Decibel's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[ReMotion (prev) - Kr1z & F-777]

Amazing :')

Nice Job Guys, You Really Impressed Me this time =D Some Amazing Songs on here, too bad I can't buy them =/
Anyway, 10/10 Definitely!
[deciBel]

F-777 responds:

Thanks so much! Contact me if you want to help promote it
to get a free album =).

[Pulstate (DJQ & LT Original)]

Starts off Very Well :)

It's intro is extremely house, and people classify according to first impressions, so I'd leave the genre classification as it is.
Anyway, It starts off with a steady, danceable beat, the only thing I don't like is that hat-line, it just doesn't speak to me, the hats themselves don't sound very good.
Fills are pretty good, They're original and stuff, etcetera. The fade-ins/fade-outs sound painful and stuff =/ But it's still a preview so I understand.
The rest is excellent, It's amazing how you managed to incorporate that house, klaas-ish melody into the trance scene, I absolutely love it!
Anyway, looking forward to the full version =)
9/10
5/5
[deciBel]

DJ-Qwamii responds:

Maybe you were referring to the perc stabs? Cause the real hi hats weren't included in this preview. Anyways, thank you for the thorough review!

[p4c - Trial and Error (Loop)]

You're Back? :P

First of all, Welcome back to the audio community, Haven't seen you in a while, glad to see you're back =)

Anyway Technical Stuff :

Overall, It's a nice loop, it loops almost perfectly apart from that little bit of static-ish sound at the end. The main synth is Ok, it just needs a bit of tweaking, and needs to be slightly louder. And the bells here and there were a nice touch, Good Job^^
The Percussion was very nice, sounded deadmau5-y, which n other words, is professional generic :P
Another Problem was that I found the melodic elemnts slightly random, You could have made a sustained string chord in the background and used another synth to make a full melody..
9/10
5/5
Definitely something worth working on.

[deciBel]

p4c responds:

yup, here i am! i've been really busy with school and stuff, but im scraping time here and there.

the looping was just a way to present this wip, so im not at all concerned about that :)

i agree with the percussion point. a lot. im trying to find ways to distinguish the style from other proghouse performers, but its tough ;) my more extreme ideas sometimes sound okay, but they never feel as polished. i have a lot of stems now of tracks that are sonically out there, but i always run into walls on how to effectively develop and refine them. ill work on it!

the melodic elements are not regularly timed, this is true. i think that the issue is that there isn't a lot of details to make the listener able to detect the meter easily. perhaps a more sophisticated percussive line or other instruments that play at regular intervals would help.

thanks for the feedback!

[~Alfa~ Beyond]

Teh review....

Intro : Very nice everything blends it well and gives the old school euphoric trance feeling. The fades in are good and it didn't slow down the process of the intro. The amount of bass in it got my subwoofer smiling and when the kick in comes it's just amazing, Very soothing yet energetic, which leads me to the next part of the review.

Body of Song : I liked it actually, In fact I'd have to say this is one of your best trance songs so far, The blend of instruments was very nice and the lead bell thing fit in, but at the same being very put of the ordinary, and The plucks were very nice, They added not only depth but also energy to the whole song.

Outro : Just wow, You ended with a climax of all the instruments playing together, Making a subtle yet influential chord to end the 7-minutes. Not much else to say about it, It's a song ending so I already commented on the other stuff.

Melodies : Not Bad, the melodies were quite dark, I actually loved them!
The pluck melodies were very good. If not slightly cliche.
That little voice-y thing you got going on was awesome, although I would suggest making it slightly louder, because the melody really complimented the lead an then led to a crescendo.

Drums : Not much to say on drums, But I'll do what I can.\
The beginning started off with a 4 by 4 kick, generic, but it couldn't have gone any other way, then when that clap comes in, it doesn't sound very good, it's like it's lowpassed and faded out, any way, that could use some work too.
The hi hats were good to, but the hats themselves weren't the best, I'd suggest using the VEC3 Hi-hats if these aren't them.

Overall : 9/10 and 5/5 this song is beautiful and has a lot of potential, Keep working on it because it's amazing!

Hope I helped!

[deciBel]

aliaspharow responds:

Thanks dude! I think you are right about the drums, they will need revising. Your review is very appreciated.

[~Alfa~ Faith (Rough)]

Classica Trance at its best!

I liked this, It reminded me of the first trance songs I used to listen to so basically not much to criticize here.

The melodies were good, despite it's length, this song, is listenable, don't take it the wrong way, It means interesting :P

The only thing that bothered me was that it seems as if it's highpassed all the way through, which isn't good, I'm afraid.

And Also, Nice touch on the flanger, I like =D

aliaspharow responds:

Sorry. I do love me some highpass ^^

[DJ YouKraine - House'd 2]

Review...

Piano :

First of all the piano is immensely repetetive, like, very repetetive that a person couldn't stand it.
Then, the technicalities, the piano itself is wayy too loud and overpowers the rest of the stuff in the beginning, and also, mixing much? I would suggest decreasing the bass and middle, adding some reverb, and then adding a delay effect with the delay at 0.5 seconds, then lower the volume and add a stereo enhancer.

Then the lead, the lead itself isn't bad cuz it IS house-y but it would stand to be decreased from the volume a little too.

Then the melody, I can't say melodieS because there's oly one in each instrument/synth, I would suggest adding some more melodies to keep interesting and bounce-y, so to speak.

The drums, not bad but very generic, so they need work too.

All in all, not bad, just needs a lot of work, but keep building on it, the idea's there.

And also, I'm trying to HELP, so don't answer me arrogantly just cuz you don't agree with me, this is MY input, and not anyone else's.

[deciBel]

6/10
5/5

PM me if you build on this...

You-Kraine responds:

THANK YOU (for your review!)
its really helpful.
But i think i won't work on it.
But thanks !

[TI:.Empty Void]

Not bad

Piano melody isn;t bad, just extremely repetetive, it could use another two bars in it, but the mixing of it wasn't bad, just decrease the reverb slightly.
The hat-snare-hat thing..... oh the hat-snare hat thing, Not only is it extremely generic but doesn't fit at all with the piano, both the drums themselves and the drum beats need a makeover, seriously.
The kick, frankly, is just a basic sequencer kick in my opinion.
The plucks weren;t bad, but, like the piano were repetetive.

Stick to dance......

7/10
5/5
[deciBel]

TIMarbury responds:

Thanks for the informative response. I probably will stick to dance in the end unless i start playing around with fixing this which I'm not sure i want to. I know i can do better than this honestly and i take your critiques seriously. thanks

[[Invalid.Parameters] - DJRM]

Hmm....

The white noise and randoms sounds in the beginning made a pretty good intro, although I found the white noise to get more and more annoying towards the end.
I found this to be extremely repetetive, it had no melodic elements, no climax, nothing, just some sound slapped on some white noise......
The samples themselves weren't bad, the random hits here and there were nice but that kick is horrible, Fruity Kick much?

Well, I'll give you a 7 for the effort, but fix this, more melodic elements, better drums, not just a 4/4 kick and remove some of the white noise.....

Good Luck!

[deciBel]

7/10
4/5

RobMagic responds:

Thanks for your input. There are no samples though this was all made in 3xOsc and Sytrus.

[Orchestral Idea #1]

Well.....

Review Start :

Since it's a WIP I can't judge it directly in everything, so I have to be honest and fair.I can picture this song in a movie, in the beginning and whatnot, it sounds cinematic, has a movie feel to it, you get the drill. Yes, as you said in the author's comments, this is orchestral, but I disagree with you, you're actually very good in this, if you extend it, add some SS54 epicness and squeeze in some rock drums and a lot of string chords, this would be an instant classical great!

Now for the technicalities :
Drums :

I can't judge much on drums since there's only a few hits here and there to fill and make it sound deeper, but the drums themselves sounded good quality-wise, you didn't overuse them and you inserted them in just the right places, which is a win ^^

Instruments :

Instruments, hmmmm, well there's a good enough balance of instruments, not too much that you can't follow, but not too little that you get bored listening to the song, so points for that too.
The sounds themselves were very clear, but that's JUST E/W :P

Melodies :

The melodies were pristine, they had so much emotion in them, the piano chords were very well chosen out, they incorporated a 'something's gonna happen' feel and they compliment the other instruments.
The strings weren't bad at all, they came in elegantly and blended well with the environment of the whole song.
The brass was my favourite though, it sounded great, so much feeling, such elegance, an EPIC WIN man!
The only problem in this was that the brass stopped, it sounded like it stopped in half of the melody, it felt like it needed at least 2 more bars of melody.

Intro and Outtro :

Oh, got me there ......

......Nope. nothing to say :P

Overall :

Very Nice, I understand it's a WIP so I won't critique on anything else until the full version comes out, which it will :)
Continue on it, I have a good feeling about this one =D

9/10
5/5
>DJ<

Step responds:

Yay, another amazing review by you!

"Since it's a WIP I can't judge it directly in everything, so I have to be honest and fair."

Fair enough.

"I can picture this song in a movie, in the beginning and whatnot, it sounds cinematic, has a movie feel to it, you get the drill."

That's good right? xD.

"Yes, as you said in the author's comments, this is orchestral, but I disagree with you, you're actually very good in this, if you extend it, add some SS54 epicness and squeeze in some rock drums and a lot of string chords, this would be an instant classical great!"

Well I suppose I'm not too bad at orchestral, but that's probably because I have such good sounds. I'm way better at trailer-score and stuff.

I was thinking about adding rock drums, but I decided against it. I want this to be purely orchestral if I ever continue it.

"Now for the technicalities :"

Cool.

"Drums :

I can't judge much on drums since there's only a few hits here and there to fill and make it sound deeper, but the drums themselves sounded good quality-wise, you didn't overuse them and you inserted them in just the right places, which is a win ^^"

Heh, if I used Stormdrum on this I'd blow you away :P. But yeah, the percussion was just a quick thing.

"Instruments :

Instruments, hmmmm, well there's a good enough balance of instruments, not too much that you can't follow, but not too little that you get bored listening to the song, so points for that too.
The sounds themselves were very clear, but that's JUST E/W :P"

Yeah xP.

"Melodies :

The melodies were pristine, they had so much emotion in them, the piano chords were very well chosen out, they incorporated a 'something's gonna happen' feel and they compliment the other instruments."

Cool, thank you! I might add some more piano if I ever continue this.

"The strings weren't bad at all, they came in elegantly and blended well with the environment of the whole song."

Yep I like the strings I did in this :D.

"The brass was my favourite though, it sounded great, so much feeling, such elegance, an EPIC WIN man!"

Wow, thanks! That's a solo French Horn.

"The only problem in this was that the brass stopped, it sounded like it stopped in half of the melody, it felt like it needed at least 2 more bars of melody."

Hence 'WiP' :P.

"Intro and Outtro :

Oh, got me there ......

......Nope. nothing to say :P"

I am elated.

"Overall :

Very Nice, I understand it's a WIP so I won't critique on anything else until the full version comes out, which it will :)
Continue on it, I have a good feeling about this one =D"

I'll think about continuing it, but like I said, this is just something I did to let out some inspiration.

Thanks a lot for the amazing review!

[Chaoz Fantasy Rock/Orch.]

Review

Review Start :

Now first off, this song has been remixed by probably hundreds of people on NG, many in my opinion are very nice, some have original melody, some are so wierd that you can't help but listen to it a million times and review, but very few songs have the originality that this one has, nice job steph.

Intro :

The delayed Reverse cymbal in my opinion was horrible, just remove the delay and add some reverb, and remove all the bass from it if possible.
The Piano wasn't half bad, it sounded amazing, and you nailed the melody but I feel you started off too quickly, you should have added a decent intro, not just reverse cymbal and Boom, that's it.
And also, I think you should have added the melody in a higher octave and decreased the velocity, make it half the lower melody.
That guitar, Oh my goodness, so good, it just makes me smile, I's just, WOW.
I love the way you made it that there's a riff every once in a while to keep interesting.

Build-Up :
Spectacular, the drums in it were wonderful, very professionally made and the quality is awesome, stormdrum is just lovely.
Oh yeah, the main melody just hit me, new paragraph....

Middle :
Very Nice, the volume was just right and it varied a lot, it kept it interesting without losing the flavour of the original song.
A lot of different instruments but it was easy to keep up with, It just feels right, as said before.
I can hear woodwinds I think, It could be cuz I'm on my laptop and it has sucky sound which is why i have poor judgement on sounds at the moment :/
The drums weren't anything special, yes I read the author's comments and yes, I know you said you weren't good at fast drums, but you could have tried a little harder IMHO, That open hat doesn't sound right if it's played a lot, i suggest you make it that there's a hi-hat every eighth, so that it's moderate but adds a new element.

Solo :

Awesomesauce, those are some tasty guitar riffs, Pure-Metal did a kickass job on this, it just sounds so good, yes there are some wrong notes (keep the crappy speakers thing in mind) but it was sooo good.
I liked especially the drums in it, they were so nice, just smooth flowing, good quality, original and professionally made.

Instruments :

Nice Flow of instruments, very nice quality and very good choice, all in all the instruments were amazing, especially the strings and guitars, I loved those a lot, nice job.

Drums :
The drums were very good quality and there were a lot of different drum beats, it kept it interestin, which makes me hear the song time after time, what can I say? I'm a drum lover :3

Structure :

Very nice, original and the transitions were fantabolous (lawl, strange words FTW)

Clipping :

Ouch :P, I hear some clipping here and there, but that's a problem that can be dealt with easily.

Overall :

Amazing! Some small imperfections here and there, but still an amazing song, a definite Top 30!

That's it, my longest review, I haven't done a good one in a while and I'm happy that I did this =D
Nice Job, I look forward to hearing both remixes and originals from you, Killer Job!

9//10

5//5

>DJ<

Step responds:

Whoa dude, massive detailed review! Really appreciate that the first review I ever got on this song is one as helpful as this one, so thanks a million.

Glad you think this remix is original. You know how obsessed I am with originality. If I ever make a generic song, then you can rest assured that I've lost my mind.

Hm, yeah, the intro I did isn't one of my best. Don't know why you don't like the reverse cymbal, I kind of like the way it echoes for a while; gives it a more epic sound. But whatever.

Also regarding how you think it should be started a little better, heck, that's how the original starts :P. And about that thing you mentioned about adding another octave to the piano and making the higher notes' velocity lower... funny thing is, I *did* do that in quite a few parts of the song. You fail xP.

I'm happy you like the guitar. It has a variety of different riffs thanks to Pure-Metal-UTA. Before it used to be just two different patterns - power chords and a very simple rhythm of quick guitar strums. Pure-Metal-UTA went and varied the riffs so much more.

You think the drums are good? Well thanks!

As for the volume, yeah I did spend quite a while trying to get it right, and yeah, in some occasions of the song I used loads of instruments, and at one point I had kicks, snares, cymbals, toms, bass pedals, a French horn, violin staccatos, a piano, a cello, a guitar and orchestral drums all playing at the same time. D:
No woodwinds though :P.

Hm, first you said the drums were good now you're complaining about them. Mind = confused. Also, don't know why the open hat sounds weird when played a lot, and I *did* add a hi-hat every eighth, and a very soft hi-hat every sixteenth, so don't know what you mean about the drums, sorry xP.

Glad you liked the solo, Pure-Metal-UTA sure did a great job on it! I can't hear any wrong notes though, it's probably your speakers. The drums are Stormdrum's orchestral drums and then an old drum beat I made layered on top of it :3.

I'm really happy you think the instruments are well chosen. I just love mixing rock with orchestral.

Wait now you say the drums are good again? Mind = blown.

I'm not usually that good at song structure, so I tried to keep mostly to the structure of the original, but added a few parts here and there, gave some sections more emphasis (such as the solo which doesn't stand out as much as I would've wanted it to in the original), etc... The transitions are good because I'm good at transitions, simple as that :3.

Yep, the song clips. Sowwy :(.

Anyhow, that's one of the longer responses I've done in a while. Sorry that I couldn't do my usual way of responding to large reviews; copy and paste it into my response, quote it and answer it piece by piece. Your review is just too big to paste into the response and have enough space to respond to :P. But yeah, thanks a lot for it, it's really helpful. Honoured to receive your longest review!