I like your sound. Good job!
Reviews for "Hidden gem"
8-bitheroes responds:
Thanks dood.
Light, punchy and uplifting! really solid blend!
8-bitheroes responds:
Thank you :)
R4R
Hey, remember me? We tried a collab a while ago but I tried to do too much :P
Dude, that name definitely doesn't lie - this is a hidden gem! There's so much maturity in this sound; you've done a ton of things that I really love!
Let's start from the beginning, shall we? Right off the bat we have some exceptional sound design - the arp sounds really sweet, and the vocal-based pluck lead introduced later is solid as well. Those bird tweets are well mixed and add to the overall atmosphere that the track attempts to achieve. But I also have a gripe about that piano - I have a sort of pet peeve against piano riffs written as if it were played by a synth. What you've written for the piano here are very much robotic block chords, with nothing else - a part that would have been better suited for something else, perhaps a pad.
Also it sounds like you could have began the piece a bit more mellow and progressed to this point. But that's just my subjective interpretation - doesn't mean what you did is bad. :)
Around 0:48 is when a bit of over-repetition begins to become noticeable. It's nothing major - you do keep it flowing by introducing new sounds and slightly different riffs - but overall the chord progression feels rather stale and worn out at this point and the piece really feels like it needs some more considerable compositional change.
But you know what? All of that just becomes pointless nitpicking when the drop hits. You do a very good job introducing a higher volume in the drop, creating a contrast between this emotional catharsis and the mellower events surrounding. The chords are well mixed and hit all the right frequencies. Drum design is phenomenal - every hit is exactly the volume my ears request, and the toms are especially clear and powerful. The drop overall stands apart as a very varied section as compared to the other parts of the piece.
Then we have 1:27, where you actually use a pad and a piano in tandem rather than in the beginning, where there was just a piano hitting some robotic chords. A much more desirable sound, for sure.
These chord sounds that begin to get introduced at 1:40 sound awesome as well.
And somehow you manage to fit two drops in a mere 2 and a half minutes. I just wish the second drop was more different than the first, but for how close time-wise they are together, it works.
Last gripe is that you didn't write an outro. Would have been a perfect place to bring out that humanized piano.
Overall, fantastic little gem. Lots of great sound design all over and solid transitional elements contributing to a cohesive piece. Small gripes with humanization and repetition occur, but they're nothing extremely distracting. 5/5, 9/10. Really good work! ;)
8-bitheroes responds:
Hey. Yeah I remember :) thanks for the review, very in depth and you raise some good points!
I love the quirky, chill mood and the spacey atmosphere it has. The drop at :57 was very catchy and melodic. Mixing and mastering is solid. The bird sound effects were incorporated really well. You seem to like integrating nature sounds into your works, and you do a good job of it too. :) I suppose I would've liked to see you vary the drop a little more the second time around, but you've still created a short 'n' sweet piece here. Well-structured, smooth-flowing, catchy and fun. Keep up the good work, man. ;)
8-bitheroes responds:
Hey, good to see you. Thanks very much for dropping some feedback, much apprciated. I agree with you on that 2nd drop, think I got a bit lazy at that point :p. I love using natures textures to add extra flavour to my music.
Very nice tune great work :)
8-bitheroes responds:
Thanks!