Score: 9

"Awesome musicianship."

submission: Lounge Act

date: February 12, 2008

You belong to the most brutally underestimated musicians here on Newgrounds, there is absolutely no reason people keep giving you these low scores.

The fact that this song had a voting of 1.xx (before I voted, that is) is proof that the audio rating system here on Newground is a fraud. With cheap-ass trance songs and absolutely monotonous video game tunes scoring the first places here on the portal, one should really think the system over again.

About the tune:
The composition is really suiting and coherent. You could really imagine this as a soundtrack for some lounge or as a background for a shopping mall or elevator. It has this absolute relaxed and positive flair to it, which I really like.
The guitar gives a nice background fundament to the song, along with the very neat processed drums. The organ does a neat thing to the atmosphere, it really contributes a lot to the character of the tune.
What really stands out is the bass work. The bass is absolutely brilliant on this tune. It has just the right amount of leading the tune melodically, but also stays true to its function as rhythmical fundament. Brilliant!

As I said, you're brutally undererstimated. Perhaps you should download Fruity Loops and make fourteen techno songs a day, I'd imagine you'd be first place in an instant ;-)!

@the review below me:
Yes. Low master volume justifies a rating of 4/10. It's all about master volume. May I now instantly love Manowar, because they have the highest master volume of all? If I record a sound of me shitting and turn the volume up that much that your speakers break, will you rate me 10?

Score: 8

"Good. Not amazing, not bad."

submission: Back to Calmness

date: January 18, 2008

Your song somehow reminds me of the opening theme for Ocarina of Time. That's not necessarily a bad point.

The piano part is very well done. It has a nice progress to it and plays an excellent lead for the songs' arrangement.

The violin is something which I personally think is somewhat improvable. Other than the not-so-realistic sampling (and heck, I know how difficult sampling a violin is, so that's not necessarily a weak point), the melody isn't quite what I call easy to follow. Here is much room for improvement. A catchy, memorable melody could really improve the songs overall quality.

The strings support the atmosphere of the song pretty well, widen the arrangement and create depth.

All in all, the song is very calm and soothing. The instrumentation and mixing is well done, but not spectacular. If you'd tweak the melody a bit and improve a thing or two, it would really be much better and an absolutely stunning work. Right now, it's only 'good'. But still, much better than most of the tunes you'll find here.

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Das Stück erinnert mich stark an das Opening von Ocarina of Time, was aber nicht unbedingt negativ ist.

Die Klavierspur ist dir sehr gut gelungen, sie hat einen schönen Verlauf und führt das Stück sehr gut an.

Die Geige persönlich gefällt mir wieder nicht so gut. Das Sampling könnte hier besser sein. Aber ich weiß, wie schwer Geigen zu samplen sind, daher ist das nicht unbedingt ein großer Kritikpunkt. Die Melodie, die sie spielt, ist schlecht nachvollziehbar - und bleibt einfach nicht im Ohr hängen. Hier ist viel Raum nach oben, wenn du eine richtige Ohrwurmmelodie zauberst, kann sie das Stück wunderbar tragen und den Zuhörer fesseln.

Die Streicher unterstützen die Stimmung des Lied sehr gut, sie machen das Arrangement allgemein flächiger und erschaffen ein Gefühl von 'Tiefe'.

Alles in allem ist dieses Stück sehr ruhig und besänftigend. Instrumentation und Mixing sind dir sehr gut gelungen, wenn es auch kein besonders außergewöhnliches Stück ist. Wenn du ein oder zwei Sachen verbessern würdest und dem Song noch eine sehr ohrwurmlastige Melodie verpassen würdest, würde sich dies nur positiv niederschlagen und dies zu einem wirklich beeindruckenden Werk machen. Jetzt ist der Song leider nur 'gut'. Dennoch weit besser als der Durchschnitt hier auf Newgrounds.

Score: 5

"Nice arrangement, awful guitars."

submission: CR34T10N

date: September 4, 2007

Please, why is everybody using these malicious Slayer-VST-FL-Studio-guitars? If you ever listened to rock music you would notice that they do NOT in any way sound like real guitars but like synthesizer bullshit. No offense.

The arrangement and composition is okay - up to a certain point, not superb, but okay. The drums are a bit monotonous, a bit variation would be helpful.

The song quality really decreases rapidly at 01:46. Instead of variating your song with new riffs or melodies, you keep adding really cheaply sounding synthesizers - they seep completely out of place in a song which is supposed to sound like rock. This can especially be seen at 03:16 when this really cheap Sytrus preset lead synthesizer plays alone. Use something more quiet and delightful here, a piano, perhaps a clean guitar or harp - but not these awfully cheap VST presets.

Variation and better instrumentation are the keywords here. The song isn't bad, just not good executed. You have the talent to do so, so search for some guitar players and keep rocking :)

Score: 0

"You haven't made the song? Why's it here then?"

submission: Oblivion.

date: September 4, 2007

Usually you read the rules before submitting.

"When you submit your audio, please be aware:

* You are making the legal claim that it is your own original work.
* Loops you made from existing copyrighted songs are not your own original work.
* If your submission is not your own original work, you will be placed on a rejection list and held responsible for any repercussions.
* You will remain the owner and credited author of the submission.
* If this is your first time contributing to the Audio Portal, you will have to be approved before your submissions are made available publicly (it's a quick process)."

Score: 9

"Very neat playing!"

submission: Day in The City

date: August 30, 2007

This song works very well as a guitar instrumental. I quite like the amount of wah-wah you used here :). It's a neat, yet very shot rock song.

The melodies are pretty nice, too. I like the change of mood in 0:36. Certainly not bad.

I also could image this song with vocals. Add a nice rock voice to it and you would have your next world hit ;).

The only flaw in my ears is the something static drum line - and the lead guitar could be a bit louder.

But seriously, it's a great song. Definately one of the best here :)

Score: 4

"Okay composition, bad instrument quality"

submission: Guitar Vs. Piano 1.2

date: August 30, 2007

I seriously can't see how thing song is able to get that high a scoring here. It sure as hell isn't a bad composition, I find the song itself only to be completely ruined by it's way too artificial instruments.

First of all, the composition may be not bad, but it's certainly not good. There is little rhythmic variance, the guitar almost plays (with exceptions) notes with the same duration - and the monotonous drum scheme only contributes to that. There a little to no surprises, the listener knows exactly what to expect.

The next point is the lack of other instruments. Of course, this song is called Guitar vs. Piano - and you have these two lead instruments in the foreground. But a simple bass instrument would have helped a lot. Right now it sounds like two instruments playing somewhat random notes without structure.

Let's get to the main point of criticism. What ruins the song for me is the guitar. As a guitar player, the sound hurts my ears. It's just that no matter how much effort you put in it, you can't simulate or sample a guitar. Abandon all your software samplers, vst instruments or plugins when it comes to electric guitars and get yourself a good guitar player. There are enough. Nothing can make a song sound bad like an artificial guitar - and especially that Slayer thing which comes with Fruity Loops. Also, the way it's played is very uncommon for a guitar, it does sound like some techno-ish / chiptune music to me, not necessarily something that would fit to a guitar.

The piano quality is okay, it suits this song well, way too much reverb for a 'normal' piano - but right here, it works.

What could you do to improve the song?
It's quite simple: Redo the song, this time add some structure to it. Add some variation to the drum scheme. It lacks overall depth, think about better samples here. Write the guitar line so that it fits with an actual instrument - and search someone to play it for you.

I don't mean to offend you, you're not a bad musician, certainly not. But you definately have to make your music sound less artificial and add a human touch for it. Or make 'real' electronic music, which also works. But don't cross borders here.

Keep it up :).

Score: 4

"Needs improvement."

submission: Every Day

date: August 29, 2007

This song surely needs improvement.
Although the main idea is somewhat okay, it's a some kind of technical mess. Don't get me wrong, you have talent, but you ruin the song with it's recording quality.

Let's start with the guitars. The rhythm guitar is, despite being complete off-beat at times, okay. It could use a bit more depth, though.

The lead guitar is overly distorted and generally of bad quality. You should really try and learn to make clean bends. It's often out-of-tune with the rhythm guitar and seems to be improvised and without structure. It also fights with the vocal line - both try to draw the listener's attention to them. That's why god invented solos ;). To keep the vocalist and the lead guitarist from attention.

The vocals have far too much reverb. The other instruments, however, don't have any. Sounds a bit weird to my ears. They need improvement. It sounds a bit like your not a very trained singer, let alone have taken singing lessons. If not, you definately should! It's worth a lot. If you have, don't give up. You definately have the talent and guts to make it.

Also, your song lacks drums (and bass?) completely. Definately one thing you should add.

Sorry if it sounds a bit harsh to you - I know how difficult to pull of it is. It's a good idea, but you still need improvement.

No offense, pal! Keep it up :)

Score: 7

"Good riffing, bad recording quality"

submission: Killed In Your Sleep

date: August 29, 2007

The riffing is well done, the different licks flow nicely. The leads contribute to the atmosphere of the song.
I like how you processed the drums, even though they still sound a bit articifal to me.

Still, you need to improve your guitar sound. It has absolutely no presence and no power. It's overly distorted, still distortion doesn't necessarily mean energy. If you improved that, mic-ed it better and improved your mixing it could be much better ;).