- Joined
- Mar 8, 2003
- Location
- between a low hum and a high whine
yes gentlemen, after plenty pondering we have a result. this months winner is a perfect example that you dont need brains to create great music.!
the legendary:
Logikz.!
congrats you filth merchant
get in touch to sort out your goldbaby pack, and also for the oral sex
here's who's who from the finalists, in order of scoring:
H: logikz
D: co0ke- soundcloud.com/co0ke
B: johnny sequence- soundcloud.com/jonnysequence
E: flukey (phat sam)
and everyone alphabetical:
A: Phoca (subprime)
C: fletch
F: freek
G: jimjimjim
I: neomind- www.soundcloud.com/neomindmusic
J: oria
K: redbeard (msmith222)
L: Revtech- tatilla.com
(post your myspace etc here, and i'll add them to this post)
big thanks to ben kama for helping out with the judging and comments
great music once again guys. much thanks to the entrants for their submissions, and for adhering to the rules, and nice one to everyone for being part of this.
more comps will happen in the near future, but i think we should give it a breather for couple of months or so. i will be checking the waters from time to time to see if there's interest for another comp, and we will surely be doing another one soon.
peace
here's some comments for the finalists. sorry it isnt as extensive as the previous ones, but it was only me and kama. also apologies for not having any feedback for the non finalists, but like i said in the other thread, do hit me up if you want some advice on a piece, and i will endeavour to reply before the end of the month.
H
The bass is deep, and the break tweaks are brilliant. There is constant change throughout the track to keep it interesting. Still the mixdown leaves something to be desired - some of the sounds jump out a bit too much, and the interesting background effects can barely be heard. With better attention to this detail this would've made #1 with flying colours.
what a masterpiece, reminiscent of the good old days, before all the snobbery around terms such as "techstep" or "drumfunk" existed, when the music was just drum n' bass.
the whole composition feels very organic, every element is arranged loosely, and the constant switches reminds me of a group of players rather than a computer. furthermore, each sound has a pleasantly crunchy texture, which just adds to the previous point. the bass is very nice and round, and all the breaks feel crusty whilst not being too aggressive. strings, atmos and background effects are lush but subtle, and give a true sense of depth. thats probably the most understated reese i have ever heard, but very very effective within this tune's context.
the muddy mixdown could have been a dealbraker for a big techy dancefloor smasher, but i find that it works perfectly for this track, as it just adds to the organic feel, and the obvious reference to the old school sound.
D
It's a magical track with the melodic work. This one has real feeling to it, which I always appreciate. The only drawback for me was that it is really static. The mixdown is good, the melody is good, the beats are good but there is little happening in it apart from a few chord progression changes. Still it's enough to make the top of my list.
brilliant work on the harmonic variations, the whole track keeps changing moods, from welcoming and cheerful, to sinister and cautionary, and back to hopeful again. great journey. but i think that it could have been such a better experience if it was for a few production issues; the mixdown is really flat and one dimensional; it really needs some sense of depth through the use of reverb and delay. theres a wicked little arpeggio playing in the background that just screamed for more room. good work on the vocal chopping and effects too, altho their arrangement feels somewhat arbitrary, and alongside some variations in the beats could have provided for a better sense of structure. finally, i would have liked to hear some further processing on the sounds, some subtle chorus and phaser combined with a tiny saturation could have made each sound more interesting; altho the whole 8-bit feel could have been the artist goal, which is fair enough
B
This is clearly the most true to the original, most 'remix' of the lot and it gets a special mark for that too. The mixdown is sweet and the bass sidechaining takes it to a more electro-house level. The breakdown in the middle is very original. Only thing I didn't quite like was the fact that the bass had little to keep interest in it throughout the track.
this is easily the most professional track in this comp, and thats ine of the reasons it didnt reach top marks. that may sound like an oddity, but the reasoning behind this thought is that the artist approached the project as a commission work for an electro/breakbeat rmx, rather than a personal piece of music.
All elements of the track are of great quality, big fat kick, tight snare, sweet real crashes, and nice cheeky little fills make for a great beat. excellent lfo synth and arps, and very intricate work on the vocals. the bass is very sweet and as big as it needs to be, altho it would have benefited by some additional movement.
i think that its the track's arrangement that lets it down the most. apart from the wicked breakdown, where a crazy bitcrushed 808 and a real drumkit give an unexpected twist, the whole piece feels very static, and not very pleasant to to hear by it self. surely it would blend brilliantly with other similar tunes in a dj mix, but as an individual piece of music it somehow lacks in interest.
E
The bare bones of this piece - drums and bass - are of really high quality. The bass hits in places I didn't know I had and the drums are very clear. At the very first listen this track was a real contestant for victory but as I listened to the participants more, this one had little to offer to capture my interest further. It was crying for some alternate melody or other edits. Also the use of the vocal wasn't very innovative.
similarly to the previous track, this is a decent club tune which would make people dance in the middle of a set, but somehow lacks personality and originality.
the bass is nice indeed, very deep and warm, and without interfering with the also excellent kick. good to see a tight little snare working so well with the rest of the percussion. strings are a bit plain, and become very repetitive throughout the song. vocal edits feel randomly placed and uncertain. mixdown is good, altho it could do with some more high frequency content, perhaps a further "splashy" break.
the legendary:
Logikz.!
congrats you filth merchant
get in touch to sort out your goldbaby pack, and also for the oral sex
here's who's who from the finalists, in order of scoring:
H: logikz
D: co0ke- soundcloud.com/co0ke
B: johnny sequence- soundcloud.com/jonnysequence
E: flukey (phat sam)
and everyone alphabetical:
A: Phoca (subprime)
C: fletch
F: freek
G: jimjimjim
I: neomind- www.soundcloud.com/neomindmusic
J: oria
K: redbeard (msmith222)
L: Revtech- tatilla.com
(post your myspace etc here, and i'll add them to this post)
big thanks to ben kama for helping out with the judging and comments
great music once again guys. much thanks to the entrants for their submissions, and for adhering to the rules, and nice one to everyone for being part of this.
more comps will happen in the near future, but i think we should give it a breather for couple of months or so. i will be checking the waters from time to time to see if there's interest for another comp, and we will surely be doing another one soon.
peace
here's some comments for the finalists. sorry it isnt as extensive as the previous ones, but it was only me and kama. also apologies for not having any feedback for the non finalists, but like i said in the other thread, do hit me up if you want some advice on a piece, and i will endeavour to reply before the end of the month.
H
The bass is deep, and the break tweaks are brilliant. There is constant change throughout the track to keep it interesting. Still the mixdown leaves something to be desired - some of the sounds jump out a bit too much, and the interesting background effects can barely be heard. With better attention to this detail this would've made #1 with flying colours.
what a masterpiece, reminiscent of the good old days, before all the snobbery around terms such as "techstep" or "drumfunk" existed, when the music was just drum n' bass.
the whole composition feels very organic, every element is arranged loosely, and the constant switches reminds me of a group of players rather than a computer. furthermore, each sound has a pleasantly crunchy texture, which just adds to the previous point. the bass is very nice and round, and all the breaks feel crusty whilst not being too aggressive. strings, atmos and background effects are lush but subtle, and give a true sense of depth. thats probably the most understated reese i have ever heard, but very very effective within this tune's context.
the muddy mixdown could have been a dealbraker for a big techy dancefloor smasher, but i find that it works perfectly for this track, as it just adds to the organic feel, and the obvious reference to the old school sound.
D
It's a magical track with the melodic work. This one has real feeling to it, which I always appreciate. The only drawback for me was that it is really static. The mixdown is good, the melody is good, the beats are good but there is little happening in it apart from a few chord progression changes. Still it's enough to make the top of my list.
brilliant work on the harmonic variations, the whole track keeps changing moods, from welcoming and cheerful, to sinister and cautionary, and back to hopeful again. great journey. but i think that it could have been such a better experience if it was for a few production issues; the mixdown is really flat and one dimensional; it really needs some sense of depth through the use of reverb and delay. theres a wicked little arpeggio playing in the background that just screamed for more room. good work on the vocal chopping and effects too, altho their arrangement feels somewhat arbitrary, and alongside some variations in the beats could have provided for a better sense of structure. finally, i would have liked to hear some further processing on the sounds, some subtle chorus and phaser combined with a tiny saturation could have made each sound more interesting; altho the whole 8-bit feel could have been the artist goal, which is fair enough
B
This is clearly the most true to the original, most 'remix' of the lot and it gets a special mark for that too. The mixdown is sweet and the bass sidechaining takes it to a more electro-house level. The breakdown in the middle is very original. Only thing I didn't quite like was the fact that the bass had little to keep interest in it throughout the track.
this is easily the most professional track in this comp, and thats ine of the reasons it didnt reach top marks. that may sound like an oddity, but the reasoning behind this thought is that the artist approached the project as a commission work for an electro/breakbeat rmx, rather than a personal piece of music.
All elements of the track are of great quality, big fat kick, tight snare, sweet real crashes, and nice cheeky little fills make for a great beat. excellent lfo synth and arps, and very intricate work on the vocals. the bass is very sweet and as big as it needs to be, altho it would have benefited by some additional movement.
i think that its the track's arrangement that lets it down the most. apart from the wicked breakdown, where a crazy bitcrushed 808 and a real drumkit give an unexpected twist, the whole piece feels very static, and not very pleasant to to hear by it self. surely it would blend brilliantly with other similar tunes in a dj mix, but as an individual piece of music it somehow lacks in interest.
E
The bare bones of this piece - drums and bass - are of really high quality. The bass hits in places I didn't know I had and the drums are very clear. At the very first listen this track was a real contestant for victory but as I listened to the participants more, this one had little to offer to capture my interest further. It was crying for some alternate melody or other edits. Also the use of the vocal wasn't very innovative.
similarly to the previous track, this is a decent club tune which would make people dance in the middle of a set, but somehow lacks personality and originality.
the bass is nice indeed, very deep and warm, and without interfering with the also excellent kick. good to see a tight little snare working so well with the rest of the percussion. strings are a bit plain, and become very repetitive throughout the song. vocal edits feel randomly placed and uncertain. mixdown is good, altho it could do with some more high frequency content, perhaps a further "splashy" break.
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