Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[Convection-JaV]]

Relaxing, in a good way :D

You're a really good music producer. I've gone through your songs, and I have to say that this is probably my favourite from your songs (either this or Water Temple). Good job on this one, I was almost going to give you a 10 :P.

The melodies are nice and relaxing, also quite unique. I liked the melody at the beginning, and 0:24 was a cool break from the main rythm of the song, I wish I saw more of that part somewhere else in the song. There were quite a few alternate melodies to stop the song from getting boring, so good job over there. What I found particularly weird was that you focused too much on the background melodies, if that makes any sense. What I mean is, sometimes background melodies and foreground melodies clashed together and made the song sound a little cluttered and hard to keep track of, for example at 0:49. Make some background instruments play stuff like ambient notes and arpeggios instead of a completely different melody.

The instruments are unique, just like the melodies. The bass sounded good, and the instrument playing the ambient notes at 0:24 was cool. The instrument at around 1:24 did get a little annoying throughout the song, but fit well with the theme of the song. It's weird, but after seeing the name of the title and hearing the instruments, I'm picturing the square synths to represent the cold air and the other synths representing hot air. Dunno why :P. Nice sound effect at 0:24. I believe it'd sound a little better if you started it a few milliseconds earlier but that's the biggest nitpick ever made in the history of reviewing so it's not too important :P. Oh, and I think the bass at the beginning, mostly around 0:04 was a tad bit too loud (you should've noticed by now that I nitpick a lot :P)...

The transitions are all smooth, and I especially enjoyed how you introduced the synth at 1:22, it made a really nice transition. The effect at 0:24 could use some reverb to make it echo a little more and provide a better transition though, since it sort of comes a little abruptly. Other than that, you did a great job on the transitions. The song structure is pretty interesting, and the variety here is fine, because just when you get tired of hearing something, it always switches to something else.

The intro and ending put the score down mostly in this song. The intro was way too abrupt; the way it came in so suddenly was pretty weird. If this was a loop, I'd understand, but since you were aiming for making a song, I think it should have a more progressive intro. Something simple like a fade in would do the trick, but good intros are a must in songs, and I'd like to see a nice progressive intro in this song.

The ending was a fade out, which isn't too good either. Fade outs rarely sound good. Either you end the song with a proper ending note, or you keep the intro you have now and try and loop the song by matching the ending with the beginning and removing any extra silence. if you want to end it with an ending note, I'd suggest playing the part you did at 0:24 and ending the song using the same note you used at 0:24. That probably didn't make any sense, but I never was good at explaining.

The drums put the score down a little more too. The samples were nice, and they fit with the song pretty well, but the problem is that they were way too repetitive and the only variation of the drums was at 0:24. Invent some new beats, because although the one you have right now is pretty well done, that's no excuse to use in the whole song :P.

Overall, you have a great song here, which has the potential to get another Top 5, but needs a bit more work first. You could work on those nitpicks, fix the intro, outro, make the song less cluttered, and add more variation the drums, and then you would've gotten a 10 from me. Keep up the good work though, and congratulations on your previous top 5 on Water Temple, you deserved it ;). Good job!
Oh, and sorry for reviewing this so late, I had a lot to do and didn't manage to find the time. Oh well, finished it now XD.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

[Zeviron - Tetris]

Hey, remember me?...

...The guy who made the windows songs and gave you those long reviews on your older submissions XD. Well, those reviews will look short in comparison with the reviews I do now, so be prepared :D. Anyway, as for the remix itself, I enjoyed quite a bit, although it's not one of the best remixes out there, so it needs a little work...

The melodies are darn awesome, but obviously I can't credit you for them since this is a remix. What was a little annoying was that this was too much like the original. What I mean is, try and do some new original stuff with the melodies, instead of blandly keeping to the old one. For example, somewhere at 1:21, you do something which will take me ages to explain so instead I'll demonstrate it with this (remove spaces):

http://www.filedropper.com/tetrisrevi ewthing

(I hope I was allowed to do that...) Anyway, I think it'd make a better transition, and it would show you did more than just jot down the Tetris melodies and showered it with beats, bass and a saw synth, if you get what I mean. Also, there was a wrong note in your tetris melody; first time it appears is at 0:01. You did these notes: E - B - C - D - E - D - C - B - A - C - D - E, I think, when the last three notes should be A - C - E not C - D - E, I think. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the fact that I heard it as a wrong note sort of ruined the song, IMO.

Not much to say about the instruments. Sometimes I think the bass should be louder, but overall, I liked the instrumemts. 2:19 was awesome, by the way, I liked the instrument you used. This could do with a vocal sample, like a robotic delayed whisper saying 'Tetris' somewhere around 1:20, and also this could do with more effects. Not a bad job on the instruments in general, though.

The transitions are all great. The only thing I'd ask for is more epic transitions, like transitions with reverse cymbals, transitions where the song goes quiet for a bar, and in that bar, a kick every half-beat plays and starts getting louder, etc. Still, all transitions were smooth, and I also really liked the way you introduced new instruments. The buildup before 1:21 to get to the more action-packed saw synth was awesome, and so was the buildup before 2:19. Buildups were very nice in this song.

The song was quite well structured too, but the problem here is the variety. You're an awesome music producer, and if you had that little more variety in your songs, they would be epic. The song did last a little long for a tetris remix, so you could shorten it a little, and maybe give more variety of synths/background melodies. Add some of your own interpretations of the melody in the background, a bit like Parker did in his tetris remixes (the ones used in the T E T R I S ' D series).

The intro was quite creative, and I liked how you gave that video-gamey start to the song. I thought it was going to be a lame attempt to make a tetris remix while I was hearing the intro, but when the saw synth and drum beat kicked in, I knew then that I was wrong :D. Still, the intro dragged on a little too long, IMO. I think a better way would be to start building up the saw synth at 0:11 instead of 0:46-ish. Ending was nice though, if I had to change anything to it, I'd make the last note echo a little more.

The drums are pretty cool, but they were a little quiet. The beat was very good, and the samples were fine, but, like the melodies, the drums did get rather repetitive as well. If you had varied the drums more, it would've helped a lot with the song variety in general. Also, the drums were too quiet, and the saw synth covered it up almost completely.

You have a lot of talent at music producing, and this is a nice remix; better than a lot I've heard. Work on the variety, originality (can't be that original with a remix, but try and do something original with the melodies), loudness and variety of drums, and maybe shortening the intro a little, so that when people here this, they won't roll their eyes and say "Not another one", but instead, "Wow, this is great!"
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

[ECHO - Red Dawn (2009)]

*Sniff* That was amazing!!

This is so cool. Seriously, one more song like this, and you're going straight on my Favourite Author's list, and trust me, it takes a LOT to get in there ;).

Melodies are just purely amazing. They're probably what took me aback the most in this musical masterpiece. They were so fast paced, I can just smell the country air, feel the breeze on my face and see a red dawn dominating all surroundings before my eyes just hearing this. OK, so maybe I can't, but it's still cool saying so XD. Seriously though, those melodies, although they have that hook which makes them stick to your head, and although they have such a fast rythm, they still retain that majestic and powerful feel. I LOVED the alternate melody at 1:27, and the one at 1:54, plus there was a very nice embellishment somewhere around 2:03. 2:49 had a nice counter-melody too, with some really, really cool fast notes.

The one thing that annoyed me a little was the fact that the background didn't change much. The same four chords for almost the whole song. When remembering that an amazing countryside view around a red dawn is supposed to be full of different things to look at, that kind of contrasted with the same repetitive four chords this song had. Also, I was looking for a brass solo. Even though the piano is the main instrument of this song, it never hurts to give a brass solo, after all, that brass sounds very majestic, and we won't want it always rejected in the background, now, would we? XD

The instruments were very nice. I see you used the piano sample I sent you, and I see you used the brass I sent you too... Cheapskate :P. Lol, joking, you really used them well in this song. I would like some more instruments though. I believe a plucked guitar would fit well for the melody at 1:27, and this could do with some flutes here and there (not too many though. I know how much you like flutes, and you could over-exaggerate :P). I really liked that you put in some birds chirping at the beginning and end, they fit really well. You could've put in more sound effects like a lion roaring majestically or something, but what the heck, great job with the birds!

The transitions are really perfect. I liked the transition at 1:25-ish, and the reverse cymbals you put in around the song really made some good transitions. All new instruments/melodies were introduced perfectly, and there was a good slight buildup to the main melody at the beginning. The structure is pretty simple; the usual chorus - melody - chorus - melody, etc, but I think it fit well with this song, so nice job over there too. Variety is fine, apart from the background accompaniment being almost the same for the whole song. Other than that, there were as many alternate melodies as a guy could ask for.

The intro was flawless, but the ending needs working on. Either you repeat that melody you played at the end for 6 times instead of twice, with a few subtle changes in each repetition, and then you end it, or else you end it as you start it, with the chords, and make the last note the same as the one you started with, except longer. Still, you had a nice idea for the ending, and if you just used that idea a little better, it would've been perfect.

Ahh, the drums. I see you used those drum beats I made (credit me, much? :P). Apart from the fact that a lot of the time they were too quiet, they fit nicely with the song, but they were so quiet, I occasionally forgot that they were there, so if you could make them a little more prominent throughout the song, it would've been great. I loved that you used a gong around the song though, it gave that echoey background depth to the song, which I quite liked.

There's not much more to add to this review (which, by the way, reached the character limit XP XP). All that needs working on is the loudness of the drums, the variety of background accompaniment, the ending, maybe putting in some more instruments, and giving that brass a solo somewhere in the song. Seriously, though, I enjoyed this a lot. Keep it up!!!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Echo responds:

Uh...im not gonna read all that :P

Thanks!

[Lost Entity (Dance Remix)]

First you work on a classical song...

...And then you do a dance remix of it? Man, it shows that you're an artist of many genres. Good job!

The melodies are very nice. If I had to complain about them, I'd say that some of them were just a little generic, especially the piano melody at the beginning, and also the chord progression was that same overused dance progression, but other than that, the melodies were catchy, and full of action. I enjoyed the melody at 1:16. What I'd ask for would be more alternate melodies, since as Haggard pointed out, this did get rather repetitive. Background instruments and harmonizing, on the other hand, were fantastic, but I can't expect any less from you.

Something that put the score down a little would be that the song stayed action packed after the piano intro. It was playing the same beat, same background and same rythm for a long time, without any break inbetween. I'd suggest that either you do another piano solo somewhere in the middle, you make an ambient part somewhere in the middle which lasts for around 15 seconds, or you add a buildup in the song, where all the instruments go quiet, and slowly, one by one, they come back in again. Dance isn't all action :\.

The synths were all perfect. I didn't notice any muting (must be the fact that I'm deaf from one ear D:) with the synths, and they all sounded excellent. Piano quality wasn't too good, but the quality of the piano is never really too important in dance songs, especially when the piano only lasts for a few seconds. There was also a very nice variety of synths, which helped a lot in keeping a good variety in the song.

The transitions were very smooth, and the song flowed perfectly, except for (maybe this is just personal taste) the transition at around 1:06. That high note stopped playing a little too early, I think. I'd rather you'd slowly fade away that one note till around 1:10, instead of ending it abruptly at 1:06. Other than that small nitpick, excellent job on the transitions. New synths were introduced very well too, with very good fade-ins here and there. Just one problem; at 0:12, I think it'd be better if the song goes quiet for a bar, and in that bar, a reverse cymbal plays, and then the 0:12 melody starts playing along with a crash cymbal. It's better than starting it abruptly, IMO.

The song is well-structured, especially since this is a remix, and I find it quite hard to make a good song structure in a remix. Variety needs work though, especially concerning the background accompaniment. That ambient/piano part or the buildup which I mentioned earlier would help remove the repetitiveness that this song has. It would also make the song longer, since right now it is a little short.

The intro was fantastic. I always enjoy piano intros, and you performed this one flawlessly. It was a extraordinary way to start the song, and if you just worked on the transition at 0:12, it would've been perfect. Also, this was actually not looped too badly either. I never would've been able to loop it as well as you did, since the beginning was nothing like the ending, and was an entirely different tempo too. The only thing I can say which could improve the loop is to fade in the piano towards the end, so that when the song loops, the piano would come in smoothly, instead of coming out of nowhere, if you get what I mean.

When it comes to the drums, you've got a great beat. It wasn't too complex, and fit really well with the song. I liked how you faded it at the end as well, it helped the loop. What I dislike about the drums was the variety. It made the song quite repetitive, since it was the same beat for the whole song, if I'm not mistaken, or maybe a few subtle changes here and there. You can invent more drum beats, and maybe at times, make it that there's only a kick every beat playing, to give a break from the action-packed drum beats.

Gah, running out of characters O.o. Anyway, It's a great song, but just a few nitpicks here and there made me give you a 9. Still, keep it up, you excel at dance songs!
9/10
5/5
Download

-Review Request Club-

DJ-Chilvan responds:

I really love your reviews. I love how you take time to make them comprehensive and lengthy. I took into consideration all of your advice. If time allows, I will start tonight to extend this song. Now that I have the full versions of the VSTs, I can do more than I wanted to do before. It won't be THAT much extended (to avoid repetitiveness) but I will add most if not all of your suggestions. Thanx a lot!

[:)-smile-Mik W]

Sorry, but this has to be one of your worst...

I've heard much better work from you; this has to be one of your worst. I think you should work a lot more on this.

Melodies aren't too special. The one at the beginning was very generic, and from then on the melodies were rather bland. Some melodies weren't bad (1:32), but overall, the melodies didn't have that hook... they weren't really that catchy. You should invent more alternate melodies too, since 4 melodies playing blandly one after the other for 2 and a half minutes makes the song start getting repetitive. Also, what I didn't like was that the melodies had nothing at all to do with each other. This is more of a collection of melodies than a song, with no noticeable similarities between the melodies.

Instruments, if I heard correctly, were presets. You should make your own instruments with Sytrus or some other synthesizer, or buy VST's. If buying is not an option, you could get free soundfonts. They aren't even close to as good as VST's, but are good enough to start with. Some good free soundfonts are the SGM, FluidR3 GM, Unison and Squidfont Orchestral if you want to compose classical. Also, the instrument at the beginning was really annoying. That sound effect at 0:41 was pretty cool though.

I didn't like the transitions you did. 1:32 was weird since the melody just stopped abruptly, the new melody at 2:01 seemed to come out of nowhere, at 2:07, the drums finished suddenly, and that's only a little of the rough transitions around the song. Experiment with different fade-ins and fade-outs, giving drum rolls where necessary to introduce the drums, and add some stuff like reverse cymbals and reverbed kicks to fill in some rough transitions.

The structure is quite bad too. As I said before, this resembles a collection of melodies with rough transitions inbetween. A simple way of doing it is choosing a chorus for the song where all the instruments play together, with a catchy melody, and repeat that a few times in the song, with some good alternate melodies inbetween and decent transitions from one melody to another.

Variety is something that needs to be worked on as well. As I said before, this needs many more alternate melodies. Either that, or shorten the song, and think of other ways to stop this from becoming repetitive. Take my Power of the Piano as an example. It's almost three minutes long, doesn't get too repetitive and only uses around four to five melodies. What this song needs is progressive buildups, better transitions, more variety of background instruments, a fixed chorus and some more variety of effects. Trust me, even though they make your song sound better, they'll even do wonders to the variety.

Intro was nothing that special. I liked the drum buildup after, but other than that, I think the intro would be better if it progressed more gradually. As for the ending, not too good either. A good ending is another one of the many reasons that this song needs a chorus that plays a few times throughout the song. Then, you could make the last melody the chorus, and end the song with a proper ending note right after the chorus. Either that, or end the song the way you started it with the last note being the same as the first one you started with.

Ugh, FL Studio default drum presets -.-. That's the first thing that came to mind when I heard the drums. They were varied, but maybe a little too varied, and they felt quite random throughout the song. What I suggest for fixing the drums is firstly getting better samples instead of using FL presets, and then making around 6 drum beats for the song; some simple and some complex, which you can use in the song, instead of making them so random. Also, some drum beats were very annoying, namely the drum beat where the snare kept playing non-stop.

I've heard a lot better from you, and although this has a good effect, and a good drum buildup, it needs a lot of work concerning the randomness of the drums, structure, transitions, variety, beats, melodies, instruments and ending. Sorry for the harsh review :\......
4/10
2/5

-Review Request Club-

mikkim responds:

Thanks.

[Sg720 - Tonight]

Wow...

Seriously... I couldn't spend even a second hearing the song without my mouth gaping wide open. You have talent, and a lot of it. One more song like this, and you'll have a spot on my favourite artists list for sure. Get ready for a review made up almost entirely out of praise...

The melodies are so awesome. Loved the melodies that were played by the instrument that first appeared at 0:37, and the background depth in this song is just extraordinary. I mean, there was so much happening at the same time, but you still managed to retain a fixed rythm that's easy to keep track of. I just loved the part at 0:57, and 2:04 was very nice, with a very, very, awesome melody coming up at 2:14. Just one problem: 0:29 had much too much distortion, IMO, and it sort of ruined the catchy melody that the instrument was playng at the time. I liked the reverb you put in the song; it gave this a nice spacey feel, as hinted in the other reviews....

The synths you used here are really great. Seriously, you used 16 synths in this, and it still didn't get random. I really don't know how you did it. Loved the synth at 0:37, it had a cool vibe to it, and all of the background synths were excellent. Synth at 2:14 was nice too. What amazed me quite a lot were the amazing sound effects you did in this. That effect at the beginning was just so cool and mighty; it gave me goosebumps O_o. Plus, there were loads of other sound effects like reverse cymbals and stuff which really kept me listening and interested till the very end.

The transitions are just so amazing. I liked the transitions similar to the one at 0:37, they were perfect to introduce that new insrument, and there were some sound effect transitions which were done really nicely. I couldn't find any rought transitions, and all the instruments were introduced either with a fade in, or with a smooth transition, so good job over there. There were also some really amazing buildups in this song, namely the long and gradual one at 2:04.

This song is so well structured. Probably the best structure I've seen in a huge while. The background constantly changed throughout the song, which made the song's variety excellent, especially since there are so many different synths and melodies, plus it didn't get random at all. Seriously, do you ever do anything wrong????? O_o.

When it comes to the intro, it was perfect. The effect was a fantastic way to start the song up. My only complaint is that the intro was rather abrupt, if you get what I mean. It sort of started a little too suddenly. I'd rather, before the intro starts up, you do a long (maybe around two seconds and a half) heavily reverbed and delayed reverse cymbal, and then the effect started up along with a reverbed kick. As the intro is now, it almost made me jump :P. As for the ending, I don't see why Haggard didn't like it. I rather liked it, since it wasn't too abrupt, and had a very nice effect. I just think that those seven notes you used with the instrument that had the cool vibe to it at around 2:51 could've been louder though, to give more significance to the ending.

The drums are interesting. They contrasted with all of the crazy and action-packed stuff that was going on in the foreground by using a laid-back, slow drum beat. The drum samples sounded really cool, and the beats were decently varied and well done. I totally agree with aliaspharow though, that at times, there was a kick only, when I think there could've been more, like maybe a kick-cymbal or some soft drum beat. Also, I think that the kick could be a little heavier and the drums in all could've been a little louder.

This is a really cool song, with superb melodies, an amazing variety of synths, plenty of alternate melodies, extremely good song structure, brilliant effects and great intro/ outro. Just work on starting the intro a little more smoothly, the loudness of the drums, and that distortion, but that's all nitpicking. You got me to favourite the song, which is a very rare occurence. Keep it up!
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd!

-Review Request Club-

sumguy720 responds:

Huzzah! glad you like it. I agree with your nitpicks! I think this is a really good song too, but if I'm ever to get signed or sell my music or be any better I've gotta shape up all the little things!
I really appreciate the small stuff, I'm going to get to work on the intro and tighten up my outro as wel as the kick and mixing issues as MACH02 pointed out. And of course, I'll see if I can't add some surprises while I'm at it.

Maybe someday... I will rule the universe!

[LB - Your Beauty Defined]

What's with all the low scores?...

...I don't see why this got so many 8's and 7's. I, for one, really enjoyed it, and although it does have its weak points, you portrayed the feel you were going for in this song excellently. So, in other words, it's time for another kick ass review! XD

The melodies are probably some of the best things about this piece. Piano played such nice melodies, which stay inside your head. I actually had a similar melody in mind before I heard this, and I was going to try and turn it into a song until I found out a similar melody had already been taken :P. Not only the piano melodies are nice, but even the other instruments. I liked the strings' melodies, and I also liked the part at 1:35, since it was a great break from the main melody.

Instruments, as aliaspharow said, were perfectly chosen, and complimented each other very well. They were good quality, and the flute was a great addition to the song. Still, I don't know if it's just me and my awful hearing, but I think some of the flute's melodies had chords in them, and flutes can't play more than one note at the same time :P. Also, I agree with aliaspharow, the instruments, mainly strings, were too bland. Add some more reverb, and give them a little more fullness.

The song's transitions were very well done. I couldn't find any rough transitions, except that I'm not too sure about that transition at 2:39. The flute sort of came out of nowhere, maybe you could fix that by slowly fading the piano out and the flute in (while playing the strings in the background). Other than that, the song flowed smoothly. New instruments were introduced really well; I liked the introduction of the flute quite a lot.

The structure is OK, a little simple, but did the trick. Variety wasn't that bad either, and although I think you could've done a piano solo with a different melody somewhere in the middle of the song, I can't say the song got repetitive, since just when I thought the melody was being repeated too much, it switched to a different melody.

The intro is lacking a good buildup, IMO. I'd rather you'd start it with the strings playing one note that lasts for 4 bars, then at bar 3 another note that harmonizes with the first one plays until the end of bar 4, and then at bar 4, another note is played and finishes at the end of bar 4. While this is all happening, you can fade the piano on like that. Ending, on the other hand, was rather good. I think you could've kept the last flute note last a little longer, but other than that, it was a good way to end the song.

This is a really nice song, and although emotional songs like this rarely get me interested in them, you actually managed to make me download it, and that shows you have a lot of talent. Keep up the great work! ;).
9/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Lublub194 responds:

First off: Sorry for the late response, I've been busy this week, as my uncle, a veteran, had his funeral on veterans day. I've been running around in a crazy panic, trying to get everything covered, as I've had some HUGE tests in school and such. So music responses just sort of fell behind. Sorry.

And as for the rest of the response:

Sorry for taking your melody, I kinda just sat down, and it flowed outta me. It was one of those moments where I stopped, and was like. "What the heck did I just do... what? I made this? WTF?!?" lol. It somewhat sorta just happened.

This was really just a rough draft of the song, but I'm glad you thought the transitions were smooth. I always like being told that :D

The structure is extremely simple. Every 16 measures pretty much. The most simplistic thing out there :P

As stated before, I think I'm going to edit the intro....

Glad you downloaded, reviewed, and voted! I appreciate them all a lot!

Thanks :D

[[DH] Descending Into Chaos]

Epicness at its, well, epicest...

This is purely amazing. I'm a huge fan of epic classical, so I've heard quite a number of epic classical songs, but seriously, this beats a good bunch of them. Great job!

The melodies over here are just excellent. Wow, those strings' melodies are just awesome. They were really fast paced, and fit really well with the chaotic feel you were going for. My only complaint was that the strings need more alternate melodies to them. Although the counter-melody at 2:04 was pure awesomeness, seriously, it actually gave me goosebumps, other than that melody, there was nothing to take away the repetitiveness of the main melody. I was expecting a new melody to come in at 1:14, or maybe a new instrument like some brass playing more notes in the background. Oh, and at 2:37, the brass hits were generic and sounded like Pirates of the Carribean :P.

The instruments are such great quality, especially those strings. I use Squidfont Orchestral for strings (yea, more soundfonts) and I thought THEY sounded good, but seriously, I can imagine the musicians in the strings section sweating like hell playing this song in my mind, they just sound so real. Piano was nice quality too, but I wish I saw the piano somewhere in the middle of the song, other than the beginning. Choir voices were perfect, though, they gave an epic feel to the song, and made it even more mighty than it already was. Oh, and since it's my tradition to start nitpicking at the end of paragraphs, that's what I'll do; anyway, I think you should try making the strings at 1:19 tremolo, maybe they could sound better.

Transitions were so awesome. I really liked the transition from calm to epic at around 0:40, and the transition from the main melody to the alternate melody at 2:01 was just amazing. It's good that you added those few seconds of silence around the song, it made the listener think "Now it's going to become calmer, eh?" but it ends up quickly moving on to the chaotic and crazy rythm this song has, leaving the listener speechless.

The structure is interesting, and not the usual Intro - Chorus - Melody 1 - Chorus - Melody 2 - Chorus - Ending. I usually have that problem when I compose songs; that my song structure is always bland and simple, but yours was well structured. Problem was, it did get repetitive, as I said before. Invent more alternate melodies, and maybe take away some unnecessary repetitive string parts in the song, since I'd imagine this song to have loads of variety (hence the name Descending Into Chaos). Oh, and speaking of the name, you typo'd 'descending' :P.

The intro was an interesting way to start the song. Usually, epic classical songs start all mighty and epic straight away, but you gave that more calm intro, which started the song up nicely IMO. Ending wasn't too good though, IMO. I expected it to end really epic-like, since I heard such powerful brass hits before. Play the brass hit you played at around 2:47 one more time at the ending, along with a gong/booming bass drum/timpani/crash cymbal. Ending was quite a bummer :(

The drums, well, wow. They were so awesome. I expected timpanis, bass drums, cymbals and orchestral snares, but I got more than that. The drum beats were so varied, and had such great samples. Loved the snare and timpani rolls you did around here too. What was a little wierd though, was that at 1:14, there was a drum beat, and it played for just one bar, and I expected it to keep playing until 1:28, until the real drum beat kicks in.

Also, another problem regarding the drums. I think they were a bit too quiet at times, especially at 1:26. I think they should be a little louder. Not loud enough to drown out all the other melodies, but loud enough to be heard clearly. Still, good news was that they had really great drum rolls when they were introduced, and were varied extremely well. Loved the timpanis at the end.

Overall, excellent job. Keep up the good work and great job, I enjoyed it a lot.
10/10
5/5
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I'd say what this made me think of, but unfortunately I'm out of spa

DarqueHand responds:

OMFG I Typo'd!!!!! Just when I thought that higher education was paying off lol.

Thanks for the huge review it's not everyday you get this much of a critical approach. Thanks tho and I hope this gave you the motivation you needed to get ewql!!

[[DX] Haunted Hip-Hop]

Wow, unique concept ^^.

It does have quite a number of problems, but the concept is very nice, and I enjoyed it. Nice job.

The melodies are probably the creepiest part of the song. It was in a minor (hehe, I can't imagine a Halloween song in a major O.o...) and was quite catchy. Loved the ambient-ish part at around 0:32, it was an excellent break from the main melody. The problem is that you need many more alternate melodies. There were only 2 melodies: the main melody, and the ambient-like part, which was very similar to the main melody anyway. An alternate melody would fit well at 1:19ish.

The main instrument didn't give out such a great creepy feel. I liked the background instrument, that was pretty spooky, and the one playing the ambient part was nice and scary. What I didn't like was the main instrument, which was a saw wave. Try and experiment with different synths to come up with one that fits well in this song. Also, a piano would do wonders in this, pianos always fit perfectly in scary Halloween songs, and with the right notes, you could really make the song sound frightening. Pianos usually sound creepy in songs like this when in a minor, and playing high notes.

What would also be cool would be sound effects. Screams, doors creaking, heartbeats, doors slamming, zombie groans, you have a variety of effects to use. Large soundfonts come with effects like those. Oh, and the song, as you said, is rather short. I would expect it to be a loop for this length, so either you try and loop it, or make it longer by adding more alternate melodies to stop it from getting repetitive.

The transitions are perfect, and they got you quite a few points. I liked how you switched from the main melody to ambient and from ambient back to the main melody, those transitions were perfect, and I find it quite hard to switch a song from action-packed to ambient and vice-versa, so good job. Loved the small buildups you did around the song, like the small drum buildup in the ambient part, and the drum buildup at the beginning.

The structure is quite simple: Main Melody Fade in - Main Melody - Ambient part - Main Melody - Main Melody Fade out, and as you can see, I repeated the word Main Melody quite a few times. It shows, as the other reviewers said, that this song needs variety. Even though it's short, it doesn't necessarily mean it must be repetitive. Add more melodies, vary the background, etc......

Intro wasn't that good either. It was a simple fade in, and I'd rather prefer you started the song quietly, just with the background instrument, then the ambient synth comes in, then the main saw wave, and then the drums. Instead of fading it in, you're doing a buildup in, which IMO sounds much better. Either that, or if you're planning on looping the song, then you'll have to start the intro suddenly and match it up with the ending.

As for the ending, it was a fade out too. What would be better is an arpeggio-ish ending with a piano. First put a lot of reverb on the piano for the last few bars, and then make an arpeggio ending (depending on what key you're in. Try C4, C#4, G4, C5, C#5, G5, C6, C#6, G6, C7 playing in quavers, maybe with a ritardando before the end, and then move those notes around until it fits the key you're playing in. Trust me, it's the creepiest ending there is XD). You could do that, or do as I said above and loop it.

The drums were decently varied. I was hoping for an alternate drum beat in the ambient part, but other than that, they had a good variety of samples which sounded nice, the beat was cool, and it fit really well with the song. I liked the drum roll that showed up for the first time at around 0:13, it made good transitions, and introduced the drums quite well.

It has its pros and cons. What you should work on is the variety in the song, the amount of instruments, the intro, ending and length, but you've got some great melodies, drum beats, samples, transitions and buildups, plus the song fits well with the name. Great job, keep it up, and good luck if you continue it ;).
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

dx5231 responds:

damn... that's a big review.

About the fact that it's kinda repeating: as I said in another review in another review, I do not have enough instruments, or I don't know how to use them properly. The instrument pack that I have is not really for hip-hop, or anything like that. I've been trying to get more instruments for a while.

The piano suggestion: I actually thought of putting a piano in that song, but it usually sounds crappy, or too simple, and it wouldn't be good enough for a scary/halloween themed song.

Effects: well, that's a nice idea, I didn't think of that. I just need to know where to get such effects.

Thanks for the review, I really appreciate it.

[Piano_Force 2 [Box-Killa]]

Sorry to ruin your perfect 10 RRC score, but...

...Not enough to give you a 10 :P. This is a really really cool song, showing what a piano can do, but I don't think this song is being played to its full potential.

The melodies are all perfect, when it comes to melodies, there are no problems. Lol, generic awesomeness at 1:06 XD. Loved the really fast paced piano notes around the middle of the song, it's hard to achieve such a good amount of melodies with such fast paced rythm. I liked the melody that came somewhere around 0:45, had that medieval feel to it, if you get what I mean. I liked that you changed the dynamics in the song every now and again, but a few more tempo changes like the one you did at the very end would work out well here.

I said it before in your other Piano Force, and I'll say it again. Man, this does need other instruments. Something like a synth bass, maybe some bells and choirs, with a few drums; just a few things to accompany the piano so that it can still retain the name 'Piano Force' but won't be just piano only, since it does sometimes get a little boring. Maybe you can try and submit another version of this with other instruments? Also, you really should do that idea I mentioned in the other review of a part where there's a delayed whisper saying 'Piano Force' :P.

Transitions are on the whole quite good. I just didn't like the one at 2:38. It was too rough and abrupt. Also, I'm not much of a fan of the 10 seconds of silence you put before the generic part. You should fill it up with some piano bass notes, or expand the crescendo to fill up all of the silence. Structure and variety concern me a little here too. This was quite a random song, with new melodies popping up all over the place. It's a little hard to keep track of the song when the structure is all over the place. True, it didn't get boring, but you should give a try at making a chorus which plays a few times throughout the song.

Intro was really cool, with those two high pitched notes playing in the background, sort of giving a dangerous theme to the beginning. Ending was awesome too. Man, that chord really caught me by surprise :P. It's always great hearing something new for endings other than a simple fade or something, and man, this chord is like the most unique and craziest I've heard in a big while. EVIL CHORDS FTW :D :D :D.

Again, sorry for the all 10 score from the members ruined. This was a really cool song, but a little too random for my tastes, and it had a few rough transitions, plus a lack of instruments too. Loved the melodies though, and the intro and outro are so awesome. I'd love to hear a V2 with more instruments :D. Keep up the good work.
9/10
5/5

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Box-Killa responds:

Hmmm, I could just make an entirely new song that has other instruments lol, Maybe I should do that instead. Yeah the transitions are a bit rough sometimes, I suppose you could expect that from the change of modes. :D Thanks for the review