p4c's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fredgy - Eurodancer {Remix}]

blehhhhh

with the intro and the chord progression, it just sounded soo.... generic. but getting away from the triteness of this track, lets go to production

whats supposed to be the bass synth i suppose isnt very bassy at all [no thats nota problem with my bass, i have a fat woofer sitting next to me]. instead it comes off as abraisive and at times painful.

the beat is really weak--the bass drum is too short and light. try layering it with another bass drum that has a longer bass release. the snare doesnt really mesh with the bass drum either, and the high hats stand out too much to the point that they take over the beat instead of complimenting it.

your lead synth has too much reverb so it just sounds kinda wishywashy, and all the synths in the song sound too much like simple square waves and saws that they just feel weak and synthetic.

idk its a pretty meh song for me. youve got the right ideas though for structuring a trance song, so keep at it!

[maybe you can check out my latest. i think itd help you see what i mean. :)]

Fredgy responds:

ok thanks for review though ;)

[Crazy Foo]

haha

this was soooo cheesy that i kinda love it [the start tricked me into thinking of flight of the bumblebees haha and then it becomes like 8-bit evil carnival fare YES!]. even though its so simplistic with jst one vst, you made some cool sfx with it, and the sound of the lead makes it sound soo... smarmy! i guess thats the word for it. although i find it hard to really treat this a serious song, i found it to be entertaining. win!

[if u got time, plz check out my latest. its only fair :)]

joeymofo responds:

Thanks for the review man!

[Chases Always Begin Quiet]

i see where you're coming from.

yeah, that is a very nice piano sound [though i think it could use a) some clever reverb-ing maybe, and b) some boosting in lower frequencies to make it have a little more presence] [actually, check this out: http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/70 79/frequencyguide7slrd3.jpg]

then again pretty much the entire track can use a bass boost, so it might jst be the mix overall.

but this is really nice. i think you could make it a more intense chase once the breakbeats come in by making it a little more complex beat with other forms of percussion.

the chord that you center on has a beautiful dissonance and gives the feeling of a more emotional chase rather than a stereotypical vicious one, and for that, it plays out very strongly. good job.

btw the breakbeats that continue after all the instruments are gone... yeah, take that out plz and make a proper outro haha. though u werent really being serious as the description implies, so whatever haha

[wanna check out my latest? ive been gone from the portal for a while haha. i'd appreciate it :)]

mjattie responds:

hey that guide has been helpfull alot!

I checked your latest song out and it's good man!

I've been a bit lazy with the drums XD

thanks for reaction!

[(-Kasura-)]

hmmmm

well in terms of production this was kinda shoddy, just because everythign sounded so lo-fi and blatantly fake forms of orchestral instruments, but i guess that might be the aim seeing that this is in the video game section haha. when the drums come in they destroy the mix and clip like crazy--specifically the kick--so tone that down a bit and maybe compress it so it sounds punchier.

i liked the beat though when it came in and it was well composed, giving the song a strong foreboding yet emotional feel. it blends classical instruments with synth sounds and the amen break, so it also has a mixed organic and synthetic feel that comes off as pretty interesting [mech combat in medieval times HELLLZ YEAHH] good job on that! just the actual production can use work in those aspects. keep it up.

[and plz check out my latest if u got time. its only fair ;)]

scoutzero responds:

Holy crap I just noticed this thing sounds horribly wrong on other computers LOL

I'll compress it as soon as I have the time. Thanks for pointing that out!

[A Distant Land Pt. 1]

cool take on it.

i liked the intro at the beginning. it introduced some interesting chords that i think you should have gone on with, because by the time the supplied midi came in, a lot of it began to sound pretty generic [except for the end of the clip, which actually came off as a little too dissonant for me since it didnt really resolve in the key of the song]. theres a lot to be said about the mix, but thats not as important in this contest, so whatever.

what i did like a lot about this song is that you tried to strike interesting harmonies at points, so you took it a little out of the box. just, some of those harmonies were a little rough, so i think you should work on experimenting with dissonances while maintaining a pleasant sounding end product. good job!

[can u plz chekc out my submission, too? its only fair ;)]

DJ-Chilvan responds:

wow. Thanks very much for the review. Ya, well, ya know, this was just for an entry to a contest that I had no plans even winning. It was just for fun's sake, ya know, like an audio worksheet or activity book page. But the whole dissonance thing, I am practicing perfect harmonies everyday, trying to resolve dissonance problems. I am overly glad that you fancied my harmonies. That is the one thing in music that I am DEEPLY in love with, and the one thing in music that is keeping me alive. Thank You.
BTW, i checked out your own and it sounds great!

['09 Orchestration Contest]

very nice job!

just to get a few things out of the way--you mixed this very well, and this was by far the most exciting orchestral track ive heard for a while, from the build up at 1:30ish to the excellent string solo and the huge dynamic range coming out of my speakers ;)

some constructive criticism. first, the vocals at the start cut in and out too synthetically for my tastes. i think you can work on realisticafying those up.

second, sometimes the brass at the start of the climactic stuff has notes leaking into each other, like at about 1:00. thats really minor though so i wouldnt sweat it.

but damn, this was composed really well. great job!

[wanna check out my submission for this contest? id appreciate it ;)]

EvilRaccoon responds:

Yeah, I lack in ability when it comes to choir. Ive only started using it again. But thanks so much for the score I'll be sure to check out your stuff from now on!

:D

[{GBD} Shadow Of The Moon]

hummmm

ill jst type comments as they come to me.

it starts off a bit slow if you ask me. but the foreboding vibes of the song gets across, so its okay.

the sound effect that comes up in rapid succession at about :39 isnt very strong and gets annoying after a while. and the snare roll that introduces the beat is a pretty weak transition. the beat itself is too soft and shallow for me to really get into it.

you are, though, getting a really really disturbing atmosphere on, so great job!

the style change into breakbeats is welcome, but a smoother transtition would be nice.

i see what you're trying to do with teh chimes but i think you can do better if you jst let the chime play out a chord once or something and let the disturbing atmosphere do the talking instead of making them play over and over again in a chord pattern. that makes the harshness of the sound get annoying.

the different leads that come in afterwards just dont have any common key or anything so they seem random and thrown in... i think you can do better in makign this a coherent track.

finally, they often get too loud, alike at 3:30 or so. i liked that more as a background melodic element.

------

overall i thought this was very decent with the background and sound effects, but the song lacked direction and lasting appeal so it was tough for me to give it too high of a score. good job overall though!

[check out my latest. its only fair ;)]

DoobyTimePiece responds:

so i just reviewed your shit. cool beans and thanx for your feed back

[The Perfect Battle]

mehhhh

hmm. this was a good shot at interpreting the contest differently, but i wasnt all too enchanted by this for a few reasons. ill split up into sections:

GENERAL:

the pauses in between sections were too long, breaking the vibes of the piece into fragments too much. try to have smooth transitions between them and it would work better.

finally, in terms of production, all the instruments sounded pretty dry to me. try boosting higher frequencies to make them sound richer, and probably use a wider variety of instruments.

INTRO

this section had some odd chords going around. i mean, im not telling you to be trite or anything, but they kinda messed up the mood of it.

SECOND PART

this is by far the best section in my opinion. i think the percussion was very weak and could use work, but you got a very conflicted feeling there that i really liked. kinda videogamey [im thinking kingdom hearts haha]. good job overall, but maybe a more robust percussion line would work better than that 4x4 bass drum derivative you have going on now.

Third part is a pretty generic and predictable closing statement. ithink you can do better than this.

overall i thought this was okay but too fragmented for me to really get into it. good luck in the contest!

[check out my submission too. its only fair ;)]

Cleod-9 responds:

Thanks for the critique, I really appreciate it! (Sent you a review just now btw)

Anyway, it's no debate that everyone likes the second part the best. Though you aren't the first person to mention the percussion. I haven't written a piece with percussion in 3/4 time before so it was awkward enough for me deciding a beat, let alone make up a good drum kit. Still, I'm sure if I had more time I could find the perfect percussion to use.

Also I'm disappointed that you didn't like the 3rd part... :( Oh well, nothing I can do now. And I can see what you mean about the piece being "too fragmented" but I made it that way on purpose. Guess it didn't work for everyone.

Be sure to read my review if you haven't done so yet!

[[MC] My Last Step]

crispy!

i thought you composed this pretty well, kind of like those epic final fantasy videogame styles rather than a traditional classical piece. props! i also liked the introduction a lot, i didnt see that in a lot of other orchestral style entries.

compositionally speaking, two main problems in my opinion.

1) the chord progression was pretty predictable once you listen to the first few bars since it basically retains the same vibes throughout the entire song. also,

2) a lot of the instruments that you brought in basically take turns reiterating the theme, which is fine to a certain extent, but i dont think they all played together too much. like the strings and occasional woodwinds were pretty much almost the entire background throughout the entire song, and there was pretty much just one lead instrument at any point, so it lacked a compositional complexity i would have liked.

im more of a guy to talk production though, so here are my thoughts briefly. all your instruments were really rich sounding and bright, which is totally in line with the vibes of the song, so good job there.

some instruments seemed to peak a bit unpleasantly [:38, and 1:38 come to mind]. take them down a notch plz!

i wish you played around a bit to make the notes flow together more. theres that obvious synthetic pause between every note the lead violins play, which sometimes gets to me since it kinda kills the emotionality of how the strings are being played. try playing with slight pitch bending and modulating volume a bit, perhaps.

and i think you could have worked on the bass components of the song throughout a bit, since i kinda wanted to feel my ribs rumble with tearjerking pride, if you catch my drift haha. that never really came though. oh well.

so thats what i think. thanks for the fun song and ttyles.

[Words from the heart]

nice!

compositionwise this is really really good. i loved the resolving dissonances and repeated notes in chordal sequences throughout. that was really well used.

just the slurring and stuff seems kind of strange. every measure everything just pauses since ur letting off the slurs but its too pronounced and too often. also, dynamics can use some work. i know this is programmed, don't play repeated phrases exactly the same--try varying the strength of ur notes there; and everything can really use exaggerated dynamics--it just feels flat the entire time.

thematically, its pretty repetitive--which is fine; i think that a nice touch would be to let off on the bass notes more often, transpose stuff higher and maybe make the arrangement more intricate since you free up both hands to work on the melodic treble.

i dont have time for more constructive crit for now... maybe ill talk later. but nice job! [if u can review back... its only fair ;)]

Nekoprism responds:

Thx a lot for the comments... I understand everything you mentioned...
Just so you know it's not programmed... it's a live performance.

And yes my left hand is lazy... but I'm getting better at it... =)

I always wanted to make a orchestrated version of that one, but too many other ideas to work on.

I'll be checking your stuff.
Neko