kevs91's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[TMM43]So It Begins [Demo]]

Alright.

This is a pretty nice track. It feels very cohesive, has a pretty defined sound, and the use of the samples was good. It's neat that you found a random melody and were able to really express it and fill it out, because it really does feel like it fits. There's some depth here with the pads, but it could use something else to fill out the sound I guess. Very dancey. I liked the intro, but the outro seems a little pointless when it's sorta the same as the intro. The percussion was pretty standard, but it fit the song, I'm sure. It'd be interesting to see what you could do with this if it were longer.

Not really my type of music, but you did a very good job with it.

[Celestial Skies]

Very nice.

Just a few thoughts:
Pretty noticeable "pop" at 0:15ish (messy clip editing?). Doesn't show up anywhere else, so not a big issue. The bassier pad that comes in at around 0:50 is great for depth, because until that point it's all very high end. The dynamics are a bit much at around 1:30...gets a bit too loud, and doesn't really seem appropriate for the tone of the piece.

Otherwise, you have a very nice ambient song here. You obviously had a theme in mind when you wrote it, and it shows through all the way, from the instrumentation to the melodies to the general progression. However, such cohesiveness means that nothing unexpected ever happens. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that after repeated listens the track gets a bit boring. Of course, if you were going for menu music, this really isn't a problem.

Anyways, good job. Keep it up.

Suspended-3rd-Chord responds:

thanks for pointing out the little pop noise at 0:15, I never even noticed that. i don't think it's because of clipping, but because the chord comes to a halt instead of ringing out, resulting in the little pop sound. (i guess a filter would work to edit it out) as for the dynamics around 1:30, it is does indeed overpower the main themes a bit, thanks for suggesting that I soften it up a bit. i'm not good at all with mixing.

anyways, thanks for the good, in depth review and numbers, and I appreciate the criticism dude, it helps so thanks!

[Little Lady]

Pretty good stuff...

Well, this is obviously very well produced. The music is very clean sounding, and it serves as a very good background to the vocals. I think the music is a bit bland and generic, but then I don't really listen to a lot of hip hop and I'm really not qualified to say whether or not the music is much better or worse than the average track in the genre. It got a bit repetitive though, and I didn't miss much listening the first time through, as I didn't find anything new upon the second.

The vocals were very, very well performed, both by you and by your friend. What I heard of the lyrics, however, didn't really stand out to me as amazing, but perhaps I just missed the message of the track, and I really don't think I'm the intended audience here. Again, can't really be sure because I didn't discern all of it.

So what you have here is a very laid back, groovy sounding track, and that's perfectly fine. It's just not really my type of music, I guess, and I thought it could use some excitement.

Still, you're obviously a very skilled and experienced producer, which is admirable. Keep it up.

If you get the time, could you listen to and review my newest song, "A Night Underground"? I'd really appreciate it, thanks.

[Ground And Pound]

For such a fast song, it's actually...

...pretty boring. Sorry. I appreciate that you try to vary up the drums, but they never really sound any different, and then as the song goes on the variation pretty much relies on either taking out the bass, putting it back in, taking out the main beat, bringing it back in, or using that annoying guttural vox thing.
At 2:06ish, when it really seems like there should be a change, it's the same trick of just subtracting elements and bringing them back in, which really comes of as laziness, to me.

And there's nothing really musical here- it's pretty much just you playing with rhythm, instead of melody or progression. Which I'm well aware that some people like (speaking of which, I think this belongs more in the hip-hop section, although it's certainly "wierd" enough to merit miscellaneous), but they aren't writing this, and I am. And I really am not all that interested in awkwardly dancing to cut-up beats while sitting here with my headphones on, which could be why I find this so boring too.

Still, I'm aware that this is all my preference and opinion, and I'm also aware that I'm sure you could find a good number of people who would love this track. I also am sure that cutting up samples and working at a very fast tempo requires skill and talent, so I'll commend you on that. However, it really isn't my sort of thing, and since the effort doesn't really shine through in the final product, I found it to be pretty boring and very repetitive.

Sorry for the criticism, and again, I'm sure that some people would really like this track. It just didn't get to me, I guess.

Anyways, if you get the time, could you check out my latest submission? I'd appreciate it, thanks.

DjCHAOS-EZPOT responds:

Listen to my other songs there way better then this one.

[Lathe]

Pretty awesome.

I love the guitar, all the synth stuff was really well done, and you have a pretty awesome feel to the entire track.

Only complaints: it gets a bit repetitive (especially vinyl scratch+ drill) which kinda sucks for such a short song. You really only change it up majorly at one point in the song. Same thing goes for the drums.

And yeah, the drill does get a bit annoying.

Anyways, this is a very cool track. Very cohesive. I'm torn between 8 and 9, so go ahead and consider this a high 8, if that sort of thing matters to you. Keep it up.

InsaneSmilie responds:

Well thanks for the feed, I do get the idea from other reviews that the effects were a bit over emphasised. As a side, the effect you were hear was not a vynal scratch, it's etching blade on a sheet of lucite (high dencity plexi-glass). As I said we actualy recorded this in a machine shop so thats were we got all the sound effects from.

[KR- Megaman X3 Vile remix]

hmm...

First a disclaimer: I haven't heard the source song for the remix, so it's tough to review a remix fairly.

So with that in mind, I really don't like this piece very much. The main synth that voices the progression sounds pretty basic and somewhat cheesy. The lower end piano-sounding thing is pretty flat too, and doesn't really seem to fit the progression, or the rest of the song. It's pretty awkward, in my opinion. And while you do change up the lead synth a couple of times, there's not much that keeps the track interesting, because you have like four different voices max going at the same time, sometimes less than that. There really isn't any depth- and nothing sounded new the second time through, which is generally a bad sign in my book.

The ending is pretty cool, with the extra synth in the right channel, but it wasn't so fantastic as to make the whole thing worthwhile.

Overall, yeah, this sounds like a videogame track, but I guess it just doesn't really appeal to me. But yeah, keep in mind I haven't heard the original.

Anyways, sorry for the low score. If you have the time, could you check out my latest submission? I'd appreciate it.

knuxrouge responds:

Thanks for your honest review. I'll try to get better. I'll get down to your submission in a minute.

[(::Towards The Sun::) =Master=]

uhh...what?

Lame sounding pad, pretty standard progression. The other pads that come in are throw-away at best. Repetitive. This sounds like the synth presets in Garageband. There's a real lack of anything here. All this stuff would be fine background music if you actually had a song up front. That would be some good depth- but this is just awful. There's nothing in here that suggests thought out ambiance...

There's no movement- nothing at all to keep anyone interested. The ending is lame: you don't build to anything, and then nothing happens.

Repetitive to the point of easy annoyance, and then the track drags out for much too long. Perhaps it is relaxing and calm, but honestly it's more than boring.

I hate to leave a harsh review without any positives- but I really cannot find anything positive in here. I'll just suggest that you start thinking before writing, and spending actual time on your tracks. I don't know if creativity can be learned, but I hope you do try to learn it.

FatKidWitAJetPak responds:

I really still can't figure out why you didn't like it... but, some people just don't like this sort of music without beats. You have got to look deep into and feel like you will fall asleep. Sorry you didn't enjoy it.

Oh and, it was a pre-set instrument, but isn't that like saying, "Oh, I am giving you a 2 for that song "Free Bird" Because you played it with a guitar that somebody else already tunes and made for you.

Of course my song isn't anything NEAR free bird lol, but I hope you get the gist of what I mena. =)

[[TMM43]Where is the Rock?]

This is more like it.

Ok, I like this a lot more. There's a very distinct sound here, but you keep your dance sensibilities and you write another catchy melody. Vocorder work is excellent, and the track really gels together to form a very cohesive sound.

I'd work on the transition at :29...it's not very smooth at all, and really threw me off. The ending too, kinda sucks. You had this pretty big outburst of sound at your "BEST part of the song!!", but then you don't really go anywhere with it, and the track just cuts off.

Also, although I wouldn't change it in this track, I'm sort of noticing a trend here listening to this one and the last- 1:30ish long tracks with one melody that's pretty repetitive, and a standard quarter/eighth bass note that you fall back on during your dance-y parts. It'd be interesting to see some more complex bass lines that still have that dance feel.

[[TMM43]Essential]

infectious

The synths that you use here are pretty nice, although they are repetitive (you know this already, apparently), and the melody is more than adequate.

The percussion is more varied, and I really like it. The double claps and stuff, especially towards the end, are particularly nice. The little dj-esque sound effects add to the beat too, although they do border on being overused.

The little changed up part at around one minute is good, but it kinda sounds like you just slapped a phaser/filter on there. You could probably add a new voice/instrument there that contrasts with the rest of the light synth stuff. The pads in the background at around :35 could probably be redone too- they sound pretty cheesy.

Also: this is pretty short- and there isn't that much depth to it. That, coupled with the repetitiveness, really doesn't lend the track to multiple listens.

Still, very dance-y, and obviously catchy. So good job on that.

[[TMM43]Digital Girl [?]]

If you were going for generic, dancey music....

....then good job. You've got a catchy melody on a couple of safe sounding synths, a pounding baseline (rather, note) that comes in and out according to the established precedents set by every Cascada/Sandstorm/Whatever song, some non-offensive percussion, and a sample that encourages everyone to dance in some manner appropriate to the mood of the track. And a robot voice, of course. And the softer pad section that's pretty much required.

Still, wouldn't it be nice to make something new? Something unique? Something that the masses might not flock to, but something that you could listen to and honestly say to yourself "I made this. People may have influenced me, but this is distinctly My Own"? Or do you prefer sounding like everyone else?

Food for thought, I suppose. It's a pretty composition. I'll put in a good word for you at the Committee to Decide What Song Should be Overplayed at Every High School Dance in 2008 meeting.

Anyways, if you have the time, check out my latest submission. I'd appreciate it.