Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.
The Good:
-Lovely melodies.
-Really well-done staccato strings at around 1:06.
-I like how you slowed the tempo down to reach 1:40.
The Not-So-Good:
-Many of the melodies are meandering and 'meshing'. 0:40 is a point where the phrase just seems to continue awkwardly for no reason.
-The pause at 1:01-1:05 is very odd, there's barely any buildup before the explosion at 1:06.
-The end of the song seems as if it's at 1:54. After that, since you seem to have gone for a more dramatic ending, it really needs to have MORE drama. Percussion would have worked well.
-Speaking of percussion, where is it? All I've heard that's very audible is the tubular bell and some cymbals, no snare, bass, or toms. As awesome as tubular bells and crashes are, it feels like you need a bit more.
Overall: It's alright. Kind of boring without the percussion in there to back up the melodies. Unfortunately, I don't have a ton to say - songs that are this meandering are fairly difficult to review well. The score I'll give it is a 7/10.
Because the lack of percussion is such a large thing, I'll put forward my two cents with my response to yours since I know you're going to read this and write a message to me about this. :P
All in all, I generally dislike bringing in large amounts of percussion in an emotional song because they can cut up the expression and ruin the effect of "loss" created by said rambling melodies (yes, the rambling melodies are intentional). I honestly could see a way to bring in bass drum as helping up the timpani, but a snare would probably give the piece a harsh militaristic sound. Perhaps I could bring it in during the 7/8, but I would need to find a way to introduce and remove it. Toms might work in the 7/8. At best, anvils would be next on my list to add because they could augment the tubular bells in the 7/8 with a harsher, darker feel. I will agree that I mastered the timpani too quiet.
Might I summarize by saying- I am sorry I don't listen to hard rock with drum kits that blast your ears off. :3
I think I should do a study on drums... last time I did that everyone told me it sucked. XD
If I work on this more, I will do more of a buildup at 1:01... perhaps get a cymbal in there and make a roll there.
Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.
The Good:
-Okay, this sounds really cool already. I love the solo strings initially, it's difficult to make solo violins sound good.
-Great watch effect at 1:42.
-Nice pizzicato and snare.
-I LOVE the bass slides at 3:14 onward.
-You have some really, really nice transitions here, they fit so well - and I rarely comment on transitions except if they're not that good. :)
The Not-So-Good:
-Sometimes this gets really repetitive, particularly after 3:14 until about 4 minutes in.
-There doesn't seem to be too much of a theme for this - it just keeps going and changing. I would have liked some more reiteration of a previous section.
-Bass frequencies hurt a bit at 1:34 while they come up through the filter.
-Right after the bass frequencies that hurt, the high frequencies are really, REALLY loud until 2:21, and also hurt quite a bit.
-No real outro.
Overall: This is sweet, definitely one of the best submissions this round. As a result, I'm giving it a 8.5/10. You can do better, I'm sure!
Thanks for the review. I agree with a lot of the things you pointed out in this song. It's pretty repetitive, since I worked on the drums first and then tried to make something to go with it. As a result, there are only about 5 or 6 strings patterns that I use in this song, with 4 in particular making most of the song.
As for the lack of an outro, I completely forgot to put it in, so what you end up with is just a gradual dropout of patterns.
The frequency problems, however, I can't speak for. The headset I used in this song is very cheap, and I didn't pick up much outside of the midrange. So, there are frequency issues that I simply cannot detect, and I'm glad that you guys could for me.
Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.
The Good:
-I like all the melodies you have with the piano, as well as the strings. The electronic aspects of it helped as well, making it more interesting.
-Mixing's fine by me.
The Not-So-Good:
-You really, really, really, really, really need more variation if this is going to be 6 minutes long. Not just talking about the variation of the feel or the instruments or tune, but also the velocity on the piano. It sounds really unnatural.
-Holy crap at 3:35-4:00. Really really out-of-place insane arpeggios that really don't mix well with the drums.
-The drums sound like crap. I'm sorry, but they really aren't very good - they're also out-of-place with the kind of song it is.
-Total. Copout. Fadeout. Outro. No.
Overall: Meh. It's just kinda there. About as flat as Jimmypig's song, though it does have a bit more variation. Could use some variation in the piano and feel of the song. Overall, I'm giving this a 5.5/10.
The reason this might've seen less-than-great is because it doesn't vary. This was intentional, though I should have figured most people would've liked it. Ultimately, I made a song that expressed what I felt at the time and that I liked listening to in a less excited mood.
Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.
The Good:
-First of all, you get a bonus point for finishing this in 2 days. Nice work!
-I like the synths you used for the most part, though they do get a bit harsh throughout the whole song.
-It's definitely well-made... trouce.
-Like the arpeggios in the middle, though I wish they went somewhere, moreso than what they did.
The Not-So-Good:
-Alright, going through the list. I really don't like the sidechain on the kick. It seems a bit excessive.
-The break at 1:42 is a bit awkward, I was really expecting it to fade back in as it faded out.
-The whole song is very, very samey.
-At 2:14-2:28, that highpass break would have been a lot better if it had more to it. Remember, this stuff has been done before - try making it more original!
-Outro could have been done a bit better rather than just letting it ring out.
Overall: Even for just two days, this could have been better. It's very repetitive and a bit harsh on the ears. With the extra point for making this in 2 days... you get a 6/10.
What you don't know is that I didn't strive for an original song, but rather a well-produced one. Coming up with an original melody AND a song to put it in within 2 days is really hard, you know.
You don't like my side-chaining. Well, that's just my style, matter of taste I guess.
I can also understand why you think my break is awkward, but again I guess it is a matter of taste ;P
So, you asked me to review this, let's he- holy crap those are nice strings. Now I WANT to review this. Initiate review NOW.
THE GOOD:
-You spent more than a day on this! Good good. It shows almost immediately.
-I LOVE that percussion in the beginning, and at 0:15 and 0:21. Where did you get it? Because it's really nice.
-The strings are very nice-sounding in audio quality, though they could be improved a little bit. Sounds a bit like KKSlider60's strings, actually.
-Speaking of strings, their melodies are quite nice.
-Actually, check that. ALL the melodies are nice.
-The climactic hits at 0:51, 1:28, and 2:33 are very well-done, though I do have one nitpick with them that I'll get to later.
THE NOT-QUITE-AS-GOOD-IMPROVEMENT-STUFF-A ND-I-REALLY-NEED-TO-COME-UP-WITH-MORE -CREATIVE-NAMES-FOR-THE-GOOD-SECTION:
-First, since I was just talking about the climactic hits, I'll poke at them rather than compliment them this time. The first and second ones are alright, but the second and third are practically identical (or at least, without not knowing the patterns it sounds like that). This is mostly due to the melodies being extremely similar.
-Putting this in a separate bullet since it's kinda different. One important thing that classical songs do is change the melody, having at least two "themes" that sound obviously different. This can be done by using a different instrument, which makes it more obvious even if the themes themselves are similar in style, but if it's the same instrument, the second theme should be more different in style than the original one.
-The piano could be brought out a bit more at around 0:51, it's hard to hear.
-As much dynamic variance as there is in this song, it's very similar throughout, and sounds pretty much like the same thing. It IS a lot more variable than the other songs of yours that I've heard, fortunately, so that's good. As I said, the extra effort you spent on this shows.
-Damnit, there's no outro. Songs *need* outros rather than sounding like they just
end and obviously were using patterns.
Overall: I like it, it's a lot better than your previous works, though you do still have a lot to work on. :) The repetitiveness, the mixing, and your dynamics, mainly. The mixing isn't too bad, honestly - just some level work so everything can be heard.
-Swint
P.S. I made a cool classical-ish song too that sounds surprisingly irish. :D Mind poking at it yourself? http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/498854
Yeah, I'd guess that it's a bit repetitive. I write classical music like I write House, which basically repeats itself with slight variation. As for the mixing, I'm sure I need work on it. I did take out some mids on the samples, though, like you said, although the Violin at the beginning still bugs me. As for the outro, I agree. Most of my songs lack them.
Thanks again for reviewing and you have proven once again that people have right to call you a Review God.
Alright, since I FINALLY have enough spare time to review this, here you go.
THE GOOD:
-I like the jazzy harmonies.
-The 7/8 key signature is also fairly unusual for NG work, which makes it sound a lot better. Nice!
-The main melodies are really cool, they fit right in, and really give the Arabic feel.
-All of the individual sounds for the song sound very clean and nice, I really like the percussion.
-Speaking as a pianist, I like the piano part quite a bit.
-IT LOOPS. And loops really well, actually.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-The piano part doesn't really change at all throughout the entire song, aside from adding chords periodically. As awesome as that piano part is, for a song that's 1:45 long, having it not change at all is a bit boring. In fact, this could also be said for some of the percussion as well.
-At around 1:03-1:04, that little phrase sounds a bit odd, ending unresolved.
-At 1:25, that phrase also ends unresolved with the same cymbal sound as at 1:04.
-Some of the instruments don't sound as realistic as they could. Generally it's the background instruments, which all seem to be playing at the same or a very similar velocity the entire way through. Could make that a bit better, increasing the velocity contrast as well as the timing of the notes slightly so that it sounds more like a real person is playing them. I only take note of this because you specifically included "authentic-sounding song" in the description, so I might as well try to help make it sound more authentic.
-There's just not enough variation. Mainly stemming from the constant piano groove, there could be a second kind of section with a slightly different feel. Considering the other song of yours I've heard, I know that you could get a different kind of groove in here at one point to give it some more variation.
Overall: This is great - better than most of the things on newgrounds by far, it's creative and sounds nice. I really didn't have too much to critique (yeah, look at me saying that with a good 1300 characters of critique), and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this. Good work!
Hi Swint, I'm glad you enjoyed, furthermore that you actually took up my request, I was in the impression you had turned it down!
In any case, here's my response, as usual:
THE GOOD:
"I like the jazzy harmonies."
Hah, glad to know you like the Jazz flare, it's my favorite part :3
"-The 7/8 key signature is also fairly unusual for NG work, which makes it sound a lot better. Nice!"
Wow, you managed to identify the metric? I didn't write it anywhere, didn't think people would actually notice/care!
"The main melodies are really cool, they fit right in, and really give the Arabic feel."
That's the authentic part, it's what I took the longest to make. I knew that the eastern region used a much different internal feel in their songs, which made it really hard for a westerner like me. :P
"All of the individual sounds for the song sound very clean and nice, I really like the percussion."
Wow, that's probably the biggest compliment I've received, as this is the first song I made 100% by hand, and not through notation processing!
"Speaking as a pianist, I like the piano part quite a bit."
Glad to hear the part being approved by the authority. :3
"IT LOOPS. And loops really well, actually."
I actually find it hard to think how people who list their track as a loop can't even be bothered to take 5 minutes to actually arrange their song like so or even make a smooth transition to avoid clipping, and yet I see this so often. This baffles me. Also, thanks for the compliment. :P
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
"The piano part doesn't really change at all throughout the entire song, aside from adding chords periodically. As awesome as that piano part is, for a song that's 1:45 long, having it not change at all is a bit boring. In fact, this could also be said for some of the percussion as well."
Ah, yes, that's always been an issue with me, and it's an issue I'm currently working on fixing with live MIDI performance. I always think of my songs as templates rather than actual performances. I always write my music with a Jazz approach in mind, sort of like the Lead Sheet/Fake Book approach, that is, to write a base groove onto which to interpret and perform. Hope that clears what I'm trying to say. :S
"At around 1:03-1:04, that little phrase sounds a bit odd, ending unresolved."
Yeah, I botched up this transition. I'm actually quite fond of unresolving melodies, but I guess this wasn't the best approach.
"At 1:25, that phrase also ends unresolved with the same cymbal sound as at 1:04."
Again, I like unresolving melodies. Though in this case, this is an Oud solo, so I feel it's free to the performer to do what he must, because he can. (in this case, me :3)
"Some of the instruments don't sound as realistic as they could. [...]"
That's not actually where I was coming from when referring to "authentic". I was actually talking about the authenticity of the groove, as in authentic ethnicity.
As for the realism, that's unfortunately due to my noobness on the new equipment I'm working on, though if you would be so kind as to point out which ones exactly you're referring to, it would be incredibly useful!
"There's just not enough variation. [...]"
There are no words truer than this. The problem is that I got lazy, and I figured that 1:45 was the perfect time to make a loop. Maybe one day I'll pull my head out of my arse and actually finish this, as well as most of my other stuff. :\
Once again, Thank you SO much for this ridiculously in-depth review, And don't you think I forgot about that review I owe you! :P
In any case, I'm almost out of characters, so I'll end it here!
Okay. So - I didn't vote for this in the NGADM. Here's why.
THE GOOD:
-You have a nice amount of variation, which is really good, I like that.
-The instruments blend quite well, and I like your use of fading layers in and out.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-Okay, this is the major thing and probably what killed it almost instantly. This song (and most of your music) is a default FLS instrument/preset-fest. What you *desperately* need to do is get better samples. Here are two very, very good starting points for free instruments that are better than the FLS defaults and will probably help you a lot: http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1 200140 http://www.dskmusic.com/
-The overall feel of the song never changes much, which is mainly a result of the next issue.
-Mixing. This track is just *way* too loud overall, and there are plenty of mixing issues. The waveform of this track is just. Holy crap. http://i49.tinypic.com/33lid88.png Now, you have several options here. One is to compress your instruments, which would make them quieter and keep them from clipping. The other is what I would recommend - turn that volume DOWN! Perhaps not a ton, but some, at the very least. It would also be good to get more equalizers on the song so that the instruments don't interfere with each other. If you listen around 2:30-2:50, the white noise has a lot of wobbling in it caused by other instruments. Remember - the instruments' frequencies shouldn't bother each other.
-After 3:44, there's WAY too much of that hit, which makes a ton of bass frequencies - that upsets the mixing there as well.
Overall: It's cool. And you're getting better at composition. But you REALLY need better samples and to work on your mixing. That killed the track almost immediately for me, at the very least.
THE GOOD:
-I like the little reversed effects you've used throughout.
-The background pad sounds really nice and deep.
-The synth at 0:42-0:55 onward is also pretty nice. So are the two at 1:08 and 1:13 (I REALLY like the one at 1:13 onward).
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-First big thing - the timings are somewhat off, though I do commend you for not having it in the classic 4/4 beat and 4-measure section style.
-Second big thing. The drums are very low quality - there are a number of free sample packs online, you might want to check them out. The drums you have now sound like either default drums or DSK drums.
-Third big thing, the biggest one - mixing. The overall song is far too loud, and there's quite a bit of clipping. There's also a little bit of distortion, mainly from the kick. Try equalizing it a bit more so the frequencies don't interrupt each other, and also try compressing some of the instruments.
-Fourth problem - There's not really a full 'melody', it's mainly arpeggios and the chord sequence. Try adding in some kind of melody that people can hear - it's one of the things that make songs more catchy and helps people to remember them, which is a good thing.
Overall:
Sounds nice, but there's no melody and the mixing could be improved a lot. Those are the two biggest things, the other two are lower priority. I have to admit, I liked this, but for the reasons I had said above, it's not something I'd listen to over and over again by choice.
Thanks! My drums Ive worked a lot with but canâEUTMt seem to be getting the sounds I want, I just make them in FL and bring them over to Ableton, I honestly didnâEUTMt see this track as being the best cause I made it whilst working on another project I just felt like I needed to put something out there XD but I get what your saying on a lot of it, most of these songs tend to be songs I donâEUTMt mind letting people download, songs on Soundcloud I think have a better overall feel to it, thanks for the review!
THE GOOD:
-The way you used the impulses is original (to me) and sounds good. I like it!
-The little melodies in this song are fairly nice and not too bad.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-The constant kicks you introduce at around 0:48 (at least, that's when they became clear to me) don't sound too good, especially at 1:23 where they have a big gravelly sound that kind of ruins my immersion.
-The drums starting at 1:52 are somewhat random-sounding and aren't overly good quality drum samples - sounds like some FLS default drums. There are a LOT of free drum sample packs (I think there are some at beatsproduction.com or some similar URL) that have higher-quality drums you could use. Might want to look for a few of those. :) Also, though these aren't as high-quality, the DSK drums are alright, and Drumaxx has a few nice samples too.
-The arpeggios you introduce at 1:10 are off-key with the progression from the synth you had earlier, which is quite clear at 1:53-2:09.
-The song doesn't really seem to have much of an idea of where it wants to go. It goes in one direction, but there's no rising and falling action - just constantly going up, ending quite quickly with a call-out to the intro.
Overall:
Cool song. It's not exactly what I'd listen to in my spare time though, as Knuckstrike had said. If this had more of a flow or melody, that would help a lot. Most songs that people like have at least a somewhat-clear melody that is memorable or repeated. Obviously memorable is preferred there for me. ;) Then, the next step is having multiple sections. You had some interesting ideas in here and I liked it overall, I'd love it if you explored more of this kind of style - especially if you made it so that I'd want to listen to it over and over!
A personal message to me? o.o You didn't have to, I'm flattered. ^_^ And I consider that more than enough reason to give this a friendly review.
Now, before I get to actually reviewing this, I just want to say a few things.
1. You use Mixcraft? Well, that answers the question I was trying to figure out of what DAW you use. I use FLS myself. ^_^
2. Default 'stock' instruments can be surprisingly good if used right. And hey, you can certainly use them right.
3. I'm done. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have put this as part of the little "list" of things I wanted to say, but it would've looked weird if I put it afterwards awkwardly. :<
THE GOOD:
-I really, REALLY like that guitar sound, whether it's a preset/default instrument/whatever. It's pretty darn good.
-Some of the harmonies are very very nice.
-1:05 BIRDIES :D That's definitely a much better ending than a simple fadeout.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
-The drums seemed very lackluster and dull, particularly the snare.
-Some of the rhythms and harmonies seemed off, and rather odd. Might want to recheck some of them.
-Too darn short! Of course, with default "stock" instruments you generally can't really do much, I suppose, so that's not too bad.
Overall: I'm sorry, I liked Shiver Mountain better - if only because, that one transition. Day-uhm, it was amazing. Overall though, this was pretty good. Could use some improvement definitely, but at least it's not taking off of another artist, right?
I'm kind of surprised you liked Shiver Mountain better -- and also the guitar sound! That's my least favourite instrument in this piece for sure.
I like the snare. I'm pleased with the sound I got out of it -- it started pretty flat, but it's where I want it right now.
When you say the drums seemed dull -- the snare is the only drum (?); do you mean the tambourine? If you're listening for a kick drum or something, it's not there. Things sound bright to me...
I don't know what rhythms or harmonies you could be talking about. You should let me know the times in your review response response!
Too short? Pfft. lol
I don't know, man, I really thought you would like this one more than you did. I'm not used to scoring 3/5, and I feel like I let you down. I've got to keep trying, though.
Electronic/ambient artist. I started making music more than random scribblings in the fall of 2010, around the end of November. I think I've come a long way since then!
King Bosa 
Mass Extinction 
Outside the Atmosphere 
LO - Rush Hour (NGADM'12) 
Breath of Air 
-*}CaSH{*- Mild-Arabic 
C23~Light 16 
Miss PutterFly 
Turtles Are Fast 
Ascend 
