Reviews for Child of the Trough NGADM

[Step]

This is an NGADM Round 2 Review. When I wrote this review it was before you added vocals so I'm judging this on the old version.

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Before I start I'll say that mixing and melody-wise I think you managed to trump your Round 1 submission. You're a fantastic composer man, you write great melodies like it's nothing haha. Sounds great.

You've got a tonne of wacky composition here man and it all sounds incredible. I'm hearing many different influences, such as jazz throughout various parts of the track, funk at 2:01, lounge music at 2:39, blues at 3:29, metal at 4:33, etc... This makes for an incredibly diverse experience that never ever becomes in the slightest bit monotonous or uninteresting. Every time I hear this track I hear a new song section I wasn't paying attention to as much in previous listens. It's long but keeps the interest maintained the whole time. Fantastic work.

On top of that, this track has plenty of amazing production value and feels extremely sophisticated both production and composition-wise. First off, your guitar playing is amazing and everything is perfectly on time and pitch. On top of that, you've got loads of amazing harmonies and everything fits wonderfully with each other. Everything is crystal clear in the mix and you make good use of the entire frequency spectrum. I absolutely adore some of the melodies like the melodies at 2:18 and 3:29.

Unfortunately, I find this track a disappointment from your Round 1 track for one primary reason; this lacks a direction. As much as I enjoyed the diversity, there are no recurring motifs or themes. The song just switches from one song section to another without any distinguishable form of approach. I mean one second it's playing one style, the next it turns into a totally different and seemingly unrelated section. And none of the sections really have anything to do with each other.

The transitions are on the whole good, don't get me wrong. A lot of your transitions are extremely commendable since you switch from one genre to another in an almost entirely natural way. That's not my problem though. The track just doesn't feel united. Chemicals had similar changes in style but it felt more united because it wasn't to the extent that this is, and that track also had vocals that really helped bring the whole track together, while this is lacking vocals. I'm not saying the fact that it's lacking vocals is a problem, I'm saying that maybe vocals will help tie everything together. That, and some recurring motifs.

Anyway, that's about it. Fantastic work, you're a seriously incredibly musician. If this track had more of a direction and felt more unified then I would've probably given this full marks!

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SCORE:
9/10

Kor-Rune responds:

Thank you for your review! I DEFINITELY agree with how scatter-brained and random this track was! I was frustrated writing it because I know multiple genres can share a similar theme. A band like Haken is one I take a lot of influence from, and they can dance around metal, jazz, rock, and polka like nothing, all while keeping similar themes. They also like to go off the wall, but they keep their integrity about the heart of the song. As Skye said, it's more of a technical display.

The vocals on it right now suck, so I'll probably do more later. But for now, it's about the next track for NGADM, fuck. XD

[Buoy]

So I gave your track a straight ten this time around too. The track isn't actually as perfect as that implies (I think we can agree that it is inferior to your round 1 piece in most ways) but the problem is that if I were to score your track first and use it as the standard for the other scores, the other scores would seem unreasonably low :c So this is a reasonable solution, I think. Since I downloaded and listened to the version that was up on the deadline, I won't comment on the vocals and the new guitar parts.

In its current shape, this is an excellent guitar-centric instrumental with an extraordinary amount of fresh ideas that are executed brilliantly. There is usually one instrument or musical idea that's being brought to the spotlight as the rest of the instrumentation provides rhythmic and harmonic support, and this theme going on throughout the song is what I think is gluing this song together even when no one part gets repeated ever. A notable exception is the very jazz fusion part starting at 2:36 where the instruments collaborate and play together in a way that's very clever. Almost every part has something unique and amazing that I could point out but I don't want this review to get too long.

You've hit a good balance with the production and mixing. There is good variation in intensity yet I never really have to reach for my volume control. It's nice and loud yet without any noticeable compromise in sound quality. There aren't that many individual instruments, so the mix is kept clean and glass clear, but the instruments fill the stereo and frequency spectra beautifully, and they all have intriguing detail and overall sound gorgeous.

I'm thoroughly impressed by the quantity and quality of the ideas you produce in two weeks. You have a combination of massive instrumental skill, creative ingenuity and a musical maturity which, combined with enough effort to produce a relatively fleshed out song that extends past 7 minutes, will not go wrong. For you to do well in the future rounds it's mostly a matter of getting full tracks together in time for the deadline, and of course to keep impressing us with your skill and talent.

10.0/10

Kor-Rune responds:

WOW, thanks for the ten Buoy! I really don't think this track deserves it though!

I'm not happy with this track much at all, I'm surprised about the feedback! I thought it was very scatter-brained and the non-repeating themes would be my downfall. I never thought of the inconsistency as a recurring theme itself!

I tried to compensate for less repeated themes with lyrics, but it doesn't work the same way. :c I wanted the deadline instrumental track judged anyway because rushed vocal takes SUUUUCK. I need to not write seven minute songs in two weeks, it just works against me.

dude I'm doing minimal post-EQ, a lot of my instruments are mixed going in, I just fuck with the levels and cut off some bass on things. My drum machine does most of the work. I figure if you have a string section and good sounding drums, everything else hardly matters LOL. Addictive Drums is a -killer- drum machine.

Anyway, thank you for your review AND your generous score for my failure! <:

[SkyeWint]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-Nice intro, and really nice chord progression in there.
-Mixing's fine. I really have no problems with it at all.
-Great humanised drums, like in the previous song.
-The arpeggios at 1:28-2:01 and 2:01-2:12 (yes, I separated them for a reason) are sweeeeet.
-I like the wahs you have on the guitars.
-Jazz/rock fusion is something I REALLY like.

The Not-So-Good:
-Ouch. The lack of good transitions at 2:01 and then later at 2:39, 4:19, around 4:50, around 5:15, and the outro hurt a lot. Of course, I'm a transition lover and think that they're the most important parts of a song, but still.
-I feel like this song is a technical display rather than a song since it doesn't have the vocals. There doesn't seem to be a cohesive idea through the whole song, so it kinda drags on and on without feeling like it has a point.

Overall: I really like this, I don't think it quite lives up to your round 1 song, but holy crap it's about 7 and a half minutes long? No wonder you didn't have time for the vocals. Might want to cut back on the length of your song for the next round so you can finish it! I'm giving this a 9/10. You can definitely do better.

P.S. I made this review before you added the vocals and extra guitars. So sorry for the comments about their absence. It's a bit more consistent with the vocals, and the extra guitar parts. However, I will comment a bit on them here - the overall quality of the vocals could have been improved, particularly at around the third set of lyrics. I'm also definitely not a fan of the growling. The outro is definitely better now, though it's still fairly boring.

Kor-Rune responds:

Thanks for the review!

Yeah, I agree about the boring outro, that's my least favorite part. I was so frustrated, I ended up giving up. I growl when I can't think of melodies LOL. I also agree that it was too long to finish within two weeks, too much is going on and the vocals were hard to squeeze time in for, since they take the longest. Therefore, they became rushed :C

Yes, this song is a technical display, you're right. I tried to compensate for lack of repeating ideas with the lyrics, but it still doesn't work. oh well I got the crowd pleaser arpeggios

Thank you for the review and constructive criticism! I know it's not the best I can come up with, so I'll try harder next round!

[Bad-Man-Incorporated]

Dude, you are a musical beast. There are so many elements here that jived so well, and were played with absolute perfection. I'm truly at a loss for words here, brother. This is an absolute KILLER track.

Interested to hear with vox, for sure. haha. Wow.