no one???

quote:

Originally posted by vakus no one???

It's been awhile friend. I'll gladly critique your mix... nice to see your progression from mainstream commericial house to a more diverse style... finally finding your own little niche

As with prior reviews, expect a long thorough critique.

Ciao 4 Now

it has been a while indeed my friend. how are you doing?? im pretty sure you will see some improvements in eq'ing and flow, at least comparing to the last sets of mine you had heard. Really glad im getting one of your extensive reviews. it is trully something i look forward to as I can tell that you pay much attention to what you're listening.

Anyway, I hope u enjoy this set and looking forward to your opinion.

Thanx

Ah I could always be a bit better but I'm doing good at the present time... hows life treating you over in Puerto Rico? :P

My work life has taken the better part of me and as you can see by my sig I have not released a new set since last summer. Apart from my ongoing time constraints I have computer problems which have disabled me from recording any new sets. For the time being and as with the past I'll get a day off here and there to just throw together a spontaneous set. I'm saving up for a laptop so hopefully before the end of the summer there will be some new sets recorded. I'm glad you appreciate the effort I put into my reviews as I appreciate every artist' time and effort put into making it

I'm going to give this atleast a few listens before posting a final review... good to hear from you and see your still keeping it real.

Take Care

Life over here is pretty well, wish I was making some more money and playing more gigs though... Im putting the effort into polishing my image and all my promotional tools (website, podcast, business cards) to feel more comfortable when approaching promoters and club owners.

I hope u get your computer working well really soon. Maybe its either some virus or u may have ur computer too loaded up (not enough hard drive memory or ram). I'd really love to listen to one of ur mixes especially since its been so long. Let me know when you do because I will gladly listen to it

Take care also and looking forward to that review

00) 00:24 - XLNT Introduction. 1:10 - Liking that techy sound with that deep bassline. 2:11 - Not liking the main vocals but the echo in the backround is nice. This is a sexy song. 2:57 - Liking that piano rift that comes in. Nice breakdown but not liking this piano solo at 3:43. Ah XLNT the main bassline is back at 4:28. 4:58 - Now this is the piano riff that should have been playing throughout the entire song but those ugly vocals are back. 5:29 -- Hightaps are cut, keep it coming. Very refreshing track to start off the set with a bang!

01) 5:59 - Second track starts coming in here but this is not beatmatched very well. The flow changed dramatically here with the bass change at 6:45. 6:53-6:54 -- Woah what happened here? Sounded like a skip here with some effect playing, must have hit a button? For some reason this track generally sounds off beat, like the production seems completely off beat. 7:35 - Not enjoying that high pitched noise that comes in. Definately not digging this electro track. Nice buildup at 9:02 but this style is just not my thang.. next track please

02) 9:33 - ahh yeah there we go slowly creeping in. 9:48 - Hightaps. 10:26 - Bassline slowly creeping in, very nice. 10:48 - Yeah baby work it and nice bass transition. Final transition here at 11:04 - Perfect. 11:20 - Buildup is huge and that hypnotic riff that builds at 11:19 is sick - 11:51 - that was a huge buildup and loved that reverse effect into the clapping at 11:50 - Did you do that or is it part of the track? 12:05 - Loving that bassline here with that trippy clapping effect 12:19 - Niice flanger effect. OMG HUGE Bassline at 12:35 - Wikkid. Work it - very nice buildup from 12:51-14:07 back into that trippy clapping :P - 14:22 - ah theres my bassline again. This track is definately a winner, XLNT selection.

03) 14:53 - Slowly creeeping in. 15:08 - Tracks seems off beat here during this breakdown/buildup 15:39 - Bassline kicks. That was a long buildup but the flow just died for me, sorry - The previous track was insanely trippy for it go into a mellow vocal track here. As always with me I am too picky when it comes to vocals and these just don't do it for me. On to the next track.

04) 19:27 - Hightaps to bring in the next track. 19:57 - Bassline slowly kicks. This wasn't a very clean transition. Should have transitioned at 20:13. 20:43 - Nice thick dark bassline kicks here. Not liking this track up until 21:43 - Love this transitional build in the song, the hightaps take away from it earlier in the track. 21:58 - Loving this trippy effect that comes in here. Ahh hightaps come in again at 22:13. Overall this track was fairly good but wouldn't quite make it into my tracklisting :P

05) 23:43 - Loving that trippy outro as track 5 slowly melts together. 24:13 - Breakdown here is perfect timing for the transition but I would have cut the highs. 24:43 - Good transition but would have been perfect if the highs were cut earlier on. 26:13 - Bassline comes back after a nice break. This is a very relaxed song. 26:43 - Loving that trippy effect.

06) 27:43 - Track 6 is slowly creeping in but the double bass is evident. 28:10 - Final bass transition wasn't smooth as the bassline is very different for this track. Not liking this track right from the start... it changed the flow completely from the previous track which had a melodic theme. 28:42 - Final transition worked well here. Buildup to 29:56 was nice but just not feeling this track whatsoever.

07) 33:03 - Perfect time for transitioning. I would have killed the highs and lows on track 6 and brought in track 7 here. 33:47 - Still transitioning... ahh finally done at 34:02. Did the song run out here? The buildup to 34:31 would have been sooo nice if you had transitioned it at 33:03. Definately liking this dark heavy bassline and hightaps. 36:00 -- HUGE Buildup, love it... keep it coming. 37:58 - Ah was hoping for a progression in this track but its getting repetitive. Track 9 is slowly creeping in here as well where its more evident at 38:15.

08) 38:27 - Absolutely perfect time to bring in the bassline instead of at 39:56. The breakdown was a little longer than I would have liked when it transitioned at 39:56. 42:38 - Loving that loong buildup that Mr. Leeds is famous for. I much prefer the other remix of this track but nevertheless it was still good but just a tad bit too long.

09) 43:08 - Bassline slowly transitioning. Double bass evident. I would have left the bassline off track 10 and transitioned completely at 44:22 instead of 44:07 - EQ's are low for the bassline but thats just because of the type of track it is. Final transition at 44:51. 45:21 - loving that piano riff. Nice buildup at 46:05. I would have used this track alot earlier on in the set since it has a subtle bassline.

10) 50:01 - Ahh that was far too abrupt. Highs should have been killed on track 9 and I would have transitioned the bassline exactly at this point. Good transition nonetheless at 50:44 because of the intro to this track. I'm definately not a fan of this style of house. Those vocals hurt my ears. 51:59 - Thats a very trippy effect and the bassline is much nicer. This track is a little too inconsistant for my liking though. 54:12 - Oohhh only if it was like this throughout the entire track. 54:40 What a creepy riff and I like that buildup at 54:42.

11) 55:11 - Perfect time to start transitioning. Its coming slowly but the beats are off. 55:41 - Good transition but gain could be much louder here. Flow completely changed again for me. This set has many styles so I'm not entirely sure what direction you were trying to go but this track is very bland for my liking. Next.

12) 62:52 - Hightaps coming in here. Too much going on during this transition - I would have lowered my highs alot earlier on. 63:24 - XLNT transition here just needs a tad bit more volume - 63:52 - I would have killed track 11 here, you can here it in the breakdown. 65:09 - Nice electro type effect and big buildup here. Love those hightaps at 65:25. This is what I wish I'd hear you play more throughout your sets. Another huge beat at 65:56. This track is very much to my liking. Loving the progression into that huge beat at 67:26. XLNT. Although this track is far from my style it is most definately a winner in my book.

13) 68:26 - Bass could have been much louder. Tracks were slowly going out of sync. Very chuggy bassline that comes in at 68:56. This track unfortunately is very repetitive. Lets move on to the conclusion shall we?

14) 73:20 - Loving that riff slowly creeping in. Hightaps kick at 73:34. This track has a very long buildup. XLNT job at transitioning. Bass finally kicks at 74:49 with very trippy effects adding to it. Ohh thats a crazy effect at 75:26 - Almost like an electro horn. This track has a extremely trippy theme. Loving the Reverb like effects throughout the breakdowns. What a huge buildup at 77:23 and 78:58. Love it. Nice track to conclude the set.

Vakus,

What can I say my friend, we've always had different influential tastes in our House selection. The majority of these tracks were not to my preferential liking but I did my very best to keep all bias' aside in my critique. Technically you have improved substantially as you seem to be alot more experimental in your EQing and overall transitions. However, you still had a few rough transitions and some beatmatching errors. It seemed like you didn't take your time with some of the transitions. Overall it was a hard mix to get through simply because there were several genres spliced together which took away from the overall feel to the set. That or I just didn't understand what you were trying to achieve with all the blends of genres, which can make it harder for the listener to interpret the progression and flow of the set. At times the flow of set seemed to stop dead in its tracks and others it was very solid but once again maybe I misinterpreted what you were trying to achieve overall.

Here are the goodies:

Track Selection - 6/10 - Far too personal

Mixing/Beatmatching - 7/10 - As usual I'm not usually one to be easy on reviews. There was some distinct errors throughout the set and one major "blip" as so to speak in the beginning at 6:53-6:54. Otherwise your mixing has improved substantially.

Flow - 6/10 - Ahh as initially stated the flow of the set completely lost me at times. Other parts throughout I could not stop bobbing my head and tapping my foot. As a whole though the flow is what I thought needed the most work. Once again I might have misunderstood what you were trying to go for throughout the mix.


Conclusion:

As always I can be somewhat harsh on my reviews and this one is no exception. I really wanted to like this mix but perhaps I had very high hopes prior to listening which could of impacted on my overall opinions. Nevertheless, I am thoroughly enjoying your unique style of mixing and your new refreshing sound. Generally we have different tastes in House music which may or may not reflect my honest opinions on this specific mix. You've finally had a chance to create your own sound now whereas last year you were moreso experimenting to find your own style. There are a few minor flaws but I'm anal so you more than likely won't notice unless you pay waaay too much attention. I'm more into the Tribal and Darker Progressive beats with a drop of electro thats builds into a Progressive Trance. For the rest of you out there, grab this set immediately if you are looking for a diverse taste in genre splicing.

Maybe I'll get a dark proggy set out of you one day

That should do it.

Cheers Bro 8^)

I'll work on that dark set u wanted pretty soon. As for the review, the sound in the second track is part of the second track, not a button i pressed or anything. nor was it off beat, the beat is just like that. In the first couple of tracks I tried to go for a more industrial & dark sound. Those first three tracks are really dark imo. I wanted to spice things up with some deep latin tribal beats in the fourth track and then carry the flow from there with some tribal chilled, then some more tribal but a bit stronger then transition into a technoish track to catch a small breath before the good part of the set comes in, at least thats how i look at it. i definately wanted to make the transition in min 34 drop when it did, i love the effect it creates. For the double bass u call, they are well eq'ed in my opinion, u can listen to both sounds without anyone of them clashing with each other, sort of like two melodies playing with each other, so its not by accident they r together, i just personally like how they sound with the eq'ing i did. At the end I tried to mellow out a bit to end the set and went back to the overall theme of the set, which is techno. I really enjoy many styles of electronic music and think there is some great stuff out there, so I wont limit myself to just one genre or style. I just play what I like

the track selection is very diverse because i make a weekly podcast through itunes and have been playing 50 weeks of shows through different stations in the internet. I usually don't like repeating tracks and enjoy the uniqueness of my sound at the moment. Im pretty sure if you had the tracks and were able to see how the mixes were, u could've seen that the beat matching was pretty spot on.

Im pretty disappointed u didnt get what i was going for, but this is an everlearning process, so I really apreciate your feedback and listening.

Thanx.