kevs91's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[~*Lets Eat Dance*~]

Sorry, I don't think this is very good.

So I sorta fell for your advertisement, the "what does this class as" thread, because I like hearing things that are pretty genre-less and unique. This wasn't either.

I have a number of problems with this track:
First: There's no real cohesion of ideas, at all. You go from one awkward transition to another throughout the entire track.
Second: All the sounds you used were generic, yet still somehow managed to sound out of place with each other. This might be due to the lack of good transitions, or might be due to a lack of tweaking to make your own sounds.
Third: The ending was pretty terrible, but you know that already.
Fourth: The beat is either horribly convoluted or mindlessly generic at intervals. That kinda undoes the entire aim of your track in the first place.

Anyways, I hate to leave a completely negative review, so I'll compliment you on your "marketing". It got me to listen to something I wouldn't have otherwise. Anyways, sorry for not really answering your original question and for leaving a negative review. Hopefully you can either ignore this and not care, or take some criticisms to heart and improve.

Good luck.

[AuECS- Rock da Boat]

Cool.

I really don't listen to things like this enough to have a real experienced opinion on it, but I'll go ahead and try anyways.

There's alot of really cool stuff in here, from the breakdown-y part in the middle, to the glitchy sounds right after it, and then the vocal sampling (again), and the glitchy percussion and stuff is awesome.

This might not be completely accurate, but it's my best guess: all the sampled stuff is awesome in this track, but the synth parts aren't great.

The synths create a very specific feel to the track, so that's good. But I just find the sounds you used for the synth parts to be kinda corny and generic. It'd have been cool to have some more uniqueness in there. Of course, you might've wanted them to sound just like they do for a reason I'm not getting, and again, I don't really listen to this genre enough to get it. So take this tiny criticism with a grain of salt, I guess.

Anyways, you're obviously good at this, so keep it up.

Auecs responds:

Thanks for a great review! I like what you said about the synths and over time, the more i listen to the track, I can agree with you. They are cheesy. I think they fit the track very well and I dont really know what else I would replace them with. Unfortunately, i lost this project when my hard drive crashed. A real bummer because this song was not even done. Thanks s much for your review!

[AuECS- Stroke Baby]

Very dance-y, indeed.

Woah, this is really good. Sometimes it sounds like aphex twin, sometimes like ladytron. The work on the vocal sample is excellent. The different sounds really play off each other very well. It's really extraordinary until about the 1:30 mark, when the beat sorta drops out, and there's a build up thing going on. At this point, it doesn't really sound as great, because you strip stuff away and then try to get back to the point it was at sound-wise in the beginning, and there's just sorta a weak fadeout. It's really not that interesting.

Still, this is obviously really, really good, and it's clear that you are not new at this sort of thing. I like, also, that it's a track that really encourages more than one listen through, because there's alot going on, and there's the sense that you might miss out if you don't go back through it at least a couple of times. So, yeah, cool.

Keep it up.

[scotland teh brave]

well..

...first off, its cool that you're recording stuff, which generally does take more work than writing things.

However, this is a really, really short loops that is still pretty simple. It gets old, especially listening to it over and over. Also, as has been mentioned before, the quality is really bad. I know it sucks not to have great recording equipment (...from experience :c), but I think you could try to play around with it and make it sound a bit more presentable.

Anyways, yeah, could use some depth, but for something so simple it's alright.

frozensnakee responds:

thanks for the review. i was at first didnt really want to put this song up there because i felt it was unfinished but i figured sense i am a procrastinator and would probably never finish it what the hell. but now maybe i will look into finishing it. i already had the second part transcribed but i just didnt want to a temped to find the settings agen. maybe ill just start from scratch

[==(Celestial Swamp Life)=]

Good atmosphere, paints a picture.

This is really good ambient stuff because it really sets up a scene, and with the range and placement of the sounds its obvious that you had an outer space-type swamp scene in mind the whole way through. There's also some really nice layering, and the track has great rhythm, especially for an ambient song.

All that said, there are a couple of things I didn't like as much. The clicks, although I liked them at first, really got tired after a few listens. They helped with that rhythmic feel, but didn't really fit in melody-wise, I guess. I know that's not entirely out of place with ambiance, but it did get a bit annoying. Also, while I love from about 1:30 on, it does seem like the build up is maybe a bit too long for this track. But again, that is probably just another staple of the genre that shouldn't bother me.

Aside from those things, I do really like this track and its obvious that you put a lot of work into it, so good job.

[(::Goodbye::)]

Alright, a bit on the long side...

This was pretty good- there was definitely a sense of progression and emotion, and the pads you used in conjunction with the violin was beautiful. Gave it a very distinct feel; from the opening bar it was easy to imagine where the song would be heading/what it would sound like, because you do have a pretty iconic and recognizable set of voices. That said, it sometimes got too predictable, and somewhat bland. There was a somewhat lack of things to, well, listen to. I felt like there were times, especially in a two and a half minute song, where they main voices weren't enough to hold my attention. A low, somewhat funky bass would have been a great contrast and really driven the piece, the same could be accomplished with hard-hitting drums.

However, I know that you probably weren't looking for such a contrast, and you might not even be interested in such a thing. So I'll rate you on what was there instead of what wasn't, and what was there was a very nice set of voices with some moving composition, albeit a bit too long for its own good, and sometimes bland.

FatKidWitAJetPak responds:

That was the most helpful review I have had in along time, thanks for devoting 5 minutes for typing an extra long message.

[Heaven or Hell [loop]]

Pretty standard.

A couple things:

The main synth melody is pretty catchy, but there isn't much variation there. It actually gets annoying after awhile, which isn't good for a loop that's meant to be listened to over and over. The strings are standard, "box"-y sounding, but the melody is fine with the main synth line, and you do have them come in and out, so they add to the loop-aspect of the track. The percussion is standard, sound-wise and composition-wise. There are some "cool" hip-hop effects, but they don't really sound extraordinary in any way. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to loop all that well either. It might just be the new player, but it is pretty awkward. Still, there's not much you could do about that, I think.

Overall, you have a pretty nice sound. It isn't unique sounding at all, and there really aren't any new ideas to be found, or any true depth that would make it worth listening to over and over. Also, gets repetitive quickly. These things make it hard to listen to for the sake of listening to- but this track would still be fine playing the in the background during a game/action sequence.

So overall, good job, but I would've liked to hear something unique or remotely interesting, especially after numerous play-throughs.

[(WF1) A Monks Prayer -Demo-]

good, just unfinished.

this track is pretty great. i love the overall sound- the layering of the instruments, the different pads in the background, and the way the voices play off each other. you have a pretty defined, professional sound here, its just too bad you didn't elaborate on it (yet?).

it could certainly use some direction or movement, and probably some percussion elements, if you do finish it.

honestly, im more interested in listening to this if you do finish. let me know, and ill be happy to leave a more complete review on that one.

wyldfyre1 responds:

yah, i've been slowly working on more music as i go.. I kinda came out with 3 demo's and i'm working on them till i get tired of hearing one then moving to the other so i don't get burnt out. I've not worked on this one to much as of yet however i'm excited about it. When i do finish this sucker or at least add more to it and have it as an updated demo (Depends on how i feel it sounds) i'll get a hold of ya and tell ya fo sure! Thanks for the great review!!!

[do you know]

could definitely use some improvement

i know you've said this is only a demo, and that'd you'd like to improve it, so ill give some impressions/criticisms.

firstly, the guitar strumming sounds almost bowie-esque for some reason, and it doesn't really match up with the melancholy feel that you seem to be going for (judging by the vocals-which weren't great...) and sometimes seems out of tune. its repetitive, and it just sounds off sometimes. this is really a case of a track where some more layers or voices would really help out the variety and flow.

also, i do applaud you for recording vocals, something many people are pretty afraid of doing, but it seems like you don't put much effort into it. most of it is mumbling and off-key, but it seems like you have at least a manageable voice if you really put some effort into it.

anyways, i know this is really an early, rough-draft type of thing, so please don't take this too hard, and just try to improve if you do feel like revisiting/reworking it.

sonbout responds:

well gee thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

["Hemisphere"]

Good music, spotty vocals.

The music for this track is pretty good. I like the way you sorta explore a different sound than generic rock, with different voices/instrument roles, but still have a pretty straightforward rock appeal, which brings along alot of energy. It gets a bit repetitive at times, but due to the vocals, its not very noticeable. The ending, musically, is particularly well done.

The vocals however, I didn't so much care for. The lyrics weren't very good, not especially insightful or poetic, even after a few listens. I could be missing out on some key lines, or maybe its my fault for not grabbing a bigger picture, but I really didn't think the lyrics were great. The vocals weren't very well sung however. I think the vocalist (you?) has a good voice- and it definitely shows at times- but its very inconsistent. There are times when it just sounds like it wasn't sung very well. Also, the screaming bits sounded out of place, bland, generic, unnecessary, ect. One of the worst parts of the track. The digitized effects seemed a bit out of place too. I can appreciate that you're trying to do something different- but those vocals aren't very appealing and sound like a bad 90's pop song or nu-metal band.

Still, I do want to stress that although I think this could be better this is still better than alot of the techno-y stuff on newgrounds. The effort put into the music is obvious, so certainly keep that up.

If you want to check out my new track, I'd appreciate that, too. Thanks.

Setu-Firestorm responds:

You know, for the first time I can shrug the blame (of the lyrics) on someone else. My friend Brian actually wrote the lyrics. I never try to make interpret his lyrics because he has his own way about writing them. As for the screaming, the lyrics called for it which was why I did it, but I too thought it sounded a little out of place (granted, I could've chosen to not do it, but whatever).

The vocals I accept criticism on. They are my vocals, and with every new song I consider it more practice. I'll openly admit that I have a long way to go, but I indeed came a long way (I was even doing the harmony parts in realtime).

The music is always the best aspect of my work because that's where my soul truly is. I only make rock for fun; I much more prefer to do orchestral music. It's also true that I put far more effort into the mixing of the music (let alone the composition). With every new rock album (I believe this is my 6th or 7th one dating all the way back to 2004 -- my singing really blew back then. "No Face" on my Audio page is from one of the first albums from back then) I try a different approach to the rock sound to give it a different atmosphere altogether (this one being a more industrial/electronic rock, my "Twilight" album (on NG as well) being to create a soft astral rock sound, and so on).

Thanks for your review. Also, thank you for being honest, frank, and objective.