Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[EuroTechnic Vibes (Mans0n)]

Good, but still repetitive...

For a 1:30 song, I must say that I was impressed. Right after the first 15 seconds the song started to sound great and I was enjoying it. Not a bad job on this; I'm not really into this type of Trance so I can't really say I enjoyed it a lot, but for a song of this genre this is great. Keep it up.

Melodically, this song is great. I liked the chord progression you used, and the rhythms in this song are good. The background depth is decent, although I was expecting some new element to come in at 0:42, such as some sort of pluck or a bass pad. Maybe you can add a new synth to the mix at 0:42, playing a melody which harmonizes with the excellent background you've set up right now. I must admit that this still sounds rather reptitive. Also, in my opinion, the song does get a bit too quiet. Easy solution though; just amplify it or turn the master volume up in FL. Your song is quite quiet so I'm sure that turning it up won't cause any clipping. Anyway, long story short, nice chord progression, good rhythms, lack of variety, low volume ^^.

The instruments are very good. Loved the saw pad, it was warm and calming, somewhat contrasting with the rough percussion. I still think this could do with another element. A bass would do fine, although more pads would be good too. Basically I think you need more synths...

Now, as for the sweeps, you used them very well in this submission. Sweep at the beginning was a great way to start up the song, and the sweep at around 1:00 added a lot to that part, making it more interesting. The only problem with the sweep is that maybe they're a little too ear-piercing. I think you should weaken the high end and give the sweeps a bit more bass. I don't know how you're making your sweeps, but I find that the best way is to get some white noise, and add a cutoff filter. The way you did it sounds rather ear-piercing, to be honest, especially if played with a high volume (which was what I had when I played this song, since it's pretty quite and I exaggerated in turning the volume up to hear it properly...). Also, adding a vocal sample to this submission wouldn't hurt either :).

The transitions on the whole are ok. Nothing really too special, but they fit. The transitions I didn't like were the ones at 0:14 and 1:00. At 0:14 the song really starts, but it doesn't start prominently or importantly, and came in as if it's just another average part in the song. Don't get me wrong, the transition is fine, but the problem is that it's quite anti-climatic. Add something like a reverse cymbal or a another rising sweep. Maybe even some other effect. Just something to indicate the song is about to really start. In addition, personally, I don't agree with Animith about the transition at 1:00. In my opinion, the drums and background left way too suddenly from the song.

The structure is good, although not exceptional. The intro sounded like a totally different part from the song, because of its lack of depth, and the only thing which linked the intro to the song in general was the decent transition and the drums being the same in the intro and the part from 0:14 onwards. Then, right when I was really starting to enjoy the warmth and depth of the submission, the background disappeared at 1:00, and this marked the beginning of the outro. Variety also wasn't that good; as I said, I think that even for a 1:30 song, this needs more melodies/elements. Intro, as I already said, sounded like a different part from the whole song, but the ending was good...

The drums are great, albeit repetitive. Loved your samples and the beats were decent too, if not slightly generic. Maybe you could use more open hats, and also the volume levels of your drums could use work (the kick was weak, and the snare was too loud and rough), but other than that, nice drums!

This is a nice little song, but even then it has a few problems which slightly ruin it. Sounds very calming overall, just work on those defects. Keep it up! Wow lol, it's amazing how much a guy can say about a 1:30 song lol :D.
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

Mans0n responds:

Holy shit best review of 2010! thanks for the kind words and awesome criticism.

[CyberPunk]

Good song ^^.

Hey man, I can't even remember the last time I reviewed one of your songs for the RRC lol xD. Well, sorry for reviewing late, compared to the other members; but as you may imagine, these reviews take a while to write :P. Oh, and as for the song, great job on it, it's fun to listen to and really well made. Keep up the good work, man.

The melodic section of the song is very well done, with a nice chord progression used, although maybe you could use a different chord progression? It's just that the whole song had the same chord progression (as far as I know, anyway. I suck at music theory) which could change a little, since it would also help with your variety. Also, good job at 2:51, that'd probably be one of my favourite parts of the whole song :D. In addition, I also liked your amount of melodies. Whilst the chord progression was the same throughout the whole song, you had a number of different melodies which really helped keep the song interesting.

One thing about that repetitive note that you kept on playing... As Animith said it didn't get too repetitive, but even then I think it got a little too predictable and annoying to listen to at times. Add some more automation on it, maybe some additional parts where that note doesn't play. Perhaps you can vary its rhythm more throughout the song, and add some parts where it plays arpeggios instead of a repeated note. Still, overall it was a nice addition. Furthermore, the harmonizing in this track is very well done, which is a nice difference from usual Trance songs which have little to no harmonizing in them.

The instruments are great, and they all fit with each other so well. Each one fit so amazingly in the mix that none stood out too much and contrasted with the other instruments, although maybe the addition of a few more effects on the instruments such as delay and reverb might help out. Production and mastering are good, although what this song might lack would be a vocal sample. I think a small vocal sample saying something catchy in some transitions, particularly the transition at 2:49, would really help fill up the transition a little and make it more interesting in my opinion.

The transitions are actually really really good. I haven't heard such good transitions in a long while. I particularly liked the transition at 0:45 and the transitition at 1:53/2:20 would probably be my favourite transition from the whole song. I must say that those transitions sound almost professional. Great job! New instruments were also introduced really well, and the buildups were also great. The transtitions and stuff really shine in this submission.

The structure is quite interesting, and the fact that at the end you added the climax of the song provided a good structure, so nice job over there. Variety was OK. As I said, you had a nice amount of melodies, although it still sounds a *little* repetitive because of the fact that the chord progressions never change. Although maybe it could be just be me, as I said, I'm a beginner at music theory. The intro was decent, although I feel that it has potential to be better. Add something a little more interesting to it, such as a sweep, a splash cymbal or some reverbed kick. Ending was a fade ending. To be honest, the fact that it went right to the climax and suddenly faded out for an ending really left an anti-climatic ending. Try and give it a more interesting ending, other than a fade out.

The drums are basic techno drums, not really too special. Still, the rhythms of the snares were excellent, which really made up for the somewhat generic kick and hi-hat beats. The kick, at times, could be a bit more powerful, but overall the drums were pretty good, and the snare was great. Reverse cymbal was also nice :).

In general, this is awesome, although the generic kick/hat rhythms, uninteresting intro/outro, lack of different chord progressions, lack of effects and slightly annoying repetitive note ruin this song a bit. However, I really enjoyed listening to this... Keep up the fantastic work!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Naerbu responds:

I agree with you about the ending now. But in my defense, I was imagining a movie of a guy going near retarted on the overdose and the movie fading out while focused on his face twitching (What an emotional scene that'd be huh?).

Chord progression change? I guess since everyone thinks it's repetitive, I'm inclined to agree. Although, I personally don't feel that it's repetitive. I can listen to this many times over (it's probably due to the fact that this is one of my own songs lol).

I always felt that my transitions sucked and I needed to work on them so much. Now, I think that feeling really paid off. I really like how you even noticed it :).

I really appreciate the review dude.

[Passive Ignorance]

Pretty good ^^

This is a good rock, song, thanks for requesting it so that we can have a break from all of the Dance/Trance songs that get submitted to the Review Request Club. Anyway, in general this is alright, sure it has bad mixing, but it's a pretty nice song which is enjoyable too listen to. Keep up the good work :).

The melodies were actually very impressive, especially for a rock song. The main ariff was good, and there were some other nice sounding riffs such as the one at 0:42 and the riff at 1:11 was really cool. All in all the riffs were great, and there were quite a few riffs throughout the song too, so this didn't get too boring. Good job on the riffs ^^.

The sound quality, unfortunately, is very bad. It really ruins this submission. The guitars sound muddy and hard to understand properly, and the drums aren't amazing quality either. Mixing and EQing could be a tad bit better too. Still, the guitar didn't sound absolutely horrible, and I suppose it was alright to listen to it playing such great riffs :).

The transitions are great, except some drum transitions, such as when you moved from a beat with loads of fast cymbals to a slower and emptier beat, which was much too abrupt, and almost random. Some transitions from riff to riff could use some work, such as at 0:23, but all in all, the transitions were fine. Pretty good job on the transitions :D.

The structure, for a Rock song like this, is actually very good. I definitely won't complain on the structure. The variety was also alright, but some riffs were repeated too many times. I'd suggest adding a few more subtle changes to your riffs, so that they won't be so predictable.

The intro wasn't too good; maybe you could go for the simple but effective way by starting it really softly with a few soft plucks on the guitar, and then build up to main song. The ending is abrupt, but that can easily be fixed by slowing everything down till you go to the final note (a ritardando if you know music). Also, the ending note could have been more powerful (maybe you could add a crash to it).

The drums are impressive, and although some drum transtitions could definitely use some work, the drums complimented the guitar really well, and the beats were great. I think that the kick could be more powerful though, and the snare is too weak. Cymbals and tom-tom drums were fine. By the way, the drum roll you did at 0:50 was epic. Good job with the drums; as the other reviewers said, the drums were great.

In general, this is an impressive rock song, but the fact that its sound quality is so bad, mixing could use work, and your repeated the same riffs a little too much, topped up with some nitpicks I mentioned, ruin the song a little. Still, keep up the great work, I hope to hear more unique tracks from you! ^^
8/10
5/5 - Man, this got 0-bombed... X(

-Review Request Club-

Sawdust responds:

Okay, thanks for that. Although there is little I can do in terms of mixing, because I like keeping the level of distortion intact, as in keep everything at this level of muddiness and such, but I suppose some remixing is in order then. Probably to the drums too. They're way too round and artificial sounding, I'd suppose I'd do something about that, too.

Thanks soooo much, I'm real glad you liked it, you'll be hearing more from my rock collection soon enough! :)

[Stargenx - Spring Fling]

Ha, awesome :D.

This has a number of different defects, and it sounds a little rough on the edges, if you get what I mean, but the melody is so nice and the euphoric atmosphere is so well-done that I couldn't help but give this a 10. Maybe I'm being too kind, maybe the reviewers below me are being too harsh (xD), but long story short: this is a really cool song, and I enjoyed it a lot. Good job on this! Now, for the epic review...

The melodies are so upbeat and joyous. I mean, this song can brighten anyone's day with such fantastic melodies and such a spectacular amount of background depth. If those melodies weren't so beautifully done, then I would've probably given this song an 8 or something, but these melodies are excellent, and are definitely what makes this song sound so good. It's also what makes this song get trapped in my head and never get out...

One issue I'm having with this would be the fact that you changed between an empty background depth and a deep background depth almost randomly. For instance, at the beginning, it starts out as empty, and is almost immediately filled up by that synth brass pad. Then, at 0:27, the pads disappear and the song is suddenly, empty. A few seconds later, the pad comes in and the depth becomes amazing again. It stays like that for a relatively large part of the song until at 1:26, it's empty again. 1:41, it's full of energy and depth again, and then the cycle of different depths finally stops. What I'm trying to say is, I think you should stick to having that thick texture and deep background depth with the brass pads more throughout the song, and instead of making the pads enter and exit the song so much, add some break inbetween where the song goes quiet and builds up to a climax.

The instruments are absolutely superb. Actually, the choice of instruments makes this sound quite a lot like a New Wave song. The brass pads were a great addition, and the flute-like synth was great. Maybe the synth at the beginning sounds a little plain, but what the heck, that's barely a problem. I really like the sound effect you did at 1:41, that truly was an amazing way to introduce the euphoric melody that comes right after. The song lacks bass though, maybe some sub-bass or different sine-based bass might work (or possible a square-based bass), since I think a saw bass would be too rough for a song like this.

The transitions on the whole were fine, although there were some transitions that weren't as good. For example the one at 0:27 sounds a little rough since the pad disappeared way too suddenly, and even the one at 1:23 was very abrupt and weird, and the random snare that played inbetween it didn't help much either. Still, on the whole, the transitions were good. New instruments were introduced well too :).

The song structure, as I mentioned above, isn't too good. You randomly added and took away the pad in the song, and some parts in the song seem out of place, such as the part at 0:27 - 0:35, which shows signs of a bad structure. The variety, on the other hand, was great, since you had a nice amount of changes to your melody and alternate-melodies to keep the song interesting. Intro was very empty and bland, maybe you could find a more interesting way to start the song up, however, the ending was alright.

The drums on the whole were great. I disagree with Darklight about the fact that they're just the right volume since they sound a bit too quiet, and could do with being a bit more upbeat and powerful, since I think it would add to the atmosphere. As long as you don't make the drums too powerful I think that some more prominent and fast-paced drums might work out in this song. Or maybe it's just me ^^.

This has quite a lot of problems, namely the weird structure, some bad transtitions, weak drums and uninteresting intro but I'm still giving you a 10 because that melody sounds amazing. I was never really a fan of major keys, but I'll have to make an exception for this song ^^. Keep it up, you're an excellent artist!
10/10
5/5 - 0 bombers suck...
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Stargenx responds:

I know the song structure is a little wobbly but I kind of like having a mixed plate, y'know? Some of the parts were meant to sound a bit "Off". I may add some sub-bass or some a little later.

[WIP - echobass]

Nice job ^^.

Hehe, it's been quite a while since I reviewed you xD. Well, I think that the last review I did on one of your songs was during my noob days when my reviews sucked. Now I can make a review big enough to fill your computer monitor with assy criticism >:3. Anyway, as for the song, I agree with you that it's missing something, and that thing that it's missing is a HIGHER SCORE. Seriously, this song is really calming, and surprisingly well made for a work in progress. Good job on this, I love it, and for someone who doesn't usually like calm songs such as this, that's quite a ccompliment ;).

The melodies are extremely relaxing. Loved the melody the plucked bass plays, and I also really liked the ambience you had playing in the background for the whole song, since it really set off the mood well. The atmosphere, as Sekna said, was wonderful. Still, this is quite a bassey song (hence the name...) so I agree with Animith that this would really benefit with more high frequency sounds and synths, especially around 2:20. Another problem with this would be its lack of alternate melodies. you had the same plucked bass melody throughout the song, and that slightly high-pitched sine pad-ish synth towards the end of the song didn't have that many melodies either. I think that this could do with being cut off to around 3:00 or 2:40-ish, to stop it from becoming repetitive, or you could try and replace some repetitions of the same melody with a completely new one.

The instruments, as I said, were very bassey, but they sounded really amazing. The song also had a nice amount of depth (except during the beginning, but then as the song progressed, the depth was great), since a lot of the time there were the drums, the sine pad, choirs the ambience in the background and the plucked bass all playing at the same time, which gave the song a nice amount of background depth. In addition to that, I really liked your use of the choirs, and I wish they were louder, and were more involved in the song rather than just in certain parts of the song. The effects, unfortunately, are lacking. The plucked bass, for example, was quite dry and could do with some reverb/delay, that goes for the reverse cymbal too (sounds very dry, would benefit with some reverb to give it a bit of a ring to it), and also you could have experimented a little with pitch bending or try reversing some of your percussion sounds. On the other hand, the filter automation on the drums was nice :D.

The transitions were truly amazing. Every transition sounded great, and since transitions are so important in calm songs like this, it's a must to have transitions as good as these in this song. New instruments were introduced really well, and the buildups were good. The song had a really good structure, but variety, as I said above, could use work. Try adding some more melodies, maybe even add a some mood change in the song, possibly more buildups, etc... Could really help remove the monotony. The intro, as the other reviewers have stated, was superb, although the ending was a fade ending. Maybe that's because this is a WiP, but when you finish it I'd sugggest trying out another ending rather than a fade ending :).

The drums are great, and unlike the melodies, they were decently varied. The drum samples were also decent, and although the drums themselves did get a bit quiet at times, most of the time the drums were just the right level to be heard alright but not penetrate the atmosphere. However, an issue I'm having with the drums would be that they sound a bit bland and dry. They could do with some hat lines and open cymbals to thicken them up a bit, and they also could do with some reverb, since they're contrasting quite a lot with the spacey, ambient-like synths in the foreground...

To summarize, I think this has a lot of potential. I think you should work a bit on the variety, the dry/plain drums, some volume levels, the ending and maybe some other nitpicks I mentioned in my review. In general, for a WiP, I'm very impressed. Keep it up!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

EoD696 responds:

It's good to hear from you again! And the review is exceptional, thank you, it's just the perspective I needed to finish the song off. I completely agree about the choirs, their involvement is entirely too minimal, but part of that is because the song is so simple. Just a few really simple progressions. I really think trying to rearrange it with a defined structure (rather than a linear buildup-breakdown-repeat) will help inspire better parts with more interesting and involved progressions, that'll keep everybody's interest for longer.

The end of it was faded because its in progress, yes indeed. I hope to come up wtih a badass outtro at some point, just not sure what yet. The mastering is still in progress as well with this one. My laptop is really holding me back in a lot of ways, so I decided to switch to my desktop with a quad-core processor and 4GB RAM. Shouldn't have any problem adding in as many crazy imaginative sounds as I can think of, and making sure they all sound good together at the same time. Thanks again for the review and the score, w00t!

[A Less Creative Title...]

Catchy!

I think this is more than just a generic house song. Sure, it is generic, but the melodic section is very catchy and the production was good. Nice job on this, it's a good song overall, and I really enjoyed it, which is quite a lot coming from someone who prefers Classical and Trailerscore way more than House, Trance and all of the modern genres...

The melodies sound extremely familiar, but what the heck, they are extremely catchy. A little simple though, but what the heck, they sound fine, and they can easily get stuck in my head and never get out... I liked the melody at the beginning most, but the melody played by the bass was really cool too. The pitch bending on the synth was cool, although the synth itself got quite annoying, especially around 2:27-ish. I'm not saying to remove it since it's a nice addition, but either you change its sound to something a little less annoying, or use it a little less. The amount of alternate melodies, unfortunately, isn't that good. You had some nice alternate melodies, but for a 4 minute song, this needs more melodies, since some melodies were repeated quite a bit, especially the melody played by the bass. Still, the melodies are so catchy that it doesn't matter that much :D.

The synths, other than that annoying pitch-bent one, were actually really cool. The bass sounded a bit generic even though it sounded great, but other than that the synths sound quite unique. I like the one at the beginning most, although I think it sounds just a little dry, maybe you could add a little more reverb to it? It might be just me though. Production was fine, and I agree with you; the EQing was well done. Overall, the synths were fine, I can't really find much wrong with them. Maybe you could add some more sound effects such as sweeps and some filter automations or something, though? For a house song, I expected this to have a few more effects to it...

As for the transitions, they were alright, but nothing too special. The transitions at 0:14 and 0:45 sound pretty weird. It's as if those hats just came out of the blue, and provided a pretty abrupt and strange transition. On the other hand, the transition at 1:45 was really cool :D. New synths were introduced pretty well, and the buildups were pretty good...

The song structure, unfortunately, is strange. Sure it's unique, but it's not too good. You just grabbed around 5 or 6 different melodies, and played each one at almost random times throughout the song. There's no noticeable climax, and to be honest, the song sounds as if it's a jigsaw puzzle with really nice looking pieces (i.e., melodies), but they're not stuck together that well, since you tried to stick pieces which don't match together. What I mean is, you should try give the song a bit of a better structure, making the melodies match with each other well, adding some parts which are climaxes, other parts which are breaks, etc... Intro was pretty good, and the buildup you did after that was fine. The ending, although weird, actually sounds pretty nice after hearing it a few times :P.

The drums were impressive, but you could work a little more on that snare, since it sounds pretty bland and dry, and it's hidden under the mix and can barely be heard because of the kick drowning it out. The drum beats were very generic, unfortunately, and at times the drums were too quiet and got repetitive, but still, overall the drums were alright, and fit pretty well with the song :).

In general, the very catchy melodies, excellent synths, some pretty decent transitions, OK intro and outro and good production make up for its bad structure and variety of different melodies, abrupt transitions at the beginning, annoying pitch bent synth and generic/simplistic drums. I think that it's a pretty good song with some really catchiest melodies and a lot of potential if you keep on working on it. Keep up the good work, and good luck on your future submissions. Also, sorry for the long review, I bet I wasted like 5 minutes of your time with this enormous review xD.
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

BudGPStudios responds:

Thanks for the review. Yeah, like i told Animith, this song was my attempt at remaking one of my friends songs into a house song. (He actually made a series based on the same melody) so that's why it seems like there are alot of different peices that aren't put together as well. I'll take your suggestions and try to improve it. Also, I too am more of a classical/filmscore (and Drum n Bass, Ambient, and Industrial) kinda guy.

[Rastafari]

Yet another ridiculously catchy song from you!

This is a very catchy song, I have to admit. IMO I think Mellow Man has a catchier melody, but what the heck, this is still just amazing. You really give a new name to DnB; I don't usually listen to DnB but your songs are so catchy and have such an awesome vibe to them that I can't help downloading every single one that I hear from you. A few more songs like this and I'm adding you to my favourite artists list... Keep up the great work man!

The melodies... wow. I mean, I instantly smiled when I heard them. As ChampionAnwar said, melodies were a pure win. I really like the creative pitch-bending you added to this song, it added a unique touch to the song. The song was COVERED with pitch bending and yet the pitch bending never got old or annoying :D. Loved the part at 1:07, that bass was really catchy. The melodies in general are really brilliant. The amount of alternate melodies was also excellent, and the production was great. Guh, I hate giving too much praise without finding anything wrong...

The synths are also simply fantastic. You had a very good amount of different synths and instruments, and each one of them sounds unique and not the slightest bit generic. The woman choir-like synths you used in this submission were also extremely cool, and I'm surprised how well the pitch-bending fit with them. What also impressed me was the amount of effects you put on the synths, and all of the different sound effects too. The vocal samples here and there in the song were great too, as ChampionAnwar said. Do something wrong for once, will you???

The transitions are just out of this world. The song flowed very smoothly, and all of the transitions were flawless. I liked the transition at 0:59-1:06-ish. Each transition either had awesome pitch bending, a unique sound effect or a great drum transition. The buildups were also superb.

I think the structure is a great improvement from the structure in Mellow Man. In Mellow Man, the structure was alright, but it was really simple. This song's structure, on the other hand, is the definition of perfection. Complex structure, yet not random or weird. Variety was nothing extremely special, because although you had a huge amount of different synths, melodies and effects, the song still seemed quite repetitive for some reason. Maybe it's the lack of dynamics, lack of a break, I don't know. Still, maybe it seems repetitive to me since I've had this song looping for like half an hour xP.

The intro was a bit abrupt. It was a great way to start the song, don't get me wrong, but I think the intro would be much better if you made that sound effect at the beginning a little longer and add a few seconds of silence at the beginning. Just make the first part of the intro come in a little more gradually, instead of come in almost immediately when you click the play button. The ending, on the other hand, was fine. The only thing you can do to fix it is either make the final note a bit more echoey or you add a crash/kick at the end to indicate that the song just ended. You have a good idea for the ending, so all you need is so make the final part of the ending a bit more powerful.

The drums are also a great improvement from Mellow Man. Not saying that the drums in MM were bad, but just saying that these are way better :D. The beats were now varied very nicely. There was a nice number of different beats (I like the beat at the beginning and the one at 1:50) although maybe you could vary the amount of drum samples. Speaking of drum samples, they were (although similar to Mellow Man's) great. I especially like that kick; bassey and powerful.

Overall, this is another excellent song from you. Just work on that intro/outro a little, the variety (maybe), and making the drum samples a bit more varied. The fact that this is such a unique song is awesome, and I'm sure that even the people who don't like this type of DnB will love this song. I enjoyed this song a lot, I hope you keep up the amazing work, you're among the best DnB artists on NG :D.
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Skela responds:

awesome!
Giant thanks for the reivew!
Deffenetly working on more dnb.
I had a max limit of 4 minutes for this song, so I had to cramp in a couple of stuff, and everything got "shortened".
Variety is the hardest part about making music IMO.

Anyway, thanks again for the review!

[In Luv With U {^}-{Alix1}-{^}]

Meh...

Really sorry man, but this didn't really impress me much. I'm probably going to give you a pretty harsh review, but I hope you can use it to improve your next works. This song isn't really too good, it's basically the same as any other generic hardstyle track except with a piano and some weird FX. I don't really like this one much, sorry :(.

The melodies, unfortunately, aren't that good. Usually when I hear the same melody loads and loads of times (before I started reviewing I left this song on loop for like half an hour or so) it ends up sticking in my head, but these ones just didn't. The piano was alright, but the notes at 0:10 actually sound a little off-key or just wrong, IMO. Then, when I thought the song was about to turn into a new direction at 0:28, it ended up changing for the worst when the generic annoying hardstyle saw synth came in and the song became a cluttered mess with random weird FX, a kick drum, piano and saw synth playing altogether. The song doesn't really live up to its name either, since all the instruments except for the piano, are way too rough. Sorry man, but the melodies, to be honest, aren't really that impressive.

That goes for the instruments you used too. The piano really wasn't such good quality, and the saw wave was extremely generic and bland. This also lacks effects. I think the piano could really do with some reverb to it, maybe some delay too, and even the saw synth could do with some faint reverb. As for sound effects, that 'balloon deflating' sound effect was really overused, and doesn't sound too good either. I'd suggest completely removing it from the song, or at least not using it so much. On the other hand, the sweeps were used well and I liked the fact that you added some vocal samples too. So while you have some good sweeps and vocal samples, if I were you I would seriously consider completely changing the instruments and doing something about that deflating balloon.

The transitions were alright, and I especially liked the ones with the well-timed vocals, but a problem I have with this song is that it never reaches a climax. For example, at 0:56, when there's a vocal sample saying 'another level', it doesn't really go to another level, but stays at the same level: a kick and saw wave. Actually, the song is full of anti-climaxes, such as 1:39 as well. The transitions are good, but unfortunately the fact that some transitions lead to an anti-climax when I expect the song to become more powerful really doesn't work too well.

The structure and variety, unfortunately, really need work. Basically you only had two simple melodies topped up by a kick per beat except occasionally some parts where the kick plays every half beat, 2 vocal samples and some random FX. I think this could really do with more alternate melodies since only 2 melodies to last for almost 2 and a half minutes isn't such a good idea. The intro and outro were pretty much average. Intro was a little plain, but still not so bad and the outro, although abrupt, was alright too.

To be honest I really wasn't impressed by those drums. You only had a kick drum to support the song, and it was really badly varied too. No crash cymbals, no snares, nothing... just a ridiculously bassey hardstyle kick which gets rough on the ears after hearing this song loop at least 5 times. Sure, hardstyle focuses a lot on kicks but more percussion would really help out over here.

Overall, this isn't such a good song. While it has some good sweeps, vocal samples, the transitions were alright and the intro/outro were OK, the instruments were bland, the melodies weren't too good, the drums were simple and repetitive, the song itself was badly varied and the fact that this is really generic and there are so many parts which sound anti-climatic really ruin this song. Don't give up though, with some practice I think you could turn out to be a great artist. Sorry for the long, harsh review, I figured you'd prefer if I was harsh and honest rather than dishonest. Good luck on your future songs...
6/10
3/5

-Review Request Club-

alix1 responds:

This is honestly one of the best reviews i have ever received. :) Honestly I dont do too much hardstyle or hardcore at all. this is all trial and error for me. I've been wanting to fix the deflate sound and clean the song up for a few weeks now but haven't had any time. haha. I guess there is a LOT more work before this is perfected. expect another song to come out within the next few days. Similar melody but UBER EPIC. Hahaha. <3 u SuperSteph54! PLUR to you! Thanks for this amazingly fabulous review!

--Alix1 (Alix Gutierrez)

[[herd] Snowy Morning]

Euphoric and Upbeat.

This is a cool song, and while it has some generic elements in it, it's joyous, happy, enjoyable to listen to and can put a smile on anyone's face. It really has that snowy feel you were going for, so I think you achieved what you were aiming for :D. Good job on this, it's a great song :). By the way, I noticed that this is your ninth submission to Newgrounds. Is it the ninth song you ever made, or were you making songs before you joined Newgrounds? If this is the ninth song you ever made, then I must admit that I'm really impressed that you made such a good song with only eight others as practice. My ninth song was absolute crap xD. If it's not your ninth song ever, what the heck, it's still a great song =D. Gah, sorry for the long intro.

The melodies aren't really this submission's strong point. They just didn't have that hook to them, if you get what I mean. They weren't memorable or catchy enough. Making good melodies takes practice though, so don't worry about it much. Even then, some of the melodies are nicely done, such as the saw synth melody at 2:25-ish. The melody progression was great, albeit it was a bit generic. The song had a nice chord progression too. Basically, the only thing which you could fix with the melodies would be to maybe make them a little more catchy, but I think the song really lives up to its name since I think about snow and Christmas when I hear this song ^^. Not a bad job with the melodies ^^.

The instruments are fine. My only issue with them is that they sound a lot like FL Studio factory sounds. I could be wrong though (I don't use FL Studio presets much) but I think you should really look into making your own synths with Sytrus (http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/
860067) or get other synthesizers such as Vanguard, Nexus (2) and z3ta+. By using FL presets, people will always refer to your songs as generic. Still, other than the fact that the instruments sound like FL presets (although it could be just me), the instrument choice was very very good. You used the bells really nicely in this submission, and there were loads of different synths too. I also liked the bass in this song; it wasn't too rough to penetrate the happy feeling of this song, but wasn't too weak either. The windchimes were also a nice addition too. TL;DR, good job with the instruments. The audience sound effect was also well placed.

The transitions were impressive. I don't think there were any transitions which sounded off, and I also liked the little kick transition at 0:35 and 1:24. New instruments were introduced well, and the buildups, such as the one at the beginning and the saw synth build up at the end were good. Nice job with the transitions, they were fine ^^.

The structure, unfortunately, is very generic. Basically it's the same Dance structure that's used in so many Dance songs. Still, it's hard to be original in dance structures, so I won't complain too much. The variety was great, which is new to me when hearing Dance songs, since usually Dance songs get so repetitive. You varied it really nicely, so good job with that. The intro, although generic, was a good way to start the song. The ending was really nice too, although that ending note could do with a crash cymbal or something to indicate that it's a finishing note, since after all, an ending note should be more important that any other note (unless you're ending a song softly), at least IMO.

The drums were actually really good. Sure, the drum samples were as generic as ever, but the beats were really nice and complimented the song perfectly. I also liked your excellent use of the snare in this. It was used a LOT yet used so well that it doesn't really matter. Reverse cymbal was cool as well.

In general, this is generic, and the melodies aren't too special, plus the instruments could've been better, but for your ninth submission to Newgrounds I'm really impressed. Good job with this, it sounds great, and I wish you luck in your future songs. Sorry for the long review, I write quite a lot of those...
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

Herdunculus responds:

You know what? I love this review. I don't even care that it was long, just that fact says that you actually made a solid review on this song which is good!

Yes, i'm still working on that generic thing. And yes, this is my 9th ever completed song. And I am not too great with the drums. I actually DID use a bunch of presets (mostly for the drums) in this too, but I don't really know how to make my instruments (im actually in the process of learning how XD). I thank you for this wonderful review. It has fed my ego.

[SN | Beautiful Arrhythmia | SN]

You would have won the competition...

I've noticed that there's been a really rapid improvement from your old songs. From when I used to say 'ugh glitch again??' to you, now I say 'yay, glitch again!'. Superb job on this one, it's among one of your best, and I really enjoyed it. Also, why the heck did you decide to become a judge for the competition?! You would've been $50 richer if you had been a participant...

The melodies in this, as usual, are beautifully done. I don't really have much to say about the melodies, they were as good as they normally are, and obviously that means that they're amazing. I especially liked the progression of the melodies in this one. Also, as RogerBK said, the fact that you have slower and faster parts works extremely well in this song. Both were extremely cool, so I can't complain about them either. 1:57 might probably be my favourite part from the whole song, it was so hectic :D. Harmonization was spot on, too. Melodies and stuff were truly perfect, I'm trying so hard to find something wrong with them, but you just want to be Mr.Perfect, don't you >:(.

The instruments were also great. Loved the sound of that piano, and the pads in the background, although quiet, filled the background out really nicely. Hey man, would you mind sending me a PM with where you get such spectacular pads? I was going to PM you asking you ages ago, but I kept procrastinating and now I'm taking this as an opportunity to ask you :D. Sorry for being annoying :/. Anyway, pads on the whole were great, and so was the piano. The glitch effects, as usual, are just wow. Maybe you could have a few more stutters, but other than that, the glitch effects were pristine.

As for the vocal sample, on the whole it sounded fine, but there's something about it which sounds artificial. The first part of the first syllable sounds weird, maybe it's a result of the pitch shifting that you did. Not to doubt your godly pitch shifting skills (lol), but I think that you should try and sing that octave (don't be lazy xD) instead of pitch shift, since the first part of the word sounds weird and artificial, at least in my opinion.

Regarding the transitions, I must say that I'm very impressed. The only transition which might need some work would be the one at 1:54. I think the transition to the vocal sample just sounds slightly weird. A little abrupt or sudden. Still, on the other hand, all the other transitions were great, and buildups, such as the drum buildup at the beginning, were just extraordinary. Basically, the only transition I didn't like was the one at 1:54, because the rest were great. Good job.

The structure was amazing. All the new sections that entered the song really left me amazed, but the song didn't sound weird or random. The variety was also excellent. You really know how to vary songs properly, and this never gets boring or repetitive. When it comes to the intro, I was also extremely impressed. A very good way to start the song up, and a great transition and buildup to the hectic part at 0:57. The ending was also really nice. The worst part of your songs is that they're so good I have to try really hard to find something wrong with them xD.

The drums are just so cool. You had an amazing variety of different percussive sounds, and the glitching you did on them works very well. Weird part is that the drums are so crazy and all over the place yet you don't really lose track of the rhythm of the song. TL;DR: DRUMS WERE AMAZING.

I'm really amazed by this piece. As usual, you don't fail to leave the listener begging for more. Atmosphere was brilliant, melody was awesome, buildups were well executed, structure and variety were fantastic, instruments were spectacular, transitions were smooth, the intro/outro were flawless and the drums... too awesome for words xD. Just work on that vocal sample a little; while I don't want you to remove it, I think you should remove the artificial sound of the vocal sample at the beginning and work a little more on the transition. Keep up the outstanding work.
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd

-Review Request Club-

SessileNomad responds:

lol MORE stutters?! didnt think id get that request xD

i would have gone back and just sang the octave up, butt i kind of liked the feel it had when i shifted it, and yeah the first part of it is a little stretched

i thought about going back and recording a few more samples of me saying beautiful and have them work better as a build for that section, THAT actually was laziness though

why thanks you the drums took forever on this one

im creating a series of songs based around things that..arent pleasant or beautiful and finding beauty in them, so ill probably be recording my voice a few more time, ill do it all legit, just for you brah xD

wow that sounds like i was saying my voice is awful....

ill pm you about the pads