Music-story's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tundra]

Nice job on this

Pretty long song. This is my break down of your song.

Good:
1) Crazy guitar like sound to start the song. Did you put a amp on that? Kinda reminds me of F-777/Kriz collab song
2) 45 seconds in I like the bass beat. Similar to the old trance bass beats.
3) 1:29 The more dramatic part does sound like a remix of another trance song...maybe the Ferry Corsten guy your talking about? I never heard of him. Anyway, the change in mood adds to the diversity.
4) 3:24 Finally into the Christmas stuff reminding me of the tundra. I'll say kudos on the bells
5) 4:20 Oh I love that lead instrument. The composition seems rather happy too. Did you change keys here?

Weird:
1) At 1:22 to new transition it may have faded out too fast making the transition a bit abrupt.
2) 2:25 and on it sounds a slight messy. The lead sound is audible but not fully compared to the background instruments. I can still hear the bass though
3) At 3:24 though the bells do add a bit of diversity, the bass and the lead instruments are repeating the same or very similar composition to the beginning parts of this song.
4) 4:20 on. Though I liked that lead instrument, you really do drag this part of the song for a very long time. It's like more than 2 minutes of looping. That's like a whole new song again. Oh well, real trance = repetitive. I never will like that.
5) So I can only imagine how long that guitar like transition sound took you. I'm not sure how long you spent on making the explosion transition, but I did notice that almost all your transitions used the guitar and explosion. Maybe make a different fx transition to continually surprise me.

Overall more good than blips. This is a nice trance song to listen to. I'm sure you could have shaved off a minute or two of this song. Than again, some like the repetitive stuff a lot. And yes I did enjoy the song to some degree, more than a lot of the other trance songs I hear on NG. Congrats of the top 5 weekly. I suspect this song will make the top 30 list when Wednesday comes. Good luck on your future projects. Bye for now.

Winterwind-NS responds:

Good:
1-2) thanks
3) not a remix but u should definitely look into his works. For more trance like this song look into his early works under the name System-F or if you're into more house-ish trance (can't really describe it) then look up Corsten's work
4) bells are nice
5) It's not a key change. Both themes are in G# minor. The second one seems happier because it plays the relative major in it (i - VI - VII - *III*) like so

Bad:
1) I didn't notice that and you're entirely correct. I'll fix that some time and reupload. thanks
2) I didn't, at first, feel this way but now that you point it out, its kinda annoying me, so ur prolly right
3) It's not completely the same but yeah it is similar
4-5) Agreed

haha thanks for the very thorough review
my response was very halfassed
but yeah if i get in the top 30 list, thats wen the score gets shot in the face lol
so im not looking forward to getting in that list.
thanks again

-Winter

[´Kriz: Reaching For You]

And a happy new year to you

Oh, deep trance. That stuff is tough to make. I'm more for the up beat stuff. Here is my review to you. (This rev. is because I see you want people to review your stuff. Give me PM and I'll review your new stuff in the future.)

Good:
1) Good ol explosion to start the song. Nuff said.
2) Like the transition of the high pitch instrument into the more bass like lead instrument. The percussion seems good too. 1:23 DJ Nate inspired sound from his orchestral angel song?
3) Nice fade out. Conclusions are usually better. Oh well.

Future changes:
1) I think you have 3 layers of instruments going. I can hear the lead high pitch sound, the lower choir bass, but the mid range choir is a bit messy. Make 2 separate parametric EQ ranges for each choir?

2) I was hoping for a change in beat after the brief silence at 1:20 but you kept it the same throughout the entire song. Only the lead instrument changed but it still had the 3 note beat. Quarter, quarter, half ....repeat over and over again. Gets a bit boring.

Well I'm not a huge fan of deep trance cause it reminds me of a more hardcore version of ambient. Highly repetitive and because of that it is tough to make for me. You got the mood right, just needs more obvious changes to make me wanting more. Here is your 5/5 and 9/10 review. Nice job on your first attempt. Hope to hear more from you. Bye for now.

Kr1z responds:

Thx for the effort! I'll give a proper respond.
About 'Good:'
thx for that! It isnt really Dj-Nate inspired, im just experimetating alot, and it came out well that way..
About 'future changes':
Ur absolutely right, if u listen very carefully, u'll notice this song has repeative parts in it..
I know, but im not pro! I've started learning music (by myself) 6 months ago, im still gaining loads of experience, so thx for the tips!
And thx for the 5/5 :D

Kriz.

[Falling Farther (Trance Remix)]

Long song

I am reviewing two long songs today! I'm screwing myself over for the exams. :)
So let the reviewing begin

Good
1) Nice emotion put into the classical piano (good thing you continued playing the piano when the song whooshed into the main beat)
2) Some good bass going on (just needs a bit more sub bass or something more darker)
3) That higher pitch instrument accompanying the bass sounds pretty cool (I have not heard that sound before in any NG song yet)
4) Oh what's this? A story going on. Now all like battle marching music.
5) I like your fx wind transitions
6) Good ending decrescendo and splash finish with the lil cymbal hits.
Fix?

2) That part at 2:26 I noticed the dissonance of the piano which is a bit weird
3) The blaring sound that comes in at 3:50 ish (crescendos in) may need some modifications. The simple blare sound didn't quite get my attention.
4) I was happy with the changes in beat occuring, but despite that, the song does feel too long. More diversity maybe....I suppose I'm not fond of trance cause it is always too repetitive unless it's a MS trance :)

So I will give you a 9/10. Bye for now.

Karco responds:

Hey, Music-story! Been a while since you reviewed my stuff... but no need to do so anyway if it's going to hurt your studies! Take your time next time, I can wait. :P As with before, I'll respond to the good and bad points, one at a time...

1) It's old composition but I'm glad to hear you think it's good. :D
2) I let the bass be less of a literal "bass" to make room for the booming kick in this song. Hey, it's still audible, right? ;D
3) I think you might be talking about the same synth, just when it's playing one octave up? XD I'm not sure, but there was no higher-pitched instrument "accompanying" the bass.
4) Well, not much to say, but it's under GOOD... :P Glad you liked that part.
5) I liked them too! :D
6) Yep, that's the sort of ending I've been into these days.

2) You must've had a number 1 that you changed your mind on, huh? :P The dissonance of the piano was supposed to be there, and I'm surprised that you're the only one so far that's pointed it out. Personally, I think it's fine - it adds to the lost, confused feeling.
3) The lead? I think it's fine, and, looking at the other reviews, it seems to be a matter people are split on. It's not like I'm going to make a second version of this song, though, I'm finished with it, and glad to be finished with it! :D
4) Read the other responses... I didn't kill myself over the diversity in this song. ;)

Thanks for the review! Glad you like it. :)

[p0dcast 2point0]

Sweet nice!

I'm chilling to this song. You must of submitted this song at a bad time when everyone missed it. You own a macintosh? I just think that cause you said pod in your title. My rev. summary:

Good:
-Intro is awesome. (Love that snare roll with some crazy reverb on the atmospheric instrument.)
-Guitars are hot. (Not too heavy metal and not too plain to make a cool mild hardcore sound)
-at 0:56 a great guitar high pitch solo gets my head moving (drums match quite nicely here)
-loops only noticeably at the end of the song, but I had fun listening to this so who cares!

bad
1) Usually I come with a list of bads in all the songs I've reviewed...unfortunately I can't see what's wrong with this...the first time that happened. Hmm okay maybe vox could be used in this song. Get some vox and this be a superb song.

That is my review to you. I'm downloading this song. You got 2 downloads now. I'm lucky to be the rare person on NG to find a gem. Bye for now

DJ-Draken responds:

Hah, wow, thanks. I must say, this is one of my favourite works. I learned how to use Equalizers in FL Studio, and applied them here for the first time, giving the instruments better balance and therefore more clarity. They aren't hard to use, I just never really realized they were there until now, haha!

And no actually, I don't own a Mac. Me and my friend used to do a Podcast about games for a website we're part of, and I made the intro music. This was originally just a 20 second clip, but I stretched it to a full song because I really like this style.

If I had a good microphone for recording, then I'd consider adding vox, as I am somewhat of a vocalist. Maybe some vox will pop into my songs in the near future. At any rate, thanks for stopping by and leaving some awesome feedback!

[Karco - Miracle]

Rev.

Submarines? Radar? I got the same feel as the other reviewer. Nice bang into the main beat. Eh? Big filter on that lead instrument just got bypassed? Orchestra trance! Here is my summary:

Good
-intro had a adventure feel (who doesn't like adventures)
-the sudden volume increase caught me off guard, but it caught my attention (keeping the listener surprised is always a good thing)
-orchestra theme adds to diversity (I never heard you use that kind of style in any of your trances so that is new)
-drums seem to match the beat nicely (I've heard some patterns used in other songs, but also new ones I've never heard)
-I like the gradual fade outs in some of the instruments (nice flow to the song)
-conclusive ending is better than a slow volume decrescendo.

Blips:
-some of the orchestra instruments had too much reverb or too much sustain (felt a bit messy here)
-trance instruments accompanying the orchestra did not help the clarity
-I don't know what you fl/reason user call it but the typical trance delay at 2:31 is over used by you guys..or in short not original anymore (do you call it the oscillater?)
-ending is long, especially that cymbal crash that continues to play when the song is basically finished (that is an easy fix so no big deal)

Overall this song is nice. Kept me interested for the full 4 min 37seconds. The orchestral part had a epic feel and yep this is your best work to date. I know its a lot better than a bunch of the songs on the top 50 list. Unfortunately exposure is more important than talent on NG and in fact is applicable to the whole world too. Oh well, I like being the under dog. Hope you do too. I know it helps me to maintain my drive to become better every next song without the pressure. 5 vote and 9 stars. Bye for now

Karco responds:

Hey, Music-story! I'll just go down those points one by one:

- An adventure feel? I suppose all long songs have an adventure feel of some kind or another in some remote sense. I can hear it in this one. :P
- Glad you liked the volume increase, I was trying to bring the song up as much as possible without making the transition too sudden. :)
- The orchestra, and the part that it plays in the song was INCREDIBLY hard to make, believe me. ;) It definitely is new. I was trying out a new style, inspired by Sirene, which I've linked to in my latest news post. ;)
- Glad you liked the drums, not much to add here...
- Hmm, flow isn't one of my stronger points, in my opinion. But glad you thought it worked. :)
- Agreed. ;D

Now for the 'blips' as you call them... :P
- Hmm. Too much reverb? I was trying to get it to be flowing all together, to sound less like a chord progression and more like a chord changing slowly, while still sounding like the basic chord progression... and one of the tools I used to do that was the reverb. It's a bit ironic when comparing this statement to one of the techniques I used, but I don't think I'll give my techniques away so easily... :P
- There were no trance instruments accompanying the orchestra, except for the crash and the hit in the very beginning and very end. When the chord progression is played through for the second time, it's a sawpad playing it.
- Hmmm... I don't know what you're talking about, really. 2:31 is when the climax of the song starts, so it could be anything. XD Maybe it's the lead? That's my best guess... true, it's not very original, but when done right, it's awesome, or at least in my opinion. I'm not going to stop using saws for leads but I will try to make them sound more original. ;)
- The ending is long, but it's a progressive ending, which is normal (and, in my opinion, could even be expected sometimes) in this genre. I'll try to make them more interesting... ;) I let the crash echo out like that because, otherwise, it would cut off, and believe me, it doesn't sound good at all. ;)

Long review, thanks a lot! :) I do need to get out there and review more stuff, but I hardly have time anymore, so my exposure's not too high these days. :( I try. Thanks for stopping by, thanks for the high ratings! Glad you enjoyed it. Look forward to my next. >:)

[High Frequency]

!!!

I thought quick-shot left newgrounds. Good to know he is still around. So the intro has a nice rising falling sound playing in the background. Sounds like I'm listening to techno. Interesting drums. Here is my summary:

Good:
-got some good background support. (like that atmosphery instruments helping in the background)
-the drums sound unique and clubby
-like what you did with your filters or did you put a phaser? (who doesn't like the effect of making a instrument sound like it is being swallowed
-title seems to be appropriate
-!!! the song loops perfectly (are you sure this is considered a song? I'd classify it as a song loop...a very long loop)
-bass sounds cool (to me it sounds like a sub bass)

bad:
-The digital like lead instrument sounds cool, but it appears too many times in this song that the repeating beats get a tad annoying
-highly repetitive song
-1:45 the song sounds plain (Not enough is going on here. Feels empty and that fuzzy double beat good have been used in a better way)
-for a song and not a long loop the ending is non existant.

Overall a soft beat nice to listen to. Maybe add a few more changes composition wise. 5 vote and 9 review.

Jimbobsthebest responds:

Thanks for the brilliant lengthy review music-story. I know exactly what you mean with most of the bad pointers and I really need to concerntrate on making stuff that doesn't sound too repetitive.

Cheers again mate.

[[The bridge 2 g-R]]

More deserving

Have not tuned into your songs for a while. As usual, the g-r style with the oh some common g-r instrument selections. I love the filterbank usage. Her is my summary:

Good:
-The intro had a slight exotic egyptian feel to it. (I like exotic stuff once in a while)
-The fx are quite funny eg 0:47 on the dot. (They also sound pretty cool)
-Underwater music...sounds like that at 0:51. (Adds a diverse factor)
-ending was real nice (love the echoing going on)

Bad:
-So g-r like instruments tend to get boring after listening to a bunch of your songs.
-I think the drums could have been better. (Nothing spectacular about any of the drums. Some simple kick patterns and some more kick n clap drums.)

Overall I'll give you a 8 stars and 5 vote. That score of 2/5 does not justify this song. Bye for now.

g-r4ve responds:

you have no idea how much effort was put into those FXs

[[tC] - Inception]

Panning galore

The panning worked out quite nicely. The first 1:13 seconds is an introduction? Maybe shorten it a bit. Saxophone in here sounds neat. I'll list the good and bad in this song:

Summary
Good
-Having interesting instruments come together like the saxophone was nice. (I usually hear sax in classicals and jazz. Not as common in techno...well my experience)
-The panning is slightly excessive, but it overall worked out nicely.
-I love that super low bass in the long introduction (I think at 43 seconds it comes in...is that a sub-bass?)
-Time of 1:14 I like how you put that mini alarm sound (kinda...weird enough it sounds like the sax made that sound!)
-the song has a club softcore feel. (Quite relaxing to listen to)
-Very nice job with the gradual fadeout of each instrument until you got only one left.

Bad
-Fade out endings aren't a good conclusive way to finish a song. (Yeah I liked the fade outs of each instrument near the end, but the last instrument should have had not faded out. Make a conclusion or something.)
-Intro was too long. (You should have shaved maybe 30 seconds off the intro and get right into the climax stuff)
-Tends to be highly repetitive. (Eg the sax plays the same composition for quite some time)
-At 2:15 the sax finally changes, but that beat is unoriginal. (I've heard it in other songs before...just not sure which ones)
-those drums seem to never change (I think your using a limited variety of drum beats.)

Overall this is one of the better constructed trance songs. I like the synth/pads/instruments used and the panning made the song sound funky. I'll give you a 9 star and 5 vote. Keep up the great work. Bye for now

namoroso responds:

First of all, thank you for the in depth review of this song! I really love hearing feedback (both the good and bad ones) and this was really well put together. Like I said, this song was made in about 2 hours when I was supposed to be working :D As you can probably tell the beats and overall structure of songs isn't my strong suit, but more of the melodic side. I know what your saying about the panning and agree that fade outs is not the best way to end a song. Thanks again or the review, hope to read more of them on my future work :P

[One Night]

Rev.

Now this is a really weird song. Sounds like I'm listening to video game music with the 8 bit explosions going on. What a long introduction! Is that a plane flying by? Here is my conclusion.

Summary: "Good"
I'm getting the club vibe listening to this.
Bass and drums are very clubby and exciting to hear.
Screwed up vox sounds cool.
SOME of the fx sound good.
At 2:50 the buildup is mostly good though a bit dragged out. (I like the booming of the bass identifying a climax)

"Bad"
That intro was way too long.
Intro fx were not so hot. (The record scratching got really annoying after a bit)
Fx at 2nd section (plane flying by sound) could use more reverb. (Cuts off too fast)
Adding new instruments take forever. (Quickly move into a new section rather than having the listener wait for 40+ seconds for 1 more instrument to add on top)
Why the quick fade out? (You could make the fade out more gradual and it had to fade out at the climax too)

That's my comments to you. Not much new stuff I have not heard in other songs, but I enjoyed most of the 4 minute journey. Here is a 9/10 stars and a 5 vote. Bye for now

Jimbobsthebest responds:

Thank you so much for a review, I've been waiting for someone to give me some feedback on this for ages...

I have to agree with everything you've said here. I need to reverb up that plane sound effect, add some new sounds in and generally make the piece more interesting without dragging it out.

The fadeout was because of the size limit of the old site rules, but I could update this song with a new version.

And lastly, thanks for voting, although I fear you've voted too highly... thanks again for the review.

James

[Facing Defeat]

Hot piano. SEXY!!!!! Erm I didn't just say that?

Grand piano! It doesn't sound artificial, but the real instrument. Another piano playing duet? Enchanting style. Tends to drag a bit. Love that blowing fx sound. How many pianos are in this song? I think I heard 3 in total. Xylophone too? I have not heard that instrument in like 5 years. Maybe it isn't a xylophone, but it awfully comes close to it. Hmm, as usual not fond of fade out endings. I have to agree with the previous review. This is lacking some diversity. Change the beat around. Make the piano go crazy fast than really slow in some parts. Overall, keep the good work going. Like DJ x posed where have you been? Congrats on the song being used in a flash. Have fun making music. Bye for now.

x-Exodus-X responds:

hey, thanks for the great review! yeah, i guess the song is mostly all about the piano :P next time i will focus on all the other instruments too! where have i been, huh? well, now that school has started again, i really dont have much time for making music, it's just homework, cross country, dinner, food/rest, more homework, then sleep. once again, thanks for the great review, i'll check your page out right now!