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::::::::. **** TA DJ Challenge Series - Theme Mix (completed) **** .:::::::: (pg. 10)
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| ziptnf |
| quote: | Originally posted by PivotTechno
3 out of 4 listened to. I've also been reading some of the analyses, and there's a helluva lot of over-intellectualising going on. They're mixes, not dissertations. :stongue: |
You're doing a pretty job of reviewing the mixes you've listened to. |
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| PivotTechno |
| How can I be doing a job if I haven't left any reviews yet? :p |
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| ziptnf |
| That's what I'm saying, you haven't left any. Are you going to wait until you've listened to all of them, or what? |
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| PivotTechno |
| That's the plan! That's how contests usually work, right? |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| There's no prizes or anything, so you don't have to rank or compare. We generally just leave feedback as we go. |
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| PivotTechno |
Fair enough, I'll still wait until I've heard the present 4.
(and thanks for the extension, btw - I'm an old fart, it's been really cold here, and I haven't been taking my Turntable Viagra For Longer, Harder Mixes) |
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| jonmitz |
Psyshell, I finished your mix.
Before I start - I am not very into psytrance. There was a period of time about 2 years long that I was into it and since then not really. I'm going to keep my review short and to the point. I'm not a big fan of writing essays on mixes, nor am I very good at it.
Review of: Dancing is active mediation
Theme
Just sounds like a psytrance mix to me. I don't feel much of a scifi/fantasy theme here at all, but I can see an argument of a futuristic sound kinda thing... I can see better ways to approach a psytrance/scifi/fantasy mix just listening to some of my older psytrance tracks that had very heavy scifi and even fantasy (rarer) themes.
Track Selection
Honestly, the tracks do not vary much. If this is what you were going for, great job - this isn't a bad way to approach a mix at all. It takes skill to choose tracks that match up as well as these do. That said, I personally don't enjoy mixes I dont feel are going anywhere [dont take this the wrong way - there are lots of way to interpret "going anywhere" - this mix was obviously going forward at a high velocity but not much else] or changing much.
I did enjoy the tracks, per se. Just thought it could have used some more variety. Lots of highly similar styles in each of the songs, which allows for much smoother transitions (from a macro-point of view), so again, this isn't necessarily a negative thing, just my take.
Keep in mind, I like to be very eclectic (as you guys saw from my submission). This mix is kinda the flip side from mine, a very specific subgenre of psytrance and you stuck to it throughout.
Mixing
No complaints. It wasnt perfect and if you'd like me to make some more detailed comments here I will, but I'd prefer not to because of the amount of effort it takes to get to that level of detail that it would really help here.
Flow
More or less 140 BPM throughout. Energy felt constant, and (IMO, unfortunately) very high. Was pretty 'full on' the entire mix. I prefer mixes to be up and down, regardless of the genre. I have heard and have mixed plenty of psytrance that isn't as straightforward as this was. With this mix by the second (?) song it was up to 140 BPM. The first track seemed a bit slower and you tempo jumped up quickly and then stayed consistent
This might just be an artifact of the genre and maybe a large reason why I distanced myself many years ago from it.
Summary
I'm not saying the mix is bad, I enjoyed listening to it - I just won't likely be doing so a second time; which is a mixture of the fact I am not a huge psytrance fan and that like I said above and have mentioned before, I need some variety in what I am listening to.
Ending notes
I have some friends I will be sending this to - I think they will enjoy it a lot! (one of them goes to ozora every year so this is right up his alley)
I'll listen to System J's and then zipnif's mixes next; or, in order. |
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| Psyshell |
| quote: | Originally posted by jonmitz
Mixing
No complaints. It wasnt perfect and if you'd like me to make some more detailed comments here I will, but I'd prefer not to because of the amount of effort it takes to get to that level of detail that it would really help here. |
Thanks for the review overall. I would like some detailed feedback on my mix but I feel like it should come from people who are overall pretty into that style of psytrance (95-97/98 style goa/psy). I feel like what the people who tend to like it say about it is far more important, and there might be something that's concidered unorthadox that may have actually worked which is hard to tell from the perspective of going through the motions rather than enjoying more naturally.
| quote: | Originally posted by jonmitz
Flow
More or less 140 BPM throughout. Energy felt constant, and (IMO, unfortunately) very high. Was pretty 'full on' the entire mix. I prefer mixes to be up and down, regardless of the genre. I have heard and have mixed plenty of psytrance that isn't as straightforward as this was. With this mix by the second (?) song it was up to 140 BPM. The first track seemed a bit slower and you tempo jumped up quickly and then stayed consistent |
I paid a lot of attention to the tempo the mix was being played at. I feel like increasing the tempo in certain tracks (or not) can do a lot to the energy and feeling of a mix. I also feel like it makes a big difference depending on whether it's at the start, climax of a track or just before the next one comes in. I probably could've paid more attention to noticeable pitch increases compared to more gradual but that sortof thing is very tricky (like for instance my mouse DPI probably should've been set lower). It's also worth mentioning that a lot of the straightforwardness of the psytrance is because of the era it's from. The fact there's less variety (and therefore it's much easier to pick tracks) certainly makes the psy a lot easier to mix but does prevent some styles or emotions being present that are present in later psy. I don't feel like there was anything wrong with my mix but I fully admit I wasn't taking any risks. It's the second mix I've done after a two year haitus after all and I feel like after listening to my first again recently that this one has shown a big improvement in my abilities.
Here's the [changed] tempos of the tracks for anyone that's interested:
1. 142
2. 142-143
3. 143
4. 143-145
5. 145-146
6. 146-147
7. 147
8. 147-147.5
9. 147.5-148
10. 148-149
11. 149-150
12. 150
13. 96
| quote: | Originally posted by jonmitz
Ending notes
I have some friends I will be sending this to - I think they will enjoy it a lot! (one of them goes to ozora every year so this is right up his alley)
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Thanks for that. I like getting feedback on soundcloud as well as on forums.
| quote: | Originally posted by PivotTechno
3 out of 4 listened to. I've also been reading some of the analyses, and there's a helluva lot of over-intellectualising going on. They're mixes, not dissertations. :stongue: |
Just as there's different styles of mixes there's different styles of reviews. It's nice getting some more in depth ones as well as more basic ones. Make (or listen to) whatever style(s) of review you feel comfortable with. |
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| jonmitz |
| quote: | Originally posted by Psyshell
Here's the tempos of the tracks for anyone that's interested:
1. 142
2. 142-143
3. 143
4. 143-145
5. 145-146
6. 146-147
7. 147
8. 147-147.5
9. 147.5-148
10. 148-149
11. 149-150
12. 150
13. 96
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Lol I wasnt even close. 140 BPM. Shoot me. :stongue:
Why did you go with such a specific year of psy/goa? You could have broadened your choice by a lot and hit the theme much better. For a challenge like this you shouldnt have limited yourself at all. I pulled from hundreds of tracks ranging from the late 90's/earl 2000's to tracks that were released months ago. |
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| Psyshell |
| It was essentially because that's the only style that I had a broad enough knowledge of to make a mix of. Sure I can think of 40+ psy or darkpsy albums and their tracks fairly well but they simply aren't similar enough to make a mix together of. Like for instance; XI, Sun Project (later stuff), Penta, Logic Bomb, Midi miliz or Psykovsky in the same mix? Probably wouldn't work. By the time I end up making my next mix I'll have heard a lot more albums and will be able to focus things a lot more. For that time period I had though I wanted to do a mix well and I knew that was a style I know lots about. My future mixes will be a bit more adventurous. Even my previous darkpsy mix was really. I'm pretty happy with how the mix turned out, no doubt if I'd been djing for the past year straight though I would've been able to tailor it a lot more though. I'm still learning and I'll gain that kind've experience and ability with time. |
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| Psyshell |
My thoughts on zipntf's mix:
First off, I'm not really a fan of psy breaks or psy dnb. I do like most regular dnb a fair bit though so I'll give this a try. Unfortunately the kind I don't like tends to be the kind that tries to be melodic in a trance or psy trance way (rather than liquid or neurotech dnb)
15 Minutes in, so far seems alright, vaguely interesting; but really not the kind I'm into. I do like the one 20 minutes in though. From there on it's interesting for a bit, but then changes to neurotech which seems completely different and then finishes with a melodic tune. Overall the mix can't really stick to one style and I didn't really like half of the tracks. The neurotech bit was pretty good but that only went for 3-4 tracks :\. Might've been a hard style to work with though if there wasn't many decent tracks in the genre. |
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| Psyshell |
Thoughts on System-J's mix:
Well first off I'm pretty sure I've listened to and liked system J's dnb mixes before so I'll probably end up liking this one. The intro is pretty cool and the opening track is very strong. I feel like the music matches the theme and artwork for the mix quite well. Then the mix suddenly changes tempo, I might be some kind've music pleb but this just seems to kill the flow for me. This honestly would've been fine if the mix had already gone for 50-70 minutes by this stage but I feel like it's just too short and flow breaking. The second half of the mix was pretty good though. This mix was interesting, but I think honestly the main effect this is going to have is me finding and listening to your other mixes and asking for you to upload some more somewhere. I wish I could give a more positive review, this has so much potential and it's obvious you have a lot of skill but I can't listen to it repeatedly with the middle section being like that. |
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