Music-story's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[FFIV-Overworld (orch)]

Umm review

Hi Thomas,

So your 13 years old and already got yourself a music program. Lucky you. I am reviewing this song because I saw your request on the forums. Your not supposed to put it in the forums. The best way to get reviews is to ask people in a review you give to them. Unfortunately, like 90% of the people on NG will not review/help others get better. They all want to receive. On the other side though there are those 10% of ppl on NG that actually want others to get better. I like to say I'm one of them so if you ever want a review by me again than pm me. I don't look every day to see when someone has a new song up so again pm is the only way for me to know. Anyway, let's get to the review.

Good:
1) I like those triplets playing in the background. Is that a xylophone? Pretty sounding.
2) Great job on putting the violins playing more dominantly panned to the left. This is a lacking feature in a lot of songs I hear where all the instruments seem to be equally panned on both sides (neutral). Good creativity for a 13 year old.
3) I can't complain about the flute. Sounds very real and not a overpowering lead.

Hmm:
1) I noticed some clipping in this song. Its slight and brief on some of the bass notes. Maybe a compressor and limiter should fix that up quickly.

I'm not sure what you mean by improving your music writing techniques. This is a remix right? So you didn't actually think up of the composition. I think you should work less on video game music and make a completely unique composition. Nothing is wrong with remixes, but your not actually writing music, but rather mixing together a variety of instruments....like a conductor but not the composer. Since your a fan of video game music, the best option is for you to make your own music that may in the future be used in a video game. I won't give you 10/10 review because remixes I hardly ever do, but I will give you a 5/5 vote. Keep making music. Who knows what you will be able to do a few years down the road. Your still young.

Bye for now

Tombor911 responds:

I do know now that you are not supposed to make those forums but this is my only video game remix. All my other songs are original

[- Akopa - Tranquilizer =FIN=]

Review

Hi akopa,

So I notice some of the new features you put in this song. There is one question I need to ask. When you say 27 patterns...what do you mean by pattern? Is it simply a fx pattern, a few notes changes, automation pattern, or in my books a significant change where the lead plays a completely different pattern? I didn't notice any obvious changes....very minor ones. My songs probably have just about 27 patterns or slightly more in them. You will notice the obvious differences in those songs. So in short, I would be excited to see you make something that is truly 27 patterns of diversity. I love that kind of music. Anyway, here is my review.

Good:
1) So you kept the depressing piano in which is good. I like the pattern you used.
2) I'm getting a bit used to the 3 reving drums at 42 seconds. It kinda worked out better with your rising fx sound.
3) 56 seconds in I like the lead instrument. Sounds nice...though you should use a different pattern here
4) Some extra tidbits like 2:06-2:07 percussion and fx transitions added some flavour to the song. Kudos here
Hmm:
1) Well, I'm still not fond of that fuzzy instrument coming in at 13 seconds. It sounds not filtered properly. This happy hardcore kind of instrument mixing with a depressing piano is odd....my opinion.
2) The rising fx sound at 34 seconds is a major difference from your demo. However, really a rave like fx in a depressing song doesn't seem to work well.
3) 43 seconds and basically all the climax parts were a bit too dirty. In other words, it was a bit messy. Your instruments seem to be all at the same imaging level. You should fix it up so your instruments are sorted into foreground and background formations along with the panning of some on the left and some on the right of the speaker. This will bring a better clarity. Maybe this could be where I might have missed your new patterns?

So I guess you can tell that I thought the song was a bit repetitive. Despite your 27 patterns used (which I believe you, but should be more obvious rather than make the listener struggle to hear them all) there needs to be more differences. Your instruments for the most part sound good. Maybe less analog or cutoff filter intensities to get rid of that excess white noise might be better. Also, spend more than just a few days on your stuff. You come up with some neat patterns which I'm sure isn't easy for you (nor anyone else) so take the extra effort to really make your patterns shine in a well produced song. Keep it up. Your stuff is better than the average AP songs here so your definitely on the right track. 5/5 vote and 9/10 review.

Bye for now

[Sense Station]

Let's see

Hi Brett,

I don't know if you were going for the happy trance music. It has a weird composition that I have not heard yet. Here is what I thought.

Good:
1) Crazy ackward instrument panning everywhere at 7 seconds was interesting. Could have used a bit more work on the instrument, but I like the idea.
2) 54 seconds in I like that guitar sound. Guitar amp pro you used? I also liked the composition of the guitar. Well done.
3) Lots of fx and supportive instruments brings a nice harmony sound. Maybe that was your attempt to get the energy. I wouldn't consider this a energetic song, but kudos on filling up the song will lots of stuff.

Hmm:
1) I'm not a fan of the beginning. The blaring horn like sound (kinda a alarm impression to me) was somewhat cheesy. 6 seconds in the kick was a lil bit weak. Needs more of a darker boom snap sound to it.
2) 42 seconds in...no generic sweep. Sounds like a sweep for logic pro. Do you use it? If you do, make your sweeps with ES2 vector envelope or sculpture. Much better sounding.

Kinda a sketchy review by me because I am making the assumption you used logic pro. If not, well I still think you should have worked on some of your instruments more. Surprisingly the song isn't that repetitive. Your more diverse than those other artists on NG...I would like even more diversity though. You are better than the average NG musician in mixing together harmonies and even melodies. Keep it up.

5/5 vote and 9/10 review.
Bye for now

[Shutter]

Short review

Hi Beast,

I suggest you leave garageband and get logic studio. You won't have to use those GB loops anymore in your songs to make decent sounds. Plus GB bouncing is quite poor when changing to mp3 format. I notice some clipping which I blame on the poor detection of clipping in GB. I like the diversity of loops you used, but it isn't something that flows very well. That's what happens when you can't make your own composition because GB instruments sound so newbish. Oh, and if your thinking logic studio is a big jump from GB, well don't waste your money buying logic express 8. Also, one last thing is that if your going for electronic music, REASON is probably the better program. Logic studio takes a while to learn to make electronic music. Good for general rock music though.

5/5 vote and 8/10 review.

Bye for now

beast9368 responds:

I would get reason or logic express 8 if had the time but lately i havnt had time to do anything other than school and soccer.................Thanks for the review!!!!

[I was made for lovin' you]

This is going to be difficult

Hi Gluer,

I'm not a general rock fan. I am not a fan of it, but I don't think it is a bad genre. I'll try my best to try and figure something constructive to say. Before I start, I am making the assumption you did the vocals too rather than KISS band singers.

Good:
1) Well some past reviewers said the tempo issues like at the beginning was off, but for some reason I like it. I'm a fan of offbeat stuff so I guess your mistake can be a good thing sometimes.
2) 0:06 nice entrance. I like how you started the percussion with a simple kick before adding in the high hats and cymbals.
3) The good thing about playing real instruments is the natural velocity changes. The acoustic guitar (or I think it is at the beginning of the song) has some nice contrasting velocity on some notes. Especially that loud staccato note. I wonder if you did that on purpose?
4) 30 secs I enjoyed that electric highly distorted guitar. I sense a mini buildup into something. Good job on filtering out the high frequencies on both guitars....unless that's just the natural sound from your electrics?
5) No complaints with the vocals. They sound nice and natural.
6) I don't know how many guitars your used in this song but I enjoy the harmony of them together. The only issue may be since all of them have lots of distortion, I do find that they compete with eachother a bit. Also drowns out the kick a bit. Eg. 2:36 is when I noticed a certain guitar sound with your honky tonk kinda sounding organ which I missed when the vocals were going prior to that. I thought that guitar sound was actually percussion. (I guess this point is both a good and hmm in my review.)
7) 3:10 :) Nuff said
Hmm:
1) Well, this is taking some time to get the lyrics in. 52 seconds waiting may be a bit too long.
2) There seems to be not enough vocals in this song. I recognize the variety of composition with the guitars, but I guess I feel a repetitiveness due to the small amount of instruments you used. More vocals next time. I'm no expert of how long rock music should be, but I think a 5 minute song may be a little too long for the typical rock song. This also was a factor in the repetitiveness.
3) 4:08 and the later parts I guess the idea of the whip sound like percussion to cut out the vox was neat, but in a way it did kinda stop the flow of the lyrics. So interesting idea, but too weird to be fully satisfying.
4) 4:51 that should be the end of the song. No need to go to the acoustic guitar again. I guess what the past reviewer was trying to tell you about the loop is in reference to this ending part. It somewhat connects to the beginning of this song thus the loop thought. The "stop at one point" thought from the very very end of the song with a half a second gap of no sound before the song starts playing from the beginning. In short, just stopping the song at 4:51 would have prevented this misconception....but than maybe the past reviewer was talking about something completely different. :)

Well, there is my rare review on general rock. Hopefully I made sense to you. Good song, just missing some things that are my taste in music like diversity in instruments and through vocals. 5/5 vote and 9/10 review. GL on your album.

Bye for now

GlueR responds:

I am delighted that you took the time to analyze what you heard to this degree! This is equivalent to the interest about the song that the other members of the band show during production, providing me with comments and suggestions for the process! I'm honored! I'll try to answer your points the best I can and at the same time provide reviewing feedback and some points about the inner workings of such projects!
Good:
1)I've double checked. Apart from the fact that in the "Oooh, yeah!" vocals, I (panned hard left) marginally start later than the other two and finish the phrase last, there isn't any other tempo mistake. The song was recorded with a metronome and I always check and correct timing errors, if they exist, both in midi recordings as well as audio ones. Perhaps the off beat feel of the intro was indeed confused for a mistake, which is understandable for electronic music listeners, as in general you don't get that in electronic music, because it's too hard to program, you'll have to record it.
2)The intro is indeed based on two buildups. I'll explain later.
3)When recording this, we asked the acoustic guitarist to emphasize the rhythm of his tracks in order to generate the tight groove of the first part of the intro from the first second, before giving the impression that the song relaxes with the machine gun feel of the second part.
4)I actually tried not to make this sound too much like a guitar. In fact it's a highly distorted analog synth. In the original song, this is indeed played by a guitar. This was done to give a new feel to the original's intro. Even though a few years back I was hesitant with low-pass filters on electric guitars, now all for them. In general, I have a low-pass filter set between 8 to 10kHz (according to genre) and a plateau around -1 to -5dB going high starting from 6kHz. The main riff is an electric guitar (left) and an analog synth (right), an idea I first got from (believe it or not) Radiohead, when they did this with a guitar and a cello for the opening track of OK Computer.
5)An amount of editing, filtering and tonal corrections was implemented, but I'm glad the final result remains realistic.
6)Well, it's two acoustic guitars and about 5 electric guitars playing at the same time near the end of the song. During verses, the left channel rhythm part is a guitar and the right channel equivalent is a distorted hammond, an idea first used by Deep Purple's keyboardist Jon Lord and is currently quite common in rock, especially audible in prog rock bands like Spock's Beard.
7)The solo is double the length of the original's, cause we thought it was just too short. The first part resembles that of the Kiss version, but on the second one we let the lead guitarist's skill and talent loose.

Hmm:
1)This was mainly intended for Kiss fans, or at least people who are familiar with the original song. The long intro was meant to grasp the listener's attention by making them wonder what will be the direction we're taking this.
2)Typical rock songs are about five minutes. Radio edits are about 3:30. Pop rock songs have only one version, just for the radio. The vocals are the same as the original (apart from a screaming session where our electric piano solo is). Excluding the first part of the intro and the sequence after the last chorus till the end, the rest is exactly the same lenght as the original. the number of instruments used is too big for rock tunes, cause in general, rock music is supposed to be playable live. In this case, it's next to impossible. You'll need about 10 band members.
3)The whip sound (the Kiss version does it with a synth whip sound, we do it with the real thing), is even more present in the original and is sort of a trademark for the song.
4)The song wasn't intended for NG, so we didn't take the looping into consideration. You're supposed to move to the next song of the album after listening to this, but it is meant to provide a reminder of the intro for the next time you listen to it.

That's it! And just barely within the limit of characters! Hope this is informative!

[Welcome To The Wild]

Well, review

Hey Zoo,

First I was not going to even bother reviewing this, but then I skipped some of the song and began to notice some more diverse parts going on. I'm a fan of diverse music so hopefullg my quick skim of your song was correctly judged.

Good:
1) Interesting drums. I like them.
2) I like that nice hard kick. How'd you make it have that loud snap? The bass is quite nice too. Not a huge fan of the bass pattern at 34 seconds, but the bass sound made up for it.
3) FX for transitions were nice. Nuff said.
4) 2:31 is where I start sensing the dance part of the song. I like your drum pattern and bass pattern.
5) 3:53 So I guess my judgement was right. I'm excited about the diversity you put in this song. I prefer more but its better on t he diversity than a lot of songs on NG. Again the drum pattern is great.
6) I enjoyed the chordal instrument. Those are the type of instruments I prefer with high presence not through lots of fuzzy white noise or frequencies, but simply by good EQing and imaging. Well done.

Hmm:
1) No crowd fx. That is very cheesy. You will get your crowd playing in front of real fans of your music.
2) 1:34 okay this part should have been a solo with that instrument. I already said this in part 1, but out of all the cheering parts, this was the worst spot to put it.
3) An issue for me at 2:31 is that high frequency lead instrument. It's a bit too sqeeky and hurts my ears when you turn up the volume.
4) ?? 4:20 That instrument does not at all fit in this part of the song. I'm sure you could have come up with a better instrument than that. 4:49 in comes that high frequency instrument again. Tone down on the high frequencies next time.

Overall, I really enjoyed your drums. This is what made the song stick out from the rest. I can sense you were trying to be more original with extra things like the weird sounding instrument at 4:20 and the vox, however, I think it might have worked against you. They didn't fit well in this song....but that's just my opinion. You can believe it or not. I don't want to reiterate myself so I'll leave it as a 5/5 vote and 9/10 review. Congrats on best of week and thanks for the well wishes of 2009. I hope for the best for you too.

Bye for now

ZooSafari responds:

First of all lemme say....very nice review! :)

About the compliments I just have to say "thanks!" haha and now I'll answer your "Hmm" section :P

1) Well haha good one! But Im obviously not using the crowd sample when playing the song live, Ive already made an alternative version without it.
2) Im not sure whats wrong with this one, I find that part quite exciting imo, but well, we all have different perspectives : )
3) Umm, okay, I never noticed that, but Ive checked the volume of the lead and it isnt that loud, the levels are perfectly fine under 0db, never the less, I'll listen to it with good quality headphones to confirm this.
4) Haha well in that part I tried to give the song a very special sort of "original" touch, it was thought to be some sort of breakdown/drumsolo (as you can probably tell), about the instrument your telling me, I dont see anything wrong with it, its probably a matter of taste. About the part at 4:49 as I already said, Ive checked the volumes and everything seems to be in order, I cant lower the frequencies cause it'll cause the mix to get all muddy, so the only thing I could do, would be to low the synth's volume...but I repeat, I'll check it out as soon as I have my quality headphones ;)
Also, check if you didnt turn up the volume a lil bit too much or perhaps u used bad quality speakers...but anyway :D

Thank you very much for all the time you spent on reviewing my song, I really appreciate all the feedback and constructive criticism you've given me ^^

Have a nice week bro!

Peace

[We Believe Ep.5 - F-777]

Weird and interesting

Hi F-777,

Only listened to ep 1 and 2 so I'm not sure how you came up to this beat. I don't know if this is really dance. Sounds somewhat mildly epic and ethnic. Okay, so this is what I think.

Good:
1) Hey, that was a cool sounding fx to start the song.
2) 50 seconds in is where I sense the slight epicness. I like that instrument you used. Kudos. This in a way doesn't' give the dance feel but a trance feel. ,aybe I'm wrong.
3) Nice job with the panning. I wouldn't call it an intricate panning pattern, but it brings more fullness to the song if that makes sense.
4) Making five episodes of a megamix isn't easy. I can't really tell you if the mixes flowed together since I missed ep 3 and ep 4, but still good job on the effort on the megamix.
Hmm:
1) Uhh, your going to have to explain to me why you used that kiddy instrument at 8 seconds. Did not match with the more darker drum kicks and percussion.
2) The pad sounds in nicer terms old school. I think you could have used a much better pad to enhance the journey epic feel.
3) Just a suggestion, but sometimes using lots of echo sounds more better than an instrument with lots of white noise fuzz. Then again, happy hardcore fans seem to like lots of fuzziness. Meh
4) Well the notation pattern is somewhat different from the ethnic instrument in the whole 53 secs to 1:16 to the climax fuzzy lead instrument at 1:17 and on. I would have liked more differences in notation rather than more 16th notes in the 53 second part.

Overall, this is a interesting song to here. It's not dancy to me, but I think some of the instruments brought a nice journey feeling. Congrats on top 5 and GL on ep 6 if there is going to be one. 5/5 vote and 9/10 review.

Bye for now

F-777 responds:

Haha well Ep.3, and Ep.4 transition to this =).
I know its a lot different but i want my megamix
to be packed with variety ;).
-------------
1. The FX! - Thanks i used a reverse symbol
with phaser and basically formed most of it
from that but i also ripped a lazer FX from and
FX CD i have an edited that to go with the reverse
symbol =). It was intended for the megamix so like
it could transition from Ep.4 but a couple people
told me its also a good ear catcher =).

2. Thanks! Yes the 50 second mark definately
is trance but the overall song (and overall episodes)
is dance so i still think it goes in the dance genre =).
Im really glad you like this part ;).

3. Panning...i suck at panning haha i didn't put too
much time into that i just kinda fooled around and
decided it was decent and i didn't want to mess it up
haha. Im glad i fluked it to have a good effect though
=).

4. No its not so easy but once i get a start on a new
episode it gets easier from there and i really enjoy
making them =).

5. KIDDY INSTRUMENT?!?! Aww man i like dat one =(.
Haha its a new thing i was trying i liked the way it
sounded =). Maybe i didn't transition it in very good
i can see that but i REALLY like that sound ;).

6. True but i overused pads in the other episodes
actually i shouldnt say overused more like...over
dramatized? So i was trying to keep the main focus
on the melody on this one instead cause i don't want
the same song pattern/style/sound for every episode.
I will note that though i could have done better your
definately right about that.

7. White noize fuzz = result of my unprofessional
mixing. I didn't mix my saw quite right cause i was
using portamento which made it harder to mix so
right there is my biggest weakness =P.

8. What i did here is i used a Saw synth to play
the exact same notes as the Pan Flute for the chorus
so i kinda sings and doesnt feel empty =). Its a little
hard to tell it out but it does have the effect i wanted it
to have =D. (Other then the white fuzz).
--------------
Thanks for the awesome review!! Im glad you could
get a cool feeling from this song! I know im not exactly
lets say...the most professional artist out there haha
so i know its a pain to review my songs XD. Thanks
so much though i really appreciate it! =)

[AlxEllis - Lithium]

Okay review

I'm sensing some house instruments. I'm beginning to notice that you like to make the mellow chill type trance. Not sure what specific trance term represents your music. Never was good with subgenre names. Let's see, so lithium is a element. Hmm, not sure how you got that title from this song.

Good:
1) I like house music...though I'm not that good at making it. House instruments to a certain degree = good in my standards
2) Your good at making background instruments. Sounds kinda beautiful. I like the 59 second part.
3) Hey, nice bass pattern again. Sure, tons of people use part of your bass pattern, (which you probably know which part) but sometimes you play a bunch of 16th notes quickly too. I like that.
4) The ending wasn't that great but it was funny so I'm putting it as a good thing. The loud bass boom at 3:12 is what I'm talking about.

Hmm:
1) Looking at the past reviewer's comments, he does have a point with the song being weak. I don't think the song is slow. The tempo seems just about right, however, your song doesn't really progress into any climax thus song is somewhat weak. If you were going for music to relax to than I guess the song is supposed to be weak.....all opinion.
2) The song may be missing lead sounds. You got a lot of background fillers but no instrument that really sticks out. If anything, the bass seems to play the lead role which is different, but only bass is not enough to lead.

So I'm going to give you a 5/5 vote and 9/10 review. I like where your headed. Make some really mean bass and add your interesting bass patterns with it and something really good will happen.

Bye for now

AlxEllis responds:

Cool thanks for reviewing man :) i sure will

[AlxEllis - Discoma]

Review

Hey Alex,

Hmm, now I'm not really sure what genre this could be either. Sounds like trance at the beginning, but than it turns into some happy dance music. 0:46 the new pad transforms the song back to trance briefy. I guess you can make this any electronic genre you want. :)

Good:
1) The beginning sounds dark and creepy. In come the kicks and I'm enjoying this. Its not long enough though.
2) I like the panning going in this song. My favorite panning part was at 28 seconds.
3) The happy beat is catchy to some degree. Well done on the notation.
4) I like the wealth of instruments in this song as well as the decent amounts of diversity. Keeps me interested. Nuff said.

Hmm:
1) So the beginning bass and kick part was great. I think instead of jumping into the hhappy part at 30 seconds, you should have built on it more. Add more harmonies or melodies on top while keeping the bass note the same. I guess, your choice of instruments were probably not the best. Happy with dark creepy mood is original but too wacky.
2) So one of the pads is somewhat generic. Its the one that starts at 46 seconds. It isn't soo bad when the filters are low, but when you make it go really high in frequency I didn't like that so much.

What does discoma mean? So I enjoyed your bass pattern. I don't think I've heard of that one before so big kudos there for thinking it up. Maybe I might use it one day. Great job on the panning and for adding a unique experience of errie and happy. 5/5 vote and 9/10 review. Oh and umm yah 2nd review.

Bye for now

AlxEllis responds:

thanks for taking the time to review as theni can improve i see what you mean about the song and i dont even know what Discoma means i seen it the box for my hard drive it said "A Discoma system" what ever that means lol but thanks for reviewing

[[GF]MinimalJourney[GF]]

Yeah, I like

Hi Groundforce,

I'm not a big fan of repetitive music, but I love space music. Kinda two sides battling out in my head. Here goes,

Good:
1) I really like those fx sounds. The bell like sounds are very pretty and spacy too. Nice job here
2) Hey, that guitar sounds awesome. Maybe not as good as professional made synthesized guitars, but you probably are the closest I've heard on NG that came up with a good guitar instrument. Also I appreciate the sudden filter changes of the guitar. eg. 1:02
3) 2:02 is my fav part. That pad instrument makes me feel like I'm floating in space

Hmm:
1)Well you already know this is a repetitive song and there isn't really many instruments used either.

So there isn't really much critism I can give you. I hope that your next space sounding song is more diverse. I'd be a fan of your stuff then. Yes, this song is good to chill to. Keep up the good journey music. 5/5 vote and 9/10 review.

Bye for now