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"Fractal" (8/5/19)

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Author Comments

My entry into the knockout round of NGUAC. It follows a similar format like "Wonder", it builds on an idea I wrote down a few months ago but then scrapped due to workflow flaws, so I still started mostly from scratch. It gives off similar emotions, too. Honestly, I think I overthought/overworked this, I don't know why else it would take 15 minutes to render if my computer isn't that bad lol, and it might end up a bit saturated, since for the beat I layered about 35 (authorized) samples together fnvsdjfbgkubgkuvbkutrseufjd


I went off of my own ear, and it sounds good to me since this is my style and my sound (at least as House/Trance hybrids go, I make other stuff) so I'm just gonna go ahead with this.


Will most likely release on DiscDawn Records in a few days as the second promotional single to an upcoming album/EP


SC: https://soundcloud.com/saidez-music-productions/my-official-entry-into-the-nguac-knockout-round-pre-release


honestly if you ask me I think I'm not gonna make it, I kinda forced this, and I don't mind because school is starting soon and I most likely can't focus on the next two rounds (who knows?) but I'm glad I qualified.


Personally I prefer Wonder, that one had a cleaner mix and better arrangement.

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I like the beat at the beginning, but there’s an unpleasant popping sound there that warrants fixing if you get the chance. The reverberant claps are especially nice, although the kick at :16 was a bit heavy, to the point of overwhelming the snare. The progression here is pretty slow-paced, although I like the atmospheric elements at :32. I think you could’ve faded the synths at :32 in more, just to foreshadow their prominence in the texture a bit. There’s another sudden transition at 1:02, although by 1:40 the texture is coming together more. I’d still like to hear some stronger melodic content here, especially since the riff at 2:02 is so repetitive and simple. The progression is pretty smooth through the middle section, and I like the strong (although very gradual) sense of build until 3:32. The content of the piece is pretty repetitive after that, and I would’ve liked to hear some more variety in the harmonic components and in the synth lead. I think a final melodic section would’ve done a lot more to hit this piece home, and you probably could’ve cut a couple of minutes off of this track given the excessive repetition. Still, you have a good sense of harmony, progression, and rhythm, and despite my complaints early in the piece, the mixing and mastering are quite good too. Keep at it, DJ-Saidez! :)

Mixing, mastering, and balance
1.75/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
.75/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
1.5/2
Instrumentation and sound design
.75/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.25/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
.25/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
7/10

DJ-Saidez responds:

Yeah I'm still learning the ropes of this. No complaints with that score, the track was kinda iffy for me too. Now that this is over for me my next goal is to finish a couple of remixes to contribute to this collab album, hopefully I can use the lessons I learned and improve as an artist. My plan is to include Wonder and Fractal in that album.
I agree that Wonder scores higher, by the way. The production session for that track had a certain sense of magic that made the elements just fit, the same sense I attempted to recreate for this track but failed, since apparently it has to come to you.
Overall, this was fun! This reminded me once again how much I love music and making it!
どうもありがとうございました!

EDIT: The popping might be either the acoustic drums, or the sound effect I added at :26 which was intentional.

Not bad! Solid idea, lots of things happening in the background which is a big plus for me - brings a lot of atmosphere to the table that most people seem to miss.
To improve, work on

- using reverb (and automating it to bring elements in and out of focus, sounds more sophisticated that way as opposed to using a low pass or a volume slider. A good reverb to check out is Valhalla Vintage Verb)

- Sidechaining (this is where your drop is lacking power and umph. A great VST for you to invest in is Nicky Romero's Kickstart - it's literally plug and play with a few options.)

- your choice of samples, especially kickdrums (In this track, it doesn't quite fit. The kick is missing a lot of power in the low end around 1:00 and sounds quite papery. Try to find a kick drum which is in the same key as your track's root bass note. All kicks are tuned and have their own key believe it or not, and when you put an E tuned Kick into a track with a bass root note of B for example, they clash and it doesn't sit so well in the mix! Another tip for the future is knowing which key to make bassy music in! This one is in C, although you would get more umph out of your drops if it was in F, F# or G - these lower bass notes carry more weight than C notes do! - Lastly, do you have a limiter or compressor on the master? The kick seems to quieten down when the clap hits on top)

Keep at it!

DJ-Saidez responds:

I kinda rushed it, it sounded good to me but my headphones aren't the best

With only top 20% progressing, and with school starting for me in 6 days, I wouldn't be upset if I went out here. I'm glad of the progress I made so far.

Not bad, keep doing this, I like it, this music is thought-provoking, very pleasant and relaxing harmony, interesting intonation and unique sound, thanks :3

Credits & Info

Artist

Listens
483
Faves:
5
Downloads
5
Votes
8
Score
4.09 / 5.00

Uploaded
Aug 6, 2019
1:00 AM EDT
Genre
House
File Info
Song
15.1 MB
6 min 36 sec

Licensing Terms

Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.