Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Waaaar!]

Not the best I've heard...

I guess it would make an OK battle theme, but needs quite a bit more work to it.

Melodies are great, and give a mighty feel to the song. I liked the one at 0:43 most. What I didn't like is what I think is a phaser that you used at around 0:15, I think it ruined the song a little. You can keep it there, just turn it down slightly. Also, the song does have a lot of 'hissing' or static, whatever it is. I don't know if that's your guitar sample or just some glitch, but it really sounds like it came out of a 64-bit RPG :P.

I personally don't like the sound of that guitar. I think that a boss theme doesn't necessarily need guitar, but choirs and saw waves work well too, so if a guitar in the song doesn't work well, you can use those. Also, piano was way too quiet, you should turn up its volume, since I can barely hear it except in some parts, which made the song sound random.

The transitions were quite rough, for example the one at 0:42-0:43. The melody was a completely different rythm and it sort of jumped out abruptly. Even the slower part of the guitar which came at 0:55 had a rough transition to it. The transition at 1:08-1:09-ish was OK, but I think you shouldn't do that many rythm changes in a boss theme, since it would distract the player as he's fighting the boss. Keep a steady rythm, I think this song would be better off like that.

The variety is quite good, I don't see why the others see it as repetitive, but the structure is pretty wierd. Try the simple structure of: Intro - Chorus - Alternate Melody 1 - Chorus - Alternate Melody 2 - Chorus (with a few changes in the background) - Alternate Melody 1 - Alternate Melody 2 - Chorus - End. Give it a try and see how it fares in the song. As for the intro, it wasn't bad, and it looped perfectly, so nothing to complain about there.

The drums are barely heard, and they don't have the best samples I've heard. You should turn them up a little (making sure they don't drown the piano) and try and find better samples (I have a rock drum kit soundfont if you'd like it, just send me a PM). Still, they were nicely varied, had good drum rolls and fit with the song, so good job ;).

It has its defects, like all other songs, namely wierd structure, constant rythm changes, quiet drums, almost non-existent piano and some strange hissing sounds in the background. Fix those, and I think this song will be more like a boss battle and less like a collection of catchy melodies.
7/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

Centrist responds:

Wow, thank you for the depth of your review! I admit, you're right on most things, and I thank you for the quality of examining my song. I was kinda going for like.. a "Quick idea for an actual song" type..well..song. If this was made into an actual track made by an actual band, with some of it spread out mind you, and yatta yatta. xD.

Again, thank you! I'll keep your words in mind for future tracks.

[[dj-Jo] Rave Discord {AP}]

Man, do you ever do anything WRONG??

What a surprise, you get another 10/10 from me... Seriously, you sure are one good producer.

Melodies, as usual, are very catchy. Main melody was nice, and the bassline at the beginning was just pure awesomeness. 1:20 was quite cool, but as Haggard said, you should give it a bit more of a buildup. Still, just after, at 1:35, that part was was just brilliant, epic, and extraordinary. TBH, it was my favourite part, since it was so catchy, and so darn awesome.

Instruments are all perfect. I think you should add a little more than just saws, like maybe a high-bell, or a square synth or something, just to vary from all the saw synths, although the saw synths themselves are used perfectly in this song. Loved the effects like the one you did at 0:15, they were really cool. Maybe you could add a vocal sample here, I think it would fit well with the song, for example one at around 1:46, saying something like 'Break it up'.

The transitions in this song are some of the best transitions you did in your songs. The ones you did with that sound effect were epic, and I loved the transition at 1:46 (the only way to make it any better is adding a vocal sample there like I said) and the drum transition at around 0:30 was really well done. New instruments were introduced very well, and there were a few small buildups in the song which I quite liked.

Song structure is great, but I'm sure you're going to have to think of a really good one if you're planning on making this song 5-10 minutes long :P. Good luck on that :). Variety is amazing in this, for a short song. Intro was great as usual; you seem to like starting your songs with a bassline :P. Still, that's a great way to do it. Ending, obviously, wasn't good, but this is a preview. I like the rythm change you did at the end.

Drums weren't too complicate or anything, but they did the job fine. Snare sounded really nice, and so did the cymbal. There were some very impressive drum rolls in this too. I only think that in the climax-ish parts of the song, the drums should be very slightly louder, like at 0:31. Other than that, as usual, excellent percussion.

Keep on doing what you're doing man, you are THE expert at producing. Superb job, I enjoyed this preview a lot!
10/10
5/5
Download

-Review Request Club-

[Intercontinental]

Nice job ;)

I really can't find many problems in this. It's fun to listen to, and lets you relax. Drags on a little long, so I think you could shorten it a little, but that's just a small problem in a song as well-made as this.

The melodies are relaxing and quite catchy, especially the chorus melody playing the high notes. The background melodies were quite catchy too. The beginning melody did drag on a little, but wasn't bad either. I liked the part at 2:04, where the song gets more laid back, and the guitar that came in at around 2:17 was just excellent. I just think that at around 3:26, the high pitched guitar didn't fit too well with this song, it stood out too much from the relaxing theme of the song. Oh, and by the way, at 0:11, there was a small part where the song suddenly went quiet, which felt strange. The one at 1:13 was cool and fit well with the song, but the one before just disrupted the feel of it.

There was a nice amount of instruments, which were quite good quality. Background guitar was the best, and the one playing the main melody was great too. I liked the sound effects you did at the beginning like the one at around 0:17 which was a helicopter effect; it was timed perfectly in the song. As they said in the other reviews, this'd do well with some vocals. I'm not usually the type to enjoy vocals, but the use of vocals would remove any trace of repetitiveness this song has.

The transitions are epic, like the ones at 1:13 and at 4:20. Other than the part where the song cut off at 1:11, the transitions were smooth and well done. There weren't many buildups in this song, for example the drums didn't have a fade in or gradually come in sample by sample, but usually in Hip-Hop that doesn't happen, so I can't complain. New instruments were introduced really well too.

The structure of the song is alright. I think you didn't repeat the chorus enough times, but the song is well structured in general, anyway. Variety is quite good. In some parts, the song did get a slight bit repetitive, but just when a melody started to get slightly repetitive, you switched to an alternate melody, so variety is quite good.

The intro had a melody which repeated itself quite a bit, but it was still quite a good intro, with, as I said before, good sound effects. It's the ending that needs work. It's more of a badly looped loop as it is now. I think if you ended it at 5:33, it would've been enough. Then add at least 2 seconds of silence, and you have a good ending ^^.

The drums had a very nice beat, with good samples. Still, the beat was very repetitive, and it got really annoying throughout the song. This needs a lot more alternate drum beats, because the drums were the most repetitive things in the song. Also, I personally think the hi-hat could be a little louder as well.

It's a good song in all, with a relaxing and laid-back feel and a decent amount of variety, but the drums are very repetitive, and the ending needs a little work. Good job in general. Sorry if there are any mistakes, I'm in a hurry right now :\. Keep up the good work!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

[(CHS) Death Match!!!]

Guitar and strings?

Interesting combination. Anyway, as for the song itself, I like it, but this needs a little more of a climax, maybe sounding a bit more epic, since it's not that easy to imagine a big boss fight with this song. Still, in general, it's a great track.

Melodies are really nice, did you make them yourself? If so, I'm really impressed. Loved the guitar melodies, and I also liked the part at 1:26, it was an excellent break from the main fast-paced rythm of the song. What I didn't like was the background melodies, since although they were cool, they didn't change much during the song (For example the sounds that start coming in at around 0:25). There was a decent amount of melodies though.

As for the instruments, not excellent quality, namely the guitar, but they did the job perfectly. I liked your choir voices throughout the song and the pizzicato's at the beginning were a nice touch. One problem... as EmperorCharlemagne pointed out, the guitar gets quite overpowering and is a little too loud. A little bit of mastering would fix that. Oh, and turn up the choir's volume a little, too.

Transitions were fine, and I didn't find any rough or sudden transitions, except that I didn't really like the transition at 0:12; it switched from more laid-back to action-packed too suddenly. New instruments weren't introduced that bad, but there were a few sudden introductions, like at 2:16, the drums were introduced quite suddenly. You can do a small drum roll before the drums come in to show that they're entering.

As for the structure, quite unique, without a fixed chorus in the song. What bothered me was the variety. Sure, the guitar is varied well, but as I said, the background needs to be much more varied. It was the same thing for almost the whole song.

The intro and ending weren't really too impressive. I would've preferred it if the intro was a little more progressive, rather than a sudden start. Maybe a fade in of the pizzicatos, and then the guitar starts. As for the ending, it was a fade ending, which really didn't go with this song. Try and ending it with all the instruments playing together, and then the guitar doing one final note along with a crash cymbal. Either that, or loop it, since the intro as it is right now would be good for a loop.

The drum beat was good, and the drum samples were OK, but when it comes to percussion in general, it wasn't that varied at all. I liked that there were some parts of the song without drums, and some with, but there weren't many drum beats, and man did it get annoying. Introduce some counter-drum beats, and also turn the drums' volume up, since they're too quiet, especially in the louder parts of the song. The drum rolls like the one at around 2:50 were decent, though.

Overall, an impressive song, with nice melodies, instrument choice, beats and samples, but what needs more work is the variety of the background, mastering (guitar: volume turned down, drums: volume turned up, choir: volume turned up), some transitions and the intro and outro. Good job in all, I enjoyed it.
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

ChaosDragon004 responds:

That was a very thourgh and helpful review bro I reallly appreciate how real you were on this particular piece because I knew it had problems. so I know that you are being honest with what you wrote. I will do my best to not dissapoint again.

[open sound]

Creative idea, but somehow empty...

This does get a little annoying, and I don't see why, from all things, you use FL's opening blip, but yeah, it's creative, and it's what gave you the majority of your points.

Melodies were OK; they got a little monotonous at the beginning, but the closer the song got to the end, the better the melodies became. Your use of the blip was quite creative, but at 0:05, the blip you used in the background got a little annoying, so maybe instead of doing it once every beat, do it once every four beats at the beginning.

Transitions throughout the song were nothing too special, and I quickly lost the rythm of the song. I think you should make simpler melodies, since by using two melodies at the same time being played by one sound makes the song sound cluttered and complicated.

Intro, as Haggard said, was nothing too special. What I think would be better is if you made an awesomely catchy melody play first, and then it gets a little more complicated. The ending was a little wierd, but it would've been OK if you added more silence to the end.

You could try adding some drums over here, just to add a little more rythm, or maybe you can use the default drums of FL Studio to make the song sound more FL-ish :P.

Creative idea, but it wasn't performed to it's best. Using one sound only to make a song isn't the easiest to work with; maybe you can try other sound packs (you already tried Windows...). Still, you have a creative idea going on, just work on it a little more.
6/10
3/5

-Review Request Club-

[Whales [Box-Killa]]

You have a knack for Ambient ;).

Yep, I definitely can't find many problems in this. Good job!

Melodies are well done. There were some wierd ones as you said, but that seems to symbolize that the ocean is wierd and we still haven't learnt enough about it. Wind-chimes were a nice touch over here too. I also liked that reverb you put on the song as a whole; it definitely fit with the hollow feeling an ocean has.

Instruments are perfect, and I think I could guess what the song is supposed to symbolize without even looking at the title. There was a little pitch bending on that instrument at the beginning, which I quite liked, since it does remind me of whales. What would be a cool addition here is the sonar-like sounds whales do, or maybe some ocean sound effects like waves and bubbles rising to the ocean surface. Delayed bells could fit well here too.

The song's transitions were done perfectly, especially the ones with the Wind-chimes. New instruments were introduced well too, and nothing felt too sudden. I liked the buildup which then built down for the ending as Haggard said. Song structure and variety are just right, and the song didn't get repetitive.

Intro wasn't that wierd really. I quite liked it, since it reminds me of whales perfectly. What was quite wierd in my opinion was the ending. It's good to do the building-down so the song ends calmly, but the ending note was wierd. Try and end it with the proper note. Either that, or consider fading the song, since I think a fade would work well over here if you make it correctly.

Drums are really excellent. They fit so perfectly with the song, and the samples were brilliant, especially that snare. Kick could've used more reverb to it, since it sounds quite abrupt and short right now, but the drums were perfect other than that. Could use more variety of samples, though.

I hate Ambient, so I can't give you such a big review, but still, for an ambient song, this was rather good. I guess you're an artist of many genres. Heh, I try out loads of different genres too. Too bad I suck at them :(. Anyway, keep up the great work!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Box-Killa responds:

Lol "I cant give you such a big review" Well you did lol. I think you did like this, despite your hate for ambience :D Yeah now that I listen to this, like I made this a while back, the bass drum doesn't suit that great. Well thanks for the review and stuff ! Peaceout :D

[Flying High - Epilogue]

I love it!

Seriously, after seeing all the 7's and 8's, I thought this wasn't that great, but honestly, this really rocks, IMO. A few problems here and there, but it shows that you worked really hard on it. Since it's such a long song, I'll review while I'm listening to it:

I'm hearing a great intro, with good drums in the background. I loved the drum roll at around 0:09, it started the song up very epic-ly-ish....

I'm at 0:12, drums have gotten too loud, with the main melody a slight bit too blurry and hard to keep track of. You may want to fix that with a little mastering. Other than that, 0:12 onwards was superb.

0:24, piano came in a little suddenly, but it's very catchy. At 0:37 there was an awesomely catchy melody. I guess you didn't make it yourself since this is a remix, but it fits very well with the insrument you're using for it. Soft but fast-paced drums in the background were a nice touch, and there was another great drum roll.

1:00, OMG EPIC TRANSITION. Amazing orchestra hits, they were just so epic... From then on a little anti-climatic, but the more orchestra hits at 1:14, with the awesome drum roll in the background made up for it, definitely.

I'm now at 1:15, I suppose this is the chorus, because it sounds like it. Catchy drum beat in the background, and the strings really gave an epic atmosphere.

1:40, a nice alternate melody, and a break from the drums. Good idea adding it there, and purely outstanding job in how you introduced the drums again. From then on, melody was decent, and the drums in the background were varied and awesome.

Now at 2:17, good drum roll before that, and I liked the piano in the background over here.

2:30. Seriously, adding that melody with the piano was genius. Great job, this part is my favourite part so far. Till 3:19, it played some nice melodies and drums as usual.

3:19 - Scratch what I said before, THIS is my favourite part. Very good rythm change with the piano, and it was really catchy. When the strings came in, I think you should've reduced the amount of crash cymbals you used there, but other than that it was brilliant.

4:21, this was a brilliant piano part. Epic job. Expecting the song to get calmer for another break from the drums again...

4:34 : Man, you read my mind O_o... Good drum roll as usual, but at 4:52, the strings stop suddenly... I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I'd rather that there was strings over there.

I'm at 4:58, and hearing an extremely awesome drum transition. Great job. I was expecting the melody at 1:15 to play again somewhere over here, but it's not really such a big problem, since the melody you used was great anyway.

5:26, oh, never mind, that melody repeated here instead :P.

Then from 5:51 till 6:16 was just a repetition from a part earlier in the song, so I already commented about it.

6:16, drums get calmer, then more action packed. That was a nice touch to the song.

6:41 - end: Seriously, I don't know why you added this part. The ending sound perfect from 6:39, so I think you should took that part away.

Anyway, here's a little summary:
I really enjoyed this song. Drums were my favourite part in this, since I usually enjoy extremely varied drums in songs. They had good samples too. The only real defects I can point out over here are the ending (take away from 6:41 onwards) and the fact that the song's notes get blurred together quite a lot and it's hard to keep track, plus the drums at times can get too loud (fix it with some simple mastering).

Other than those two little defects, I enjoyed the song immensly, since it had a lot of variety without getting random, transitions were perfect, especially the drum rolls, instuments fit well with the melodies, and in general you chose an excellent song to remix. Sorry for the ultra long review, but I guess I warned you in the PM (Hehe, lets see you reply to *this* without skipping the character limit XD). Overall, excellent job, keep up the awesome work!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Yay, reached the character limit XD!

Cosmos8942 responds:

Are you serious? I never answered this one...well wtf. Alright going to have to get around to it then.

[Come on lets Go!]

When it comes to rock, you excel.

I usually find General Rock fun to listen to, but honestly, not as fun as this! Excellent job, I enjoyed it a lot. PLEASE make it longer! Oh, and it *does* sound like a sonic song for some strange reason :P.

The main melody you're using is fantastic. Nice, catchy, and really awesome. This'd do well with a guitar solo, I'd say. Somewhere in the song, make a quick guitar solo. Slowly, the drums come in, then the backing guitar, and finally, the song returns to the main melody. Either that, or add one more alternate melody somewhere. Loved the part at 0:40, though.

That guitar is such excellent quality. I imagine you're playing the guitar yourself. If you aren't, then I'd DIE to get a guitar VST like that... Well, I definitely can't complain with the guitar, it was perfect. Maybe you can experiment with adding more instruments? I don't think there's a bass over here (correct me if I'm wrong, since I'm deaf from one ear) so if there isn't, you should try adding one. Maybe add a piano playing glissandos in a few parts as well.

The transitions are perfect. Every melody fit with the other very well. I liked the drum rolls in the background, they helped the transitions well too. Good structure, and variety is superb for such a small song. I liked the intro, it had a nice drum roll, and the ending was great too. Awesome job!

The drums, well... need more work. Samples are too light, you should get heavier, mighter drum samples. Also, turn them up. The guitar is making the drums sound like they aren't there. Still, they were decently varied too. I liked how the drums got more action packed at around 0:24 with a crash cymbal every beat. As I said before, drum roll at the beginning was great.

Overall, it's an amazing song and the only things which pulled your score down to a nine are the drums and the length, mainly. Keep up the awesome work!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

sicjes responds:

Thanks for the great feedback. I play guitar and did all the tracks as for everything else... well its all fake, the drums were done on my Yamaha rx11 prehistoric drum machine (I finally got fruity loops a few weeks back) and I did the bass with my keyboard. I have some new tunes I'm working on and they will blow you away both in sound quality and Catchyness. Stay tuned for some crazy awsomness coming from my way. Thanks again bro.

[DjTyph - Let's Do The Mario!]

Just adding to the 100's of Mario RMXs on NG :P...

...But honestly, I completely agree with Haggard. This has some extremely unique aspects to it, even for a Mario remix, and I really enjoyed it!

I obviously can't credit you for the melodies since this is a remix, but I love what you added to them. The instruments you used were absolute perfection with the melodies, and fit greatly with the Mario feel this song is supposed to give out, plus I can definitely picture poor Luigi getting his butt kicked to this song :P.

One small problem though. It might have to do with my Internet connection, but for some really strange reason, this song is lagging and becoming a little glitchy on my computer, especially towards the end, which was quite wierd, and I don't know if it was a glitch when uploading, deliberate, or just my Ye Olde Computer acting up as usual, but if there's any way to fix it, that'd be great.

When it comes to the instruments; just perfect. I never used Nexus before (aren't I a noob?) so I can't say they're too generic or anything, but they're really well done. Saw lead was brilliant, the bells at the beginning were fantastic, and all the other instruments gave out that Mario feel excellently.

The use of vocal samples is quite new to Mario remixes, and they weren't that badly introduced over here. Wish they were louder though, and more sort of prominent. A good idea would be that somewhere at around 0:42, the song stops, and you only hear Mario going 'Yahoo!', and then the song continues, or maybe at 0:42 you could do the sound effect of Mario grabbing a super mushroom and turning into Super Mario before it becomes action-packed. I always loved that effect :D.

Transitions were very impressive over here, and I couldnt find any problem in them. Loved the transition at 0:26, and vocal transitions were timed very well too, as Fro said. New instruments were introduced perfectly, especially the saw synth, which came in with a good buildup, and I liked how you introduced the drums as well.

The structure is fine, and variety was perfect. Usually in songs as small as this, variety is lacking, but I see you did a great job leaving the song as varied as possible without getting random, so awesome job. The bells intro was epic, and I didn't find anything wrong with it, but I'm just concerned about the ending.

I'd say to fix the ending, either you loop this better by removing any silence and that sound effect at the beginning (instead, the bells melody starts playing straight away at the beginning) or at 1:05, you remove any background drums/instruments playing so only the main instrument is playing, and then play a kick and crash along with the final note, remove the vocal sample and add at least a second and a half of silence.

Drums were one of the best parts of this. They made the song quite action-packed, and if I had to go through the song, I wouldn't change them at all. They had very nice drum beats, made excellent transitions, were just the right loudness, fit with the song perfectly and had really nice samples. At the end of the drum beat, you also added a turntable scratch/two small reversed kicks (not too sure which one) which was quite cool as well.

One of the better Mario remixes, with the only reasons why I gave you a 9 is because of the ending, the length and the fact that the vocal samples need to have a bit more importance. Oh, and before I forget, the song overall is too quiet, you need to amplify it a little more (I'd say around +4.5 DB). Anyway, sorry for the long review (it's amazing how much a guy could say on such a small song :P) and keep up the amazing work, oh supreme remixer XD. Oh, and if you continue this, please send me a PM, I won't live without it in my Music folder :P.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Prodigal responds:

Holy fuck king of the reviews.

Time to reply to this one :D On a note, this song was going to be used for a title screen on a collaboration flash that was about Luigi getting terribly owned, so at least you have a good idea here when he's getting his ass kicked :D

That glitchy sound is probably, and simply, the shuffle style 4/4 I used in this song. Sorry for making you freak out D:

Id you haven't used Nexus before I reccomend you don't get it unless you are seriously in need of a good soundbank of presets, because thats all Nexus is. It'll turn you into a preset whore, and I'm trying to blend and layer Nexus with different assortments of VsTi/plugins too.

I'm going to definitely look into that new transition that you were talking about. the mushroom idea is perfect :D

I was aiming for a well made short song so I had to really extend my ways of creating a variety of choices to listen to, and I guess that made no sense, but it worked :D

I'll definitely look into finishing this, it's just DYING for a front page! (I got so close when I submitted but then the usual retards came by and decided to laugh in their spinny chairs as their fat hands plummeted on their mouses as they pressed the zero button, then they went and grabbed some cheetos but got an artery clog.)

There is literally no bass out of what I hear right now, i'm gunna remaster this all. Not to mention turning it up too.

Thanks for the monster review!

[Zombie House Party!]

Noise isn't really my genre...

Like Haggard, I found this to be quite interesting, and it had a lot of variety, but I never really liked noise tracks like this.

There aren't really many melodies over here. When I saw the name, I expected a few zombie growls here and there, powerful percussion, saw synths and fast-paced piano. This does fit with the name a lot, but maybe umm... a bit too much. Some parts were quite unique and ineteresting, though, as Haggard said. I liked the parts at around 1:12, 2:16, 4:00 and 5:01, but some parts in the song were much too loud, which made the song quite painful to listen to.

The instruments and stuff you used were quite cool, and there was a big variety of different effects and stuff, plus the zombie groaning was quite cool, even though at times it was too loud. Still, I would've preferred more melodic instruments and synths like saw synths, and maybe even some Tubular Bells to give a sort of undead graveyard feel to the song.

Some transitions were done quite well, and I noticed some gradual buildups here and there, but a lot of the time, new parts were introduced really suddenly and I almost jumped like 5 times in the song. In short, some parts changed from soft to loud much too suddenly, for example at around 1:45. Slight buildup at 1:53 was quite cool though.

The structure is quite strange and unique, but what I didn't like was that towards the end the song seemed to get louder and louder, which felt strange, since from the intro till around 4/5 of the song was shifting from soft to loud a little randomly, and till the end it was loud almost non-stop. Variety, on the other hand, was excellent, if not slightly too random.

The intro was quite good, with that small crescendo, but the loud roar at around 0:08 came in very suddenly. When it comes to the ending, it didn't impress me much at all. I don't think you'll be able to end this song properly, so maybe it's better if you loop it instead, or you could at least consider a fade which is less abrupt than how the ending is now.

The percussion, well, to tell you the truth, I couldn't distinguish it that much from the groans and instruments of the song, and couldn't tell when there were drums playing and when there was an instrument playing, but what I can tell you is that the backing drum beat was practically the same for the whole song, and it started to get terribly annoying.

In conclusion, it has some unique and interesting things about it, but the sudden transitions, bland and repetitive background drum beat, and occasional ear-splitting groans put down your score quite a bit. Still, it shows you put a hell of a lot of effort in it, so I'll give you a 10/10 for effort, but a 4/10 for the song itself. Sorry for the slightly useless review, I usually write longer ones for songs as long as this, but I don't have much to say when it comes to Noise tracks.
7/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-