Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Parisienne redux]

Pretty cool :D

Quite good. Just a few flaws here and there.

I liked the melody you chose to use as a background, it's quite catchy, and the guitar work you did was quite awesome too, and most of the time it fit quite well with the song too.

The transitions were quite well done with the guitar. The intro, obviously, wasn't that good, and I was expecting a bit more of an ending than a fade.

I don't know if you did the drums or not, but they're very well done, fit really well with the guitar in a lot of parts, were great quality, and were well varied.

In all, a good redux. The intro and ending were a little off, but the guitar was great, and the drums and melodies were great. Good job.
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

mistermurfi responds:

the backing track is just that drums n all not done by me only work i done was recording some lead guitar over it :D

ehmmm see the problem is there really isnt an intro as the first minute or so of audio got cut off somehow and as i mostly record just improvised stuff and quite liked how this turned out i decided against trying to do it again ..

thanks for the awesome reviews and scores :D

[unnammed riff expanded]

It's OK

It's a little short and slightly repetitive, but not that bad.

The melody is sort of relaxing but has a bit of a 'slums city' feel to it, but needs a bit more catchiness to it, if you get what I mean. Still, it's not that bad. Instruments were good too.

The structure isn't bad, although the melody repeats itself a little. The intro and ending felt a little strange and so did the ending, since they both faded, and it felt like part of a long song instead of a song of its own.

I can barely hear the drums, so I'd suggest making them louder, and the are repetitive too so changing it a little would add more variety. Drum samples weren't bad.

Overall, a good little song, with an OK melody an structure, but the intro, ending and variety need fixing.
7/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

mistermurfi responds:

yes well this is really repetative i know but i literally spent 5 mins from start to finish doing it hence the backin drums and guitar are just looped not changed around at all

lazy i know but well was just a rush job to do something relaxed and with an unusual tone :D

thanks for the review :D

[As of yet unnamed]

Pretty good :D

Not such a bad job at all. I haven't heard many improvised guitar songs which sound as good as this.

The melodies seem to jump around a little and not sound right, but there were some impressive melodies, like the one at 1:39. Second half of the song did feel a little off, as you said, but overall the melodies aren't bad. The recording quality wasn't that great.

Improvised songs don't usually have much structure, which is why I'd be impressed if you gave this a bit of structure, like making a catchy main melody which you repeat a few times. The intro was OK, and the ending was quite good too, and definitely much better than a lot of improvised songs.

In all, quite a good song. Keep up the good work.
7/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

mistermurfi responds:

thanks for the kind words and informative review :D i know its nothing exceptional but then again i am only what is known as a bedroom guitarist and only just learned how to hook my guitar up to my pc so expect the quality of songs and sounds to get better as i learn :D cheers

[Village [Redux]]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Review Request Club-

ErikMcClure responds:

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

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

[Idea 211]

Amazing!

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

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

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

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

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

-Review Request Club-

ErikMcClure responds:

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

[[G] When Giants Clash (Ins.)]

Your first FL song?

I can't believe this is your first song with Fruity Loops. It's quite well done!

The melodies are perfect for hip hop and are quite catchy; catchy enough to get stuck in my head. Nice quality of instruments too. Although it is quite a good melody, it's used too much in this song, and gets much too repetitive. You should introduce a few alternate melodies somewhere in the song to vary some more, and more notes, instead of just monotonous chords. Some bass could work well over here too.

Also, you should try and humanize the melodies a little, especially that piano, so it doesn't sound 100% perfect and sound more like it's being played not written (you can adjust the notes on Fruity Loops by going on the button with the icon of a square grid at the top left and clicking on '(none)' and moving the notes around).

The transitions are nothing out of the ordinary, but OK. Some transitions like when the strings came in like a drum roll or something. The intro wasn't that bad, but it might sound better if you started the string melody first, and then added the piano and drum beat. The ending was quite good.

I liked the drum samples you used here, and the drum beat, although a tad on the simple side, wasn't bad. Unfortunately, like the melody, it got very repetitive and annoying. If I were you, I'd make some parts where there would be no drums playing, and make other drum instuments and drum rolls for the transitions as I mentioned earlier.

For your first song, it definitely sounds very well done. Amazing compare to my first song anyway... Keep up the great work!
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

[Taxmurder]

Quite a cool loop.

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

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

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

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

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

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

-Review Request Club-

Sawdust responds:

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

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

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

[[LY] DNB [Demoupdate]]

Original ^^

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

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

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

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

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

-Review Request Club-

la-yinn responds:

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

Thanks for the review. :-)

[SN |Make the Choice| SN]

Almost perfect ;)

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

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

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

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

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

-Review Request Club-

SessileNomad responds:

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

lol no youtube for you xD

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

im glad you liked it

thanks for reviewing

peaceout

SessileNomad

[In League (Cover)]

Pretty cool...

Not too bad. Just a few problems...

The melodies are OK, but I haven't heard the original, so I can't compare this one to that. The quality, as usual, is great. It's the vocals which put my score down quite a bit, as Fro said. You overdid it a bit...

The transitions are OK, and nothing felt wrong in the song, but I was looking for more drum transitions, like a drum roll at around 0:10 or something to indicate a start of a new instrument. The intro wasn't too special, since it was a little repetitive, but it's not bad. The fade ending fit pretty well with the song, but I was expecting a better ending than that.

The drum samples are awesome, as usual, but you overused the cymbal way too much, in my opinion. Apart from that, the drums fit quite well with the song, and although they are a little repetitive, they sounded OK.

The only defects are the voices and the drum variety, but in all it sounded fine. Good job.
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-