Music-story's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[D106] I like to move it demo]

Review

Hi Alex,

Sorry for the very late response to your pm. I kinda got bored of listening to and making music, but I'm temporary back into it.

Honestly, I don't think the instruments were mixed effectively. Your filter modulations are okay, but I think you should have lowered one or a few frequency bands because I hear some clipping.

The filtered instrument sounds a bit weak. Its all muffle sounding. I think your spreader covers too large of a frequency range...that is if you even used a spreader at all. You should if you didn't for all your future songs.

People tend to like the panning so try some tremelo. Makes your instruments sound much better.

The bass is pretty fat which I like but because it seems so subbed, there is a lack of tonality to it. Needs a fix on the timbre.

Just my personal opinion but at 13 seconds that new instrument (somewhat generic sounding) needs to be changed. Maybe your a happy hardcore fan thus you like the cheesy sounding instruments, but I'm more toward the dirty hardcore style. Again this is just my personal preference.

The last thing I have to say is try this:
-before even composing a song, work on making great sounding instruments. So before the music pattern, make the instruments sound good. Start making the song after you got a good set of instruments.

Bye for now

dreadnought106 responds:

Tbh this was a play around with some instruments i found and it didn't take me particuarly long!!

-Dreadnought106

[[D106] The Solice]

Review

Hi Alex,

Hmm, yes the dancy bass pattern. Reminds me of Nate's stuff. Here is what I thought.

1) Cheesy intro fx...but it actually started sounding better when the sweeping fx modulated into some high filtered sound. I think it should have been the high pass filtered fx entirely. The brief trance lead sound after the fx sound was a nice idea. Felt more epic I guess.
2) Around 7 seconds the background pad becomes noticeable and I'm not a fan of generic sounding instruments. I think you could have found a better pad or made better adjustments to it. However, the bass was much better sounding. The piano seemed to sound natural. No excess effects on one of the best instruments (my opinion) so again good job.
3) 58 seconds is a good example how I would like your instruments to sound more of. The snare sounds really crisp and clear and I want to hear that from the rest of your instruments. They all sound a bit messy and fuzzy unclear (ignore the bad english). Whatever you did to make the snare that clear sounding....do to the rest of your instruments.
4) I felt like the song just kept on repeating. Never changing for such a long time until 1:56. Really, its only the piano that changed while the pad and bass are playing the exact same thing. I don't think the wierd digital sounding instrument was such a great idea. It sounds very interesting, but doesn't fit for this song. Maybe use it in a techno song maybe?
5) Kudos on the slowing of the tempo.
6) You know what would be really cool to do with your fx sounds...many professionals do this. They put a sidechain on the fx sounds. Sidechain it to your kicks to get that nice sucking in and out fx sound.

Overall, I would have liked more different patterns used. The song is not too short. Its already 3:31 minutes which is a good length. Most radio edit songs are around that length so don't make it longer. 5/5 and 9/10 review.

Bye for now

dreadnought106 responds:

thanks. yer i had a little bit of trouble with some of the instruments. the bass had a tendency to saturate the sound a little and yer the pad was quite generic i have to admit. i can always just change that! Ill see what i can do about the fuzziness and thanks anyways for reviewing. its much appreciated!
-Dreadnought106 or just Alex or whatever!

[Brando ft Scoop - Road 2 Dance]

Review

Hi Brando,,

Hmm, so you actually made the most generic of all bass dance patterns actually work out to some level in this song. I'm talking about the C A F G pattern (transpose into your key). There are some parts I like in this song and some parts I think need to be touched upon. Great melody though.

1) The intro was actually interesting. A splash on the 2nd bar. Usually I hear it right at the start of the song. Its something new I have not heard of yet. Nice job.
2) 13 seconds I find it hard to hear the new background instrument that comes in. Did you intentionally just want it to be a filler? Sounds like violins maybe? Anyway, if you wanted me to hear that instrument then your going to need to mix that instrument better into this song.
3) 52 seconds nice transition phase. I like your soothing fx sounds.
4) 55 seconds in I guess this is your climax. I didn't find it to be that good. The bass sound didn't fit in this song. All the other instruments are like the heavenly type and in comes some dirty techno house like bass. The moods are very different. I would have gone for a regular bass sound.
5) Also at the climax, I find that lead instrument seems to be over used in a lot of songs. It does bring the party feel, but when your like me who heard thousands of dance songs that use that instrument in almost all of them....well it kinda loses the party effect. I'm assuming you used this instrument to bring more filling to the song. Probably one of the easiest ways to do that. I would be fine with this fuzzy party horn sound if you did some modifications to it rather than keep the generic feel.
6) 1:18 I like what you did with the beat. I think when you return to the climax at 1:30, you should have added some new instrument. A added layer of instrument(s) or anything different. If you think about it, you only spent like 12 seconds away from the climax before returning back to it. That is too short and your song then becomes the same repetitive climax from 55 seconds to 2:41.
7) In more detail about the climax portion: 1:55 I think you pretty much went legato. Added some quick 16th notes at the end of each 2nd bar. I wouldn't consider that as a significant compositional change. It really felt messy here. The percussion cymbals almost died on me. I can still hear the kicks though. I don't know how many instruments you used here because some or perhaps one seems muffled a lot. This seems like a difficult task to make everything more clearer, but it is doable. You used a channel eq for all your instruments I hope? If not, that's the first thing you should do in your next dance song. Will definately change this muffly fuzz fest into a more clearer higher quality song without actually raising the bps rate.

Overall, honestly this is not something much different I hear from guys like Kriz and F-777. Not saying that's a bad thing, but I'm just pointing out that it isn't really a new idea. Some better mixing is needed here. The main melody seems to be well thought of. I was hoping for some more diversity to the melody. Still overall one of the better songs on the AP. Keep it up. 5/5 and 9/10 review.

Bye for now

Dj-Brand0 responds:

Hey man. Yeah glad you liked the bass. This style is a style new to my composure, but I guess I did alright. The bass was a good Woop Woop one and yeah I'm glad you liked how it was used. The still the structure of the song is pretty.. basic. I would have probably added more pads and have some more breaks etc but it's my computer stopping me from that there. I have some money saved, about enough to get myself a pretty killer computer for the occasional game besides homework and making music.

1) The quick slide into the introduction was a quick bar introducing the first note, it wasn't in with the melody but you get the drift of it.
2) At 13 Seconds I add a heavy string and some pads. You need some bass to hear it. For me I can easily tell the difference because well.. 12 sec' has nothing under 13 does.
3) That transition I liked too, was something I planned out of the blue, and just expanded on it. Worked out good.
4) I can't really say much to this one. \
5) Yeah the lead seems a bit bleak, I could have worked more on that lead. Should have layered it a bit more.
6) Haha yep, that's exactly what happened. :\
7) I used an EQ on pretty much all the intruments, I would say about 80% of them. But I still need practice on properly mastering. I know how to die down a bass and EQ in a lead but that's all I have pretty much learnt to do.

Yeah this style is generally old with newgrounds but I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm usually making hardstyle songs and this one was like.. wierd.

Thanks heaps for the review. And the true rating.

-Cheers Brando

[Cuwanin]

Woah, some very strange song.

Hi IO,

This is going to be a very bad review because umm miscellaneous music basically means anything goes. I can't criticize you for not sounding like any particular genre. Hmm, okay here is my review based on my biased taste.

1) The weird 1st instrument kinda got annoying with all the oscillation. It does add to the weirdness factor...assuming weirdness = good for miscellaneous stuff. I wish the instrument was a bit more clear rather than soo blurry/muddy like.
2) 6 seconds the instrument sounded quite mellow. The pattern seems to be well thought of. I just noticed the drums. Really neat idea with using all those drum sounds.
3) Now I'm at 1:06 and getting a bit bored. 1:!3 I didn't feel like the new instrument played much of a role...until the silent break.
4) I agree with wyldfyre1. This song is original. I don't think it's crazy thought, just weird. Why did I even comment about this?
5) 3:14 very cool with the messed up panning. Sounds so random that it is actually neat. I hardly ever say that. You got some like different ethnic styles of music all mashed into one. Great job with the modulation. My ears are warped now because of this part. Thanks for that.

Well I'm sure you must be quite good at automation now after making this song. I would not listen to this song on a radio, but in a mellow noir movie this song might just work. Quite an interesting blend of instruments. Kudos on the drums. That was your best compositional part. I don't know what else to say. You confused me now. Umm 5/5 and 9/10. Just was not my taste of music.

Bye for now

InvisibleObserver responds:

Miscellaneous music does in a sense mean anything goes, however I don't make music trying to fit it into some genre, which commonly annoys me on NG since most of my music while is closest related to ambient or trance, is simply something way different, while maintaining an electronic medium.

At 1:13 the new instrument is actually vocoded lyrics.

3:14 was not intentional, the large variety of effects just ended up doing that, so I left it since I liked it.

3:50 is more vocoded synthetic speech singing, however cut immensley to form just vowel sounds and let slip the odd word.

Not your taste of music? I often try to imagine a room full of people with my music playing. I highly suspect violence would occur long before dancing of any form. :P

Thanks for dropping the review.

[I'm hXc BITCH]

Review

Hi Mid-night,

Yours ain't hardcore enough compared to dvj bazuka. Now she is hardcore. Putting that aside, this is what I thought of your house song.

1) Messed up beginning. I didn't like the women voice splicing. However, the robotic man's voice was nice.
2) I love the bass, not the pattern so much. Heard it too many times. Great job on the amp of the bass and a lil attack time.
3) The song doesn't go anywhere. Just putting in some fx sounds does not actually mean a change.
4) I think you should have broke into some break beat with hardcore drum kicks. The kicks are too weak for a hardcore song.

Overall, a nice song with use of some samples. Not enough variety, not enough hardcore, but the bass made this song justifiable to be listened to. Keep it up with the bass (less reverb next time and more on the distortion to really bring that nasty biting bass...try bit crusher on that bass too) and gl with the rest of your songs. 5/5 and 9/10 review.

Bye for now

[-[ Wings ]-]

Review

Hi Flame,

I don't know how you guys make your kicks. I can never make a kick like this! I hear this kick in a lot of songs here and it sounds good. I see you used some house instruments...my favourite. GL on the create a genre contest where the best prize is a pat on the back. :) The joys

1) So the percussion sounds awfully familiar. Sounds like a sample to me. I don't find it annoying though. Not sure about the part at 16 seconds where you got some african drum playing a beat. Didn't match well.
2) 29 seconds in I like that new instrument coming in but not the phaser you put to it. Interesting touch, but a bit on the cheesy side. Take it out and put in some pads...and if you did use a pad instead of the phaser I said, then choose a different pad.
3) 57 seconds I loved that transition. Great job on it.
4) 1:25 so I don't have to repeat about the african drum beat. I didn't feel like the background instruments actually progressed the song. Felt like the bass was the show and since the bass was repeating, the song felt dragged out. New lead, new percussion layering, or any non background stuff might have brought the progressing feel.
5) 2:48 you kinda cut off the climax. Drum roll into nothing really. Weird drums too. 3:02 the new climax sounded a bit messy. Not so catchy, but I like what the bass is doing.
6) So I think for those silent parts you need to really much more on just fx winds. Same as point 4.

What new genre are you calling this? I think you have a good deal of diversity for a trance song but not enough to make it a "new" kinda trance. You did return to the same beat and didn't change your instruments very much. Anyway, again I say gl on the competition. Yours is one of the better ones in the competition. 5/5 and 9/10 review.

Bye for now

FlamingFirebolt responds:

Bye for now? ( oh teh noes dramatic music)

Alright Music-Story let's see what you got for me. I have to agree with most of it but i'll do it point by point like you did.

1) I did sliced a loop ( hopefully beyond recognition ) but the rest was single samples. Keep in mind i did use VEC samples, and they use the same single samples for there loops so you might have noticed some that stood out. African drum? It was just another misc. sound to me :P
2) The phaser was actually a last minute touch and i didn't really liked the outcome of it. But it was better then a bare synth. I could have tweaked it a little like i should but these are only afterthoughts :(.
3)Transitions are fun :D
4) Your right on that. I did add some small synths to keep it more intresting but apperently i failed ;(. I wasn't aiming for the whole progresive feeling but i could/should have anyways. It would add another dimension to this track.
5) Weird in a bad way huh? :( Doing something different is always a risk apperently. 50 % chance they will like it or not. But there's always room for improvement so i'll let you slip on that.
The melody could be better aswell, i was/still am low on inspiration and sadly the was the best i could whip out. What i did like is the chords after the arps, in my oppinion i should have done more with that, maybe something in the intro replacing the phased lead.
6) Yup, more room for improvement.

Finally a good review and not afraid to leave some critic :) Thanks for stopping by. Like i said in the description, this is my 3rd trance so i'm still fairly new to this. And i personally think this is a huuuge improvement compared to my other songs. But that's no excuse is it? I'll keep your criticsm in mind and hopefully make something better :)

Till then music-story!

Till then...

-Firebolt-

[Dream of Air - F-777]

Review

Hi F-777,

Read your forum post. I didn't see the RSS feed as a bad thing, but I guess it is now. Everyone knows (well the ppl who have been on NG for a while) that NG is pretty much a crap sight for getting reviews and support. However, its so easy to post music here which is a plus and in the end it doesn't take away the talent of many great musicians who deserve a better score. I like to see blamming as a complement because the blammers see you as a threat to them because your better than them. Anyway, here is what I thought of your song.

1) Yes, this composition. Sounds familiar, don't remember your ep 2 song but the arpeggio style is quite a popular one.
2) Party horn...hmm lots of fuzz and adds that happy feeling. Doesn't seem to be anything new though. I'm just going to consider this song a remix because I heard all these instruments from you already.
3) I wish the bass were a little more clearer especially at parts like 1:27. Seems to subbed that I can hardly hear any tone. Maybe that was intentional?
4) I actually like the main chorus. Has some catchy rhythm. Well done making it.
5) By the time the chorus returned at 2:33-2:34 I kinda felt bored. Too many returns to the chorus led to a repetitive song for me.
6) The ending fx was just great. Way to make the "dream of air" feeling. I don't know who would ever dream of air though. Pretty much dead when you start dreaming of air.

Do you know how to post music on youtube? It annoys me...keeps saying it can't convert file. What format do you need to put it as? Great song by the way. Lots of energy, your typical style of music. 5/5 and 9/10 review cause of the reasons above and the recycling of sounds.

Bye for now

[From the Foreshadows (A->N)]

Review

Hey to both of you,

This one deserved to be on the top 5 list. Only took you two days? Two days to make the vocals, the instruments, and the composition? You guys are really fast. Must have been really inspired. Here are my comments.

1) Great build up to start the song. Sounds sneaky if that makes sense to you.
2) 41 seconds in the background instrument sounds like something I heard before. I think you could have worked on that composition more.
3) I wish I could understand what the guy is saying. However, that has nothing to do with your score. I like the voice. Who's voice is that from you two?
4) 1:34 I like the drums, but the cello and violin didn't mesh well. Sounded a bit too messy here.
5) 2:06 great way to transition. Well done. Quite suspenseful.
6) 2:41 Kudos on the low man choir voice. Creepy, but that's a good thing.

The problem with this song is that for listening its okay, but with a movie this would be great for. Looks like your song got used in a flash, so maybe I'll check that game out to see how well this song fit. Overall a 5/5 and 9/10 review. Almost near 10 but I can't pick a score to the tenth decimal place. Keep it up.

Bye for now

ApproachingNirvana responds:

Thanks for the lengthy review!

When we said 2 days, we basically meant that it was 2 days straight. In total we spent about 30 hrs on this song - so in all fairness, it was a long two days. We sort of hit the creative bug and went with it.

The vocals are actually not words. They're treated more as an instrument in and of itself than traditional vocals. It added to the suspense so that really worked. I (SinJim) sang the main part with Renoak on the chant/BG vocals.

The viola part is actually quickly thrown together. I can agree with you on the better mixing and takes on this part, but we threw it together in the 30 hours when we had to get what was written in our head on to our computer. For the album version, our violist has more time to practice and more time to record better takes. So that shouldn't be an issue.

This is definitely meant to be more of a cinematic score, but it stands on its own as a song to listen to.

Thanks again!

[[CJM] Infinity Rain]

Review

Hi umm...wait your two people right? Camel and Juice? You said "we've" so I'm assuming two or more ppl. I will turn up the volume. Here is what I thought.

1) You need to use less generic instruments. That trance lead has been overused. However, it does bring me back to the 90s trance era. Good job on the whole effects thing going on.
2) 25 seconds I begin to notice what the past reviewer said. The lead is underpowered. Seems to be filtered out. Raise the volume of that lead.
3) So the song seems to repeat from 25 to 1:12 without any noticeable buildup. More effects? Another instrument on top? Anything to add some diversity.
4) Well, you have some nice buildups. Like the whole fuzziness everywhere feeling.
5) 1:36 is the best part. I like the new lead sound. Didn't like it when all the instruments returned though.
6) You need to spice up that bass. Seems so weak. Meaner bass with distortion if you want would fit my liking more.

A almost 8 mb file. What quality did you submit this song at? highest? I like what both you guys did with this song. Needs a bit more power to your instruments...especially that trance lead. Mix it up a bit too. There doesn't seem to be much variety in this song. I enjoyed the listen though. 5/5 and 9/10 review

Camel-Juice-Music responds:

yer that trance lead was annoying. Believe or not it was as loud as it would go without distorting all over the place. The section you mentioned from 25 - 1:12 is not supposed to be any kind of build up but just an interval but we can change that if you like. We will make some adjustments and its a combination of 2 accounts- Blinkmarine and Dreadnought106 just so you know!
And yes it is also at a very high quality.

Thanks for reviewing!