I swear one of the drums is clipping on a high frequency on my speakers, but then my speakers are crap anyway.
The song has an incredibly varied feel to it, yet succeeds in maintaining a distinct atmosphere through clever combinations of harmonic and rhythmic motifs. The production quality is incredible. It sounds like something out of a movie and far surpasses my own attempts at a similar atmosphere. I think there are places where the song could be refined, possibly with a few melodic embellishments and mixing tweaks, but its still absolutely incredible.
Wow, never thought I'd get a 9 from you, haha. Thanks a lot, and thanks for voting 5 too - it might just be the reason that this song got a Top 5, I owe you one.
"I swear one of the drums is clipping on a high frequency on my speakers, but then my speakers are crap anyway."
I was kinda lazy with the EQing this time, it's true :3.
"The song has an incredibly varied feel to it, yet succeeds in maintaining a distinct atmosphere through clever combinations of harmonic and rhythmic motifs."
It's something I worked particularly on. I'm pretty crappy at making long songs so I figured the only way to keep the song sounding like one song and not random, but at the same time satisfying my obsession of variety, was to grab some short drum rhythms and melodies, and repeat them in certain parts of the song. So I'm really glad you think it worked!
"The production quality is incredible. It sounds like something out of a movie and far surpasses my own attempts at a similar atmosphere."
That's thanks to East/West. And the Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra soundfonts that you shared, which are GREAT by the way.
"I think there are places where the song could be refined, possibly with a few melodic embellishments and mixing tweaks,"
Agreed on both cases. Listening to it again, I definitely think I could've added a few more melodic embellishments, especially in that part after the second chorus, and I didn't work as much on the mixing as I usually do... I get lazy sometimes :3.
I have to say, this is impressive, much like the other two songs I've heard. I would love to get some of the instruments you have, and I'm actively trying to. :P
Both of the pictures about this song that were said could work, so I won't bother trying to decide between them. I personally think it's more of an intense area theme.
Now, time for me to be picky, since overall, this song is head-and-shoulders above almost all the other songs I've heard on here.
-The cymbal roll is used a bit too extensively for my taste. While yes, it sounds wonderful, the more you use it, the less effect it has. As it is, for me, it seems a bit more boring. The same applies to the other effects like the wind chimey thing (which I love, btw). Not sure if you were just intending this to be part of the atmosphere instead of a more "intense" kind of roll, but it does get a bit dull after a bit, as I had said.
-The little piano bit at 1:11, and the other one at 1:20-1:22 seems really muddy and indistinct, the notes blend together and are just a mass that *generally* goes in a downward direction.
-From 2:24 to the end seems a bit dull to me, there isn't much change other than adding things until the breakdown before going back into the main theme for about 20 seconds to the end. From about there on out, it seems like you kind of ran out of ideas. This isn't as big an issue as it sounds like though, this is just compared to the rest of the song. Perhaps you should have more of a solo in the middle part or have a quieter instrument playing the main theme in the background?
Overall though, those are really small things for me to pick on in the whole song.
Wow man, thanks a million for the constructive criticism!
"I have to say, this is impressive, much like the other two songs I've heard. I would love to get some of the instruments you have, and I'm actively trying to. :P"
Hey don't forget that a good amount of the instruments here are freeware. The drums are nearly all freeware, and if you want some great orchestral soundfonts then I can link you to some too!
But yeah, good luck getting the instruments lol.
"Both of the pictures about this song that were said could work, so I won't bother trying to decide between them. I personally think it's more of an intense area theme."
Intense? Well, that's a new point of view xD.
"Now, time for me to be picky, since overall, this song is head-and-shoulders above almost all the other songs I've heard on here."
Aw thanks!
"-The cymbal roll is used a bit too extensively for my taste. While yes, it sounds wonderful, the more you use it, the less effect it has. As it is, for me, it seems a bit more boring. The same applies to the other effects like the wind chimey thing (which I love, btw). Not sure if you were just intending this to be part of the atmosphere instead of a more "intense" kind of roll, but it does get a bit dull after a bit, as I had said."
Haha, so true. I'm a big sucker for cymbal rolls. I tried to vary the length of the fading in/fading out to make the roll a little less monotonous, but I totally agree that me using it so much reduces its effect.
"-The little piano bit at 1:11, and the other one at 1:20-1:22 seems really muddy and indistinct, the notes blend together and are just a mass that *generally* goes in a downward direction."
1:11 is actually a guitar. What is this, like, the second time you mistook one of the instruments in my songs for a piano? :P. But yeah, if you thought it was a piano then that definitely means it's too indistinct. I'll make those notes a bit easier to hear. However the notes at 1:20 are intentionally drowned out, because I wanted the brass to take dominance over the piano.
"-From 2:24 to the end seems a bit dull to me, there isn't much change other than adding things until the breakdown before going back into the main theme for about 20 seconds to the end. From about there on out, it seems like you kind of ran out of ideas. This isn't as big an issue as it sounds like though, this is just compared to the rest of the song."
Heh, I've got to disagree with you there. 2:24 is personally my favourite part :P. Although I certainly see how it can get dull and you're not the first to mention it. So that's something I should work on in my future songs.
"Perhaps you should have more of a solo in the middle part or have a quieter instrument playing the main theme in the background?"
There's a bass playing the main theme in the background at 3:34, but that's only for four bars so yeah, good suggestion.
"Overall though, those are really small things for me to pick on in the whole song.
Awesome job!"
Thanks for the helpful suggestions man, I owe you one!
This is cool but i not gonna vote ten.....I vote nine because i heard this on another site... im not saying u copied it...... but mayby other people copy so make the comments bad...... and then they won't copy! Vote if u think it is a good idea!
I rather enjoyed this piece bro, and I'm sorry I took so long to finally getting around to getting this reviewed... here it goes
I really love the professional tone/ quality of all of the instruments you used here; one thing that really stuck out to me with this song was the melody at 0:23 as it is reallyyyyy similar to a melody of my own in my submission from back in the day titled "The Aftershock". It was really interesting to hear you use this melody in such a different way.
I really really liked hearing all of the different influences in this song; from the smooth jazz/ contemporary side of things to the orchestral/epic sounds on the opposite side of the musical spectrum.
Honestly Steph... I don't think I would change a thing about this song :]
"I rather enjoyed this piece bro, and I'm sorry I took so long to finally getting around to getting this reviewed... here it goes"
No worries about the late review, naturally. I really appreciate that you took the time to review :3.
"I really love the professional tone/ quality of all of the instruments you used here;"
That's all thanks to the good VST's and sample libraries I used. East/West was definitely a massive help!
"one thing that really stuck out to me with this song was the melody at 0:23 as it is reallyyyyy similar to a melody of my own in my submission from back in the day titled "The Aftershock". It was really interesting to hear you use this melody in such a different way."
Wow yeah I can hear the resemblance! Our songs are both pretty different in terms of atmosphere and mood though :P.
"I really really liked hearing all of the different influences in this song; from the smooth jazz/ contemporary side of things to the orchestral/epic sounds on the opposite side of the musical spectrum."
I'm very glad you liked that! I love using different instruments that usually aren't associated with each other (in this case, orchestral, pop, jazz and tribal influences) and seeing if I can make something good out of them.
"Honestly Steph... I don't think I would change a thing about this song :]
Really great work bro!"
Thanks, I owe you one! I'll see if I can find the time to review back. We're being given insane amounts of Maths homework so it might not be easy, but I've got mid-term holidays next week so maybe I'll find some time then.
Very nice job on this beast right here. Heavily reminds me of intros to old movies where they long intros with this kind of music to show who all was in it and had helped make the movie as well. Very good beat I think. The guitar is incredibly classy as well I think. Very classy song and excellent work on this.
The guitar sounds good and I really enjoyed hearing the power chords too since it gave it a bit of a giant push in a great direction. I also hear a large mix of classical stuff incorporated into this one too. Very nice, I like the way the drums play though as they sound like a mix of urban and classical drumming.
The bass line and piano combine for a wonderful duet of making the song real classy to listen to. The violins are nice to listen to as well and I like the xylophone I hear as it gives it a slightly cartoonish feel to the song.
"Very nice job on this beast right here. Heavily reminds me of intros to old movies where they long intros with this kind of music to show who all was in it and had helped make the movie as well."
Now that I think of it that way, you're right! It does remind me of that.
"Very good beat I think. The guitar is incredibly classy as well I think. Very classy song and excellent work on this."
Thanks! That guitar and the effect I put on it are all free samples, believe it or not.
"The guitar sounds good and I really enjoyed hearing the power chords too since it gave it a bit of a giant push in a great direction. I also hear a large mix of classical stuff incorporated into this one too."
Yup, I'm starting to find it a little hard to make a song without giving it orchestral elements, lol.
"Very nice, I like the way the drums play though as they sound like a mix of urban and classical drumming."
I'm quite proud of that yeah. Glad you like it.
"The bass line and piano combine for a wonderful duet of making the song real classy to listen to."
I'm pretty new to basslines in this style so I'm surprised to see that you liked it. Pleasantly surprised, of course :3.
"The violins are nice to listen to as well and I like the xylophone I hear as it gives it a slightly cartoonish feel to the song."
I added the xylophone in my second edit, to perhaps make the 2:24 part a tad bit more interesting. Nice job noticing something so subtle :P.
