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[*DJ-P* Close]

Fine review

Intro is empty. Try to introduce with kick and bass. Try spending some time on the bass.

Clap rhythm was unnatural. Try using claps on 2 and 4 rather than on the offbeats. Bass sounds like boobase rather than a resonance pluck or sawtooth that is usually appropriate for trance. It seems to harmonize well, though.

The lead needs to be brought out more and moved up an octave. Its too low and too quiet. There needs to be more variety in the melody to keep interest.

The instruments are very quiet, and the painful rhythm sorta hurts. Its very, very repetitive. A good trance song has an intro that's DJ friendly, and then drops the energetic rhythm, and builds back up to an epic climax. That's the main point of trance.

Here are some good NG trance artists to learn elements from:
Pulstate (he's pro now)
Karco
Endlessnumber

They all do a great job of building up, and using the elements of trance well. Pulstate particularly excels at pretty much all elements. Karco is better at the macro arrangement, and Endlessnumber is good at melodic work and repetitive-styled arrangement. I'd advise that you check them all out to get a feel for the "point" of trance.

Just keep working and learning. You will improve. Try to learn music theory, so you know all about key and chords. Try to learn about processing drums so they are phat and punchy, and try to learn about arrangement so its like an auditory journey.

Could use some work, but good for a beginner. Synths were generally nice for someone at your level. 7/10, 5/5 (because everyone loves 5s, and everyone gets 0d).

DJ-Prodigy responds:

Thank you very much for the review and references!

I will definitely check out those artists and try and learn from them!

Thank you for all the advice!!!

[[GF]PGE2008[GF]]

Ace!

Great trance track! Beginning is a beat weak, I'm more of a purist type, so breakbeats are hard to appreciate.

The build is beautiful! Breaks powerfully, but the stutters aren't like I'd want them to be. Sounds a bit like Blake Reary, actually. It works in his House tracks, but doesn't really fit. The lyrics aren't has good as I'd want from a vocal trance track. I love the melody though. If you are going to use lyrics, try to get something from Armin van Buuren, his lyrical tracks rule!

Overall, this was a nice listen! Good job!

GroundForce responds:

thx for this review and for the hint about Armin van Buuren! (^^)b

[GF]

[Grave Rave]

XD Breaks

Nice use of my drums! if you want to get rid of the second hit on the highhat, either turn up the slicing, or simply decrease the note length of the hihat in the piano roll.

Reese could use some work. It feels like 2 detuned saws, and that's all. It wasn't growly, morphy, or anything. Try to work on that, with distortion, modulation, filtering, etc. Eventually, you will be able to get a really nice reese.

Nice job, 10 for using my breaks XD

New-Milkman responds:

Alright, I'll work on reeces a little more, because it IS jsut 2 detuned saws with a little bit of EQ'ing. Glad you like what I did with the drums, I personally thought they might be a little basic.

And a 10 for using your breaks?! >:D

Lolz.

[{SD} - Tempest]

Where's the energy?

I'm reviewing this song based on your thread, about how you were one of the top 10 artists on Newgrounds.

I need to say... WHERE'S THE FUCKING ENERGY?! This is a trance song, right? Well, trance songs aren't just the leads! In fact, there is only one thing really important in trance (PvD proved this) and that is building up tension and breaking it with energy. It is what makes the songs dancefloor friendly. This song just has a bunch of overly exaggerated z3ta presets with a melody, and a piano. Its not what trance is.

Please, though, before saying how good your music is, compare it to professional pieces. I somehow doubt that Karco would give his approval to this... whatever. Anyways, it was better than the majority of NG, but not good based on what you implied in that thread of yours.

ShirkDeio responds:

In my thread, I mentioned that I doubted that my songs would stay so high forever. They were up high because they didn't have many votes, so it wasn't the most acurate rating, but I thought it was cool that I had so many songs so high in the rankings.

This song was meant to have rhythm, not energy. Some songs will have energy, and other songs will not. This is one that keeps a steady rhythm throughout.

Finally, Karco not only told me, and I quote "Newgrounds will like this," but he also told me to call it a Trance song. If you don't believe me, ask him. He's been helping me out since my first song, and I'm greatful to him for his help :D

Thanks for reviewing, though :)

[Android Combat (Full)]

Nice

Reese is fucking sick. Amazing, reminds me of Ed Rush and Optical, old skool stuff, like Wormhole.

Anyways, the drums were lacking. They need more punch. You could send me the Reese sample and I could throw some heavy beats over it. That'd be sick.

Anyways, get some better drum samples, and process. Compression + Digital Clipping is your friend. Also, light distortion doesn't hurt, and the punch lies at 200 hz, so EQ up there.

Reese is fucking sick, though. Keep it up!

Quarl responds:

They arn't drum samples. I build them using the instruments in garage band. Also, processing? Can garage band even do that?

Thanks for the comments on the reese though. Took me a lot of fudging around to figure out how to get it to sound like that.

[Penpen]

0 Voting...

Maybe they couldn't hear anything? It's a bit quiet.

It sounds like MIDI. MIDI sounds like noobish to people, so they will vote 0.

I can barely hear it, so I can't really critique it. Try using a real program next time, like FL Studio, or Reason, or even Cubase (use teh google).

It wasn't bad, though. I didn't hear any dissonance anywhere, so I'll give a 6, and vote 4.

mkron responds:

thanks, its supposed to sound poppy and midi based. however, whats your problem with dissonances?
anyway, thanks for listening!

[Quantum Laboratory]

Sick!

I like that first synth. It's really sounding cool!

Drums are glitched nicely, there's a bit too much reverb on the snare. You should pull a Phil Collins, resample the snare, and chop off the reverb tail. Hoover is a bit sudden, and plays the octaves too high up. You should use a lower octave. It's also a Sytrus preset... Try using a real hoover sample next time :P

I like the melodies that happen later in the song. It sounds really cool, and you get really nice reverb sounds there. The drums feel a bit too intense, and need a bit more high end, more texture, you know?

Overall, this was an interesting song! I liked it! Keep it up man! 9/10, 5/5

Suspended-3rd-Chord responds:

haha a phil collins snare is a great idea XD

drums are probably too intense, i probably shouldnt put a phaser on the entire kit and EQ it better indeed. I'll try using a hoover sample next time :D

anyways, thanks a lot for the intelligent review! I'll take your advice into consideration next time.

[Joowna - Glitchy Evening (prev]

Not Drum and Bass

VEC Presets do not make drum and bass. Nor do crappy res basses. Listen to some pro drum and bass. It's all about the drums and the bass (which my friend aptly described as "eating his head").

The glitching is ok, and works, I guess. There's a lot of dissonance, though. Try to iron that stuff out!

Not bad for glitch, but not drum and bass. Period.

Joowna responds:

ok, will try some more research :D

thx for the review

[Twilight-Dreaming (Remix)]

Nice One

Great song, it's really nice. Quality isn't too good, but the melody is nice. Try using something other than a synth guitar. It really doesn't work IMO. I mean, the melody is nice, try making a synth or something for it.

not bad, 8/10

JakesFable responds:

Allright ill try doing that, Thanks alot ;)

[Hellwars]

Not bad.

Reminds me of runescape wilderness music XD Speaking of Runescape, I should really download that music again.

Anyways, it wasn't bad, a bit short. It had some nice moments there, when the chords lined up.. they only did sometimes. It had a nice atmosphere. 8/10

JakesFable responds:

Thank you very much man this review was really apreiciated ;)