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"Safety Zone" by ppb

Safety Zone

by ppb

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QBical
Originality: 5/10Technical: 2/10
Theme: 5/10Quality: 4/10
Arrangement: 5/10Global: 4/10

This trance track has potential but misses out on several key points.
And to be honest the only key point is the mix, if you should sort out your mix things would be alot nicer. The pad like instrument you begin with is WAY TO LOUD ;), it is so loud that it cancelles out all the other stuff you made, wich is a shame. I've checked the mixer and you haven't even touched the thing, other then automating the master fader in the intro.

Try to experiment with volume/panning and stuff like that, and create a nice mix where everything is equaly devided and it all fits and flows nicely together, louder isn't better...

keep it up!
Sunbuster
Originality: 3/10Technical: 2/10
Theme: 2/10Quality: 2/10
Arrangement: 1/10Global: 2/10

No. That's what Simon Cowell would have said had this track been a contestant on American Idol. Why is that, you ask? The string melody and instrument, that's why. The string/lead melody in fact might have worked if it wasn't for the instrument playing that melody taking up all the space in the track. This synth is just running over everything else. It's like that contestant on American Idols that thinks a loud voice will compensate for lack of talent. I'm glad I could hear some bass in there somewhere togheter with a low thump that I think was the basskick. Hihats? yeah, they're in there somewhere. Some weird fx things attempt to break out of the box the lead melody is sitting on also. At 3:55 we're finally spared the strings for a grand total of 30 seconds, before they again entere for a short while, just as if to say "yeah, we can jump out at any time".

I think Chicane has some tracks that are somewhat similar to this in that they repeat a simple melody constantly and add some small fx and stabs here and there to spice them up. I'm not too fond of those tracks either, but what makes them listenable is they are well mixed and still manage to create an atmoshpere. This track is not succeeding in either I'm afraid.

Basically, what this track would need is more breaks from the strings (which, let's face it, aren't fun to listen to for 4 minutes). Try other instruments for it even. A softer pad perhaps, something that isn't so penetrating as this instrument is.

The other thing this track desperately needs is a complete rework on the mix. As it is now, the kick and bass are way too low, the hihats and other possible percussions might as well be left out because they're not audible enough to make a real difference anyway, and finally that lead melody is acting as if it's the king of the world. The stabs that enter later are at least audible, but they again are perhaps a bit too loud compared to the rest of the track.

So, what you (the author of this piece) need to work on the most in my opinion is mixing, that is (brutally simplified) the art of finding the right place for all instruments and melodies. Good luck!
TNK / ATK project
Originality: 3/10Technical: 3/10
Theme: 2/10Quality: 3/10
Arrangement: 3/10Global: 3/10

Originality: 3
Theme: 2
Arrangement: 3
Technical: 3
Quality: 3
Global: 3

Petit Papillon Bleu (little blue butterfly) Provides us some late80's / early 90's fashioned ambiant trance with some tangerine dream influence (even if tangerine dream was much more original). Too bad, our little blue butterfly did a too repetitive and not creative enough track.

The theme is the same from almost the beginning to the end and while it seems nice when you hear it's first seconds it gets *very* boring after just 10% of the track.

The arrangement is some classical trance (bassdrum on the beat, bass on the offbeat). It suits to this kind of music but would have required more presence, more power, more presence.

Besides this, the mix is quite muddy. Many instruments have overlapping frequencies, and the accelerated vocals don't help making it any clearer. The main synthstring is also way too loud !

The sounds used, while cool at the beginning, are too repetitive. Haven't you been told that within this musical genre, the sound makes it all ?

Too bad this entry started quite well...

My hints : Practice, learn how to use softsynths & VST fxs within MT (this style is perfectly suited for VST fxs), and next time enter something that evolves through time. I almost had the impression your song was just one long loop, without progressions.

Also something that I'll probably copy-paste 3 billion times within this reviewing process : NAME YOUR TRACKS ! This would give your audiance and us judges a better view of how your track is built, will help newbies to learn how to use MT and to beat you in next year's compo :)
bigandymac
Originality: 4/10Technical: 2/10
Theme: 2/10Quality: 4/10
Arrangement: 2/10Global: 3/10

an initially interesting sounding chilled house track that quickly grows frustrating.

originality - the first minute of the track is interesting, the pad loop creates a very relaxed atmosphere, there arent many tracks to which this could easily be compared but the complete lack of evolution of the track means there is little audible change between patter 00 and 2A.
theme - the pads are really nice sounding at first, but go on with no change for over 5 minutes. the bass is very basic, with little power to lift the track.
arrangement - is very poor, there is no discernible structure to the track. to improve this a structure of an intro, a bridge, then a chorus, then another bridge then an outro would keep the listener interested much longer.
technical - samples only are used, no fx (vst or mt) or vsti's used. to improve the track a phaser or chorus could be used along with some creative low pass filtering could transform this into a gallic house track.
the beat is basic to the extreme. a kick a clap and hihats. the kick needs much more power, the clap would be better used every 2nd beat and a hihat on the offbeat. also making the percussion a lot louder and using a house sample pack would be a good way of fixing the beat.
instrument 55 was very obtrusive in the mix, excessive panning and too high volume on it.
quality - the samples used are on the whole quite clear, but are drowned out by the main pads so it is hard to tell. again, no vsts or fx means alot of potential is missed out on.

summary - i feel bad giving this track a poor mark as a lot of effort seems to have gone into it. the first 30 seconds show such promise, but the track never delivers. however a basic structure, some creative filtering and better drums/perc this could be transformed into a very nice track.

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