xKore's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hard 'N' Happy (DJI Mix)]

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Kewl, wasn't expecting to find a Uk Hardcore track in the audio adverts. I seen Kevs vids aswell. I think the video was mainly aimed at how you should sequence the rhythm of the melody rather than the actual notes.

It's a awright tune, the beat is pretty fucking hard which is good. I feel that there could have been more in the track to make it fuller like snare/clap, maybe a piano, arps, pads, something going on in the midrange.

It's pretty long for what it is, hardcore songs don't really last that long if they're not vinyl/cd cuts. I think this track could've done with a more simple structure of intro, build, chorus, break, chorus, outro which I think this track actually was, but they need to have more individuality and more punctuated, especially in rave genres like this. Like, have more than one melody such as an intro melody that gives a taste of what the main melody is, then the main melody kicking in in the chorus and a break melody, rather than just pitching up the chorus melody which seems like a cheap way to extend the song.

meh i talk too much about the flaws of the track, this is a good tune.

DJ-Infinity responds:

Hi, xKore. Thanks for your review.

Yes, I think there could have been more drums and other instrumentals put in, but I really wanted this song to be focused on the main melody I was remixing, rather than any other additions such as arps and pads.

As for pianos, I am yet to master a sample I have to use to create my own piano melodies as I am using a damn low grade piece of software compared to FruityLoops and Cubase, etc.

I like to keep my songs quite short and as unrepetitive as possible, because people keep saying there is a lot of repetition in my music. As you can see from the last review, I have still not got it quite right yet =P

I did not want the structure to be too conventional; as an artist I am probably still in the experimental stages of my own styles in pretty much everything. I also like to make structures and sounds as unique as possible to distinguish myself.

Now that you say that pitching up the song is cheap, I agree as it is just moving the notes up of what you already have. Nevertheless, I cannot resist a 2 semitone pitch-up as I find it just so uplifting in a happy tune like this =D

You could say I am pretty selfish with my music actually, but I guess its up to everyone else whether they like it or not. Even this review is selfish! Count the "I's" >.>

Anyway, thanks again for you review! Dont stingy on the critiques either, it gives me more to go and work on =)

[Paradise on E (Karco Remix)]

Noice

A gooooood remix of PoE, definately deserves 10/10 and 5/5 on this site for it's pro sound and composition. This is probably my favourite rendition of this song according to my taste in music.

The chords were the best part of it for me, i fookin loved 'em. The whole song flowed and didn't get boring for me which is good for a 10 min+ song. Good percussion and builds to the climax. I like what you done with the break, wasn't expecting that. The synths sounded clean and went well with the song.

But despite it being perfectly scored for me I felt there were a few small flaws that could be tweaked.

In the break, the snare felt a bit flat compared with the synths and other percussion around it, could do with a small bit of reverb behind it. I also felt the climax was a bit cluttered and didn't feel as climaxxy and epic as it could have, I though the plucks took away from the power of the melody, and I though the lead was maybe too persistant and out of place with the rest of the instruments during the climax, In my opinion I think it would've sounded better as something more native to trance like a supersaw rather than a buzz kinda sound.

WAAAAA wadoo I no. NICE remIX ILY

Karco responds:

Well, first off, thanks for the high ratings, and praise. :D

As for your criticism, I liked that snare. :( Oh well, I'm not surprised, considering it's my first time with brekas, EVER. XD As for the climaxes, I was never really fully satisfied with them, they're the weak points of the song in my opinion, though they're not so bad. ;) As for the lead, I chose it just because I wanted one similar to what B0UNC3 used... you're not the first to say that so it's pretty understandable. ;)

Thanks for the review! :D

[entranced [preview]]

HI CHIM

FIRST REVIEW WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

CLKIN responds:

Wow...

[The Morning Of-Shine]

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Jesus fucking christ, this is the most professional sounding song I've heard hear in a while. Score should be higher. 5'd + fav'd

starvingdude responds:

=]

Thanks for the review.

[<Open air>]

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Nice song but:

Your kick wasn't punchy enough, if you listen to any commercial stuff these days they won't be using kicks like these, you need to have more punch in the mid area and the high-lows to give it that drive and punch.

Your other percussion like your hats and rides didn't sound that dynamic, I've heard those samples before and it doesn't sound like anything has been done to them to mix them into the peice better. I would recommend EQing, managing there levels and adding slight reverb to give it more depth and prescence, right now they sound kinda flat.

Also, there's no real melody, you have a chord progression and a bassling but they haven't been used to create a unique melody, all you've done is chop/arp the chords and porta'd it.

There was that sweep at the end aswell, I think you should've used it throughout the song to emphasise the builds and the climaxes.

Anyway, good luck with future projects.

Rawmin responds:

Thanks for the indepth review. I'm rather new as far as mastering, so I hope to do more in future projects.

[{STALES} Clubland Loop]

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You need better synths, rather than just detuned squares or whatever you used, also they went off time in a few places I think.. but the slides were pretty catchy though.

Also your beat is pretty weak, you need better quality, stronger kicks and offbeat bass. And you need to mix and master it properly.

Joegame9 responds:

Thanks for the advice.

I will spend a lot more time with more tracks coming soon!!

[Trance Intro (short)]

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Your beat is still very weak, your not using the FL default samples are you? It'd be better if you got yourself some better samples and mixed and mastered it better. Also seems a bit empty without pads and a good bass in there.

DjSirah responds:

Before you even wrote that, you should read what i have wroten on my page..

[Celtic Dreaming Edit]

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Nice song. It really does sound good around 1:20 when it starts to get into it. Nice composition, flows nicely and is pleasent to the ear. To improve it I think you could try and slight reverb on the instruments to make it more spatial and not so flat, also helps to give instruments more flow and slightly prevents that machine gunning effect on some instruments. But yeah, nice song :D

BlazingDragon responds:

Thanks, I like to consider piano my forte. ;) As for the reverb, I just edited the song and added more. I also tweaked some other stuff, added some very subtle strings in the background, changed some parts around, but it is still the same song. I should have it up in an hour or so. (Hopefully the reverb will have helped!)

Thank you for the review. :)

[Modern Waltz]

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Some instruments in their were way over-reverbed. Also you need to work on your mixing, not all instruments were as clear as they could be and mastering would also help get it to a nice loud volume.

Zhanli responds:

ye... the previous version did have some reverb issues. I used a really bad midi converter. But the re uploaded version is alright.

["We Are the Future" -[N]-]

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Good overall production, nice sweeps and song structure and quite clean.

The reason I gave you 8 stars is because you built on probably the most overused chord progression there is, and considering you only had FL Studio default sounds I would've thought that more attention would be in the melodies and chord progressions. Also, I thought the offbeat bass could've been harder and more driven because right now it sounds watery and weak.

Anyhoo, good luck with future productions and good luck in the contest.

Nintechno responds:

Thanks for the solid review.
As this is my first dive into dance, I'm not surprised there are alot of things to work on, but hey, thats how we improve.
Ill take everything you said into consideration ^^