Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Plan of Battle]

Wow!

Man, that sound awesome. It really fits with the name, and I can barely find any faults in it. I love it!

The melodies are fantastic, especially the brass melodies. They evoke that epic 'war' theme, and give out a feeling of tension and despair. I also imagine a map being laid out and instructions/strategic tactics being thought out and discussed with solemn voices. The background depth is excellent, with flawless harmonization. I really liked the strings' melody that came in towards the end, when the song changes mood from a march rhythm to a fast rhythm. There was also a very good number of different melodies. I mean, you have enough melodies to fill in a 2:30 song nicely, and yet you manage to fit them all in just over one minute perfectly ^^.

Instruments here sound awesome. I'm guessing you use East/West? Your instrument choice here is also very good: brass, strings, choirs; you can never go wrong with them :D. I particularly liked the pizzicato strings you added, since they furthermore added to the tension and power that this song has. I also liked your hits in the song, they were powerful, rich, and were a nice touch to the song. I don't think there are any more instruments that would add to this submission, so nice job!

The transitions are great, and the song flowed very smoothly throughout, except maybe the transition at 0:50 which I'm not really too sure about. I think it goes from the march rhythm to the fast-paced/action packed rhythm a bit too suddenly. Perhaps by making the song go quiet for a bar and in that bar, bass drums and a cymbal roll build up and then you start the part at 0:50. I'm not too sure about it, but maybe it'll fix the slightly rough and abrupt transition that you have. Other than that nitpick, the transitions were epic ^^. Very nice buildup at the beginning, where you gradually introduced new instruments.

When it comes to the structure, I don't really think it's too good. It starts on a really good structure, and then it continues at 0:50 where the song changes mood. It stays like that for 4 bars and the song's ending hit sort of comes out of nowhere. At 0:50, it feels as if you started a new song, and then you end it out of the blue at 0:57. Maybe you should lengthen the song to keep the song going for at least 12 more bars, playing in the mood you set out at 0:50, and then you end it, or you could just remove the part at 0:50 and end it somewhere around there, but it'd be a bummer since the part at 0:50 is awesome :C. The variety, on the other hand, is top-notch, and I didn't get tired of the song for even a second.

The intro is brilliant. I liked that you started it with those hits, you hear a double bass playing in the background, and then the song starts. Quite an effective intro IMO. As for the ending, as I said above, the fact that you ended it a bit too early and out of nowhere sort of ruined the ending. You could try and loop it by removing the hit at 0:57 and all of the silence afterwards, or you could try and end it by lengthening the part at 0:50 for another 12 bars and then ending it with a powerful final hit or something. Yes, I'm nitpicky :(.

The drums are top notch. Loved the snare beats, they were very well varied, and fit with the song perfectly. There was an excellent variety of drum samples, and each sample sounded superb. What did you use to make the percussion? It sounds amazing. If there was anything I would do to the drums, is turn that snare up a little, since it feels sort of drowned out by the rest of the instruments.

Well, overall it sounds really cool, and the only defects I can find in it are pure nitpicks. If you would fix the ending a little, maybe lengthening the part at 0:50 for another 12 bars or so, fixing the transition at 0:50, and turning the snare's volume up a little, I think this song would be perfect. Keep up the awesome work, you're an excellent classical composer, and if your game is as good as this song, then I have a hunch that it'll be awesome. Thanks for reviewing my loop!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Joerao responds:

Woah, thanks for the novel! :D I agree that the end came out of nowhere- I'll try to fix that. And you're right- I mainly used some Eastwest instruments with some free VSTs thrown in. I probably should elongate that part at 0:50- it does sound kind of hurried and is too short.

Thanks again for your input!

[Blinder [PDM]]

Nice!

Wow, you definitely deserved that top 5 and front page. This song sounds great, and it's actually pretty original and creative too, and that's hard to achieve in genres like this. I mean, guitars, synths and rock drums altogether? Wow, that surely is a creative mix. Great job, this sounds awesome!

The melodies at first were a bit bland and boring, but at 1:57 you created the type of melody which you hear once, you never forget it and it gets stuck in your head. There's also a fantastic amount of alternate melodies over here, and they all sound excellent. Guitar's melodies were also great, and the guitar had a cool rhythm. 2:31 was a cool part too. Maybe somewhere in the song you could add some epic guitar solo or a synth solo somewhere, since this song sounds really interesting with the mix of guitar and synths, so by adding some solos for each, namely the guitar, I think it'd be doing wonders to this song. There were some cool glitch aspects to this song, which I quite enjoyed, and they furthermore made this song so creative and interesting.

As for the instruments, as I said above, there was an interesting mix of different instruments. I liked the synth at 1:35 - it sort of stood out from the rest giving that part a unique theme to it. Guitar sounded excellent, and I liked the synth which carries the main melody that first plays at 1:57. The synths and sounds at the beginning were superb. Practically all of the instruments sounded great, and the background synths were pretty cool too. There were loads of different sounds in this song, which I quite liked. As for the effects, they were awesome, and there were many different sound effects throughout the song which made some really good transitions, such as at 3:57. Maybe the additions of some well-timed robotic-like vocal sample in a few transitions would be a cool addition, but that isn't much of a problem.

Well, when it comes to the transitions, I'm not really too sure. I noticed some rough transitions here and there, which made the song jump around from one melody to another almost randomly, as B1ackStar92 pointed out. A better progression with smoother transitions would definitely bring this piece to its full potential. Some examples of rough transitions would be at 0:21, 1:14, 2:18, 3:35 and 4:41, mostly because the song changes rhythm/style too abruptly or a new instrument is introduced sort of out of nowhere. Still, some transitions were pretty epic, such as the one at 3:57, and you had some cool drum rolls and stuff to transit from one melody to another.

The structure of this song is pretty weird. For over 1/4 of the song, you don't introduce the chorus, then you finally do, then you play some counter melodies, after that you play the chorus yet again, you play one small alternate melody, and then you keep repeating the chours till the end, which was weird, and may hint to the fact that at times this song is random.

The variety on the whole was good, but as I said, towards the end, the chorus started getting repeated quite a bit, and it was a bit monotonous. The intro was awesome, although it had little to do with the rest of the song, but unfortunately, the ending was weird. That sound that came at 4:41 sort of came out of nowhere because of the rough transition, and it provided a pretty weird ending. Why don't you remove the sound from 4:41 onwards, and end the song with a final ending note or something. IMO it would be a better ending :).

Not much to say about the drums. They were excellently varied, and although the samples weren't the best around, they fit with the song flawlessly, and there were some cool beats, plus they were just the right volume too. Good job ^^.

This is a really cool submission, with catchy melodies and an interesting mix of genres. Just work on some of the nitpicks I mentioned above. Sorry for not giving you a 10, but I figured you'd prefer an honest and helpful review with a 9 more than a simple 10/10 and praise. Keep up the great work, and thanks for reviewing my song Spacewalk!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

[Sleepy Village]

Wow...

I went through almost all your songs, and I must say, you are a very talented artist, especially when it comes to classical works, flute or percussion. If you close your eyes and listen to this, you can easily imagine the sun creeping up the horizon and penetrating the red sky as the village slowly wakes up and the villagers get out of their wooden houses, rubbing their eyes and getting ready for another day. Kind of reminds me a bit of Zelda and a bit of Final Fantasy. Great job, it sounds like it just came out of a film, or a game for that matter...

The melodies are very nice, especially the flute's melodies, which seem like the driving instrument in this song. I really liked the flute in general - it had such nice and relaxing melodies, but fit so well with the strings, and evoked a really good atmosphere. I especially liked the harp's glissandos towards the end too. When I started hearing this song and getting ready to review it, I thought this was going to be a slow ambient piece, but I can notice some parts where the music was louder and more powerful. To me this sort of resembles the fact that the village is very peaceful and quiet (because of the fact that this song is mostly relaxing and not too powerful), yet sometimes big things happen (someone dies, someone is born, etc.) (because of the fact that at times the song becomes a bit more powerful), although most of the time the village is calm and nothing much happens. Anyway, overall, the melodies were simply beautiful.

The instruments are amazing quality, what did you use for them? I liked the sound of that flute: it had some really nice vibrato to it, giving it a sort of eerie and mystical feel, and I also noticed some subtle pitch-bending here and there, which furthermore makes it sound realistic yet calm and relaxing. The harp was an extremely nice addition to this song, and was also really well varied, even though it was a background instrument, and that really helped to keep this song interesting to listen to but still retain its quiet, calm and relaxing atmosphere. If I would add anything, it'd be some high bells or something of the sort, to give a mystical feel, or maybe some sort of bell instrument somewhere. Also, effects such as some subtle forest ambiance or maybe birds chirping would really be awesome :).

When it comes to the transitions, they were all quite smooth, and the song flowed very beautifully and smoothly. My only complaint with the transitions would be that at times, the song changes dynamics a bit too abruptly, like, for example, 1:02 felt really abrupt and sudden, since from the powerful and majestic atmosphere that the strings gave out, we're treated to a calm flute right after, which sort of felt weird and out of place. Also, 1:39 was quite abrupt too, maybe adding a gong over there, a reverse cymbal, or something to indicate that there's about to be a dynamic change. New instruments were generally introduced quite well, and the buildups were pretty good, if not at times not gradual enough...

The song structure was slightly random at times, but I think that fit well with the theme of the song, since it indicates that although the village is peaceful, new things happen all the time. The intro was fantastic; you can never go wrong with a harp intro :D. As for the ending, I actually liked it, even though I don't usually like endings which don't end on the tonic. This one sort of left you hanging, which was quite a cool effect xD.

There was some percussion throughout the song, and I think you could add some more percussion, namely congas or shakers here and there. Even subtle and barely heard percussion could do wonders to this submission, IMO :).

Overall, I really liked this submission, and I'm baffled as to why it hasn't been used in a flash yet. Keep up the great work, and thanks for reviewing my song Jungle Spirit, maybe you could review another one of my submissions and I could treat you with another huge review? :P.
10/10
0/5 - because you appreciate zero's. Lol, J/K xP...
5/5
Download!

-Review Request Club-

[CT - Battle Theme]

Beautifully executed!

This, for a remix, actually sounds very original. It's a mixture of different styles, yet they fit so well together. I never knew a groovy and jazzy yet epic song such as this would flow so well and sound so extraordinary. I mean, wow, this is just so amazing, and it instantly leaves me smiling. You really deserved the top-5, and I hope you continue making amazing audio such as this!

When it comes to the melodies, I can't really credit you for them since this is a remix, but I enjoyed the fact that you did something original and creative to them, and it's amazing how different this is from the original, but you still kept some familiar things such as the awesome slap bass at the beginning to leave the listener drowned in nostalgia and amazement at the same time. I actually think that this is like twice as good as the original, IMO, because it sounds just so awesome. Oh, and very good use of glissandos. By the way, I really loved the part at 1:36, since there was a really really cool sax melody which I thoroughly enjoyed.

One issue I'm having with your song is that it maybe is a bit too fast-paced and covered in action, and it definitely could do with a break somewhere; maybe an ambient part, or a part where the song plays a heavy crash cymbal, everything goes quiet and slowly the song builds up to its former awesomeness. Maybe that's not how it is in the original, but the best types of remixes are those where you add your own little variations of the melody and change the positions of the melodies a little but keeping roughly the same style of the original, so by adding some small break from the main melody, I think it would do wonders to this song. I mean, this is supposed to be a battle theme not an overly-epic fantasy World War III godly theme :P.

As for the instruments, I was literally left in awe. I'm hearing a guitar, I'm hearing a slap bass, I'm hearing a synth, I'm hearing drums, I'm hearing strings, for sud's sake, I'm even hearing a SAXOPHONE?? And yet, this weird mixture of sounds actually fit together so well in this. Loved that funky jazz-like hit that you played throughout the song which was heard first at the very beginning. Perhaps at times you could make it play different notes other than always C and D. Still, your instruments in general all sounded excellent, and I really don't have anything to complain about with them.

Some transitions sort of felt a little out of place or abrupt, but that's probably because this song is so fast-paced and full of action that you sometimes lose track of it and see some transitions as abrupt or a little weird. So yeah, I think that if you sometimes add some slower and calmer parts to the song, and maybe making a few parts here and there a little less action-packed and crazy, then I think the transitions would all be smooth and great. Still, there were some really epic transitions and some awesome drum rolls and drum transitions which left me amazed, such as the transition at 1:57. I mean, practically after every 4 bars a new drum transition is introduced :P.

Instruments were all introduced very well, and my only complaint is that this has no buildups. The song starts action packed, continues action packed and finished action packed, without any buildups, so maybe you could add a few gradual buildups were you start with one instrument and you slowly introduce more, or as I said above, make a part where the song goes quiet with a crash cymbal and slowly builds up.

Structure is quite close to the original, and as I said above, remixes with some of your own variations to the melody and different structure are the best types of remixes IMO. Add some new parts which are close to original melodies here and there, and play around with the song a little so you won't keep it too close to the original. On the other hand, the variety was top-notch, and it was very well varied without getting too random, which made it very fun to listen to, so great job with that!

Gah, I'm already out of characters :P. I'll continue the review with my alt, Darkshadow166, then...

CandySoup responds:

I can't believe I wasted my time reading this, only understanding the word "epic" LOL
and That's only 1/2 of the review? ARE YOU MAD?

[-Orr- 4 Brave Champions [FULL]]

Holy Shrimp.

Now this is what I call Epic Classical. Wow, it just sounds so amazing. You've done a fantastic job in this song, and it sounds so fun to listen to! It's also a huge addition to the original, and I'm glad I found out you made an updated version of it...

Melodies are out of this world. The choirs at the beginning were epic and their melody was great, and then the strings that came at around 0:18, although they sound a lot like Lord of the Rings for some reason, have the most amazing melody I've heard in a big while. 0:56 just added to the amazing tension and power of this excellent song, and had a really cool buildup. 1:21 was a nice addition, since epic classical songs like this always could use slow ambient parts with the flute such as 1:21.

I also really liked the background depth in this: the double bass fit well in the song, and those choirs in the background gave a boss battle-feel to the song. 2:12 was really cool, and sounded pretty medieval too. 2:44 was really majestic-like too. Towards the end, the song picked up again, and it was awesome. I think the only part I didn't like in this amazing song would be 1:47, which sounded almost comical and was a bit too upbeat and happy. It sort of ruined the mood IMO. I don't think you should remove it, but changing it a little might make it match with the majestic and powerful theme of the song.

As for the instruments, you can't expect less from East/West, lol :P. The instrument choice was very good. The bells sounded great in this song (except at 1:47 when they sounded happy and upbeat :\), and the strings were brilliantly executed. The orchestral hits all sounded fantastic. Probably thing I enjoyed the most in this would be those choirs. They were awesome in the foreground at the beginning, and they gave a lot of background depth to the rest of the song. It's also cool that you made them say different things other than Ahh, or Ooh (I suppose you're using Word-Builder). The choice of instruments was perfect; I definitely can't complain about it.

As for the transitions, they too were flawless. Every melody had a great transition to the next, and the song flowed smoothly with melodies complimenting each other really well. New instruments were also introduced very well, and all of the buildups were flawlessly executed. Man, do you ever do anything wrong??

When it comes to the structure, it's awesome. I seriously find it impossible to build a good structure in my classical songs, so I'm amazed by the way you managed to get the melodies to match each other so perfectly and to leave the song at perfect variety - not enough for it to get random, but not to make it get repetitive either...

IMO, the intro wasn't anything too special. Maybe a gradual buildup instead of a note along with some bells would be better. Or maybe an epic ambient choir intro - I find that making choir intros is really fun if you know how to do them, and they're always a perfect way to start any song IMO (which is why I used it in 4 of my recent songs :P). On the other hand, the ending was perfect (yeah, I say perfect a lot X[ ). It was an epic way to end an epic song, and I can't complain about it ^^.

The orchestral percussion was superb. The only issue I'm having with them is that maybe your snares were a little weak/quiet at times, but other than that, your drum work was very good. The drum transitions were nice, and the drums sounded really epic along with the song. They were also just the right volume other than the snare, and they sounded really good (are those drums from Stormdrum or East/West?).

Overall, this submission is a very good improvement from the original. All I'm complaining about is the slightly upbeat and comical part at 1:47, the uninteresting intro and the snare being a slight bit too weak at times, but as you can see those are simply nitpicks. I'm fav-ing this song and you as an artist. You definitely deserve it! Keep up the amazing work, I can't wait to hear your other submissions! XD
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.
Fav'd as an artist.

-Review Request Club-

DavidOrr responds:

What a wonderful review! A beautiful analysis, I'm glad the piece can hold up to such a in-depth review. The East West sounds definitely played in my favor for this piece, although they do have some genres they don't fare as well at. The slightly upbeat part you mentioned was supposed to represent the whimsical personalities of each knight (there are four call and responses). I was reluctant at first to include something that bouncy, but I think it fits well with the overall atmosphere of the game.

Thanks so much for this review, If I could fave it I would!

[Urban Dragon]

Hmm...

Well... to be honest, I didn't find this loop particularly impressive. The sidechaining was slightly overused, this wasn't that long, the instruments all are FL Studio presets if I'm not mistaken, and the beat got repetitive. Still, I really like your melodies, so even though you're pretty much a beginner in FL Studio, your composition and melodic skills are great, so if you just had the right resources and knowledge about FL, I'm sure you'll turn out to be a great artist :).

As I said, melodies were awesome. The bassline was very catchy, and the melody that came in at 0:27 has that sort of Egyptian or ancient feel to it and sounds nice and catchy ^^. What I think you should do is continue this song, since it's only a little over a minute long. Add some more melodies over there, maybe add some epic chorus too, and try and drag it on to at least 2 minutes and a half. Also, the bassline was the same throughout the whole loop, which was a bummer. At least at 0:27, change the bassline, and then maybe change it one more time in the song before changing back to the bassline at the beginning. Also, it'd be cool if the instrument at 0:27 had more melodies, other than that 2 bar melody that you used. Melodies in general were very catchy, but they are pretty simple and the addition of more melodies would be great, even though this is just a 1 minute loop. By the way, is it me, or did the bass just glitch at the beginning? :S

The instruments, well, they are FL presets I think. The drums can be found in the Packs > Hip-Hop section of the FL browser, and the bass at the beginning is the Digi bass. I don't know if the instrument at 0:27 is a preset as well, but if it is, I'd suggest you change it with your own sample instead. You shouldn't use presets that come with your DAW since they make your song sound generic and in addition, the FL presets aren't the best sounds out there. If you need any drum samples, instruments or anything, you can send me a PM, since it's a bummer to see such great composition and melodies falling under the hands of FL presets. Also, this needs more background to it, such as some pads/strings and maybe another instrument somewhere in the song as well, since all I can hear are drums, a bass and an instrument that sounds a bit like an oboe. Also, lyrics would help remove some of the monotony that this song has.

The transitions are OK - nothing really too special, though, since there were no drum transitions, no reverse cymbals, no snare rolls, etc, but all the transitions were smooth and the loop flowed pretty smoothly overall. New instruments were introduced well, too ^^. When it comes to the structure, it's not really too good. First you play the bass, and then you introduce the drums and oboe-like instrument, and play the same thing for the rest of the loop =/.

When it comes to the intro, I think it could use a bit more work. It's good starting it with that bassline, but sadly the intro does have its defects. Firstly, I think at times you introduced the drums a bit too early, and secondly, the drums came in a bit too suddenly so maybe a drum transition before it would make it come in nicely. Here, I made my own FLP with some changes to the intro, changes to the bass and beat and more instruments added. I faded it away at the end so that you can continue from there. I hope it's a good example for you to base some V2 of this song on ^^.
http://www.mediafire.com/?ketmjnnmcez
This did loop OK, by the way, but I think it'd be better if you turn this into a full song with a proper ending instead :\.

As for the drums, the beat was OK, if not a bit too simple, but they need to be varied more, the hi-hat was too quiet and the sidechaining, although quite good, could've been better and I think you overused the sidechaining a little (that could be me though, I'm not a fan of sidechaining).

Overall, it's a good submission, but needs work on the problems mentioned above, IMO. Anyway, I reviewed this since you reviewed my Spy Theme, I hope I've been of some help ^^.
7/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

B-RadGfromOV responds:

Wow, that was great. You are extremely helpful. I can't believe you actually made me an example of what you were talking about. That was above and beyond any help I expected. I knew from the moment I posted this that the sidechaining was too much, and I've already found a solution. As for that instrument, it's a "Broken Accordion" under the "Experimental" preset folder. lol And the drums, yes they were too simple, as I was trying too hard to emulate Flying Lotus.

Thank you for the review and criticism and help.

[Finical [Minimal Mix] ADM-R2]

Nice job!

Lol, too bad Skela cowered out lol (xP). I'll review this with a huge review so you won't feel as if you worked for the Death Match all for nothing. Anyway, onto the review.

The melodies... Well, the first part of the song was House, and there wasn't much of a melody, but when the ambient part came in at 1:21, it was just beautiful. I really liked the notes you used, they instantly put you at ease, and I couldn't help but get the goosebumps when I heard its awesomness :P. From then on, the melodies were pretty simplistic. Maybe you could've added some more melodies in the parts that felt a little empty or slightly monotonous, such as towards the end when the drums only were playing. What I liked though was your interesting use of different genres. It gave the song a nice 'unpredictable' twist to it, which made it more fun to listen to. The ambient parts would probably be my favourite parts of this though.

There weren't many instruments, but they all sounded great. The ambient pads were awesome, the acid bass at the beginning sounded nice and the square synth fit well. What I really liked was your amazing use of sound effects, such as the sweeps at 0:58, 2:12, 3:19 and the end (I just think that some of the sweeps could use some more delay or reverb, they sort of cut out abruptly if you get what I mean), plus there were loads of other cool effects too such as the ones at the beginning, and the effect at 2:47-ish, which kept me listening to the song without getting bored. I'd suggest adding a few extra instruments, such as some high bells or something, which I think would fit really well at 1:50. What would be cool is if you tried to combine all of the genres together towards the end, so you'd be playing the bass you used at the beginning, the ambient pads and the square synth along with drums and FX somewhere at the end. Sort of a grand finale.

The transitions are all great. It isn't easy to transit from one genre to another in one song (I should know, I made a song with five different genres XD) but you executed all of the transitions perfectly, especially with your creative use of the different FX. I liked the transition to Ambient at 1:13. New instruments were all introduced well, and the buildups are all really nice. I liked the drum buildup at the beginning, and the way the ambient pads built up was great too. Towards the end, the drums were built down really well too. Great job with all of the transitions and stuff :).

The structure is weird, but that's sort of expected in a song that incorporates more than one genre. As for the variety, I can't complain much about it. Maybe at 2:20 you could vary that square synth a little more, since those eight monotonous notes did get a bit repetitive during that part. Still, in general the variety was brilliant.

As for the intro, it was rather generic, IMO, but still not much of a problem. The buildup in the intro was fantastic. As for the ending, it was OK, but it could've been better if you tried to end it with that grand finale that I was talking about before. Still, not a bad outro :).

As for the drums, there were some very good drum transitions/drum rolls, and some great variety of drums, plus the beats were great, and the drums fit perfectly with the song. I liked the sound of the kick - it wasn't too hard but not too weak either. Maybe at times your clap could have had more reverb, since it felt a bit abrupt and short. Other than that, awesome drum work :D.

There aren't really that many flaws in this awesome song. It has a sort of uniqueness to it, since it's such a nice mixture of different genres. I really liked your drums, your effects, your transitions and your amazing ambient parts. The only problems you had were really tiny ones, like slightly short and dry claps, lack of reverb on some of the sweeps, slightly generic intro, slightly uninteresting outro and a few parts in the song which could use a few more melodies/instruments. Whatever, keep up the excellent work, and good luck in Round 3 of the DeathMatch!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

djInTheDark responds:

Thank a lot dude. I mean, I know its your job as a judge, but I still really appreciate it. Also cuz you added to it and made it official. And believe me, I don't think I did it for nothing. I make music because I love to, whether or not I have an opponent is up to chance. ;)

Thanx again, looking forward to another round!

[Once More - F-777]

As usual, great!

As always, you never ceize to impress. This is a really good song, which surely deserved the Top 5 that it got. Still, just because I feel nitpicky and fussy, instead of the usual 10 I give you, here, have a 9 :P. That doesn't mean this is a bad song - it simply means it's not your best ;).

The melodies are what I probably liked the least in this song. As usual, the melodies were fantastic, but what I didn't enjoy was that chord progression you used. It's the usual dance progression and the instant I hear it in 80% of all the Dance songs on NG, I sigh and say "Oh, not another one :(...". There are loads of other nice sounding chord progressions, but using that same C, Ab, Eb, Bb chord progression makes the melodies lack creativity, IMO, and after someone hears a good number of your songs, they'd know that you're full of creativity, so it's a bit of a shame using that chord progression. Still, the melodies that you have ave right now are still great - if you just tried out a different chord progression then it'd be great :D. Also, the chord progression barely changed throughout the song, so more chord progression variety is needed.

A few things that were a little annoying was the altenate melodies you used. There was a VERY good amount of alternate melodies, but almost all of the alternate melodies were a little, erm... undanceable (for lack of better word. Is it even a word? :S). What I mean is, they were too calm. It's nice to have a few calm parts in dance songs, but you had calm parts going on for almost a minute and a half (from 1:10 to 2:32) when I thought that you'd stop the calm part after or around the piano solo at least, and then continued with action-packed awesomeness instead of continuing the calm part for another 40 seconds. What I'm trying to say is, I want a little less of 1:16, and a little more of 2:47, if you get what I mean ;). On the bright side, the piano solo was beautifully done, and the melodies complimented each other really well.

When it comes to the synths/instruments that you used, maybe there were a few generic ones such as the heavy saw at the beginning, but overall the synths sounded excellent. I liked the synth at 1:10, it had some good pitch bending in it, and the synth at 1:17 was great. Piano sounded awesome, too, even though it wasn't the best quality, but there's a difference between a Dance Piano and a Realistic Piano ^^, and also the variety of synths was amazing, since it complimented the variety of everything else. That's what I like about your songs, your brilliant variety. Good job ^^.

The effects you used, as usual, were very well executed, and there isn't much I can say about them except praise. I really liked your use of the filters throughout the song, the sound effect at the beginning was cool and the pitch-bent square wave at around 2:05 was great. Good job with the effects, they sounded awesome, and made fantastic transitions.

The transitions are great, as they always are in your songs. The song flowed very smoothly, and there were some really epic transitions. I really liked the transitions with the filter such as the ones at 0:37 and 0:54, and 2:29 was definitely my favourite transition. Nice drum transitions as well, and the reverse cymbal you used made superb transitions as well. New instruments were introduced very well, and I really liked the buildups you did around the song, such as the one at the beginning, and the one when the square wave starts getting pitch-bent upwards. No problem with the transitions, none felt abrupt and all were epic ^^.

When it comes to the structure, it's the usual dance structure. Intro - Chorus - A Big Bunch of Melodies - Chorus - Outro. Still, it worked well in this song, but as I said above, what was weird was that there were more calm parts than dance parts, and that's a weird structure for a Dance song, so that's mainly what the song needs working on. On the other hand, the variety was excellent and the song never got boring with the amazing amount of melodies/synths.

Review continued on my alt Darkshadow166...

[Mellow Man]

So... Catchy...

OK, before I start, I'm just going to say that I'm reviewing this as a Review Request Club member, not a DM Judge. Alright, back to the review...
I really liked this song. It has such a cool vibe to it, and it's so fun to listen to, that I wouldn't ever want to press the stop button in any second of the song. Good job, man, this is a really cool submission.

The melodies are definitely the best part of this. I absolutely LOVED all of the melodies, and although I think you could've varied in the chord progressions a little more, the main melody is just so catchy. If that melody wasn't as catchy, I would've probably given you an 8 :P. I also liked the what the pitch bent instrument was playing at 1:33, that was pretty cool. 1:44 was a nice addition too, since it provided a break from the extremely action-packed awesomeness that the main melody has. Maybe you could add a few more alternate melodies, though. There were only around 2 melodies, and TBH I expected the part at 2:17 to be another alternate melody, or at least a different alternate melody at 2:38 instead of repeating 0:49 all over again. Also, I'd suggest a more powerful bass in the background to accompany the synths playing in the foreground.

The instruments are almost all amazing. I loved the main instrument that came in at 0:27 for the first time. It's one of the few things I like about drum'n'bass. The main synth in a DnB song is usually supposed to sound ear-splitting and very annoying, yet it doesn't annoy you at all throughout the song and makes you want to hear more, and that's how your main synth was. I really liked the square wave that first came in at 0:16, it was a really nice touch to the song, and furthermore added to the powerful and fast-paced rhythm of the song. You also used it very creatively around the song, and it never got boring to listen to. The only instrument I don't really like would be the instrument at the beginning which is simply a generic plucked saw synth. If you were so creative and varied with your other synths, I don't see why you shouldn't do the same to the instrument at the beginning. There were a few sound effects in this song which I enjoyed though, so good job there.

Wow, I'm running out of characters O.o... Anyway, the transitions were all very well done and I don't think there were any rough transitions. New instruments were introduced well, and the buildup at the beginning was very well executed. No problem there ^^. When it comes to the song structure, It was a little simple but did the job perfectly in this. The variety needs more work though. As I said, this needs a few more alternate melodies and the calm part in the middle dragged on a bit too much too much, so maybe if you added a few more variations (such as more sound effects, different transition melodies, etc.) in the calm part, it wouldn't sound so repetitive.

Intro wasn't that good. I don't think you should start with that synth. Still, the buildup was amazing and that made up for it. As for the ending, here's a my idea of a somewhat good outro for this song:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zg4g5izwnlj
Where the ending would use the part at around 1:33-1:35 and would have a final reverbed note. You should do that, since drum endings rarely come out too good, and this one was pretty abrupt.

As for the drums, the beats were good, they fit with the song and the samples were awesome, but unfortunately that's all that's good about them. They were really loud, and although DnB does need loud drums, I think they were a bit TOO loud. Also, the main beat needs variety, it started getting boring after some time. Drum transitions were good though ^^.

I enjoyed the song quite a lot, because of the fun, fast-paced rhythm, excellent synths, amazing melodies, good effects, awesome transitions and great variety of synths, and mostly this needs variety in the melodies/drums, quieter drums and better intro/outro. Keep up the extremely good work, and I hope to see more awesome songs like this from you. Great job! XD
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Skela responds:

big friggin review! thanks

[AF - Memories]

Wow, for an Ambient song, this is great!

You're seriously really good at making Ambient. This is really calm and easy to listen to, and it instantly puts you at ease, and those are the main factors that every Ambient song should have. I really can't find many defects in this, great job!

The melodies are really nice, especially the pad's melodies that come in the middle of the song. They're just so relaxing, and even when you press the 'Mute' button, you can still hear those amazing melodies boom around your head. Maybe along with that instrument at the beginning there could be another instrument like some delayed plucked instrument which plays a melody to accompany it, but it's not too much of a problem. What I'd wish for in this song would be more alternate melodies for sure. The pad in the middle played a beautiful melody, but sadly it started to get annoying after the fourth repetition. You should vary the notes you play a little so that they don't get so predictable to listen to throughout the song. Even though you said you'd be adding vocals to the song, it isn't really an excuse to not vary the pad's melodies at all XD. On the other hand, the high bells' melodies were a nice addition to the song: I wish I saw more bells' melodies around the song though. Sorry for the long paragraph.....

When it comes to the instruments, they're really impressive. I liked the pad at around 1:08 most, but all of the instruments sounded nice. I strongly suggest adding some piano with a delay on it, to give it that mystical and majestic feel. Also, one thing that I really think you should add to the song is more sound effects. I heard some thunder sound effects, which were a nice touch, but other than those, there were no sound effects. Some space-y sound effects, maybe some windchimes or more weather sound effects. Some things that could remind you of distant memories such as kids laughing and playing a game or something like that. Use your imagination, and spice up the ambient song to make it both relaxing and fun to listen to ;).

I can't complain about the transitions, they were all great. I liked the transition a 1:08, it actually managed to switch to that slow pad really well. TBH I'd never manage to do something like that without messing the whole transition up xP. Maybe the addition of sound effects and stuff like delayed reverse cymbals and the like could make some transitions sound better, but that's just a small suggestion. New instruments were introduced well, too, and I liked that small buildup of the main instrument at the beginning.

The song's structure is pretty weird. First, you play that instrument at the beginning, then move on to a pad, and then both the pad and the instrument at the beginning. It actually works pretty well in this song. As for the variety, as I said above, this needs more alternate melodies. If you ever add those vocals, it would add more variety, but I'd suggest adding some more counter-melodies to this song so you could vary practically everything ;). The intro was really good, with a nice buildup, and the outro was perfect. I don't usually like fade-out endings, since they leave the listener wondering why it ended like that, but this fade-out ending fit really well with the song, and sort of symbolized how memories fade away. I liked that you added that thunder sound effect at the end too.

I'd comment about your drums, but you didn't have any :P. Well, that is, except for the part at around 0:40, and even then they were pretty quiet. I know you were going for a mystical feel, but drums can be made mystical too. Reverbed kicks, heavily reverbed shakers, delayed reverse cymbals, dance claps, and maybe add a whole new style by using congas, bongoes and the like. I think the addition of some percussion would really do wonders to this track ;).

Overall, I really enjoyed this (heh, now you know what it feels like getting long reviews xP). I'd give it a 9, but you get a 10 because you managed to make me download the genre I dislike the most, and it's Christmas time after all XD.
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

aliaspharow responds:

wow! thanks steph for the awesome review! alot of the things you wrote actually would help. actually, i think im gonna try editing the song with the advice you gave me. i can already hear it! freaking sweet!