Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Key to Eternity]

A typical DJ-Chilvan song...

...Not saying that's a bad thing. As usual, an uplifting, joyous and of course lengthy song :D. Definitely something that reminds me of summer, and a lot more melodic than the usual trance song. One thing about this submission is that after I've finished listening to it, it doesn't feel like a whole seven minutes have passed. Time flies when you're enjoying something, eh?
By the way, very sorry I took so long to review this. I've been meaning to review this, but I've had so much to do...

Right then, I'll review this as I go along since this is pretty much the longest song I've ever reviewed xP.

0:00 (Intro) - You've got to love that intro. The cool effect at the beginning transitioned perfectly to the start of the song. The song immediately begins with a light, dreamy feel to it. The melody itself sounds astoundingly well-done. Unfortunately, one thing which I immediately noticed would be the mix. It sounds a little undefined and blurry. I think some stereo separation, EQing and a little less reverb might fix this, but mixing isn't my specialty.

0:56 - Whoa. That transition was absolutely superb. You used the same effect as you used in the intro, and then the drums came in and I couldn't help but widen my eyes a little :P. However, like kravening said, the drums are too quiet, especially the kick which is basically drowned in the mix due to no highs/mids (again, some EQing will fix this). I'm not asking for a floor-shaker, but I think a more powerful kick will definitely sound more epic.

2:20 - Haha just when I was about to comment that the song was feeling a little monotonous and needs a new sound, you go and add a new sound. Is that the generic rhythm I'm hearing again, though? :P.

2:47 - O.O This part literally (OK not literally) blew me away. The atmosphere here is out of this world, and dude, that is the most massive crash cymbal I've heard in ages... Yeah, long story short, this is probably one of my favourite parts of the song. Maybe you should take a shot at making an ambient song sometime. Judging from this part, I'm sure it'll be successful. Around a minute afterwards, you introduce the intro melody again in a very subtle manner, which worked so well.
I would've preferred it if you used a new synth over here to repeat the intro melody though, since it might make it sound more epic, but that's just a small suggestion...

4:23 - The kick comes in, a nice touch; would've been better if the kick wasn't so drowned out and weak, but I should stop complaining :P.

4:51 - Here's another really cool part with a good atmosphere. Soon a really long sweep starts, and ends at 5:18.

5:18 - Yet another AMAZING transition, and then a key change? Genius. It provided a wonderful climax to the song, and anyone can clearly see that the song is finally coming to an ending.

6:15 (Ending) - A good approach for an outro, the song is clearly about to end any second. The ending itself is awesome, but I think the very long note at the end was a bit ear-piercing lol. Maybe you should make it half its length. Other than that, an awesome ending, with some cool plucks fading out at the end too, which was a really nice touch.

-OVERALL-

This is really cool, among the best of your submissions. The melody is epic, all of the sections sound amazing, the transitions are beautifully executed and the intro/ending are both perfect (except for the ending note which could be a little shorter). I think the main two problems with this would be the blurry mix, and the quiet drums, namely the weak kick which is practically begging for some highs and mids. I think that if you worked on those two defects, along with any other small nitpicks I complained about in the review, then it would make the song a great deal better.

So all in all, I don't regret coming to review this. Usually for a whole seven minutes, I'd get bored, but this manages to keep me entertained and interested for every second that the song is playing. Keep up the excellent work! Oh and we should exchange reviews again sometime :D.
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.

-Review Request Club-

DJ-Chilvan responds:

lol wow I can't believe I forgot to respond to this review! It prolly slipped me. Thanks for this kind and lengthy review. You seriously do have the best ones on NG!

[Are U Ready {Dj-Abbic mix}]

A bit generic at times, but sounds cool.

You were right when a few months ago you said that your most popular song of 2010 isn't as good as your current songs, and while I always prefer more melody-oriented songs (probably why I like Orchestral more than House/Trance), there's no denying that this is a well-made song. Sounds generic, and I don't know how hard it is to make a House song which isn't since I've never made one, but it's still enjoyable to listen to and sounds cool. Good job.

Since this is quite a lengthy song, I'm going to review as I go along...

0:00 (Intro) - Very generic intro, I'm afraid. I like the sound of the kick, and the clap/snare that comes in after, albeit a little flat and dry, sounds OK. If there was anything I'd suggest over here, it'd be to make the intro less generic, maybe give it some new sound to keep the user interested. Or maybe it's just me and my ridiculously limited amount of knowledge of this genre.

0:30 - The melody's coming in. A typical rhythm of a house melody, can't really complain about it, and I suppose since this is a remix I can't credit you for the melody :P. The sweep you used was cool though, and the buildup of the melody was good.

0:59 - A new melody is layered on top of the previous one, and starts building up too. While this is yet another generic approach, the effect you used at the beginning of this part was great and the whole part provided a break from the usual pounding beat of the kick. Cool effect at 1:26 too :D.

1:29 - Here the beat is getting a bit repetitive, in my opinion. Maybe a few subtle changes might help make this part more interesting. Probably me though, like I said, I prefer more melodic songs.

2:30 - We're reminded of the break at 0:59. The 1/3 swing at 2:57 was really cool, and I liked the new layer to the melody at 3:14. Nothing to complain about here :3.

3:44 (Outro) - The outro starts here, and you slowly build down till the crash cymbal at the end. Not a bad ending, although it is quite generic (yeah I'm complaining too much).

-OVERALL-

This is a good submission, a definite improvement from the other one I reviewed, but I think the main problem that this song faces is that there aren't many things to make the listener go 'OK, that is cool', except maybe the 1/3 swing later on in the song, since a lot of the transitions, effects, rhythms and sections in this song have been used over and over in this genre. I may be too fussy, but if there's anything I think you should work on, it's making your stuff less generic.

That being said, you've nailed the transitions, production and effects, and the song all in all sounds good. Keep up the good work, and best of luck in the NGADM!
8/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

DjAbbic responds:

Yay :D I'm going to respond to your critiques (which I enjoy oh so much) as I go along.

Intro - Well, the generic intro was one of the things I picked up from all the professionals (Electrixx, Dirtyloud, Dj Solovey etc) and they all have the same intro. Maybe it's for easy DJ mixing but meh, I followed :P

:30 - It's still part of the intro, just added that to make it less boring I guess.

:59 - This was my attempt to recreate the melody from the original by ear. I don't really get people who use MIDI. It's just not fun to create :S. Sadly, the effect at 1:26 was a preset. I'M SORRY! :S

1:29 - This is the part where people should be bobbing their heads to the rhythm, I wouldn't have expected people to still listen to the beat :S. Oh well, my attempt at an epic rhythm.

2:30 - Laziness, pure laziness. Sorry again :(.

3:44 - At this stage, I've listened to it so much I was getting a bit tired and running out of ideas for it, so I decided to do a lame ending. I agree so much with generic endings, but I can never seem to end my songs well. It's always a fade-out or a crash. Maybe one day :P.

I think the point of making this song was to improve my production quality. Every time I compare my songs to professionals, they always have that sound that I don't (ambitious much?). Lately, my songs have been focusing on being professional sounding rather than well thought out. Just a next step :)

And thanks for wishing me luck in the NGADM :). I'll need it. Hope I get past auditions :o.

And last of all, thanks for the review ^^. I love your detail so much. :D

[A Land Far Away]

Why didn't I discover your songs sooner? O.o

Man, these are the type of songs that I really enjoy. A wonderful variety of dynamics, fantastic use of the samples, and some very nice melodies. This has a certain adventurous feel to it, definitely reminds me of soundtracks in films like Pirates of the Caribbean. I can't find many problems in it, and your Author's Comments really do it justice. It indeed is epic win.
Oh, and as a side note, I'm very sorry for taking so long to review this. I've had so much to do lately that it's become very hard to keep up with everything.

I'll split my review into a pros/cons layout.

-PROS-

- There's just so much to listen to in this track. There's no apparent main melody, yet it never starts feeling random. Each melody flows beautifully to the next, and all of the melodies sound excellent. The piece is so dynamic and varied that I can't help but listen to it again and again, hearing something new every time I listen to it.

- As I said, this track sounds so adventurous and at times mysterious. I can see this right at home in an adventure/fantasy film. Like Porkrock said, this sounds a lot like any typical film soundtrack, but I certainly don't have anything against that :D...

- The percussion fit very well. I expected the bass drum or timpani (not sure, I'm deaf from one ear and can't catch some sounds very well...) to be a little more powerful at times, but other than that, the percussion sounded great and complimented the melodies very nicely.

- An obvious advantage in this is that the instruments are excellent quality, but that's expected if you use East/West, right? xD. I use it too, but I can't get my sounds to be as realistic as this, so good job on that O.O.

- The transitions were all awesome (except one which I'll mention in the cons section). I especially liked the transition at 0:54 where the track seems to become more sinister and mysterious.

- By the way, the part at 0:54 was my favourite part. The choirs fit flawlessly here too.

- You started the song quite well too with the slowly rising percussion. Maybe a softer, longer intro building up to 0:02 might make it sound a bit more impressive and epic, but that's more of a suggestion than it is criticism.

- The ending is also very satisfying. A bit of a generic approach, but works perfectly. However, is it me or am I hearing the cymbal cut off too suddenly at the end? :S.

-CONS-

- The track at times has somewhat of an empty feel to it. This would fit perfectly as a background soundtrack to some sort of movie, but as a song on its own, it occasionally feels like it lacks depth, or at least in my opinion, especially at the beginning. Maybe some double bass playing some long chords in the background might fix this, I don't know...

- Remember that one transition I mentioned earlier? Well, the transition at 1:26 is what's bothering me a bit. The song sounds exactly like it's ended, and then it suddenly continues out of nowhere. I have no problem with you adding some silence in certain parts of the song, actually on the contrary, sometimes it makes the part following the silence sound even more epic, but I think that it didn't work as well as I would've liked it to at 1:26. The song seemingly ends, and then starts again, and for a second I thought a totally new song started. Might be just me.

-OVERALL-

I suppose the word 'outstanding' can sum this up quite nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed the track from beginning to end, and while it has two really small problems, this is definitely something that I won't get tired of listening to anytime soon.

Actually, it has quite a different style from Foresight. If I didn't know that you made both of them I would've thought that someone else made this track xD.

Anyway, keep up the amazing work. I must say that your songs are ridiculously underrated, thanks to 0-bombers :(. Great job on this, you're one hell of a talented artist! :D.
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.
Fav'd as an artist.
O.O

-Review Request Club-

If it's not too much to ask, would you mind leaving a review on a song of mine?
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/313345

Tomppaah responds:

Oh my lord Steph :D Where do I even begin?

"your Author's Comments really do it justice"
Haha, I didn't really think I had to write anything other than that at the moment ;)
When I posted it I was so damned happy with it. I had been sitting for quite some time, just messing around in FL, when suddenly this came out.

"the bass drum or timpani"
It's a timpani :3

"you use East/West, right?"
Why yes indeed I do! The greatest VSTi I've worked with! Don't you think so too? ;)

Some things about your cons section. Yes, I constantly have the problem of not fleshing out my tracks. ;S A lot of them can sound empty at various points, and I hate myself for not being able to come up with anything I like for those parts. I'd rather leave it empty than put something there that I don't like. :3 Maybe that's wrong.

Now that you mention it, that transitioin at 1:26 does sound a tad awkward. ;) Maybe it shouldn't come back in so hard. A softer entry after the pause might have been better.. Hmm.. I'll have to take a look after I get my computer back ;)

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this monster of a review! :D
I would never have believed I'd get these awesome reviews when I posted in the RRC thread!

Yes, I agree.. Zero-bombers is fail.
But what can you expect? ;)

[After Rain]

Certainly sounds like what you were going for...

...I have to admit that the first thing I'd think of if I heard this song would be a forest, and the various droplet effects really helped to give the atmosphere of a wet forest, just after a lot of rain. I've had it looping for quite a while without noticing that it's been looping all this time, so that's pretty impressive. Since it's quite a long song, I'll review the song as I go along, rhyme unintended.

0:00 (Intro) - An interesting way to start the song. The high bells give out a sort of 'dreamy' feel, so I didn't think you'd manage to turn this into a forest-like song, but I suppose you did a good job in that despite the 'dreamy' feel in the intro. You may want to EQ the bells a bit more though, I think they have too much highs and listening to them with high volume or listening to them a lot gets a bit annoying. The melody is good though.

0:13 - I'm hearing some droplet sounds. They work really nicely and fit beautifully with the bells, but one thing that I don't really like is that they fall at the second beat of the bar each time. I doubt that a real forest can make droplets fall off its leaves in such a rhythmic, predictable manner.

My point is, while the droplets fit very well playing at the same time as some notes with the bells, I think that occasionally you could add some droplets at random times during the song. Not too much, or it might distract the listener, but I think that not making the droplets so predictable by playing them exactly on the beat might make the atmosphere better.

0:28 - The percussion comes in. To be honest I'm not so impressed with the percussion, sorry :(. It's very simple and bland. Maybe you could add a few congas/bongos, cymbals, and maybe some shakers or other soft percussion. Right now, the percussion sounds extra, and doesn't compliment the track as much as I would've liked.

0:56 - I think the main melody starts getting a bit repetitive here. You're slowly introducing new elements to the song every few bars, which is great and makes this more interesting, but you might want to vary the main melody a little too.

1:25 - Here I'm hearing some variety, and while you didn't change the melody that much, this subtle change worked quite well. I absolutely love the staccato woodwind notes in the background, though. They fit excellently in the track and remind me of a forest a lot.

1:53 - I'm hearing a soft woodwind melody in the background. Nice touch.

2:21 - Here the woodwind melody enters the song. The melody is good, but what stood out the most in my opinion would be the sound of the woodwind instrument itself (some sort of flute or pan flute, I think). It sounds amazing, and worked very well. Later on, at 2:58, the bells play the melody alongside the woodwind, which sounded great.

3:13 - I think the transition before this part could use some work (the song goes quiet too suddenly), but I must say that this part is one of my favourite parts in the song. This is the first time I'm hearing the harp (?) which made this part quite interesting. The song reaches its climax as you introduce some more woodwind (which, by the way, sounded wonderful), and then it slowly dies down. Fantastic.

4:38 - It's become apparent that the song is getting ready to end. The transition to this part was good, and it's a good approach to an outro. One thing which I'm noticing is the lack of sound effects, though. You only had droplets, and I think some rustling of leaves, soft animal sounds and wind sound effects played at random times in the song would really help the atmosphere, in my opinion.

5:07 (Ending) - Here the song ends pretty subtly. I think the ending was a bit unexpected, but worked well. I'd prefer it if you slowly faded out the droplets, but that's a minor defect that's probably just me :/.

-OVERALL-

This is an impressive submission. Percussion is too simple, and doesn't compliment the track, there's a lack of different sound effects, at times it gets repetitive and there are a few small problems here and there, but overall it sounds great. Good job!
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

EvilScorpio responds:

Enormous thanks to you for so detailed and attentive review)) I will try to fix the pointed small problems and make the track even better. Thank you again)

[Chasing the Clouds [Sonic 2]]

Very relaxing and calm.

There aren't many problems that I have with this song which I can mention. It sounds excellent, and naturally I wish it was longer. Good work, it sounds very well done :D.

I'll split the review into a pros and cons section.

-PROS-

- The sounds you chose work really well with the melodies, and that's one of the main things I look for when listening to a remix. The guitar, or harp, or whatever it is, works extremely well, and the pad in the background compliments it nicely. The bass in the background fit nicely too, and gave the listener a little more to listen to, despite the length of the submission.

- The transitions are great. There's one particular transition which is a very slight bit abrupt, but I'll mention it in the cons section. Most of the transitions fit nicely and flowed smoothly.

- The intro was well done.

- This has a really calm and light feel to it, which works really well with the nice melody. I can't credit you for the melody since this is, of course, a remix, but you really did the melody justice with the calm feel, the awesome sounds and the smooth transitions.

-CONS-

- The transition at 0:04-0:05-ish sounds pretty abrupt, in my opinion. While the pad sounds great like I said above, I think it comes in too suddenly. Maybe some quick reverbed reverse cymbal to start it up for something like that might work to introduce the pad more smoothly, but since this pad basically has no attack time at all, I think it needs something else to introduce it more smoothly and not so abruptly.

- I think this needs some more sounds to keep the listener interested. Maybe a few wind effects or a new instrument. Just a thought.

- You know this already, but I'll mention it anyway. The song doesn't loop well because of the pause at the end. I'm not reducing any of the score because of it since you said you don't know how it happened, but it's a bad thing about this track nevertheless. Have you checked if Newgrounds is adding the silence? Maybe if you mark it as a 'loop' not as a 'song' it might not add the silence. Or maybe when you exported it you ticked some sort of option which adds silence to the end of your track. That's all I can think of now :3.

-OVERALL-

It's a cool little loop, and despite the fact that it doesn't do its job for looping, may need another sound to keep the listener interested, and there are a few abrupt transitions, it's still an impressive track. Been such a long time since I last heard it, heh.

Keep up the good work, good luck if you ever finish it!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

DarkKyoushu responds:

Woah.
I'll only ask you in the future to review my tracks, simply that your review is the only review i got that was nice to read. (The only guy with a review talent)

The Start, indeed is, way to abrupt. I'll upload a fixed version soon enough. But first, i need to get that damn pause away at the end. >.>

Nice Day, DarkKyoushu.

[Cmb - Kill A Baby! >:d lml]

Sorry, it's basically a noisefest...

Sometimes, there are certain submissions that get requested in the Review Request Club which don't need constructive criticism so much that I really don't understand why they get requested in the first place. I'm going to be totally honest with you, this is one of them. Still, I suppose that I still have to review it with a proper review, since that's what you asked for.

The melodic part of this submission isn't too bad. While the vocals have no melody to them at all and sound like, of course, dying pig sounds, the melodies played by the guitar are decent. The vocals themselves were disturbing, but that was clearly the intention of them so I won't complain about that.

Completely random strings at 1:48 though, but they did sound convincing. What sample did you use? Just a little heads up though, judging from the quality of the other sounds in this track, I doubt you used your own sample, so if you cut the strings out of some classical song or something then it's probably copyrighted and you could get banned from submitting audio to the NG for using them.

Anyway, copyright junk aside, I'll continue the review. The guitars themselves were obviously FL Slayer, so the quality was a bit of a let down over there. Another clear let down is as SlaveLabor pointed out - the song is drowned in clipping and a ridiculous amount of bass, giving it a bad quality, rough sound. Some simple EQing should fix that, if by some miracle you want to fix it.

One good thing about the song is that it doesn't get repetitive. The lyrics, while repeating roughly the same thing over and over again most of the time, did have some new, unexpected sections here and there which kept the song interesting, such as the err... 'I' part at 1:08, the 'kill' parts at 0:54 and 1:25, and there were various parts where you mix up the words to come up with another random phrase. There were two guitar solos, and not to mention the random strings at 1:48, so if I had to judge this according to its variety, then I won't have much to criticise.

Anyway, that's about it. You clearly did a good job in making the song sound disturbing, and since you said you didn't create this to be enjoyed, then you certainly did an excellent job in that too, but if I had to rate it as a song, then I can't really give it any more than a 4 out of 10. Sorry for being harsh.
4/10
2/5

-Review Request Club-

cheesemonkeybill responds:

sometimes, there are certain reviews that get posted on my music that make me go lawl. i'm going to be completely honest, this is one of them. still, i suppose i will respond to your review.

the strings that i used in this song weren't a sample at all. everything in this song was made with fl synthesizers, yo. i doubt you would be able to tell the difference tho. nonetheless, i got fl project files that prove i didnt cut jack copyrighted shit - i'm too legit to quit.

anyway, offensive accusations aside, i'll continue my response. the clipping you hear in this song is from the fact that i put distortion on almost everything. bass synth, drums, guitar, vocals. there isn't really much to fix in the eq department - trust me. it is my artistic right to put a ridiculous amount of bass and distortion in my masterpiece.

anyway, thats about it. you clearly did a good job in making your review tactful. but if i had to respond to this as a review, than i would have to say your kind of a dick, what with the fucked up copyright accusations. fuck you. but you did do an excellent job in being critical and lengthy in your review, and i did call on you guys for your criticism, so thanks. sorry for being harsh.
8=D
F/U

-Cheese Monkey Bill-

[[dB] The Abyss]

YES.

Now this is good music. I'm not saying it's the best I've heard, but seriously, your rate of improvement in music is one of the quickest I've seen on NG, and this song is just proof of it. I liked this track quite a bit, and while it has its problems, this is definitely one of the better tracks I've heard in a while. Great job on it man!

I'll split my review into a pros and cons section...

-PROS-

- The main melody is very catchy and well-made. I find myself humming it in my head quite a lot of the time, and it fits so well with the 'abyss' feel you were going for.

- The background fits very nicely with the stuff playing in the foreground. I especially liked those plucks you introduced for the first time at 0:36-ish (the ones which you ended the song with). Again, this also did the song's title justice.

- The transitions on the whole were beautifully done. While the transition at 1:50 has room for improvement, I loved the transition at 0:51 and the way the intro bass synth came in at 2:12 was so cool.

- The structure is probably one of the main things that impressed me in this track. Every new section was interesting, and the amazing transitions from one section to another section helped too. Every melody fit perfectly in its place, good job!

- Variety was just right. I have to admit that this is a fantastic improvement from your other tracks, which aren't as varied as I'd like them to be, at times, but this one has perfect variety. Not too much, not too little.

- Piano solo was awesome.

- The synths and sounds you used were almost all perfect (I'll mention which one wasn't in the cons section :P). I especially liked the bass synth you used at the very beginning, and the background plucks too. The piano fit better than I thought it would too. All of that combined with some well-placed and well-made sound effects and sweeps makes this a song to remember.

- Intro was pristine, nothing at all wrong with it, except maybe the sweep sounding a bit generic, but heck, not much of a problem there.

- Same with the ending, it was excellent and I must admit that I would not have thought of a better ending myself :D. Just one thing though, I would've preferred it if you faded the plucks out a little more. They sort of end out of nowhere at 2:49 if you get what I mean. I would've preferred it if they kept on fading out till they run out of volume, so to speak. Might be me and my nitpickiness (Google Chrome says it's not a word but I don't care) though.

-CONS-

- I think this song lacks in the low end. It sounds too empty, and while I know that an abyss is supposed to be empty, I don't think it works too well over here. Easy solution: add a bass pad. Don't make it dominate the whole background, but give it some space to fill in the background, it'll definitely help give the song a deeper feel. Maybe you can consider some male choirs instead...

- That one synth at 0:14 annoys me. It sounds alright at 1:21 and at 1:54, but playing alongside the main melody it sounds a bit weird. Maybe you can add some synth bell sound, or a square lead instead. You can keep the synth for 1:12 and 1:54, but I would suggest using a different synth when playing the main melody.

- Drums aren't particularly good, I'm afraid. The hat line was too simple (the rhythm was good but you only used one hat which was a high hat and cut through the song too much if you get what I mean) and the kick is too weak, not to mention the clap sounding a little plain. Don't like the percussion in this one, sorry :(. Reverbed kicks were well placed though, and the beats were good. I just didn't like the sounds themselves.

-OVERALL-

Three cons against nine pros, I suppose (rhyme unintended). Shows that I think your song is awesome, and it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out :D. Seriously, this track is catchy, gives out a nice abyss feel and is deserving of the 10 score I gave it. Keep up the great work, I definitely hope to hear some more amazing tracks like this one!
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd.
Fav'd as an author.
Shutting Up Now...

-Review Request Club-

Decibel responds:

Woah, I am pleased to tell you that i read everything O.o
Naic Review, I have better thangs comin up so watch out =]

>DJ<

[AF - Vitality]

Beautifully done!

Hey man! Sorry for all that inactivity, with me being in Australia right now, but I finally found some time to borrow my dad's headphones and listen to this. I have a limited connection right now so my review's going to come out pretty half-arsed, but I can't help but review this masterpiece right now :D.

So I'll start by saying, well, wow. This song seamlessly walks the line between Ambient and Trance and has such an awesome vibe to it. I don't have many bad things to say about it, it sounds pretty much like something I'd expect from you, i.e. something epic and amazing.

I'll split my review into a pros and cons section.

-PROS-

- That intro is just amazing. Not perfect (you'll see why in the cons section :P) but the instant I heard that intro I knew I was going to like this song. The pad which fades in and abruptly stops to play a delayed saw pluck made a very cool effect to start the song with.
I must say that the intro sounded really awesome with headphones on, even if they're crappy mobile headphones (or maybe I'm just too used to speakers). The cool sweep and noise filtering effects after that were just icing to the cake.

- The composition, as usual, is pristine. The melodies are very catchy and each melody flows beautifully to the next. I love the chord progression you used, it's not often you hear such awesome chord progressions in NG Trance music. Seriously, it's melodies like these which I look for in Trance songs, and I'm glad I've finally found them. Good job!

- The atmosphere you managed to evoke with the plucked sounds, awesome melodies, and amazing pads, was out of this world. I never knew something like this could be so atmospheric.
All I'd wish for would be a few more bass sounds in the backgrounds to make the atmosphere deeper, but that's probably personal preference and it's such a minor nitpick that I didn't even bother to put it in the cons section.

- The sounds you used all left me amazed. Not only do you have some cool plucked sounds with the perfect amount of echo/delay to them, but also an awesome-sounding pad. Like I said above, the noise-filtering effects, such as that powerful hit at 0:47 and the various sweeps throughout the song, were all brilliant. You probably know by now that I'm a fan of sweeps, so my opinion may be a bit biased, but what the heck, the sweeps sound amazing.

- Transitions were perfectly executed. The filter automating with the drums was a great way to introduce and exit the drums from the song, and all of the transitions were great. I especially liked the transition from the ambient intro to the busier part at 0:40.

- Finally, the ending to the song was fantastic. It was a satisfying way to end the song and worked really well. Maybe you could have made the final note a bit more powerful with a more epic hit, instead of just a clap, but other than that nitpick, ending was flawless.

-CONS-

- Percussion. This might come out as slightly annoying and nitpicky, but to be honest I think the percussion was a little on the rough side for an ambient-ish song like this, namely the snare which sounds too distorted or dry to fit in with the song in my opinion...
Don't get me wrong, the rhythms your used for the percussion were really good, and the filtering, like I said, was great, my only problem is that the percussion themselves cut too much into the atmosphere if you get what I mean. I doubt it would be easy to get the percussion to fit with the atmosphere while keeping them trancey like they are right now though, but heck, worth a try right?

- I think the intro could have a bit more to it like some reverse effects, for example a reverse kick on every louder part of the intro when the pad reaches its loudest volume. Just a random idea I'm bringing up, might improve this already awesome intro.

-OVERALL-

That's pretty much it. This song truly sounds brilliant, especially for a 5-hour work. I'm probably never going to get that melody out of my head. Just work on those 2 tiny things I mentioned, but keep up the AMAZING work!
10/10
5/5
Download.
Fav'd

-Review Request Club-

aliaspharow responds:

Yay! Love you man xD. Epic review, as usual. I totaly agree about everything =D. I should totaly re do the drums. Im not very happy with them at all now that you have brought them to my attention. The intro itself could use a bit more detail to it too. Your the best!
-Simon

[Oceanic Expedition]

Wow :3

I must say that I was really impressed by this. It's so relaxing that I had it on loop for hours while doing my programming project, no joke. This deserves all the high review scores and votes as it can get. There are a few small things which annoy me, but on the whole it's very soothing and calm, and fits the story you gave it flawlessly. Nice job on it.

The melodies are excellent. Maybe you could have added a key change somewhere in the song, but other than that the melodies all flow so smoothly together and are extremely relaxing. Hell, I'm lucky I'm not writing this review at night or I'd fall asleep instantly xD. I especially liked the melody at 1:52, but all of the melodies were wonderful. Not really much to say about the melodies except awesome job, I suppose.

The instruments are also very nicely chosen. The main instrument you used was very relaxing, and the other instruments filled the background up nicely. The part at the end had awesome pads which fit well with the underwater theme you were going for. I don't think this song is short at all, actually. Just the right length for a song like this. Loved the wind/sea effects you had going in the background, by the way.

The transitions were all very smooth. Like I said above, the song flowed very smoothly from one melody to another. The only one transition which ruined it for me would be the one at 1:04-ish, where you fade in a long snare roll. That part sounded plain and I think it lasted a bit too long. I think you should cut down maybe 1 or 2 bars from it and keep the ambiance in the background going on for the whole duration of the transition. What I'm trying to say is, the snare sounded weird on its own :3. The transition at 2:23 could have been a bit more interesting, maybe with some sort of splash of water or cool water effect, I don't know, but on the whole the transitions were very nice. Good job.

Structure-wise, this is superb. The song flowed extremely smoothly and the variety was great too since you always had new melodies to interest the listener. Structure and variety were both awesome :D. Intro was great since the great ambiance and relaxing melodies immediately come in which provides a great effect, and the ending was also awesome. I don't really agree with Soapbubble on this one, I think the ending didn't sound too long. The length was just right ^^.

Hm, the drums were good. I have to admit that the drum beats fit perfectly with the melodies, but the drum samples aren't too good. They're mixed well, and the EQing was fine, but I just don't really like the drum sounds themselves. Check out this site:
http://www.darkbeats.com/sampleswap/
The drum samples there aren't professional in any way, but some are nice quality and there are loads of drum samples to choose from.
By the way, I hate the snare at 1:16-ish :P.

Overall, this is soothing and relaxing, and fits perfectly with the story. Just work on maybe adding a key change, fixing up a few transitions, and working on the drum sounds a bit. Other than that, this is a great song. Sorry for the somewhat short review, I usually write longer than this, but I guess this song made me short for words :3. Never knew you were such a great author, I suppose I didn't know what I was missing when you requested other stuff and I didn't review them xP. Keep up the great work!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Birdinator99 responds:

How is this review short? XD

Thank you so much for all the feedback; I agree with you on that snare roll being the weak part of the song haha. Smooth and relaxing is definitely what I was going for, so I guess I got that right :D

I try to limit my key changes, but I suppose it wouldn't have hurt somewhere in there, huh?

I don't know if I could listen to it for hours, but it clearly did something for you :)
Don't feel bad; it wasn't always this good lol.

Thanks so much for listening and reviewing!

[Eden massacre - TTC CHG]

Excellent.

Like in that last submission I reviewed from you, this one fits very well with the story you gave it. This seriously sounds very well made, I'm sure that if you were asked to make background music for a flash you'd do extremely well. Nice work on this, it sounds like awesome background music and I really enjoyed listening it, to the point that I've honestly been listening to it for the past half an hour or so.

I'll split my review into different sections corresponding to the different scenes of the story.
--------------
0:00 - 0:20: Quite a soft way to start the song. Problem is, it sounds very quiet, like in your other track. I don't think I should have to turn the volume up higher than I usually do just to enjoy the song, in my opinion.

Still, this has a nice atmosphere and the bells were a very nice touch.
--------------
0:20 - 0:34: Here you add a new instrument. I can't make out what it is; is it a harp, or a guitar? That being said, the melody is superb. It has a peaceful vibe to it and sounds great.

I don't know if it's suspenseful enough to fit with the scene of secretly filling the cannons with explosives instead of fireworks, but it does its job as a peaceful and calm part.
--------------
0:34 - 1:05: Wow I loved this part. It sounds much more lively than the previous parts but still retains its peaceful atmosphere. The congas and bongos were also a very, very nice touch, which I quite enjoyed.

I was hoping for a new melodic instrument to come in at 0:47 though, maybe a flute or some sort of woodwind. I think it'll definitely add to that part.
--------------
1:05 - 1:24: This is a really chaotic part indeed. The percussion style is similar to the one in the last track I reviewed, and it's very powerful and epic. The piano sounded very good too over here.

The only thing that ruined this part for me would be the abrupt transition to it. I had to turn my volume up to hear the intro, and then quick turn it down once I heard that powerful hit at 1:05. I think you should make a really quick buildup beforehand, or just turn that part down a little.
--------------
1:24 - 1:39: Loved the transition to this part after the previous chaotic part. The percussion slowly died away as this section entered which was perfect.

The soft percussion in the background was nice and the small part with the choirs in was great too.
--------------
1:39 - 2:15: Hmm, I think the silence before this part was a bit unnecessary. It sounds as if a totally new song started, which is a bit weird and I definitely would have preferred it if the transition was smooth.

Having said that, this part was awesome. I particularly liked the strings at 1:52. This actually sounds like it came right out of the soundtrack of some movie...
--------------
2:15 - 2:42: The choirs over here really sound amazing and the atmosphere is good. Still, again, I think the transition before it didn't need that much silence, or maybe that's just me...

Anyway, in short, awesome choirs :D.
--------------
2:42 - 3:28: Here's another very calm and peaceful-sounding part. I loved the piano playing over here, it was so soothing and instantly puts the listener at ease.

Also, on an unrelated note, this track also loops very well :3.
--------------
Conclusion:
I must say that I was impressed by this submission. It has such a unique sound to it, which is probably what I like most about your submissions; they always sound so unique yet still sound amazing. This is no exception, and I really think that it sounds awesome.

The atmosphere, like I said, was extraordinary, the melodies were superb, the instrumentation was unique and still fantastic, and the fact that this is basically 8 different styles in one song makes this very interesting to listen to and unpredictable. The only things which might need fixing would be the volume, some transitions and any other minor defects I mentioned :D.

Overall, this fits nicely with the story you gave it, and has such a unique atmosphere to it. Keep up the amazing work man, this sounds excellent!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Calamaistr responds:

I cant match the size of your review but let me say thanks for taking the time so to review this, it shows the more that it took you into the story, if you love this track already youll go nuts over the rest of the album for sure. :)

Greets -Cal.