Interesting listening to the Extended mix of Sculptured versus the Activa rework.... Activa clearly realised that the original had the generic steroid bassline/kick/synths/energy. So he made a few tweaks and turned it into a classic sounding trancer. Gave it more breathing space, made more use of the pads, made it less in-your-face and fattened up the synths. So much better now. Great work.
Minus the clap part in Activa rework during the main part, kinda seems forced, rushed and out of place, he should have just given it a full remix because both versions are not as strong and missing something compared to Elevate which feels like one complete solid track.
* Elevate 8.8/10
* Sculptured Original Mix 8/10
* Sculpted Activa Rework 7/10 (the original mix at least teases you with the pad during the break which reminds you of the melody that is about to be played out, but, the Activa rework just goes straight into it after 3mins of intro then starts playing the main melody right after a very short pad sequence, giving no context/hints on what to expect next and thats not exciting enough for me, as it feels random/rushed , perhaps sometimes straight to the point trance isn't always appreciated when the melody has so much to offer
(might just be because Factoria mix is more recent as he probably tried to outdo Activas rework as the original wasn't even finished then..lol).
(Also not not really liking the Fx used in Sculptured because its constantly reminding me of Closure by Gary Maguire as I've never heard that fx from anyone else before).
