'Bass though (it's only 155 BPM) since any quicker and it'd turn from a tower defence game into a racing game lol.
"Definitely a 10/10."
That's great, thanks a lot for the review!
I love your music by the way; I recognise your username because I remember putting Origin up on the frontpage a few weeks ago.
Oh, I get it! Polargeist, like a poltergeist! It's a play on words! :D
Step responds:
:DDDDDD