You've quickly become one of my favorite audio engineers on here. Aside from overall composition, the leads are very impressive and moving, They remind me alot of Jordan Rudess.
Reviews for "Light Up"
johnfn responds:
Wow, that is high praise! Thank you Mr. Noob!
Man, this melody really grows on you. Really loving the new song! And all those nifty solos are amazing.
The only problem I can find without resorting to nitpicking is that in the section at 0:42, there's a bit of a tempo discrepancy - the pad's attack is a bit too low with my tastes, and with the constant constant sixteenth notes, it can be a bit disorienting. If I were you, I'd add something like a simple kick drum ever quarter or half note, to make it easier to follow.
A smaller nitpick I could mention is the drum beat. It's really dancey, since for most of the song, I think it's just a disco beat (sixteenth hats, basic kick and snare). It's a great beat and feels really dancey, but I felt like it could've been changed up a bit, especially in the end. You did do that bit at 2:00, but it also lost the kick on every quarter, so it didn't feel as dancey. As a suggestion, maybe if you do a beat like this again, vary it towards the end by adding in ghost snares and kicks, but while also keeping the basic drum beat? (kind of the like the drums in wide world lololol)
But man, the rest of the song is amazing. Your solos have really gotten great! The bits at 1:29, 1:39, 2:24, and that whole section at 2:47 stand out for me. Speaking of 2:47, with the two solos playing at once, I spent way too long trying to see if the higher-pitched solo was one that had appeared earlier in the song, since the concept of repeating melodies in the end and altering them is a really awesome one in my opinion, and it's one I know you've done at least once (inside the machine). Sadly, I couldn't find the melody in any previous solos (which means that if it actually was, I'm about to look really stupid) :P
I really liked this song! I'm gonna be humming it all afternoon. Good job! Are you gonna be participating in the NIM?
johnfn responds:
Thanks! I totally get the thing about the pad attack. I never even thought of that! I could have put a hi hat in there or something to stabilize the listener before the kicks come in.
I DO switch up the drumbeat, ya jerk! Alright, you already mentioned that I do. I guess I don't really know how to switch up a drum beat while keeping the 4-on-the-floor thing. That's a good thing for me to look into, I suppose. :)
> I spent way too long trying to see if the higher-pitched solo was one that had appeared earlier in the song
Nope, it is unique, so you were right! Well, it is a modification of the 'main' riff, but I kinda bumped around the note rhythms a little bit and added some random high notes to make it sound like it was doing sophisticated soloing xD
> NIM
I actually regretted posting this song immediately once I saw that the NIM thread was up. I was thinking I could have easily submitted it under ANY of the vg categories and just claimed I had done it really fast, hahahaha. Plus, I thought it was a really good song. ;-)
On the other hand, last year in the AIM I had a kind of bizarre negative experience with one of the people involved... I'd prefer not to get into it in a public forum, but it was... kinda weird, and sorta turned me off from AIM.
So if I end up writing a good song that fits, I'll probably submit it, but I probably won't aim to submit anything to the AIM.
TL;DR uhhhhh I dunno? Maybe? :D