I'd like to offer thoughtful reviews of your channels

[Vir]

Hi Viraaj,
I spent a good amount of time perusing your channel and listening to your music all with your remarks in mind regarding your goals. I should start by disclosing my biases: I've loved electronic music and followed that scene since I was a kid in the early 90s, so when Hopping Fire started playing when I loaded the page, I was very excited to be reviewing a channel filled with music I knew I'd like. That said, my review won't focus on your music very much other than to say that you're talented and I really like what you've got going in the genre. I think you're off to a great start in that respect - I found the originals and the covers to be highly listenable and left them running as I worked for the better part of a morning. Nice work. But on to the channel review itself.
- My first thoughts upon visiting your front page were, 1) I like the song, 2) The thumbnail art is interesting, 3) I recognized some of the music so I figured out you did some covers/remixes, 4) You've got a good initial following, 5) The channel lacks a clear theme and description of what you're going for.
- Since the inherent compliments in the first four observations are obvious, I'll skip right on to the critique that is number 5. Like just about every smaller, newer music channel I've seen on YouTube, you lack a clear brand. To a degree, that's understandable because you're probably still figuring that out and growing into it, but I think the lack of a personal presence and/or some value-communicating branding is hurting you. Here are some suggestions
* Let visitors see you. Make an intro video that gives us a look at the people who are making this stuff.
* Further, let us get a glimpse of who you are and what drives your art. Music is great and all, but it's almost always made more powerful when listeners have a sense of the people and the story that the music grew out of.
* You banner art is fine, but there's nothing about it that really says who you are or what sets your electronic music apart from all the other electronic music. I'd think through an answer to that question and then try to find a way to communicate it visually throughout your channel.
* Flesh out that "About" section. Let us know who you are, where you're from, a little about your story, and what you're going for with your music.
Your stuff sounds great and it's obvious there's a lot of work and talent behind it. Like most smaller music channels, I think you'll struggle to build a following without the benefit of putting a personality behind it, but you certainly have the ability and sense of how to layer beats and craft a hook that are needed to get people's attention.
Best of luck moving forward,
Matt

Thanks a bunch mate,i really like the deep review you've give us.We'll look into the things you've point out and hopefully will grow a lot!

 

[TMBH]

Hey I think this offer is really nice and it seems like you're just doing some overall reviews on channels and that's kind of what I'm looking for. I'm new to youtube so anything you have to say would be greatly appreciated

Greetings!
I'm still very up for writing a review of your channel, but I see that you haven't been in the forums for a while, so I just wanted to make sure you were still around before I put in the work. Just hit quote and reply to this post and you'll be the next review.
Thanks so much,
Matt[DOUBLEPOST=1428384684,1428358170][/DOUBLEPOST]

Hey I'm curious what you think of my channel when you get a chance check it out

Greetings Antonio,

Thanks for letting me review your channel. After watching a lot of what you’ve put together, I have some thoughts. Before I throw them out there though, I need to disclose a bias I hold. I find almost all gaming channels to be incredibly boring and virtually indistinguishable from the others. I know a lot of others are crazy about them, and I totally respect that. It’s not that I’m against video games; I’ve been a gamer since I was six years old and the original NES came out, so I love games; I just don’t like watching other people play them. I’m the kind of teammate who starts the round by muting everyone and then playing the good (albeit silent) squad member who puts team and objectives before personal numbers. So in addition to not enjoying watching others play, I also don’t enjoy listening to others while they play. I’m sure in light of those revelations, you can see how the gaming channel genre wouldn’t be my personal preference. Now that I’ve got that off my chest, you’ll be able to take my remarks with a grain of salt knowing that I’m not your target audience.

That said, I like your channel and here’s why.

1. I can tell that you know you’re in the most crowded genre in YouTubedom, because you’ve made efforts early in the life of your channel to differentiate yourself from others. Most of the positive remarks in this list all fall into the category of quality differentiation. Great work on this point.

2. Very solid, short, informative, personality-filled intro video. This is SO stinking important! If I stumble upon two gaming channels and one is hosted by an anonymous, faceless voice and the other is hosted by a person; I’m taking the one with the person every time (unless the person is Kristin Shaal’s character from The Last Man on Earth, then I’m taking the anonymous faceless one).

3. You then go on to put your face in your videos. This is smart because if I’m bored enough to want to watch someone else play video games, it’s a ton more fun if I actually get to WATCH that person play. You seem like you’re having a blast and you get on a good comedic roll at times, and that makes it not boring. I found myself enjoying your videos more than I usually do on gaming channels, because I could physically see you having fun. That’s contagious.

4. You know stuff about your subject matter. The only thing worse than watching someone play video games is watching someone play video games who is way worse than me. If I wanted to watch someone suck, I could just save time and give the controller to my four-year-old (which I actually enjoy, to be fair, because he’s cute, I love him, and someday he’ll be great). You seem to understand the market and the various genres you play, and in between joking around and cursing your bad fortune you offer remarks that might help me be better at a game.

5. You play a variety of games. Having a channel dedicated to one game is great as long as that game is popular. Having a channel dedicated to one genre is great as long as you don’t care about connecting with the majority of the gaming world. But playing a variety of games makes it easy for viewers to give a second video a chance if the first one doesn’t connect with them.

6. You play WOW with your mom. You should run with this and find ways to flesh out this concept. It’s got the makings of gold.

7. Your thumbnails have a pattern, tell me something about the video, feature you (the star of the channel) and are funny.

8. You have production value to your format and your intro. This is wise, because discerning viewers will eventually realize that zero-production value channels are just video of a game someone else made and move on. Adding even the slightest element of production to your stuff demonstrates effort that went beyond clicking the record button and then playing a video game (which isn’t hard). You are making that effort and it will serve you well.

9. You engage your audience well (like playing a subscriber’s Hyper Dragon Ball Z mod), and you come off as a cool guy. It seems like you treat people well, and that makes it more fun to watch.

10. I like the greenscreen overlays that you employ sometimes. It keeps you in the video but doesn’t clutter everything up.

Reviews are boring and dumb if they don’t come with some constructive criticism. Please bear in mind as I offer these critiques that I’m surely not your target audience, and that I feel overwhelming positivity about your channel. That said, here we go:

1. Maybe it’s nitpicky, but I think you’re at your strongest when you aren’t swearing a ton. Let me be clear, I’m a fan of all the words you’re using. They all have a purpose and a place, and from time to time, they can strengthen a video. But I think you rely on them too heavily and it makes your otherwise clever commentary seem more juvenile. Part of the downside of gaming channels for me is that I know I’m going to have to put up with a barrage of inane, poorly-employed expletives (which is why I’m a team muter when I play). I find the stretches of more high-brow humor and commentary that you string together to be funnier, more effective, and, again, differentiating from your competitors.

2. Production value separates content-makers from their less-conscientious rivals. An upgrade on your lighting will help. It looks like you’ve put some money into a mic (great job), but the audio performance is mixed. It seems to get a little clippy at times. I don’t know if you have a digital audio recorder, but if you don’t you may want to back off the mic a touch, or if you do, you may want to dial down the mic gain so that when you get excited or close to the mic it doesn’t all go to crap.

Again, you’re a talented guy and the star of the channel, so you should do all you can to highlight that and to make yourself look and sound good.

3. I know you didn’t get into this to make a vlog, but the occasional video of you talking (even informing) about your subject matter helps viewers know and like you better. If they know and like you better, they want to watch you play video games instead of someone they know and like less. There are lots of ways to endear yourself to you fans, and what I’m throwing out is just one way to do that.

I thought hard about this review and did my best to give some useful thoughts. I could be completely full of crap because I’m not a gaming channel guy, but hopefully some of this will prove useful to you. It looks like things are going well for you so far, and I’m not surprised. I hope you crush it and get everything out of the YouTube experience that you’re hoping for.

Best of luck amigo,

Matt

 

[Supertraff]

I would love a review on my channel. My goal is to get as popular as possible

 

[MissFushi]

I would absolutely love to hear your perspective on my channel. I am very new and still getting used to editing and being on camera. Still getting the awkwardness out of me. I know its easy to tell on the videos.

 

[TMBH]

I would love a review on my channel. My goal is to get as popular as possible

I would absolutely love to hear your perspective on my channel. I am very new and still getting used to editing and being on camera. Still getting the awkwardness out of me. I know its easy to tell on the videos.

I'd love to review your channels! I've got a few to catch up on, but I'll get to yours within a couple of days. The only thing I'd ask in return is that you'd respond to my review. I put a minimum of an hour into each one of these (sometimes much more) and it's a pretty big buzz kill when I don't hear back from people.
I look forward to taking a look at what you have going on.
See you in a few.

 

[Supertraff]

I'd love to review your channels! I've got a few to catch up on, but I'll get to yours within a couple of days. The only thing I'd ask in return is that you'd respond to my review. I put a minimum of an hour into each one of these (sometimes much more) and it's a pretty big buzz kill when I don't hear back from people.
I look forward to taking a look at what you have going on.
See you in a few.

Thanks alot

 

[PaulKehoe]

Can I Get a Review Please??

 

[Bad Candy Gaming]

Greetings!
I'm still very up for writing a review of your channel, but I see that you haven't been in the forums for a while, so I just wanted to make sure you were still around before I put in the work. Just hit quote and reply to this post and you'll be the next review.
Thanks so much,
Matt[DOUBLEPOST=1428384684,1428358170][/DOUBLEPOST]
Greetings Antonio,

Thanks for letting me review your channel. After watching a lot of what you’ve put together, I have some thoughts. Before I throw them out there though, I need to disclose a bias I hold. I find almost all gaming channels to be incredibly boring and virtually indistinguishable from the others. I know a lot of others are crazy about them, and I totally respect that. It’s not that I’m against video games; I’ve been a gamer since I was six years old and the original NES came out, so I love games; I just don’t like watching other people play them. I’m the kind of teammate who starts the round by muting everyone and then playing the good (albeit silent) squad member who puts team and objectives before personal numbers. So in addition to not enjoying watching others play, I also don’t enjoy listening to others while they play. I’m sure in light of those revelations, you can see how the gaming channel genre wouldn’t be my personal preference. Now that I’ve got that off my chest, you’ll be able to take my remarks with a grain of salt knowing that I’m not your target audience.

That said, I like your channel and here’s why.

1. I can tell that you know you’re in the most crowded genre in YouTubedom, because you’ve made efforts early in the life of your channel to differentiate yourself from others. Most of the positive remarks in this list all fall into the category of quality differentiation. Great work on this point.

2. Very solid, short, informative, personality-filled intro video. This is SO stinking important! If I stumble upon two gaming channels and one is hosted by an anonymous, faceless voice and the other is hosted by a person; I’m taking the one with the person every time (unless the person is Kristin Shaal’s character from The Last Man on Earth, then I’m taking the anonymous faceless one).

3. You then go on to put your face in your videos. This is smart because if I’m bored enough to want to watch someone else play video games, it’s a ton more fun if I actually get to WATCH that person play. You seem like you’re having a blast and you get on a good comedic roll at times, and that makes it not boring. I found myself enjoying your videos more than I usually do on gaming channels, because I could physically see you having fun. That’s contagious.

4. You know stuff about your subject matter. The only thing worse than watching someone play video games is watching someone play video games who is way worse than me. If I wanted to watch someone suck, I could just save time and give the controller to my four-year-old (which I actually enjoy, to be fair, because he’s cute, I love him, and someday he’ll be great). You seem to understand the market and the various genres you play, and in between joking around and cursing your bad fortune you offer remarks that might help me be better at a game.

5. You play a variety of games. Having a channel dedicated to one game is great as long as that game is popular. Having a channel dedicated to one genre is great as long as you don’t care about connecting with the majority of the gaming world. But playing a variety of games makes it easy for viewers to give a second video a chance if the first one doesn’t connect with them.

6. You play WOW with your mom. You should run with this and find ways to flesh out this concept. It’s got the makings of gold.

7. Your thumbnails have a pattern, tell me something about the video, feature you (the star of the channel) and are funny.

8. You have production value to your format and your intro. This is wise, because discerning viewers will eventually realize that zero-production value channels are just video of a game someone else made and move on. Adding even the slightest element of production to your stuff demonstrates effort that went beyond clicking the record button and then playing a video game (which isn’t hard). You are making that effort and it will serve you well.

9. You engage your audience well (like playing a subscriber’s Hyper Dragon Ball Z mod), and you come off as a cool guy. It seems like you treat people well, and that makes it more fun to watch.

10. I like the greenscreen overlays that you employ sometimes. It keeps you in the video but doesn’t clutter everything up.

Reviews are boring and dumb if they don’t come with some constructive criticism. Please bear in mind as I offer these critiques that I’m surely not your target audience, and that I feel overwhelming positivity about your channel. That said, here we go:

1. Maybe it’s nitpicky, but I think you’re at your strongest when you aren’t swearing a ton. Let me be clear, I’m a fan of all the words you’re using. They all have a purpose and a place, and from time to time, they can strengthen a video. But I think you rely on them too heavily and it makes your otherwise clever commentary seem more juvenile. Part of the downside of gaming channels for me is that I know I’m going to have to put up with a barrage of inane, poorly-employed expletives (which is why I’m a team muter when I play). I find the stretches of more high-brow humor and commentary that you string together to be funnier, more effective, and, again, differentiating from your competitors.

2. Production value separates content-makers from their less-conscientious rivals. An upgrade on your lighting will help. It looks like you’ve put some money into a mic (great job), but the audio performance is mixed. It seems to get a little clippy at times. I don’t know if you have a digital audio recorder, but if you don’t you may want to back off the mic a touch, or if you do, you may want to dial down the mic gain so that when you get excited or close to the mic it doesn’t all go to crap.

Again, you’re a talented guy and the star of the channel, so you should do all you can to highlight that and to make yourself look and sound good.

3. I know you didn’t get into this to make a vlog, but the occasional video of you talking (even informing) about your subject matter helps viewers know and like you better. If they know and like you better, they want to watch you play video games instead of someone they know and like less. There are lots of ways to endear yourself to you fans, and what I’m throwing out is just one way to do that.

I thought hard about this review and did my best to give some useful thoughts. I could be completely full of crap because I’m not a gaming channel guy, but hopefully some of this will prove useful to you. It looks like things are going well for you so far, and I’m not surprised. I hope you crush it and get everything out of the YouTube experience that you’re hoping for.

Best of luck amigo,

Matt

Thanks alot for the review of my channel! I can tell you put alot of work into and I really really appreciate it! Also I do notice the swearing thing and I am trying in newer videos to change that. YOur constructive criticism really helps me figure out what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Again thanks very much for this as this is probably the most detailed review I've ever gotten on my channel!

 

[TMBH]

Thanks alot for the review of my channel! I can tell you put alot of work into and I really really appreciate it! Also I do notice the swearing thing and I am trying in newer videos to change that. YOur constructive criticism really helps me figure out what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Again thanks very much for this as this is probably the most detailed review I've ever gotten on my channel!

I'm really glad you found it helpful. Reviewing your channel was a blast and I look forward to seeing how things develop for you. Take care amigo.

[DOUBLEPOST=1428518232][/DOUBLEPOST]

If you ever have time, I would appreciate a general channel review too

Also I really appreciate what you're doing for everyone! I really mean it, Thank you

Hi Alvan,
I started to work on the guy who was ahead of you in line, but then realized he hadn't been on the forums since March, so I'm moving on to your channel. Keep an eye out - I should have something for you shortly.

 

[Voice_Nerd_91]

I would love to have a review since I've recently revamped my channel and started creating new content for viewers.

Love to hear what you think. Appreciate it