Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[GM - I'm coming 4 u (NGADM13)]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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Wow, this is fantastic. It was a real pleasure to listen to. Your production is just perfect, man. Other than a slightly disappointing bass, everything in here is mixed to perfection and crystal clear. Another thing you can loosely tie with production in this track is your guitar playing, which was highly skilful. Your transitions are smooth, including your intro and outro, and you give the track a pretty unique touch with that little piano motif that can be heard on its own at the end but is played at other times in the track, making this not just your typical guitar and drum combo.

Maybe the biggest issue with this track is its composition. Rhythmically, this track is great, and there are some pretty awesome ideas in here too, but the composition just ends up sound a bit bland at times, making the track ever so slightly boring to listen to. Having said that, you structure your composition pretty well, so even in the composition department you manage to get stuff right, just with the shortcoming of the melodies being a bit boring at times.

This is seriously good stuff. Keep up the excellent work!

Score: 8.6/10

InYourDreams responds:

Thanks Step!! ur reviews are always awesome!... Yeah, I took down the acoustic treatment of my room, to put it on the rehearsal room of my band, so now it's really difficult to make a good mix... :(... I wish I had more money to buy at least some good headphones.
About my composition... yeah I hate beeing uninspired... I don't know what to do about it. I'm really having probems trying to come up with stuff, that make me say "this is good enough"... but I'm not gonna give up ^_^

[First Flight]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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Ah yes, some cinematic. A genre I can easily analyse! The quality of this track is outstanding. Listening to this is just like listening to professional-tier film music. The VSTs you've used are no doubt high-end, and your mixing is phenomenal. Not only that but you've even got excellent composition that really sets you apart from amateur composers with expensive software. You're fantastic at what you do; the dynamics especially are superb. Hearing that incredible buildup was one hell of an experience, and when it hits the highest point, you portray such a gigantic sound that it leaves the listener in awe. Oh and before I forget; the percussion is perfect. I have no complaints with it.

This track is not without its faults, however. The climax feels very underdeveloped. I mean, you took a pretty long time to reach it, which definitely did its job in building up nervousness and excitement, sure. Once it reaches the climax, you even deliver beautifully with such a big sound (that might've been a bit over-compressed but I'm not one to talk) but then after a handful of notes, it's finished, and a soft ending that's unfortunately leaning onto the lame side comes in. In fact, a large percentage of the track is soft, and while you develop the soft parts suitably, the powerful parts don't quite sound complete and satisfying compared to them. With the track being only 2 minutes and a half long, there's a lot of room to flesh things out more fully.

I'm very impressed with this, just as impressed as I was when I heard your audition. Keep it up, you're a real underdog!

Score: 8.6/10

[Coin and Haggle]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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Let me just start by saying that the atmosphere and mood are just NAILED. I absolutely loved the subtleties like the coin sounds, the castanets, the vibraslap, the grace notes, and how you make a song sound somehow mysterious and almost urgent-sounding in its pace while still sounding light. Props for the live instrument by the way! It's exquisitely played and sounds fantastic. All your other instruments also sound awesome (and very East/West-esque may I add), and fit wonderfully with each other. And the composition is lovely! I loved hearing the melodies of each instrument - from the subtle to the upfront - work together so well.

On the other hand, as I'm sure you know, this song is REALLY short. I mean, the track's current melodies are sufficiently fleshed out, and the ending feels very much like a conclusion, so I'm not left feeling as if the melodies are underdeveloped or anything (which is often the case in short tracks), but since there's that little content and not many dynamic/mood changes, the wow factor of this track is abysmally low. This would fit beautifully in a game, and on its own it was a remarkably pleasant listen, but ultimately with such a short track there isn't much substance to leave a lasting impression, and I'm sure there's plenty of room for the introduction of different sections to make this longer.

I can only begin to imagine how great this track would've been, had you been a bit more ambitious with it. It sounds fantastic as it is now though. Keep up the great work!

Score: 7.7/10

[Summer Goes On]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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When I think of your chiptune tracks, three words come to mind - "8-bit orchestra". The sound of this, like in your other chiptune tracks, is so ridiculously thick and deep that it sounds like it was made with a whole orchestra of gameboys, not just one guy on LSDJ. Everything's in beautiful harmony, and all of the many layers of chiptune instruments work together like clockwork. In fact, in the counterpoint and harmonies department, I think this is one of your stronger chiptune tracks. And as always, great pitch-bending, great drums, great transitions, great structure... then again you never really got those wrong before anyway.

You saw this coming a mile away, but I think that it's pretty apparent that this was meant to have vocals. At some points you've got a lead synth playing melodies (which I assume were intended to be the instrumental parts of this track) which sounds just fine, but there are other times when you just have background riffs playing in accordance to the chords, as if they're there to accompany some foreground instrument like vocals. Also, whether I take your word for the abrupt ending making more sense with the vocals or not, right now it just sounds abrupt and I can't not dock points for it. A stylistic complaint I have is that the track needs some more quiet sections. As is sometimes the case with your chiptune tracks, all the hype and fast pace, coupled with the 8-bit sounds, can get obnoxious sometimes! In fact, the soft part at 3:02 really felt a lot like a breath of fresh air, and some more creative use of that dynamic would help, I think.

That was a very fun listen though. Keep up the great work!

Score: 8.4/10

[Star Blade]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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I'm loving that "video game boss" feel right from the start. You seem to always have a very well-defined idea of how you're going to make a track before you even start despite what you said in the author's comments (I've noticed this in your other music too), because stylistically from beginning to end this is simple, sensible, and easily reminiscent of something you'd hear in a video game. You've got some really great ideas over here, including some perfectly enjoyable melodies, and some subtle details (like that understated melody on the square lead at 2:41 and the bitcrusher/phaser on the drums) that really bring this track together. The structure is also more or less nailed and once we get to the ending it feels like a very satisfying and well-rounded journey. Great work.

On the contrary, there are a bunch of glaring issues in this track that take away from the listening experience. The mix isn't great. It needs to be more spacious, because a lot of the time this track suffers from an unfortunate muddiness or a cluttered overall sound. This is pretty much the main problem with this track, but there are a few other more minor problems. I don't think the foreground strings fit very well with the rest of the track (along with the fact that they don't sound great themselves). The percussion has a good sound but it needs even more subtle variations because it sometimes feels very much like you made the one-bar pattern and pasted it a bunch of times. Also, I think you overuse certain elements at times, like reverse cymbals/sweeps, and that "leading note to tonic" melodic phrase. Remember, use something too much and it loses its effect!

Anyhow, this is a perfectly enjoyable track with awesome ideas and composition. Some stuff to work on, but otherwise I was impressed!

Score: 7.8/10

[Mechanical Anima]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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Absolutely brilliant. After hearing what both you and ZipZipper made for this round, I feel bad pairing you two together. I felt that some of your stylistic similarities were uncanny so I thought you'd make a good pairing, but you guys make such great stuff that none of you deserve to go out so early in the contest. But really, this track is masterfully composed. The melodies were remarkably good, the chords fit beautifully, and you flow so effortlessly through key changes and different song sections. The instruments and sound effects you've used are great, by the way! I can't believe you used Edirol - everything sounds high quality and Edirol isn't quite East/West or Cinesamples or whatnot. Just goes to show that a talented composer can make anything sound great.

Like with ZipZipper's tracks, I have numerous minor problems with this track. There unfortunately is very little going on in the low end, making the track sound noticeably empty at times. Other than a percussive boom you play constantly, there isn't much depth. The track's sounds can get a bit monotonous at times too. I understand this is supposed to be a duet between two woodwind instruments and you manage to keep their melodies varied perfectly to keep the listener interested, but I would've liked some more sounds/instruments scattered throughout the track, even if they're in the background, rather than sticking to an almost-unchanging instrument/sound set from beginning to end (with a few exceptions). This could be fixed by adding more instruments, but even more sound effects would do!

Anyway, that was excellent. You're certainly one of the underdogs of this competition; keep it up.

Score: 9.5/10

steampianist responds:

thank you for the very detailed review step

aha! i knew the pairings wasn't random but i was able to discover zipzipper and i thank you for that really like his music as well

ahh yes the bass.. well honestly i couldnt think of bassline and even if i played around with my controller it just doesnt seem to "mesh well" so i thought go simple! hehe.

[Electroboy]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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Yes, this is fantastic stuff. After hearing that gigantic audition of yours, I thought "what could he possibly come up with next?", and while this track isn't quite as gigantic, it sure is one hell of a good track. The atmosphere of the intro is probably one of my favourite things about this track, mainly from 0:37 (and how you cleverly give us another brief snippet of it at 2:22). The production quality is just great too. I'm hearing cinematic elements in here, combined with electronic elements, combined with, of course, metal. Very creative work in that department; you inarguably make it work very well.

The track can sound a bit dull at times, unfortunately. The metal-driven sections are often just the same one-measure riff repeated over and over again with a little change at the last beat of the bar where you add some subtle melodic variation. The track would have benefitted if there was something playing above that guitar, but that only happens in a subdued manner with some quiet elements that are also repetitive, except the 2:04 part where that glorious synth comes in (although it's a bit drowned out by that guitar). There are some small balancing issues as well; the guitar hogs a bit too much of the mix in my opinion, since it can sometimes drown out the drums and like I said, it drowns out that synth at 2:04. Because of how loud it is, it even comes in as a bit of a surprise at 1:02 and ends up making that transition sound too abrupt.

Honestly though, this is a considerably badass track with a very well-crafted atmosphere and great production. A few issues to iron out, but fantastic work.

Score: 8.6/10

Lashmush responds:

Thanks kindly, I'll take it all into account for my upcoming projects so as not to repeat my mistakes. :3

[The Lost Island]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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Impressive work! There are a lot of things in this track that I absolutely love, although one thing I want to especially point out is how well the 0:29 and 2:51 buildups to the chorus were made. Your sounds complement each other incredibly well in these sections, and there is this clear rise in intensity (highlighted by that extremely generic but effective kick drum roll) whose execution was just right. Apart from that, your mix and production on the whole is commendable, and the atmosphere is set really well, especially with those enormous brass hits that first come in at 0:29! The composition is very solid too.

Now, you say that this track is supposed to combine electro house with symphonic/orchestral instruments. I can certainly say that both are present in this track but I don't see much interplay between these two genres (except in those buildups I mentioned which just so happen to be some of the best sections in the track), leaving the two styles sounding detached from each other in this track. The "main" sections (0:59 and 3:21) are only electro house, and the sections in-between are almost only symphonic elements. I think you certainly have the talent to pull off some sweet house + orchestra sections, especially towards the end (since you already do it so well at 0:29 and 2:51). Also, some of the instruments are too harsh/ear-piercing, especially the strings at the high notes and the synth at 4:02. The orchestra samples sound great but the vibrato on the strings is very artificial-sounding.

Excellent job on this track. I was torn between giving you an 8, 8.1 or 8.2 but I think I'll have to settle with an 8.

Score: 8/10

Hurks responds:

Every single bit of criticism you gave me I agree on 100%. This is by far not my best track but I tried my best! I cant wait to submit for round 2! :D

[Make A Scene]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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Classic strangely-addicting obscurity right here, by none other than ZipZipper, and this time we get glitching! Let me start by saying that the vocal work here is, as it usually is in songs by you, impressive, and other than some perhaps excessive delaying on the vocals at times, the glitching and effects on your voice were tremendously enjoyable to listen to. Lyrics make no sense to me but who cares haha. The production quality is, most of the time, outstandingly clear. The layers of glitching fit so well with everything and make this a very memorable track, and unlike your NGMT Round 2 track, even the parts without vocals in them are memorable. And hey, the vocal melodies were really catchy. This track is fantastic.

No doubt, the good things in this track outweigh the bad things by far. However, they still need to be mentioned, and they're mostly chorus-related. I think the chorus was repeated a tad too many times in the track. On top of that, the chorus ends really lamely with the word "scene" just echoing out. I think a much better idea would've been to hold the word "scene" as a leading note, so that it makes a bit more of a statement and leads well to following sections. I also think the production value in the chorus goes down a notch, primarily in the drums/glitching, since they lose a lot of clarity that they have during the verses. Lastly, I'm still not sure I like the ending or not, although I don't think I do haha. I understand you were going for that understated kind of ending, but you could've at least given it some form of conclusion, even if it's just a tiny little tonic note played by the bass.

But seriously, I think you've certainly outdone yourself with this one. I'm very impressed!

Score: 9.5/10

[LO - So Good (NGADM'13)]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

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Like always, your sounds are well-chosen, and you've got great production here. Apart from that, there's the classic EDM buildup leading to 0:52 which was well-executed (along with a sweet drum fill that was even used later in the track to round it up nicely), and I like that you put a twist on it by introducing an even more powerful part at 1:22 when generally people just build up to one powerful part and leave it at that. Great effect to transition with at 1:52, by the way. This is all solid, well-produced stuff, and the main hook is decently catchy too.

But dammit man, it has happened again! This is too repetitive; your audition was great (even better than this I think) but it was too repetitive, making you miss the top 64 by a scrape, and here the repetition is even more present. I understand that repetition is almost a key factor in this genre, as it's made to really engrave the hook into your head, but it really maximises the predictability of this track, and dumbs it down a little too. I think it's perfectly possible to stick a melody into someone's head without repeating it to no end in the track. Also, the track can get a bit generic at times. While I think you chose your sounds nicely, some more unique-sounding synths could really take this track places.

Anyway, the repetition is a huge problem because if it wasn't for that and a few other minor issues I have that aren't really worth mentionioning, this would've been a solid track. You get bonus points for your production skills though!

Score: 7.2/10