As promised, here are the judges reviews:
Winner - scrTchs - Track B
Russla's Review:
That drop is strong af. That kick cuts through nicely just needs a little more sub maybes. Drums are solid too, good job. The reverbed instances at the end of phrases are slick too. Do recon the bassline could have switched up a little more tho. That screechy bit after the first 16 are gully! Mix down is decent too, all round banger just needs more in the bassline and it’ll be there!
Moskit's Review:
Jungle'esque drum intro with those lovely atmospheric pads is frickin awesome, again the jungley build up into the drop works fantasically... Then... That drop... Bwoyyyyyyy! The vox samp & the stabs... Straight up screwface business, sub/bass on point! Found it very difficult to fault... Break @ 2.38 creates anticipation, atmosphere & a bit of breathing space... Then you're smashed in the granny again! Overall, apart from a few mixdown issues, that is a release quality tune for me & I would happily play it in a set! Excellent stuff, a pleasure to listen to...
Mugatu's Review:
A nice and clean mix, things cut through well, though there is variation which is needed the bassline continues on a bit i would of liked to of seen a switch up later on, intro did not have enough in it. But the idea is great, the counters they use at the drop are nice aswell.
IV4's Review:
This track was my personal favorite in this competition due to the simplicity of the track. The break sounds great and well thought out, especially between the odd sounding lead stabs playing with the arrangement of the break. The fx, pads, and vocals are also simple but used well to carry the song along and keep it interesting. The bass starts off interesting and fun, but in time it dose get repetitive. The mix also sounds great in my monitors and headphones.
Runner-up - maschinistom - track L
Russla's Review:
Intro is tidy, needs a big big ol’ riser tho if you’re guna have such a short intro, the drop makes no sense if you get meh. That fucking vox is infectious, good work on that! Drums are decent but that trashy ride thing at 1.30 is a bit much I recon, work on that. Really love how mental this tune gets, just goes full nuts, perfect for gaming! Snare could be a bit brighter but other than that its sick! Good bladdy work!
Moskit's Review:
Intro is very good, could have possibly been given a bit more breathing space, start out a little more sparse & build into the drums, to give more impact/anticipation to the drop... Was unsure about the lack of build into the drop, but actually as the tune progressed it made sense in terms of the whole vibe/feel of the tune, assuming the plan was to make more of a "roller"... Initial impact of the vocal is great, really haunting/infectious & worked well with the rest of the synth/drum/atmospheric work... I just think overall it could benefit with a couple of big risers/lows/breaks to really emphasize some of the great production work, even though if you were going for a "electro roller" as it sounded, that would go against the ethos, so if you stuck to that plan for a reason, fairplay... Really like the straight up low key switch @ 4.12, arguably the nicest bit of the tune...
Mugatu's Review:
So firstly there was little warning that bass or a drop was coming, but the variation is pretty good, nice vocals, nice bass, nice drum work, i think more work has gone into this track than the others which shows. Its constantly switching up and things happening which is great, just needed a longer intro with some buildup. Theres a lot going on the mix and i can still hear the elements, but the snare doesnt cut through enough i think the drums are overpowered by the other stuff as as whole
IV4's Review:
This track has great drums and is great start to an awesome track. The synth sounds cool and has great flow through the track building and easing tension The bass could be better and sounds like it should be processed using different techniques to give it more clarity and prominence in the mix. The great flaw of this track is it has nothing separating it's phasing, causing the song to become a bit boring.
3rd Place - -Agu- - track E
Russla's Review:
Proper banger, no doubt about it! Echoing what I said before this tune has so many cool ideas all over the place it really keeps you guessing, top notch variety! The mixdown is is great in the sense that everything has its own space but it’s all kinda thin and one dimensional, or sorta too synthetic I recon. Sounds like a combination of bussing groups and gelling things over with saturation, compression, verb etc a bit more heavily might help. Layering up the individual sounds might be the way to go, up to you. But yeh really like this tune!
Moskit's Review:
I've got to be honest, its not my cup of tea on the whole... The synth driven core I found very un-assuming & repetitive, drop was cool though... The break @1.04, I thought "oh shit here we go, its really gonna go off now", but unfortunately it kinda went nowhere for me, sorry...
Then it kinda finished quite prematurely, the overall idea with the synth driven body is a great idea, I just don't think it was used to its full potential.
Mugatu's Review:
A nice and loud mix, things are punchy though needs some more 'gloss' higher up. Relatively short for a dnb track im not sure how it would work in the mix, breakdown is nice though. Just could do with some more on the 2nd drop and extend the track
IV4's Review:
This track is by far the most interesting. The synth work is amazing, and it sounds like the producer built everything from scratch. The drums and the bass while well orchestrated well, take a back seat to the copious amounts of synths on top. The song is also too short. I would love to hear a full version of this track, and highly encourage any collaborations for this producer.
4th Place - Brex - track H
Russla's Review:
I fucking love that intro, straight in with the bassline, no messing about, tempo all over the place, madness! I like how it progresses but feels like it never really drops in a way cos the drums and bassline are quite thin throughout. I’m a bit stumped as to what to suggest tho as I still really like it haha!
Moskit's Review:
The spaced out, almost dub style/tempo intro is really cool, also taking on such an iconic samp in itself is brave as hell too... The break @ 2.28 with the tempo switch is exceedingly good, fantastic focus added to the drop which exceeds the impact of the initial drop, elements of it reminded me of the build up/2nd drop in Warhead, great stuff!!!... Drums/percussion sit well in the overall mix (especially on the second drop with the added elements/level of progression)... Only thing is & I feel bad saying this, I just don't think the overall production/musicality does that beast of a samp justice... Utterly solid effort though, extra points awarded for sheer bravery.
Mugatu's Review:
So this one just goes on a bit, no change up through the drop apart from some drum work, would of liked some bass its too sparse, it sounds too much like a video game sound track than a dnb track in the style of a video game... But the intro was nice, kept me amused i was waiting for something completely different at the drop, it was just one step away form being pretty good. drums are nice though
IV4's Review:
This track is so interesting to me, it is what I would imagine Mario Brother them song sounding like in John Carpenter made it. The synth and drums are fantastic and have a wonderful play with each other. The fx are well placed too. Things the song lacked was sub-bass and the producer truly making the song their own.
5th Place - Manuforti - track F
Russla's Review:
Nice big sub for realz, jungly as fook! Some decent ideas in here but they are a bit all over the place, the bassline deffo needs a lot more variety, that does get looong pretty quick. The drums are tidy for the type of tune just a couple of the hats have some mad attack on em, check that out. I recon with more variation and a few arrangement switch ups this would be aight!
Moskit's Review:
Old skool vibe, drums & sub on the intro is straight fire, albeit with some mixdown issues in terms of levels, still holds a vibe nicely & has some good impact/excitement about it, synth starts to get a bit crazy & hap-hazard before the drop, but makes more sense as it builds into the drop... Nice switch into the drop itself with the extra hits & smoothed out sub, break @ 2.23 creates a bit of space nicely & the pads/atmospherics + use of the vox again works really well... Then, it kinda goes off course a little in my opinion, the synth work takes over & I think it would have been nice to have revisited that initial sub-heavy, jungley drop on a more sparse note... Great tune though, overall, really enjoyed it!
Mugatu's Review:
I know its going for that old school style, but theres very little to it, like when the pad comes its sounds great, the sub is heavy but it needs more drum work, more variation, though when the stab and pad happens i cant quite tell if its working, just doesnt sound right to me..
IV4's Review:
What a fun throwback to back in the day. I love the old school vibe, but I felt the producer could of used more variation throughout the track. For example, rearranging the the break or adding in a new bass sounds. The mix is good but some things are a little out of place and could use some tidying up.
