Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Guitar Partitia #1 - Romance]

Amazing!

You've seriously left me speechless. I really don't know what to say about this piece. It's just so amazing that I can't find much to comment about, and trust me, it takes a lot to leave me speechless... Well, I'm part of the RRC, so I'd better think of something to say.

The composition is obviously the highlight of this track, and it's really well done. Those melodies are extraordinary and every section had a totally new theme to it, each melody sounding more amazing than the previous one. I think my favourite part would be a tie between the second section and 3:22 onwards, but all of it sounds superb. Extraordinary job with the melodies, they're among the best I've heard in a long while.

Naturally, the only downfall in this would be the performance. Not to say you played it badly because you didn't, but there are a few mistakes or bad timing, which distract the listener a bit. Furthermore, like in your other piece, this could be a bit louder. Could be me and my obsession to loudness, but I think you could definitely amplify this by at least 5 decibels and not reach any clipping.

TL;DR: this song is amazing. You have a real talent at playing the guitar, and I hope you develop it even more :D.
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.

-Review Request Club-

Darkmaster603 responds:

haha Thanks! I can play this a lot better now, it's just finding the time to record it. I mostly do live performances, so recording is kind of tedious to me sometimes. My nails were also a bit too long at the time, which can cause me to hit some different strings. I try to increase the volume, but it ends up making the quality bad when you turn it up louder. The guitar is a chamber instrument, so it's not going to be the loudest, but I'm trying different techniques to get the most volume out of it, I even gbought a second mic to record in stereo and hopefully get more volume out of it.

Thanks for the lengthy review =D

[Arial Overveiw]

Not bad at all!

Like sixflab, I also think that this is a big change from what you usually make. You seem to be good at making both electronic AND orchestral, so I'm pretty impressed. While this sounds a bit odd, I still liked it for some reason. Keep it up!

The melodies are pretty strange, I have to admit. The melody you had playing at the beginning sounded like you grabbed a normal melody and reversed it, but maybe the weird sounds give this a unique touch to it. Some melodies later on in the song were really catchy.

The one thing which I don't like though would be the fact that it's not easy to keep track of any distinctive melody. The mix is quite blurry and that topped up with the weird sounds make this a pretty hard song to understand, if you get what I mean. Maybe the synths have a strange attack, maybe they need to be EQ'd and stereo separated more, maybe the LFO on the synths is messing everything up, but there's just something in this track that makes the sounds sort of blur together or sound cluttered and make them hard to understand, especially later on in the song. Probably the culprit would be a compressor/limiter though. If you take a glance at the waveform of this song, you can clearly see that it's straight at the top and bottom, indicating the use of a compressor/limiter in the master channel.

The synths as I said above were pretty weird, but I like them. While I think the synths you used could have a crisper sound to them, they're pretty good. Still, what impressed me most weren't your synths but the excellent pads and effects in the background, which really make this song match with its name. The reverb you used was quite excessive, but gave this track a deep sound to it, which did wonders to the atmosphere. Very nice effect at 0:24 too. As a recap, the synths are weird but quite unique, and the atmosphere made in the background with reverbed pads/effects was superb. By the way, the first few seconds are silence; was that purposefully made to match with the intro or something, because if not, it's pretty useless silence, lol.

The transitions are very good this time round. Loved the transition to bring the drums in at 0:27. The song actually flowed very smoothly, so nice job. I also liked the drum roll you did every now and again in the song, it also helped the transitions quite a bit.

The structure was decent. This song had a constant buildup till the end where it ends with a final note, which had a decent structure, and I can definitely see this as music to a game intro. The variety was good, and while the background didn't change much, you had a good variety of different sounds which keep the listener interested. When it comes to the intro, I think it could have been better. Not taking into account the weird silence at the beginning, the intro was pretty plain and bland when it started. Sure, then the reverbed pads and effects came in, compensating for the plain part at the beginning, but I think the intro should have another sound playing in the background. On the other hand, the ending was fine.

The drums were pretty decent, but unfortunately they sound almost lifeless as they are. While I love the transition to the drums at 0:27, from then on I wasn't really that impressed with the drums. The cymbals you had playing along with the kick (which is extremely weak, by the way) and snare were really quiet. The drum roll was good, as I said, but the main beat could definitely use some work. Also, turn the drums up a bit, it's not easy to hear them. Still, the drums were pretty good (I think the snare should have some more reverb though).

Well, in conclusion, this is a great track. I'm impressed, and I enjoyed listening to it. It has nice transitions, an awesome background atmosphere, unique sounds, good melodies, a good structure/variety even for a short song like this and a nice outro. My suggestions would be to work on the intro, the drums, the weird mix, and a few other nitpicks I mentioned. That being said, the song is fun to listen to, so good job and keep up the great work!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

[Hymn of the ancients - TTC CHG]

Great!

I suppose I can't give this any lower than a 10/10. It's at atmospheric track, and a very well done one. The three different sections fit really well with each story, it has almost professional instrumentation, and the atmosphere you made was excellent. This isn't really something I'd listen to, but that's strictly my opinion, and I'm still giving full marks because this does its job well as an atmospheric piece. Good job!

The composition in this is fantastic, especially the melodies played by the piano. I really don't think I can say much about the melodies. I especially liked the different atmospheres you conveyed in each section. In the first one you can clearly hear a peaceful and wondrous atmosphere, in the second one you can hear the suspense, and the last powerful part had quite a good atmosphere too. Superb job with the atmospheres and melodies.

The instruments are also good quality and chosen very well. I especially liked your use of choirs in this. Those wind chimes at the beginning were a nice touch, as well. The one thing that I think might help over here is if you turn the track up a bit more. I can't begin to tell you how much more I enjoyed this track by turning my volume up higher than it should be. Although that's probably just me.

Transitions were good, although I think the transitions from one section to another could use some work. You simply stopped one section, left some silence, and started the next for the first transition and for the second you suddenly made the song more powerful, catching the listener by surprise. For a background track, I definitely think this needs smoother transitions. Still, overall the transitions weren't too bad.

I can't really comment much about the structure and variety since the structure of this is simply three completely different sections and the variety is obviously great since no patterns are repeating themselves, so good job I suppose :P. The intro and outro were both fantastic and I won't complain about them either. The intro was quite majestic and a good way to start the song, and the ending was also good.

As for the percussion, it was very mighty and powerful, namely in the third section. I was pretty surprised when the percussion decided to disappear after the percussion hit at 1:02. I expected it to go on a little longer. Still, other than that, the percussion was eye-widening, if you can take that as a compliment :3.

So yeah, in general this is a really good track. Other than maybe making this louder, improving the transitions in between each section and maybe keeping the percussion going a little longer in the third section, I think this is really amazing and I hope you keep up the excellent work!
10/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Calamaistr responds:

The CD version is slightly louder :)

Anyway, this is perhaps the least of the tracks on this album not that its bad ofcourse, just expect better things. ;)

And thanks for the elaborate review man.
s'good.

-cal.

[Sibm]

Superb.

I had to review the flash game which uses this song since it was requested in a club I'm in, the Review Request Club, and in it there's a choice of 3 songs. This one beats each one of them by far and I always keep it playing while I'm playing the game. It's actually quite unique for a techno song, especially the beat, and choice of synths. Excellent job on this, you really seem to know your way around your DAW, especially if this was made a year before you uploaded it :P. Also, what does Sibm mean? Does it have to do with B Minor (bm)? xD.

The melodies are great. Loved all of the new melodies that came in, which all built on the first melody that plays at the beginning (even that was catchy). I would've liked to see a bit more changes in the chord progression, but still, the chord progression you used wasn't generic and sounded great. Loved the small break at 2:54, and the great melody that followed it. I think one of the few things I would've wished to see more of would be solos. You had some really awesome sections in the song, yet there were rarely any parts where the song goes a bit quiet and some synth plays an epic solo before continuing with the song. Still, I'm a fan of solos, so that's probably my bias :3.

The synths were also amazing. None of them were unoriginal or cheesy. I mean really, I expected some cheesy dance/techno saw lead to take over and make me go 'Oh alright, this is just like the other cheesy songs...', but all of the new synths were interesting and fit with each other very week. While I would welcome a few more pads, I'm not that much of an expert at techno as much as I am at Orchestral and Trance, so maybe pads won't work. Basically, all of the synths were chosen really well. I really like the Video-Game-like feel that the sounds you used give out. Nice job!

The transitions were all pristine and I can't seem to point out any transitions which sound weird. At first I thought the transition to the small break at 2:54 was way too abrupt, but when the song kept on playing, I was impressed so it doesn't matter. New synths were all introduced well, and I also liked the fact that throughout the song you had a lot of sections where you introduce a new synth every few bars, building up to some fantastic climaxes. Transitions/buildups were superb.

Structure was very cool, and I enjoyed every new section you threw in. However, as you said, the variety could use a bit of work, but strangely, even though I really hate it when songs repeat a lot, this song didn't end up that repetitive, to be honest. Probably because it's so awesome. The intro was an excellent way to start the song, although I think the ending could be a bit better. In my opinion, you should go to 4:58 where there's the last note with the heavy plucked saw, and add a crash cymbal right where it plays. Then, fade out whatever plays after it. If you don't get what I mean but want to get what I mean, send me a PM :P.

The drums are probably some of the most original and unique drum styles I've ever heard in a techno song. Hell, the drums had a hip-hop style to them, with snaps, hi-hats and a hip-hop beat, yet they fit so darn well with the song. I mean wow, I expected a song like this to have techno drums, but I was so wrong. The beat sounded excellent, and while at times it got a bit too drowned out by the synths and was a little hard to hear, and at other times it got a slight bit repetitive, I still think the drums are near-perfect. Good job on the drums!

In conclusion, overall I really like this song. Trust me when I tell you that I'm no fan at all of Techno songs, since I prefer Orchestral or Trailerscore much much more, so getting me to download a techno song these days is a feat that only a very small amount of talented Techno artists have done, and you're one of them :D. Keep up the amazing work, I hope to see (hear) more excellent songs like this from you!
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.

-Review Request Club-

Hey if you don't mind, can you maybe review my song Racing Through Eternity? :3.
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/322854

Drawoh responds:

wow O.o
Awesome review!!

I gotta say, you sure do know how to review a song with all that wisdom on your side :P
I'd like every review to be like this one, expressing everything they feel and hear about the song.

Thank u very much for just stopping by and taking your time to write a review.

( and yeah, its B minor, didn't know how to name the song at the moment :D )

[{-=Bugg=-} Fresh Start]

Hm...

I have to admit, for your first Trance song, I'm very impressed. The production is decent, it has some good effects, and it's well structured. The drums were also pretty good too. Actually you seem to know what you're doing, as if you've been doing Trance for at least a month or two :D. Unfortunately, while I was extremely impressed by this being your first Trance song, it still requires a bit of work.

Melodies are probably what annoyed me the most here. They were very simple and repetitive. Whilst they are slightly catchy and echo in your head a little after you finish hearing the song, they just don't cut it. It sounds like you used only like 5 or 6 different notes for the main melody, and this combined with the fact that it repeats so much makes the song get quite boring, unfortunately.

Another thing is, as Fro said, that this song is quite generic. I agree with Fro that Trance songs such as this one limit what you can do quite a bit, but if you look at some songs here on NG (such as this one [remove space]: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/300653) you can see that even with such a limited genre you can achieve a unique sound (if you hear the song I linked above, you'll hear a guitar, a melody made of voice-like sounds, and some cool snare/sweep effects. This song has quite generic synths, and I think it could definitely benefit with some cooler, more unique sounds :).

The synths, as I said above, were generic. While I like some of the reverb you put on the synths, this could do with some better synths. Heck, maybe even add a real instrument like a guitar, or maybe F-777 style and add a pan flute xP. Also, some pads in the break would work well.

The transitions were great. There were some reverse cymbals and sweeps to transit from one section to another, and new synths were introduced really well. The transition at 3:23 was also very good. The only transition I'll complain about is the one at 2:00. While it's not actually a bad transition, I think it could definitely do with being more interesting or smooth. Also, as Fro said, the break that follows was too quiet. Well, not exactly too quiet, but just too plain. Add some soft pads, maybe a few subtle sound effects and stuff. I don't think that break really achieved what it supposed to achieve, which is the listener going "Oh wow that is so cool" because instead I just went "Eh?" :P. So while it's good to have a few breaks here and there, I think this break lacks in the epic department a little...

The structure was a typical Trance structure. It starts with a minimal beat, a kick/clap comes in with a sweep, the kick disappears for a bar, a melodic synth is introduced, the main melody fades in, plays a little, then a break, a buildup, repeats a bit more, and the the song ends. It's a good structure, but I think you should be a bit more creative in your structure. I really don't know how many times I've hear the same structure in Trance songs... As for the variety, it wasn't too special :/.

Intro, albeit generic, was good. Transitions over here were professionally executed, and the buildup was good. I've heard the exact same intro in another Trance song though xD. Anyway, as for the ending, it was OK, but you might want to end it with the percussive hit you did at 2:27. Right now, it sounds a bit unfinished, if you get what I mean :/.

The drums, whilst being typical Trance drums, were good. I was hoping to see some cool percussive sounds here and there in the drums, although all I got were open hats, kicks, and reverbed claps. Still, the drums fit pretty well in the song, and although I think your kick could be a bit bassier, drums in all were good ^^.

Overall, this is excellent for your first Trance song. My biggest gripe with it would be that it's really generic, so I think that in your future Trance songs, originality may be what you should go for :). Still, even though I gave you an 8, I must say that I'm still impressed by this, so keep it up and good luck in your future submissions :D.
8/10
5/5 - since it's your first Trance :3.

-Review Request Club-

BuggMusic responds:

Thank you for such a long review! I will take all this advice!

[Stargenx - Summer Sun]

Very nice!

This really is relaxing, and although at times in the song I started to lose interest, this still has soothing melodies and a great atmosphere to it, and it surely is not deserving of its current score of 1.90. This definitely fits with its name too, and when you can imagine yourself in the scene that the song is depicting, then you know that it's a good song. Keep it up!

The melodies are all very nice and calming. The lead guitar's melodies sounded excellent and the pitch bending on it was very well executed. You also definitely can't fault those string melodies which really bring the track forward. The high strings set off a great mood and the acoustic guitar in the background had great accompanying melodies. You also had a decent amount of different melodies, sometimes played by a piano, other times by a guitar, other times by strings, etc... This gave the track a good amount of variety as well.

Unfortunately, some parts still need some work. To be honest, at 1:16-ish I started to lose interest, until 1:26 when the calmer part came in, so maybe that part could use a new addition to it. Also, I think that having a few crash cymbals, or at least splash cymbals, would definitely help introduce new parts to the listener, especially at 0:21, 2:13 and 2:48. Finally, the 'climax' of the song before the end at around 2:49 didn't leave as much of an impact as I would've wanted it to.

The instruments, on the other hand, were brilliant. I loved the sound of the strings, and the guitar was great, The piano was also a nice addition and I wish I saw more of it, especially playing piano chords and stuff. Ah well xD. You know, even though the instruments don't really sound like it, this seems to really remind me of the game Okami's soundtrack for some weird reason, especially during the intro when the strings come in or in the more busy parts of the song. Anyway, whatever, overall the choice of instruments was great, and I don't think I'd ask for any new instrument since they all sounded excellent with each other.

The transitions on the whole were nice and smooth, just like a relaxing song like this should have, although some transitions did sound a little rough, still. Yeah, I know, I'm fussy with transitions xP. Anyway, I think some transitions sound a little rough or abrupt because they suddenly cut off all notes for a few milliseconds, which I personally don't like much :P. I'm talking about the transitions at 1:15 and 2:12. Still, I like the transition at 2:46-ish, although as I said, what follows could be more climatic and powerful as the song comes to an end. I also liked the transition at the beginning when the drums come in, and even though I think that it could do with a crash cymbal, I was surprised how well the drums fit with the melodies.

As for the structure, it's very good. Aside from the fact that it lacks a climax at the end, your structure was fantastic. So was the variety, since the song never seemed to get repetitive. When it comes to the intro, it was also amazing since you introduced new things gradually, plus the guitar started the song up well. The ending was good although the last note could definitely be longer and resonate a little more, since it ended really short and abrupt like that...

The drums fit extremely well with the song, and while they did get a bit repetitive, the drums overall sound great. I think you could add a few open cymbals a half beat before the second snare hit of the beat sometimes, since that always comes out cool. The kick sounded nice, and so did the snare. An all around good job with the drums!

To summarize, I like this song. It has its problems such as the short note at the end, the repetitive drums, the slightly rough transitions here and there, the lack of open cymbals or crash cymbals and the uninteresting part at 1:16-ish, but the melody as usual is excellent and the atmosphere is awesome. So yeah, I think sixflab was a bit too harsh xP. Keep it up!
9/10
5/5 - Oh my god, this got so badly 0-bombed T_T. I'll 5-bomb for a few days.

-Review Request Club-

Stargenx responds:

Thanks for the review! :D
I think that it could use some cymbals, actually. I haven't listened to it in a while. The parts you say sounded boring were originally meant to have some vocals but I couldn't finish them. :(
Your point about the transitions is duly noted.

[Pimp that Space Ship]

You gotta love this song...

Wow, man. Never knew you were so good at making music xP. I mean, heck, if you took part in the NG Audio Deathmatch you would've gotten far. Lol, whatever, this song is really cool. I think it deserves its spot as Miscellaneous, because there's a mixture of Funk, Groove, Blues and Techno, all blended together so flawlessly to create something worthy of the 9 I gave it. Good job!

The melodies are just so catchy. Some aren't really that memorable, but others will echo around in your head for ages, especially the ones played by that quirky synth at 0:59. The stuff playing in the background was all awesome too. The bass, the pads, the drums, the high bells, the square-synth-ish thing, and the guitar, along with a few really nice effects. I mean, wow, there's so much to listen to! Best part is, the song never gets too cluttered or messy at the same time :D...

My only complaint over here is that this lacks some really epic guitar or synth solo. If not for a decent amount of time, at least for a few seconds, making it a sort of memorable moment to the song (a good example would be 1:04 in the de Blob main menu theme - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wQ2r8 o4w8A [remove space]). While I really like the melodies, I can't really say 'Oh, this is my favourite part!' to this song, since it doesn't have any climaxes or breaks. I was practically dying for one, even if for a few seconds :P.

The instruments all sound very good, and the amount of instruments were varied, with all of them sounding different to each other, as EmperorCharlemagne said. I think the guitar sounds a little thin and the bass could give a bit more of an impact in the song since it's a bit weak, but other than that, the instruments all sound incredibly awesome. The synth sounded very cool and the pad was spacey and yet still fit with the funk/groove-like instruments. Effects were also well done, although I would've liked to see some more space/warp-like effects. Might be just me though, I like space sound effects :3. Stellar job with the instruments! :D.

Transitions were also out of this world. The song flowed really really smoothly, and I love the transition at 0:57. Some notes cut off abruptly in this song (such as the note at the end [2:31]) which provided a weird and rough transition to the next note, but still, who cares about nitpicks anyway. New instruments were introduced really well, except the guitar which could've come in a little more smoothly with, maybe, pitch-bending. Small buildup in the intro was cool :3.

The song structure is good. Aside from the fact that this could do with a few more memorable parts in the song, the song was very well structured. The variety, on the other hand, could definitely use some work. The more I listen to it, the more I think that it needs a few more changes. The beat stayed the same for the whole song, the main instrument only changed once, and the background was somewhat the same for the whole song. Give it a few more changes, I'm sure that a solo of some sort will help you out in stopping the song from becoming repetitive :).

Still, the intro was among one of the best intros I've heard in a very long time, with a really nice filter effect automation to start the song up. I can't say the same for the ending though... It sounded really awkward, to tell you the truth. The synth played on its own for a bit too long and sounded as if all the instruments deserted it and left it to try and entertain the listener, until it finds out it's failing so it goes quiet too :P. Maybe you might consider a fade-out, I think it'll work well in a song like this...

The drum beat was really nice, and so were the samples, although the beat didn't change throughout the whole song. Just some shakers and a snare every other beat. I think if you vary it a bit more, at least giving it a few small changes here and there, it'd sound much better.

Overall, I enjoyed this submission a LOT, and even though it has some problems, I'm still downloading it :D. Keep up the awesome work!
9/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Syntrus responds:

Maybe i'll shoot some keyboard solo into this to diversify. I am in the market for a modern FM synth at the moment. So I think once I have saved up for my new synth this is item one. Yeah man I wish more people knew about my skillz. Thanks for the wordy insightful review. I have always struggled a bit with transitions. I am working on it.

[Etude #2 - Valse de la Chagrin]

Love it!

I think this is better than the other submission 'Minuet in F' (even though that sounds good as well :D), although that's probably because I prefer minor way more than major, but whatever, this song is absolutely amazing. I never really liked songs with an acoustic guitar only, but this is probably why I make exceptions. Keep up the great work, this really is awesome :D.

The melody is obviously the strong point of this submission, and it sure is good. I definitely can't find anything wrong with the melody. It was fast-paced, yet at the same time soothing and calm. Good use of arpeggios too. I think the only thing I can complain about would be that I think some of the plucks at 0:37 were a bit too loud and seemed to stand out too much in this. Other than that, amazing melodies. Atmosphere was brilliant as well.

In this paragraph I usually comment about your choice of instruments and instrument quality, but since you only have one instrument being a guitar, I guess there's not really much to say :P. The guitar sounds great and the recording quality was also good ^^. One thing that might make this better is if you add some strings (i.e., a violin, or maybe a cello instead). I'd really love to add some strings to this myself if you don't mind (I have some extremely high quality string samples from East/West Symphonic Orchestra Silver) but I don't have the time and I'm too inexperienced in music to figure out all of the notes of this :C.

The transitions are all extremely smooth. Like sixflab, I love how you transitioned the notes to create such a smooth melody without any roughness or abruptness (except those plucked notes I mentioned, although that could be just me). The structure was amazingly well done, and so was the variety. Intro was perfect, and the outro was as well. Gah, do something wrong for once, I'm tired of complimenting :P.

Overall, this is a really nice piece. You definitely know how to make nice melodies, and you're awesome at playing the guitar. Nothing much wrong with this submission, so I'll have to give it a 10. Keep it up!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Darkmaster603 responds:

Thanks for the lengthy review, I had bad nails at the time, and I think my ring finger nail was broken, so the picking was pretty...meh. I'm glad you liked it though, and thanks for the long review. I always keep this stuff in mind in future compositions.

Thanks for the review!

[Big Cats]

Cool :D

I like this submission. While I don't think it's your best, I'm still impressed. The lyrics are pretty cool, and the music itself is very catchy and I really enjoyed hearing it. The song picked up quite a bit towards the end, which I really liked, and now it's stuck in my head. Ah well, awesome job on this, man!

The melodies are brilliant. Well, I don't really like the melodies of the vocals much, but the guitars' melodies sounded really good, especially at 1:02 onwards. There isn't really much wrong with the melodies of the guitars (even though I think that the bassline could be a little better), but my main gripe with this would be the lyrics.

As sixflab said, the microphone is a bit too close to you when you're singing. In addition to that, the recording quality wasn't too good, even though I heard worse, but then again that isn't really your fault so I won't really whine about that. The singing was decent, but I think the lyrics definitely need to be a bit more lively, since they sound as if you're singing them while half asleep xD. Also, the lyrics were quite hard to understand, so I'm grateful you posted the lyrics.

The guitars were all nice quality, and the instruments all complimented each other extremely well. I think I heard more than just guitars in this submission, which really makes this song distinguishable from any other indie songs similar to this. Not really anything wrong with the instruments, nice job! Volume levels were also fantastic (except the lyrics which should be louder).

The transitions are also really smooth, except the one at the beginning where the vocals and drums seemed to jump out of nowhere (this might sound better if you did a drum roll before this part starts or something similar). The structure was really good, and as I said, I like how the song got more and more busy as it progressed. However, I think this lacks some bass or guitar solos though. The structure wasn't really that complex; you simply built the song up, introducing element after element, and then faded the whole thing out. Give it a few more solos and stuff to keep the listener interested. Variety was great, but the lyrics at the end got very repetitive. The intro was alright, but the outro was simple a fade outro and I don't usually like fade outros.

The drums were excellent. I liked the beat, even if it was quite simple, and the samples were great. The drums were also the right volume and I could hear them pretty well even though there were so many different instruments playing in the foreground. My only complaint which has to do with the drums was that they were so repetitive. I guess it might be me and my bias, but I don't really like drums which stay the same beat with a few open hats as small changes for almost two minutes and a half. I'm not saying to completely change the beat to other random beats throughout the song, but giving it more changes, maybe even adding some parts where the drums are softer would definitely help.

In conclusion, I think this is a really cool submission. I don't really like the vocals (although that's a biased opinion, since I never like vocals in general unless they're REALLY well done and not cheesy) and some aspects of the song were repetitive, but still, this is a great submission. Keep up the awesome work!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Sawdust responds:

THANKS SO MUCH! Man it feels great to know that a submission of mine is good! I'm not a singer by trade but I really felt like writing a song with lyrics, so sorry for making the song suffer with my singing :P

I'm so glad that you liked it, thanks so much for the review, I'm glad just reading it. THANKS AGAIN.

[Cobalt [DEMO]]

Hm...

Well, I can't say it was horrible. For your fifth submission, it's good, although you yours31f (:D) can get better if you keep on practicing, as sixflab said. It's a pretty cool submission overall, although it sounds quite peculiar and could definitely do with more work. Not a bad job though, you're on the right track and you seem to be improving at a good rate! :)

The melody was really strange for a Techno song. Sure, the note gliding was alright, and gave the song a unique touch to it, but still, the melody was weird. The chord progression was good, but the melody could definitely use more work. Don't worry though, it took me a while to get used to making decent melodies too :P. Also, maybe you could make the bass a bit more... busy? It just plays on the offbeat and gets a little plain. Also, this definitely needs more melodies. Add some breaks, solos, and different melodies, since this just sounds too plain and basic.

As for the synths, the bass sounded fine, but the main synth was really strange. Maybe you could change it to some sort of square lead; they usually do pretty well for pitch bending, gliding, etc... or you can just add some multisaw or something. In addition, there really weren't many instruments. No pads at all, no gated synths, nothing. Just a weird lead and a plain bass playing on the offbeat. Add a few more instruments and give the song a bit more depth. Also, the song is pretty dry to be honest, especially the clap/snare. I think this really needs some reverb in the master channel or at least some reverb on the clap/snare and maybe the lead. It could also help to give you a bit more depth.

Transitions were OK, although there weren't really many in this song. You could've introduced the lead a bit more nicely, maybe a fade in of it, or some pitch bending effect before the lead enters the song, although other than that the transitions were decent. The structure, on the other hand, isn't good. You just had the same bass playing for the whole song and a peculiar lead coming in and repeating the same melody over and over again. As I said above, add some solos, breaks, etc... This song doesn't really have a distinguishable climax either...

The intro was alright, but the ending was strange. You mark this as a song, yet it works better as a loop, and even as a loop it doesn't work too well. If you want to make it a song, firstly, you have to make it much longer, and secondly, you should give it some powerful final note and leave some silence at the end. If you want to loop it, then fade out the lead before it loops, since it's the lead which interferes with the loop right now.

Drums weren't that good. Just a really generic kick per beat and clap/snare every other beat. You didn't even add any open cymbals or hat lines. Sure, the samples were OK if not a bit weak, but the beat itself was extremely simple. Not to mention the fact that the drums remained the same for the whole song without even a minor change in them here or there.

In all, this isn't too bad, but you can tell it's made by a beginner. I'm not saying for you to give up, because I think that if you keep on trying, you'll definitely get better. This has a number of problems, but it's better than the average standard that I see from beginners here on NG. I wish you luck in your next songs :D.
5/10
5/5 because this got 0-bombed.

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