Not really what I'd call stormclouds, as it just sounds too mellow for it to be up there with a crescendo of rain coming in at an angle, with a velocity to sting exposed skin, the harshness of the wind, combined with the occasional flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder.
Sure, this may be drizzle or even a light rain shower, but not a storm, in my mind's ear.
I feel that the part where you take all of the bass off the piano and make it sound like an old radio is playing it is fantastic - it seems to give another level to the piece and I found it really impressive, so run with that a little more, as with the almost tuba-esque sound that you've got accompanying the whole piece. There is room for more variation, though I feel that there is scope for sticking with the more traditional sounds, rather than sticking with electronica. After all, the piano is a natural sound and it really does sound crisp with the rest. Perhaps consider building on that sharp sound you have there?
I can absolutely see what you mean when it comes to the name. I had envisioned only the sight of storm clouds rolling around in the sky, with the occasional boom of thunder. It never really crossed my mind that rain, wind, and lightning were also components of a storm. I should be a bit more careful with my choice in names... :P
As for the part of your review that focused on the sounds that made up the track, you've given me exactly what I wanted. I just needed some nice, clean feedback, so thank you for that. This was the first track where I cut the bass entirely during one of the verses and gave it that old radio sound. I'm really glad that it turned out so well, and I will definitely use it later on. Also, this was the first song where I used tuba-like bass synths to carry the track along. It was more of a "Hmm, this sounds cool. Sure, why not?" kind of thing, but I'm very glad that it also seemed to work.
I'll start working on some variation now that I feel like I have mixing under control and can create the same sounds that are in my head. Your review was very helpful, so thank you for taking the time to write it!
Well, let's start with the good - the piece has a good beat. I hear that all the way through the track, even to the point when I feel that it's affected my own heartbeat - I thought that only happened in nightclubs.
The bad thing is undoubtedly that the beat obscures the rest of the track, as opposed to complimenting it. Like someone in a choir shouting over the top of the soloist something like "Can you hear that? Aren't they good?!" Tone down the bass a little, to allow the rest of the track - the melody and counter melody especially, the chance to shine through of their own accord.
Don't get me wrong, this piece has potential in spades, but at eight and a half minutes, it needs to have a major change to allow it to fulfil this potential.
I did get back into FL after reading some of the reviews and experiment with the sidechaining, and while I agree that it is a very excessive amount I found that the song felt like it had less substance to it without it. It's like the kicks are the staples holding together a bunch of papers. With such a simplistic melody going on, there isn't very much that is covered by the sidechaining in the first place. Thanks for the review!
Everything builds up well, as a bassline, though I think that you need to give it more and get a proper melody in there, to counter it and take the piece to other places.
Yes, the sound drives me on, though I was a little sceptical at the start, with the quiet almost bassless beginning, as if someone were playing it on their phone. Now we've got a buildup, adding lots of new features and making a beat you can work with. There's not much else that can be said, since it's only a work in progress, so finish it off, by adding more things to it, so you can make a full tune out of it. The vocal samples are pretty good and they made me laugh, which is a nice achievement for you. If you get to a full blown track though, you've got to be aiming around 3 times the length of this, though.
All it was, was a low pass filter and treble boost, I may change that in the full version though.
Haha yeah, I though they fit pretty well :P It was a bit difficult getting them to match up with a solid 4 step drum pattern, since they were originally made for Drum N Bass.
Yeah man, I'm gonna be aiming for a 5-6 min length for this one.
Hmm, with the way that this piece starts off really quietly, then launches into a loud and proud bass beat, before bringing in the other aspects, you've clearly thought about how tow aspects of a tune really fit together and deliver a quite creative punch.
Perhaps I'd have faded in the main beat sooner, to get the melody in there as well sooner, but other than that, this tune is great. Would it use vocals? No, they could completely ruin the ambience of it. In the present form, it doesn't loop well at all, which is the major stumbling block, so I'd perhaps consider messing with the blend, not cutting the track out for 8 seconds at the end, even finishing the piece off with something that calms down to sound like the intro, so they could blend together in a loop, for example.
Not much wrong with the piece though, keep up the good work.
Very good use of the vocals and the overall blend, putting together a fine piece by all accounts. I feel that this almost sounds like a professional piece that makes the charts, such is the quality here.
Granted, I'm not over-fussed with the way that things build up and some of the bridging techniques you use between verses - the stuttering part of those notes is the bit that really grinds against me for some reason. However, the overall effect of blending a deep and imposing backing, with a light and airy melody and some very enchanting vocals all seems to come together nicely.
I'd like to see what the lyrics were, as you've got a great sound from this altogether and for me, sometimes being able to understand the lyrics being sung is a great addition, particularly if it is a song such as this.
Kitten heels, lingerie,
pantyhose, foreplay.
Legs up, on the bar,
in the back of your car.
Latex, champagne,
bubble bath, whipped cream.
Cherry pop tag team.
Can you make me scream?
Bridge 1:
I wanna do some dirty things to you tonight.
I wanna fight, all through the night. Night. Night.
Chorus 1:
I am no angel,
I like it when you do that stuff to me.
I am no angel,
I like it when you talk talk,
dirty when you talk talk.
Bridge 2:
Dirty talk.
Dirty talk.
Blindfold, feather bed,
tickle me, slippery.
G spot, nasty pose,
in a video.
Love machine, by myself,
climax, hot wax.
S&M, on the floor, i like it hardcore.
Verse 1:
I wanna.
Do some.
Dirty.
Things to you tonight.
(Voice buildup)
Chorus 2: (x2)
I am no angel,
I like it when you do that stuff to me.
I am no angel,
I like it when you talk talk,
dirty when you talk talk.
Verse 2:
Can you go down?
Are you up for it?
Baby?
Can you turn me out?
Are you up for it?
Talk to me.
Talk to me.
Talk dirty to me.
Talk dirty to me.
Wont you talk to me?
Talk to me.
Talk dirty to me
Talk dirty to me.
To me.
Chorus 3 (x2) / Outro:
I am no angel,
I like it when you do that stuff to me.
I am no angel,
I like it when you talk talk,
dirty when you talk talk.
Now that you have those, I want to thank you so much for talking the time to listen to my track :) These vocals are probably one of the best I've come across, and I had to make something with them. I'm glad this track turned out this good.
About the bridges, I'm not exactly the best at them. I often find it hard coming up with something to plug in between verses and choruses, and usually what I plug in either doesn't sound good, is too simple, or a combination. About the stuttering notes, (plucks), those are often found in trance tracks so I figured I'd implement them in a way I thought sounded decent. I love the sound of them if they're used correctly, so I had to try. Cmon :)
About the melody, I'm particularly very proud of it. I think it's probably the first melody I've been able to fully come up with myself that actually sounds GOOD! :D I mean, I like it, my friends like it, and the people that downloaded must like it, so it must be good, right? :D I'm glad you like it as well :)
And lastly, as for it sounding professional, that's truly what I've been striving to achieve with my music. I figure that if my tracks sound somewhat professional, it will increase my chances at getting noticed somewhere and not looked at as some kid trying to write music but can't, you know? It's hard to get people to take you seriously out there, but I'm gonna keep on going.
Again, thank you for the review, it really means a lot :)
The intro and the buildup is fantastic. Marvellous buildup, beat, rhythm and form, which shapes the tune well. I could consider a futuristic driving game making use of this sort of track (WipEout, for example.
Then around the minute marker, everything seems to get overcrowded and you lose me - the melody gets a counter to it and you put in the vocal samples, which seem to sing against the grain of the established tune, which harms, rather than helps, if you follow my meaning. Perhaps if you had the vocals in the track's quieter sections, like you did at the end, it would help? I think those sounded much better, though I still couldn't understand what was being said / sung, but that's fine if it embodies the feel of the piece.
Certainly one that I'd like to see longer (especially the intro), though without the work on the counter and crowding the sound, you're going to end up with a longer mess, I'm afraid.
Nice to know you're really helping me out, Coop and Emergency :)
It's the meaning of the vocals, that you don't understand what he says. It's not me who sings it. I just messed a little with a well known song's vocals.. :D
What the hell I just tell you now.. It's Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day singing Basket Case. :D
And my name comes from Green Day, if you haven't noticed it yet.
MAXIMUS, you son of a b****, in 1:00 ruining my work. :/
Nice that this made you feel futuristic. :)
I just remove the counter and put that vocal in quieter places with a breakdown with a low frequency and rising with the help of an automation clip. :o And make my own combinations of synths and sounds. AND of course add variation to the drums. That doesn't sound so bad. :S
Oh and of course melody changes as well.
But I'm afraid I may have to pass at this moment, maybe I come back to this song in the near future, but not now.. :)
Right, summing up the two artists rapping in this battle, Mao has a few bits which made me cringe, like the laughing after the first verse and then in the third verse, he doesn't seem to know how to get the rhythm to his lines while the beat goes on. I love the irony of calling his opponent a Hip-Hop Flop, as he makes a complete hash of the rap.
ER just seems to swear for a reaction - too much detracts from the lyrical genius that this could be. I'm not really well versed on the etiquette for this sort of thing, but the fact that his tone is more abusive than his opponents just seems to rub me up the wrong way.
Right, the beat was a little too simple - there's more complex rhythms out there that really compliment the rap, without testing the rappers abilities too much, thus letting people concentrate on the lyrics.
You could have given us a transcript of this, as I'd have been able to orientate myself with the piece a little more.
Well, what can you say about a "rinse & repeat" formula, that gets a little additional dash each time? It's simple and effective, as I feel that there's a good offering of components across the board, showing us exactly what I can see within the genre.
The methodical progression and almost rhythmical repetition is symbolic of Industrial music, but in a different way to the "furnaces and hammers" that I'm used to for the genre. This takes on a flavour of robotics and possibly assembly lines, which make electronic goods and we see as very white buildings, hermetically sealed from contaminants and producing the latest gizmo for the consumer market.
The metaphor expands, allowing for the thing to be assembled from its components and slowly taking shape. The basic frame of the melody and beat is added to gradually and it becomes more complex than the sum of the component parts, giving us a very pleasing piece, which I'm not sure it was what you were after, but a nice effect, nonetheless.
If anyone reads this and wants to, make a flash of this. Who knows, it could be P-Bot we are building :P
Hey, glad it worked for ya. Good vision, too. Not sure there's going to be a flash artist that takes interest in my work, but a guy can always dream. :D
I like the way that this piece sounds - calm and collected, but without being over the top - I'm not sure about the choice of genre though, but overall, this piece has a lot of potential.
If we consider the symbolism, it's almost a cyberpunk setting, with a rainy city and subterfuge of some kind going on, where everyone is trying not to be seen, while doing one thing and another to either each other or the system. Then the woodwinds came in and frankly took that illusion away from me.
Perhaps the cyberpunk is "punking" feudal Japan or some other timescale around then, when that sort of sound would have been more common? Don't get me wrong, this piece is fantastic, I'm just trying to work out the fantasy picture that is being painted here, as a picture is worth a thousand words and this piece of music paints a picture, but one that it out of focus for me...
One look at the "Hard Mix" and you'd know right away it was somewhat industrial - I removed ear rape that was frankly meant to sound like machinized tigers and the like. I think the removal of that removed quite a lot of the picture as well, unfortunately. I'll have to change things around the next time I do a soft/hard split, I guess.
I like the piece overall and I feel that the impression that it gives is solid, where it could be used for a racing game, particularly along long, winding Japanese highways, where there is no traffic and six lanes to weave across, as you push your car to and beyond the limits.
The sound that you produce has a vague "oriental" feel to it, though I wouldn't be able to swear exactly why, so subtle is the blend of styles here. It's almost like you have mixed in some oriental instruments as well as the more modern stuff.
With the way that everything plays through the piece, it puts a nice impression in there, with a buildup and then some sort of Mortal Kombat style effects, which I wasn't over impressed with - I was expecting someone to yell "MORTAL KOMBAT!" in the background, if I am being honest, which never helps a racing game out. Sorry, the theme of the piece seems to have been well set.
NikM - StormClouds 
Simple and Clean 
Rage Racer V.V. 
