Sirdangolot5's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[Buyj3llo] - 8(s)]

This song feels stretched

First, I'd like to say hello again, and thanks for adding me to your favorites! I'd also like to notice that you seem to span multiple genres, thus far I think I've reviewed tunes of yours that were Dance, Trance, Industrial, DnB, and now House.

Anyhow, about the track. The beginning of the track seems overly repetitive. Now, obviously, that's an element of house music, but I feel like you could have been more creative with it. Every couple of measures, a new beat drops in up until 1:02. That's nice, and a standby of the genre, but not ENOUGH changes. By the time you got finished adding instruments, the mix was a bit crowded with notes, and it seemed like there wasn't enough space to hold all the percussion you were using.

Maybe instead of just adding more drums, you could switch things up a bit. At the end of a four measure phrase, maybe get a little snare solo, or a chopped up beat. Maybe instead of adding new drums, you could change the beat one of them is playing- perhaps the kick even, and you'd get a whole different sound coming out of that segment than the one you had coming in.

From there until about 2:06 you only make minor changes- and they're all in the percussion! Maybe something in the mid range could come in and help out, something melodic, or even a bassline. Just suggestions.

Although it doesn't sound quite finished, this song has some REALLY good ideas, and I get a super chill feeling when I listen to what you've got. It sounds like amazing material to remix or use as a DJ. It's got just enough to keep a beat, and that it does very well.

I would listen to more House if I were you- one of my favorites is Daft Punk. Harder Better Faster Stronger, Superheroes and Around the World are all great examples of House that keeps its repetitive, groovy structure, but if you listen, they change just enough throughout the song to keep the listener engaged, as well as just being TOTALLY AWESOME with what they do write- the arpeggio break in Superheroes gives me absolute chills every time I listen to it.

If you could do something really creative with this- I almost want to say drastic- it could be something seriously amazing.

Also, do something about that high-pitched scraping noise around 2:20. It doesn't add much in my opinion, and would only irritate the average listener.

Then the strings or whatever- I'm guessing it's a sample- comes in, and sounds REALLY good.

buyj3llo responds:

Wow, thanks for the super in depth review. You really took the time to listen to the song and think about what needed to be fix or changed. It really means a lot to me that you put in so much effort into a review just to help me out with my music, thanks man. I really appreciate it.

You gave me a lot of food for thought here. The main thing that I take away from this is that I need to add more variety, and not just in terms of percussion. Ideally, what I should do is plop down the money and buy a midi controller and dedicate myself to crafting some sort of real melodies. It would be much better if I actually gained some sort of keyboard skills as apposed to just fiddling around with the piano roll. You've helped me realize this more than ever.

I'll dig up some of my old daft punk albums and listen to the tracks you recommended. I'm that will inspire me or whatever.

[[Buyj3llo] - 7(s)]

I would listen to more DnB if I were you

You label this but it doesn't really have many DnB elements, other than the hits on beats 2 and 4, which themselves aren't very prominent or put to good use. This song is a bit repetitive, and lacks severely in bass (if you ask me.) What you do with the percussion is good though, and the kicks sound pretty creative to me.

This track lacks a certain, I don't know... energy. It's just not all there. I feel like there should be some awesome lead with a really cool rhythm or something, maybe going through some gates and getting filtered at the transitions. Also I'd look into making some cool bass sounds, what you've got so far has too much reverb and the rhythms you wrote for it aren't getting me into it.
Plus, the whole time it's sitting on two notes. I don't know, it's just not strong enough.

This isn't the first song of yours I've reviewed, but I hope it won't be the last!

By the way, might I ask why you label your songs as 5(s) 6(s) 7(s) and so on?

buyj3llo responds:

Yea, the song is pretty soft sounding. It was originally much more energetic, but I kept toning it down and adding reverb until it turned into this. Reverb, distortion, and appreciators are my crutches because I suck at forming melodies.

The songs are numbered in the order they are created and what year in college I'm in. This is the 7th song I made during sophmore year, so the title is 7(s).

[JD - Kontrol (Updated)]

I like what you added

The small amount of extra sound you added at the beginning helped because it was actually a nice sound. A good synth like that near the beginning of the track helps alot because it gives you a little credibility and in this case it really helped the opening to blend with the rest of the song and made the switch into the main melody a lot smoother.

Glad I could help out with advice (same guy from last time)

JD14 responds:

Hehe thanks ;3
I appreciate the advice, and the review. :D

[-Glitter-]

Why, hello again

Well, I guess this wasn't MEANT to be terribly melodic, so I won't waste time talking about how weird that aspect was...

rather, I'll say, that it was awful repetetive and your bass sounds pretty bad once it drops below a certain frequency.
Other than that all I can do is shrug and look on in confusion.

Snooglebum responds:

Hah, fair enough. I was going for weird. :)

[-Fury-]

A bit repetitive near the start

The arps at the beginning were really cool, but the structure was pretty repetitive for about 40 seconds. Before you say "Durr, silly, it's trance" hear me out. At fourteen seconds in, a 4 by 4 kick drops in and adds some much needed depth. Then it leaves! And we're left listening to the same thing we just heard!

The track more than makes up for it with what comes next though. The percussion is awesome and dirty, and adds a ton to the mood.

The transition around 1:22 could stand to be a bit smoother, but that's a minor detail. I like that the progression doesn't change but the new instrument keeps it fresh, and that's a nice touch. The familiar percussion which drops back in (slower paced this time) was a good idea as well.

At about 2:19 you come back with your lead and drums after a quick breakdown of tension. I think you could do a LOT more dynamically at this point. It doesn't feel like a very big crescendo; more like we're just listening to what we did before. Maybe something more dramatic in the mid-to-low ranges that we'd never heard before would help accentuate that difference.

Overall, a great industrial track with trance influences.

Snooglebum responds:

Wow, thanks for the incredibly helpful review!

[JD - Kontrol]

Second half is very good

The first 32 seconds were such a snooze that I almost rated you 2 and left. However, it really sounds good after that point. It's surprising; you gave NO indication of the quality of the whole song and I'm sure that some people will zero-bomb you without getting that far in the song.

My only other problem is that it's much too short (less than a minute because the first 32 seconds don't count) and the ending is totally abrupt.

JD14 responds:

Haha, thanks. The first 32 are sortakinda buildup. I have the bassline coming out first to add some difference to the song, as opposed to a lot of other songs like this, but I have been considering adding a new synth. Thanks man, I appreciate that. The fact that you gave me a good, thorough review means I can fix up my song :D

Edit: 7:11 @12/27/09, I'm exporting a new version.

[[IMD]~-/!The Dance is Now!\-]

Put more thought into the mastering

Try loading the MP3 into Audacity and you see that it's peaking throughout and never really stops. What I'm saying is that there isn't much dynamic range at all. It feels like you used a hard limiter on the master output, and that means that the volume of all the sounds is mushed together to fill up the db meter, and that doesn't make for a very pleasant listening experience.

Try remastering it and submitting it again.

Also, I don't like how the melody is carried by one instrument, and the steel drum gets pretty annoying after a while of playing that same note.

IceMasterDlux responds:

Thanks for the review! Thank you for your wise advice. I appreciate, someone saying what they dislike about the song. However, there was no limiter on the master output. Also, this was my first time messing around with the peak and what-not so I am liable to make some mistakes. Thanks again!
~IceMasterDlux ><>

[DJ CGL - Midnight Annihil]

I just have to say...

It's spelled "annihilation."

crazyguylink responds:

Sorry bout the typo. I'll fix it right away.

[DJ Spoonz - Calm Down - ReUPd]

Chord progression is WEIRD

You obviously put some work into this, but I'm afraid it's.... to no good. At least from my perspective.

The production is fine, the sounds all come through pretty clear, and the VSTs you used work well with one another. But the chord progression is jarring, and weird, and frankly, a turn-off. It sounds like you couldn't tell which scale you were on, and if you're a musician and that insults you, I'm sorry, but *I* certainly couldn't tell where you were going with this.

Also I notice you used the default hat sample in FL Studio- or at least something VERY similar to it. I would recommend using a different one.

marcolemec12 responds:

I don't know what to tell you.. I find the chords go well together? I dunno

Can you explain what you mean? I'm not a musician T_T I just started.. Maybe you could clarify what you mean and help me :)