Wow this is really creative! I mean, you've almost got every genre imaginable in this song in some respects - Starts off definitely Indian, add a techno, some space sounds, hip hop drums & bass, a flowing symphonic section, all somehow woven together to not clash in any way - amazing! My favorite moments: 1:28 and 3:25. I think the snare drum in the last section around 3:27 stands out too much for me. You've got some creative ideas going here and I think the only thing that might have made it more perfect would be somewhat fewer instruments. Personally I like the Indian theme the way you used it, kind of an embellishment rather than the central "guts". Keep it comin' man!
Reviews for "Istishhad"
I loved the use of ethnic instrumentsin this piece, specifically the sitar.
I loved the melodies that you presented, and just when it's in danger of
becoming repetitive, a new instrument or idea is presented. I loved the
slightly odd choice of boinging percussion used at times, and usage of the
bongo were just right, without them getting too intrusive.
This submission is really fun, and has one of the strongest and coolest themes. The hippity hoppity drums and percussion fit the otherwise ethnic and organic instrumentation pretty well, and the programming of them is quite interesting, but it does sound somewhat goofy. The mixing is pretty good and consistent throughout and everything sounds relatively clear, but it's not glorious and impressive either.
This song has a bit of the same problem as your last one - you have this absolutely gorgeous string-oriented part that starts at 2:28 (I'm expect more of that good stuff from you so I'm favoriting you btw), but nowhere in the first two minutes do you even hint towards it! If it wasn't my job to listen to it thoroughly and give detailed feedback, I probably wouldn't have bothered listening as long as it took to get to that part. Also just because I'm curious, what are you using for strings?
After that part things get pretty boring. I've already hear the ethnic+hip hop mix, and it's the same thing now, just more sparse. There's not a lot more to talk about in this track after the initial novelty has worn off.
8.7/10
Interesting idea and generally well-executed. A few thoughts:
-- It was a bit too long, as I felt that the "interesting" parts of the tracks are a little too far in between. Maybe I'm an impatient listener, but condensing it down could make it more intense and rich.
-- In the middle, supposedly "full-fledged" portion of the song, I think some fierce dub-step elements can bring more constrast to the indian sounds.
-- Further the above point, I think this track overall can use more POWER. More NASTY. That's totally personal though.
RetromanOMG responds:
I was actually conflicted when it came to the length of this song. I wanted the action to be more concentrated, but I also wanted for there to be some buildup for every section.
As for the middle part, I never even considered that. It probably would sound more intense with a strong synth to accompany the bass. I can't make any changes right now while this song is being judged for the NGADM, but I can definitely look into that possibility.
This is an NGADM Round 3 Review.
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And for the third time in a row you deliver a creative and new-sounding track unlike anything I've ever heard before in my life. Darn it, man. This is what I call creative.
First thing that I feel I should commend you on would be how GOOD this sounds when you're probably using soundfonts for stuff like the sitar and strings. Everything sounds so polished and well-mixed, and there's literally no indication at all that you're using soundfonts (unless you listen really closely). Really fantastic work; I believe that making generally low-quality samples sound so good is the mark of a fantastic musician. Speaking of which, your mixing is really good. I think some of the snares were a bit too 'penetrating' in the mix, as in they stood out too much and were too snappy, but that's probably personal preference. Fantastic bass, by the way! I can definitely feel the bass in certain parts, and it added a lot to the experience.
Your composition is nice as well. Nothing out of this world but I still enjoyed your melodies, especially those presented by the sitar. And I love that little motif you introduce on the sitar at the very beginning. You even played it one last time at the end. I feel that this was a great way to end the song, as if the song went in a full circle. To add to that, you've got plenty of elements from different styles of music like the string at 2:28 (still loving the sound of those strings, hard to believe they're soundfonts!) and the lead synth that you used. Awesome percussion too; BIG improvement from the percussion of your Round 2 track haha. Interesting usage of the hip-hop snare and the fast-paced tabla beats (or whatever those are), despite being subtle, worked SO well. Additionally the jaw harp was pretty much the most awesome thing I've heard in a fair amount of months.
The biggest issue of this track, I feel, lies in the fact that it gets pretty boring to listen to. There are lots of lengthy buildups and patterns that just repeat themselves without throwing in anything substantial to remain interesting. That, and the song really stays at a pretty low intensity level. I have nothing against tracks that don't have super amazing climaxes or anything but in this case it actually made the track uninteresting. Everything is very laid-back and slow, and I desperately wanted a very powerful and fast-paced part to come in and liven the track up a bit, but it never came.
This is also unfortunate because your mix is very sparse and roomy. You don't really fill it up with that many sounds, and while this can be a good thing because minimalistic music can work very well, here it just makes the song a bit of a drag to listen to. I would've loved it if you threw in stuff like choirs and cellos and more auxiliary percussion like shakers, more layers of bongos, etc... Thinking about it, this would work very well for background music, but since it's pretty empty with slow progressions and a lack of intensity, it does get a bit boring to listen to.
But heck, despite all that, this is still a fantastic submission with a lot of effort put into it. Great production, composition, sounds, etc... I love it.
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SCORE:
7.5/10
RetromanOMG responds:
Thanks for the review. It was really fun making something this different, but, unfortunately, it did get a little hard to keep working on. I ultimately wrapped it up as fast as I could and wound up not putting any of the things I wanted to in it. I suppose I'll go back and put in the changes I wanted it to have at a later date, though.