I’ve noticed that people often want criticism of their song. There’s obviously a topic just on myself, but I felt like there needs to be a more formal setting for critiques. An end-all be-all thread so as to not spam the forum with any more. Also, it shouldn’t just be me criticizing.
There are also noted critics on notessimo. I usually turn to ~Star~ when I want to see an in-depth critique. I’d personally like it if these critics would follow this thread and respond to songs. PM me if you’re interested (read below).
What should I expect for a critique length?
A general rule of thumb to follow about length of critiques is the length of the song merits the length of a critique. As well, the amount of actual content in the song should amount to different lengths of a critique.
For example, a short song such as my short loop should have a VERY short review. A long song like Dancing Mad is 17 minutes, but, due to the nature of the song, has many repeated sections and doesn’t have much playing at once. This would warrant a medium-short critique.
A long song such as Nonhuman would ask for a very long critique, due to its extensive amount of content. A short one such as Koi no Mikuru Densetsu (I hope I never have to type that again) would ask for a medium length review, because there is a noticeable amount of work put into it (the bassline switched from 8 length to 6 length at certain beats of a measure) and a noticeable amount of content. If only tsusaka would make more things.
How do I ask for a critique?
If you want to, you can ask for a certain critic to review your song. However, any critic may make a review of your song.
Do not ask for a song to be criticized that is not yours (without permission from the composer).
For the love of god, do not do the {notessimo}{/notessimo} embed. It takes forever to load those, and you can’t play the old player from that unless you go to the link. Instead, do links like I’ve done above, where you hyperlink your song with either {url=link}Song Name{/url} or the hyperlink tool while highlighting text.
Embedding soundcloud is fine mainly because there’s no “old player” on soundcloud.
PLEASE SAY WHAT PLAYER YOU WANT IT CRITIQUED IN. Solar Flare sounds amazing in new player, but not so great in old player (dat high black synth). I messed up at first and listened to old player.
What does a critique look like?
For clarification issues, critics are asked to put a link to the original song in the review.
A short review can be a few sentences. A long review can be 3 pages of an essay split into sections that the critic finds to be reasonable phrases of the song. Examples of section names include: Section 3, Bridge, Solo, This Part. Each section in a long critique usually has a score.
Also, each long critique includes a final score if the song is finished. The final score is determined however the critic wants it to be, but typically is the average of the section scores. Critics are asked not to defer far from the average of sections, but can do so with a “personal” score or “estimated” score. These scores are typically out of 5 or 10.
How long do I wait for a critique?
This depends on the feeling of the critic, and any attempt at answering this would be proven wrong. An extremely rough estimate would be a week. After that, if you want to PM me, go ahead.
[Song] wasn’t reviewed and I put it in the thread! Wahhhhhh!
Send me a personal message and I can criticize it and/or tell you why it wasn’t criticized.
I hate u I hate u I hate u I hate u I hate u
Having an emotional response to a negative or positive critique happens frequently. If you feel as if your critique was irrational / destructive criticism, PM me.
Make sure to remember, however, that every critique is an opinion. There are some songs that are both loved and hated by different people (I dislike Linkin Park’s songs, but Nuse does [from what I gather]).
What about covers?
A review of a cover is more often shorter than an original, because you can’t really complain about the melody being poor if the original song’s melody is poor. Just make sure to link the original in your request as well as the cover (and mark them respectively).
Who can criticize?
There should also be a list of critics, as to clear up any random people from popping up and saying “dis song sucks.” and not trying to be constructive.
List (PM me to be added):
~Star~
Krawkyz
At least for now, I have the authority to add/delete critics from this thread. If a mod feels they are more adept at this, please.
Critiques may show up either in this thread or on the song page. Song page is more likely, as it will be less lost in the mess.
Who can criticize my song?
If you request a certain critic, it is his/her choice if he/she responds. Any critic can criticize your song if it is requested to be done. This also means that there can be more than one review or no reviews. Don’t be surprised if you request a 10 second song with random stuff and don’t get a review. PM me if you didn’t get a review for further information on specific songs if they did not get criticized and were requested to.
Try to keep discussion in this thread to a minimum. The main purpose of this thread is criticism, and discussion will make this thread crowded and hard to maintain. That being said, responding to a critique is allowed, but PMing is the preferred method. Disagreeing with a critic due to an objective view is fine, but if you are getting angry at their opinions, be prepared to be met with a stern “you shouldn’t have requested its criticism.”
List of songs requested (in order of request date) [with specific critics included]:
[critic] Composer: Song
[any] Holtreande: Piano Composition
[any] Spacepixel: Theme 3
[Star] Clearwater: OneTwoThreeADVENTURE (Let’s Go) (in thread, star may move it)
[any] Timothy Verbist: Medley-ing
[any] ALI=3Ns & Krawkyz : Venture (Forward)
[any] Red Nova Dragon: Battle Deoxys - Piano
[any] Timothy Verbist: 2/28/2015 Story
[any] Timothy Verbist: Tetris
[any] Clearwater: Fairy Tale
[any] Clearwater: Signature of a Hopeful
[any] Apocoloptogon: Another Time
[any] Idea: Midnight Dream
[any] Timothy Verbist: Happy Ballad