Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Origin]

Now this. This is awesome stuff. Man, I found out about you out of nowhere one time when looking for songs to post on the frontpage and boy am I glad I did! You're a wonderful music artist and I'm highly impressed with your work. I don't usually review Newgrounds songs when I have so much to do, but I'm totally making an exception for you, who not only reviewed one of my tracks and at the very least deserves a review in return, but makes fantastic music like this.

Right off the bat, tight mixing, man! Fantastic low end. At high enough volumes I can definitely feel a well-balanced rumble that doesn't overpower everything else. Tasteful use of compression, which isn't too excessive. Not only that but everything is so clear, especially the drums. If there's one pet peeve I have, it's when people drown their drums out in the mix and all the other instruments cover them all up (this is especially common in some metal tracks) but here that's not a problem. The drums are excellently incorporated and have a lot of clarity. On top of that, everything else is given its own space to shine. Bravo.

I love the composition in this. I don't really know why. It's certainly relaxing as you've described, but at the same time it certainly has its own energy to it and I would definitely imagine this in some space-related game. You've got a remarkably good sense of composition and your melodies are undeniably catchy. Great melody at 1:29, and I love how at 3:19 you use it to end the track. This is all very well-thought-out and clever. The only thing that I felt wasn't very creative was the use of that terribly generic drum'n'bass rhythm for the synth plucks that start playing at the very beginning and play for a lot of the track.

The sounds are great. You've got a lot of high-sounding fluffy instruments here, contrasted beautifully by the thumps and rumbles of the drums and bass. Your sounds in general are very pleasant to the ear and well-chosen. The only sound I'm not a massive fan of is the snare. It's very hard to get the snare right regardless of what genre you're making music in, and over here while I still like it, I think it's a bit muffled and could do with being a bit brighter. At first I thought it was too rough for this track but in retrospect it actually works really well, so if I were you I'd just make it a bit brighter and not as muffled.

And the transitions! I love them. You use drum breaks quite a lot, like at 0:44, 1:06, 1:49, and so on. However, you don't excessively milk it, even if you use it a lot (probably because it inarguably sounds cool). It makes for some fantastic transitions. Do watch out that you don't overuse it in your future tracks though, because you use habitually after every handful of bars here and it can easly become a habit. That being said, everything is extremely smooth and flowing. The song effortlessly rides from one section to the next. You sure know what you're doing.

The intro is excellent, and I love its progression. The ending is also nailed, so no problems there. The only thing left that I feel I need to mention would be that the drums in general are pretty good! I would've liked it if the hats had some more presence in the mix and were more interesting, but who am I to talk, my hats are usually duller than a Monday morning. I think the drums did get a bit repetitive and tiring though; that's one thing to work on possibly. The drums at 2:35 were a breath of relief, because as much as I like your drums, I think some more variety in beats, rhythms, and sounds could've been good. In fact, if you want to be really creative, try adding some glitch effects, filter automation, all that good stuff! It'll definitely make the drums more interesting.

All in all I don't really have that much to criticise. This is just a considerably well-made and well-balanced track. I don't think it's perfect; it doesn't have that much replay value, some elements are too repetitive in nature and there are a few other minor issues, most of which I've mentioned above. Honestly though, this is very solid. I love it and I think you did a great job on it. Thanks again for leaving me that review and keep up the splendid work!

10/10
5/5
Download
Favourited.

Geoplex responds:

Oh my god, this review is amazing. Never have I read one so detailed <3

I would say all in all that this is probably my best mixed song, even though looking back at the file I did a lot of stuff wrong - I think the somewhat minimalistic nature of the track allowed me to get away with some mistakes in that regard.

On the whole synth-plucks thing, I agree they're a bit generic. I use that pattern a lot actually, I need to stop XD

I've been told before that my snares are a little muffled, but I oddly like them that way to be honest. I'm not a fan of the typical bright DnB snares because I feel like they sound a bit weak, but I definitely agree that some high-end certainly wouldn't hurt on this one.

I also agree that Drum Breaks can become a habit, (they actually already have, I think D:) I got used to using them after remixing a song that used them a lot. Gonna have to try and make some more interesting transitions in the future :P

This review is actually quite encouraging, I've been very uninspired for a few months and this makes me wanna try some new stuff :3

Thanks so much for the review. By far the most detailed one I've ever read (on any song in the portal.) <3

[~SW~ Astral Nation]

For the record this is probably your best song ever. Not just because it's so masterfully composed, but also because of the concept of it all! Man... this is such an ambitious endeavour that one can't help but feel an enormous amount of respect of you for taking it on. And despite it being so diverse, it all works so well together somehow.

I'm going to review each section because that seems like the most fitting review layout for a song like this.

0:00 ==> Tribes Gather
Right off the bat, I love how subtle this is. You very modestly start off by laying down the basic beat which sounds great on its own and great with everything else, and you so subtly introduce more elements, starting with the great flute motif and then slowly easing in those wonderfully expressive strings. Beautiful descending pentatonic scale at 0:30, and I love how cleverly-timed the percussion is. This first part sounds very playful and inviting. Cool low tones in the tablas and bongos

0:40 ==> The Building Begins
Over here it changes from playful to exciting. I think this is practically the only transition in this track I'm not entirely fond of, since it feels a bit forced, almost as if you decided that you have to change the melody somehow so you just try and kind of make it work. It's not a bad transition by ANY means, but I feel like it doesn't hold its own compared to the other transitions. Lovely melodies though. Love the dum-dums like the one at 0:49.

1:40 ==> Kings and Queens
I love the transition here. It's not totally smooth but I think it's the closest you can ever get to transitioning from the part before it. Very, very well-executed tempo change. The part itself is quite cliche, but it works very well. Super solid composition. When you introduce Omnisphere's famed soloists I think "wow, great idea". The tenor sounds quite synthesised since the vocal transitions from one note to another aren't smooth at all (something that a proper choir VST should fix) and I believe your tenor has the superhuman ability of not needing to breathe, but... yeah, super creative idea.

2:38 ==> Dawn of Technology
I disagree with Bosa, I love the bagpipes' sound and I think it's quite realistic! Although what would I know, I don't really listen to real bagpipes that much haha. The transition to this part is great too.

3:18 ==> Inventing New Realities
This is an AWESOME part, very catchy. Guitar solo is a bit lame, since the sample sounds too computerised. You should've gotten someone to play it for you! Love your use of the organ patch; I can tell you had fun making this section :P.

4:00 ==> Ages Past
You already told me that you had this reintroduction planned in something like the first ever version of this track, but just hearing it in all its glory feels great. I also love how despite it being a reintroduction, you still add layers of new effects and details to it. Just goes to show how much work and intricacy you put in your music. Beautiful soprano section by the way!

4:34 ==> Preparing for Launch/LHC
Love this part, sounds intense and exciting. I do have to question your use of the flute in this part though, it doesn't exactly fit. However, you practically used a little bit of almost every section in this part, so it gives it a very climatic feeling.

4:52 ==> Into the Deep Void
This part sounds very Buoy. It really sounds quite great, but (and this is personal bias) I dislike how the track ends with this ambient part, rather than with a super epic climax that one would expect after hearing the excitement of the part before this. It gives me a bit less to look forward to.

A few general nitpicks; the song in general lacks in raw percussive power. Moreover, like Bosa said, the samples sound average, and some are really synthy (like the bassoon), but you use them to their highest potential, as always.

I have more to say, and I want to expand on a few points I mentioned up here, but the character limit is upon us. Overall fantastic work, this song is so powerfully story-driven that it really takes you on a journey. Bravo.

10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.

SkyeWint responds:

Okay, I'm time-labelling my response to your review just like you did to the song. :P

0:00 ==> Tribes Gather
I LOVED doing the hand percussion in this - I've been wanting to do it for awhile. Getting the timings right and realistic-ish was a pain, but... yeah.

0:40 ==> The Building Begins
Funny, I loved that transition. :< And some people really don't like the melodies (more specifically the one at 0:51-0:54 or so). Oh well. I knew you'd love the "dum DUM"s though. :3 It's just the kind of thing you'd do after all. :P

1:40 ==> Kings and Queens
Okay yeah getting the transition as good as that was a pain and I still think it sucks. :< Best I could figure out though, so there we are. Oh well. Yes it's absolutely cliche. I kinda meant it to be like that in the section though... it felt like such a classic "medieval duet" thing to me. Don't know if you agree or not. xD

2:38 ==> Dawn of Technology
Yeah the bagpipes don't sound very realistic in the way they're played - I don't think they can really do that kind of arpeggio lol. Sounding awesome though, I TOTALLY agree. :3 Yay for inspiration. This whole section is actually a transition in itself.

3:18 ==> Oh man, I LOVED making that - using the percussion Buoy sent me as well as that organ you talked about as well as some other stuff was so much fun. I'd have loved to get a real guitar solo in there, but I don't think it would've worked.

4:00 ==> Yep, reintroduction of previous themes ftw. Makes the track so much more cohesive IMO, and then people feel like "I REMEMBER THIS :D". Adding new effects is definitely necessary though, otherwise it's just cut-and-paste. To tell the truth though, I was thinking the part with the soprano was going to be different. Just decided to do it as-is though, because whatever.

4:34 ==> Preparing for Launch/LHC
Huh, I'm surprised you didn't like the use of the flute there. It was used for a last restatement of the theme, but whatever, to each their own. There was meant to be a huge climax here yes.

4:52 ==> Into the Deep Void
Oh, why am I not surprised that you don't like this part. :( I love it, I like the final peace of it. A lot of people thought it didn't really depict space because they think it'd be more exciting, but honestly, for me, I find it extremely relaxing. And to tell the truth, it wouldn't be as exciting as most would think - there's a lot of empty space out there, and for the most part you're just... drifting. Even the planets are going faster than you. As for a final climactic ending, I DID export another version of this where it ends, but I hadn't mastered it properly yet, so there are some weird issues with levels in it. :/ I personally put this in to show what I really think it would be like to be out there.

General nitpicks:
Yeah it lacks in percussive power except in Inventing New Realities. There's a lot of percussion in that section. I didn't really have much good orchestral percussion (as you know) so I couldn't do a ton in it. The melodies are the focus, fortunately. Ah well. Maybe if I get Stormdrum. ^_^ Some of the other samples sound average, yes. That's probably Edirol - why I'm saving up for some EWQL instruments.

Expand as much as you want in skype! :D

And thanks for the review~

[Gift Of Giving Nothing]

Oh man, this is good. When you reviewed my competition submission with that "I surrender" tone I thought you had like mediocre music or something, but no. Far from it. This sounds original, creative, unique, humorous but at the same time disturbing. You REALLY know what you're doing. So don't go all "I give up" when you actually make great music please k thanks.

OK to start off, I need to commend you on making something original... maybe the style isn't entirely original (sounds very much like circus music, especially with that chime riff) but nobody ever makes music like this on Newgrounds, so it's so refreshing to hear it. Even the way you sing it is very creative and different.

Speaking of singing, your voice is actually good. You call it horrendous but yet you hit the notes perfectly and the voice itself sounds great. Excellent recording quality too. I love how the 's' sound isn't too loud... did you use a pop filter or a de-esser or something? Cool vocal harmonies; did you do those all yourself as well? By the way, lyrics are great but at times, the lines are too long and you sometimes put the accent on the wrong syllable of a word (like "present" at 1:09).

What I like the most about the singing is how you sing though. You don't hesitate at all, and sing it with a lot of movement, making it very fun to listen to. You're really not afraid to show off your voice here, and I love how you accent your voice sometimes, like adding that really clear emphasis on the words in "Christmas time's abound the air" and those over-exaggerated voice tones at "Kill all my friends if that's what it takes - All I want this year are Christmas cakes". Oh and let's not forget the massive breaths you take sometimes before a verse. Those are funny. This kind of prominent emphasis gives the song a kind of disturbing quality to it, making it very memorable, and still humorous.

Your composition is great! The chords behind the voice were quite typical and don't really take any risks, but that kind of simplicity is what gives the composition its charm. One little detail I liked quite particularly about the composition is when you add that discordant note at 2:16. You throw it in right after the vocals suddenly turn into growling, so you were able to reflect what was going on with the vocals in your chime accompaniment. It's such a small detail but damn was it a good idea. The accompaniment itself is great, especially at 0:54. Great rhythms; very fitting with the vocals.

The instrumentation, like the composition, doesn't take many risks either. It sounds very winter-like and cold; perfect for a Christmas song. You know, thanks to the instruments you use, along with the vocals, I think that, apart from maybe bassfiddlejones's submission, this is the only one that truly sounds reminiscent of a Christmas carol. Sure it's not all happy like Jingle Bells or something - in a way it's almost a parody of Christmas carols - but it still has very much of a Christmas carol vibe to it, making it very relevant to the competition. Bravo.

The one reason I'm not giving this full marks is because I don't feel that as a song it holds its own. The lyrics are well-written, the execution is great, the composition is fitting... but in the end I can't ignore the fact that this is practically the same thing from beginning to end. After listening to it once, you don't really get the satisfaction of listening to a full song. You don't really feel like it went anywhere. This is because once you've heard the first minute of the song, you've basically heard it all, and if it weren't for the varied lyrics this would get seriously repetitive.

The thing is, if you make this any more complex, it might lose a bit of the charm it has. While I certainly commend you on making something creative and executing it so masterfully, this kind of style doesn't leave you much room to take any risks and make something really satisfying to listen to. But I mean this is still a fantastic song and I'm considerably impressed. Great work; keep it up! Good luck in the contest too.

9/10
5/5

ZipZipper responds:

Wow. We think SO similarly. Umm...you kinda summed up everything I could think of about criticizing this piece, though with an added leniency, which I thank you for. I also thank you for taking the time to really review. But yeah. Let's be friends pl0x.

[Christe Redemptor Omnium]

So I've finally found the time to review one of your submissions, and while I don't feel that this is your strongest submission, it's certainly an absolutely incredible piece and still very indicative of how awesome of a composer you are. I pity da foo's who are up against you in the MAC and NAC... yeah I'm a foo.

So, first off I'm going to get the obvious out of the way. The voice is absolutely gorgeous. You could not have chosen a better style of singing and style of lyrics for your wife because her voice just works so well with it all. Every note was sung beautifully and I love the slight vibrato on some notes. Good reverb effects on the vocals too. They make the voice sound so angelic. And damn she can sing high. Did she take singing lessons or something?

Your work is also, as expected, extremely high-quality and well-made. Solid, tasteful choice of instruments. Despite the fact that you're using a piano behind those vocals which is an awfully generic technique, you don't make it sound cheesy at all. And instead of going the typical route and just throwing in some warm strings, with a few high strings in the more climatic moments like 1:03, you go the extra mile; sure you've got some warm strings, but you even throw in some lovely (but sometimes a bit tiring to listen to) woodwind instruments... and there's even a glock that's very distinctly from East/West Symphonic Orchestra, am I right? :P.

Melodies and composition in general are fantastic. You've got great chords and a good balance of low and high notes. I think the vocal melody is excellent but a bit predictable, to the point that I managed to predict quite a few notes before they were sung during my first listen. Love the chords at around 1:03 by the way! All in all you've got very solid composition.

And man, the song flows so well! Honestly, in so many aspects this song just screams professionalism. The ever so subtle entrance of the woodwind instruments at like 0:50 was so smooth and flowing, and then the little crescendo you gave them was so well-executed. And you've got that cymbal roll at 1:23. The thing about that is that there's only one other quieter instance of it in the song, so when it does come in it really stands out and tells you "Hey, this song section is important. Pay attention!".

Unfortunately, I can tell that this is rushed. While it sounds so professional and intricate, I'm hearing some almost unforgivable mixing quirks. 0:22 and 1:05 have some very clear peaking issues. Some frequency somewhere is too loud and is causing some nasty clipping. I'm perplexed why you kept it like this because I'm pretty sure you know about it and this can be fixed very quickly with a small EQing job.

On top of that, as I said above, the woodwinds can get very tiring to listen to, especially during the middle part of the song, maybe because they have very precise and penetrating frequencies, like a sine wave (although obviously not to that extent) rather than, say, beefy string chords which take up a more diverse range of the audible spectrum. I apologise but I can't think of any obvious ways of fixing this without diminishing their amazing sound too much. Might be just me anyway :3.

Other than that, your mix is very good. I'm hearing everything quite clearly; even the piano which is pretty far off in the background. And as I already said, you've got some great effects on that voice. You also make great use of the mix, and you don't leave much unattended space. The double bass especially fills up the mix so well and gives it some important depth.

One last thing to mention; I think you could have given some more love to the other instruments. As much as I love your wife's voice, you only have extremely brief instrumental sections like the awesome glock pattern at 0:40. This unfortunately reduces the replay value of this song and makes it more predictable.

There are a few issues but I mean this is an absolutely fantastic track. You've got some SERIOUS talent and I wish you the best of luck in the MAC, and NAC! Keep it up man, and fantastic work!

9/10
5/5

bassfiddlejones responds:

First off, thank you so much for taking the time to look at this piece. It means a lot!

Glad you liked the vocals! And no, she actually has never had any formal instruction in voice, just incredibly talented :)

You're absolutely right about the glock! I love that patch. And there actually are no woodwinds in this piece... I believe it was just Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass, Trumpet, Piano, and Glock. I wanted to add a full brass and partial woodwind section but didn't have time to score it.

I'm actually glad the vocal melody was somewhat predictable! That's sort of what you want in a carol - something that's easy to remember. The point of a carol is really to tell a story, the music is almost secondary. So, the more easily accessible the music is, the better the effect of the carol. That's how we've passed down our history for thousands of years, and I think we're losing the tradition in our generation. Also, I liked the chords at 1:03 too :) I tried to change things up in the background a bit.

And you're right, this was quite rushed, and it shows in some ways like the clipping. I was indeed aware of it, though I'm pretty sure it was due to some physical problems with the miking set up. I'll have to go back and check to see if it's the EQ, which would be a quick fix. Mixing is not my forte, if you haven't noticed :) Still plenty to learn! We literally finished this song about an hour before it was due, so I didn't have much time to go back :(

I'm happy you liked the effects on the voice! I had to play around a lot until I found something I liked. Also, I would have done a LOT more instrumentally if I had the time to do it. This unfortunately could only be a skeleton based on the deadline.

Thanks a ton for your feedback, Step! I take your opinions pretty seriously. Great job placing in the MAC/NAC, and good luck in the top 8!

[Jonas Wasilco~Din of War]

Oh, you got fyri52 to sing. Out of coincidence she sang for a song I worked on too, a cover of the Reset theme in Okami. Awesome.

Regarding the song, this is a neat piece of work. I LOVE your guitar work, composition, and overall this is skilfully composed. To be honest when I saw your username I expected you to be a beginner that started on FL and is making Megaman remixes so when I heard this I was (very pleasantly) surprised haha.

I'll start with some criticism. Fyri has a very nice voice but unfortunately there are some serious tuning issues here. Image-Line has a plugin called Newtone which is exactly what you need here. You'll have total control over the pitch of each sung note; it's a fantastic plugin. Also, the voice itself is a bit dry and it's hard to decipher the words. It sounds like you don't have much experience working with vocals; I had the exact same problem when I tried using vocals for the first time. My advice would be to allocate some room for them in the mix, kill the high frequencies that produce the 's' sound and give them some high-end reverb.

Thankfully, your composition is awesome. Love the guitar riff at 0:26... in fact I like all of the guitar work. You're a great guitarist and you clearly have experience making metal music. Great riffs overall, and great rhythm guitar work too. The vocal melody isn't fantastic, but it works. Most of the composition is fantastic, though.

Instrumentation could be a little more interesting, but I can't really complain. I'd love some more instruments in there, like strings or something, since drums, guitar and vocals are very standard on their own, but they can easily mud up the mix so it might not be the best of ideas. What you have right now is fantastic.

Mixing of the guitars is great. The drums' mixing is good too, but I would've liked some more power from them. As I already said, the vocals leave some improvement mixing. Transitions are spot-on (except that I'd like some more power in the transitions to the chorus), and I also like the intro; nice, simple and fitting. The ending, however, is very abrupt. I don't know if this was intentional.

This'll have to be a shorter review than what I usually write since I'm super busy. As a recap: fantastic composition and great guitar work are the strong points of this piece. The vocals need some work in general and there are a few minor flaws here and there, but all in all a great song. Keep it up :3.

7/10
4/5

Megamannt92 responds:

Thanks for the detailed review! As for my username, I made this account a long time ago haha.

Anyways...Fryi52 does have a wonderful voice, and she is great to work with. I know what you mean with the voice mix though, I'm not good at mixing vocals...All I have on the vocals is some comp and delay. I'll look into that plugin for sure!

As for other instruments I would love to add some strings, but I'm downright terrible at playing keyboard. I have a MIDI guitar but its kinda sketchy and its not the best for creating anything of quality.

[Depths of Phendrana]

About time I reviewed one of your tracks after all those reviews and feedback you left for me!

So, yeah. As usual, this is extremely impressive work. Probably one of my favourite in the whole album, and whether you're into remixing or not, you're pretty darn good at it. You've managed to interpret the original theme extremely well and have created a fantastic track out of it. And it stands out as one of the few ambient tracks in the album too!

To start off, let me commend you on the brilliant atmosphere and feeling you've got throughout the track. I'm honestly amazed by how COLD this track feels. The synths/pads are very bright, with plenty of high-end reverb and sweeps, that make this feel like I'm exploring Phendrana all over again. And even with all those high, crisp-sounding sounds and effects, you throw in an inarguably addictive bassline behind it all and it STILL sounds brilliant.

Composition-wise, I love how you've thrown in some of your own composition and integrated it so smoothly with what there already was. That bassline's melody in particular, like pretty much all your others, is fantastic. It was the same one-bar bassline throughout, and despite the fact that it's beyond me that it harmonises so well for the whole song, I think that some changes to the bassline would've been interesting. It's fine as it is though, and doesn't feel repetitive at all. Oh and as usual, spectacular guitars. Love the guitar doodling at the end.

Mixing is incredible; I think you've really outdone yourself mixing-wise. As I said above, all of the hissing and fluffy high-end stuff gives off a freezing feeling, but at the same time you don't overload that section of the mix, and everything still sounds well-rounded (except maybe the mids that could've been a very slight bit fuller). I love the bassy tones, the thump from the kick, and the clarity of everything. I also must point out how enormous you make the strings I made sound. Especially the little buildup thing I did at 2:42. It was pretty wimpy when I sent it to you but you certainly made it sound massive and encapsulating. SO MUCH TALENT.

The intro is one of my favourite intros from the whole album, if not my favourite. It probably ties with the intros of Altar of Aether, Unauthorised Access, Beyond the Glass and/or The Calm before the Fire. The ending's pretty great too. Not sure why you ended it on that weird guitar note when you had such a great ending going, but frankly it doesn't annoy me too much.

The transitions are GREAT man. Everything is so smooth. You don't really have any revolutionary transitions like the ones you had in Drifting, Endless Day of Grass Fields, etc... but they're as smooth as ice and glue each of the sections together firmly. I especially like the transition to the 'climax' halfway through and how you approached that transition. The transition at 0:39 is pretty sweet too; great introduction of the drums and solid progression from then on.

Nothing to complain about with the drums. They fit ridiculously well. I like the contrast between the abrupt and thumpy kick and the soft and light claps/snares/hats. Everything is well-balanced and clear, and the rhythms are all fitting. It's pretty darn hard to fault your drums.

Well, I haven't reached the character limit so I guess that this review is short for my standards. Oh well, I'm sure you don't mind! Incredible work all-round, I absolutely love this track and I wish you made more remixes for Harmony of a Hunter. Keep up the great work :3.
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.

[-The wanderer-]

This is an NGADM Round 5 Review.

--

Second place in the NGADM. Pretty darn amazing... And you were really close to beating Kor-Rune too. You did a fantastic job throughout the whole competition and this song reflects that!

So yeah, turns out Kor-Rune wasn't the only one to shift to a slightly different style for this round. This song is much more atmospheric and professional-sounding than your previous tracks. Not saying that your previous ones aren't professional-sounding, but this one has certain progressions, transitions, and chord choices that make it portray a very good mood-setting feeling. And it feels totally like a journey. Its length makes it very open for all sorts of imaginative storylines and by the end of it I definitely felt like I was done from some sort of adventure or journey.

What I've really got to commend you on would be your composition though. Sure, it's not super sophisticated and out of the norm like Kor-Rune's, but it's just so likeable. The melodies feel very inspired and are creatively written. Everything sounded really catchy and the thematic motifs were all compositionally solid and very memorable. The highlights of the composition, for me, would undoubtedly be the motif at 1:09, the chord choices at 2:59, the descending melody at 4:49 (and the wonderfully subtle transition to it) and the harmonies at around 5:44.

The atmosphere and sounds are probably the highlights of this glorious piece of work. Something that you've always excelled in is being able to showcase sounds that don't usually fit well together or aren't standardised in any particular genre, and over here it's certainly no exception. You've got such a variety and diversity of instruments, some which I can't even name. I'm hearing a piano, glock, strings, choir, a guitar, bongos, and all sorts of percussion. And then you've got breathy sound effects like the one at 4:18 which come out of nowhere but fit so well. All of these sounds created a superb atmosphere that certainly makes this stand out from other songs of this genre.

The percussion, by the way, is extraordinarily good. You achieved such a pristine balance between having a light percussive section and still giving the percussion a sophisticated feeling, even adding some heavy bass drums, snares and crash cymbals. Truth is, I absolutely loved the percussion. This kind of percussion line is something I've dreamt of getting right for months, but I've never managed to make something nearly as good as this. The beat is just so chill and fitting. I especially like the extremely soft percussion you incorporate at parts like 2:45. It just works so well. Awesome intro and outro too, can't complain about any of them.

While I admittedly feel that this deserves a slightly higher score than Kor-Rune's track, I can still hear a few issues, the main one being similar to Kor-Rune's issue; that it just doesn't remain sounding interesting and fresh throughout. While you've got a variety of different moods and atmospheres, the whole track generally stays pretty low-key and nothing incredibly exciting happens.

Yeah, the song has its moments, but the thing is, it just latches on to certain motifs for far too long and nothing revolutionary happens in-between; the trademark of background music. but as I've always said, in the NGADM we don't judge songs as background music, but as standalone songs, and unfortunately, after the first few listens this track gets quite uninteresting. This can be fixed by adding in more interesting parts instead of spending considerably lengthy periods of time setting a mood.

And wouldn't it be amazing to get a reiteration of the theme at 1:09 towards the end, in a really glorious and massive climax? That would give the listener something to anticipate rather than just allow the song to die down at the end. It'll also help round the song up nicely.

So yeah, my only complaint is that for an eight minute song, this can often get quite uninteresting. However, you've done every other aspect of the song so ridiculously well that it leaves me amazed.

--

9.5/10

[Venus]

This is your NGADM Round 5 Review.

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SO, you won the competition! Congrats AGAIN for claiming first place! I've got to say that I'm really glad you found out about the NGADM. Otherwise I wouldn't have ever listened to AWESOME MUSIC like this.

You know this is a pretty noticeable change in style from what you usually make. I mean I can still tell this is yours, especially in the style of singing (and the actual voice of course) but this feels a lot more rhythmic and structured than your previous works. It's totally not scatterbrained at all which was a really nice change. I actually think your structure is pretty damn awesome, and I especially love your progression to bits. You really managed to make everything flow well and your transitions are also fantastic.

Moreover, I'm hearing some lovely details. The subtle snare roll at 0:53, the orgasmic little melodic embellishment at 1:00, the new layer of rhythm guitar that plays at 1:27, the AMAZING descending scale at 1:39 (seriously that little detail makes me smile every time), the organ in the background at 1:54, the hissing at 2:38... I can honestly go on and on. Lovely brass solos too. Kudos to camoshark for that.

This is also has some of the best singing from all of the songs I've heard from you so far. I love how your vocal line fits so well with the song. Truth be told, sometimes the vocals in your previous songs (with the exception of Don't We All) sounded a bit tacked on at times, as if you first made the song and then tried to fit in the vocals wherever you can, but here you seem to have integrated them a lot better. I love the parts where you've got the words timed with those heavy guitar strums and drum hits such as at 0:07. It fit very well and really made the track enjoyable. Lyrics are awesome too, and it's cool that you talked about Venus. Venus is pretty underrated, since Mercury's closest to the Sun so most people think Mercury is the hottest planet in our solar system, when in reality Venus is, thanks to the greenhouse effect. BUT I DIGRESS.

Your mixing... man. Amazing. Sounds a little heavier and bassier than what you usually make but still, wow. The guitars especially sound exceptional. My only complaint mixing-wise is that the vocals in the intro at the very beginning blare out a bit too much. Usually I wouldn't complain about something like that but since it's the start of a song, the vocals do come in as a bit of an unpleasant surprise. I do like your new approach for an intro though, and I love how it starts with just vocals and then the drums and guitar kick in. Nice idea. Ending's pretty awesome too. I would've let the last note ring for another five seconds or so, slowly fading out, but that's just me.

The reason I gave this a 9 rather than a 10 is that this feels a lot less like the revolutionary jazz/metal fusion music you've made in previous rounds and becoming a bit more standardised. Sure, it's still revolutionary and has great composition as usual... but it just doesn't have the great atmospheres Omniwitch presents, the amazing diversity of Child of the Trough, and the interesting approaches of Chemicals.

The consequence of this is that it just isn't all that interesting throughout. You might've tried too hard to avoid making it scatterbrained and all-over-the-place since now you can almost say it's gone to the other extreme. The guitar rhythms supported by punchy drums and stretched-out vocal notes got pretty old eventually, and while this features awesome brass solos and guitar riffs (and a very welcomed reintroduction of the main theme at 4:45 with new melodic layers and an awesome melodic change at 5:06), it just doesn't feel like it does 7 minutes justice. The only real break was towards the end. You've got to find a balance between making it structured and making sense (which you nailed) and keeping it diverse and interesting...

Still, I'm honestly just nitpicking here. This is wonderful and I have yet to hear something from you that changes my opinion of you being one of the best artists on Newgrounds. Great work!

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9/10

Kor-Rune responds:

Thank you for the detailed and length review! I'm happy the NGADM exists, I could've never put together the motivation to write music by myself. <:

Yeah, I don't write a lot of fast and loud music, but I was willing to try this time around, see if I could do it. I think my voice is a little too frail and innocent for loud stuff, but who cares XD

2:38 hissing pad is secretly overused for all of NGADM, LOL. I hope I made it subtle enough, I used it in every track I've submitted for the competition except Don't We All.

And you are right, all the tracks except Don't We All had vocals tacked on after I wrote the track. I had a different writing process for Venus, a process that actually included vocals as I wrote. For the entire competition except Venus, I actually ignored the writing process and went straight to recording, I guess that is how I end up losing my train of thought and going to something completely different and irrelevant. Oh well, now that I have more than 2 weeks to make a song, and a dickload of fantastic feedback, it won't be a problem any longer! <:

yeah man Venus is pretty brutal, I was reading about it in the Guiness Book of World Records at work. Honestly though, when I can't think of lyrics I just write about space, cause there's usually enough crazy shit happening out there to talk about.

I agree about it getting boring, I ended up trying to compensate with a bunch of inconsistent guitar effects, layers, harmonies, and of course, the presence of lyrics. cause a voice always makes a boring section exciting <: until the voice gets boring LOL

Thanks again for the awesome review Step! I had fun with the competition and am looking forward to next year!