The vocals are nice, but I'd really recommend getting some better equipment to record with... It seems you're quite dedicated to making your music so I would suggest that you spend some cash on getting studio gear, learn how to use it and make some better sounding music.
The guitar is nice, I've said this in another submission of yours, you're good at guitar.
The one issue I had was the 'ooooooh' parts, sounded a little off compared to the rest of the vocals, if that's what you were shooting for then that's good... Same is said with the 'yeeaaah' parts, or whatever is being said.
At the part around 3:14 it sounded a little worse quality wise, you have a good voice, but the quality is just not very good there as it seems you begin trying to get louder... That being said, I'd suggest you do work on getting some better equipment. Besides that, keep it up.
Yeah, I hated doing it. But I SO wanted to do it. I wanted to for so long. In fact, I wanna do a bunch of songs. Just gonna take a bit to do them all. As soon as I do, I'll find another I want to do. :P
Now personally I disagree. The "ooh"s before the guitar solo, I think, sound real good. I did the same sort of doubling on the solo it self. But to each their own. That's why I asked for a critic's opinion. :)
A large part of the beginning sounds very... noisy like thatbennyguy said, disjointed is the right term as well I am sure... I was trying to think of what to say without stealing his words but I can't really.
When I think of industrial, I think of groups like Combichrist and stuff. In my eyes, that is real industrial music... This just wasn't delivering the industrial feel to me, it sort of sounded like there was an epic choir singing, and then a hammer slamming on an anvil... I didn't really get in to this song until around the last 60 seconds or so, and that's kind of a disappointment because by then the song is already nearly finished.
I think you have a lot to work on, once it hit's around 2:30 the song gets really good.. It was almost like you had a 2 minute, 30 second intro and left the song to play for only about a minute.. That bothers me as a listener.
Just keep it up, hopefully this review will help in a way... Doubtful because I am not quite good with criticism on music of this genre, but give it a shot anyway.
Lol well i do plan on expanding the song, but i mostly wanted to see what people though of it so far, and the mixed views about it aren't saying enough to make any real drastic changes yet. but thank you none the less. What i would say about the genre issue when it comes to reviewing, if it doesn't fit the genre, don't vote based on that, i would say vote based on how good it is and make a comment about where to put it possibly. :3
Okay, the 8-bit feel is very nice... I love 8-bit, so that really sucked me in to this song.
My MAJOR issue with it, is that it gets in to the song so fast! There's something about that, and it just bothers me. I know a lot of songs in this genre and ones alike start almost instantly like this, and it's an issue that I have always had with it. There's not really any build up, it just starts going as soon as you hit play and I feel that it doesn't give the listener any chance to sort of 'Get To Know' the song, if you catch my drift in what I am saying with that.
Besides that, it's a fairly good song, having it a bit longer would be nice, and if it had an intro to it, that would be fixed... Would add some more length to your song, and like I said, let the listener kind of get to know it... Not too bad though, but you do have things to work on.
Keep it up!
Thanks for the feedback... Well, about the buildup issue, I gotta say I like how it begins, I think it isn't so violent or something like that. I guess this has to do with musical taste, I prefeer this kind of intro rather than a longer/slower one in this type of music.
Thanks for the review :D
Build up is really good, at first if I hadn't looked at the genre as House, I would have thought it to be a Classical submission just because of the intro.
The song get's into it real good after the intro, nice build up like I said.
The claps are really good, sound excellent.
A lot of problems I have with artists submissions as of late is the length of their submissions, too often I see ones that are around 1:30 - 2:00 minutes, songs like these of this genre and I just can't stand that. I think it is far too short for songs of this type, so you get some bonus points for making it a longer one.
Unfortunately, I can't really point out any problems I had with this one because it is not a genre I listen to often at all, only sometimes.
But the majority of it sounds really good to me, so just keep at it... Sounding professional and that's a really good thing.
Really enjoy the piano in this one...
Everything has a nice sort of 'build up', but I just feel that it ended far too soon. I know that you stated in a response to the other review that it was your emotions put in to the song, and you just couldn't make it any longer. But I personally believe that when emotions are poured in to music, those emotions should create the longest, greatest and most touching songs you'll ever write in your entire life.
So, that was my major issue with this song, not much else comes to mind about it being bad at all.. I just feel that it was going so great, and then it just came to an end, leaving the listeners wondering why, or what.
My only suggestion is that if you ever decide to do another song with your blood sweat and tears put in to it, you make it at least 3 - 4 minutes long, I usually go for 3 - 4 when I'm doing an emotional track, some artists I know go 6 - 7 minutes. If you really want to put your emotions in to it even more than you already have, I'd say that is how you do it.
Never rush in songs like these, spend days or weeks on them, let your heart make the music.
It's a solid song, but here are a few suggestions I have.
The beginning reminded me a bit too much of one of The Beatles' songs, not sure which one as I don't listen to them at all, but it did.
One issue I have with the song is the snare drum, it just sounds bad, I'd toy around with the snares and see what else you can come up with... Not sure if you'd know but it reminds me of Lars Ulrich's snare in the St. Anger album, which a lot of people hated.
Besides that, it's a solid track, and I can't see anything else that I would personally change about it.
Keep it up.
Thanks EpicFail for your criticism. I will continually explore new drum beats and snare types as diverse as possible to build on what you have pointed out. Thanks for listening
I have a soft spot for songs like these.
Like I said in the summary, this is a very powerful track, at least in my own opinion of course.
I loved the intro, but thought that maybe it got in to the song a little too soon after the intro, like it just happened instantly almost.
A climax, would be nice like the other guy had said, but since that isn't possible it obviously will never be happening.
I'd say work as much as you can with focusing on doing climaxes in your music if you are no good at it, you can only get better... If you choose to work on it, post them up here as you go and I will be happy to let you know what I think..
Besides that, I really enjoyed the song. Reminded me of a number of movies and games, which is always a good thing, to have music remind you of something else.
I hope to see this be one of the top NAC submissions, best of luck!
Hey, I appreciate such a quick response to my request :D. Thanks!
"I have a soft spot for songs like these.
Like I said in the summary, this is a very powerful track, at least in my own opinion of course."
Actually some people have told me it's not powerful enough to be called 'Legend'. Still, I tried to give it powerful parts, and quieter parts, since in my opinion it gives it a nice amount of diversity.
"I loved the intro, but thought that maybe it got in to the song a little too soon after the intro, like it just happened instantly almost."
Lol, you're right. I told this to another reviewer below me - the thing is, usually I make my songs with an intro in my head. Then, I evolve the melody from the intro. In this case, I thought of the melody first (which came to me when I was playing scales on my piano) and I was so eager to start the melody that I made the intro short :P.
"A climax, would be nice like the other guy had said, but since that isn't possible it obviously will never be happening.
I'd say work as much as you can with focusing on doing climaxes in your music if you are no good at it, you can only get better... If you choose to work on it, post them up here as you go and I will be happy to let you know what I think.."
Yeah I'm definitely going to work on my climaxes and buildups sometime.
Although if I ever edit this track, it'll probably be a big, significant edit which will be longer and have none of the problems that reviewers have pointed out in this song, since right now this submission has passed 3,000 listens so it doesn't let me edit it with a new version.
"Besides that, I really enjoyed the song. Reminded me of a number of movies and games, which is always a good thing, to have music remind you of something else."
Thanks, I appreciate the support!
"I hope to see this be one of the top NAC submissions, best of luck!"
Actually it didn't make it to the top :(. There were some pretty amazing submissions so I doubted it was going to make it in the first place. Still, I got a frontpage and a lot of great feedback so who am I to complain, right?
I love the intro, so much... It really caught my attention as a listener, and not as somebody just looking to quickly listen to a piece and give my thoughts on it. I feel so strange when I listen to this piece, as if I am on the edge of my seat during the beginning or something...
I enjoyed to be completely honest with you, after the intro was very nice as well, at first it felt as if it belonged in some sort of fantasy world (my opinion), but then I realized how great this would be as background music to a strange horror movie introduction.
I have heard a few submissions for this NAC contest, and a lot of them have lots of potential to be winners, this is one of them.
I wish you the best of luck.
9/10 - Would have been a 10 if it wasn't so short, I felt it didn't do the justice that it really could within that length of time, I wish it were at least double what it is, but I can't always get what I want, can I?
5/5 - I don't have it in me to give something this good anything lower, I just wish it were longer is all, but there is no 4.5 button!
Thank you for the review :) A few others I've shared this composition with have said it needs to be longer -- I have a longer version that I'm working on, but I wouldn't have been able to finish it in time for the contest.
It was heavily inspired by Danny Elfman's early scores (collaborations with Tim Burton, which usually had that sort of fantasy-horror vibe, e.g. "Edward Scissorhands," "Beetlejuice," "Nightmare Before Christmas"), so I think that's why it made you feel that way. That sort of music-box sound does work very nicely in horror film context, I'm not sure why but it inherently sounds a bit creepy and unnerved, as though you know something bad will happen. (After all, it would be quite a boring film if nothing happened!)
There are quite a few entries in the NAC competition, but they are all of very high quality... I'd be rather lucky to place in the top 8!
First off, I'd like to say something completely unrelated to the song: I love that you're from Canada, especially BC... Perhaps you could be doing stuff at Shambhala some time! Canada has a great scene for music like this.
As for the track, I don't even know where to start.
I suppose since I haven't heard the original I can't really compare it to that one, but judging by the original authors you review, you did an excellent job remixing it... I don't have a single doubt about that at all.
Real complex track, it is almost hard to believe that this was made in FL 9... I can't imagine how much work was put in to this.
Regardless man, you're an awesome DJ, it shouldn't be too hard to get your name out there in Canada, I'll show your shit off to some friends in Saskatchewan for sure, I'm sure they'll dig it.
Keep at it, you're great.
Like your description says, the combination of the solo guitar and orchestra is very good I think. Something I haven't heard much on the audio portal, perhaps I am not looking hard enough.
I really like the idea behind the song, and I think when it comes to classical music a little story behind it is a good thing, as it can really get the audience thinking about it, and expressing their imagination with your music, as much as you had done while making it.
While the submissions not flawless, it's hard for me to point out what's wrong with it because it isn't my typical kind of music.
I'd say, just keep making music like this if you truly enjoy it, and eventually you will be making some of the best classical pieces on the portal.
Also, the song got me thinking that the story with this song in the back would make a very interesting flash animation... Perhaps we will see that one day?
Scorched Hair and Burnt Guitar