Score: 7

"Yes"

submission: Paramour

date: August 10, 2008

It doesn't start as subtle as I'd expect this kind of ambient piece to begin. I think a simple filter fade or something would add to the atmosphere at least a little bit. The whole piece feels a bit confusing since it starts so quickly, and in the first minute you just add and add and add instruments. Since it is after all ambience, it's fine to stretch it out a little. Little happens the last two minutes anyway, so it would feel like it's progressing a little more if you had a little more space between the introduction of each "instrument".

The track generally doesn't flow too well. The sound quality is clear enough, but the sounds are sort of sitting on top of each other, and none of them really stand out. The biggest problem is how it sounds like all instruments are going at individual speeds. Check the rate of all LFO's, make sure they are synced with the track and keeping somewhat similar rates.

Other than criticism, I really like some of the sounds. The rather high, almost organ-like pad provides a dramatic effect, which to my ears could symbolise fear or a similar mood. If you emphasise that, it would fit great for a dark, suspenseful scene in a movie. The instruments fit very well together to produce an atmosphere. The only thing that disrupts this atmosphere is the high frequencies of that "buzzy", automated synth.

I'd say overall it sounds like a complete piece. It doesn't have any melodic theme at all, so I don't think there is much more to be done with this piece. Since it does neither have a recognizable theme or progress much, it will fit much better as subtle background music than a typical music fix.

Score: 9

"Very nice indeed-o"

submission: [L3] No Way Home

date: August 4, 2008

Sounds fresh and chilled right from the start- so I would say you did a very good job hooking the listener since you made me think "wow, this is a good song, I'm gonna listen through this" within the first five seconds of the song. I like that very subtle filter fade in on the piano, makes it sound very ethereal. The piano sound itself is a bit thin in the beginning and lone parts. Not a problem when it's mixed with those fat fat synths and drums later in the song though.

The next thing that strikes me is "holly shit that's a lotta treble"- I think you might need to do something with that open hat, it's ear-hurting sharp. The other drum sounds are fine- I like that pumpy kick and love that cowbellish thing in the back. In general those drums sound very very good and stand out nicely.

The bass is a bit too grumpy for me. I think a cleaner or smoother sound would do better. Perhaps it could be a wee bit boomier too, though I'm not sure whether that would completely ruin the mix or not, so please don't listen to me.

The main arpy synth is lovely- I like the little hipass on it, it really makes it sound different from your typical trance lead. A lovely "melody" too, well it's not exactly memorable and about impossible to hum to, I guess that's just another reason to keep listening to it then! :D It produces a massive amount of noise though, making the tune less comfortable to listen to overall. It is probably the only reason why I don't feel like listening to this one much in the future- I suggest having a look at the high frequencies if you're ever going to tweak or remix this song.

Now there is one thing I could think of that would make this song very awesome, and that is some long drawn out strings chords or some other ethereal pad, maybe even both (I hear there is a very subtle pad going, almost inaudible but I know it is there in the first 40 seconds or so), playing something like the chords of the piano, maybe a couple of octaves higher. I'm imagining how it would sound and in my head, and I get the idea that it will make the tune sound more completed. I'm pretty sure it would do awesome in reality too.

Enough of this awesome anyway- I'm wondering why you put a "cheering audience" sample in there? I mean I know it's used lots in trance- but it's dedicated to a dog that was lost- that, the mood of the song itself as well as the title "no way home" are all sort of melancholic and not really something that would make people peppier and happier- so why the cheering? I was just wondering a little about that, it's not an important aspect of the song at all.

That should wrap detailed stuff up. In general, it's in my opinion a great song, although a bit generic. Sound quality could be improved on a bit. The melody theme is wonderful. That melancholic emotion and mood is portrayed very well. I can hear a lot of effort was put into this song.

Good job, well done! I hope you enjoyed the review (it's probably boring as fuck to read lol).

Score: 10

"Sweet"

submission: From Inside

date: August 3, 2008

It's very refreshing to hear an audio submission that's performed with real instruments and whatnot. This is of excellent quality (all kinds of quality, that is) as well, so reviewing it is a very pleasing experience good sir ^_^. I am not in any way experienced with this kind of music, so my review will be very much based on personal opinion.

The general sound quality is outstanding. No background noise at all, and crystal clear instruments/vocal sound is wonderful. Well done, whoever is responsible for mixing :D. Everything is in its place (except maybe that guitar in the very beginning. I have no idea why you would pan it completely to one side. Very minor problem though), and through the most of the track, everything can be heard perfectly.

I love the sound of the clean guitar. It's got that exact sound I love (if there was just a weeeeee bit more reverb, now THAT would be great). I'm pretty much neutral on the heavily distorted guitar though- I think it's a bit too dominant, and a bit too thick, bit as I've said that's just an opinion. Those solos though, are absolutely amazing. Very wonderful stuff, I love the guitar layering in the 2:12-3:00 area.

For the vocals- I, too, couldn't understand much. The vocals are very clean and loud enough, so that's not the problem- it's probably just because English isn't my first language. The singin's good, but the voice feels a bit anonymous and monotonous in a way. The singing doesn't change much through the song, so it's not too exciting. I can find no major flaws though, so it's mostly very good.

Then whatever is left- drums = good. Varied and nice sounding through the track, flawlessly played- but they drums don't stand out much. It's not really a problem, the drums get the job done very well. I don't have much more to say about drums than that. And- if there even IS a bass there, is is very subtle- I think the track could use having the bass a bit more present.

That's about it. Well done, you guys! An absolutely excellent song, great quality and, well, overall pretty damn sweet. I hope you don't mind me praising it so much :)

Score: 10

"man this is of my liking and here is my reason why"

submission: =Judgement Day=

date: July 14, 2008

So I read your sig. MAJESTIC EPIC SHIT huh? Well I do indeed find this tune to be some MAJESTIC EPIC SHIT, and there is very little to improve in my opinion. It only grew into more MAJESTIC EPIC SHIT as it progressed.

I loved how it started right on, no cliché emotional slow thing with lots of pads, instead it started right on with the butt-pulverizing. Nothing clever or intelligent, but pure power and rage like that of a manly manly stone age man chasing an unfortunate bee. And it contributes to the MAJESTIC EPIC SHIT feel. Wonderful. Same with the bass that replaced the piano- a joy to listen to simply.

The strings arrangement work fine, they sound pretty awkward when playing the high high notes from 0:35 and a little bit farther into it, but apart from that the sound is fine. A catchy melody as well. The bass-pizz is absolutely amazing. Creates a half creepy, half angry mood that fits just perfect into the theme.

Some of the drum work bugs me a bit. All the 16th note kicks are getting annoying after a while. In some parts like 2:00-2:10, where the kicks play a major role, it's great. Although when they are more in the background, it's getting very tiresome. And the hats in the very beginning simply don't sound realistic at all. You obviously put a lot of effort into the drum work, with lots of variation and interesting tweaks and twists. It sure paid off and was to me what made this tune truly become MAJESTIC EPIC SHIT.

The piano wasn't all that great. Considering it only plays looooow notes, it sounds very kaka. That's easy to fix though. If you are still willing to work more on this tune, try to add more of that piano later in the timeline, adding some higher octaves, maybe two or even three, cause it's gonna sound dramatic as hell.

The overall feeling of this tune kicks, punches and demolishes major ass. The whole world is crumbling, people are screaming in agony, the universe is exploding into a nothingness that eats everything that lives from the inside and I'm sitting here eating popcorn and enjoying the whole scene!!! man

MAJESTIC EPIC SHIT is a head-on description for this tune. I love it, it was great, you put lots of efforts into making this didn't you? This is pure and straightforward colon dee.

(I'm getting a bit overhand with my praise of this song and that is a good thing)

I'm sexually attracted to the presence of this tune!! You like this, penis, don't you? ^_^

Score: 9

"heh"

submission: p4c-nightlife [unfinished]

date: July 9, 2008

Hey, it's been like a month or something since you gave me that review for some song, but at least I keep my promises yay! :D

The mix is pretty damn clear, nothing to point out about that really. Everything stands out perfectly, hopefully you'll keep it that way in the finished version.

My mellowness-desiring ears don't like the very basic, sharp kick and raw saw lead and bass though. That's just me, but I think that kicks needs quite a bit more punch as well as some more lowness. Snare is fine but the reverb sounds awkward when played along with the kick. I'm not sure about that pad-ish, gated (sidechain'd?) thing. I don't like it at all, but the thing does make sense in this track.

Although I don't like your choice of sounds in this song, I absolutely love the attitude and rhythm of the track. The drum beat is very straightforward (REEEEEEALLY simple) and it work wonders put simply. Those little blips from the saw really work well. Keep working on some clever ways of utilizing the concept of those saw blips, change their pitch or fuck them up good and hard with effects. That would be awesome.

You have to finish this song, it will be awesome, I promise, please do that

Score: 8

"Uh,"

submission: Is There Anybody Out There ?

date: May 29, 2008

So... is that a real guitar or one of those sampled instruments you usually get with most audio programs? It sure sounds like it's sequenced- mostly because it's clear as hell compared to an average recording, and it hits the 16th notes perfectly, so either you completely quantisized the note sequence of a sampled instrument, or you played a guitar in perfect rhythm with the exact same velocity on every note, with no fret noises or ghost notes at all, which would be very unrealistic- this is not important, forgive my brambling, I'm just curious after seeing your previous response.

This take is mostly sweet- great clarity on the guitar, as well as the bell-y synth and strings, but watch that master volume slider, I'm pretty sure I hear a bunch of clipping spread through the song (Which is a real downer considering how great it'd sound without the clipping- it's easy to fix though, and I recommend you do asap;)

Not much more to say than that. Maybe a little more reverb on the guitar would make it a lot awesomer? Otherwise it's great, and mostly sounds like a completed track. Good work!

Score: 6

"bleh"

submission: Through the Fire&Flames(Piano)

date: May 29, 2008

Not going to write my opinion about dragonforce here, it would probably make the review abusive anyway ;P

Well the first thing that strikes me is the pretty terrible sound of both instruments- piano sounds basically muddy, nothing more to say about it than that. Strings sound like they're compressed to hell. "Clarinet" does not sound like a clarinet

The other thing is this song doesn't fit piano at all- surely it would sound much more like piano if you replaced some of the repeated 8th and 16th chords with longer notes, and some of the solos with chord progressions, it would sound a lot more like what a pianist would actually want to play. I'm sure some pianist could play this piece, but it sure as hell isn't realistic.

The part starting at 4:01 could be played on guitar easily, but if somebody were to play that on piano, that person could look forward to having arthritis in near future. Same with the very end. It's just way too close to the original with the notes sequencing.

But meh. You can't edit this song anymore (and I doubt you would if that was possible anyway) so whatever

Score: 9

"awe"

submission: SysRq-Resolute

date: May 29, 2008

That piano + sound effect is promising- combined with the lenght and mood of the beginning, it looks like it's either going to grow into something massive or float away as the calm, drawnout ambient piece it started as. Very wonderful and clear piano, sweet chilled out wind effects as well.

I don't like the drums at all- I think it'd sound a lot much better without the distortion. It's kinda, you know, distorting the whole piece and just doesn't fit the mood of the song. In my opinion of course. Keep the filter effect, since that one's just a cool effect that spices it up.

Meh to the pwm/saw ish thing, it's a bit too basic to me. Filter a bit or play with whichever awesometastic effects you have. Or you could roll like me and reverb it to the skies :P

Awesome, congas. You might as well want to let those shine at some place in the song too, it would be very very awesome. Same with the tiny little bell and other instruments, they do a lot to the song and should be emphasised when they play.

Main problem is the drums, just get rid of the distortion and it will be a great piece to relax to.

Great work! I lov'd!

Score: 9

"hey man"

submission: ** Universe **

date: May 23, 2008

Haha awesome, new Norwegian musicians join like once a week now. Niiiiice. :)

What really got me into this song was the tabla- I feel it usually helps a lot adding ethnic percussion to this kind of mellow stuff. It really helps washing away that "amateur" sound as well as adding depth to the entire song. You seem to like reverb too. Lovely. Nice and punchy drums as well, the kick is a tad thin, but it still works out nicely. I love how you vary the patterns, hihat patterns were damn nice actually.

Strings are amazing- the sound of 'em mixes perfectly with the rest of the arrangement. What I'd really like to see to it would be if you intensified them towards a climax at the end of the song. Add a lane with the same chords, one octave higher, towards the very end and you could get some real dramatic stuff going on! Right now the end feels really anticlimactic, which is truly a disappointment.

Bass works out well, it's a very delicate yet simple sound that adds a lot of bottom. But really, try boosting the low frequencies of it quite a bit, 'cause I could really imagine the bass turning into an ear-punching piece of awesome. There's plenty of room in the sound spectrum- there aren't any other low frequencies there at all.

The main turnoff was the guitar/lead- it really sounds like some thin slayer stuff. Almost ear-piercing, one could say. I suggest you use a nice clean synth instead. Or some other guitar samples. I don't quite know. Piano sounds a bit thin as well, I imagine eq boosting the lower middle frequencies would fatten it up at least a little.

Great debut song! I really enjoyed it. Refreshing. Just get rid of that thin guitar synth and I'll absolutely love it ;)

Score: 7

"Hellooooooooooo"

submission: _The Escape_

date: May 21, 2008

They say good things come to those who wait, so I hope you'll enjoy my amazingly late review.

The beginning is promising. The pad is a bit raw, I'd suggest you to slap a wee little low pass filter on it for a smoother, more pleasant sound. Reverb should do great too. The small details and sfx add a great lot of depth, don't be afraid to pump the tune full of them.

It's weird how it changed so abruptly from the mellow beginning to a typical cheesy tune - seriously, detuned saws with a basic four on the floor for a beat - I mean, it works, but so many songs are built around those two elements. It's misleading though, it changes FAST into something more enjoyable. And that's good (watch out for the off-tempo drums at the 1:00-1:02 transition, a very minor flaw).

Cool, some new part now- a weird kick drum and a plunky little synth bass introducing a piano. Perfectly balanced reverb, I'd say- not too much, but enough to make the original sound a lot richer. Nice. What's up with 1:42-1:44 though? O.o

Then it wanders around a bit, alternating between the different part while still keeping the decent flow.

It's a pretty good song, it's just a lot of minor things that could need improvements:
- Work on the transitions - especially in the beginning- at some parts there's a noticeable silent area between parts that disturb the flow of the track
- Mixing - It isn't exactly clipping, but there sure is some peaking around. Did you put a compressor on the master track or something? Drag some of the master volume sliders down, and it will sound much better.
- The detuned saw synth - it just sounds incredibly generic. :) Try adding just a bit more filtering, chorus or reverb, preferably all of them.

Note that I am overly picky when reviewing and mainly focus on where to improve. It surely was an overall enjoyable tune with a lot of potential. Good work!