1

dfast - get on up

bonus

Average

slammy

Awesome beats, awesome bass, and amazing VOX! :D This is dfast doing what he does best, would have preferred a bit more pace, but damn this funks out!.

92

analysis

dfast does what he does best: Funk. He does the vocoder trick, learned from a video on youtube which showed how to build one with simple 'ingredients'. The song leaves the listener with a good feeling and mood to 'get on up'.

Technically:
When I review songs I always devide my review in two segments: techically, and musically. The problem however, is that when the song is technically pretty much flawless, I have nothing to say in the technical part. I decided to keep the original layout though, because one needs to give compliments on the nice parts too heh? So, Great stuff dfast! Nice work!

Musically:
The song basically consists out of a main bassline with a few drums that get repeated during the entire song. The top layer (vocals, leads etc,) is never the same, and constandly variated. Some drums enter during the main chorus, but the general layout beneath it all stays the same. I'm not too sure if I like this. I'm not too bothered by it, but I wonder what would happen if they were dropped for a change. The vocals in the song are really nice, I like them a lot. What I really like most about your song is the last part with the woman singing. I wish you could have extented that part, because it is really great. The problem however is that I feel that something I missing. I can't say what, but the song doesn't feel like 'OMG great!'. The song feels more like 'just another good song'. To cut things short I'd say that dfast's song is a really nice, and groovy song, but it doesn't really have what would make it rise from just a good, to a amazing track.

75

randor

I love Finland! It has Finn Air!

83

AVERAGE : 83.3

2

nynne - combustion

bonus

Average

slammy

Didn't enjoy the beginning, but when it broke and the epiano kicked in, my attention was grabbed. In drops a cute melody and it slowly builds. Quite a dynamic piece really, always seems to break down, then come back bigger!. Really enjoyed the arpreggioes toward the end. More of a chill out dance tune - one for the drug room! :D.

74

analysis

Nynne entered the competition with a really nice, deep electro-proghouse track.. and it's quite lovely I have to say. :)

Technically:
Really good, maybe the bass could use some more volume: the kick and the bassline. I believe that they are a little quiet, but the song does sound really nice. Can't say more about it that then that.

Musically:
Very soothing. I like the fact that the song moves from really lows, too fast moving, but chilling high's. The melody playing at 3:30 is really nice too. :) In fact, this is music that would suit me very well, when I'm doing something I need to focus on. Nice bassline too... I think its a good song.

80

randor

We get lots of snow!

69

AVERAGE : 74.3

3

ero - electrotoxic gravitizer

bonus

Average

slammy

electrotoxic gravitizer: Interesting title. Quite a dancable track this, but it doesn't peak really.. Which left me a little disappointed, especially at 3min mark, when I thought it was about to explode into wonderful goodness, and never really did. Good sound quality though, and like I said, very dancable.

72

analysis

As a true electrostomper, this song thrives in weird sounds, soundeffects and bleeps. There's always something going on, and the song never fails to grab your attention. Lets break it into parts and see what we can say about the stuff we hear.

Technically:
I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed by this song technically. The song starts with a flaw and never really gets out of them, technically. I really miss stereo image, wideness and massive sounds. It's good that you try to keep things minimal, less is more after all, but when you keep things minimal keep in mind then that the sounds that you use need to be REALLY good. I'm not talking 'mixing' here, I also dont mind that the track doesn't use all frequencies in that are possible. The problem basically is that the track sounds really 'computer', instead of 'hey, nice music', if you catch my drift. Or, in other words: Add more livelyness and stereoimage, your track won't survive without them.

Musically:
The song starts out with a pretty thin bassdrum a hihat and an FX-like synth. The song quickly starts to progress into something more though, and before you really notice it the different sounds are already flowing out of your athome-desktop-monitor set. At 1:00 the bassline comes in, and the track really gets going. The bassline itself is pretty simple; it uses a short sound placed between the kicks and small variation on the end of the block. I've got nothing against simpleness though: when it works, it works. Besides, the small variation on the end is actually quite creative and innovating. After this point however I kinda lose my understand on how the stucture itself developes. More fx is added and some of the earlier fx get a litte boring at this moment. This is pretty much goes on 'till the song fades on in the end. Maybe some fancy break, or a few cool transitions could have helped here? To cut things short I'd say that the track is nice, but not more then that. It simply lacks a few important things, as I said earlier, and this results into a mediocre song. Not too bad, I could say, but not very good either.

60

randor

And we get Aurora Borealis!

67

AVERAGE : 66.3

4

cde musix - trans atlantic 2007

bonus

Average

slammy

Trans Atlantic 2007: Awesome track this, but its borrowing from a well know tune already, and from that aspect, makes this very hard for me to judge, as its not 100% original like the other tracks in this category. It's hot though, thats for sure!. Really enjoyable from start to finish!.

80

analysis

This entry is very hard for me to review. I can't imagine that the lizardking, the original author of this song made this about a picture that was going to be photographed a few years later. And, good heavens, it's a picture of a turntable! well, that fits.

Technically:
Well, the bassline and the kick are kinda lost in the song, you can hear it when you listen to the middle of song around 2:11, that only reason they can be heared is because they are really loud. That is not a good way to mix your tunes, since it will result in a very ackward soundscape. If you want to mix your song clearly, then simple cut the bassfrequencies from all synths that dont need them (everything except the bass and the kick), and then you'll have a good listenable bassline which doesn't need to be extremely loud. Other problem with those things is, though, that kick is really gone inside the bassline, which is another clear example of pretty poor mixing. What I like about the song though is that the rest of the song is really clear and that the whole mixing problems with bass doesn't affect the tune in any way. It would ofcourse be better if they were fixed, but the song maintains it's pleasurable vibe and feel, and the rest of the sounds aren't bothered at all with rumbling that goes down below. I have to say that the whole idea of remaking a lizardking song with better samples and better quality really isn't that bad, and I really enjoyed listening to this version of the song. This remake really adds something to the original in my opinion.

Musically:
The problem that I have with this track, is that most of the creative work in it isnt done by CDE_MusiX. This song is basically a remake of an old song with better quality and a new beat. Timbaland already proved that you dont need to be an innovating producer to add a beat to a mod and consider yourself to be a pro-musician. I'm not saying that you didn't do a good job. I think you did a really good job on this tune, and the beat that you added really works out well. The quality is indeed a lot better then the original and it's cool to listen to a lizardking tune again. The song is good, I can't deny that. I'm just not giving you the full points because you : 1. entered it in a compo, that is about writing a song by a picture, this song already existed before the picture was taken and 2. you can't really say that you made this song. It's not your work. It's the lizardkings work and you edited it a little. Its like a rerelease of a beatles cd, with new musicians who made it so the result could have a better quality. The song would still be a beatles song, even though they did changed it to a small extend. I hope you can agree with me on this. So, basically: Your song is very nice, very cool and very decent and really worth listening too, but it aint really yours, and it doesnt fit in the compo.

35

randor

And Assembly!!!11

78

AVERAGE : 64.3

5

sagal - expelled

bonus

Average

slammy

Great start, but where I've heard that before? Anyway, as the track gets moving, it gets straight to the point and starts kicking right away. It doesn't really change much though. Sure there comes a chord progression, but the arpreggio is the same throughout, just about, and ultimately the track just lacked enough variation to keep me interested.

58

analysis

Benny Benassi would have been pleased if he heard the synth that sagal uses to start his song. Pretty much identical to what he normally does ;). It's probably pretty obvious too add here, but the song really fits the picture! Trance all the way.

Technically:
Well, the song uses some in-your-face sounds and some really pressing synths. I like that. The author of the song also shows that he understands what mixing is about, and certainly knows what he's doing. I miss a clear distict bassline in the song, but the bassregion is nicely filled up by other sounds that have a lower layer sticked under them. I would personally like if there was another hihat in the song, which used the really high frequncies, just to balance the soundscape even more. In general though, I really like the soundquality. Sagal handles himself fine here.

Musically:
Well, the synth that fades in at 0:13 second isn't that great. The melody is fine, the sound and the melody combined is a little less good, but still ok.. but when you listen to it for 4 minutes in a row, it really gets boring. When I quickly scan through your song, then it's only not played for 30 second in the middle of the song.. which means, minus intro and ountro, that the melody is played almost 4 minutes long with a 30 second break. If you add to that, that the melody only has 2!!! notes, then at some point it's starting to become annoying. I guess that the main problem isn't really that the synth is playing all the time, the main problem is that other instruments fail to grab attention, so that you aren't listening to it for some time even though it's still playing. This melody just isn't good enough to have that much attention for so long. Another option to change this would be to lower the volume of that bleep, so that its easier for other instruments to become the lead sound. The reason why I'm a little bothered by this, is because the rest of the song is really good. The chord progression for instance, although a little cheesy, works really well, and the sounds work marvelous together to create that full, trancy sound. The beat is a little simple, but it does it's job. The song is basically a really decent trance song with great chord-progression and lovely quality, but with one melody that is just plain repetitive, uninteresting and really messing it up. I'd like to congratulate sagal with his skills though, he does show some good stuff here.

70

randor

62

AVERAGE : 63.3

6

partysan - toilet club

bonus

Average

slammy

I thought we were gonna get a remake of JUMP when it started with the low resonating synth... heh. This track shows Partsan's flexability at making music. Completely different from his entry into C category. The mix doesn't sound quite right with it though - too much hihat, and the bassline, sometimes sounds like its from another tune!?!. Its enjoyable though!

70

analysis

This is the partysan-song for the T category, atleast, that's what I logically assumed when I looked at the artistname. The song sounds like a very dark, deep trip on something that's definitely not good for you. I never knew partysan has a mind as black as this.

Techically:
This song does it. Atleast, for me. Why did you enter a song in a compo where you are supposed to make a song that sounds like a turntable, something dancable: housy, trancy or even funky and then completely forget to put in a bassdrum? Sure, there is something that resembles a kick. I heard it at 30 seconds coming in the song, but the whole thing is way, way, way, way to soft, way, way, way, way to quiet. As soon as the track really starts it gets swallowed and the whole thing completely disappears. Everyone on the dancefloor is guessing what to do next, 4 minutes without a basskick is a really long time you know! Another thing that bothers me is the encredible dark sound. This could be on purpose ofcourse, but the whole thing sounds very muddy, blurry, and not clear and bright. It sounds as if the author really didn't bother to take a look at what he was doing technically.

Musically:
The song does get repetitive you know. It does. The really dark, and too loud bassline and the gapped string are kinda boring.. The gapped strings are played from 1:40 to 3:30, which is almost 2 minutes. The problem isn't that 2 minutes is long, the problem is more that the song fails to add anything else during that period that's insteresting, or that's atleast grabbing your attention. In the end I'd say that we have a pretty boring song here, with a serious lack of bassdrum and a serous amount of muddy bassline. The song is called 'toiletclub', and I think that this is indeed a right way to put it.

40

randor

65

AVERAGE : 58.3