Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Skyline V2]

Aw DAMN this was a surprise. You have done the track so much justice it's almost ridiculous. If Wolftacular submitted this I THINK he could've gotten one of the highest score averages in the round! Really goes to show what some good production can do to the track.

Really, you've just done an excellent job. The mix, while still slightly blurry/muddy during the string+flute sections and piano solo (probably because of the actual samples), is much much better now. Clear and balanced very well. I think there are still a few quirks; the vocal recording quality still isn't excellent (nothing you can do about that!), and I can hear some static/white noise (presumably from the recording) in the background, which you could've removed with noise removal (or at least gotten rid of in parts which don't have vocals in them like the piano solo).

The drums and guitars are excellent. They add depth to the track and give it the pacing and emotional power that it deserves. They were mixed in very nicely, and fit everywhere except 1:29 which I think would've sounded better without drums, at least up until 1:44.

The track itself is great, as I said in Wolftacular's NGADM review. Amazing singing, composition, and so on and so forth. I want to make my review look a bit longer though since I'm supposed to be the guy that writes long reviews, so I'll review your Author's Comments as well.

Solid grammar, apart from a few quirks ("I redid the mix, master, AND added drums, bass and guitar"). Stylistic complaint; I personally prefer having smileys BEFORE the full-stop (i.e. "he won't appear right away :)."). That's personal preference though. You could've pasted the lyrics of the track in the Author's Comments to improve them, but I like how you posted all of the things you and Wolftacular used, with a good "Tools:" heading that works well as a transitional element.

OK I literally can't lengthen this review any more. Excellent work, you two.

MetalRenard responds:

You really... Stepped up... For this review... *sigh* Ok I'll avoid the humour.
To address the issues you raised:
The muddy mix issues all come down to the fact that I was given all the strings as one file, all the lead elements as one file, vocals and piano in their own files too, but all as 160kbs mp3s! I can mix but I can't make miracles. Haha

1:29 Yeah, that would work. I turned the drums down for that section though, to keep it subtle. I agree more subtle would probably be better. ^^

Noise removal.. I don't have my noise removal software any more because of some "quirks" in the system, to reuse your word. Sadly they've lost my information and I can't download it. The piano was recorded with a microphone, I expect the iPhone microphone just like the voice, hence all the issues with clarity and noise I had to battle with.

I really appreciate the time you've taken to review this and I'm really happy to have had the opportunity to work on this amazing track by Wolftacular. Thanks for having me as a judge in NGADM too, which lead me to finding it! :D

(I put emoticons after punctuation! In my mind they're not part of the sentence structure but, instead, provide a context for what has just been said... Let's not get off topic, eh? :P)

[Steam's Wonderful Contraptions]

This is an NGADM Round 2 review.

--

No way man. I can scarcely believe my ears. I always thought you were an excellent composer since your audition, but thought that the thing that stopped me from considering you indistinguishable from professional composers is your production quality. Mechanical Anima had that lack of low end, and I felt that Skyfortress - City of Diz got a bit cluttered at times, so I always thought your production quality, while usually good, would be your bane. I stand entirely corrected and dumbstruck. That was masterfully produced. Everything is crystal clear and mastered so well (especially that amazingly clean low end). Don't get me started on your sounds as well... again you use Edirol, a VST previously known by me as being fairly low-quality, and your sounds are just perfect.

You mix in sound effects flawlessly, giving this a distinct vibe that's indicative of your style, but at the same time this is a whole universe away from your Round 1 track in terms of mood and genre. I loved that train whistle as well! It added so much to the atmosphere. What I like the most about this track would be your rhythms though. Everything sounds so carefree and rhythmically you have huge amounts of variety. Your composition is also fantastic; plenty of lovely counterpoint, harmonies, shifting the melody to various instruments, etc. Of course, I can also commend you on your brilliant structure, transitions, and so on, but I think we can take that as a given in your music now.

Finding issues in your music is like rocket science, I'm telling you. Really, the only gripes I have is that sometimes, the composition feels ever so slightly flat, but your rhythmic excellence makes up for that. Also, I feel like the train whistle at the end was unnecessary. It feels like it works more as a background element, and when you added it at the end I firmly believe it ruined the subtlety of the ending.

Those two minor nitpicks aside, this is just incredible. Keep up the excellent work.

Score: 9.7/10

steampianist responds:

Hahaha thats why I make it up for the composition and im so happy you loved the train whistle haha
Ah edirol. My oldest vst you make me feel like im the only one who
Carried an 18th century pistol and went to a modern warfare haha

Again thank you for the awesome review and I always look forward to your nitpicks

[Cthulhu Surfaces]

This is an NGADM Round 2 review.

--

I'm pretty sure you're not the only one with a fear for gigantic deep sea creatures that want to kill you. And, best part is, this track portrays that fear excellently. You've got a splendidly unsettling atmosphere right from the start, with the low rumbling and the 0:33 suspenseful plucks (which for some reason remind me of the atmospheric elements Zelda often uses in dungeons). This is helped by the excellent samples you're using, the superb tremolo on the strings, and of course your wonderful mixing. The mix is very good; deep and dark but very clear. I can hear each instrument clearly, even when you have some thick instrumentation going on. Oh and, your brass is amazing. I've personally always had problems with getting a good brass sound (I've been stuck with East/West Symphonic Orchestra Silver for years!) but you have no problem at all with it. Good job.

And then your composition! Your composition is something else. It's not the typical overdone style of cinematic composition (although I'm hearing some film-score influences in this) and it's really enjoyable. You have some truly excellent melodies, the highlight, in my opinion, being the beautiful 2:58 melody. And, to my delight, unlike in your Round 1 track, you have a little motif here that brings everything together excellently (being the 0:05 motif that's cleverly repeated in a different key at 1:54). I love your string pizzicato melodies as well. They evoked a strong feeling of suspense. Most things in this track evoke a strong feeling of suspense now that I'm thinking about it. On a smaller note, your intro is awesome.

Some of the people are praising you for your structure but personally I think you could've done a better job with it. You have an good progression, and your structure is perfectly fine on the whole, but I felt like by literally giving the whole outro a much more subtle tone, you tainted the impact of the ending. A huge, dissonant brass chord at the very end rising out of nowhere, followed by some staccato hit for the ending note would've done much more justice to the track in my opinion (or maybe a final climactic section). It's a small structural issue that I didn't reduce many marks for (especially since it could just be personal preference), but nevertheless it's something to think about. Also, I agree that the We Will Rock You claps don't quite fit, and I think the transition at 2:09 could've been smoother/subtler.

Just a few small issues. Really though, this is phenomenal, and totally different from your audition and Round 1 track! You have such a firm grasp over different styles which really is the mark of a talented composer. Now make reggae.

Score: 9.4/10

headphoamz responds:

As usual, I deeply appreciate and applaud your detailed reviews, Step.
Did you like how I threw that leitmotif in there? That was just for you! I remembered last round that you mentioned you'd like the tune to be a little more memorable, so I tried to go with a more consistent melody throughout the piece. So happy you noticed!
Let me tell you - going with the Platinum Orchestra from East West was one of the best investments I've ever made! Highly recommended if you can get it.
Thanks for the criticism on the last bit - I wasn't sure at all how to end this, so it was very experimental in that regard.
Prrrrobably not gonna do reggae anytime soon, but hey, never say never, right?

Thanks for your take on my music, once again. :)

[I Feel]

This is an NGADM Round 2 review.

--

Well, whether you had a small amount of time or not, it doesn't sound like it. This is a long track with plenty of detail and development, and just like a lot of the time with your music, this has a uniqueness that is hard to digest after the first few listens but eventually the track really grows on you. Right, I want to say first that I think this has one of the best intros of the NGADM. Having all your sound effects and percussive sounds playing in such a bare section with very melodic elements in play allows the listener to appreciate them more, and damn are they good. And then at 0:58 you introduce a huge pad that has the same widening effect that the strings in your previous track had. Excellent intro, excellent progression from then on.

Of course your excellent sounds aren't only showcased in the intro. Your whole song is jam-packed with a very colourful and wide array of fantastic soundscapes, pads, glitch effects, instruments, and percussion. You've also got this excellent talkbox bass thing which I love to bits. Your production is much better this time round. Great, well-balanced mix that's pretty full-up but never cramped, and you've got very interesting use of reverb. Your composition is fine; while you definitely focus more on your sounds, textures and atmospheres, you've got a decent hook on the piano that brings the melodic structure of the track together through your repetition of it at the end. Transitions are excellent (apart from one I'll mention in the next section), especially the one at 2:22 which does a great job of introducing the "main" melody, so to speak. Great ending to top it all off.

Two nitpicks and a larger issue. Starting with the nitpicks, I think the clap at the beginning has too much high end, which kind of ruins your amazingintro, because we've got a wonderful, warm, deep atmosphere that keeps on getting interrupted by that harsh clap. It fits in a lot better once you introduce the other percussive elements, but for the intro I think you shouldn't have had such a contrasting element. And the 3:19 transition... I've listened to it like 5 times and I still don't get it haha. I think it should be more subtle and sensible. Lastly, the track loses its ability to maintain interest in the later sections of the track. In your intro you're able to keep the listener interested by introducing loads of new elements, but from 3:18 it sounds like we've already heard it all before, and while there are quite a few new elements in that section, none really succeed in taking the track to a new direction to stop it from getting boring.

Despite that, this is another excellent track from you. I genuinely can't wait to hear what you make next!

Score: 8.6/10

InvisibleObserver responds:

Clap - Roger that. Thats an easy fix, I can just drop a quick filter cut on it or lower its velocity and it should put it in place.

3:19 - I didn't have time to do up a fancier effectual reversy/sweepy/filter glitchout. I thought it was still within the rhythms of the song, though abrupt. I guess it sounds worse to fresh ears. I was at the point of a 10 hour sit down session where I was pretty numb to things.

Songs repetition - Ultimately just not enough time to really fluff it out. I need more similar patterns with new additions/changes and basically a different outro thats not a straight up repeat. I think some repitition is healthy - listening to this track once and the repetition probably welcome. Judging it and listening 3-4 times will make the rep stand out.

Maybe I'm just defending my musical baby. :P

Thank you for the wealthy review Step.

[Draesdne Adaas]

This is an NGADM Round 2 review.

--

Ah, that Bosa. Being the king of pretty much everything makes him a pretty busy person. Quests are quests though, looks like you were on your own for this round! Despite not having Bosa with you, you still created a fantastic piece that's very characteristic of your style and has these wonderfully well-woven textures that are a blast(issimo) to listen to, no doubt because of your excellent chord voicings and instrumentation that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. You also have a very good structure and progression, as you almost always have in your music. I loved the melody-answering at 1:24 and the 1:37 abrupt transition to the soft choir section akin to the one you had at the very beginning.

I should also commend you on the excellent ending you have. I don't think you mucked up the ending at all (and I never even knew blastissimo was amusingly an actual musical term). I think you managed to create a very apocalyptic and almighty final section with artful use of dissonance and a spine-tingling brass sound. Some heavier percussion at the end would've wrapped up that outro nicely, but it's a great section anyway. To my relief, despite you starting this track quite late, it doesn't feel very rushed. Sure, it's somewhat lacking in intricacy/detail at times, which is a bit of a let-down, but not glaringly so.

You saw this coming a mile away, but for a long while, production value will be your downfall, samulis. You have such a heavy focus on composition and so you never do stuff like small melodies that lazily repeat themselves all the time, predictable chords over a pseudo-epic brass melody with staccato strings going insane in the background or generally any kind of simplistic and bland composition that tries to sound epic (something I might be guilty of in my music). You always deliver solid composition with excellent harmonies, and then your mix is thin and lacking the oomph I so desperately want.

You've got a solid track here, with awesome textures and lots of good composition. Keep up the awesome work.

Score: 8.5/10

samulis responds:

Thanks for the review Step. I've always known my Achilles Heel and struggled with mastering (at least I can blame it on the fact I use a notation program). That's why I'm going to a college with a focus on modern music- the place where I can learn the most about mixing and mastering and technology. Let's face it, teaching yourself chords and the form of a Fuge is a far cry from learning how to properly use compression without making it sound like a dead cat. Maybe in a few years I'll have that final step down (no pun intended).

Blastissimo isn't actually a word as far as I know, but I use it a hell of a lot to describe the brass parts in 90% of modern cinematic-action music (essentially it's FFF + Full Tilt + Cuivre in music lingo I guess). XD

I figured give it the old Samulis approach... it's only failed me a dozen times so far, hahaha.

thanks again for the review, Step! It's been a Blast(issimo) too!

[Memories of a Forgotten Land]

This is an NGADM Round 2 review.

--

Wait, what. After your Round 1 track, you give us this? I did not expect it! Your Round 1 track wasn't bad by any means, but this track is in such a different tone... your Round 1 submission was set on building an atmosphere and this one's all about expression. Impressively, just like you succeeded with your goal in Round 1 by building such a great atmosphere, you've certainly succeeded in expressing such powerful emotion in this track. The first section is very melancholic, and the second section (from 1:09 onwards) feels more hopeful. Of course, credit must go to Jeremy for such a beautiful violin performance. In short, the expression in this track is just wonderful.

That, of course, can't quite be achieved with bad composition, and thankfully, you have incredible composition. Lovely melodies on the violin. Who composed them? Michael or Jeremy? Your progression is superb, and when the violin's melody hit high notes in a beautiful melodic ascension, I died. Highly suitable chords, by the way. 1:09's little chordal passage is actually one of my favourite parts of this piece, even if it's a pretty small section that doesn't last long before the solo violin takes the spotlight again. The production is nearly pristine, by the way. Everything sounds warm and clear, and there's a lot of dynamics.

I say the production is nearly pristine because I felt like, as JacobCadmus correctly pointed out, sometimes the sampled instruments don't quite match up to the violin in terms of expression. This is expected, of course, because when you introduce a human element in music, it always ends up being more expressive, but still, sometimes the instrumentation in the background just sounds flat. The main culprit is one of the instruments you have in the background which I can't quite make out - it sounds like a soft French horn playing in its higher register, or it might just be a woodwind instrument. It first comes in at 1:21 and plays quite consistently throughout the whole piece - it just feels dynamically flat and occasionally, at points like 1:42, its precise frequency can penetrate a bit too much in a mix full of deep, warm strings and sound ugly. Also, I would've liked more than just the violin carrying the foreground melody. Rarely is the melody given to any other instrument, and even though I'm partial to a great violin performance, which Jeremy certainly delivered, variety in the foreground instrumentation is still important.

This is a wonderful track. Far more developed than your Round 1 track and full of beautiful composition and a touching violin performance to top it all off. Great work to both of you.

Score: 8.8/10

MichaelJ responds:

Wow, Step. Awesome review. Thank you!

I had violin samples in the first half of the piece when I sent it to Jeremy, and he recorded himself on the real fiddle. I then removed the samples and inserted the recording. However, everything past 1:33 is 100% Jeremy.

You're right, my instrument samples can't compete with the real thing! After adding the violin recordings, I think my ear turned off all of the other instruments. I then rushed to get this published. I'll watch out for stuff like that next time.

Also, I am so jealous of your ability to write solid reviews. Thanks again.

[Tir Na Nog]

This is an NGADM Round 2 review.

--

This song hits many of my soft spots. I have a soft spot for celtic music, a soft spot for sus4 chords (which you make really nice use of, especially in the intro) and a soft spot for etherealwinds' vocals. Well-played! Your atmosphere is exactly what you described it to be - mysterious. Something people know little about, but at the same time something exciting and heart-pumping. You highlight this well by throwing in so many different elements, and unlike in your Round 1 track, you've brought the production quality up a notch, so despite so many instruments playing together, it's not a game of Eeny, meeny, miny, moe to decide which to focus on!

Your transitions are almost all excellent. 1:16 was a bit abrupt during the initial listen, and perhaps you could've made 2:16 a bit more subtle, but otherwise, everything's smooth and well-made. 2:44 is just mind-blowingly well made, by the way. What an excellent way to heighten the melody and switch everything to overdrive, so to speak. Your progression and structure are also masterful. On the instrumentation section, I can tell you made an effort to give your instruments dynamics and realism, and your instruments are well-chosen, but they're still soundfonts, and some of them (0:07's instrument especially) sound very thin and MIDI-like. Again, I'm not reducing your score for it because you seem to have done everything in your power to give this good production value, but you're one of the people who I think really deserves some better sounds. It's an investment to consider. If you ever do consider it and would like some tips, feel free to hit me up.

Now, first impression; this track is very generic, even moreso than your first track (sorry for using that word again haha). When I think "celtic", this kind of track is exactly what I'd think of. This might be a good thing because it means you kept to your vision of making a celtic track, but it's also a bad thing because it feels like I've heard all these melodies a handful of times before. They're very typical for this genre, and I feel that it's important to make your work stand out. This is a more uphill struggle in EDM, since there are so many tracks in that genre that it becomes hard to give your music an edge over other EDM music, but you have no excuse! There's plenty of celtic music out there but there's still a lot of room to make your celtic track sound unique. Tiny mixing issue; at 2:49 the lower frequencies of etherealwinds' voice are too prominent.

Anyhow, good job improving on your Round 1 submission; the more I listen to this, the more I enjoy it. You need to work on making your music stand out from the crowd, because couple that with your compositional talent (and some better samples of course) and you've got a winning formula. P.S.: May I remind you how good 2:44's transition is. I keep going back to that transition because it is SO DAMN WELL-MADE. Bravo!

Score: 8.6/10

ChronoNomad responds:

Huzzah! I pinpointed all your weaknesses systematically and violently zapped them with high-powered sound waves...without even knowing what they were! This pleases me greatly. I'm also glad to hear that the mysterious quality of the music is quantifiable. It's also a pleasure to hear that my production quality has improved despite the continued use of SoundFonts. :D

On to transitions! As for 1:16, that was intended to be strategically jarring in the hopes that it would feel nice and dramatic. A false ending as it were, and then...BAM! I was never (and still am not) quite happy with the cymbal crash at 2:16, but ditching them entirely felt too underwhelming, and nothing else I tried really seemed to work as well. I would have gone back at the end and continued experimenting, but it ended up just being forgotten in the general shuffle. Oh, but 2:44--YES! It would seem that you love that particular transition as much as I do. I really wanted the title of the land/song to appear vocally at least once, and Jordi proceeded to deliver beyond my fondest expectations. I would indeed love to acquire some robust EW suites one of these days, but as a person with bills and college tuition payments it's just not in the cards at current. Believe me, I'll be saving any birthday and Christmas money for precisely that! Until then, I can but do the best with what I have.

Generic!? Gah! Argh! It burns! It bites! It freezes! My Preciousssss~!

But seriously, I do know what you mean, and I accept my fate. It's not like Enya generic (not that Enya is generic; I just mean it's not like her style), but it does have that old time Celtic tavern sort of generic quality...a little. I can admit it. That doesn't mean that I love my marvelous little Irish rose any less, of course! Hopefully my Round 3 submission will blow your socks clean to Timbuktu.

Yay! Thanks a lot for everything, Step. I feel very honoured by such praise, and I hope to maintain this level of badassitude going forward. Hooray for the un-freaking-believably sweet transition that is 2:44! That will always be my favorite part, too. ^__^