Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[.:Blues in Dublin:.(NAC)]

Thought I should review another of your songs :P

This is a really nice submission. If it was a bit longer I'm sure you would've made it into the finalists of the NAC, because it really is a shame that it's only four minutes long, which is mostly why I was reluctant to give you a score higher than an eight. That being said, what you have here is still very enjoyable to listen to and there isn't really much wrong with it. Nice work!

The composition really stands out here. You manage to fit jazz into every song of yours eh? :P. But yeah, I love the melody you did here. It had a nice rhythm, and had a certain hook to it which fits well with the criteria of the contest. The alternate melody you did also sounded great in comparison with the first melody that plays in the song.

The background you did compliments the foreground melody very well. I'm hearing plenty of different instruments, among them a bass, piano, strings and drums, and these gave a lot to listen to, and even though this is just a bit over half a minute long, it almost feels like a whole song after around two play-throughs because you manage to fit so many different instruments at one go. A very interesting result! Also the instrument-choice was great too.

Something which is a bit of a let-down, though, is obviously the fact that this sounds rather fake. I know I've been saying this countless times, but MIDI sounds are pretty useless when it comes to sounding realistic :P. Granted that this is definitely really well-made for a MIDI-based track, the instrument quality leaves much to be desired, and some parts, especially the parts where the main instruments play really quick notes, sound quite fake. Still, humanizing a MIDI track is a pain, and at the time you only had access to MIDI sounds so I should stop complaining now...

The transitions are all spot-on - no complaining there. The transition from one melody to another was particularly well-done, especially when the strings entered the song in the second melody. The song loops flawlessly too, although I've noticed that you've pretty much mastered song-looping anyway :D. Regarding the structure and variety, I don't have much to say. Basically this is two repetitions of two melodies. While I would've liked the second section to have a few subtle changes, this is just a small loop so I wouldn't worry about it.

Percussion was very fitting. It had a beat which fit wonderfully with the song, and progressed well too. Sure, it's nothing really that special, but simplicity works wonders sometimes, and the drums you did here are an example of this. So yeah, good work on the percussion!

Obviously I won't have much to talk about when it comes to the production. It's just the right overall volume and the volume-levels were all great. The background instruments were loud enough to be heard clearly, but not overly loud either. Sure, you don't have those little subtleties such as reverb, EQing and other effects, with this being a MIDI song, but to be honest this song doesn't sound that dry or lacking in terms of effects - probably because of your variety of different instruments.

In conclusion, I don't think there's anything big that needs to be improved here. It's a really nice little loop, and even though it's basically two melodies played over a jazz-like foundation, it's enjoyable, unique, and fits well with the theme of St. Patty's Day. Good volume levels, great percussion, smooth transitions, excellent composition, fantastic instrumentation, but I would just wish for it to be longer, because that's the main reason you didn't get a higher mark. Keep it up though!
8/10
5/5 because this song is getting 0-bombed and deserves a higher score...

-Review Request Club-

camoshark responds:

Wow, thanks, I guess it's a trade!

First point : Length. pretty sure we talked about this not so long ago, but whatever. :P In this case though, it was somewhat intentional, for I really did go for the minimalist approach and mashed up the quickest and most efficient pot-pourrit of the style, either that comes to be a positive factor or a bad one. Wich brings me to my next point.

I REALLY gave myself the challenge to systematically incorporate in some way or another Jazz into my contest entries, and even my compositions in general. Not too sure why, I guess I just want the genre to get some exposure...

Song elements : Theme. For the theme, I really just bathed myself in Irish music and wrote down a faux of the recurent elements, thought in the end I scrapped most of it and just went on with the feeling I had going. Of course in that case, my music courses have finally started to pay off, since I made sure to properly structure the theme in the form of a classical period (16 bars, A-A'-B-B')

Background. The funny thing is, at that time I was transcribing a Chet Baker solo, and I ended up transcribing the background elements to understand the structure, and since then I've incorporated them in most arrangements I make (I will maybe post one here at some point), and this on is no exception. As for the instrument choice, there's not much to it, it's really just standard.

As for the sound quality, you know the drill, I won't even bother writing it down...

Transition. I'm quite proud of this one, since I did put quite a bit of effort on this one. I had to re-write the melody countless times in order to make it fit seemlesly like it does. And for the structure, If you pay attention, you'll notice the call and response of both segments of the song are the same. I managed to make the melody have this sort of ambiguity, so that the end of the theme can sound just as much as a question as an answer.

Percussion. As you afformentioned, percussions are nothing special, I stuck a basic pattern and put a few fills to make it sound pretty, so there really isn't much to say about it.

Production. It's a thing I'm constantly worried about, because the sounds just sound so shitty. Seriously, the bass guitar is so vaporous I have to boost it up to max almost all the time, and even then I can't clearly hear what it's playing, and don't even get me started on guitars...
Anyways, I'm glad you think it's good, because being on a biased point of view, I can't tell.

Conclusion. Thanks alot, I'm glad you enjoyed and thought it was unique, that's what I was aiming for! And feel free to ask for other songs to review, you know I'm always up for lending a hand!

Cheers,
Samuel Hébert

[<EagleGuard> Electro Allegro]

Good stuff!

The second I saw you submitting this to the RRC and I saw that you were getting 0-bombed I decided to go and five it like I usually do to songs which get undeserving 0's, but once I began hearing the song I started enjoying it and couldn't help but review it too :P. Anyway, again, this is another good song from you. I prefer some of your other submissions, but this is still pretty darn cool, and it shows that you're able to make orchestral/rock submissions and still make something Techno-ish like this. Nice :D.

The melodies are nicely done. It's not often you hear such a varied and well-written melody in Techno songs, since usually Techno melodies are simple and are used repeatedly throughout the song with some subtle variety. So yeah the melody really works out well here. I also heard your surprise at 1:41 and while I think the key change was great and had a smooth transition to introduce it and exit from it, I think I'm hearing a wrong note or two at 1:41-1:42 which is repeated at 1:47-1:48. It sounds sort of discordant, although I'm not too sure since I'm not really that experienced in music.

The instrumentation was nice. I liked the bass that played throughout the song. It filled the bass range nicely and gave the song a nice amount of depth along with the strings you used, which also fit well. Chimes, albeit a bit overused in my opinion, were nice. The synth at 0:46 sounds pretty much awesome, and I would've loved to hear more of it throughout the song because you only used it in one section and then it disappeared.

Also, one suggestion - maybe you could experiment with some pitch-bending/portamento on the synth? (I'm talking about doing something like the synth at 2:38 in this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtopG7 XPMUI) I think it would make it sound a lot more interesting, but that's just a suggestion.

Regarding the production, again I think this is too quiet. Take a look at the waveform and you'll see that there's quite a bit of headroom left and because of this, I'm forced to turn the volume up again to enjoy the song. Other than that, there are no other production issues, and the EQing was nicely done too, so nice work over there.

Now for the transitions... like in 'Dawn', the transitions here are awesome. I think you really have a knack for transitions, because your transitions are on the whole very smooth and fitting. My favourite transition would be the one at 0:32 - the way you introduced the drums and changed the style of the song from the intro was just excellent. Another great transition at 1:00 too. No complaints with the transitions! :D

The song structure is pretty good, although a bit confusing in terms of when you introduced the instruments and how much you used each instrument. When the part at 0:32 started I began hearing a synth riff by a new instrument, and then the synth section at 0:46, but then both of these synths disappeared and chimes were introduced. Then you spent the rest of the song playing around with the chimes and piano as the main instruments. Therefore I think that the sounds weren't used to their fullest, especially the synth at 0:46, like I already said.

Now, the percussion... Firstly I'll say that the bass drum rolls (such as the one at 0:31) were absolutely superb and I'm not sure why you only used them for the part around 0:30 - 1:00 and didn't use them for the rest of the song. The other percussion was fitting, albeit a bit repetitive and bland at times.

Not much to say about the intro and outro... I liked the intro, and the outro was good too, although I think you could've left the strings note playing for a bit longer and then fade it out.

All in all, this is a pretty good song. Some aspects of it like the transitions, instrumentation and composition were fantastic, but others such as the structure, production and the some of the percussion could use some work. Still, I always enjoy reviewing your songs because they're always well-made, catchy and enjoyable, and some really stand out as being awesome too. Keep up the good work!
7/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

EagleGuard responds:

Thanks Steph, always a pleasure to receive your huge-ass reviews =p

I think I used the right scale of F-minor when the keychanging happens, so I'm not sure why you think the parts from 1:41-1:42 and 1:47-1:48 sound wrong. Or perhaps I'm becoming a bit tone deaf...

I know I neglected some of the synth instruments, like the second bass from 0:32-1:00 and the synth lead. The synth lead does return though. It's played very softly in the background during 1:27-1:54. Sorry for the chime-overkill, but I just love the sound xD

I rarely use pitch-bend, but I have to say, it would've been cool had I used it in this particular song. Pitch-bending was used more often in the 80's and 90's, so it would've been a good addition.

It's been a while since I last made something electronic, so perhaps that's why this one wasn't so great. I already stated that it wouldn't be huge though, but I needed some variation in my works =p

Thanks again for the review. Glad you like to write them xD

[<EagleGuard> Dawn]

Sounds cool.

While I don't think this is one of your best, it's a nice song to listen to, has some nice rhythms and memorable tunes. Not only that, but you've managed to mix a guitar with orchestral-style instruments, and I love it when people do that ;D. So yeah, all in all it's a good submission.

What I noticed first was that your note progression was a bit generic. I found myself predicting what was going to happen next in the song, and while this is fun to listen to, I can't help but think that this does get rather predictable at times, unfortunately. Despite that, on the whole the song was well structured so nice work over there.

Now for the good news. I loved the transitions of this song in particular. The transition to the more upbeat part with the drum beat at 0:42 was absolutely brilliant, and it was followed by an even better transition at 0:53 where you introduce the guitar and brass. 1:14 was also another awesome transition, but the transition at 1:24 was a bit sudden due to the abrupt entrance of the guitar (which is a tad too loud by the way).

That being said, the transition at 2:18 where you introduced a guitar part was much smoother and probably one of my favourite transitions. If I had any suggestions, it'd be to fade out the guitar note at 1:46 rather than just end it, but that's probably personal preference, and overall the transitions were really cool. It wasn't the first time that I smiled upon hearing one of those great transitions.

The guitar was a really nice addition, and while it wasn't amazing quality, it still sounded awesome and that's most important I guess. I also loved the rhythms of the background rhythm guitar. They fit really well, and if it wasn't for the guitar I don't think I would've enjoyed the song nearly as much. Loved the guitar part towards the end by the way, and the awesome transition to it which I mentioned in the paragraph above just made it better. Too bad the song ended soon after :(.

The instrumentation was nice. You blended the guitar and orchestral instruments particularly well, and the addition of the brass really gave this song a heroic, valiant sort of sound to the song, and as kirbyfighter12 pointed out, this does indeed have a 'We can't lose' type of feel to it.

Actually, speaking of that, this doesn't really remind me much of dawn, and while I see where you're going with the contrast from the dark beginning to the more upbeat part as the song progresses (which by the way was awesome), when I think dawn I think of a more majestic atmosphere. This sounds more heroic, but heck, I complain too much...

Regarding the production, I'm afraid I agree with SCTE3 that this still needs to be a bit louder. When I turned the volume up more than I should I started enjoying the song much more. Whilst it's not much of a problem, I don't think I should be turning the volume up just to enjoy the song to its full extent. Other than that, production was good, and I think the song has just the right amount of bass, so I don't know why you think the bass is too much. Either your headphones are too bassey or my speakers are too, err... unbassey?

There isn't much to say about the intro and outro. They were fine, albeit a bit generic. If I had to suggest anything, it'd be to make the hit at the end a bit more powerful (it sounds almost wimpy, for lack of better word), but on the other hand the intro was fine and I loved its progression.

Percussion was great and very fitting. I agree with kirbyfighter12 about the cymbals, since they do sound a bit drowned out in the mix, but other than that the percussion was rhythmic, fitting and awesome. Did you use Stormdrum by any chance?

Anyhow, in general this is a cool submission. While it doesn't especially stand out in the crowd as being unique, and while it's not one of your best, it's still a cool submission which I enjoyed from beginning to end. It's got quite a few very minor problems here and there, sure, but they don't make the listening experience that much worse. Keep up the awesome work, and great job on this!
8/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

EagleGuard responds:

Hey man, first off: thanks once again for the massive review! xD I'll try to fix the volume problem in the future. And about the bass, I already changed it before you reviewed the song, so it should be just right now ;)

Glad you like the orchestra + rock combination. It's also one of my favourite genres to compose, so I'll be happy to write more such pieces in the future. Perhaps I'll even throw in some electronic, just for the fun of it =p

There's so many great tips in here that I'm not going to respond to them individually. I'll make good use of them all though ;)

Yes, I did use stormdrum for the percussion. I think it sounds nice and it gets the job done =p

Again, thanks for the review! I'll try to improve on the points you stated here ;)

[A Hero's Last Stand Remastered]

Some little problems here and there...

...But an impressive submission. It's a shame that you use only soundfonts because making a song as cool as this with just soundfonts shows how good you'll do with proper VST's. Anyway, all in all I found it to be an epic, well-thought out submission, and like your last, the whole 'Video Game final battle' sound really stands out. Now time to annoy you with some constructive criticism :D.

Alright, to start with, I really liked the instrument choice. The guitar in the background fit very nicely and its patterns were rhythmic and catchy. The strings provide a wonderful amount of tension to the piece, and they sound particularly good at 1:43. That being said I think what really made the difference would be your use of chimes and xylophones. I think they added a unique touch to the submission, giving the listener something more light to listen to, as opposed to the power chords of the guitar, the thumping drums, etc...

XayberOptix's horns were also a really wonderful addition. When comparing this to the original one, I immediately noticed that the other one sounded a bit more empty and if I had to review that one I'd definitely point out that it needed more depth, but over here Xayber's horns filled up that emptiness very nicely and really leaves the listener with that epic feel after a full listen.

Now, while the instrument choice was pretty much spot on, as you might already know the instrument quality isn't as good. The the choir in particular, stand out as a little fake (I suggest looking into Magnus Choir for choirs - it's what I use and sounds very realistic and pleasant). I won't reduce any marks for that, because it's not your fault, but it's worth mentioning, and heck, on the whole the instruments sounded good, and you don't always need a realistic sound to get a cool sound ;).

The composition was really nice, and gave the song a somewhat heroic feel to it, which makes it fit perfectly with the name. The main melody is rememberable and catchy. Not only that, but it was varied well throughout the song, and the subtle changes you made around the melody gave the song a fantastic amount of variety. The melody especially shined in the part at 2:25, and playing the woodwind instrument on its own and then introducing more instruments at 2:38 was a great idea.

Now for one problem I have with the song. Despite the horns in the song which gave it the depth it needed, at times I thought that the song's melody was a bit underpowered and drowned out by the background instruments.Here I think some mixing/mastering would help out.

For instance, you can EQ the instruments to give them their own space in the mix to achieve more clarity. Maybe you can increase the high end of some of the instruments carrying the melody to make them sound clearer, and some stereo separation will help. Still, I wouldn't worry about it. Even though I think the main melody could be more definable/distinct, it still sounds alright the way it is.

I don't have a lot to say about the transitions. Even though I'm known to be fussy when it comes to transitions, I'm glad to say that I liked all of the transitions in this song :3. They were smooth and fit well. The transitions at 1:16 and 2:22 were probably my favourite transitions. There were similar transitions in the older version, but they sound better with Xayber's horns in this one :D. The ending was perfect, and although I think the intro is a tad too simple with just a snare roll, it's alright...

The drums on the whole were very fitting and wonderfully varied. That being said, I think that the kick and snare are too drowned out and should be heard more. Other than that, the drums were pretty much flawless, and I liked the changes you did to a marching rhythm throughout the song.

Well, since I'm now running out of characters, I'll just say that I've been listening to the song more times than I have fingers and I enjoyed it throughout. I'd give you a 9 for the small nitpicks I mentioned, but I'd hate to ruin your perfect 10/10 score, so here's a 10! :P. Keep it up!
10/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Shiverwar responds:

I can always count on you for a wall of words, dude. I always enjoy reading your reviews, no matter how long they are, because even though you're younger than I am, you've got a severe advantage over me, and because of that, I love hearing what you have to say.

Yes, sadly, I'm still limited by soundfonts, but I try to do what I can with them to make the best of them. I heard the kick drums just fine. I DID use a compressor to get the kick drums to stand out more, because I listened to it without the compressor, and it just didn't have the same power. Now my favorite part of the song is the interlude I had, with the instrument "Atmosphere" going about its own solo part.

Yeah, I agree with the xylophone parts (they're actually vibraphones, but hey, who's keeping track?) giving it more of a light feeling, as if it were a prelude to the battle that comes as soon as the song gets its power. And yes, I really love the fact that Xayber pitched in with the horns when he did. I never thought that this song could have gotten better without his help.

Yeah, this song does still need work, but I think when compared with Endless Confrontation, this has to be probably my best work yet. Of course, these days I'm very limited on material due to some problems I'm having on the home front here, but I'm doing my absolute best to tend to the needs of Newgrounds' Audio Portal. Still, I wish I had what you had, that East/West Symphonic Orchestra VST so I can fiddle around with it and see what I can do, but alas I'm flat broke.

The heroic feel was what I was aiming for! I always did ones that sounded dark or just pure battle. I wanted to have one that had a heroic basis, like that of a hero backed up against the gates of his city, defending it from an onslaught of opponents until his dying breath.

Again, thank you for your always marvelous reviews, and I hope to hear from you again!

--Shawn--

[-ganon95- The Liquid Fact]

Some really good BGM music...

Really liking this song, from the varied and catchy drum rhythms to the awesome underwater feel. What really strikes me in this song is that I can see this right at home in a game set in a water/factory level, and it really sounds good as background music. It even sounds good on its own, but I find it particularly good as BGM for a game, so I'll keep it in mind if someone's looking for game music over in the Audio Forum. ANYWAY, on to the review.

My favourite thing about this is that you managed to create a wonderful atmosphere where I can easily imagine myself in both a factory and underwater, making this fit with the name flawlessly. I think one particular thing that contributed to the atmosphere would be that echo-ish sound effect played throughout the song (heard clearly at 1:35). The use of square wave synths also help evoke that underwater feel, especially that background pad thing.

That being said, I have one suggestion which might make the atmosphere even better. The chimes in the beginning are a nice touch, although I think you should increase their high end a bit more and give them a good amount of reverb, until they sound a bit like a sort of sonar. I think that fits very well in underwater-type songs, although I'm not sure if it might work out. Give it a try.

Speaking of reverb, I think the song sounds a tad bit too dry. It might be just me, but in my opinion even though the song gives out a really nice atmosphere, I find some sounds a bit too dry, namely the drums and some of the leads. Perhaps if you give them a bit more of an echo without mudding up the mix (especially the drums which sound a bit too rough) then it might give the song a bit more depth and help with that underwater feel.

Regarding the drums, I really like them. They were varied very well and even though they were meant to be in the background, they still feel like a main part of the song. The kick is nice and bassey, the snare was fitting and the hats are very clear and work out well. Maybe you could make the hi-hat at 2:24 a bit less rough on the high end since it sticks out too much, I think, but other than that I have no complaints with the drums. I like the crash too.

Regarding the melodies, I can't complain much either. The progression of the melody was decent, the melodies were catchy, and as SBB pointed out, that major third sure does fit. Towards the end of the song the melodies got even better and all of the tunes and melodies were a pleasure to listen to. Nice work in this department.

Additionally, the song was quite well structured, and all of the different sections meshed together nicely. I *love* the ambient changeover in the middle of the song (at around 1:35). It provided a good amount of variety and sounded really awesome at the same time. One thing regarding the structure/variety is that I think some of the melodies were repeated a bit too much at times, for example the chimes melody at the beginning. Try and give your melodies subtle changes in the notes at times. It may not seem like much but in my opinion it really makes a song more interesting.

There isn't really much to say about the transitions. They were all well executed. I especially liked the transition at 1:35-ish, where you fade out the lead with some filter automation and then used a reverse cymbal to move on to the next section.

Random suggestions time... I think the intro could have started off with a bit more of a gradual progression. I mean it immediately starts off with those drums when maybe you could've introduced the drums gradually later on and used the first few bars of the song to build up an atmosphere. If this was a loop I wouldn't complain about the intro, but for a full song it could've been a bit better. Also at 2:36-ish I think you should introduce another element to the track like a bass pad to make that part more climatic. Just a suggestion...

Anyway, all in all I really enjoyed this track, and my only complaints are small nitpicks. Keep up the great work and thanks again for reviewing Beyond Control!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

ganon95 responds:

thanks :P

yeah i do agree with some of these things, one thing i try to do is add alot of good stuff without overdoing it, basically i try to keep it minimal but filled in at the same time. but thats just my style.

i do kinda agree with the gradual drum build up, ill have to try that and see if it sounds good :) i also like that 'sonar' idea ill give that a try too

thnx for the review!

[Dream Among The Stars]

One of your best...

Haven't reviewed you in a while - missed my reviews? :3. Anyhow, I should probably review this, seeing as along with a few other of your songs like Crystalline Cloudscape and Soar, this is one of your songs which I listen to the most. Why it wasn't accepted in the EP is a mystery, but whatever...

The atmosphere of this submission is undoubtedly what stands out in it. The sounds are all so well chosen, from the piano which keeps the main melody flowing wonderfully to the background instruments such as the choir with the cool EQ on it. The atmosphere definitely reminds me of a starry night sky, which I assume was the intention you had when making the song.

I also like the little details you put into this such as the echoing click sounds which you can hear pretty clearly at around 2:27 and the constant sweeping sound you had going in the background. Not only did these small additions fill up the background nicely but they contribute a lot to the atmosphere, which is awesome. The various effects around the song were also very fitting.

Still, what probably did it for me would be the two climaxes, especially the one at 1:41. Just hearing the transition from a calm part with minimalistic percussion to a sudden cool sweep effect and a much more powerful climax is amazing, which brings me to the transitions. They are all so smooth, strengthened by some superb effects. I also love the subtle entrance of the piano at the beginning, playing the main melody.

Now for the structure, and this is also excellent (as usual I'm finding it hard to stop complimenting you in my reviews). What I particularly liked was that despite the fact that the melody didn't change that much throughout the song, this definitely doesn't get repetitive at all, probably because of all the different layers of sound you put into this, as Kebess pointed out. The fact that a similar melody plays continuously throughout the song made it very memorable and catchy.

Speaking of melodies, the melody here is great in my opinion, albeit a bit more unoriginal than the other aspects of the song. As I already said, it's catchy and has a great hook to it. What I think was a particularly nice touch was the fact that in the softer parts you can hear the melody very clearly but when the song reaches a climax the other sounds take over and even then you can faintly hear the melody playing in the background. This is original because you usually hear melodies being played in the foreground and the other atmospheric sounds complimenting it, not the other way round.

Maybe you could've changed the melody a bit since the song basically revolves around that same melodic idea, but like I said, it's not too much of a problem since the number of different layers of sounds and effects provide enough variety to keep me interested for the whole four minutes that the song plays in.

Regarding the production, I really don't have much to say. Everything was EQ'd to perfection and the song was just the right loudness. Not much to talk about when it comes to the intro and outro either, since they were both awesome. The intro began perfectly with a calm and peaceful sweeping effect followed by the piano, and additionally the song ended flawlessly.

The only one thing which I'm not really that keen on here is the percussion. The drum sounds themselves are pretty good, namely the clap/snare, but I just don't think the percussion is up to standard with the energy that this track manages to possess. It could be just me though, I'm not particularly good with techno drums myself anyway...

All in all, this is one of my favourite songs from you and it's only fair to review it after I listen to it around three play-through's a day while walking alone in the out-of-bounds sections of school in the lunchbreak >.>. If I had to really complain about anything, it'd be the percussion, and maybe the fact that you could fit in a few alternate melodies, but these minor faults aren't enough to make me lose interest in this song by far. Keep up the good work!
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.

-Review Request Club-

ErikMcClure responds:

The drums have always bothered me in this song but I've never dared touch it for fear of ruining its atmosphere.

[Muirin's Dream]

Reminds me of Okami music...

I've got to say, this sounds very pleasant, and sounds a lot like something I'd hear in a game. This also has a nice amount of different instruments, and I especially like the sound of the harp. Also, the intro reminds me a LOT of the soundtrack of Okami, and I absolutely love that soundtrack, so you get extra points from me :P. Anyway, onto the review.

The intro isn't that bad. I agree with Sequenced that the harp could have a bit more of a definable melody, but it isn't all that bad and sounds very pleasant. It gave the intro a very nice overall sound. I think the harp could be brought out a bit more since it seems to be a bit overpowered by the strings. That being said, the strings sound very good, and I like that their rhythm isn't a fixed rhythm but changes around.

The instrumentation is quite unique. As you said, there's a strong Celtic theme in this song, enforced by the flute and the bagpipes which you used at 0:27 (those are bagpipes, right?). They sounded quite good, and they're definitely not usually used on NG. They give the song some originality, which is nice. You had a number of different instruments too, so I'm sure you'll get a lot of marks for the instrumentation in the competition.

The atmosphere is what stands out in this song. Like I already said, the harp gives the song a nice sound, and the various different instruments gave this a wonderfully cinematic atmosphere. It fits pretty well with the story, but I do think you could make the story a bit longer and not so vague. It might strengthen the song's atmosphere a bit more. But I'm here to comment on your song not the story so I'll shut up now. Anyway, basically the atmosphere is probably one of my favourite aspects of the submission.

The composition was nice. While I don't think the composition isn't as artistic as the amazing atmosphere you've created in the track, it was still nice. I especially liked the melodies at 2:11, that part would probably be one of my favourite parts of the song. The climax was good, but as you said the instruments do overpower each other. I understand it's because of your computer though. I know EXACTLY how it feels.

Now for my one problem which I have with the track. In my opinion it really lacks bass. The song sounds good, but I feel as though this could do with a double bass or something to fill up the background. The horns towards the end of the song also sound a bit too extreme in the high end. All of these high frequencies sound a bit tiring to listen to after a while, and because of this I don't feel like listening to the song again after around 2 to 3 play-through's. Another problem with the mixing is that I think the harp could have some more reverb. Could be just me though, I really, really don't know how to mix properly.

Transitions-wise, I can't complain much. The transition at 0:27 where you introduced the bagpipes is without doubt my favourite transition from the whole song. There were some other nice transitions such as the one at 0:56, and even though at times the song would go quiet for a brief moment before continuing, the subtle seaside sound effect (alliteration unintended...) in the background sort of kept up a constant atmosphere. The transition to the climax at 2:44 was a tad bit abrupt but still well done. The only transition which I didn't like would be the one at 3:13, which sounds too abrupt in my opinion.

Lastly, I'll comment about the ending. I don't have much to say about it. It's a very soft ending, which fits with the intro and ended the song flawlessly. Nice job.

As a recap, I enjoyed the song. It's quite fantasy-themed and cinematic, but still has a soft atmosphere which I enjoyed a lot. The instrumentation was also great, as is the composition, and most of the transitions. It's the mixing which you could improve in mostly. Ah well, I thoroughly enjoyed the submission all in all; keep up the great work, and best of luck in the competition!
8/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

By the way, do you think you could check out my contest track?
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/389611

Jessismith responds:

I believe this is one of the longest, and most in-depth reviews I've gotten. I think you've pretty much summed it all up. :) Thanks so much for taking the time to make this review! (Now, I'll definitely have to take some time to review yours after I get back from work. ) Can't say I've played the game, Okami, but I've always wanted to. Curious to hear the soundtrack now. :)

Yeah, most of my stuff is free-flow type music. I just kind of play whatever. It's hard for me to make a decent melody in a structured piece for sure. I'll try to find a way to turn the harp up, without sounding choppy...somehow.

Hmm, well the pipes I used are actually the uilleann pipes, they are similar to bagpipes, but native to Ireland. Hey thanks! I do try to be original.

Indeed. The harp is my favorite instrument. I figured not many would use harps in this competition too, so it all worked out. Hmm, maybe like adding some more details to the story? I'll try to make it a bit more lengthy and more flowing with the song. Lol, thanks. :)

That makes sense. Hmm, and I thought about changing that part....well, adding some vocal to it anyway. It's good to hear that someone likes that part. I won't have to change it as much now. :) Yeah. I've tried to find ways around it. I may even end up mixing this whole song online. Glad to know I'm not alone.

Hmm, I suppose I can add a nice bass line throughout. Truthfully, I am wearing really bassy headphones, so it's hard to tell, as well as being hard to tell of really high frequencies. :P Okay. I'll do that too, and don't worry, you're really not bad at mixing. xD Folks like me don't even know where to start, lol.

Okay, wonderful. I intended that one transition to scare folks half to death, lol. :)

Thank you!

That's awesome. Really, thanks again for all of the advice, and taking the time to review it all. I've been altering it around somewhat as I've been typing. I think it's on its way there....hopefully. :)

And I'll definitely take the time to review your track...and everyone else's while I'm at it, after I get back from work.(leaving in two minutes)

Cheers!
And much thanks!
~S

[.:The Turkish Tango:.]

I've been listening to some of your songs...

...and I'm liking them. You go for a different approach from the other Newgrounds artists which is a welcome change to the usual house/trance songs that dominate the audio portal. Still, however, this isn't one of my favourites, I'm afraid. It sounds very bland, and precisely as you described it; hard for the ears. If you achieved what your friend asked you to do, then congrats there, but in all honesty, as a standalone submission, I don't think this is as good as your other stuff.

Like I said in the above paragraph, one of the things which irked me in this track would be that it sounds very bland. The computerized drums, low-quality sounds and somewhat dull instrumentation didn't give this the intricacy and the detail that one would look for in a song. I mean, my point is, I'm only hearing piano and the occasional guitar as melodic instruments, and the background didn't have that much depth, so I'd suggest working on that.

Dissonance didn't fit too well (I'd suggest taking a look at Kirbyfemur's work; his songs use dissonance in a more pleasant way) although since you said you were specifically asked to use dissonance by your friend, I won't complain about it.

One noticeable problem would be that the percussion isn't that good. It sounds very computerized, since all of the drum hits are the exact same velocity and in the exact right rhythm. I think humanizing the percussion a bit more will help to give this song a more natural sound. The percussion samples themselves weren't too interesting either - maybe you could take a shot at bongos and more jazz-type kits? Just a thought.

Having said all that, this has a rather unique sound to it. Some of the composition was admittedly interesting, and the song itself sounds quite original, especially compared to some other songs on NG. Not only that, but the rhythm change at 0:42 was quite enjoyable and even though it was quite different from the rest of the song, it was decently transitioned from the part prior to it.

As for a small comments, I'll say that the song looped very, well, to the point that if I don't look at the song time slider I wouldn't notice that it looped.

So, now for an overall recap. It's not that bad, although your other submissions are better in my opinion. This one is pretty simple and bland, not to mention some computerized sounds and rhythms too, which could be worked on to give a more natural feel. That's my opinion anyway. Good luck in your future submissions!
6/10
5/5 because 0-bombers suck.

-Review Request Club-

camoshark responds:

Thanks for the nice review, Steph!

Even thought I know it was partly done as the treat to preceed bad news, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing you appreciate my work and distinguish me from other fellow newgrounders, especially comming from you!

As for this piece, I don't mind people not likeing it. I honestly find it empty myself... I could maybe make a fuller version one day, but I'm not ready to engage to this piece more time than the others. I'm in constant evolution and am currently working on over three different pieces, each better than the other, so I leave the song here as a reminder of wich road not to take, or what errors not to re-do.

As for the drums and VI's, I'm going to have to repeat myself (I don't mind, just so you know) : I use a notation software, and not a sequencer, wich means the sounds you hear is the CPU playing the charts I told it to play. I write sheet music, and the CPU simply simulates what I would like real people to play one day. So all you hear on this site that is done by me is a preview, demo form of the actual thing.

Anyways, I'm writing this from my Wii, and I'm really sick of writing, so thanks againg for the great review, and glad to here you love my other work!

Cheers,
Samuel Hébert

[SSJ3 - Still Going Strong]

Catchy!

I've listened to a number of your submissions till now, and I must say that they all sound great, especially since you're only using soundfonts. I have the SGM-V2.01 soundfont, and even though it's a cool soundfont, I never knew you could make something as superb as this with a soundfont. This has such an 'RPG Final Boss' sound to it, and despite its simple melody, it's still catchy and well-made. Great job!

I'll review as I go along...

0:00 (Intro) - To be honest the intro didn't really catch my interest. That bass sounds very MIDI-ish (the soundfont is there to blame I guess) and I didn't think this song was going to be so interesting while hearing the intro. Maybe you could make the intro a bit quieter and give a more powerful buildup to the guitar that comes in later on. But it's not a bad intro.

0:11 - A guitar comes in, and the quick ride cymbal roll works out very well over here. Loved the transition, too.

0:23 - You slowly introduce more elements, with another fantastic transition. At this point I'm changing my mind about what I thought when hearing the intro. That new sound you introduced in the background fit really well.

0:47 - Just when the song's rhythm and melody gets repetitive, you introduce a key change. Nice touch, although right now I'm hoping the melody changes around a bit, or at least a different rhythm.

0:59 - You go back to the original key, with another good transition. Still, like I said, you could evolve the melody a bit more and give it some more variety. Also over here I'm starting to notice the drums. They sound very fitting, and the occasional drum fills are great. Kick sounds very weak though, you might want to bring it out a bit more.

1:23 - Loving the choirs you have going over here. The transition was a tad bit abrupt though, maybe you can start fading in the choirs at around 1:20 to give a smoother transition? I don't know, just a suggestion.

1:47 - Now this transition is good. You've got a single note of the choirs playing in the background for a very long time (wow, those choirs sure have a lot of breath don't they? :P). You repeated the main melody, and while I'm starting to get tired of it, the choirs in the background fit beautifully. I also REALLY like the drum beats.

2:47 - You introduce a very typical VG-ish synth. It's great, very fitting.

2:59 - Damn that's one cool synth.

3:11 - Another great transition, and you repeat the counter-melody you first played at 1:23.

3:47 - A little break, and then you introduce the guitar again. Here it's becoming pretty obvious that the song is getting to an end. Eventually you introduce that cool synth again, which was a nice touch.

4:11 - By far my favourite transition of the whole track. The synth playing a long note and the main melody in the background... excellent.

4:35 (Ending) - You finally end the song after 4 and a half minutes of awesomeness :D. The ending is brilliant, but it has a bit of room for improvement. Maybe the ending note could have been a bit more powerful, like maybe some long reverse cymbal plays before it and then a more powerful crash plays.

Perhaps while the ending note is playing you can make a long ride cymbal roll similar to what you had at the beginning except a bit longer, before you end the song at 4:41. Still, just some nitpicks, TBH I love the ending.

-GENERAL COMMENTS-

Overall this is one hell of a submission. I'd say that this belongs under the Video Game genre. It has a very prominent VG Boss Battle theme to it with the guitar, synth and all. The drums are well varied, with beats that fit flawlessly in the song, and the melodies are catchy. That, coupled with some really amazing transitions and a solid song structure make this a great song.

Having said that, the sound quality could be better, although that's out of your control I guess so I won't complain too much. Just work on making the kick of the drum kit a bit more powerful, varying the song a bit more and fixing some of the minor nitpicks I mentioned around the review. In all, keep up the great work!
8/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Shiverwar responds:

I forgot to put on there that I used a different soundfont for the bass. The ones on the SGM sound too MIDI, but the bass soundfont I have worked just fine for me. :D

Wow. I never expect these kinds of reviews. Long ones at that. Lol. You are right, there is room for improvement. This was kind of made on the spur of the moment, so yeah, it's understandable that you might say that.

On another note, I really must thank you for your words. The SGM soundfont really has the basic essentials I need for these kinds of songs, though I wish I could use that VST you have, the East/West thing. That would REALLY help me out here.

You might want to look at some more of my other subs, such as my Endless Confrontation submissions (both the original AND the redux I did), Fearless, the original Facing the Storm I made, and perhaps some others. :D

Thanks again for your wonderful and long review! I eagerly await another!

[[SpXer] All-Nighter]

Definitely in need of those vocals.

I'm not going to lie, as this submission is now, it's very repetitive, and I did get bored listening to it, but I'll keep in mind that you're going to add vocals to it, and I'm sure that when you do it's going to sound excellent. This submission has a very nice sound to it, and even though it's repetitive, I'm sure it'll be much better with the vocals, if you ever submit a version of this with the vocals. Good job!

One thing I liked about the submission would be the sound quality of the submission. It sounds very very lo-fi and sloppy, but that fits flawlessly with the mood that you were aiming for, and I'm sure that the vocals you made (which are very well-written) will fit right at home with this.

The piano sounds nice and its melody is pretty catchy and grows on you as the song progresses. I would've liked some more piano melodies, but due to my lack of knowledge of this genre I don't know if it'll fit well. Even with the beat I would've liked a few more subtle rhythmic changes, but who knows, maybe I just complain too much. I liked the bass in this, and I love the sound of that guitar thing (?) at 0:50.

I suppose I'll end this review with a generic overall paragraph. Like I said, this song is repetitive, but I really like the sloppy sound that it has. All in all, I enjoyed this and it doesn't have any actual flaws which I can point out except the lack of lyrics. Keep up the good work, and sorry for the short review :P.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

spartacusxerox responds:

Hey thanks supersteph54, fellow RRC member, I enjoyed your comment a lot
I like how you encompassed both the positives and the negatives quite well, and I think I will put vocals to this song

I enjoyed your highly structured review and the amount of time you put into providing quality feedback.
Thanks

-SpXer-