Oh, God, this is a big song -- let's get to it, then...
I'll try and do this review differently, to be more efficient and to break it up a little more.
Part 1:
The Good:
-Intro is nice and soft
-Use of wind-chimes
-Percussion is driving and appropriately fills a supporting role
-Transition into Part 2
The Bad:
-0:33 Several instruments drop to crescendo the next note, but the drop is too extreme and sudden; caught me off guard
Part 2:
The Good:
-Choice of songs helps natural flow of song
-Really full sounding
-That awesome instrument that appears for a brief moment in the left speaker at 3:51 (let me know what that is)
-Articulation at 4:30
-Ending is powerful
The Bad:
-At 2:52, the claps are a bit too prominent for my taste, maybe a little dry?
Part 3:
The Good:
-Flute tonguing
-Perfect harp sound
-Piano fits in well
-Dynamics are, uh, dynamic
-Reverb on that wood block hit at 5:00
The Bad:
-Sounds like a low drum hit in the right speaker at 5:49 -- maybe a tad distorted? Not sure if this is intentional
Part 4:
The Good:
-Low end leveling
-Those drums, oh man, those drums
-Drum roll at 7:13
-Great Ending
If something is labelled as good in one part, it's probably good in the other parts, too! I feel like I had to nitpick to find anything wrong with this piece. You've got a gem right here.
*Just realized that 0:00-1:09 and 6:40-8:12 are the same*
"Oh, God, this is a big song -- let's get to it, then..."
Yeah, biggest song I've ever done. I was hoping to skip the 10-minute limit but my RAM wouldn't have liked that at all.
"-Intro is nice and soft"
Mhmm, I usually start my songs pretty softly. I've heard intros that start loudly and sound good but I have yet to make something like that work, haha.
"-Use of wind-chimes"
I love wind-chimes!
"-Percussion is driving and appropriately fills a supporting role"
Sweet. It's incredibly easy to make that kind of 'epic' percussion with East/West. Just grab Symphonic Orchestra's AWESOME snare sample, combine in with the Godzilla Hits from Stormdrum 2, throw in some orchestral cymbals and you've got some very epic percussion.
"-Transition into Part 2"
Wow, you liked it? Most people don't like that transition, haha. I guess it might just take getting used to.
"-0:33 Several instruments drop to crescendo the next note, but the drop is too extreme and sudden; caught me off guard"
You know, that problem was even more prominent before, in some older versions. The horns would just stop and go down in volume to do the crescendo. Someone from the Monster Hunter Wiki forum pointed it out and I tried fixing it. I guess I didn't fix it enough!
"-Choice of songs helps natural flow of song"
Yeah, Part 2's themes are all themes that play while you're in the village or city, so they had that to tie them together. For the record, 2:51's theme is also my favourite theme from the whole game (when I listen to the original I get goosebumps. You must hear it, it's better than my rendition!), so I did dedicate some time to it.
"-Really full sounding"
Yay, thanks!
"-That awesome instrument that appears for a brief moment in the left speaker at 3:51 (let me know what that is)"
Oh man, you're the second person to point out that you like that little arpeggio thingy. I thought I made it too subtle for anyone to hear, haha.
That's actually just some of East/West's string staccatos playing a really really quick arpeggio. It's not actually possible to play in real life but what the heck :3.
"-Articulation at 4:30"
Oh, you noticed it, awesome!
"-Ending is powerful"
Yeah it is! I was surprised by how powerful it turned out to be when I finished it.
"-At 2:52, the claps are a bit too prominent for my taste, maybe a little dry?"
Could be! I added those claps because I wanted to make it sound like the whole city is clapping and snapping along to the song (yeah, there are finger snaps there too) but the clap is kinda dry and harsh.
"-Flute tonguing "
That's thanks to East/West's articulations!
"-Perfect harp sound"
I love that harp sample so I can't disagree!
"-Piano fits in well"
Sweet.
"-Dynamics are, uh, dynamic"
Woo!
"-Reverb on that wood block hit at 5:00"
You're the first person to comment about that. Thanks!
"-Sounds like a low drum hit in the right speaker at 5:49 -- maybe a tad distorted? Not sure if this is intentional"
Oops, it's possible. That's a very big drum hit over there, it's like 5 or 6 drum hits layered together.
"-Low end leveling"
Awesome, thanks!
"-Those drums, oh man, those drums"
...refer to previous comment about how to make epic drums :3.
"-Drum roll at 7:13"
That's a snare roll I faded in. I like to do that a lot in my orchestral songs.
"-Great Ending"
I'm actually really glad you liked it. I worked a lot on that ending note and it's one of my favourite endings from all my songs' endings, I think!
"If something is labelled as good in one part, it's probably good in the other parts, too! I feel like I had to nitpick to find anything wrong with this piece. You've got a gem right here."
Awesome man, thanks a million for the review. It's great to know what things I did right and what little things here and there I could've done better!
Thanks again! And again. Aaaaaand again.
*Just realized that 0:00-1:09 and 6:40-8:12 are the same*
*Gasp*
This really is the kind of music you're best at, and it shows here.
The first thing I noticed was all the low rumble and reverb from those background drums. You've got just the right amount to stabilize the lower end of the piece without overloading my ears.
The gong hits as an intro and outro fit perfectly, as well as at 0:06.
Snare is really well placed and mixed -- good driving beat and pattern.
Everything really comes together in this little track. It all blends, and all the instruments sound like they were made for each other. The highlight for me is definitely the flute; man, what a great flute sound! The subtle trills (like at 0:11) and the vibrato really bring out Skye's melody.
"This really is the kind of music you're best at, and it shows here."
Awesome! I'm kinda sick of orchestral now though :P. All I've done for months is orchestral again and again and AGAIN. As much as I love orchestral, I really want to vary my genre some more now. Maybe some rock or techno. Or trance perhaps. Yeah trance.
"The first thing I noticed was all the low rumble and reverb from those background drums. You've got just the right amount to stabilize the lower end of the piece without overloading my ears."
Excellent. I'm so glad you noticed that.
There's a bit of a story behind that. Stormdrum 2 comes with Godzilla Hits - these are the loud booming drums I overuse like crazy in the 'epic' parts of my songs. However, the Godzilla Hits are in two patches - Godzilla Hits and Godzilla Hits SR.
Godzilla Hits is the normal patch and has the booming drums that have that bassy echo. The SR version (probably standing for Small Reverb or something) does a bassy echo that is abruptly cut off after a very small period of time. The advantage of this is that for quick bass drum beats, the reverb doesn't build up in the bass and sound overbearing (which is exactly what happened in the Metroid Prime Menu Theme remix you gave me feedback on a long while ago). The disadvantage is that it just won't cut it if you're looking for a boomy, earthquake-like rumble.
Now I wanted the best of both worlds, so I chose the Godzilla Hits patch instead of the Godzilla Hits SR one, but remembering the feedback you gave me on the Prime remix, I played around with its EQ and cut out some of those bass frequencies. So yeah, I'm glad you commented about that more than you think! :P
"The gong hits as an intro and outro fit perfectly, as well as at 0:06."
Haha yeah I love that gong. Using it thrice in just 20 seconds is overkill, true, but I didn't feel like loading some other cool-sounding sample from Stormdrum haha.
"Snare is really well placed and mixed -- good driving beat and pattern."
Thanks! I tried syncing that beat with the staccato strings - something I've been very fond of doing for the past few tracks I've made. I even cut out some of the bass frequencies from that snare too just to make SURE the bass rumble isn't too much!
"Everything really comes together in this little track. It all blends, and all the instruments sound like they were made for each other."
That's great to hear, thank you!
"The highlight for me is definitely the flute; man, what a great flute sound! The subtle trills (like at 0:11) and the vibrato really bring out Skye's melody."
Yeah that's the ney flute of Ra. I love it. That along with the dizi and duduk are my three favourite woodwind sounds in Ra.
"Never stop with the music, dude. Never!"
Neither should you, or I'll hunt you down.
Thanks a million for the review, I'll get around to returning it sometime soon!
Something's up with that bass, man. Don't know what you did, but it really distracts me from the other cool stuff that's going on, like the piano and the flute. I like the way it starts, and I won't blame you for the genre choice. Strings sound bright and play a neat part. You've got better stuff for sure, though.
I explained to Buoy down there what I did to the bass. I really need a better bass sample :P.
Thanks for the quick feedback, I promise I'll try harder in the next track I submit! By the way, forgot to tell you! You know Harmony of a Hunter: 101% Run? The Metroid album I'm part of. Don't know if you saw my newspost but there's a new album preview out if you'd like to see it! My track is the Luminoth one.
The vocals sound really good compared to what I normally listen to -- I feel like the bass needs more presence, though. I don't work with voices, so I don't know if adding bass would conflict with them. You should mess around with it to try and get something more beefy/substantial. Otherwise, I'm diggin' it.
Compositionally, you're still solid. Good ol' pitch bending keeping me interested. Your snares usually sound pretty dry, though -- try layering it up or something.
This is ideal as a background track during a conversation; it's not too busy, but it's not boring and plain either. Swint and Buoy really hit the nail on the head when they mentioned the wind chimes, however. I might suggest removing one of them and lowering the volume of the other. It's the brightest and most noticeable sound in the mix, so toning it down to try and compensate would be the first thing I would attempt.
Love that choir :)
Nice stuff!
P.S. Bonus question: Kind of personal, but are you fluent in Maltese? I was just thinking, "Man, this guy knows perfect English", and sure enough, when I looked it up, English is an official language in Malta (sorry, I'm not very culturally aware). It would be neat if you knew both of the official languages of your country, as not many people here in Canada know English and French.
That's awesome. I haven't made a proper loop from scratch in ages, and I rarely do them (I'm more into making full songs).
"This is ideal as a background track during a conversation; it's not too busy, but it's not boring and plain either."
Good, good :3.
"Swint and Buoy really hit the nail on the head when they mentioned the wind chimes, however. I might suggest removing one of them and lowering the volume of the other. It's the brightest and most noticeable sound in the mix, so toning it down to try and compensate would be the first thing I would attempt."
Well I took away one of the wind chimes so it doesn't play as much in one play-through. Hopefully it's better now!
I also added a very subtle detail to the track. I wonder if you'll be able to notice it!
"Love that choir :)"
Yeah that choir was one of the first things I added to the song. East/West Symphonic Orchestra's choir really nails the mystical sound I was aiming for.
"Nice stuff!"
Thanks a lot, glad you liked it!
"P.S. Bonus question: Kind of personal, but are you fluent in Maltese? I was just thinking, "Man, this guy knows perfect English", and sure enough, when I looked it up, English is an official language in Malta (sorry, I'm not very culturally aware). It would be neat if you knew both of the official languages of your country, as not many people here in Canada know English and French."
Man, I know English, Maltese, French and Italian. Here they hammer languages into us like there's no tomorrow :P.
But I speak English most fluently (probably due to the fact that I was born in England and half my family is English). Maltese is naturally the national language and everyone around me speaks it though, so I can understand Maltese flawlessly, write it considerably well and can speak it fairly well. I hate Maltese though, haha.
As for French and Italian, I can't speak them that well, I can understand them fairly decently and I can write them with a few grammatical mistakes.
Okay, seriously, the length of the song shouldn't really be an aspect to find negative or positive. If it's structured well, which in this case, it IS, then how long it lasts doesn't matter. If you like it, then just put it on loop!
Anyway, hey look, more cool stuff from SuperSte-- uh, I mean, Step. Man, I am so inclined to call you SuperSTEP now. Is that a problem?
The varying rhythms in the first 10 seconds are cool. The clarinet (I think) at 0:13 sounds so calm and pleasant -- really nice. The wavering didgeridoo at 0:07 and again at 0:16 is a great choice.
Transition at 0:27 is so natural, and the beat that follows is so groovy. Lots of good auxiliary percussion here.
0:40 -- the extra kick or two you put here varies up the rhythm just enough to keep me going. Smart move.
At 0:44, there is an absolute fraction of a second that is pure silence, and it kind of bugs me. You should keep some more reverb in there to fill up just a little bit.
This track builds, peaks, and falls all in the right places. It helps the looping to be less obvious, and this allows me to listen to it for longer without getting bored (as in for about 25 minutes while I type this). You've got some pretty addicting music here, sir.
Oh thanks for reviewing dude! Nice to do some original music now and again after a lot of Metroid remixing :3.
"Okay, seriously, the length of the song shouldn't really be an aspect to find negative or positive. If it's structured well, which in this case, it IS, then how long it lasts doesn't matter. If you like it, then just put it on loop!"
Well, length can be a factor. If the song feels short and has potential to be longer, then it IS a kinda negative factor. Problem here is that I couldn't really make it any longer since this is just intended for a short dance.
"Anyway, hey look, more cool stuff from SuperSte-- uh, I mean, Step. Man, I am so inclined to call you SuperSTEP now. Is that a problem?"
Don't even think about it!
"The varying rhythms in the first 10 seconds are cool."
Awesome. Like I said to SkyeWintrest I tried to make those rhythms pretty jumbled up.
"The clarinet (I think) at 0:13 sounds so calm and pleasant -- really nice."
That's a duduk! I really love its sound. I remember hearing it in Avatar: The Legend of Aang's soundtrack without knowing what it was called and when I bought East/West Ra I was desperately hoping that it would have the same sound that was used in Avatar. After a bit of searching, I was elated to find three amazing duduk instruments.
"The wavering didgeridoo at 0:07 and again at 0:16 is a great choice."
My mum says she thinks it sounds too aboriginal with that didgeridoo in there but I just think it fits so well...
"Transition at 0:27 is so natural, and the beat that follows is so groovy. Lots of good auxiliary percussion here."
Heh awesome! In all, in that part there are big hits/cymbal and gongs, bongos, shakers, cymbals and the kick/snare combo playing as percussion, with the odd woodblock here and there.
"0:40 -- the extra kick or two you put here varies up the rhythm just enough to keep me going. Smart move."
I like adding a few subtle variations in my percussion. I'm glad you noticed!
"At 0:44, there is an absolute fraction of a second that is pure silence, and it kind of bugs me. You should keep some more reverb in there to fill up just a little bit."
Aw man that silence was intentional. I actually went and automated the master volume to go down in that part so that the reverberation would be cancelled. I know it sounds pretty abrupt but I personally like that effect so I don't think I'll be changing it :P.
"This track builds, peaks, and falls all in the right places. It helps the looping to be less obvious, and this allows me to listen to it for longer without getting bored (as in for about 25 minutes while I type this). You've got some pretty addicting music here, sir."
That's great to hear. This track is totally out of my style so knowing that it's addictive is a good relief.
"Nice job as usual. I guess I'll see you around...
...SUPERSTEPH54.
*runs away quickly*"
Don't you mean "flies away quickly"...
...BIRDINATOR99
Trinity 
To the Death 
A New Leaf 
Champion 
The Abandoned Fortress 
Starlit Flight 
Jinn's Calling 
Dance of the Jnun ![Perseverance [NG Cut]](https://aicon.ngfiles.com/475/475468_small.png?f1364639367){kind=small}
Perseverance [NG Cut] 