Hellstick's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Day14 - Remembering the past]

Yup yup yup

At first I thought this was just a poor try to make hardstyle, but i quickly changed my mind. It sounds like the kick at the beginning is made "by an accident", but already at 0:09 a FUCKING nice effect thingy kicks in, and the kick seems like it becomes WAY better. Plus you added some percussion, hats and synth. The synth seems dark at first, and fit the track nicely. However theres a breakdown at 0:22, and some pads start at the same time as the synths change. The pads are nice, but the melody somehow seems too for the rest of the song. Perhaps it'd be more fitting to a trance song or something, but I don't like it with hardstyle sounds.

In general there's a lot of nice twists and details. Particularly in the kick. Gotta give you props for that:P Effects and choise of sounds is nice, but the hats and percussion doesn't seem "hardcore'ish" enough. I'd also have liked if you'd put in some distorted effects or something. Perhaps a little more distortion on the kick as well:)
Here's an additional comment though:
30 songs in 30 days?:O That's one big project! Must be hard to get the inspiration.
Do you make one song each day, or do you make more then one song in a day?

Oh well, sorry for the short review, i usually make them longer:(
Here's a quick sum up:
Kick and effects is nice, but the percussion and and synth ruins it a bit... It's not quite as hardcore'ish as i'd have likeed it.

I hope it was somehow able to help:)

hopeku responds:

haha cool. It's a nice review right there

Yeah I only make one per days cause it's kind of hard to have enough inspiration for more...

I can tell for sure this song is not that good for hardcore (Like you're saying, there's a lot of issue, but I can't exactly tell if you're right about everything). In fact, I dont know much about hardcore techno. But still, you're right for the kick, it's too weak and it needs more distortion :P

thanks for the review !

[House Baby (Dance Mix)]

FINALY you're back...

And it's about time:S

Aight, it's def not house, that's for sure:P
The track starts right away. I'd have liked to hear an intro with the vocal. Ether alone or with some nifty percussion of some sort.
You melody kicks in at 0:22 already. It's simply too fast, conciderering that nothing in particular happened. A kick and a bass was practicly everything that lead the way for the melody, and that's without doubt not enough to make a propper tune:S
You picked an interesting synth for the melody, but the melody itself was kind of anoying, and I didn't really think it fit the track all that well...
At 0:49 the buildup is stops, and the bass kick and melody and vocal cut plays at once. The percussion was boring and uninspiring, and the vocal cut doesnt really fit in all that well. It kind of sounds like it hit the wrong tones or something.
The rythm of the kick is boring as well. It should be more variated.
At 1:16 there's a break. The transition between the break and the "1st climax" (or whatever to call it:P) works well, although I'd have liked a snare or something.
The glitchy vocal cut fits in verry nice in the break. At 1:49 a new melody starts. It's WAY better then the main melody, but it still doesn't go well togeather with the vocal cut...

The "2nd climax" kicks in at 2:20, and you 1st and 2nd melodies and the vocal cut plays at the same time. It's not exactly a succesfull coctail, but it's better then alot of the other songs you can find here on NG:P
The song then ends around 3:03. Perhaps a little too suddenly, but nothing too big:)

Overall: The vocal got a little anoying in the long run, witch is a shame, since it's actually pretty nice. Perhaps if you used it a little less it'd maintain it's awesomeness:)
The kick is badass as always. I truly admire your kicks and wish I could make them as punchy as you-.- The bass was ok as well... Not as nice as you usually make them, but it'll do. You had a few nice effects here and there, but they're pretty hard to notice, and you need to put in some more of them.
I am not sure weather or not you succeeded in your quest to keep the repetiveness down, but I'll asure you that it could be MUCH worse then it is now:)

Anyway, I have some homework to do, so I'll have to end this review a little suddenly. My suggesten would be for you to stick to the genre you kick ass at making - happy hardcore. A little variation is nice sometimes, but you're MUCH more talented at making happy hardcore in my opinion:)
Oh, and please don't get disapointed because of the rather harsh review. And don't get me wrong, I'm verry happy you're back:P
I've made a few tracks myself since you disappeared. Perhaps you'd like to go check em out?:)

Oh well... Keep mixing, and please notify me when you put up your next song!

[{425} CraZe]

ROAR!

Meh, you sure have improved alot since I first heard one of your songs - before you became a relatively big shoot:P
Anyway, I'll try to see if i'm still able to help!

The intro is nice! I totally digg the melody. The amount of reverb is just right, and the synth is nice as well! Perhaps it should've been a LITTLE harder, but it's ok:P
Already at 0:07 you throw in another synth, and shortly after a beat kicks in. It all works ok, but something is missing. Don't know what... I just think it is:S
Fuck that, you throw in a snare at 0:25 that's pretty nice, and it leades the listener closer to the climax in a verry efficent way. Good job on that as well.

Let's skip to the part at 1:07 where the 4/4 beat kicks in:P This is what i'd say should've been the climax of the song, but it doesn't quite work as well as I'd have wanted it. The buildup showed up to be a letdown, and the whole song just seems like one smooth transission to me. I want to be kicked in the face when the climax kicks in, but this was just boring:S

A small breakdown occurs at 2:01 and the song quickly carries on afterwards with a new beat, where after it ends.

In general:
The variation was creative, and i gotta give you probs for all the ideas you came up with, and the percussion is nice as well. However, it sounds like there's a synth pattern going on through the whole song. It makes it feel as if the song is just one long buildup, and it just doesn't work.
I also miss a more specifik bassline. The current one is... meh... It barely even excist as far as i can hear:S Eather that, or it just verry well hidden in the rest of the song. I personally think you should be able to depart the different elements of a song from each other. This is hard in this song, so that really pulls down rating i'll give ya...
Fuck that though. What i like the most in this song is the beginning. That melody is just so damn nice.

Anyway, I'm starting to talk nonsense, so i'll jump right to your rating.
I'll rate the song 6-7/10, but since it's closer to 7 than 6, i'll give you 7/10.
Also, you said you'd check out my new song. I just thought i'd inform you that it's up now:) It's made entirely with my mouth, so it should be quite interesting^^

PEACE OUT!

Michael425 responds:

First off, thank you for the lengthy review. I upload onto Newgrounds for reviews like these man. thanks.

Im glad that you think i've improved. I haven't work as much on music as I would have liked, but I still try to get better.

Right before you left this review, I was also thinking that the main synth might not be loud enough. So I think i will fix that and re-upload it.

I probably should have put the climax at 1:07, but i had only made a short tune for an 8 bar transition. The real part I wanted the song to build up to was at 1:37. That's where I made it go crazy i.m.o.

for the bassline, I didn't really use a specific one. I tried to vary it as much as possible. I admit this song can get a bit cluttered and hard to tell apart the different parts, but hey, that's why it's called CraZe.

Thanks for the great review man. Always good to hear from you.

and your newest song is sick as hell b.t.w. amazingly creative. **reviewed**

[Crazy Swede! - Roflcopter!]

Interesting

I mainly listen to happy hardcore or hardstyle and the souch, so I'm not that much into house. However, I do like a house tune once in a while, even though I don't know much about it. I'll try to leave a review anyway, but don't expect any pro advice:P

Here we go. The intro is funny. It actually had me laughing for a while, but I honestly think there's to much echo:S It kinda ruins it somehow, even though the "vocal" seems as if it would fit pretty nicely into a house song.
The bass line kicks in around 0:23, and fuck me, It's nice! a LITTLE more bass would've been nice, but it's still very well done!:)
The kicks kicks in, and the bassline stops again. My firt thought is that the kick is too low. The volume needs to be turned up. However, the kick ITSELF (in terms of sound, not in volume) seems like it has the right "housy" feeling to it, all though it needs to be more "punchy":)
Then the hi hat begins. Again, I'm not much of a housefan, so I don't know if it's because im inexperienced, or because there's something wrong with the hat, but it just seems a little to "oldschool" for me:S The bass begins again, and it fits in perfectly. I simply love the twists you gave it. Thumbs up on that again!
There's some sounds at 1:50 that sounds like they hit the wrong tone. They somehow fit in anyway, but you might want to fix it anyway:S
The breakdown at 2:07 is decent as well. Works fine.
The beat comes back on, and you throw in some effects, some percussion and some vocal mixing. It all goes smoothly untill the weird sound at 2:52. It ruins it for me completely. It's so damn anoying:S
The song then ends. I'd have liked a little longer ending, as I do not recall house songs ending so suddenly. But fuck that.

In general I only have two things to say really... Firstly I'd have liked a part simmilar to the intro somewhere in the middle of the song (just for good measure:P). And secondly the part of the intro from 0:01-0:26 seems to be louder then the rest of the song:S Kind of anoying...

Anyway, sorry for my crappy english, I hope you were able to understand me:P I also hope my review was helfull! I'll go check out some of your other songs right away:)

-Hellstick

Johan1993 responds:

Ya, im neither a big house fan, im more like listening & producing hardstyle :>

thanks for the review btw, i find this really helpful :)

[Fuk U! Where Do I sign?]

Improvement!

YAY! A track's going out to me:P
I'll make this review really short though, so you'll have to bear with the little advice i'll give you...

The beginning is a little too noisecore-ish for me, butit fit surprisingly well with the rest of the song when the beat kicks in.
The glitchy sound is a nice touch, and they fit in really well. I dig them for sure:P
The bass line is better as well... I like the melody, and the fact that it sounds somehow like a guitar of some sort aint bad eather. However, there is a part in the middle of the song where you've put in a somehow happy n' jolly melody. It doesnt fit in, since the rest of the song have a rather dark feel to it...
The drums have to much treble, and you should try to add a few effects, even though you previously mentioned that you try to achieve that "minimalistic" drum and bass sound, where the drums and the bass is the only instruments in the song.

I'm sorry this review was a little rushed, but i'll give you a rating between 6/10 and 7/10 this time. Mostly because of your improvements:)

Pissomatik responds:

Oh man, I was was looking forward to the school'n. LOL Thanks I appreciate the review. I'm actually working in 2 different directions it seems. I actually added the intro part after everything else(inspired by older NIN), I remember someone telling me that one of my songs opened up too suddenly. As for that middle part, you hit the nail on the head, but that's what I was going for so it worked out great. Thanks for the compliment on the bass line. It's wierd because it's actually the same instrument with the same effects throughout. It's one of those "Happy Accidents" that Ishkur mentions about EDM on his site. All I did where it goes down in tone was literally changed the note and it did that little growling thing so I left it. One thing, if you've noticed is that I've been trying to do melody/glitch. It's a challenge to get the glitch to flow with the rest of the song so I'm glad to hear you that you liked it with everything else.

[Lucaspiration]

The review I promissed:)

First of all: You requested honesty in your newsbox, so I don't hope you hate me after this review:)

Hmmmm... I guess the sudden start is excused for the fact that this is a loop rather then a song, so I won't go into details with that. However, if you ARE going to make it into a song, I highly suggest that you make the intro a little more calm without the fast beat.

Anyway, the first hand impression of the drums is good. They get a little anoying in the long run though, and need some more variation. It mostly sounds like the song is around 30 minutes long, and have been repeated 3 times to make the song 1 minute and a few seconds long:S
The bassline gets anoying after a few listens, and it sounds like you hit the wrong notes some places in the song (for example at 0:03-0:04 and at 0:11 and so on)
It's simply to deep for my taste.
I also think I'll have to agree with the guy bellow, and say that it need more overdrive. You should also try n' split the bassline into smaller bits, and make it a little more rythim-ish , instead of making it "1 long conected bass", if you get what I'm saying:P It would add an interesting touch to the song.
The percussion is nice though. I really like the places where you stopped the percussion and then gently started it again slowly, as heard at 0:16 and at 0:34 again and so on. Nice details on that part.

The beat itself need to be more "punchy". It's simply to soft somehow:S

Oh well, I think that's about what I had to say:) I hope my review was able to help (if just a little), soooo... good lick with your future productions. I will try to check them out:)
Untill then, this song will have to do with a score of 5/10. It's not completely crap, but it's not perfect eather, so a score in the middle seems fair to me:)

Peace out, and happy mixing!

-Hellstick

Pissomatik responds:

Works for me. I am however trying to acheive depth in the bass, forgive me as I'm into ol'skoo jungle, but I guess with what I have here I might just go ahead and do the overdrive. Thanks for the input. As for the drums, I just went D&B standard. I'm attempting to get away from standardisation, which has been quite challenging. Oh, well. (Ok, I don't know what happened, but as I tried to respond the pic and score from below were blocking my "Respond!" button and now they're up in your review. WTF? Sorry for this extra bit here but everytme I click on edit then respond that dude pic and score go up the page. Anyone else experience this? Of course it could just be something with IE 8 beta.)

[Like a rocket (Dj Janze REMIX)]

Haven't heard the original...

But this remix sure does kick ass:)
I was a little affraid it'd turn out out crap at first... Mainly because of the spring/bounce thingie being a little to loud and the melody being a little weird.
It started so suddenly. I'd have liked an intro of some sort to prepare the listener for the track, but you jumped right into it instead.

Oh well. My wories disapear at at 0:14 when the melody start. Gotta give it to you... You REALLY hit the nail on the spot with that melody - it rocks!:)
At 0:27 you put on 2 of the most well known instruments in the hard dance/hands up genre. The kick and the bass. It's a pleasure to listen to, but you certainly need a clap of some sort.
Also, the beat is awfully monotomous. There's no tiwsts or turns. Just a plane old 2/4 kick with no changes. Same goes for the percussion and pretty much everything else in the track...

Anyway, the break at is ok. It's a little to simmilar to the main theme, and it kinda leaves me with a feeling that the break isn't there at all.

The main theme begins at 1:51 again. It's still nice, but it a qlimax needs something extra. You know, that little something that makes it more kick ass then the rest of the song. What you did, though, was practicly copying the part from 0:27 to 0:54 and put it in again.

Anyway, you did really well on the mastering (as the description suggested), and I have no idea why anyone would ram the 0 buttom without a propper reason:S
I'm not saying this song has no flaws, 'cause it definately have a few, but it's WAY past the 0 rating:)

I'll give you 4/5 and 7/10:)

DJ-Janze responds:

wow thank you very much ! :) i know what you are talking about. you can call this radio remix , it starts so suddenly like you say. and everything you say is so true, i remaster this tune today night , i upload new version tomorrow. your comment is helpfull! i try your help ;) comment tomorrow the new version, i try to be more creative.

[Take on my bootleg]

YARH me hearty:D

Oh god, this reminds me of a remix of the exact same song that I made myself XD It's here on ng if you'de like to hear it or something:P

Anyway. I can hear you used a cut out from the original song for the beginning. This is rather risky, since you need to figure out the pbm of the song to make a propper transition. You didn't quite manage to succeed in this transition so that alone is pulling the score down by one:(

Anyway, you used at 0:17 which seemed out of place somehow:S The beat starts, and the jumpstylish part begins:) I've heard a couple of remixes of this song, but I don't think I've ever heard a jumpstule remix, so that's nice for an exchange:P
There is too much distortion though, and it's like the track itself changes bpm multiple times duirng the one and a half minute it last - it's realy confusing:S

The synth itself doesn't really fit the rythm untill around 1:18 where you gave it a little twist and made fit in a little better:P
You buildup is pretty nifty, but you need some more percussion, and you should REALLY fix that distortion on the beat to achieve a more "clean" sound.

Peace out:)

Pyroific responds:

Tis just a demo, and it's nu-style hardstyle, not jump ;)

[Stian K - Be Alive[Snoozeinc]]

ROARH!

Nice beat in the beginning, but I ain't as impressed about the vocal as the guys bellow. It's nice, don't get me wrong, but it's a part of the remix pack, meaning its just a mare sample:)
The kick is pretty neat too, but the bassline is a LITTLE to low. That cymbal thingy you have on every kick gets a little anoying in the end, and so does the pads.

I didn't really feel like this track had any energy to it:S You need to use more effects and a hihat of somesort wouldn't hurt eather.
Try n' vary your kick as well. It's realy REALY monotonous.
And last but not least (even though I say this in ALOT of reviews), you should use more reverb to give your song a more interseting feel to it:)
You could eventually try n listen to one of the MANY other remixes made of this song to get some inspiration:)

And to the guy bellow: The voice is saying "be alive" even though it's really hard to hearXD

[DJ Mycro ~ Fl4SHB4CK]

I'm only writing this to help you:(

I have no idea why you wanted to start out your song with 2 identical snares right after each other, but I'll tell you one thing - it doesn't work very well.
Your kick need more bass and reverb, not to mention variation. The melody is boring and uninspiring, and the whole track is just a repetiv pile of sounds stacked togeather:S
The hi-hat thingy is decent, but you need to turn it's volume down a little.
You should also add a bassline and a propper synth, because it just doesn't sound that good at it's curent state.
The voice saying "Dj Mycro" doesn't have any beat matching, and should thus be corected. It's very hard to make a monotome computer voice sound good into a song, so it might as well be best of you remove it completely.

The only real part of the song that has any variation is the one from 0:41-0:49, and it sounds horrible:S There's no rythm, and it doesn't match the rest of the song. My suggestion would be to eather remove it, or polish it up ALOT!

In general this song laggs alot.
-Variation
-Sound quality
-Effects
-Bassline
And more:S

I'll just stop now though, as this should be more then plenty of critique to give your music a kick in the right derection:)
I hope this was somehow helpfull!