Reviews for There's Still Hope Left (

[sixflab]

I suppose I should review this

-Well if you look at the bright side of things the fact that you have so many (WIP)s just means that eventually you will have a whole lot of finished songs when just the right moment of musical realization comes to you. I find myself doing this same exact thing with most of the random chores or personal objectives I have. As long as you are making some sort of progress and not letting everything sit around and collect dust basically is what i'm trying to get across.

-It was very upbeat and spontaneous for a classical type of song. Not drab and slow like a lot of these random classical reincarnations that you see being created by people nowadays. Just the fact that it was faster paced really intrigued me and made me want to just keep listening to this over and over(faster songs seem to really be what I listen to most of the time). It was very crisp and clean sounding without clipping the sounds off from the instuments. Great choice of intro music.

-Ultimately what made the song as it is now was how you structured it though. Having the beginning come in slowly with the cymbals followed by the piano was pure genius. Just waiting to introduce the drums until the song progressed. It just had a completely continuous flow that just kept getting stronger and stronger. Even though you may think that the transition at 0:44 was lazy the drop off of sound allowed for a resurgence of the piano combined with bass hits. Even after that the volume increased and the melody became even more powerful that it was before. It did end quite abruptly though. A subtle letdown seemed to be in order for this.

-Even though I liked how the drums were first introduced and the additional resurgence of them after the first big transition I just felt they were stale and repetitive otherwise. While you had variation in them in the beginning they quickly became stagnant and continued to rinse and repeat the same pattern over and over. This being said they could use some work and be varied some.

-Overall you've done a good job with nurturing this baby of yours but it will take some time and effort before it can truly blossom into something more.

Step responds:

Hey, thanks for the awesome and big review :D.

"Well if you look at the bright side of things the fact that you have so many (WIP)s just means that eventually you will have a whole lot of finished songs when just the right moment of musical realization comes to you."

Heh, well I have loads of different WiP's not because I don't know how to continue them. I can easily spend a completely music-focused day and get every single idea I have (Against The Clock, Battle Theme, New Light, this, and many others I have waiting for me to finish them) with ease, but the problem is I don't have the time. I only make these WiP's so that the musical idea doesn't get locked in my head, since I'll end up forgetting it.

"I find myself doing this same exact thing with most of the random chores or personal objectives I have. As long as you are making some sort of progress and not letting everything sit around and collect dust basically is what i'm trying to get across."

Yeah, I agree with you on that.

"It was very upbeat and spontaneous for a classical type of song. Not drab and slow like a lot of these random classical reincarnations that you see being created by people nowadays."

I really really like Classical songs, although those songs like that don't really interest me either. I usually like the type of songs that Danman87 makes, especially Morning Adventure, Heart of the Winter and With Gun & Crucifix.

"Just the fact that it was faster paced really intrigued me and made me want to just keep listening to this over and over(faster songs seem to really be what I listen to most of the time)."

Same here xD. It's probably why I don't like making ambient :D.

"It was very crisp and clean sounding without clipping the sounds off from the instuments. Great choice of intro music."

Well I still have to admit that the EQing job I did here is terrible, although I'll fix that when this is finished.

"Ultimately what made the song as it is now was how you structured it though. Having the beginning come in slowly with the cymbals followed by the piano was pure genius. Just waiting to introduce the drums until the song progressed. It just had a completely continuous flow that just kept getting stronger and stronger."

That's exactly what I was aiming for :D.

"Even though you may think that the transition at 0:44 was lazy the drop off of sound allowed for a resurgence of the piano combined with bass hits. Even after that the volume increased and the melody became even more powerful that it was before."

Well OK, glad the transition over there is OK for you :). I suppose lazy sometimes works out xD.

"It did end quite abruptly though. A subtle letdown seemed to be in order for this."

It only ends like that because there's more to go :P.

"Even though I liked how the drums were first introduced and the additional resurgence of them after the first big transition I just felt they were stale and repetitive otherwise."

You're right, I'm definitely going to redo them.

"While you had variation in them in the beginning they quickly became stagnant and continued to rinse and repeat the same pattern over and over. This being said they could use some work and be varied some."

I'm not usually one to make drum beats repetitive in my songs; I really don't know what got into me xP.

"Overall you've done a good job with nurturing this baby of yours but it will take some time and effort before it can truly blossom into something more."

Agreed, I'll work on it in the summer along with the other ideas I have ^^.

Anyhow, thanks for the awesome and detailed review! :D

[GronmonSE]

Bananas in pijamas!

This sounds like the kind of song that would be played at a wedding or something. It's really happy.

I can't write a long-ass review like the other people, but I will tell one one thing. Lower the volumes or start compressing/limiting stuff, this sounds too loud in some parts IMO.

It's beautiful though. Love the melodies, appropriate drum beat, and good strings.

Keep it up.

Step responds:

Thank you :3.

I'm definitely going to lower the volumes. Or probably keep it as it is and EQ everything to infinity.

Yeah I get that 'really happy' thing a lot when I compose a song in a major. When I make one in a minor, it's all emo and sad, and in a major, it's impossibly happy.

Glad you liked the strings; definitely my best work with strings yet. Anyway, thanks for the great review, and don't worry if it's not a long-ass review, it's definitely longer than 95% of the reviews here on NG anyway :D. Thanks again!

[RogerBK]

Hi Stepha!!

Hey 'lil Wells, you have some nice skills huh. I liked the song, it has a great melody and it's pretty well executed, I liked the sound of the piano and the other instruments...

The piano did a great job together with the drums, it sounded great, I liked the back beat, it fitted really well to the whole song, I love listening to songs like this one, it has a nice melody, and it's very confortable to listen, the piano sounded great in the 0:47 part, I liked the variation of the melody, the whole song changed, what is great, since the same repetitive thing gets WAY TOO BORINGG...

Anyways, Steph (no more Stepha... xD), you did a great job, you have potential, kid, I wanna listen more songs from you, specially the final version of this one. Keep it up, and, make a big Author Response... :3

(Review Request Club)
Roger

Step responds:

Thanks for the review. You now get a big response :3.

"Hey 'lil Wells, you have some nice skills huh."

Thanks. More like luck rather than nice skills but I suppose my year and a half of making music wasn't for nothing xD.

"I liked the song, it has a great melody and it's pretty well executed, I liked the sound of the piano and the other instruments..."

People keep telling me the melody is good, even though one professional said it was uninteresting. You probably like the sound of the piano and the other instruments since they're all from East/West Symphonic Orchestra (minus the drums) which is a very good orchestral library.

"The piano did a great job together with the drums, it sounded great, I liked the back beat, it fitted really well to the whole song, I love listening to songs like this one, it has a nice melody, and it's very confortable to listen, the piano sounded great in the 0:47 part, I liked the variation of the melody, the whole song changed, what is great, since the same repetitive thing gets WAY TOO BORINGG..."

Wow, epic long sentence. While I don't really agree with you about the piano fitting with the drums, since the drums seem to be too rough and repetitive, thanks anyway. Yeah, the main purpose of this is to be easy to listen to, which is why I'm so fussy about that transition at 0:44. Hm, about 0:47, you're not the first one to like that part. I might make it better when I revisit this song. Also, I'm glad you liked the variation; I always make it a point not to make my songs repetitive at all, even though sometimes I fail to follow this point :D.

"Anyways, Steph (no more Stepha... xD), you did a great job, you have potential, kid, I wanna listen more songs from you, specially the final version of this one. Keep it up, and, make a big Author Response... :3"

Thanks a lot for the review! If you want I can PM you when I finish this :). Glad you liked the song, and I hope you like the big response :D.

[Decibel]

Beautiful

This is a very nice song, you really are getting better, these are very unique, although, you could change the style a bit, it's gettin' kinda routine, try techno or trance again, that would rock :D
The instruments were fabolous, I loved the way they all blend in with the whole 'happy' vibe, which brings me to a bad point, the name is kinda off-tune, if i may, this song IMO represent hapiness and triumph, not eager to succeed or, 'almost there',.
The percussion, disappointed me harshly, they were incredibly dry, which sucked. And they were a bit not fitting to the song.
Overall not bad, but needs work.
Nice job.
>Deejay<

Step responds:

"This is a very nice song, you really are getting better, these are very unique,"

I don't do generic songs :3.

"although, you could change the style a bit, it's gettin' kinda routine, try techno or trance again, that would rock :D"

Sorry, no techno and trance for a while. I know basically 90% of all NG members enjoy the 'unce unce' but I don't and I make what I want >:3. Although Against the Clock is a mix of Classical and Techno, so that way everyone wins :D.

"The instruments were fabolous, I loved the way they all blend in with the whole 'happy' vibe, which brings me to a bad point, the name is kinda off-tune, if i may, this song IMO represent hapiness and triumph, not eager to succeed or, 'almost there',."

Firstly, thanks, the instruments are East/West, as you know. Piano and strings fit so well together. Secondly, a name cannot be 'off-tune' xP. I don't know, for happiness and triumph I'd have more brass in here and it should be more powerful. I sort of think of a 'don't worry, not everything is lost' feel when I hear this song. Well besides, if you don't like the name, that doesn't mean you can't like the song.

"The percussion, disappointed me harshly, they were incredibly dry, which sucked."

They're dry on purpose, but yes, I have to admit they do suck...

"And they were a bit not fitting to the song."

True...

"Overall not bad, but needs work.
Nice job."

Well that's what I like to hear with my WiP's. Thanks for the review!

[WilhelmTheVampire]

A fun little tune

Don't worry, I've also got trouble with WiP things. :P That aside, another great start for a full length audio work, although this time I've got a few more critiques.

The thing about this song is that with the instrumentation, building up to a climax is difficult and I'd say not the way to go. Another way to keep people interested would be key changes and things like that, and it's especially effective when it comes to pianos.

Toward the end I was a bit bored because it seemed like nothing new was happening. It went back to the original melody too soon perhaps, or maybe each segment lasted for too long. One thing I know would make this sound great would be some different chord progressions. If you put in some chords that don't necessarily fall in the key but will resolve in the key (C major?) it would definitely sound more interesting.

The piano and the orchestra went very well together, and the orchestra could get stronger as the song progresses, but it's build in this little preview was fine. It was definitely pleasing to hear and the melodies you've come up with thus far are amazingly catchy to me. I'm sure you won't have much trouble finishing this baby off, and when you do, I really look forward to hearing it!

-Wilhelm

Step responds:

"Don't worry, I've also got trouble with WiP things. :P That aside, another great start for a full length audio work, although this time I've got a few more critiques."

I like your critiques, they're always extremely helpful :D.

"The thing about this song is that with the instrumentation, building up to a climax is difficult and I'd say not the way to go. Another way to keep people interested would be key changes and things like that, and it's especially effective when it comes to pianos."

I've never actually tried a melodic transition from one key to another (I think it's called uh, modulation, but as I said I suck at music theory) but there's always a first time for everything. I'll definitely experiment with key changes when I finish this up.

"Toward the end I was a bit bored because it seemed like nothing new was happening. It went back to the original melody too soon perhaps, or maybe each segment lasted for too long. One thing I know would make this sound great would be some different chord progressions. If you put in some chords that don't necessarily fall in the key but will resolve in the key (C major?) it would definitely sound more interesting."

Haha I doubt I have the skills to do that xP. Although thankfully I have a friend who can help.

"The piano and the orchestra went very well together, and the orchestra could get stronger as the song progresses, but it's build in this little preview was fine. It was definitely pleasing to hear and the melodies you've come up with thus far are amazingly catchy to me. I'm sure you won't have much trouble finishing this baby off, and when you do, I really look forward to hearing it!"

Awesome, glad you like it!

Just liked to say thanks for all the reviews you've given me. I'm surely going to go back to them and use them as guides to help me finish my WiP's.

Thanks again, and in case you're planning on reviewing any other of my submissions, I'd love it if you review a collab I did with my friend on our shared account Raven-Guard.
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/343750

If you don't want to, don't worry, you're already helped a lot, and I'm really grateful for it.

So yeah, thanks a LOT xD.