MadTracker - "One Day Across The Inner Worlds" by VirtualMan

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One Day Across The Inner Worlds

by VirtualMan

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Ogg Vorbis version

QBical

Originality:	7/10	Technical:	5/10
Theme:	8/10	Quality:	7/10
Arrangement:	7/10	Global:	6/10

It's drum and bass time with VirtualMan and his track One day across the inner worlds.

The melody part of the track is quite ok, this track won't realy make it to the clubs because it relies more on the melody then on the drums and/or the bass.
Those last to things ( the drums and the bass ) are a bit average in this track, the parts where the drums are going through the filter are nice, but when you just apply distortion over it it sounds just a bit to much, try to get a good compresser to do that loudness thing for you, it would realy add more depth to your percussion.
Also try to get a synth for your basslines, the track realy lacks a good bassline to acompany the chords, try a simple 2 osc. synth, one square and one saw/pulse and go out and experiment!

You'll get there!

Sunbuster

Originality:	8/10	Technical:	7/10
Theme:	10/10	Quality:	7/10
Arrangement:	9/10	Global:	8/10

Well, one of the few D'n'B tracks this year, and even this one is perhaps more atmoshperic jungle. This track has power, I can say that. I like the atmoshpere that the pads and the piano creates and I believe the artist wanted to created a contrast with the distorted fast drums. To some extent this worked well, very well. However, I think the distorted snare kind of killed it for the track, since it has a tendency to over-ride everything else. The snare makes the track sound dirty (not in that way, you pervs :P ). I believe a cleaner approach to the drums would have been better. The snare btw. sounds a bit over-compressed, it looses that real shocker-punch. Drumprogramming in general is good though, although I sense some distortion when the kick plays. I was surprised how variating the drums actually sound even though the number of different patterns playing probably aren't that many.
In general the track is a bit muddy. It lacks clarity. This is probably mostly due to the lead instruments almost all being of the kind that don't have much high frequencies. The piano for instance could perhaps have been a bit sharper and thus give the track more clarity. The piano also has a tendency to drown under the other instruments. Mainly the snare is at fault here.

In the end, this is a good effort. What it falls on is the mixing and the choice in samples. The atmoshpere and power of the track however is top notch.

TNK / ATK project

Originality:	7/10	Technical:	3/10
Theme:	8/10	Quality:	4/10
Arrangement:	6/10	Global:	4/10

Originality: 7
Theme: 8
Arrangement: 6
Technical: 3 <-- Ah, that master volume issue...
Quality: 4 <-- Ah, that master volume issue...
Global: 4 <-- Ah, that master volume issue...

54 channels of drum & base running at 180 bpm...
While the beat is typical, one thing hits your ears immediately : What's that mixing ? It is way too loud and saturates almost everywhere ! Too bad as this entry could have been a good one. Modern techno music (includes D&B) requires that the musician also has some serious technical abilities, and while the track itself seems OK, and that there are some nice melodies (especially the one with the flute), the whole entry gets ruined by a poor mixing, making this otherwise interesting entry hard to listen to. Besides this, the whole drum track lacks of "brillant". A better use of the whole frequency spectrum is possible, that's for sure !

To be true, I re-listened it by turning the general volume way down and the result was a very nice module, with nice synth pads, good themes, a nice sound, BUT... we have to juge the modules as provided, and not after we tweak some buttons here and there... However, the ones who will download it are strongly suggested to turn the general volume down to enjoy some nice piece of electronic music.

So my hint for that otherwise very talented composer is simply to take a closer look to the master volume of his tracks and everything will be fine.

bigandymac

Originality:	7/10	Technical:	6/10
Theme:	8/10	Quality:	8/10
Arrangement:	7/10	Global:	8/10

a chilled drum and bass track with good melodies and good production.

originality - a nice combination of relaxed melodie and harmonies with hectic drum programming.
theme - a very good track throughout, with good chord progression, swelling strings and nice piano, all backed up by some excellent drum programming which varies enough to be interesting throughout.
arrangement - a clear structure which flows well, a slightly lazy outro (just fades out), but the switches between chilled and hectic drums is nice and provides a good contrast.
technically - nothing spectacular, although some underused but still good filtering of drums. the quality of samples and how they are used more than makes up for a lack of final mix processing (which is a talent in itself). my main problem was the clipping and distortion i heard all through the mix, although this could be to do with my new soundcard.
quality - nice samples, good seperation, nicely mixed drums but sometimes the mix is a little full and the flute sample adds a cheesy quality that in my opinion wasnt necessary.

overall great sounding track which lacks some technical prowess but still is a very pleasant listen throughout.