Sounds good, dynamic, deep (not too deep of course because you don't know what you will find), interesting, happy, adventurous. It sounds great, keep it up you!
Reviews for "Dive In (NGADM '15)"
Birdinator99 responds:
Hey, thanks bud! I'll drop you a review before judging is over!
EDIT: Totally didn't do that, my bad.
Wow, this song is brilliant! It's got such amazing transitions, like 0:28, 1:47, and 2:22 (which are my favorites)! Glitching transitions are fun, and there's a serious tendency that people have to over-glitch because of the sheer fun-ness of it all, but I think you had the perfect amount in here: enough to make the atmosphere last throughout the entire song but not so much that it becomes overdone.
The sound design here is also great! The drums are definitely excellent, and they sure kept my interest! That percussive hit that plays a bunch during the drum beats and also during the spooky ending sounds so cool. The song also has great low end sounds, I agree with your description. :D The mixing is great, and the sidechaining adds a progressive feeling to the first half of the song. I also loved the effects you added throughout the song that add to the atmosphere, like the scary sound effects at 1:52 that foreshadow the spooky ending!
I think the main way you could make the song even better is melodies. There are lots of chordal sections throughout the song that could be improved with some nice melodies (especially towards the beginning). I thought 0:30 in particular tons of potential for some catchy melodies to be played on top of it. Otherwise, the chords themselves get a little repetitive (although the transitions you have in the section are top-notch and reduce the repetition significantly :D ).
In 1:52, you do start to have some melodies on the organ, but they also seem a little like they're not necessarily being played with the right notes. Then again, it might just be my crappy earphones screwing up again :P
Great song, man! Loved the transitions and the sound design. Good luck!
Birdinator99 responds:
Thanks for the transition love -- I had fun with those! A little more ambitious for me, I think -- more attention to detail required, but hey if it works it works.
The scary sound you hear at 1:52 can actually be heard as early as 0:57, it's just not as clear because of the pad that's playing at the same time. Fun facts!
I was scared of melodies while making this. I didn't want to ruin a part by adding something in that didn't complement it well enough. The section at 0:30 sounds the most empty, you're right. I'll work on that in the future for sure.
The mini organ solo does have the right notes (that is, the notes are part of the scale I'm using), but a lot of the melody involves "crunchy" chords on purpose for creepy effect -- It's most noticeable at 1:55. The dissonance can be kind of jarring, and if it doesn't flow with you then I understand. I love stuff like that, but sometimes it can feel weird. I don't regret using them in this situation though.
Thanks for the listen!
So, how do you even end up making a song like this? The slow progression from some sort of dancy song to the spooky conclusion is well done. My first listen I was terribly confused, but on subsequent listens I was able to appreciate and enjoy it thoroughly. How did you go about arranging the sounds in the ending?
Some of the sounds you've used sound like they would have come from one of Waterflame or ParagonX9's early pieces, but you've used them in a way that feels clearly different.
When hearing them in those songs they become repetitive and feel like a distinguishing mark, whereas here I can still hear them, but the surrounding atmosphere has made them feel somehow refreshed. I suppose it's because they aren't the focus of the song.
You probably don't have a clue what I'm talking about there, and it's hard for me to spell it out, so don't worry about it.
Aside from that the instruments seem finer grained than previously. I don't know what changed, but again good job.
I can't wait to see how this does in the deathmatch!
Birdinator99 responds:
Haha, it just flows, man. I was actively trying to shake things up this time around in order to prevent listener fatigue/boredom. The ending was a combination of wanting to see how far I could push my "tape stop" VST (i.e. a really, really slow stop) and a new application of the second snare (the electronic one) -- instead of the snare being used as a percussion piece, I tried playing it "rapid-fire" to get more propeller-like sound effects. If you play it crazy fast, it sounds like an alarm, heh.
I recognize those big names you just dropped, but I'm not familiar enough with their material to know if that comparison is accurate.
I actually did remove the germ and bran from my instrument grains, so thank you for noticing.
Regardless of the result, I had fun! Thanks for reviewing!