Benesh's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Study in Counterpoint Theory 6]

Well

If you are intended to create some traditional counterpoint (like bach - if this was your intention) you should get rid of all those consecutive fifths. As you know they are forbidden in the strict harmonic movement (i hope its the correct word in english), unless there arent any other options. Also the principle of counterpoint itself - moving the notes against each other, is something you should regard, especially for avoiding the consecutive fifths.
If you want some more baroque-sounding you should try to create some "always-busy"state ... more movent in the middle voice(s), ongoing harmony without stop and stuff like that.

As for a choral - i think its better using all 4 voices(to get some more full sounding), but thats maybe a personal choise.

And if you want to get a more nicer sound, you shouldnt use so much reverb (especially no "music school room"-like reverb :) ) and have some dynamic and tempo alterations (even if the tempochanges are only little).
I dont really know what i could add - its pretty short .. so ...

I give you a score of 6 and a vote of 3 - go on studying !

[Symphony of the Fight]

My opinion

I want to tell you my opinion about your track.
It feels like some parts were just put together with using percussion.
I suggest you to make some real transitions, using a buildup, or some other instrument than the percussion, playing a melody line. For example at 0:35 - its pretty sudden (maybe you wanted it that way - i dont know). To make it more convincing , i would add some crescendos in some added instruments like brass or maybe strings.
One big problem i have are the horns - they sudden appear and disappear the same way - there is a real big lack of dynamics. (same for the doublebass at the end). But you did it in the later parts - so why not there ?. The piano itself also lacks of dynamics, try to imagine someone playing this - trying to hit every key with the exact same velocity. I guess thats not easy.
Its also not free in tempo - which is understandable because of the percussion.
The doublebass has also some errors in the sound with sudden jumps (dont know how to describe it) and is very loud at all in the later passages - i would make it much more silent, and maybe adding some other strings at all.
The percusion - well its always the same, try to alter it a little bit ,adding some metals, changing the rhythm or maybe even the mesure.
Another point is the combination - the piano is playing soft but you added some harsh percussion to it. If you wanna make the listener having imagination of a "sad looking woman" you should cut out the percussion and replace it by woodwinds and strings.
At all there is not so much happening , that could make it sound boring - try to avoid too long passages where nothing new is happening - thats why i suggest to alter the percussion. You can also change the harmony of the piano - transpose it a 5th upwards or whatever- so its not everytime the same key. (at all the best part was at 1:00)
At last something about the mix - It all sounds like every instrument is in some different room. For example the horns and the doublebasses are "right in the face" overlayering the piano, because reverb is missing at all. You should place them in one room (if you wanna have some orchestral sound).
So im finished.
I give you a score of 6.5 (rounded off to 7) and a vote of 3.
Work on it, be creative, then it will work :)

cloverkid13 responds:

Wow, finally some constructive criticism! Thank you, I will get to work on some more changes and yes the horns are quite sudden and I'm not sure why the doublebass jumps like that... It might've happened during the mixing. But thanks for the feedback.
Edit: Also, I agree with 1:00 being the best =P

[.:TD Simple Orchestral Power]

Uhm...

Frist i wanna tell you my thoughts about this piece.
The first thing which leaped into my ears, was the very bad mixing.
It sounds like (and im guess im right) there is a limitier switched on. Let me give you the advice : NEVER put a limiter or compressor on classical music.
I cant barly hear the horns .. the percussion is soo loud.
Im also missing the reverb, roomsound and stereophony - which makes an big part of some more realistic sound.
You have also the so called "maschineguneffect" in your strings, because of the repitations - you can avoid it by either cyceling different samples for the same note, using RR samples or change some other midi parameters like pitch, modulation (or whatelse) for every note.
Another point is in the stereofield ... the middle is nearly complete empty just filled with the percussion right in the face.
To the composition :
There is a lot to be done...
You have called it "orchestral power" .. .but to be honest , i dont hear any power in there. So how do you create power ? For example by realeasing tension or building large chords for the whole orchestra (especially the brass) with some sort of slow percussion (bass drum for example).
You could also change that cello figure, alter it, let some other instrument play it ... put some buildup tension in there. Its just everytime the same.
Another point are dynamics (in the basses for example) - a must have. Even more for some powerful moment.
Well okay .. thats all what came to my mind right now.
Your homework is ... listen classical music (NOT hans zimmer :P), to learn by hearing.
So to answer your question, i can improve your song, but i think thats a matter of you and your work- i will only give you hints :)

I give you a score of 5 and a vote of 2.
Go and work on it - put some more time into it, if you want to improve yourself !

TomDavies responds:

Whao! What a review! Certainly a lot of good advice here to work on, thankyou! I'll message you shortly with a download link to the .flp.

As for the song itself, i planned it out in about 20 minutes, the melody came to me randomly in school so i wanted to stick it in FL Studio before i forgot it. The mixing/ proper separation of each instrument is something i'm currently working on.

As for the 'classical' genre, it's meant more for the Harald Kloser/Hans Zimmer style, nothing else. And my main producing genre is Trance anyway, so orchestral style is totally new to me.

Thanks! :)

[The rise of -]

Good

I wanna give you my(!) thoughts about this piece.
You will also see, that i dont agree with everything, like others did.
At first i wanna talk about the composition.
You open with a very big and strong beginning, but you just cut the level of tense you have created right afterwards step by step. There was a lot of potential in it.
The following part is pretty flat (i dont know how i can term it otherwise).
I can hear some snares and a synthie bass - but even the snares are disappearing, and it makes me feel like an outro (even after they came back very brave).
Nothing really exciting is happening to be honest.
You have wrote "For the rise of a character still unknown" - so i was expecting something else so far.
You should (in my opinion) use your beginning like it is and build upon it.
Make the following part much more energetic, propulsive to capture the energy (tremolo strings, staccatos, clusters - more dissonance at all and stronger percussion if you want). Oh and dont forget about the woodwinds - let them play flurry and fast glissandi (especially in transitions if you wanna have it chlichee), staccatos - whatever. At last let this flow into your theme, making it much stronger and double it with other instruments.
The thrid part is started by some dissonant strings is nearly the same - if you wanna have tension or suspense, you have to let the instruments be very tense. Strong constant bass, very high tones, strong dissonance, strange rhythms, crossrhytmhs are elements for example making things suspense.
I dont wanna reapeat myself too much, so i come to some other thing what i noticed.
The strings are very flaccid and could have much more high frequencies.
Make them play the staccato like some real staccato with lot more attack or velocity. The brass players seem to have a long breath too :)
Overall there is a very big lack of dynamics, in the strings and in the brass.
If the brass is getting louder, its just getting louder without the typical overtones. There are X-fade samples sometimes, where you can change this by changing the modulationfader in the midis to create some near reality swelling brass.
And missing tempo dynamics.
Let the orchestra breath (thats what my teachers tell me too).
I dont really understand the electrical bass under the whole thing - it reminds me on hans zimmers soundtrack to batman. But i just dont understand its function - please explain it to me :)
At last something about the mixing: Im pretty unsure.
If you wanna maintain a real orchestral sound, you should start by placing the instruments in the room (left, right, middle and front, rear, back).
But its different if it should be some "unreal" orchestra with electronic sounds - its somewhat depening on the situation.... whatever.

I give you a score of 7 and a vote of 4 because i dont wanna be the bad one and i think there is potential in this piece , but there has much to be done.
Work on it :)

[The Sad Violin]

Uhm...

First of all ..
Its pretty difficult to say something good about that.
It doenst sound like a violin at all - there are no dynamics for example.
Let me give you the advice that solo violin plugins never sound good.
Frist of all i would add some harmony instrument to it - so it doenst sound that strange and replace the violin by something else - woodwinds are easier for the plugins to sound more real for example. Or make a whole pianosong with that melody out of it.
Thus - im sorry to say but- there is no emotion and music in this piece.
BUT if you work around with this melody , im sure there is something which can be made out of it. Try something really strange .. clusters or whatever ... make it sound macabre (thats what i feel about the potential of the melody) =)

But at all i can only give a score of 4 and a vote of 2.

[March of the Dreamer]

Difficult to tell ...

First of all its quite nice and there is potential to expand it.
But i also have several problems with it :
It lacks of dynamics and tempo changes (that makes classical music out).
The doublebasses are pretty loud in the mix - its like they are playing fortissimo the whole time. The solo violin is not good that way - let me give you an advice. Solo strings are never good to be played by plugins - to be exact, its impossible (in my oppinion), because it sounds so totally different and unnatural. The only way i see, is to get someone to play the violin and record it.
The horn sounds also pretty unnatural because the "player" doesnt need to breath - he is playing the whole time without any pause. Make some rests and add some dynamcs aswell.
The composition itself is expandalbe.
I noticed you have some patterns you repeat and bring together at the end.
It sounds pretty heavy because of the doublebasses with drums, which i already mentioned.
Especially when the bells play - i would like to hear some more woodwinds in that part .. leaving out the doublebasses replaced by a harp for example.
I know you wanted to maintain somekind of march - but it also works with less or different instruments. But i liked the part where the horns set in combination with the cymbals ... maybe you reapeated it just a litte bit too much.
Another problem i see is, that you have a big gap in the middle register .. there is high and low but nothing in the middle - so there is plenty of room for other instruments playing countermelodys, rhythmic additions or something else.
You can also corrupt the march thing and suprise the listener with sudden elements like a stop with a rebuild to the original march theme.
Im also missing more different harmonys - its mostly the same cadence - maybe you can make some break with moving a 4th upwards and play the theme in that key - just for example.
I cant tell you something about the mix right now - only what i hear, that there is no stereophony and back and foreground.

So far thats all what crosses my mind right now.
I want to give you some advises with my critique, because good critiquie is quite rare on newgrounds (as i expericened).
You have to practise more and it will work =)

So i give you a vote of 3 and a score of 6.
Im sorry if there are any misspellings.

vedrim responds:

Thanks very much for the highly constructive criticism!

I agree with you on basically all of your points; as to the double basses, it's actually a combination of cellos and timpani, and I did purposefully add volume to the lower frequencies when mastering because all too often I find that my finished products lack the proper amount of bass.

I did try to add clarinets and oboes, but they just didn't seem to sound correct whenever I tried to mix them; mastering is definitely the weakest aspect of my work right now, and I hope to one day, through practice, get it to the point where all of the instruments and frequencies can be heard with similar clarity; often I find that when I add too many instruments the final product seems too cluttered.

Thanks again for listening and for the constructive criticism!

[Midsummer Festival]

Its nice !

I think its pretty and lovely.
But there are several things i want to tell you, which can be improved:
First of all the audio technique :
instruments are all placed in the center (or near the center), you should expand it. Violins to the left and cellos with doublesbasses to the right - the woodwinds can stay in the middle to fill it (or whereever you like).
Second ... the basses are pretty loud - maybe cut some of the low frequencies and put on the High for all strings.
And last .. it doenst loops so well, because the beginning is a bit louder than the ending , i think it will work better with an louder ending or a more silent beginning (you can make a crescendo at the beginning for example).

Now the composition:
At the louder passages the clarinett(s) and the strings play together in the same register - its better to play the clarinet an octave higher, so you can hear the melody way better or double it with some other woodwind (one octave higher) like the flute.
You could also add some legato passages in the woodwinds or strings, which would make a nice contrast to the staccatos.
The bassoon is in a good register but still not heard so good because the strings are in the same ... maybe when it plays its sufficient to let only the doublebasses play or double it with other instruments .. maybe an oboe.
At last you can also put some stops in the strings, which are playing the rhythm , let them play legato and the rhythm played by the woodwinds. That would lighten it up much more.

I give you a score of 8 and a vote of 4 .

[Autumn is on its way]

Really nice !

First off : the strings sound quite nice.
But i think you could alternate the sound of the cellos a little bit by alternating the velocity a little bit for every note (not much).
At the fast part at 24 seconds i recommend to take a legato or normal violin vst instead of a spiccato - so it doenst sound so chopped ;)
All in all the other instruments flute, oboe(or is it a clarinett ? lol), basson sounds very good and fit at their place.
The ending is also really great !
The melody sometimes reminds me at Vivaldis pieces orPachelbels Canon in D - which i dont mean bad :)
Very creative song !
5/5
10/10

Hope you understand me xD

Tomppaah responds:

I'll be sure to try that bass velocity tips, as your suggestion to use a legato vst at the fast part really helped. :D It started to sound quite nice when i switched toi the sustained violin. Thanks. ;) Haha, and thanks for the Vivaldi and Pachelbel. :D

I appreciate taking your time to write this review :)

[Solitude of Awaken Minds]

Indeed !

Very well played.
I dont know what i should criticize - its just so transcendent.
And yes its a bit different than you other pieces but has this "boux-sound" ;)
I hope your intentions of making music get fullfilled :D - whatever it is
5/5
10/10
and in my favorites !
Greets !

Boux responds:

Allright! ''boux sound'' :D thats great, i hope too, we'll see what gives.
Thanks again by the way.
peace.

[Deserted Emotion]

Wow !

Your music has such a great recognition value.
If i only hear the first notes i can clearly say : "Hey thats from Boux!"
Very well done :D
5/5
10/10

Boux responds:

Allright! thats really cool didnt know it was that easy to recognize, thanks alot!