Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Kieranmau5]

Not bad for thirty-three seconds...

I don't know if he sounds like Deadmau5 or not, since I don't listen to trance/house or all of those electronic genres most of the time, I'm more interested in Classical/Orchestral/Trailerscore/etc , so I can't judge this on how well it imitates another trance artist, but still, for a small loop, it was pretty cool. Good work.

The melody is very simple. Actually the melody only consisted of three different notes, F, G# and F#. I suppose it's not such a bad melody, although I really would've liked to hear more changes in the melody and maybe a little more of a complicated melody rather than just three notes. Perhaps some rhythm changes would work too.

As for the synths you used, they were a bit generic, unfortunately. The plucked bass thing was pretty generic and the saw synth was cheesy as hell xD. Heh, that being said, they still worked fine. I would've really liked to hear some more unique sounding synths (maybe some higher pitched ones, since this is a pretty bassey song), not only to make this more interesting and original, but even to break up the repetition a bit. On the other hand, the effects were fine, and I liked the sidechaining.

The transitions were all great, even though it isn't too hard to make smooth transitions in a half-minute long loop :P. New sounds were introduced very well but I think that the part at 0:07 could've had a more powerful buildup and then a crash cymbal, or maybe a reverse cymbal before it or something. Probably personal preference, though.

I usually dedicate this part to the song structure, but there isn't really much to say about the song structure I suppose. Variety was alright for a small loop, but as I said above, this could use some more synths/melodies. The intro was good, and the loop was alright, but it could've been better since you had a lot playing at the end of the loop and a lot less playing at the beginning of the loop, making a rough transition.

The percussion was mediocre, not too good but not too bad either. I liked the kick at 0:15, but the drums did get a bit repetitive and the other drum sounds were nothing too special either. Not only that but the beat was very generic and overused (kick every beat, open hat every other half-beat and clap every other beat :/). Still, percussion wasn't too bad.

All in all, this loop is good. It doesn't stand out in any way due to some generic elements and aspects which it has, but I can't say that I didn't like it. Keep up the good work.
8/10
5/5 because of 0-bombers.

-Review Request Club-

KieranNG responds:

It loops well in Fruity Loops, not so well in Newgrounds... :(

[Waltz No. 7 in Am Orchestrated]

Hm...

Unlike Chomposaur, Classical surely is my musical preference, and when I heard this song, I was quite impressed, although I think your guitar works are a bit better xP. The quality of sound wasn't too special, and this is pretty short. Still, what the heck, I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Oh, and on a totally unrelated note, your 'EDIT:' author's comment makes no sense xD.

The melody, like in all your submissions, was superb. Maybe I just like it because I love minor keys, but still, that's one awesome melody in my opinion. Not only that, but there were a lot of changes in the rhythm of the melodies, and even though I think you could have varied the rhythm of every bar a little more, even if with just subtle changes, I still like the rhythm as it is so nice work there. It's also nice to see that this piece is in 3/4 time instead of 4/4, I'm kind of tired of hearing 4/4 here on NG all the time :P. So yeah, basically the composition of this piece was excellent, and I can't really expect less from you.

The instruments, on the other hand, weren't as good. I think you should have used the East/West samples instead, I'm pretty sure that they're much higher quality. Also, I think that the instruments were dosed in too much reverb. Either that, or the mixing in this isn't that good, since it sounds a little blurry and muddy... In addition to that, I'm a little confused as to what instrumentation you used. I can hear strings, but I *think* hearing an organ too O.o. Maybe it's the bad quality of the instruments, or it could be the low quality of the MP3 which makes me unsure of the instrumentation, I don't know...

The transitions are all fine, and I can't really find any abrupt transitions. The structure was alright, but I would've really liked to see some new sections of the song with maybe some solos, since a lot of the time the song stayed on the same level and didn't really go anywhere, if you get what I mean (i.e. it doesn't reach any climax or some sort of calmer part). The variety was good, although it would've been cool if you introduced some new instruments to keep the variety going. As for the intro, to be honest I think it dragged on for a bit too long, but the outro was fine.

So yeah, overall, I don't really think this is one of your best. It doesn't have as much of a clearness of instrumentation as I would've wished it to have, and it's not something I'd listen to a second time if I had the option to. Still, the melody, as usual, is amazing, and it's still a cool submission nevertheless. Good job, keep it up!
8/10
5/5 because of 0-bombers.

-Review Request Club-

Darkmaster603 responds:

I see what you mean. There is no organ in this piece, and you're not the first to make that comment. It uses a harpsichord, oboe, brass section, strings (staccato/normal) , flutes, and violins. I am considering redoing this with a better library, but I liked the way this one sounded. I agree about the reverb, I think I was trying to go for a realistic sounding recording with the reverb, but I ended up have a song with a crappy library doused in too much reverb.

I have a habit of writing in 3/4, it's the natural time signature for me. I agree, this doesn't really go anywhere musically, it's pretty stagnant, but that's kind of what I wanted. It's hard to explain.

I'll have to use a real library instead of DSK free stuff.

Thanks for the review!

[This Is War]

Well...

...Since you requested this in the Review Request Club, I'll review it so I can get 6 club points because I'm greedy like that.

I'll try and comment mostly on the stuff that you did in the song, not the stuff I upgraded xD.

-PROS-

- The melodies sound absolutely amazing. I really had fun adding the instrumentation to melodies as epic as these (that and C minor is my favourite key :D). The chord progression, as usual, is awesome, and so is the harmonizing.

- The blend between the piano, staccato strings and background instruments (such as choirs, double bass, brass, cello, etc...) was brilliant.

- The amount of alternate melodies was just right. I have to admit that I never got tired listening to this song, since it had so many different melodies, and some cool subtle changes too. The background was also well varied.

- I really liked the use of choirs towards the end. The fact that they weren't used in any other part in the song gave the part that they played in a sort of importance, which was cool.

- This song is very epic. Right after the slower, calmer intro, the song becomes really epic and doesn't stop showing off its might and power, making it fit perfectly with the name.

Even at 1:43 when everything goes a little calmer, you make the listener think he's having a break from all the epic...ness, yet the song quickly regains its awesome might and power at 1:49.

- The bells were an interesting addition, and provided some good tension at 0:44 before the song becomes epic.

- Obviously, the high quality instruments from East/West are just icing to the already delicious cake.

- The part at 1:13 was awesome.

- The whole thing, as you said, sounds a lot like an epic Metal Gear soundtrack, and I love Metal Gear :D.

-CONS-

- I'm not sure why you made the ending a fade ending. I would've definitely loved to have heard a ridiculously powerful final staccato note played by all the instruments along with an epic crash from the drums. Fade ending was a bit anti-climatic.

- Obviously, this could've been longer, since 2:38 is leaning a little towards the short side (and it would've been even less if I didn't lower the tempo a bit and added the calm intro with the double bass, heartbeat and cymbal)

- The ending could have used a few more subtle changes in the staccatos' melodies.

-OVERALL-

I must say that I really enjoyed working on this. The melodies you made were amazing, the choice of instrumentation was flawless, the structure was awesome... I could go on, but I don't like complimenting as much as I like criticising.

So yeah, all in all, this sounds amazing, and if you ever want me to use my professional samples for any other song, I'd be glad to :D.

Not only that, but I suck at making melodies too :3.

Keep up the amazing work!
10/10
5/5
Fav'd.

-Review Request Club-

GronmonSE responds:

I made the end fading cause I got rather lazy unfortunately. I haven't really made a long song in a while, they've been on the short side.

WELL, I don't think there's a way to make this response longer since I don't actually have anything to tell you other than thanks soooooooo much for helping me with this track. You did a brilliant job :D

[What I Am (Mans0n)]

Another somewhat generic song...

...Again, I can't really say that there's anything wrong with this track. The production is great, and the whole thing sounds like it's been made by someone who knows their way around their DAW and has been making house/trance for a long time. Like you probably already know, I don't enjoy house/progressive trance, so this review may be a bit biased, but personally I think the biggest defect in this is the same as in your other songs, the fact that it sounds so similar to any other house song. Anyway, I'll review it as I go along...

0:00 (Intro) - A pretty bland intro, to be honest, maybe you could start it with an effect or some subtle synth/melodic sound. Still, I suppose the minimal sounds and effects come in at 0:06 anyway so I don't have much to complain about. The kick sounded good, if not a slight bit lacking in bass, and the clap sounds awesome.

0:36 - Hmm... It starts getting repetitive here. I like the variation you did on the kick beat, when I first heard it I thought my computer was sticking lol.

0:52 - I'm relieved to hear a new element enter. It was getting pretty repetitive. I'm also hearing some filtered noise in the background which was a nice touch. Still, I feel that this part keeps on going for too long; the filtered noise soon dies away, and everything starts becoming repetitive again.

1:51 - Again, I'm grateful for this change. I'm not really liking the transition though, I think it sounds a bit too abrupt, although that could be just me. The synth you're using here sounds awfully generic, but it worked well and sounded cool.

The filtered noise in the background worked well here too, although I would've liked to hear it increase in volume a bit more before the song moves to the next section.

2:12 - The transition was very smooth, so nice job there. In addition, I love the sidechaining you did here, it was surely a nice touch. The melody was decent, although the song stays mostly minimal, so I can't expect too much from it. So far there's a great structure, even if it's really generic.

From here onwards till the outro there are a few subtle changes in the beat and in the melody, although the rhythm of the melody stays mostly the same, so I would've liked to see a few more rhythmic changes in the melody. It started to get a bit repetitive too...

3:10 - Here you fade the filtered noise out, which was cool, and you get ready for the outro. Unfortunately it's an extremely generic approach for an outro to a house song...

3:23 (Ending) - Not such a bad ending, but catches the listener by surprise, since it ends quite suddenly. Oh and there was too much silence at the end, in my opinion, but that's not such a big problem.

Conclusion:
It's a cool song, and after turning the volume up a little more than I would usually do and listening hard, I can see that you really know what you're doing with your DAW. There are loads of really subtle sounds here and there which I wouldn't catch on my first listen, which gives this song some replay value.

Basically, the main thing which I'll whine about would be the fact that it's so generic. The beats and sounds are typical of a house song, so's the ending and the intro, and overall it's structured like so many other generic house songs out there. To me, a song being generic is indeed a big problem, since it sounds like so many other songs, and I could just download another generic song of the same genre and enjoy it to somewhat the same extent, most of the time.

If this had more unique sounds, interesting new sections, and maybe some more non-generic variations of the beat, then I think that it would do way more good than it would do harm.

Anyway, other than the fact that it's generic (along with a few other nitpicks I mentioned such as the excessive silence at the end) I think this song is pretty much flawless. It has superb production, and has a sort of relaxing vibe to it. Not really much else to say; keep up the great work I suppose, and I hope your future submissions manage to incorporate a few more unique elements to them.
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

Mans0n responds:

Thanks for the very detailed review steph! I will definitely work on the things you mentioned.

[Sweet Wish]

Quirky.

Well, I must say that this fit very well in the 'Drug the Mouse' submission which I had to review since it was requested in the club. You can't begin to imagine how many times I've been listening to this track, since I spent so long trying to beat the other reviewers' high scores xD. Yeah, that being said, this is a very enjoyable piece. It has so many quirky synths and melodies that I couldn't help but smile in some parts of the song. Good work.

The way I see it, the melodies are definitely the highlight of this submission. As I said, they were really quirky and as iHeartQuistis said, it's not that hard to notice that there indeed is a lot of talent in the melodic section. The melodies actually sound very unique with a nice chord progression and very good rhythms. I like the small melody playing at the very beginning, and the main melody coming at 0:29 was excellent, and I'm sure it won't be easy to get it out of my head.

Another thing which was cool was that the background depth always changed. Sometimes you had an offbeat bass, sometimes you had some pitch-bent square waves, sometimes you had this cool plucked sound, etc... I could listen to this more than once and hear something new in the background. On the other hand, I really would've liked to hear more alternate melodies, since the main melody at 0:29 sounds overused to me, since it was used quite a few times in the song. This led to the song sounding quite predictable, which is a bummer.

The instruments weren't too special. They all sounded quite dry, and while I liked some delay effects you put on a few instruments, the sounds weren't really anything special. The square synth you used at the beginning was nice, but other than that, I think you could have been a bit more original and creative with your synths. There's a piano too, which really didn't work in this song I think. If you need to know how to make synths, and you have Sytrus, then this is probably the best tutorial for how to make synths that there is:
http://blackhole12.newgrounds.com/new s/post/80532
In-depth, but still in such simple and easy-to-follow diction. I think it'll definitely help you out. If not, you can download VST's like Nexus (2), z3ta+ and Vanguard.

On the other hand, the transitions were all very well executed. Each section flowed smoothly to the next, and the only transition which I think could use a bit of work would be the transition at 1:15. You introduce a new, slightly louder and more high pitched plucked synth, making it sound like it came out of nowhere. Giving it a bit of emphasis when it comes in like adding a crash cymbal or fading it in would definitely help not make the transition so sudden.

The structure was pretty unique. A common structure is keeping a similar background but varying the foreground, but it sounds like you varied the background more than the foreground. This has both an advantage and a disadvantage; advantage being that you have a unique structure which makes this song sound quite original, and disadvantage being that most users focus on what's playing in the foreground making this sound a little repetitive... So yeah, I think you should still vary the foreground a bit, maybe by adding some subtle changes to the melodies. However, both the intro and outro were superb, so nice job there :D.

The percussion was cool. You actually added a tambourine to a song like this, so you get some points for originality :P. The beats were good, and I loved the drum transitions, especially the one at 0:27. The drum samples could've been a bit more interesting, but other than that, I was impressed by your drums. I also liked that kick hit thing you first introduced at 0:46.

As an overall conclusion, this is a cool submission. You've definitely got all the melodies nailed perfectly, and all the stuff in the background including the drums were awesome. The two main defects in this would be the lack of alternate melodies/repetition in foreground and the bland instruments. Other than that, this is one heck of an awesome song. Good job!
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

Radidsh responds:

Jezuz, I had no idea I would get this good of a feedback. X3 I was even unsure whether to submit this song or not in the start.

This is the so far last *proper project* song I made in Fruity Loops which is not a remix or the like of another song, like my Pokémon renewal projects, so perhaps I am improving after all (though not had too much activity as of late)?

I find it exciting how you heard this song in the "Drug The Mouse" flash game submission first. I am happy to be a part of others' work, and I am very excited to know how someone decided to use my song in their own work.

Once again, I never knew how to modify or create new instruments, but then again, I never did anything other than try searching for instruments in general online. Thank you so much for linking to the tutorial and giving more hints on what I can do here, it should be time for me to get off my lazy bum and jump onto a brand new project, try to get better and, this time hopefully with more exciting new tweaked instruments and the like, not sounding as dull.

My whole big dream was to make songs that others could listen to more than once and actually enjoy, which is why I am so happy to hear that you liked it.

Thank you for the awesomely kind words and the constructive review!! =3

[Castles In The Sky (Mans0n)]

Cool :3.

While I do think that this song is pretty similar to any other progressive trance songs due to the almost identical structure, generic synths, etc... it's still enjoyable to listen to. Quite a simplistic piece to be honest, but even then this sounds great, so good job on it.

The melodies are really catchy, and work well in the song. I really liked the filter automation on the main synth, it definitely made the synth more interesting than it would have been if you simply automated its volume. That being said, I think you could add more melodies, since there was only one melody, played on top of some drums and effects. This would definitely help vary the song a bit more. Also, the background depth could use some work. As I said, this is a simple track, so there still is room to make it a bit more complicated while still keeping it fun to listen to. By this I mean that you could add some more effects, different synths etc...

The synth you used sounded cool, although it was pretty generic. Actually, the whole song sounds pretty generic. I personally really dislike songs which use same styles and same sounds as other songs, which is why I'm not going to download this. The main problem with Trance is that it's so hard to be original nowadays. I think that if you use your skills at producing to making more original-sounding songs, then it'd be awesome. Oh well... Basically what I'd like in this song would be some more synths as I hinted above. A pad would work really well here, or maybe some other synths or even more effects. Just some stuff to make this more interesting to listen to.

The transitions, like in your other songs, are superb. I suppose I can't really complain about them. I especially liked the transitions towards the end where you slowly took away some elements of the song to get to the ending. The buildups were also great.

Structure-wise, this had a generic structure. Buildup for the intro, climax, build down for the outro. I can't really complain much since this structure works well. The variety was good since you had a lot of variety in the drums, but the synth could have definitely been varied a bit more with some more melodies like I said. The intro was generic too, but worked well. Same with the outro, although I think the effect at the end could have lasted longer.

The drums are brilliant. As I said above, they were varied a lot, and I enjoyed listening to them. My only complaint with the drums would be the kick. It sounds really punchy and is taking over the mix too much at times, at least in my opinion. Other than that, the drum work was basically spot on, so good job over there.

Yeah, overall, I think the biggest problem with this submission would be that it's generic. Not to say that your work is bad, because I enjoy listening to your stuff, but I think that incorporating more unique sounds in your songs would make them much better. Keep up the great work nonetheless, you're a really talented Trance artist.
8/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

Mans0n responds:

Nice review man, Thanks for all the advice and criticism! I will do my best to improve on the things you stated above!

[Not To Be (Jeffaro)]

Superb!

I'm going to admit it, I don't like Heavy Metal, and I know very little about it. I'll have to be thankful that this song is a bit less rough than the usual Heavy Metal song :3. Anyway, sorry if my review ends up a bit short, as I said, I know very little about Heavy Metal :/.

The riffs were very catchy. Loved the one at the beginning, and the one at 1:32 was catchy too. Overall I enjoyed hearing your riffs, and your time signature of 3/8 (or is that 3/4? Sorry, I'm inexperienced at music theory) was also awesome, and your almost seamless switching to 4/4 was impressive too. I enjoyed the slow part at the end, since I thought it would end at 2:05, but there was even more to it. As for the vocals, they were sung well, I suppose, but they were a bit weak. Either you turn their volume up, turn the guitar/drums down or just sing with a bit more power.

The guitar was superb quality, but I suppose that's what you get for recording real guitars :3. Wish I knew how to play an electric guitar properly, or had a non-retarded mike for starters, but oh well, I have to stick to unrealistic guitar VST's for now.

The transitions are very good. At first I thought that the transition from one time signature to another at the beginning was a bit weird, but now I think it sounds fine. I especially like the transition to the slow part at 2:06-ish. Yeah, transitions are awesome :D.

The structure is good. Repeating the intro riff at 1:56 was a nice touch, and ending it with the slow section was good too. Maybe the lyrics could have come in 2 bars later than they did, but that could be just me. What I think could've been a bit more structured would be the lyrics. They only played in an unexpectedly short section of the song. Maybe you could add a chorus for the vocals, and think up a few more verses, repeating the chorus every now and again. I think you should try and make the vocals take up a bit more of the song. The variety, on the other hand, was good. Maybe the riff at 1:32 could have had a few more subtle changes since it did get a slight bit repetitive, but, again, that's probably just my bias.

The intro was a nice way to start the song. The drums started, and soon you introduced the guitar, which provided a powerful intro. The ending was also brilliant, but I think you could've added an epic crash cymbal playing just when the last note plays to give it a bit more importance.

The drums were very well varied, and fit with the song really well. Perhaps they could've been a bit louder? I don't know, they seemed a bit too overpowered by the guitar and I think that making them louder will make the song sound a lot more powerful and epic.

All in all, I definitely enjoyed this submission. I usually hate Heavy Metal, but I still liked this submission. I can't give any less than a 10/10, because all of the defects I tried to point out in this song were just small nitpicks. Keep it up.
10/10
5/5
Sorry, no download... as I said, I don't enjoy Heavy Metal enough to download it, even if it's this good :P.

-Review Request Club-

Jeffaro responds:

Holy shit! This is by far the most detailed review that I've ever see!

Yeah.. That opening chugging riff in that weird time signiture is something that I cannot recreate. It just happened and it sounded cool. The trick to the transition to 4/4 was to have the drums put more emphasis on that timing. As for the vocals, yeah I can't sing for shit.

Well, as far as structure goes I take my time with songs in order to have the most solid sounding piece possible. I hate loosely thrown together songs.

Onto drums. I keep them at a low volume because they should too fake and crappy when they are cranked. No matter how good you mix them they will make the whole song sound bad if they are cranked. I am glad that I had enough variation though. That was my main concern with this song.

Thanks for the detailed review dude!