Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Village [Redux]]

Wow, you're making a lot of songs lately O_o

Yeah, you guessed it; another 10/10. You've done it again XD.

I really like those melodies. All the melodies of the different instruments seem to mash together and sound amazing. I especially liked the part at 0:47. Really awesome instruments too, they have a sort of medieval feel to them. The strings sound awesome too.

Transitions were great, and new instruments were introduced very well. Intros that start with drums only don't usually come out that good, but this one came out perfectly.

As for the ending, I expected you to end it with a final note, instead of leaving the listener expecting more. It sort of got ready for a buildup to the end, but stopped right at the end of the buildup and felt strange. I think (I'm not so sure though, I'm only Grade 3 theory D:) you should end it with the note you used at 1:09 somewhere at about 1:23 or something, giving it a sort of held back ending, if you get what I mean. In musical terms, I think it's called a ritenuto.

The drum samples are awesome, and fit with the name very well. They did the same thing throughout the song, but since the song isn't that long, they never got too annoying.

In general, you made another amazing song. Just work a little on the ending, and it'll be perfect. Excellent job :D.
10/10
5/5
Download.

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ErikMcClure responds:

Its mostly old ideas i've been going back to. If I finished all my ideas i'd be making songs faster then F-777 :P

I'm really unsure about the ending. this is technically supposed to loop, but at the same time i really like the drums having a definate beginning to the song. What i might do instead is just fade the whole thing out.

[Idea 211]

Amazing!

Purely amazing. I can barely find anything wrong with this awesome song.

The melodies are great, catchy, and the instruments you chose fit very well with each other. The piano had some very good accompaniament in the background too. Good job!

The overall structure of the song is godly. The melodies all match up with each other, and never get repetitive. I like how you started the song, and the ending wasn't that bad, but there was too much silence after.

I think this needs a few soft drums to it, like some shakers, ride cymbals and maybe a reverbed booming bass drum in the background. Nothing too action packed, though.

Overall, this piece sounds fantastic, and I really wish you had enough inspiration to continue it. An idea is adding a pan flute to continue it or some more strings. Anyway keep up the excellent work!!
10/10
5/5, and I'll 5 bomb it a little since it got 0-bombed.
Download.

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ErikMcClure responds:

Not sure if i'll ever pick this up again, the inspiration is gone.

[Taxmurder]

Quite a cool loop.

Sounds quite good, and I enjoyed it. Some problems stop me from giving you a ten though.

The melodies, although they have a slight bit of repetitiveness in them, are very catchy. Instrument quality wasn't bad too. I think the bass should be heard a very slight bit more when the guitar comes in, IMO, and needs more variety too.

I liked the transitions. For rock, I'm surprised how well you performed the transitions. Still, I was looking for more drum transitions, like drum rolls, kick crescendos and crash cymbals. The intro was quite well done, but I'd suggest giving the drums more of a build up, like starting it with kicks, and then the snares come in. Other than that, it's a well done intro.

This loops quite well too, but I think you should stop the drums and maybe guitar from playing when getting towards the end so that it doesn't jump from drums, guitar and bass to bass only so suddenly; in other words from loud to calm so suddenly.

What really put my score down was the drums; the same throughout the whole loop apart from some cymbals changing occasionally. The drum samples are great for rock, and I liked how you used different cymbals in some parts, but I really wish you varied the drums more.

In general, it's a good loop with good transitions, above-average intro and ending, catchy melodies and good instruments, but the variety is what needs working on here.
8/10
5/5 - and 5 bombed for three days because it got harshly 0-bombed.

-Review Request Club-

Sawdust responds:

Thanks man, I'll be keeping this commentary in mind then, a little 5 minute excursion into editing this would be good.

Yeah, I guess it's on the repetitive side, but the real song Taxman goes like that too, with some ocassional changes-- I don't know, I just made this the first time I heard it.

And I'll probably put in a drum fill here and there too. Maybe an arp segment.

[[LY] DNB [Demoupdate]]

Original ^^

This sounds quite unique, unlike other songs I've heard, and it's pretty well done, so good job :).

This needs more of a melody. There are loads of parts in the song which are drums only, so a melody would help. The sound effects are what make this song sound unique and cool, and the instruments, although a little strange, are quite good too. I agree with Coop when it comes to the demo vocals, you should've put them at the beginning.

The transitions were quite good, but some need work, like the one at 1:05. It kind of disrupted the flow of the song. Instead, I'd suggest a two bar drum roll an in the second half of the second bar, you do that effect you used. The intro was very nicely done, although the ending was too sudden, but I guess that's because it's a demo.

The drums have very cool sounding samples, but they need to be varied a little more. The drum beats you have right now are great, though. It just needs less repetitiveness.

Overall, a unique song which sounds pretty cool. Just work on variation, more melody, and some transitions. Good job on it.
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

la-yinn responds:

Very sweet review. I've already fixed up some transitions in the way you suggested, haha. But I'll defo add some more variations to the drums and get some sort of melody.

Thanks for the review. :-)

[SN |Make the Choice| SN]

Almost perfect ;)

I'm not a great fan of hardstyle, but I quite enjoyed this one.

The melodies are quite catchy, especially the second half. Good instruments too, they fit perfectly for hardstyle, and the voices went well with the song too. A bit too much reverb in them, though, in my opinion (unless that's how they were originally... I can't check since my pathetic excuse for a computer doesn't let me enter youtube :S).

I liked the transitions you used in this, especially the echoey one you used in the first part like the one at 0:25, and the delayed reverse cymbal was cool too. The intro sounded very unique, and very cool too, but in my opinion you dragged it on a little too much. I liked the buildup you used at the beginning though. The ending was a little strange and sudden, but cool anyway.

The drums were spread out well throughout the song and fit very well with a hardstyle song like this.

In conclusion, one of the better hardstyle songs I've heard on newgrounds. Has some very tiny flaws, but in general, an awesome song. Oh, and lol at making babies dance XD.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

SessileNomad responds:

reverbing a bit too heavy is one of my bad habits : /

lol no youtube for you xD

yeah ive never been very good at building a structure to my songs that isn't repetitive to a certain agitating(sp?) degree

im glad you liked it

thanks for reviewing

peaceout

SessileNomad

[Pull The Plug - Cover]

Quite good.

I'm not really into songs like this, but this one is better than a lot of ones I've reviewed lately. Not bad.

I've never heard the original, but it seems like the song you decided to remix had quite a few catchy melodies to it. Great instrument quality too, and the vocals were excellent. My only complaint is that that the song still needs to be louder.

The transitions and structure didn't impress me over here. It just seems like a collection of catchy guitar riffs. Each melody had a different tempo and rythm to it and it felt too random. You get points for variety, but there's too much randomness here. I liked the intro and the ending, though.

The drums were excellent, had great samples, and were extremely varied and fit with the song. Good job over here, the drums were flawless.

In all, an OK cover. Feels too random (unless it's supposed to be like that or something...), and the song needs to be louder, but the instruments and samples were great, and so was the variety. Good job.
8/0
4/5

-Review Request Club-

Jeffaro responds:

Yeah, the original song has some weird arrangements as far as structure goes.As for the melodies /solos that I added in, I made them different so that you got the idea that there were two different guitarists soling.The first guitarist had more of a Pentatonic style while the other guitarist had a more Harmonic minor shreddy style.

BTW I can't make the song any louder or else it will start to clip.

[Midnight Drive - TFT80s]

Quite unique

Pretty great song! Very few flaws in it.

The melodies all match with each other and are quite cool, especially the bass, and there are loads of different melodies in this. I like the instruments you used here, too. My only complaint is that you should vary the bass a little more.

Transitions were fine, and everything was built up well. The intro started the song up quite well, and the ending was very well done. The last note was held a little too long, in my opinion, and I'd put a little more silence at the end, if I were you, but other than that, a very good ending.

The drums were what really bothered me in this song. The drum samples were quite good; but I was hoping to hear more samples, more variety throughout the song, and also the drums were a little simple too.

Overall, quite a unique sounding song. Has some very catchy melodies, awesome samples, and good transitions, beginning and ending. Just work a little more on those drums, and variety of the bass. Good job! :D.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Soundgasm responds:

Thank you for the specifics, I will try to focus on improving the shortcomings you mentioned.

[If You Say So]

Pretty good!

Wow, not bad at all. It's evident you worked very hard on this song, and the outcome's great!

The melodies are very relaxing and catchy. I especially liked the one at 1:01, and the one that comes in at 1:16 was amazing. There are some really good melodies over here. I really liked the instruments too.

Transitions were excellent. You used loads of effects, reverse cymbals and in all it made the transitions sound superb. Good job with the transitions at 2:23 and especially the one at 2:37. The intro was kinda strange, but cool, nevertheless. The ending was what really bothered me. Instead of a fade, end it with a proper note, like maybe you use the transition you did at 2:37, and end the song with a proper note and a crash cymbal or something.

The drums made some awesome transitions, they were quite well varied and had some good samples to them. The snap bothered me a little, but I liked the kick and tomtom drums (well, I think they're tomtom drums anyway...) you used here. The main drum beat was kinda simple, though. Good use of effects.

Overall, a pretty good song. Melodies are awesome, transitions too, intro wasn't bad, drum samples were good, and the variety (for a 5 and a half minute song) was great. Keep it up!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

svinepels responds:

Thanks, this is the best audio review I've ever seen. I'll follow your advice and make a better ending for this song!

[I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) METAL]

Strange...

I agree with Sonofkirk. The voice needs some work, and this needs much more structure.

The riffs weren't bad, but I think the voices covered the guitar up too much. The instruments were fine, and the guitar sounds (or probably is) real.

Overall, as I said, the song needs more structure. The transitions weren't bad, but I'd understand the song more if it had a fixed melody which plays every now and again. The intro had good notes, but I think it could sound better with some soft guitar chords instead. As for the ending, it was good, but ended pretty suddenly. If you gave the song a fixed melody, played it at the end and ended it with the note you ended it with, it could be better.

As Sonofkirk said, the drums feel very random, and I didn't really notice any fixed drum beat in the song, Also, I think the drums need to be a little louder. Drum samples were good though.

Not too bad. Good riffs and melodies, but it needs more structure. Other than that, it's not bad :).
7/10
5/5 since this got badly 0-bombed.

-Review Request Club-

Blackdoom13 responds:

Yes the guitar is real. The guitar is real in all my songs. I've yet to hear a VST that sounds anything even simaler to a real guitar lol.
Glad you liked some of it! Thanks for the review!

[Invention No. 2]

Better than the first one

This is definitely an improvement to the first one. Quite short, but not bad at all.

The melodies were great. I especially liked the harp towards the end. The instrument quality over here is none too special, but better than a lot of samples I've heard on NG. Still, the choice of instruments fit very well with each other.

The transitions were done much better than in the first one. I liked the pizzicato in the intro and the ending was excellent. The strings seemed to come out of nowhere though, since I didn't hear it in any other parts of the song. You should do like Aerochord said - lengthen it by using the strings, and give it some more fullness after when all of the instruments come in to end the song.

Quite a good song. It needs a little more fullness and length, but the melodies and structure were fine. Good job.
8/10
5/5 since this got badly bombed...

-Review Request Club-

loansindi responds:

As I write more of these I feel I get more comfortable in the style, I'm noticing a definite improvement, myself.

I just wanted to throw a generic end on the song, which is why the strings are there. I might revisit this piece and introduce another theme.

It's worth noting that this one was written while drunk, so there was an attention span issue.

Thanks for the review, it's greatly appreciated.