| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 8 |
| Interest | 8 |
| Melody | 7 |
| Performance | 8 |
| Lyrics | 0 |
| Enjoyment | 9 |
| Recording Quality | 8 |
| Commercial Appeal | 7 |
| Overall | 7.9 |
My first impression when I put on this track is asif someone has opened a can of compressed energy ! Overwelming.
The driving beat in this track has a very pronounced low end bassdrum and a mid filling snare. The half tempo beat that is layerd with it takes up de high mid range. After the intro (when that fab guitar lick steps in) the snaredrum get's a bit too busy for my liking, taking up a lot of space in the mix.
The bass-synth in this track is SOOO Deep.... So deep actually that my studio monitors didn't want to pass them through to me (must admit that my studio is too small for good bass representation) and had to search for them with my headphones on ;). The accumulation of this synth and the bassdrum give the mix a very heavy low end (I wouldn't like to play this in my car, because I fear my airbags will think I was in serieous danger ;). Frequency analysis (cool edit) shows a very big peak below 100 Hz, wich will cause this track to sound very differently in different spaces. You would be surprised to see a frequency analysis of any pro-track that you think holds a lot of bass... Most of the times there isn't much signal below 60 - 100 Hz. The low end in this mix might just be a tad over the edge ;-)
The choice of vocal samples is sublime. I can totally relate (not very objective but). In the middle of the track they are a bit hard to understand as they are a bit too much in the back of the mix.
The guitar solo is GREAT !!! Van Halen couldn't have done a better job !
The total track has been run through a limiter/maximizer (and I think a little bit of compression before that) wich gives it that energy. It also flattens the mix, and that could be part of the problem causing the vocals to fall back a bit.
I listened to it 5 times or so whilst completing this review and I must say I never got bored by it, wich is a very good thing coming from me, cause I get bored easily !
So overall : Very good track (one of the best tracks you've made... although you know I'm a sucker for the live tracks your band recorded;), If you were to put this on a CD, I would like to hear how a professional mastering engineer would change the low end of the track prior to running it through that limiter (and still giving it a lot of power in the lower end !), cause I think it can improve there...
Ricky, Van Halen, Mancini ... watch out for that guy peoples ;)
Hans.
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