Reviews for Empty

[Step]

This is an NGADM Round 1 review.

--

The really great factor of this track that gives it its charm is the human touch you add to it. I'm not 100% certain whether the guitar(s) are real or not but they sound real, and the piano sounds lovely, giving this track a nice amount of expression. You've got some really good compositional ideas, and there's a good amount of depth in your composition, along with some nicely-chosen chords. Then there are the vocals of course, which contribute the most to the expressive, authentic kind of sound that this track has. I also quite like your lead guitar solo almost halfway through the track.

There are unfortunately quite a few issues with this. The singing style feels very heavy and slow. For a ballad-like track at a tempo like this, the vocals need more emotion and power (also they were hard to understand, which is a shame since the lyrics were great). In fact, the track in general is lacking in power. The drums are lacking in low end and feel too thin, for starters. Also, the singing occasionally goes out of tune, although you're a pretty good singer so it just takes a bit more practice!

Anyway, this was a nice track, with some production issues that need ironing out. You've got some excellent ideas and I enjoyed it. Good work man.

Score: 7.2/10

DivoFST responds:

Thanks for the detailed review Step!
The more human the song is the more fun i have, unfortunately my recording material is very low quality so the more "real" tracks i have the harder it gets to mix everything properly and the vocals suffered a lot from that.
Recording vocals is incredibly frustrating and i got to a point where i just tolerated the flaws it had.
Yes the guitars are quite real xD
Im in need of serious vocal ideas...was the melody weak?...was my singing weak?...was the mixing weak?...double track?...so much questions!! SOMEONE TUTOR ME!!! xD
Thanks Step :D

[TitanMusic]

I love the piano piece, really a driving factor in this song. The guitar, which takes over as the song progresses, does a great job of keeping the mood. (Which is pretty dark in my opinion).
The progression in the chorus reminds me a bit of John Murphy's compositions. Which is a great thing.
The percussion is very well written. Often basic is the best way to go and it doesn't, at any stage, take over the song.
The lead guitar is beautiful!
As mentioned in one of the previous reviews, I think you could have added more "power" to the vocals at a later stage. (But you already know this). Just to make it more "epic".
Overall, great song and good luck for the competition!

DivoFST responds:

Thanks for the review Titan!
Yes, the mood is quite dark, im happy i was able to give that feeling :)
John Murphy, i didnt knew his name but i certainly know his work...28 days later has amazing music and i also discover im like him "He is a self-taught multi-instrumental musician" minus the talent xD
I will definitely look into how to make my vocals have more presence and sound more powerful from here on!

[Metallica1136]

Moment I heard that piano, I knew this would be a great song. I like the whole thing. The singing is great as well. However, drums are kind of drowned out by the rest of the instruments. That jazzy guitar solo though kicks ass. That's kind of how I play when I'm tuned to Eb, and doing soft stuff. I love the solo, man! Bass sounds really good as well! Though I can tell it is a synth bass. (Or is it? I don't want to make too quick of an assumption and say it is. It SOUNDS synth :P) But overall, I love this song. The piano and guitar blend very well too.

I figured since you were cool enough to review my NGADM submission, I'd return the favor. Good song man! And good luck! I hope that you pass to Round 2. We should collab someday maybe. I'm planning to write a ballad kind of like this. You should do some piano! Maybe vocals too! :)

DivoFST responds:

Thanks for the review Metallica!
Yes it is a Synth bass xD
Im really happy people still return the favor, thats how being helpful works xD
I would love to collab with you :)

[ZipZipper]

Okay definitely experimental smooth rock I think. Yes the guitar is pretty cool, I like the solos which remind me a little of a jazz style actually. You seem to hop through keys frequently while still sounding consistent, which is very nice. The vocals I think could use some help hahahaha. Their mixing sounds a bit too blended in with the instrumentals making it a little difficult to hear. And I think your singing needs more power behind it I think, just more emotion and oomph to keep my attention since it just sounded on one plateau to me. But I have to say, I enjoy when you harmonized with yourself in the chorus and in other injections. I think supporting your vocals with harmonies or even doubling over would really help bring more power. As your vocals sounded on one plateau to me, I also thought the instrumentals could use some more dramatic changing up, perhaps for the second verse or the bridge appendage towards the end. So yeah, I think this song is pretty smooth and connected, it just needs some tweaking to make some pop to it. Nice work!

DivoFST responds:

Thanks for the review Zipper!
Yeah the vocals were not spot on, i should have given a little more power to them, i agree :)

[SourJovis]

Nice song. You sing quite well. Better than me (though that doesn't say much). The guitars are played very good. I think I'd like the drums louder and with more processing, and the bass a bit deeper, the other instruments a bit brighter and with some more reverb, to make the song shine more. It's very well written and structured. Nice mood.

DivoFST responds:

Thanks for the review SourJovis :D
im not a singer thats for sure, but i do have a lot of fun singing :D
The drums louder i can see that working, not sure if bringing the higher frequencies and adding even more more reverb would help thought..only trying xD