Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pull The Plug - Cover]

Quite good.

I'm not really into songs like this, but this one is better than a lot of ones I've reviewed lately. Not bad.

I've never heard the original, but it seems like the song you decided to remix had quite a few catchy melodies to it. Great instrument quality too, and the vocals were excellent. My only complaint is that that the song still needs to be louder.

The transitions and structure didn't impress me over here. It just seems like a collection of catchy guitar riffs. Each melody had a different tempo and rythm to it and it felt too random. You get points for variety, but there's too much randomness here. I liked the intro and the ending, though.

The drums were excellent, had great samples, and were extremely varied and fit with the song. Good job over here, the drums were flawless.

In all, an OK cover. Feels too random (unless it's supposed to be like that or something...), and the song needs to be louder, but the instruments and samples were great, and so was the variety. Good job.
8/0
4/5

-Review Request Club-

Jeffaro responds:

Yeah, the original song has some weird arrangements as far as structure goes.As for the melodies /solos that I added in, I made them different so that you got the idea that there were two different guitarists soling.The first guitarist had more of a Pentatonic style while the other guitarist had a more Harmonic minor shreddy style.

BTW I can't make the song any louder or else it will start to clip.

[Midnight Drive - TFT80s]

Quite unique

Pretty great song! Very few flaws in it.

The melodies all match with each other and are quite cool, especially the bass, and there are loads of different melodies in this. I like the instruments you used here, too. My only complaint is that you should vary the bass a little more.

Transitions were fine, and everything was built up well. The intro started the song up quite well, and the ending was very well done. The last note was held a little too long, in my opinion, and I'd put a little more silence at the end, if I were you, but other than that, a very good ending.

The drums were what really bothered me in this song. The drum samples were quite good; but I was hoping to hear more samples, more variety throughout the song, and also the drums were a little simple too.

Overall, quite a unique sounding song. Has some very catchy melodies, awesome samples, and good transitions, beginning and ending. Just work a little more on those drums, and variety of the bass. Good job! :D.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Soundgasm responds:

Thank you for the specifics, I will try to focus on improving the shortcomings you mentioned.

[Nymphetamine (Instrumental)]

Great Remix :)

Pretty good job on it. Almost perfect :P.

Like Fro, I've never heard the original, but it sounds like you chose a good song to remix, because the melodies are good and catchy. The instruments had great quality, it sounds awesome with a real guitar, and there's a lot of variety.

The transitions in general were pretty decent. I just didn't like the transition from 0:10 - 0:11. I'd suggest some guitar effect or a drum roll or something to indicate that the heavy metal's about to start. I liked the choirs at the beginning, but the ending was much too sudden and ended with the wrong note.

The drum samples were very cool, and in all the drums fit perfectly with the song, but what annoyed me was that cymbal. It was way too overused in my opinion, and it got very bothersome. Other than that, the drums are great.

Overall, a nice remix, too bad I didn't hear the original or I would've given a more helpful review, but what I can say now is, awesome job!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

[[dj-Jo] Summer Clubbing]

Pretty cool!

Another great track. Amazing job :D.

The melodies in here are all really cool. I liked the melody at the beginning a lot, and the melody 2:25 too. I agree with Fro; some instruments sound a little generic, but overall the instrument choice was really cool. I loved the part at 3:32, those 2 seconds rocked XD.

The transitions, as usual, were excellent. Nice use of effects for the transitions. The intro and ending didn't impress me much, though. The beginning felt a little too plain, you know, with just kicks. The ending was a little off too. End it with a note instead of a kick. On the bright side, the build up at the beginning was cool :).

The drums were a little annoying, even though they were very well varied and the drum samples weren't bad, since there was a kick every beat for the whole song, which really got bothersome. I liked the snares, and the hi hat, and the kick sounded good, but it happened in almost every beat. You should make some more parts without that kick, or maybe a solo without drums altogether.

Overall, although this sounds a little generic, intro and outro need fixing and the kick got annoying, but the instrument choice fit very well with the song, drum samples were awesome, melodies out of this world, there were some nice effects in all and the transitions were five star. Good job.
10/10
5/5
Download.

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[[dj-Jo] Thru The Sea of Trance]

Trance of the Carribean

Man, this sounds almost exactly like Pirates of the Carribean. I thought this was a remix when I first heard it.

The melody is very piratey and awesome. I especially liked the part at 1:13. Really awesome instruments, that saw synth sounds awesome, and so does the square synth (Well, I think it's a square synth anyway, I'm not experienced at this kind of stuff O_o) at 1:27. The song fit very well with the name, too.

Great transitions. I liked your use of effects, they made awesome transitions. I loved the transition at 0:30. Good buildup after. The intro was pretty cool, and the ending didn't sound that bad, but I think it's better if you ended the song with the saw synth playing a higher note, since the melody seemed to jump from high to low way too suddenly, and make the last note echo a little more with some delay or something.

Really amazing percussion, which was varied a lot, fit nicely with the song, and had awesome samples. Nothing wrong there, the drums in this are great.

Another awesome song. Keep up the good work, you really know how to make awesomeness :D.
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

[[dj-Jo] Turn It Up]

Purely amazing!

Very impressive song. I loved it!

The melodies were really great, and there were some very catchy ones. Some instruments felt a little wierd, like the one at 0:24, but that's just my opinion. There was a great variety of different instruments. What really amazed me in this song was that you made it so long, but it didn't feel repetitive at all. 5 minutes of variety. That's out of this world. Not to mention that excellent bass...

The transitions were very, very well done. The use of different effects, voices and the drums made great transitions, like the drum transition at 1:39 and the effect and voice transition at 1:20. Intro was very well done, but the ending was too abrupt and strange. I liked the effect you used, but I was expecting a loud and long ending note and a crash cymbal or something like that.

Also, it doesn't loop very well, because there's too much silence at the end and a buildup at the beginning which don't sound well for a loop. Still, I won't dare lower the score of this awesome song just because it doesn't loop XD.

The drums were awesomely varied for a song as long as this, and the drum samples were great. I think the kick was overused a little, and wanted to hear a little more hihats and snares, but the drums made some great transitions, and fit very well with the song.

Overall, this has one or two defects, but it's so long and awesome that those defects don't change a thing in my score. Great bass, superb use of effects and voices, really nice drums, extraordinary variety, good structure, amazing song! A long review for a long song I guess :\. Keep it up!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

[If You Say So]

Pretty good!

Wow, not bad at all. It's evident you worked very hard on this song, and the outcome's great!

The melodies are very relaxing and catchy. I especially liked the one at 1:01, and the one that comes in at 1:16 was amazing. There are some really good melodies over here. I really liked the instruments too.

Transitions were excellent. You used loads of effects, reverse cymbals and in all it made the transitions sound superb. Good job with the transitions at 2:23 and especially the one at 2:37. The intro was kinda strange, but cool, nevertheless. The ending was what really bothered me. Instead of a fade, end it with a proper note, like maybe you use the transition you did at 2:37, and end the song with a proper note and a crash cymbal or something.

The drums made some awesome transitions, they were quite well varied and had some good samples to them. The snap bothered me a little, but I liked the kick and tomtom drums (well, I think they're tomtom drums anyway...) you used here. The main drum beat was kinda simple, though. Good use of effects.

Overall, a pretty good song. Melodies are awesome, transitions too, intro wasn't bad, drum samples were good, and the variety (for a 5 and a half minute song) was great. Keep it up!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

svinepels responds:

Thanks, this is the best audio review I've ever seen. I'll follow your advice and make a better ending for this song!

[I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) METAL]

Strange...

I agree with Sonofkirk. The voice needs some work, and this needs much more structure.

The riffs weren't bad, but I think the voices covered the guitar up too much. The instruments were fine, and the guitar sounds (or probably is) real.

Overall, as I said, the song needs more structure. The transitions weren't bad, but I'd understand the song more if it had a fixed melody which plays every now and again. The intro had good notes, but I think it could sound better with some soft guitar chords instead. As for the ending, it was good, but ended pretty suddenly. If you gave the song a fixed melody, played it at the end and ended it with the note you ended it with, it could be better.

As Sonofkirk said, the drums feel very random, and I didn't really notice any fixed drum beat in the song, Also, I think the drums need to be a little louder. Drum samples were good though.

Not too bad. Good riffs and melodies, but it needs more structure. Other than that, it's not bad :).
7/10
5/5 since this got badly 0-bombed.

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Blackdoom13 responds:

Yes the guitar is real. The guitar is real in all my songs. I've yet to hear a VST that sounds anything even simaler to a real guitar lol.
Glad you liked some of it! Thanks for the review!

[Invention No. 2]

Better than the first one

This is definitely an improvement to the first one. Quite short, but not bad at all.

The melodies were great. I especially liked the harp towards the end. The instrument quality over here is none too special, but better than a lot of samples I've heard on NG. Still, the choice of instruments fit very well with each other.

The transitions were done much better than in the first one. I liked the pizzicato in the intro and the ending was excellent. The strings seemed to come out of nowhere though, since I didn't hear it in any other parts of the song. You should do like Aerochord said - lengthen it by using the strings, and give it some more fullness after when all of the instruments come in to end the song.

Quite a good song. It needs a little more fullness and length, but the melodies and structure were fine. Good job.
8/10
5/5 since this got badly bombed...

-Review Request Club-

loansindi responds:

As I write more of these I feel I get more comfortable in the style, I'm noticing a definite improvement, myself.

I just wanted to throw a generic end on the song, which is why the strings are there. I might revisit this piece and introduce another theme.

It's worth noting that this one was written while drunk, so there was an attention span issue.

Thanks for the review, it's greatly appreciated.

[*Paranoia*]

Very nice!

Lol when you said a good hard rock song and I heard the intro, I thought to myself 'this isn't even close to rock. I'd better get ready for a techno song', but then, well, I was wrong XD.

The melody's very catchy, epecially the synth melody, plus the bassline was great. I loved the part at 1:02. Great instruments too, the guitar sounds very real, and the synth sounds awesome. A very good mixture of techno and rock. The only strange part was at 0:44. You probably wanted it to sound glitchy, but in my opinion it was a little too glitchy, and I thought my internet connection was acting up again and that I was lagging.

The transitions were done very well. Nothing felt off. Wicked intro, and good buildup. The ending as you said was pretty strange. I'd sugest ending it with the synth melody that you started it with, and giving it a long ending note at the end, or you could consider looping it.

The drums, although a little simple, were excellent for this song, and quite well varied. Good drum samples too.

In general, a very good song. The ending was quite bad, but not bad enough to lower your score. Keep up the awesome work!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Nessbeatsfox responds:

Hey thanks a lot for the detailed review Supersteph! The guitar sounds very real simply because it is real =). About the glitchy part; if you thought that your computer or internet was messed up, then I did it right. I like screwing with peoples heads.

Thanks a lot for the advice. I never even thought of ending with the intro synth like that. That's actually a really good idea, and looping it may work too. I really appreciate the review man!