Okay, there is some GREAT music on this website, a lot of examples that will get continuous 10s and 5s, and still, the artists will not be signed, will not be played in clubs.

A lot of artists here use the fact they have lots of people that have favourited them as an artist as a means to think they have achieved something 'special' with their music. It's about time we face up to the fact that posting on Newgrounds will result in the majority of votes and reviews being cast by 12-16 year olds who have never visited a club, never truly listened to a wide range of music, and who really don't know what they can dance to. (You'll probably get your 235BPM song have a few 'I can dance to this' comments. Fact is if you try and dance to that you will look like you're having an epileptic fit, so don't let it get to your head.)

So I've been thinking, why does this music not stand out? Once again by this point "Top 5" does not mean you stand out, it means a bunch of kids liked it, and were able to find the 5 button.

Here are some points that I feel are killing your tracks (And have done for mine, for that matter):

1. Blatant Nexus Presets - These are a killer. They are overused, shitey, and don't give you what you want. Experiment, try and use FX, use automation, but just don't do what so many people do here which is double click, and write your melody.

2. Blatant VEC Samples - These are the worst, there aren't as many VEC presets as you would think, and people will probably like the same one as you that stands out in your own mind. Make sure you don't use these so basically, be more original, and this'll bring your track back a lot by just using these.

3. Overcompression, bad mastering, bad mixing - If you want tips on this stuff, go look at some of Karco's posts. The majority of tracks here follow the same idea. Every single instrument, every single effect geared up seems to be screaming "I WANT TO BE AT THE FRONT OF THE TRACK!". Your track is then loud, distorted, and overall, shit.

4. No real structure - Go listen to music before you actually write it. Seriously. Compare the structure of your tracks to professionally released tracks, I promise you will be slapping yourself for that 3 minute break down, or that chorus that you forgot to put into your track.

5. Overused chord progressions - Hear it over and over, and it will kill your track. One chord change every bar over 4 bars is normal, and it dominates the track. Let your chord progression rely on the melody/pace of the track, don't let everything in your track rely on the chord progression, or trust me, it'll sound so blatantly overused, and shitey.

6. Bad Variation - The one thing you need in your song is variation, to make it interesting. This doesn't mean, "Let's make this second part rely on an octaved melody of the first, and I think I'll have some amazingly generic plucked parts of it to give it energy". Once again, you're following NG Style, look around for some nice breakdowns, try and think about chord progression, and change your melody completely, don't fall into such common traps.

7. Know your scales - Trance relies on Dorian. If you're writing a track that's even remotely trance the chance is that you'll need to use this scale. Major & Minor scales do not work for trance in general, but make it fall into generic NG Style. Do yourself a favour, and look up scales you can use in your music, to try and seem different.

8. Repetitivity - Over... and over... my god this makes me sick. The excuse most people have is "It's trance so it's repetitive." My response isn't "Oh it's trance? Okay then it sounds a lot better." It is in fact "The track sounds like a pile of shit because you played the same loop for 32 bars. For Christ sake go make something other than music."

9. "Remixes" - People try and remix a track generally when they have no valid idea of their own. This is okay, remixes are fun, and good for you to pick up some techniques. This doesn't mean you simply cover the track by matching synths and then sticking in some octaved super saw lead. On the same note, make sure you keep your own style. Do not push your boundaries so far that you're trying to literally be replicating Tiesto, which will fail hard, and make people laugh at you.

10. Experimenting - There are so many knobs in FL Studio. There are so many little things you can twist and turn, and they all have their place for a reason. Have you ever tried seeing what happened if you put a 3x osc through a Fruity Fast Dist? Have you ever really seen what Flangus is capable of? The chances are, you have been too frightened it may have a negative impact on your track. Try things, make your own uplifters, make insruments of your own, and I promise you, you will soon have your own style of which will be recognised as your own.

Well that sums it up for me, I hope you gained something from this, and try and implement this in your own music.

However, one thing I know is that many people are happy to fall into the same traps, and get their top 5. Want an example? Basshunter. The guy jumps up and down in front of a few people who happen to know those 2 songs from his album that he made. He tries anything else, he will lose his publicity, so he puts out the same track again, and again, and again. Sure, he's famous! Guess what, he's still a pile of crap, and will never write anything that pushes his boundaries again.

Good luck with your production!
- Brittany (Fierra)