Score: 10

"Envvvvy"

submission: the Battle of the Gods

date: November 2, 2009

EastWest is amazing, isn't it? Wish I could afford it.

Not to say that it is ALL EastWest making this sound great. Masterfully composed.

Score: 10

"Woah!"

submission: Day of the Tentacle Cover

date: August 4, 2009

It's like I'm 12 again! What memories...

Score: 6

"And again I see imporvement. Keep it up!"

submission: Centrifugal Force

date: December 14, 2008

Alright! Now we're getting somewhere. Next...lets talk structure.

You notice how in my songs you hear a lot of the same (or at least similar) phrases repeated with slight variations on each? Doing the same series of notes repeatedly makes a theme that can stick in your head and give you direction to build on. A good example of this is one of my earlier beds L-HCT. It's a simple repeated melody that is built upon rather than altered. Altering it can be good, but in moderation. Try it out. It's actually easier than making a constantly moving melody.

Also watch those volume spikes. When making a song, you want to make sure the listener doesn't have to touch the volume knob. I had to turn it down in a few places.

Keep going! You can do it.

Score: 4

"Distortion is okay, clipping is not."

submission: Distorted Reality.

date: December 11, 2008

Turn the gain down and this would've been a fine song but there simply is no excuse for bad mixing. Especially since there weren't many instruments to mix.

Score: 5

"Getting there"

submission: Acid Metal

date: December 9, 2008

Some of the harmonies are a bit iffy, but now you have some instruments going at the same time and that's a step in the right direction.

The biggest problem is the instruments are still "taking turns". When doing your next song, try 3 or 4 instead. Also, have them play together throughout most of the song instead of appearing for 10 seconds, and then vanishing.

Score: 4

"AHH!!!"

submission: Nuclear Fission

date: December 6, 2008

Okay...first off this song startled the crap outta me. It starts off rather quiet, (and not too bad either) but after a nice intriguing soft intro that's juuuust long enough for you to turn up your volume so you van hear it better and then BAM!!! LOUD SYNTH STABS LOUD SYNTH STABS!!! I'm all for dynamic range, but that was waaay too much. When your done with a song and render it out, look at the waveform and make sure that they're aren't any giant spikes.

There's a sour note at 1:32. If you listen to it, you should notice that it doesn't sound quite right. I would recommend studying music scales and chords to get a better idea of what notes NOT to hit. The number one rule in music is that rules are meant to be broken, but it needs to sound good when you break them.

I can understand why your starting out like this, (and it's not a terribly bad way to start) but in order for music to really come to life you need to have the instruments playing simultaneously, in harmony. Right now they're just taking turns. It may be trickier to manage a bunch of instruments at the same time, but it's necessary.

Also, are you playing all of this out on a keyboard? I don't know if FL allows you to edit notes or not but if it does I would recommend writing music that way. Not a single song I have made was recorded with a live midi instrument. Hell, I can't even play anything. It's all just programming.

I hate giving you such a low score, but you do have a long way to go and I need to be honest. Don't give up though. That's about how my music sounded when I started.

Score: 10

"The voice of god in a song!"

submission: newgrounds is for fags

date: December 5, 2008

5/5 10/10.

Dude...I'm gonna go find a room. It's going to be a blank white room with no windows. All that will be in it is a small wooden chair.

I am going to enter that room, close and lock the door behind me, and then sit down. I will then proceed to sit there and stare at the wall until I die. Why you ask? Because now that I've experienced the best 29 minutes and 3 seconds life itself has to offer there's not a single reason to keep on living.

Score: 6

"Interesting start..."

submission: Failure Loop

date: December 5, 2008

I really didn't want to give this a star rating since it's unfinished. Anywho lets see what we can do here...

I was struggling to pick out a melody here. The buzz is pretty overwhelming and causes the notes to bleed together. One trick I like to do is turn any instrument I'm having a hard time with into a piano while you write the song. The notes on pianos are very clear and sharp, allowing you to hear the notes better and pluck out anything that sounds sour. Once your done, change it back to whatever you want.

The vocal at the beginning doesn't have a tone or rhythm. It can still be used...but it needs it's own space. Talky bits don't work well in ambient beds, even more so without a beat. And as a general note relating to this, flyby's, vocals, any any coloring that is distracting is not a good idea for a music bed you want used on a project. (Don't know if you want it to be or not but that's just FYI)

Haven't used FL Studio before so I don't have too many tips there. If you're serious about starting to compose, I HIGHLY recommend Reason if you have the cash.

Notes, bleeding, and all that aside, you chose some interesting instruments. I'm eager to hear what you can do. If you need any more help you can always AIM me. My AIM SN is on my profile.

Score: 10

"Brings me back."

submission: Title Screen Theme #01

date: November 7, 2008

I can almost feel a SNES controller in hand as I see the title screen for my shiny new 16-bit rpg game. I don't usually take the time to write a review like this but this one filled me with so much nostalgia that I had to. I listen to this and I'm 12 again. Thank you for bringing me back to happier times even if it was for 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

-God$peed

Score: 6

"Not bad"

submission: Darkbytexx- Invasion

date: October 21, 2007

It's okay...but the panning is messed up. That really needs to be fixed. That'll drive you crazy.