Music-story's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[~EnV~Come Home]

Review

Hey Envy,

This reminds me of DJ nate song. Well, the beginning part. Here is what I thought.

1) Nice touch on the piano reverb. Panning of the other piano was a nice touch too. Kudos on the marching drums used.
2) 30 seconds in I'm not sure if the filter modifications to fade in the vox was such a good idea. Should have just jumped straight into the unfiltered vox.
3) I'm not feeling it at 56 seconds. The vocals was a nice part, but once finished, the song kinda lost its energy. 1:09 when that high pitch instrument enters, there seems to be a off tune moment in one of the notes. Its not a big deal though. I appreciate what you did with the layering. Before the song gets repetitive. you add in a new instrument.
4) 2:03 transition seemed a bit rushed. The snare roll just stopped after 4 taps. Different I guess, but not that smooth.
5) 2:04 great job with the kick mix up. Take out the 4,3,2,1 vox. Sounds a lil on the cheesy side.
6) I don't know if you did this intentionally, but the bass seems like its being restricted from showing its true "dirtyness". Did you filter something on your bass? I like the heavily distorted bass sounds...you know the ones that benny benassi use and yours did have that distorted feeling...just not enough. However, this is not something that will have any influence on your grade. This is strictly opinion. However at 3:06 the whole voice mashup was just wrong. Funny, but not a great idea.

Overall, the song have a good mixture of elements in this song. I prefer you to go even more diverse, but again that's just what I like and most don't. Congrats on the top 5. Good luck with competition.

5/5 and 9/10 review

Bye for now

[(DJ-T) Flying Into Reality]

Review

Hi Tuneit, Thanks for the support. I'll make the wait worth it (the dance connector song). For the time being, I will check out this song of yours.

1) I like the beginning panning/delay going on. I'm gonna have to point out that I heard that instrument though it quite a lot of songs.
2)Hmm, I guess the bass is okay. Has that nice dirty feel, but its not mean enough. Gotta back it crisper sounding with the EQ and filters. The bread and butter bass pattern worked for this song so umm good.
3) 41 seconds in the transition almost worked. The explosion either needed to be louder or you just need to make the transition flow a little better. Still, I like the diversity your putting in this song.
4) I like the piano. Sounds quite pretty. The pads are kinda good. Not sure if you used some brass to help bring emotion to those pads.
5) 2:03 again the transition is a bit ackward. I don't think you needed that big sub boom.
6) At the boom transition, you should have got rid of the pads. Sounds slightly messy with everything going together. However, maybe if you lowered on the reverb, maybe the pads mights have worked better.
7) I like the guitar instrument. It sounds crisp and clean. Whatever you did to that guitar, you should have done to all your instruments.

Overall, a pretty good song. Its like classical, trance, dance altogether. Just work on the EQ and some of your instruments. 5/5 and 9/10 review

zenodio responds:

Thanks a lot for the review, i agree with you in that review.

I regret i used the pads/strings in the final build-up.

And yes, my EQ work could be better, but thanks again.

[Skylence Party Mix]

Review

Hi Sky,

First, 2nd, 3rd? Not sure what you mean by that. As usual, no one is reviewing songs on NG. This is what i thought.

1) I kinda liked what you did with your lead instrument. All funked up.
2) The bass needed some work. Didn't sound like you put much effort into making it sound better.
3) I like the quick transition. Only took 44 seconds. I didn't like the pad sound. However, the other sounds were good. Nice composition.
4) 1:25 for some reason that instrument doesn't sound so nice by itself. The transition at 1:39 was kinda erratic too. I think you should have put the wind sound before the dirty horn came in. Might have made things flow better. Plus, the last transition didn't really go anywhere. Something extra you put in. I can see good things put to use for that dirty horn. Reuse in another song (more reverb on it too) with a more catchy beat.

Not bad of a song. The main issue is the instruments. Just spend a little more time on making them. Seems like the funky modulated instrument you spent a good bit of time on...just do it for all your instruments. I enjoyed the diversity. Keep it up with the diverse stuff. 9 and 5.

Bye for now

Skylence responds:

I will try to work harder on my instruments.

If there is one thing that i have noticed over anything else, for me, i havent been very good on the drums and hiHats. In this song i tried using panning to make a more interesting hiHat.

Thanks for the review.

Hope you did good on your finals :)

[Halcyonium]

Review

Hi Sam,

Hey, this song ain't that bad. It sounds like music I'd hear in a video game. Reminds me of a sega genesis game...forgot which one. I wouldn't call this jazz though. Not sure why you didn't post this song on NG a long time ago. It sounds better than your old stuff of 2005ish...so I guess that means your older stuff is better than your old stuff...if that makes sense.

I'm not a real fan of ambient because its like really repetitive and I don't want to fall asleep.

Okay, so the song plays the same pattern for 9 minutes so I'll just cut this review short. Good instruments used, nice melody, very peaceful, and definately a style I have not heard from you for quite some time. 8:18 may be the only messed up part. Seemed really random.

5/5 and 9/10 review. Keep it up...make me a more diverse song and I'll give you a better review.

Bye for now

Slipstreamer responds:

Yeah I know, the person I was making it for told me to make it that way :S
I told him the same thing lol

[Dry. [demo]]

Review

Hi Gonif,

I hardly ever check out my old songs so I almost missed your request. Just in case, ask via pm so I am more aware about it.

Short loop so should be a easy and short review.

I actually like this loop (not sure why you called this a song). I'm interested in how your going to make a transition. This song sounds like dj antoine style. Very well mixed, though I think your putting yourself in a tough competitive position. Lots of people make this kind of house style so the only way your song can stick out is if you can make a full length 3-4 minute song that maintains this club vibe. Not many people can make a full length song that is catchy so good luck with that.

There is not much for me to critique on. Just don't make the song too repetitive because that will destroy this song. Nearing the one minute mark I start feeling a slight bit of boredom....so somehow come up with a transition soon.

9/10 because I have to leave room to give you a higher mark for the full version and 5/5 vote.
Bye for now

[-Dance it!]

Review

Hi Sky,

Sorry to always being a pain in the arse. However, my review is going to be critical again. However, I'm only doing this because I see your passion in music and you want to get better.

First thing that needs a tweak is that instrument at the very beginning of your song. The pattern is nice, but the instrument production seems to be lacking. I feel like you overused some kind of phaser hoping it would make a really cool sound. I think you need to focus on the EQ of that instrument. The filters seems to be not nicely packed together. Some frequencies need cutting so you can get that nice crisp sound.

8 seconds in that fade in instrument I actually kinda like. I've always had a fondness to these kind of happy instruments.

14 seconds a second fade in. I like how you got all the instruments working in harmony so far.

41 seconds in now you have two instruments competing with each other. Your violin like sound and the very first instrument you used are in some battle and the violin seems to be winning. This problem could have been solved if you concentrated your first instrument to specific frequencies. Oh and if you used high cut/low cut/low shelf/high shelf filters or even parametric eq...those don't quite get the specificity you want. Stick to your channel eq as it is more durable.

Like the past reviewers told me, your kick sounds good.

Overall a 5/5 vote and 9/10 review. Sounds better than your older stuff so keep going.

Bye for now

Skylence responds:

Thanks for the honest review :)

As i read ur comment and listen to song, NOW i start to hear these things.. Which its great to have somebody like you giving me advice. So thanks and ill work on what you told me to :)

[Or on that Matter]

Review

Hi IO,

Well this song is very different. I notice that there is some problem with some of your lower and higher frequencies. Anyway, here is what I thought

Good:
1) I kinda like the mysterious atmospheric feel. Reminds me of a video game I used to like, Panzer Dragoon Orta.
2) I like those drum patterns. Quite retro indeed.
3) 2:09 is the best part of your song. I like that lead instrument. The dirty sounding instrument is nice too.

Hmm:
1) I hear a bit of fuzziness especially in the lower frequencies. Sometimes it makes it just sounds too loud due to the fuzziness. Did you use audacity to master your track? Though audacity is good, it is a easy fix to clipping but that does not fix the problem of some artefacts (not sure if the music industry calls mistakes that). After you finish your song and convert it to mp3, the sound quality should be good without using audacity. I don't use audacity at all now...but before I did when my music sound quality was crap. I ended up with not the best quality songs thanks to audacity.
3) Depending what you want in your music, this next comment depends on your liking. I think you should stray away from analog intense sounds. Its those messy instruments used to bring fill to your song. Eg 2:22 it starts. Filling up your song can be easily done any instrument (doesn't have to be pads) that does not have the cheesy fuzzy factor to it. I rely on distortion cause it sounds cleaner and meaner. Again, this is up to you.

5/5 and 9/10 review
Bye for now

InvisibleObserver responds:

Hey thanks for dropping me a line. I quite like 2:09 too.

The frequency issues have to do with a bandpass and low shelf filters moving across one another on one instrument at the same time. I havn't corrected the squawks yet.

I have not used audacity to master this. Frankly audacity in all its uselessness is garbage for my uses since I'm not recording. I havn't really sat down to master this yet, so some of the sounds aren't as ballsey as they will be in the end product.

As for 2:22 I get what you mean about using them for cheap filler. After that point I just whipped off the end reall quick, the analog/old/gritty synth in particular is going to do some sort of brain melting woosh-ca-boosh that words can't explain... but its not in there yet. I'll probably put some distortion on the gritty sound for extra dirty synth effect as you've suggested. Though I do want an aspect of fuzz.

Your suggestions are read and understood. :)

[Ambient Lounge]

Review

Hi Sky,

Sorry for the late review. I've been busy with school lately. Exams are coming soon. So your PM told me you had writers block. Here is a suggestion. Don't spend long hours working on a song in 1 day. I spend generally 1 hour a day on my songs. (some days 2 hours). The problem with working on a song for many hours in one sitting is that you begin to get used to the errors of your song. Soon the obvious errors in the song become okay. However, if you spend short spurts each day on your song, you recognize these errors more easily. i don't know how many days you spent making this song or how many hours everyday your worked to make this song. However, from my point of view, I thought you should have used different instruments. This song might be good for video game music. Reminds me of mario 64. As you said in your description, there really isn't much going on. Harmonies I find easier to make than melodies. If you find melodies to be easier, you are in a very fortunate position. I don't have much to say in this song. Good job with the phasing and clarity of the song. Umm 5/5 and 9/10 review.

Bye for now

[Snarks_[demo] {remastered}]

Review

Hi Gonif,

I'll review your future stuff if you ask me via PM. I like reviewing other people's work.

Because this is a short song, I won't go in much depth.
I like the drum and the kick seems just about right. You don't have much of a melody going besides the house bass. The bass sounds nice and clear....however one big issue that many house artists have on NG. Read below:

Issues with NG house music:
1) Rely on downloaded samples and/or sample packs. Now, personally I don't find anything wrong with using free VSTS and other goodies like that if your aiming for limited house music. Its a great way to learn, but once you get over that beginner learning curve, your going to have to move into making your own instruments or your severly limiting yourself. Sample packs can only get you so far.....I'm assuming you used sample packs or downloaded instruments because I read your post.

2) Originality goes down. With only a select instruments in your sample packs, only certain patterns work well with those instruments. This leads to well... music that I already heard of better quality by the professionals themselves....since the professionals were the first to use these instruments (cause they made them and sold them for you guys to use) they had the original factor.

Now, when I say making your own instruments, I don't mean from a default setting. Yes, using samples and modifying them to a "significant" degree that it actually sounds like a new instrument I think fits the criteria. Even professionals do that. I personally did not feel like you modified a typical bass sound on NG house via sample pack enough to consider to be a new instrument to me. However, the most important thing is having fun making music. As long as you enjoyed yourself making this, then keep what your doing. As for the finishing product, add more harmonies or melodies. Sounds good so far.

5/5 and 9/10 review
Note, don't take this as if I'm being evil. I'm just honestly helping you out. Ask Karco if he can review your songs. He makes honest reviews too.....

Bye for now

Gonif responds:

thanks man really appreciate the in depth review :D