Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AF - Memories]

Wow, for an Ambient song, this is great!

You're seriously really good at making Ambient. This is really calm and easy to listen to, and it instantly puts you at ease, and those are the main factors that every Ambient song should have. I really can't find many defects in this, great job!

The melodies are really nice, especially the pad's melodies that come in the middle of the song. They're just so relaxing, and even when you press the 'Mute' button, you can still hear those amazing melodies boom around your head. Maybe along with that instrument at the beginning there could be another instrument like some delayed plucked instrument which plays a melody to accompany it, but it's not too much of a problem. What I'd wish for in this song would be more alternate melodies for sure. The pad in the middle played a beautiful melody, but sadly it started to get annoying after the fourth repetition. You should vary the notes you play a little so that they don't get so predictable to listen to throughout the song. Even though you said you'd be adding vocals to the song, it isn't really an excuse to not vary the pad's melodies at all XD. On the other hand, the high bells' melodies were a nice addition to the song: I wish I saw more bells' melodies around the song though. Sorry for the long paragraph.....

When it comes to the instruments, they're really impressive. I liked the pad at around 1:08 most, but all of the instruments sounded nice. I strongly suggest adding some piano with a delay on it, to give it that mystical and majestic feel. Also, one thing that I really think you should add to the song is more sound effects. I heard some thunder sound effects, which were a nice touch, but other than those, there were no sound effects. Some space-y sound effects, maybe some windchimes or more weather sound effects. Some things that could remind you of distant memories such as kids laughing and playing a game or something like that. Use your imagination, and spice up the ambient song to make it both relaxing and fun to listen to ;).

I can't complain about the transitions, they were all great. I liked the transition a 1:08, it actually managed to switch to that slow pad really well. TBH I'd never manage to do something like that without messing the whole transition up xP. Maybe the addition of sound effects and stuff like delayed reverse cymbals and the like could make some transitions sound better, but that's just a small suggestion. New instruments were introduced well, too, and I liked that small buildup of the main instrument at the beginning.

The song's structure is pretty weird. First, you play that instrument at the beginning, then move on to a pad, and then both the pad and the instrument at the beginning. It actually works pretty well in this song. As for the variety, as I said above, this needs more alternate melodies. If you ever add those vocals, it would add more variety, but I'd suggest adding some more counter-melodies to this song so you could vary practically everything ;). The intro was really good, with a nice buildup, and the outro was perfect. I don't usually like fade-out endings, since they leave the listener wondering why it ended like that, but this fade-out ending fit really well with the song, and sort of symbolized how memories fade away. I liked that you added that thunder sound effect at the end too.

I'd comment about your drums, but you didn't have any :P. Well, that is, except for the part at around 0:40, and even then they were pretty quiet. I know you were going for a mystical feel, but drums can be made mystical too. Reverbed kicks, heavily reverbed shakers, delayed reverse cymbals, dance claps, and maybe add a whole new style by using congas, bongoes and the like. I think the addition of some percussion would really do wonders to this track ;).

Overall, I really enjoyed this (heh, now you know what it feels like getting long reviews xP). I'd give it a 9, but you get a 10 because you managed to make me download the genre I dislike the most, and it's Christmas time after all XD.
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

aliaspharow responds:

wow! thanks steph for the awesome review! alot of the things you wrote actually would help. actually, i think im gonna try editing the song with the advice you gave me. i can already hear it! freaking sweet!

[Astral Travel]

Repetitive, but pretty well done :)

I can't say I didn't enjoy listening to it, but I also can't say that it's perfect. It fits with the name a lot, but needs a little more work...

The melodies are OK. Pitch bending really fit well with this song, but one issue I'm having with this is that this is simply a bunch of random notes played here and there with a repetitive bass, a slightly monotonous pitch-bent instrument and repetitive drums as a background. What I'm trying to say is, this needs some fixed melody playing somewhere. I know this is ambient, but this could use some piano melodies instead of like 3 delayed notes playing at the end of some random bar in the song. Also, the pitch bent note got a bit repetitive, and that bass was the same for the whole song. I wish it had some changes here and there other than the same monotonous 3 notes it plays. As Blackhole12 said, this didn't have enough to it to keep it going for a whole 3 and a half minutes, so if you could work a little on adding some more melodies to this, that'd be great ;).

I really liked the instrument choice in this song. The piano sounded great, the square waves, the pitch-bent instrument, the bass, they all fit well with the theme that you were going for. Some high bells would add to the spacey feel this song has, and some low tubular bells would add to the other-worldly, creepy feel of the song, so basically, try and make the song more bell-ish :P. Nice use of vocal samples, they were timed pretty well in the song, but they were very hard to understand. Either you make them louder, remove the exaggerated amount of delay they have or both, since I sometimes wonder if they're words or not O_o. Also, this definitely needs some space-like sound effects as well, since sound effects are really important in ambient songs such as this.

The transitions are well done, but I suppose that's expected in Ambient songs. I liked how you introduced the drums at the beginning, with that automation shift, but I think that at 0:59, the drums changed automation a bit too suddenly. I think you should start a fade out of the drums at around 0:57 so that the transition wouldn't be so rough. I believe that's the only rough transition I found, good job. New instruments were introduced well, and there were some really nice buildups too.

The song structure is actually rather weird, TBH, and not too good. It was a repetitive background along with a random drum sample here and there and a few random notes. I think if you made a more solid structure it could sound a little better. Variety of the foreground was pretty good, but as I said before, the background needs a lot of variety. The intro was really well done, and the endign was OK. I would've preferred something a little better for an ending other than the fade out that you used, like make an ending note and a sound effect or something, but the fade out sort of fitted in this song, even though fade outs rarely fit in songs. Not a bad job on the intro and outro :).

The drums had good samples, and they were just the right volume. Sadly, they became very repetitive, just like the bass and pitch-bent instrument. As Blackhole12 said, the drums didn't change for almost the whole song, and since the drums are practically the only slightly fast-paced aspect to this song, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt to add some more beats and more variety of drum samples. I liked the automation shifts on them, but that was almost the only variety that they had. Also, another weird thing was that at times you just introduced a new random sample here and there, for example at 2:14. That drum felt as if it came out of nowhere. Also there were some ride cymbals and stuff which were introduced randomly too, and that was a little weird...

It has its defects. I guess it's OK for an ambient song, but its main problem is its lack of variety, which is what put the score down quite a bit. Vary it a little more, fixing some of the stuff I mentioned above, and it'd be great. This song has potential, but potential is useless unless you use it.
7/10
4/5

-Review Request Club-

eatmeatleet responds:

oh I couldn't respond to this comment., It had everything blackhole said but somehow ten times as long :D

[_I Promise_]

Nice job!

This song is really awesome. It's one of the best New Wave songs I've heard in a big while, and it has that "Everything is going to be better" feel to it which I really like. I can tell you from now that if Chronamut took part in the Death Match, then he'd have a hard time beating this, despite him being such a good artist.

I really like the melodies. They're possibly my favourite aspects of this awesome song. The flute was awesome, and the guitar's melodies were fantastic. The melody played by that instrument which first appeared at 0:08 did get a little repetitive though, I'd suggest making a part in the song where the song doesn't have that instrument playing. Other than that, I loved everything that had to do with the melodies over here: it's hard to keep a smile off your face while you hear a song like this. As Blackhole12 and BanzaiBoo said, though, the song needs some mastering, especially when the drums come in, since when they enter the song, it instantly becomes cluttered and a little blurry. It's practically the main reason why I gave you a 9 and not 10. Also, a slow part played by the flute only might be cool, and a piano solo inbetween would be great :).

The instruments all sounded great, and fit well with the genre you were going for. That guitar sounds superb, and I really liked the sound of your flute, plus the piano's quality was decent. I don't think there are any instruments that sounded bad or any instruments that should be added, so great job! One thing that I enjoyed in this song was that you had loads of instruments playing at the same time, and actually playing individual melodies, but your song didn't sound messy. Maybe the EQing problems made it sound blurry and cluttered, but usually when I try and make a song which uses more than 2 different melodies playing at the same time, it becomes horribly messy and hard to keep track of. You did a great job making all of the instruments blend in well. Sorry for the really long paragraph :(.

I definitely can't complain about the transitions. They were all great and I couldn't find anything wrong in them. The song flowed very smoothly, and nothing was too abrupt. New instruments were introduced really well, and overall the song had very smooth transitions, and some nice drum rolls to transit from one thing to another as well. Buildups were pretty nice too.

The song is very well structured, and apart from that instrument playing the high notes which I mentioned a few paragraphs up, was awesome. I loved the intro as well, piano intros rarely come out badly, and this isn't an exception. The ending is almost perfect, IMO. I'd suggest ending it at 2:34 with that crash cymbal, and then fading from 2:35 to the end. Then the outro would be perfect, IMO.

The drums, despite the fact that they covered up all of the melodies and instruments, are actually very good. I loved the samples, and their variety was superb. Plus, the drum roll you did at 1:24 along with the crash cymbal after it was very well executed. The other drum transitions you did were all extraordinary as well, but the one at 1:24 was definitely my favourite. The drums fit really well with the song too, but maybe you could make the beats a little more complex. I mean (from what I heard anyway, the drums were quite cluttered and the volumes of the individual samples were quite weird) you only used a kick, snare and occasionally some background hat. Stuff like ride cymbals, shakers, tambourines, etc, could really do wonders to your beats. Also, your kick needs to be harder.

It does have its defects, such as wrong volume levels, repetitiveness of that instrument, cluttered parts when the drums come in, weak kick, outro that's slightly off and lack of solos, but all of the good aspects of this, such as excellent instrument choice, great transitions, melodies that are out of this world, really nice structure, awesome intro, nice drum samples and great variety all make up for its defects. I was going to give it an 8 but this truly deservs the 9 I gave it.
9/10
5/5

-Review Request Club-

vanguard182 responds:

wow, this is a great and very helpful review, thanks so much and keep up the good work!

[MH16: A New Era]

Almost...

You almost got a 10 from me... Seriously, this is a really good song, and it clearly shows that you're a very talented classical composer. Nice job!

The melodies are very medieval, and sound a little like Runescape, and they are all very nice, especially those really awesome flute melodies. Although all the other melodies sound nice, the flute is the main instrument and plays the best melodies from them all, IMO. Loved the part at 1:07, too; you performed that flute solo perfectly. The beginning melody with the brass was very slightly generic (I heard a melody similar to that in some soundtrack of a game called Sacrifice), but that hardly makes any difference when it just sounds so good. The strings' melodies were fantastic; I liked that at times you made the strings play foreground melodies and sometimes play in the background. A good classical song always gives important different roles to all instruments, and you did a good job on that.

One thing that annoyed me slightly here was that I think the song was not epic enough. I mean, the name A New Era makes me expect something a bit more mighty. Stuff like the part at 0:48 and especially at around 1:01 are what I'm looking for in this song: epic, powerful percussion, melodies that give you the goosebumps, all the instruments playing together, etc. If you were to make this song longer, then I'd strongly suggest that you try and add more epic parts. For instance, at about 1:12, I expected some strings and brass slowly build up and then another epic part starts. What I'm trying to say is, after hearing at 0:48 and 1:01 which show how good you are at making classical songs epic, I'm yearning for more.

The instruments are excellent quality, I suppose you used East/West? Whatever, most important thing is that they sound almost like a real orchestra XD. I loved your instrument choice, and the low brass was a really excellent addition to the song. As FudgeMellow said, the low brass here was superb.

The song's transitions are well done. The only transition I don't quite agree with is the one at around 0:47. I think it skipped to the song's climax much too suddenly. Give it a long snare roll or a louder/longer timpani roll, maybe a reverse cymbal or some tremolo strings getting louder to emphasize the fact that ovewhelming epic-ness is about to come in. The build ups were well done though :).

This is really well structured, IMO. I find it very hard to keep a good song stucture in a classical song like this, since classical songs don't usually incorporate the usual simple structure of Melody - Chorus - Melody - Chorus, but you did a fantastic job with the song structure over here. Variety is flawless, good job, I never got bored listening to this, since something new came in practically all the time.

When it comes to the intro, it was brilliant. The powerful brass hits started the song up very well. As for the ending, I'll have to agree with the others though, the ending needs some improvement. Give it a more epic ending note rather than just a slow string note and flute fade out. I'd suggest first removing the flute fade out, continung the song a little more, and then ending your song with brass notes like you did at the beginning of the song. Here, ignoring the horrible samples I used, try something like this out for your ending:
http://www.mediafire.com/?yem2lztmxmo
(Sorry if the melodies don't sound right, I'm only Grade 4 Theory :'[ )...

The drums are almost perfect. The pros are that they were very varied, and fit with the song really well, not to mention the fact that the drum samples were great and the climax of the song had excellent drums, but the con is that I'd prefer it if at the beginning you make that bass drum a little more powerful, since it's a little weak right now. Lol, nitpicking xP.

This is awesome, and almost enough for a 10. Work on the ending, more epic-ness, that transition to epic and make the bass drum mightier, and this'd be perfect. Excellent job, and sorry for the long review :\.
9/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

FairSquare responds:

Now that's an awesome review!
You know, actually, i don't know any music theory at all.. i just make it all by ear.
And i used Edirol Orchestra to make this.
Haha, i really don't know how to respond to a review like this :p
The only thing i can do is say thanks. Seriously, thanks. Thanks. And thanks. Also, thanks.
The ending you made sounds pretty good too, i might edit this song.. but i'm probably too lazy for that xD
Oh yeah, about the structure.. it's not that hard. I mean, when i start a song i just start with something and then i just.. go with the flow :p I just make things, add melodies, drums, etc. and i continue with that until i feel that i need to do something else and then i continue with that etc.
But all your advice is stored in my brain now and i'll definatly remember it when i need it. Again.. thanks!

[SN| Riptide Projection |SN]

Honestly, you're getting better at this...

You're actually making glitch so good you're getting me to download it XD. Seriously, awesome job on this one; it sounds great. I've added you to my favourite artists list just because you make glitch awesomely enough for non-glitch fans such as I to download them :D.

You had the first half of the song consisting completely out of ambient and drums, so I guess there wasn't much of a melody there. The melody in the second half was really awesome and catchy though, good job on it. Maybe the first half could have a few high bells or some plucked instrument or something; not just ambient notes, since although in the first half the drums are obviously the main attraction, it'd be cool to have a little bit more of a melody along with the ambient pads. Still, not too much of a problem since the drums are what keep this track sounding unexpected and not boring, so melodies aren't that important.

The ambient pad you used was great, I wish I had ambient samples like that :(. The piano-like instrument after sounded good, I think it could do a little better if it had some delay to it, or at least a little more reverb. Other than that, I can't complain with the instruments. Lol, you're right, I think this is one of the first songs if not the first that I heard from you which doesn't incorporate an actual piano sample XD.

The transitions are really awesome, and the glitch effects you did in some transitions were very well executed. Just one problem. At 0:46 you did a really awesome transition, but 0:49, IMO was a little too anti-climatic if you get what I mean. What I'm trying to say is, at 0:49 I expected the song to reach a huge climax after hearing the epic transition right before it, but instead it continued with some glitch drums. Maybe over there you could introduce that fast-paced melody I was talking about along with some crash cymbal or something. 1:11 was an awesome transition though.

The song's structure is cluttered and all over the place, but I guess that's what I get from listening to glitch ^^. The variety is extraordinary, but it's those drums which kept the song from becoming repetitive and boring. You managed to vary them without them getting too random, which I quite liked. Intro was great; I liked that you started it with a reverse cymbal and then you went straight on to the beat and ambient pads, it sort of fits with the name for some strange reason. As for the ending, I rather liked it (and trust me, very few song endings leave me impressed :P). The last note had a little effect to it which sounded cool, and although the piano-like instrument did cut off a little abruptly, the ending was great. I also enjoyed that little sound effect you did at 2:19.

Oh wow, those drums... I can't believe you, or anyone for that matter, would ever have the patience to make drums as good as that. It must've taken you ages O.o. There were glitch effects all over the place, and the drums had a lot of variety. There was practically a new beat almost every bar. It was also interesting that in some parts you stuck with a clean beat and in other parts, it went all over the place with a glitchy and crazy beat. It added even more variety to the drums. Oh, and 0:16-0:24 had such crazy drums. I loved that part :D. You also put a lot of different effects and stutters on the drums, especially at 0:49-1:11. It was practically covered with effects. I also liked that at times you had a crazy beat and other times the beat was softer, for example 1:57. The drums were also the right loudness, they did sometimes dominate the melodies, but that's because they're the main attraction of the song, so no problem there.

Another glitch track from you (I'm still waiting for that Jazz song :P). I believe you're the best at glitch in the whole site, at least from the authors that I know of anyway. Really good job on this, it's one of the craziest songs I've heard in a big while XP. You also got me to download glitch again... (seriously, how do you DO that?) so great job! Keep up the great work!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

SessileNomad responds:

WOW big review

the drums were the focus on the first halves, so the melodies were toned down a bit

i can help you get some pads if you would like

that anticlimactic part is a bit neccesary to me, since i dont really like haveing a climax at 49 seconds

the last notes effect was just pitch shifting downwards a bit, gives a hanging feel

glitch music is kind of easy if you know what your doing, i use a TON of automations to acheive the effects i wanna go for, and i guess ive just been doing it for a while xD

jazz is gona have to wait due to the contest i just joined

thanks for the review man, glad you liked it

peace out

[Alien Relations (Freestyle Mx)]

Wow, nice job. ^^

This is really fun to listen to. I didn't listen to the original, but if that was a little boring and simple, this is definitely an imrovement. Nice job!

The melodies are really nice. It feels as if I've heard them before, but whatever. Good job the melodies, especially the one at the beginning which sounds the most familiar, and has that hook to it which makes the listener have it echoing in his head even when the song is finished. 1:32 was really cool, and 2:38 was great; loved the saw wave's melodies in the background. What I also liked in this song is that you had a lot of completely different melodies playing together. Usually, this results in the song sounding very cluttered, messy and all over the place (as you said), but you mixed all of the sounds perfectly together, making it very fun to listen to. It was like when I was bored listening to one melody, I would shift my focus onto another melody and it's like hearing a completely different song :P.

The instruments are really cool too. The instrument playing that catchy familiar melody at 0:26 had that alien-ish feel to it, which I quite liked. I also liked the variety of synths here. Usually, trance songs stick to saw waves, maybe a delayed square wave here or there, but you used a very nice variety of synths, which all sounded perfect. I agree with Coop though, maybe add some part in the middle with a completely new instrument; maybe a little ambient part with some echoey pads and maybe high bells too. The vocal samples were used awesomely here (not sure if you're entitled to using them though if you got the from YouTube :P) but at times they could be a little louder/clearer.

The transitions were all smooth from what I heard. Maybe some instruments could have been introduced a little less suddenly, for example at 2:38, that high-pitched synth came out of nowhere if you get what I mean, maybe a reverse cymbal somewhere before would work out a little better. What I enjoyed over here were the buildups though. The way you introduced new instruments gradually was awesome ^^. You could do a few more drum buildups though.

The song structure is all over the place, which increased the fact that this song is so fun to listen to. Variety over here is awesome as well, since there were enough alternate melodies to keep me listening without getting bored, and the combination of different melodies just added to the excellent variety that this song had. The intro was really nice, I liked the ambience you did in the background at the beginning; maybe you could've used it more throughout the song. As for the ending, I'll have to disagree with jxl180, it was a bit too abrupt. I'd suggest playing those three notes like you did at the very beginning of the song 4 times (4 bars) with some drums and in the third time, the same notes play except an octave higher, then in the final repetition it plays a final ending note along with a reverbed kick. You obviously didn't understand a word I said since I'm awful at explaining, so I made an MP3 file for you:
http://www.mediafire.com/?jynnfimjzzz
Try making the ending a little like that, since it sort of ended on the wrong note as it is now and it is a little abrupt. You can keep the vocal sample at the end though, it sounded cool. Sorry for the long paragraph...

The drums impressed me in this song. They were just the right loudness; loud enough to be heard clearly but not loud enough to interfere with the song. Also, the beats were great, and the variety of the percussion was spot on. I also liked the samples you used as well. I'd suggest for that clap you add a bit more reverb, about 40% reverb with 2.0 second delay. It sounds a little abrupt right now, if you get what I mean.

It's really good, with a lot of variety and great melodies, instruments, vocal samples, drums, beats, intro, transitions and buildups. Just work a little on that ending IMO, and maybe adding reverb to the clap. Good job and sorry for any typos, I'm in a hurry and don't have time to re-read my review.
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Bracksta responds:

dude you give the best reviews i have ever gotten, wow. i give you a 5/5, 10/10 for the review, so detailed and knowledgeable. you should make reviews your day job man. i read the whole review and i think i will implement them soon. thank you so much for your amazing reviews and time. you are truly one of a kind reviewer. peace bro

[ECHO - Red Dawn (2009)]

*Sniff* That was amazing!!

This is so cool. Seriously, one more song like this, and you're going straight on my Favourite Author's list, and trust me, it takes a LOT to get in there ;).

Melodies are just purely amazing. They're probably what took me aback the most in this musical masterpiece. They were so fast paced, I can just smell the country air, feel the breeze on my face and see a red dawn dominating all surroundings before my eyes just hearing this. OK, so maybe I can't, but it's still cool saying so XD. Seriously though, those melodies, although they have that hook which makes them stick to your head, and although they have such a fast rythm, they still retain that majestic and powerful feel. I LOVED the alternate melody at 1:27, and the one at 1:54, plus there was a very nice embellishment somewhere around 2:03. 2:49 had a nice counter-melody too, with some really, really cool fast notes.

The one thing that annoyed me a little was the fact that the background didn't change much. The same four chords for almost the whole song. When remembering that an amazing countryside view around a red dawn is supposed to be full of different things to look at, that kind of contrasted with the same repetitive four chords this song had. Also, I was looking for a brass solo. Even though the piano is the main instrument of this song, it never hurts to give a brass solo, after all, that brass sounds very majestic, and we won't want it always rejected in the background, now, would we? XD

The instruments were very nice. I see you used the piano sample I sent you, and I see you used the brass I sent you too... Cheapskate :P. Lol, joking, you really used them well in this song. I would like some more instruments though. I believe a plucked guitar would fit well for the melody at 1:27, and this could do with some flutes here and there (not too many though. I know how much you like flutes, and you could over-exaggerate :P). I really liked that you put in some birds chirping at the beginning and end, they fit really well. You could've put in more sound effects like a lion roaring majestically or something, but what the heck, great job with the birds!

The transitions are really perfect. I liked the transition at 1:25-ish, and the reverse cymbals you put in around the song really made some good transitions. All new instruments/melodies were introduced perfectly, and there was a good slight buildup to the main melody at the beginning. The structure is pretty simple; the usual chorus - melody - chorus - melody, etc, but I think it fit well with this song, so nice job over there too. Variety is fine, apart from the background accompaniment being almost the same for the whole song. Other than that, there were as many alternate melodies as a guy could ask for.

The intro was flawless, but the ending needs working on. Either you repeat that melody you played at the end for 6 times instead of twice, with a few subtle changes in each repetition, and then you end it, or else you end it as you start it, with the chords, and make the last note the same as the one you started with, except longer. Still, you had a nice idea for the ending, and if you just used that idea a little better, it would've been perfect.

Ahh, the drums. I see you used those drum beats I made (credit me, much? :P). Apart from the fact that a lot of the time they were too quiet, they fit nicely with the song, but they were so quiet, I occasionally forgot that they were there, so if you could make them a little more prominent throughout the song, it would've been great. I loved that you used a gong around the song though, it gave that echoey background depth to the song, which I quite liked.

There's not much more to add to this review (which, by the way, reached the character limit XP XP). All that needs working on is the loudness of the drums, the variety of background accompaniment, the ending, maybe putting in some more instruments, and giving that brass a solo somewhere in the song. Seriously, though, I enjoyed this a lot. Keep it up!!!
10/10
5/5
Download.

-Review Request Club-

Echo responds:

Uh...im not gonna read all that :P

Thanks!

[Lost Entity (Dance Remix)]

First you work on a classical song...

...And then you do a dance remix of it? Man, it shows that you're an artist of many genres. Good job!

The melodies are very nice. If I had to complain about them, I'd say that some of them were just a little generic, especially the piano melody at the beginning, and also the chord progression was that same overused dance progression, but other than that, the melodies were catchy, and full of action. I enjoyed the melody at 1:16. What I'd ask for would be more alternate melodies, since as Haggard pointed out, this did get rather repetitive. Background instruments and harmonizing, on the other hand, were fantastic, but I can't expect any less from you.

Something that put the score down a little would be that the song stayed action packed after the piano intro. It was playing the same beat, same background and same rythm for a long time, without any break inbetween. I'd suggest that either you do another piano solo somewhere in the middle, you make an ambient part somewhere in the middle which lasts for around 15 seconds, or you add a buildup in the song, where all the instruments go quiet, and slowly, one by one, they come back in again. Dance isn't all action :\.

The synths were all perfect. I didn't notice any muting (must be the fact that I'm deaf from one ear D:) with the synths, and they all sounded excellent. Piano quality wasn't too good, but the quality of the piano is never really too important in dance songs, especially when the piano only lasts for a few seconds. There was also a very nice variety of synths, which helped a lot in keeping a good variety in the song.

The transitions were very smooth, and the song flowed perfectly, except for (maybe this is just personal taste) the transition at around 1:06. That high note stopped playing a little too early, I think. I'd rather you'd slowly fade away that one note till around 1:10, instead of ending it abruptly at 1:06. Other than that small nitpick, excellent job on the transitions. New synths were introduced very well too, with very good fade-ins here and there. Just one problem; at 0:12, I think it'd be better if the song goes quiet for a bar, and in that bar, a reverse cymbal plays, and then the 0:12 melody starts playing along with a crash cymbal. It's better than starting it abruptly, IMO.

The song is well-structured, especially since this is a remix, and I find it quite hard to make a good song structure in a remix. Variety needs work though, especially concerning the background accompaniment. That ambient/piano part or the buildup which I mentioned earlier would help remove the repetitiveness that this song has. It would also make the song longer, since right now it is a little short.

The intro was fantastic. I always enjoy piano intros, and you performed this one flawlessly. It was a extraordinary way to start the song, and if you just worked on the transition at 0:12, it would've been perfect. Also, this was actually not looped too badly either. I never would've been able to loop it as well as you did, since the beginning was nothing like the ending, and was an entirely different tempo too. The only thing I can say which could improve the loop is to fade in the piano towards the end, so that when the song loops, the piano would come in smoothly, instead of coming out of nowhere, if you get what I mean.

When it comes to the drums, you've got a great beat. It wasn't too complex, and fit really well with the song. I liked how you faded it at the end as well, it helped the loop. What I dislike about the drums was the variety. It made the song quite repetitive, since it was the same beat for the whole song, if I'm not mistaken, or maybe a few subtle changes here and there. You can invent more drum beats, and maybe at times, make it that there's only a kick every beat playing, to give a break from the action-packed drum beats.

Gah, running out of characters O.o. Anyway, It's a great song, but just a few nitpicks here and there made me give you a 9. Still, keep it up, you excel at dance songs!
9/10
5/5
Download

-Review Request Club-

DJ-Chilvan responds:

I really love your reviews. I love how you take time to make them comprehensive and lengthy. I took into consideration all of your advice. If time allows, I will start tonight to extend this song. Now that I have the full versions of the VSTs, I can do more than I wanted to do before. It won't be THAT much extended (to avoid repetitiveness) but I will add most if not all of your suggestions. Thanx a lot!

[:)-smile-Mik W]

Sorry, but this has to be one of your worst...

I've heard much better work from you; this has to be one of your worst. I think you should work a lot more on this.

Melodies aren't too special. The one at the beginning was very generic, and from then on the melodies were rather bland. Some melodies weren't bad (1:32), but overall, the melodies didn't have that hook... they weren't really that catchy. You should invent more alternate melodies too, since 4 melodies playing blandly one after the other for 2 and a half minutes makes the song start getting repetitive. Also, what I didn't like was that the melodies had nothing at all to do with each other. This is more of a collection of melodies than a song, with no noticeable similarities between the melodies.

Instruments, if I heard correctly, were presets. You should make your own instruments with Sytrus or some other synthesizer, or buy VST's. If buying is not an option, you could get free soundfonts. They aren't even close to as good as VST's, but are good enough to start with. Some good free soundfonts are the SGM, FluidR3 GM, Unison and Squidfont Orchestral if you want to compose classical. Also, the instrument at the beginning was really annoying. That sound effect at 0:41 was pretty cool though.

I didn't like the transitions you did. 1:32 was weird since the melody just stopped abruptly, the new melody at 2:01 seemed to come out of nowhere, at 2:07, the drums finished suddenly, and that's only a little of the rough transitions around the song. Experiment with different fade-ins and fade-outs, giving drum rolls where necessary to introduce the drums, and add some stuff like reverse cymbals and reverbed kicks to fill in some rough transitions.

The structure is quite bad too. As I said before, this resembles a collection of melodies with rough transitions inbetween. A simple way of doing it is choosing a chorus for the song where all the instruments play together, with a catchy melody, and repeat that a few times in the song, with some good alternate melodies inbetween and decent transitions from one melody to another.

Variety is something that needs to be worked on as well. As I said before, this needs many more alternate melodies. Either that, or shorten the song, and think of other ways to stop this from becoming repetitive. Take my Power of the Piano as an example. It's almost three minutes long, doesn't get too repetitive and only uses around four to five melodies. What this song needs is progressive buildups, better transitions, more variety of background instruments, a fixed chorus and some more variety of effects. Trust me, even though they make your song sound better, they'll even do wonders to the variety.

Intro was nothing that special. I liked the drum buildup after, but other than that, I think the intro would be better if it progressed more gradually. As for the ending, not too good either. A good ending is another one of the many reasons that this song needs a chorus that plays a few times throughout the song. Then, you could make the last melody the chorus, and end the song with a proper ending note right after the chorus. Either that, or end the song the way you started it with the last note being the same as the first one you started with.

Ugh, FL Studio default drum presets -.-. That's the first thing that came to mind when I heard the drums. They were varied, but maybe a little too varied, and they felt quite random throughout the song. What I suggest for fixing the drums is firstly getting better samples instead of using FL presets, and then making around 6 drum beats for the song; some simple and some complex, which you can use in the song, instead of making them so random. Also, some drum beats were very annoying, namely the drum beat where the snare kept playing non-stop.

I've heard a lot better from you, and although this has a good effect, and a good drum buildup, it needs a lot of work concerning the randomness of the drums, structure, transitions, variety, beats, melodies, instruments and ending. Sorry for the harsh review :\......
4/10
2/5

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mikkim responds:

Thanks.