Hellstick's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[4 Felicia]

Oh snap!

Cannot beleave i actually discovered a B0unc3 Song on the front page:O
I'm not gonna go too much indephs with this review, but here goes:
I dont know if it's because this is just a "preview" or if it's meant to be that way, but it's like there is no real climax in the song... I know asking for a climax in a song that's only 1 min long might be asking for a bit much, but it's sort of a let down to have a build up leading directly to what appears to be a break.
I dig the 8-bit-ish sounds, but i dont think it's suited for a lead melody. A synth with a bit more power for the lead would be ace:)
Oh wellz, this is still verry nice, although not by your usual standarts. Verry good job as always:D

B0UNC3 responds:

Was just messing around to have some fun with a girl. She didn't believe I was "b0unc3" :P But thanks, I'll keep that in mind if I finish it.

[St0rm - Joy 'o Matic]

The last version were better...

First off: this review is VERRY unstructured and might be hard to undertand do to my bad english and cunfusing way of arranging stuff...

Secondly: Dude, what the hell did you do to this song? D:
You might wonder why i droped the score from 8 to 6... The reason why i did this is because you practicly butchered it... Allow me to explain:

I noticed something about the chorus that you should change that ididnt notice last time. As the chorus is now it plays at the same time, and in the same notes, as the piano. Instead you should try and make it so that the chorus play 1 constant note for each bar(meybe 2 dephending on what sounds best) and then change to another in the next bar.
If you dont understand what i mean then just send me a pb and ill send you a picture that'll exsplain it better:P

I know this isnt my usual style, but i'll jump straight to 0:56 since this is the place where the first noticable change from your previous version occures.
That snare anoys the hell out of me... It sounds like a the beginning of a buildup but instead it keeps on going on in the same rythm. It's too loud and verry unnatural and thus out of place. I suggest you remove it and add some cymbals or something instead.

at 1:09 you bring in a break. It last untill 1:24 and practicly identical to the rest of the song since you the only thing you did was to remove the bass and beat.
After that the melody starts again. from this point and onwards there is nothing new. The "second climax" is the same as the first. At this point the melody is starting to get anoying.

In general: The mastering seemed fine in the last version, but in this version the instruments overpower each other and as such the kick and various other elements in the track got butchered. It also makes the changes from the previous version hard to hear.
You didnt change the second half of the melody eather, so that's still there to pull down the rating. Practicly the first 54 seconds is the same as in the last version, except the mastering is worse.

You also need a break that somehow split the song in to more obvious parts. As for example the break at 1:10 could've been longer and a secondary melody could've been added.

I like the reverb you put on each 2nd of the claps though. That's a nice touch:P

I really have no idea how you should fix the mastering though... I really suck at that myself too:(
Anyway, as first mentioned this review is verry confusing and badly structured. Therefore i'll give you this list with the stuff you should focus on fixing:
-The mastering
-A propper break
-Remove the snare thingy
-Change the second half of the melody

Aight, im getting tired of writing now, so i think ill end this review quickly:P Im sorry i didnt have that many good things to say, but i'd just be repeating myself since i already mentioned them in the review on the previous version:P

-Hellstick

St0rmChaser responds:

well, there are not many good things to say about it, so thats probably why xD.

Um, im sorry i didnt tell you before you wrote the review, but this was an old version i uploaded xD. i have received a few nice mastering lessons which helped the song a lot.

The problem with the melody is that i dont have a clue how to change it.
for some reason its very difficult to change..
I already tried a countermelody, but that turned out even worse.
Also the snare sounds better at my new version.

I totally agree with the break.
Perhaps i should try to add some other bells to it.

The review was clear to me at most of the review, only the 'Chorus' part is a bit unclear to me.

greets St0rmChaser

[St0rm - Joy 'o Mtic]

Insert summary here

Hmmmm...
To start a track with an impact and jump straigh to the melody aint exactly original no dj friendly, but I guess it works in all it simplicity since it doesnt sound diretly bad:P I love propper intros though so I'd love to hear what you can come up with for this one:)
ANYWAY! On to the song. I dont know what to think of the piano... On one hand I like the first half part of the melody, but those high notes in the second half part of the melody doesnt really work out for me:S You should also try to add some dynamics by making the pads/chorus thingies follow another melody then the piano instead of just making them follow the same pattern (I dont think I explained that well what I actualy mean but I hope you get the point none the less:P).
The snare fills with the kicks as impacts are nice. Even though they're simple they sound like a natural part of the song and works great:)
Then a synth starts to play. In the same way as with the piano I dont't quite know what to think of the melody. At one hand the first half of the melody kicks fucking ass! But on the other hand I dont like the second half of it.
The synth itself needs to be more powerfull somehow. It needs to "stand out" a little more and have that punchy feeling feeling to it.

The little break you had before the climax worked out nice and managed to established some kind of excitement:) The climax as souch is ok but nothing interesting though. I'd suggest you try to layer a high pitched synth on top of your bass that follows the same melody and rythm as the bassline.
At the point at 0:55 I kinda felt let down. I thought some hats or claps or something would occure, but instead you left me hanging without any variation which get kinda boring in the long run.

In general: This best thing about this track is the progression. You managed to beatifully string each part of the song togeather and establish a good flow, which is pretty fucking important when making music (in my opinion:P), but I felt like some of the sounds (especially in the climax) melted togeather and consumed each other a little. I think this is a question of mastering though, which is pretty fucking hard, and as souch I understand that this problem can be hard to deal with. I personally experience this kind of shit all the time when im making music myself, and I know what a pain in the ass it is since I suck at mastering-.-
I think some bell synths would fit nicely into this song but only if you could arange them porperly. Otherwise they'd probably ruin the song and make it sound odd.
You should also try n' fix that melody (the second half of it that is).
The score of 8/10 is more like 7,5/10 though, so the reason i made it 8/10 and not 7/10 was mostly out of kindness;)

That's about it, I guess:P As usual I suggest that you send me a message if anything isn't understandable:)
Cheers, and happy mixing!

-Hellstick

St0rmChaser responds:

Wow, thanks again for your fantastic review.
At last i have an 8 xD, but you did it more out of kindness so it does not count =P
With the next submission i will try to get a real 8.

About the second half of the main melody, i completely agree with you.
The first half is quite catchy but the second one is not catchy at al.
I tried to make something that could catch a listener in the intro.
im very proud on that add at 0.13 / 0.14. it sounds exactly how i would like it to sound.

things im definately going to change :

the second half of the melody
A second synth to the melody for a more powerfull synth.
Perhaps a countermelody for the mainmelody.
Trying a higher pitch on the bass.

Im not completely sure what you meant with variating the arp/pad.
where and how do i have to change that ??
it now follows the bassline, should i change that ??
Thanks again for the great review,

Take Care,
St0rmChaser

[DJ Radman - Shadow]

DAMN the climax screwed it up...

The track starts out a little too sudden i think:S
A propper into would've been nice to build up some excitement and add a little atmosphere.
Perhaps you should add a simple beat, maybe even just a regular kick, with a filter on it. In case you decide to make the intro I think a filter that removes the bass would be pretty suitible for souch it:)

Anyway, instead of ranting on about what you didn't make i'll go on to what you DID make instead:P
The first thing i notice is the kick. Its strong and nice and exactly as a powerfull kick should be! The bass should've been an octave lower though. Or perhaps you could have layered it with another bass to give a more "full" sound:P
The bassline is cool though, and progressions is good. I like how you slowly added cymbals and percussion.
The impact clap thingy at 0:26 is nice but the volume is a LITTLE too high. The clap that follows doesnt work out though. Needs more reverb and doesnt really suit the rest of the song and espcially not the bassline.
The melody at 0:40 is nice though. It's calm but yet a little powerfull somehow. It should've been a LITTLE louder, but it's barely not noticable:) It all sounds awesome... untill 1:34 that is... The melody you present in the break is pretty neat actually, and the buildup works just fine... But the the qlimax at 1:34 ruins everything for me... The'res no harmony between the bassline and the synth and it sounds rather bad in my opinion. It's a shame cause you could've really made something awesome if the bassline had just been different:S

Anyways... The track goes back to the simplistick kick and bass style (or whatever to call it:P) at 2:29 and the song is nearing an end. The end is a little boring in my opinion though. It's not something i havent heard before, but i guess it works ok... Add some effects or something to give it a notch up:)

In general: The mastering seems good to me. Of what i can hear most sounds are well balanced and noticeable. I kinda want you to use more effects though... y' know... to spice the track up a little more:) The effects you DID use were nice though, and suited the song perfectly.
What marks you down as souch is really just the damn climax at 1:34... A shame though since the other parts of the song works damn well:(

Oh well, please dont take this review as a direct attack against you as a person. Some people tend to think i hate them because i leave honest reviews but that is not the case. I am simply trying to help them (and you too) to improve their music making.

I hope my review was somehow helpfull!
Cheers, and happy mixing:)

-Hellstick

DJ-Radman responds:

This is exactly what i needed. Thx a lot. Im sure this track would have had a lot of "errors". However, my main aim was not a well made 'structure' of the song at all. It was simply to give away parts of the song in a compacted time period. I will make a real version of it based on your and everybody else's opinions. Another problem i face is a slow computer (can only load 4 nexuses before i can barely play the track on my program) and this kind of disadvantages me. But i will try my best to create a 5 to 7 min track add with your proposals. Thx for your review, keep em coming.

[Burning Pizza Place (NR13)]

Please dont hate me:(

The kick at the beginning is a little "thin" for an actual hardstyle kick but it actualy works fine for the intro. It's like "silence before the storm" or something:P The bass is awesome as well but i'd suggest you add some sort of filter to it. Perhaps remove some of the trebble or something.
The synth is fucking kickass too:P

Anyway, the intro is about 15 seconds long... That's WAY to short. You completely left out the buildup and it makes the song seem too hasty - like "Fuck the buildup lets get down to it straight away!". Perhaps that'd be a good thing in som acosiations but in this case it simply doesnt work out. it's usually a good idea to wait at least 30-60 seconds before you bring in the lead like that:S
I dont really sense any real conection between the intro and "qlimax" eather. It's like I jumped from one song to another:S
The lead synth is nice and so is the melody it plays. You should add more reverb to it though. The kick is nice too, but you really need to add more bass. I gotta give you props for the way you arranged your kicks though:P Nice variation on that part:)

After the lead comes a break of sorts at 1:18 which is almost identical to the intro. It's not powerfull enough and doesnt work out. The kick is the main problem here. It worked ok for the intro, but def not for the break.
The synths in the break stops at 1:31. This leaves the kick and the bass alone and it seems even more empty then before:S I'd suggest you do something about the claps in the ending as well... They sound odd and out of place...

In general: I'd really suggest you do something about your progression. It sounds like you mixed 2 different songs togeather so you'll need a smoother transition in order to fix that problem.
You should also add some more elements: Percussion, effects and so on.
The score in general is really not based on what you've made but rather what you HAVEN'T made. What i mean by that is that this is simply too minimalistic. Each individual sound is ok, but you need to polish them up, add more details, and make your song more "full" if you get what i mean:)

Sorry if my review seemed rather harsh... I am not trying to attack your music or you as a person and nor do i try to kill your lust for creating music (some have thought i did when i left them this kind of reviews but it really isnt what im trying to do). I'm simply trying to help you improve by pointing out which parts of the songs needs to be fixed and what can be done better and so on.

ANYWAY, im currently working on my own entry as well, so expect it to be up sometime in the future:)
See ya around!

-Hellstick

Ps- please do feel free to send me a private message if you want me to clarify anything i said in this review:)

theta4 responds:

Yeah, I'll try to make it blend better. Those beginning and end parts were added to...well, just to have something there.

Anyway, thank you for your review. The song isn't finished yet. I just wanted to get some opinions on some of the stuff in the song before pouring my life into it :)

Also, longer reviews are better. It's a lot better than those short reviews that say things like "great song!" and nothing else.

[Artificial Beatbox]

MJELLOH!

Hi there:P
The word "beatbox" caught my attention, so i thought i'd give it a shoot and take a listen.

To use only your mouth for a song can be really hard. I've tried it myself and it took forever to finish the song. That means that you'll pull a few points for effort;)

At some points in the loop it can be hard to hear if there is any rythm at all because the beat is WAY to slow. You should raise the bpm a notch.
You should also add more "instruments", and make the song a little more interesting.

I genneral the second half of the song is the best. The beginning is just to empty and boring, but the end is a little more interesting. I like how you changed the pitch on some of the "claps". It added a nice touch to the loop:P

Anyway, listen to my song "the voice experiment" if you want some inspiration for futere songs, if you want to use your voice again:)

I know this review was rather short (compared to my standarts at least) but there aint that much to review, so I'll just end it here:P
-Nice effort
-Funny idea
-Original

Cheers and happy mixing:)

GoldbloodedDragon responds:

Thanks for the lengthy review. Trust that I read it all!
As of now, I am completely out of ideas for music.

I'll try 160 BPM and see the difference.

[{Vic} Sigur Ros- Milanó (Demo)]

Long time no see!

YO!

Don't know if you remember me, but I def remember you. You were the first one to review my very first song! I accidenly stumbled upon your review again a few days ago, and thought I'd check up on you and see how you're doing:)

Now I must warn you though. The folowing review might seem harsh and all, but I assure you I mean no harm and that I just want to help:P

The piano play in the beginning is nice... It seems a little too random to me though. It's verry hard to figure out how the melody actually goes, and thus the song misses that "WOW"-feeling. It's a shame though, cuz the piano itself is pretty nice. It has alot of reverb, so that it doesn't seem "empty" even though it's only the piano playing:)
A synth begins to play at 0:34 and slowly grows stronger while a beat gently appears. It sounds pretty nice, but it goes way to slow, and nothing TRULY interesting happens:S
At 1:38 the "real" beat starts to play. It sound really good, but the synth should've changed, and played some more different tones. There should've been a basslin as well, to acompany the synth.

In general:
Too little happens. The buildup is too long, and from 1:38 and onwards there's no variation at all, except for a little twist in the kick at 2:10 or so. I gotta give you props for the soundquality though. It's top notch:P
Your use of effects is good as well, and you mannage to make them "a part of the song", instead of just being IN the song.

Overall this sounds pretty solid, but again, it's WAY to repetive so it wont recieve a score over 7 from me. I did enjoy the ride though, so you didn't fail at all:)

Happy mixing!

-Hellstick

ZOMGBIE responds:

Yep, I definitely remember you. Thanks for the review, and I appreciate the criticism. This is actually just a demo of this song because at the time I made it I was using the demo of FL Studio 8, so I couldn't save it. I have everything I need now to do this song right though, however, it may be a while before I have the full version up. Thanks a bunch for your input.

[:DJ W!peout: Friggin Eargasms]

3 weeks you say...

I can def hear that some time went into this:P
I can't quite figure out what the voice says, but what I do know is that the vocal cuts are FUCKING nice!
The kick and bass are nice as well... Just as i like them:P
It's a little boring at 0:31 though, when the kick and bass is playing all alone. You need to throw in som percussion or something. Nothing much but just a little to add that extra touch that does the difference;)
A secondary vocal cut begins at 0:45... Thumbs up on that as well... Sounds awesome!
You have some awesome twists and turns in your kick, and some good use of effects, but other then that there's almost only the kick, the bass and the vocals playing, and that's simply too little to make the song interesting enough in the 2 minutes it takes for the track to reach the melody.
I gotta give it to you though. You used the few instruments you had to work with creatively:P

ANYWAY. On to thebreakdown at 2:05. The bell-ish sound seems a little out of place, but the other sound effects adds up for it.
Then there's a part with some kicks and some piano. I liked how you practicly pumped the impact kicks full of reverb. Sounds nice:P

The melody starts at 2:39. It's nice how it goes from piano to synth, but you made put a filter on your synth around 3:14 or so that sounds like shit. It doesn't sound like it does anything then lowering the volume:S It seems pointless and outa place:(

The kick starts at 3:45. It might just be my sub and speakers that's a little messed up, but it seems like the volume go down a little. Besides that the kick should've had more power to it, and there should've been some percussion as well.

the breakdown at 4:12 seems too long, and at this point the melody start to get anoyng. It simply plays for too long without any majo variation. Then you threw in a new synth at 5:05... It's ok... Nothing spectacular, but it's ok.
The kick and bass then starts again, and the track is nearing it's end...

In general:
You seriously need to throw in some more variation... The melody is playing from 2:30 or so to the end of the song... thats about 4 minutes of the same repetive melody.
Also you need to fix your bass... First of all, you should add more tones to the bassline, and secondly you should fix the WAY you made the bass. As you made the track the bass plays RIGHT in the middle between each kick, but you SHOULD have made it play right BEFORE each kick instead. I know my explenation sucks, but I don't know how to put words on it:S
Oh well... Greate use of effects, and nice soundquality.
This track had some major flaws, but it also had alot of nice ideas, so imma give you 7/10:)

-Hellstick

(Ps- PLEASE don't take this review as a personal insult. I've left long and harsh reviews like this one before, and once in a while someone is offended about it and thinks i hate them and their music. That's not the case! I simply try to be helpfull and make you improve as an artist. Also sorry for my crappy english... English isn't my first language:( Happy mixing:)

DJ-Martcore responds:

wow that's hella text i know what you mean... variation is not my strongest part in making music.
and the bass.. i know but my next hardstyle song is gonna have a nu-style bass in it so it sounds more hardstyle and insult? naah
why would it be an insult if you took 10 minutes to typ somthing to help me i aprecciate that .. and your english is a lot better than mines is xD
thank you for your review and listening the song

-DJ W!peout

[krakaloop]

Punchless

Since this is just a verry simple little loop, it'd be pointless to leave a long and detailed review. I'll just give ya a little advice instead:P
Here goes:
The bass is fucking lovely. It's dark and buzzy. I love it! :P
The beat is way too weak though. It needs more "punch" to it, and a little more reverb, since reverb usually gives a track a, how to say, "full" sound.
The melody is anoying though. The beat with the filter on it that starts at 0:06 is ok as well, but I'd suggest that you slowly remove the filter, so that it sounds normal when the loop ends.
The "punchless" beat is your main problem though.

Hope I was helpfull! Keep mixin'!

Pissomatik responds:

Yeah, I just through a drumloop in there. As far as what you're saying about the filter, that's what I was wanting to do. I'm still trying to learn how to use automation in FL Studio. I can't figure it out from the embedded tutorial song. Sad, I've been using FL Studio since like 2003.