Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[xKore - Moments]

Wow...

I've never been a fan of Progressive Trance, but this was done so well that I enjoyed listening to it up till the last second. Great job, it sounds really great! I think I heard your last one already, and from what I remember, it was nowhere close as good as this, so this is a real improvement to the old one.

The melodies are really nice, especially the ones on that high bell. They stay bouncing around in my head even when I press the mute button. The saw synth's tunes that came in at around 2:00 were really cool too. I can't really find many things wrong with the melodies. Perhaps this needs another one or two alternate melodies, but that isn't too much of a problem. I'll have to agree with Blackhole12 though: the sidechaining is a bit much, especially at 2:00, and although it's used quite a lot in songs like this, it'd be nice to hear the melodies at their full potential ;). By the way, I really liked the solo at 3:30, it was a good way to start the song's ending. I just hoped that the solo at 3:30 would've been a different melody other than the one that you used throughout the song. Even if it sounds so nice, I think some more melody variety would do wonders to a song that's already as good as this. Sorry for the long and unorganised paragraph :(.

The instruments are all amazing. Saw synth sounded excellent and the bell synth was really cool, but what I really liked was the pad. It sounds so soothing and yet it fits so much in this song. I don't think there's anything wrong with your instruments. You could add a piano somewhere, since I think it would be fitting in a song like this, but I won't reduce any points because you didn't add a piano: it's just a suggestion ;). The sound effects you used in this song are amazing as well, and left me enjoying the song till the end. Loved the sound effect at around 1:28, and the one at 2:58 or so as well. This song was practically covered with effects, and they were all executed flawlessly. Also, are those vocal samples or something at around 0:59? Whatever they are, they sounded really good in the song. Guh, sorry for another long paragraph, I should work on shortening them...

The transitions are perfect, andI especially enjoyed the transitions with the effects in them, such as 1:28 and 2:58. I don't think there are any rough transitions, and new instruments were introduced well too, for example the saw synth at 2:00; you faded it in instead of introduced it suddenly, which was great. Buildups were done very well, but I guess that's Progressive Trance for me then :\.

The structure is perfect for the genre you were going for, and variety is great too. I usually don't like Progressive Trance songs because they always start with a beat, build that beat up, and use it throughout the whole song, but you varied your beats very well, so either I got a bad impression of Progressive Trance or your song is an exception from all of the repetitive songs with that genre that I've heard. When remembering how important the drums are in this song, it's important to give them variety, and you did a great job on that.

The intro was awesome, and had a fantastic drum buildup to it, but when it comes to the ending, it's not perfect. I think that the song needs a final note to it other than a drum hit. After you did that solo, I expected the bells to end the song, so maybe if you played a final note with the bells, it'd be better.

I shouldn't say much about the drums since I'm running out of characters, but I'll just say that I really liked your samples. Reverse kicks were awesome, and the variety of samples you used was amazing. The only thing I'd suggest is making them a slight bit softer, since they're starting to take over the melodies a slight bit too much, and sound a little harsh.

The only defects I found in this song were nitpicks, practically. This is a really good song, and better than the Progressive Trance I've heard. Keep it up, and shame about your opponent dropping out in the Death Match, eh? Well, maybe next year I suppose ^^.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

[Astral Travel]

Repetitive, but pretty well done :)

I can't say I didn't enjoy listening to it, but I also can't say that it's perfect. It fits with the name a lot, but needs a little more work...

The melodies are OK. Pitch bending really fit well with this song, but one issue I'm having with this is that this is simply a bunch of random notes played here and there with a repetitive bass, a slightly monotonous pitch-bent instrument and repetitive drums as a background. What I'm trying to say is, this needs some fixed melody playing somewhere. I know this is ambient, but this could use some piano melodies instead of like 3 delayed notes playing at the end of some random bar in the song. Also, the pitch bent note got a bit repetitive, and that bass was the same for the whole song. I wish it had some changes here and there other than the same monotonous 3 notes it plays. As Blackhole12 said, this didn't have enough to it to keep it going for a whole 3 and a half minutes, so if you could work a little on adding some more melodies to this, that'd be great ;).

I really liked the instrument choice in this song. The piano sounded great, the square waves, the pitch-bent instrument, the bass, they all fit well with the theme that you were going for. Some high bells would add to the spacey feel this song has, and some low tubular bells would add to the other-worldly, creepy feel of the song, so basically, try and make the song more bell-ish :P. Nice use of vocal samples, they were timed pretty well in the song, but they were very hard to understand. Either you make them louder, remove the exaggerated amount of delay they have or both, since I sometimes wonder if they're words or not O_o. Also, this definitely needs some space-like sound effects as well, since sound effects are really important in ambient songs such as this.

The transitions are well done, but I suppose that's expected in Ambient songs. I liked how you introduced the drums at the beginning, with that automation shift, but I think that at 0:59, the drums changed automation a bit too suddenly. I think you should start a fade out of the drums at around 0:57 so that the transition wouldn't be so rough. I believe that's the only rough transition I found, good job. New instruments were introduced well, and there were some really nice buildups too.

The song structure is actually rather weird, TBH, and not too good. It was a repetitive background along with a random drum sample here and there and a few random notes. I think if you made a more solid structure it could sound a little better. Variety of the foreground was pretty good, but as I said before, the background needs a lot of variety. The intro was really well done, and the endign was OK. I would've preferred something a little better for an ending other than the fade out that you used, like make an ending note and a sound effect or something, but the fade out sort of fitted in this song, even though fade outs rarely fit in songs. Not a bad job on the intro and outro :).

The drums had good samples, and they were just the right volume. Sadly, they became very repetitive, just like the bass and pitch-bent instrument. As Blackhole12 said, the drums didn't change for almost the whole song, and since the drums are practically the only slightly fast-paced aspect to this song, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt to add some more beats and more variety of drum samples. I liked the automation shifts on them, but that was almost the only variety that they had. Also, another weird thing was that at times you just introduced a new random sample here and there, for example at 2:14. That drum felt as if it came out of nowhere. Also there were some ride cymbals and stuff which were introduced randomly too, and that was a little weird...

It has its defects. I guess it's OK for an ambient song, but its main problem is its lack of variety, which is what put the score down quite a bit. Vary it a little more, fixing some of the stuff I mentioned above, and it'd be great. This song has potential, but potential is useless unless you use it.
7/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

eatmeatleet responds:

oh I couldn't respond to this comment., It had everything blackhole said but somehow ten times as long :D

[_I Promise_]

Nice job!

This song is really awesome. It's one of the best New Wave songs I've heard in a big while, and it has that "Everything is going to be better" feel to it which I really like. I can tell you from now that if Chronamut took part in the Death Match, then he'd have a hard time beating this, despite him being such a good artist.

I really like the melodies. They're possibly my favourite aspects of this awesome song. The flute was awesome, and the guitar's melodies were fantastic. The melody played by that instrument which first appeared at 0:08 did get a little repetitive though, I'd suggest making a part in the song where the song doesn't have that instrument playing. Other than that, I loved everything that had to do with the melodies over here: it's hard to keep a smile off your face while you hear a song like this. As Blackhole12 and BanzaiBoo said, though, the song needs some mastering, especially when the drums come in, since when they enter the song, it instantly becomes cluttered and a little blurry. It's practically the main reason why I gave you a 9 and not 10. Also, a slow part played by the flute only might be cool, and a piano solo inbetween would be great :).

The instruments all sounded great, and fit well with the genre you were going for. That guitar sounds superb, and I really liked the sound of your flute, plus the piano's quality was decent. I don't think there are any instruments that sounded bad or any instruments that should be added, so great job! One thing that I enjoyed in this song was that you had loads of instruments playing at the same time, and actually playing individual melodies, but your song didn't sound messy. Maybe the EQing problems made it sound blurry and cluttered, but usually when I try and make a song which uses more than 2 different melodies playing at the same time, it becomes horribly messy and hard to keep track of. You did a great job making all of the instruments blend in well. Sorry for the really long paragraph :(.

I definitely can't complain about the transitions. They were all great and I couldn't find anything wrong in them. The song flowed very smoothly, and nothing was too abrupt. New instruments were introduced really well, and overall the song had very smooth transitions, and some nice drum rolls to transit from one thing to another as well. Buildups were pretty nice too.

The song is very well structured, and apart from that instrument playing the high notes which I mentioned a few paragraphs up, was awesome. I loved the intro as well, piano intros rarely come out badly, and this isn't an exception. The ending is almost perfect, IMO. I'd suggest ending it at 2:34 with that crash cymbal, and then fading from 2:35 to the end. Then the outro would be perfect, IMO.

The drums, despite the fact that they covered up all of the melodies and instruments, are actually very good. I loved the samples, and their variety was superb. Plus, the drum roll you did at 1:24 along with the crash cymbal after it was very well executed. The other drum transitions you did were all extraordinary as well, but the one at 1:24 was definitely my favourite. The drums fit really well with the song too, but maybe you could make the beats a little more complex. I mean (from what I heard anyway, the drums were quite cluttered and the volumes of the individual samples were quite weird) you only used a kick, snare and occasionally some background hat. Stuff like ride cymbals, shakers, tambourines, etc, could really do wonders to your beats. Also, your kick needs to be harder.

It does have its defects, such as wrong volume levels, repetitiveness of that instrument, cluttered parts when the drums come in, weak kick, outro that's slightly off and lack of solos, but all of the good aspects of this, such as excellent instrument choice, great transitions, melodies that are out of this world, really nice structure, awesome intro, nice drum samples and great variety all make up for its defects. I was going to give it an 8 but this truly deservs the 9 I gave it.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

vanguard182 responds:

wow, this is a great and very helpful review, thanks so much and keep up the good work!

[Madness_Ultimacy [Box-Killa]]

Sorry, but this didn't impress me too much...

I don't think I can consider this as your best work; I'm sure you're capable of more. Anyway, here's the review I said I'd do to the people whose opponent was unable to submit their song to the Death Match...

We'll start with the melodies. They have that stealthy feel too them, and the pitch bending was done pretty well, but firstly they were much too high in pitch, and got rather annoying TBH. I think you should add something a little more catchy than these melodies. Plus, I don't think this fits too well with the madness series. I expected something a little more action-packed than this. It sounds spy-ish, but in the madness series you don't spy around stealthily but rather make yourself seen as you shoot the heck out of all your enemies. Also, I think this is a little too short. True, it's a loop, but if I judge this as a submission to the Death Match and not a loop for a Madness flash, then I'd call it a bit too short.

The instrument is OK, but there weren't enough instruments. It was simply a pitch-bent saw synth playing along some slightly monotonous drums. A ridiculously catchy bass and maybe some piano chords are definitely needed if you're going for a spy-theme song. I know how good you are with piano, so I'm sure some chords along with a few subtle piano notes here and there wouldn't hurt. One instrument along with drums rarely sounds enjoyable to listen to. The addition of a pad would help too. I liked the sound effect at 0:05: you could add a few more sound effects here and there. Maybe if you end up aiming for a 2:45 song other than a 1:00 loop, you could add some gunfire sound effects and stuff; maybe even a vocal sample to remove some of the repetitiveness that this song has would be cool as well. Sorry for the long paragraph...

The transitions are OK, but at times the automation shifts from the drums in the background gave some weird and slightly random transitions. Also, as Peagy said, the main instrument could have a more subtle introduction, such as a slight fade in on the first note. Other than that, the transitions were decent. I liked the drum buildup at the beginning, and the drums fading out at the end too.

The structure is pretty weird. It felt as if there was a randomly transitioned drum beat in the background along with a few high random notes. If you find it hard to make a complicated but good structure, simply go for the Into - Chorus -Melody 1 - Chorus - Melody 2 - Melody 3 - Chorus - Outro or something like that. Variety is good, but a little TOO good, since it sounds quite random, and that contrasts with the lack of instrument variety leaving the song in a pretty weird state.

The intro was OK - it started the song up very nicely, with a nice automation shift, and this looped perfectly, since you matched the outro with the intro perfectly. Nothing to complain about over here, I guess, so good job.

The drums are fairly good, but a little weird. Instead of trying to get a smooth transition from one drum beat to another, you do an automation shift which completely messes up the background. This happens quite a lot at from around 0:20 to about 0:38. Also, there was a rough drum transition at 0:47, since it switched from one drum beat to another too suddenly. Maybe you could use a delayed/reverbed reverse cymbal and/or a drum roll. The samples were pretty good, if not a bit too weak, and the drums were just slightly too loud IMO. I'd suggest adding some reverb to the drums and making them a little quieter with some slightly more powerful samples, and trying to fix the drum transitions a little.

For a Madness loop, it isn't too bad, disregarding the fact that it sounds a little too spy-ish and not action-packed enough, but for a submission to the Death Match, I see it as a short loop with just a randomly automated bunch of drum beats playing along a slightly annoying pitch-bent saw synth. I'm definite you can do better than this, and I hope that for your Round 2 submission I see what you can REALLY do. Sorry for any typos, I'm in a hurry...
6/10
3/5

-Review Request Club-

[Mr. Jack Pumpkinhead]

Pretty good for a newcomer to FL :)

It's a unique song, and as the guy below me (I'm not going to say his massive and complex username...) said, it's quite creative too. It does have its defects, but that's what practice is for, right?

Well, the melodies are OK. The one at 1:49 was quite good, but overall I think the melodies were a little simplistic. For example, the melody played first at around 0:41. It had the same length for every note - i.e, only crotchets. The only melody which had different note lengths in it was the one at 1:49. Maybe if you could make the melodies a little more catchy and slightly more complex, it'd be better ;). Also, for a song this long, I think this needs a lot more alternate melodies. You only had around 5 different melodies in a 4:18 song and some slightly annoying buzzing ambience in the background, so I'd suggesting adding at least 4 more melodies. Background accompaniment, if not repetitive, was actually quite good.

The instruments are pretty weird, but fit with the theme of the song. Perhaps you can add a pad somewhere; I mean, the only 'pad' was the ambience in the background, which did get rather annoying to listen to. I'd suggest googling for some pad samples or something; maybe learning how to use a VST such as z3ta+, Vanguard (much simpler) or learning how to use Sytrus (Blackhole12 made an awesome in-depth Sytrus guide which you can access in his first newspost). Also, a bassy synth would do wonders over here if used correctly. You could also add some vocal samples or sound effects or something to remove some of the monotony that this song has.

The transitions aren't too good, I'm afraid. Some instruments seemed to come in randomly throughout the whole song. Use stuff like reverse cymbals and fade-ins to introduce new instruments, instead of making them come in so suddenly. Oh, and the transition at 0:13 doesn't really sit well with me. The drum beat changed abruptly; if I were you, I'd add a kick roll at about 0:11 to indicate that a new drum beat is about to come in. Another issue with the drum transitions: the loud cymbals at 3:46 came in a bit too suddenly; try adding a drum roll before it. The buildup at the beginning was pretty good, but I'd suggest fading in that instrument at 0:41.

The structure is quite weird. I'm not sure which melody is the main melody and which melody is a counter-melody. Instead of thinking up a few alternate melodies and playing them randomly throughout the song, you should get one main melody along with some background instruments and repeat that a few times throughout the song along with some alternate melodies and interludes in-between, since as the structure is right now, the song sounds a little cluttered and messy. The variety needs a little working on too; as I said above, this needs more alternate melodies, and some subtle changes here and there along with some vocal samples and sound effects wouldn't hurt :)...

The intro is OK, with a good buildup as I already said, but I think starting the drums up immediately in the song made the intro a bit abrupt. Either you fade the first drum beat in, or remove the drum beat from 0:00-0:13 and at 0:12 you add a filler which would indicate that the drums are about to come in (by a filler, I mean something like this:
http://www.mediafire.com/?z2lfm4kmnno
Where at 0:01 there's a small filler of half a bar to say that the drum beat is about to start.) As for the ending, it's not too bad; I liked that you ended it with the ambience, but I think that at 3:59 the song stopped way too abruptly. Either you fade it out or add an ending note.

The drums aren't too good. The beats were simplistic (kick-cymbal for most of the song) and it got quite repetitive. Samples were OK, but this needs more variety regarding samples and beats. They were just the right volume though, good job with that ^^.

If you continue your songs at this rate, I'm sure you'll turn out to be a great producer. For one of your first songs, it's impressive. Good job overall, and sorry if this review is a little harsh...
7/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

Chomposaur responds:

Harsh? nah, i appreciate it! i'll definatly take your advice. Im not good at song structure or music theory, so those are some points i will take into consideration.

[Strings and beat]

Wow...

I don't usually review unless it's for the Review Request Club, but I'll have to make an exception for this. I believe it has a HUGE amount of potential, and please tell me if you continue it.

I really love the acid synth melodies, and the string melodies were very relaxing and well done. The melody at 0:38 was amazing too. What I'd suggest if you continue it is repeat the melody you did at 0:38 one more time, and one bar before it ends, do a really powerful drum roll, and then a powerful fast-paced drum beat starts along with the strings, acid bassline and maybe a square synth or some smooth synth (just don't use a saw, I really think it'd ruin the dark and melodic feel this song has).

Not much to complain about the instruments. The strings were very nice quality, and the acid basses sound good too. Maybe somewhere you could add a piano, or some woodwind like pan-flutes and stuff. Also, as Sonomabob said, the drums could use some automation, especially at around 0:35-ish. A vocal sample saying something dark and catchy would be cool too :).

The transitions are well done, and the song flowed smoothly. I liked how you introduced the drums with that small buildup; much better than starting it abruptly, for sure. I can't say anything about the structure since this is just an intro, but as for the variety, this so far is great. You could do a few more subtle changes on the beats here and there, to remove the monotony of the drums at times, but I can't really complain about them being repetitive. As for the intro (lol, intro to the intro XD), the strings started this up rather nicely. The ending was abrupt, but that's just because this is still a work in progress, so I can't complain about that.

Drums are excellent. I liked the samples most - that snare or clap or whatever the heck it was sounded awesome and fit perfectly with this song. Beats were fine, and the drums were varied pretty well, but as I said above, some changes here and there would be cool too. Maybe you can add some reverbed crash cymbals somewhere around the song too.

I really don't have much criticism on this so far. If you go on at this rate, I can tell you from now that this song would definitely deserve a top 5. It's among the best intros I've heard on NG, and I'd love to hear this as a full song. PM me or something when you finish it, please :D.
By the way, I figured you might need a name for this... Here's what I thought of:
The Crying Flame - Tension - Barren Wasteland - Darkness - All Hope Lost - Nothing Left
Lol, never thought of so many names in 2 minutes XD. Anyways, to summarize, keep up the good work, and I hope you finish this! :3. I gave you a 9 because this is only an intro, but if you make the song as good as the intro, then I have no doubt that I'll give you a 10.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

[Live 9 - The Awakening]

Improvised??

Wow, I would've never guessed it was completely improvised: that's really impressive. Nice job on this, it's really well done!

The melodies are superb, especially remembering that you improvised all this. Hehe, black notes FTW :D. I liked the intro melody quite a lot, and the melody at around 1:12 was very nice. Also, very nice rallentandos, ritardandos and rythm changes, too, they added a lot to this submission. By the way, because I love nitpicking, just to point out (you probably already know xP) that there are mistakes at 0:26 0:46 and 0:48 :P. Seriously though, if you ever get a better mic, then be sure to re-record this without any mistakes and with preperations beforehand, since if this is the best you can do when improvising, then I'd love to see your non-improvised piano works :D.

The transitions are surprisingly very good for an improvised song. I liked the transitions where the song got slower and the notes went high, for example at about 0:49. The buildups and crescendos are done very well too; nice job. The song is surprisingly very well structured too, since it was varied, but still noticeably the same song throughout.

Intro wasn't bad. It had a nice melody, and a good crescendo, so it started up smoothly. As for the outro, you said yourself it's not good, but that's obviously not your fault. What you could've done is recorded till around 2:00 and then recorded from 2:00 till the end and combined those together with a waveform editor such as Audacity or CoolRecordEditPro, but I guess that'd be too much hassle trying to get the timing correct and stuff...

It's a very nice little piece. Shame that it had some mistakes (along with the fact that it played on one speaker only, but you already know that) and the outro wasn't that good. If you fix those problems, then, well, I wouldn't be able to complain about anything else XD. This song has potential - if you ever put this awesome melody into a DAW, fix it up a little and add more instruments or synths, then definitely send me a PM, please :).
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

[MH16: A New Era]

Almost...

You almost got a 10 from me... Seriously, this is a really good song, and it clearly shows that you're a very talented classical composer. Nice job!

The melodies are very medieval, and sound a little like Runescape, and they are all very nice, especially those really awesome flute melodies. Although all the other melodies sound nice, the flute is the main instrument and plays the best melodies from them all, IMO. Loved the part at 1:07, too; you performed that flute solo perfectly. The beginning melody with the brass was very slightly generic (I heard a melody similar to that in some soundtrack of a game called Sacrifice), but that hardly makes any difference when it just sounds so good. The strings' melodies were fantastic; I liked that at times you made the strings play foreground melodies and sometimes play in the background. A good classical song always gives important different roles to all instruments, and you did a good job on that.

One thing that annoyed me slightly here was that I think the song was not epic enough. I mean, the name A New Era makes me expect something a bit more mighty. Stuff like the part at 0:48 and especially at around 1:01 are what I'm looking for in this song: epic, powerful percussion, melodies that give you the goosebumps, all the instruments playing together, etc. If you were to make this song longer, then I'd strongly suggest that you try and add more epic parts. For instance, at about 1:12, I expected some strings and brass slowly build up and then another epic part starts. What I'm trying to say is, after hearing at 0:48 and 1:01 which show how good you are at making classical songs epic, I'm yearning for more.

The instruments are excellent quality, I suppose you used East/West? Whatever, most important thing is that they sound almost like a real orchestra XD. I loved your instrument choice, and the low brass was a really excellent addition to the song. As FudgeMellow said, the low brass here was superb.

The song's transitions are well done. The only transition I don't quite agree with is the one at around 0:47. I think it skipped to the song's climax much too suddenly. Give it a long snare roll or a louder/longer timpani roll, maybe a reverse cymbal or some tremolo strings getting louder to emphasize the fact that ovewhelming epic-ness is about to come in. The build ups were well done though :).

This is really well structured, IMO. I find it very hard to keep a good song stucture in a classical song like this, since classical songs don't usually incorporate the usual simple structure of Melody - Chorus - Melody - Chorus, but you did a fantastic job with the song structure over here. Variety is flawless, good job, I never got bored listening to this, since something new came in practically all the time.

When it comes to the intro, it was brilliant. The powerful brass hits started the song up very well. As for the ending, I'll have to agree with the others though, the ending needs some improvement. Give it a more epic ending note rather than just a slow string note and flute fade out. I'd suggest first removing the flute fade out, continung the song a little more, and then ending your song with brass notes like you did at the beginning of the song. Here, ignoring the horrible samples I used, try something like this out for your ending:
http://www.mediafire.com/?yem2lztmxmo
(Sorry if the melodies don't sound right, I'm only Grade 4 Theory :'[ )...

The drums are almost perfect. The pros are that they were very varied, and fit with the song really well, not to mention the fact that the drum samples were great and the climax of the song had excellent drums, but the con is that I'd prefer it if at the beginning you make that bass drum a little more powerful, since it's a little weak right now. Lol, nitpicking xP.

This is awesome, and almost enough for a 10. Work on the ending, more epic-ness, that transition to epic and make the bass drum mightier, and this'd be perfect. Excellent job, and sorry for the long review :\.
9/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

FairSquare responds:

Now that's an awesome review!
You know, actually, i don't know any music theory at all.. i just make it all by ear.
And i used Edirol Orchestra to make this.
Haha, i really don't know how to respond to a review like this :p
The only thing i can do is say thanks. Seriously, thanks. Thanks. And thanks. Also, thanks.
The ending you made sounds pretty good too, i might edit this song.. but i'm probably too lazy for that xD
Oh yeah, about the structure.. it's not that hard. I mean, when i start a song i just start with something and then i just.. go with the flow :p I just make things, add melodies, drums, etc. and i continue with that until i feel that i need to do something else and then i continue with that etc.
But all your advice is stored in my brain now and i'll definatly remember it when i need it. Again.. thanks!

[ECHO - Definition of Drea]

For your first trance...

...Well, wow, it's really good! This song sounds like it's been done by a guy who's been doing trance all his life XD. Good job, man :). By the way, I didn't HELP you with the name... I INVENTED it for you :P. You may want to fix that :P.

So, onto the melodies. They're quite unique. I liked the intro melody very much, it had a nice hook it. 0:41 was a very good piano solo (heh, reminds me of Blackhole12's alternate melody in his song Aurora Theory), and the part at 1:41 was really well done. The part at 2:41 was a nice addition, but I'd suggest that the notes continue going up in pitch for those few seconds, giving a better climax, since you made the notes go up, then down, and then up, when I think it'd be better if those bars had notes getting higher and higher, until finally the effect plays and the climax ends. One thing that I didn't like with the melodies though was that they were VERY generic. That chord progression (heard most clearly at 1:08) is really overused, especially here on NG, and it's a bit of a bummer hearing it in a song as awesome as this. Also, the part at 2:37 was pretty generic too. Just find a chord progression that's nice but isn't overused ;). By the way, something that's bothering me a little is the tempo. Maybe +5 or so BPM would be a little better :).

As for the instruments, they're nothing too special, but you told me that you downloaded WAV files for the instruments, and, well, you'd have better quality instruments by getting a VST such as Nexus, Vanguard (lol, overused XD), maybe z3ta+ too. Still, instrument choice was OK; I liked your warp synth, and the piano sample was fine, although I think those saw waves don't sound too good. The song needs more bass too (or if there was bass, then definitely turn it up, like, a LOT), but background depth wasn't bad.

Also, a little issue I'm having with the instruments. For some really weird reason (could be my poor excuses for speakers) I'm hearing a lot of the instruments having some sort of static/distortion. Not too sure why. I can hear it mostly in the piano solo at 1:42, so what I'm saying is, if you have a flanger on that piano sample, I'd really suggest that you take it away. Anyway, whatever. Good use of effects, especially that effect at 1:26, and I really liked the cheering at the beginning. Nice use of the reverse cymbal as well, and I'd like to compliment your panning, but since I'm deaf from one ear I have no sense of panning :(.

I can't complain about the transitions - they were all done very well. The effects like the reverse cymbals made some nice transitions too. I just think that 2:44 was a little anti-climatic. I mean, after hearing that effect and the embellishment before it, I expected the drums and all of the synths and piano to play together in a grand finale, so maybe you could try and fix that. I liked the buildup at the beginning, and new instruments were introduced very well.

The song is very well structured which made the song even more enjoyable. You introduced quite a few new melodies but never made the song sound random, so great job! Variety was nice too; I just think that maybe some melodies were dragged out a little too long, especially the second piano solo, but other than that, nice job! Intro was really, really good, loved the cymbals and kicks in the background, plus the cheering and the buildup just made it even better. Ending was abrupt and weird though, it's like that ending melody came out of nowhere. End the song with the chorus along with all the instruments playing together - maybe that'd sound better :).

I can't comment much on the drums since I'm running out of space... Anyway, just saying that the drums were good, if not slightly repetitive and they could've been louder at times too, but the beats and samples were great!

For a first trance song it's excellent, which is why I gave you a 10/10. Just fix the problems mentioned above and it'd be perfect! Sorry for the sudden ending; they should really increase the review character limit.
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

[SN| Riptide Projection |SN]

Honestly, you're getting better at this...

You're actually making glitch so good you're getting me to download it XD. Seriously, awesome job on this one; it sounds great. I've added you to my favourite artists list just because you make glitch awesomely enough for non-glitch fans such as I to download them :D.

You had the first half of the song consisting completely out of ambient and drums, so I guess there wasn't much of a melody there. The melody in the second half was really awesome and catchy though, good job on it. Maybe the first half could have a few high bells or some plucked instrument or something; not just ambient notes, since although in the first half the drums are obviously the main attraction, it'd be cool to have a little bit more of a melody along with the ambient pads. Still, not too much of a problem since the drums are what keep this track sounding unexpected and not boring, so melodies aren't that important.

The ambient pad you used was great, I wish I had ambient samples like that :(. The piano-like instrument after sounded good, I think it could do a little better if it had some delay to it, or at least a little more reverb. Other than that, I can't complain with the instruments. Lol, you're right, I think this is one of the first songs if not the first that I heard from you which doesn't incorporate an actual piano sample XD.

The transitions are really awesome, and the glitch effects you did in some transitions were very well executed. Just one problem. At 0:46 you did a really awesome transition, but 0:49, IMO was a little too anti-climatic if you get what I mean. What I'm trying to say is, at 0:49 I expected the song to reach a huge climax after hearing the epic transition right before it, but instead it continued with some glitch drums. Maybe over there you could introduce that fast-paced melody I was talking about along with some crash cymbal or something. 1:11 was an awesome transition though.

The song's structure is cluttered and all over the place, but I guess that's what I get from listening to glitch ^^. The variety is extraordinary, but it's those drums which kept the song from becoming repetitive and boring. You managed to vary them without them getting too random, which I quite liked. Intro was great; I liked that you started it with a reverse cymbal and then you went straight on to the beat and ambient pads, it sort of fits with the name for some strange reason. As for the ending, I rather liked it (and trust me, very few song endings leave me impressed :P). The last note had a little effect to it which sounded cool, and although the piano-like instrument did cut off a little abruptly, the ending was great. I also enjoyed that little sound effect you did at 2:19.

Oh wow, those drums... I can't believe you, or anyone for that matter, would ever have the patience to make drums as good as that. It must've taken you ages O.o. There were glitch effects all over the place, and the drums had a lot of variety. There was practically a new beat almost every bar. It was also interesting that in some parts you stuck with a clean beat and in other parts, it went all over the place with a glitchy and crazy beat. It added even more variety to the drums. Oh, and 0:16-0:24 had such crazy drums. I loved that part :D. You also put a lot of different effects and stutters on the drums, especially at 0:49-1:11. It was practically covered with effects. I also liked that at times you had a crazy beat and other times the beat was softer, for example 1:57. The drums were also the right loudness, they did sometimes dominate the melodies, but that's because they're the main attraction of the song, so no problem there.

Another glitch track from you (I'm still waiting for that Jazz song :P). I believe you're the best at glitch in the whole site, at least from the authors that I know of anyway. Really good job on this, it's one of the craziest songs I've heard in a big while XP. You also got me to download glitch again... (seriously, how do you DO that?) so great job! Keep up the great work!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

SessileNomad responds:

WOW big review

the drums were the focus on the first halves, so the melodies were toned down a bit

i can help you get some pads if you would like

that anticlimactic part is a bit neccesary to me, since i dont really like haveing a climax at 49 seconds

the last notes effect was just pitch shifting downwards a bit, gives a hanging feel

glitch music is kind of easy if you know what your doing, i use a TON of automations to acheive the effects i wanna go for, and i guess ive just been doing it for a while xD

jazz is gona have to wait due to the contest i just joined

thanks for the review man, glad you liked it

peace out