Gravey's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[<PS> Aura Lee]

Very Nice...

You are very good with a full string ensemble sound my friend. You write and mix them so well, and this is no exception.

I really love everything you have done, and what else is there really to say on a positive note? the song speaks for itself.

But there is room for improvement I feel. For one, you could expand this song greatly by adding some brass instruments, especially a french horn. A french horn would be simply superb in this rendition of Aurea Lee. Some trombones and maybe a trumpet section would be great as well.

Also, percussion. You seem to shy away from using percussion. You shouldn't. Percussion instruments are your friends! Trust me, I know. ;-)

But this is simply beautiful as it is. So kudos to you!

5/5 and 9/10 overall.

-Gravey-

PenguinSam responds:

Ah yes, I do see!

This was just a simple arangement version of it actually! And I do like those ideas. Making an arrangement for Strings and Brass would be really great!

And with percussion, yeah, your're right.

Thank you! I plan on revisiting this!

<PS>

[MH16: Deep And Repetitive]

Mellow...

...which in this case is a good thing. I really like this a lot, even if it is very simple. It has a very chilled atmosphere, and it is good to slow down every now and then to take things in.

I like the organ. Cool sound. It is rather reminiscent of the old Rhodes. God I love the sound of a good ol' Rhodes, and this reminds of that sound quite a bit actually. Very classy touch there, because anything that can be associated with a Rhodes is simply a win for everyone involved. :-)

Also, I like the bass. Very nice and rhythmic line. Although I am not crazy about the sound it has on the low low notes, like near the end. It kinda loses it's sexiness there. Becomes a bit muddied in tone. But as a whole, the bass sounds perfect for this song.

You mentioned you would like to see this in a flash. I think it would be very fitting for someone walking down the street on a warm summers day. Just taking his/her time going from point A to point B. That is just what I see when listening to this little loop anyways.

Nice job here.

5/5 and 9/10. Simple is definitely cool sometimes.

-Gravey-

FairSquare responds:

Yeah, i already had my doubts about that last section with the very low notes. I think i'll change that, thanks for the advice.
And man, you do write reviews quickly. How long did it take to write this, like 30 seconds or something? :P
Anyway, thanks for the review. And power to the Rhodes! :D

[The End {^}-{Alix1}-{^}]

Interesting...

This sounds pretty cool. Everything gets pretty warped when the ensemble kicks in, but it feels like that was intentional. I'm not crazy about the sound, but it is unique.

I like the differences between the different sections. They have a way of building on their own, yet still manage to be a definite part of the entire song. I do think this could use some work though. Especially the section beginning around the 2:00 mark.

That section seems to need one more thing going on to really feel right. When the synths come in a bit later it gets better. But then another issue arises, the melody lines are very odd and unfriendly. Don't get me long, I like weird melodies. But they didn't seem to fit with me in that section.

Now it gets really cool at 3:22. And the following section is pretty awesome to say the least. I really like that section to the end a lot. Very unique writing style and way of creating sickness out of beauty.

I like where the piano comes in at the end as well. Nice touch there.

5/5 and 9/10 overall. This is really cool.

This has been favorited.

-Gravey-

alix1 responds:

Yay! :) Thanks for the awesome review and the fav dude!

[Fur Elise {^}-{Alix1}-{^}]

Ah...The Memories...

I remember playing this in eighth grade. Me and my friends at the time thought it was the most amazing piece ever written. It truly is magnificent.

You did a decent job playing it. But it seems a bit mechanical, I know when I played it I had a lot more nuances in the tempo going on. Especially in certain points in the transitions. I really drew out the tempo to give it a real dramatic effect.

But that is the joy of the classics, everyone interprets the music differently.

Not a bad job here at all. Not the best I've ever heard, but not bad at the same time.

4/5 and 8/10 overall.

-Gravey-

alix1 responds:

thanks! :)

[The Journey-Metaljonus]

Wow!

This sounds like it belongs on Soilwork's Natural Born Chaos cd. And that cd is simply amazing. I'm not sure I could leave a better compliment on it for you really.

5/5 and 10/10 overall.

This has been favorited.

-Gravey-

Metaljonus responds:

Soilwork is pwn! Thanks for listening!

[The Sexy-Metaljonus]

Very Cool...

I love the sound. I'm not much of a Slipknot fan really, but this reminds of them. And not in a bad way, cause it resembles their rare heavier side. It also sounds like you have some Pantera influence in your music maybe. (From first listen I get that impression anyways.)

The guitars are what really shines in this for me. I like the sound you got with them. Although I think I hear clipping at the 3:00 - 3:02 mark. And at 3:30 - 3:34. Ya might want to check back on that, I could be wrong though.

The drums sound great too. They sound real. And not crappy real. I've heard worse drums recorded in professional studios, so if these are real you did a great job in recording them.

5/5 and 10/10 overall. I'm really liking this.

This has been favorited.

-Gravey-

Metaljonus responds:

Thanks! I fucking hate Slipknot with a passion lol. Hmm I am not getting any clipping on my end at those points...hmmm. I Programmed all of the drums. I also love me some Pantera I tell you! Thanks for you review! Let me know if you need any guitar work in your music!

[MH16: Over And Over]

I Like It...

I think the best part about this song is the piano personally. It sounds really cool, and you did a good job writing it.

Really I don't have much to say, other than this is really good. I think I heard some slight clipping near the end. But I could be mistaken. Might want to double check that just to be safe.

5/5 and 9/10 overall. Cool little loop here bud. :-)

-Gravey-

FairSquare responds:

Yeah, the piano pretty much holds this whole song toghether :-)
And i didn't notice any clipping at the end myself, but i'll check again.
Thanks for the review!

["Jumping Higher" WIP]

It's Cool...

Ok, since this is a work in progress I'm gonna make some suggestions. Take 'em or leave 'em as you wish. :-P

The melodies are interesting, and I really like their syncopation. My only issue is the mass of white noise they are fighting with. There seems to be quite a bit of white noise in this tune, which can be a problem. One, it makes the song a bit muddy sounding. And two, it takes away from the melody.

Now white noise can definitely be a good thing, especially in a song like this. But I'm thinking there is a bit much with the massive compression you have going on. Because it creates a whooshy sound that I am personally not to fond of. I really feel it takes away from the quality of the song when overdone, and I think it is slightly overdone here.

Now the real bright spot in this song is the percussion. It sounds amazing my friend. Really, the percussion has a wonderful quality to it. I really like the rhythms you created as well. The percussion is spot on.

And the piano near the end is great. It doesn't play a role in the song at all except that one small section, but it really shines when it is used. Great job at bringing it out in the mix as well, without it being overpowering.

This is a really good start to a cool song. But there is definitely some work still to be done for sure. Good luck!

4/5 and 8/10 overall.

-Gravey-

Rukkus responds:

Thanks for the indept review man and i'll definately take your suggestions into consideration. And i know, i thought the wooshy sound would go away once i rendered it, but no. :\ Srry about that. I just got FL8 and im trying to use the Fl Limiter to see how it effects my songs. Prolly not the best idea...haha

[The power of sytrus[Dj-S]]

Well...

It is cool sounding, and has some real nifty moments to be sure. But I'm not sure how much credit one can give when you flat out admit everything in the song is a preset.

Now granted, I use a preset every now and then in my music. Nearly everyone does from time to time because it isn't really the end of the world if you do. But for an entire song to based off of presets, well, it just sounds rather lazy.

That being said, the song is pretty cool. A bit short though. You might think about making it loop, because this would be a pretty cool loop for a video game's main menu.

But even though the song is cool, you used presets for everything. So it's hard to give you a real good score. Anyone can drag and drop presets and come up with something decent like this.

3/5 and 5/10 overall.

-Gravey-

Sacrafan responds:

Yea it was a challenge.
I wanted to restrict a single song to just presets, not out of laziness, but just to see how well i could do with just those annoying sytrus presets :D

[WF1/KTR Breaking Restraints]

Really Nice...

I like it a lot. It has an Asian quality to it with the piano, and the way the orchestral parts are written. The mix is pretty good, with maybe one or two things that I'm not crazy about. But for the most part it is nicely done.

There are two things that bother me about this song:

1. The reverb. There is simply to much fattening reverb for me. Everything just seems like it has really thick and rich reverb on it. And the reverb on the kick/hit makes me cry. Which leads me to the second issue I have with the song...

2. That hit, wow. I like the concept and idea behind it. But it has such a warbly sound when the reverb is added to it, which in my opinion makes it sound really bad. (Although Wyldfyre told me that was on purpose, I personally hate the sound.) I won't hold it against you two too much, but at the same time I'm not gonna lie and say I like it when I don't. ;-)

Besides those two issues, I think this is wonderfully written and mixed. The piano is what I really like in this song. If it wasn't laced with so much reverb, I would say it has the perfect quality for this song.

The strings are very nice in just about every way. The come out in the mix when needed, and stay back behind the rest of the ensemble when they should be background sound. Needless to say, I flat out love the strings.

Although I am not a big fan of the stereotypical trance synths, I do like the main synth you used in this one instance. It is so stereotypical, but I think that is actually a good thing here. Because this song is so unique, it needs a quality that everyone can latch onto and be able to recognize. A bit of sanity in a more or less insane world, (Or rather song in this instance).

So all that said, wonderful song here. I've listened to it at least ten times through now, five with my speakers and five with my headphones to get a real handle on the song dynamically. And I gotta say you really have a winner here my friends.

5/5 and 9/10 overall. Great job here!

-Gravey-

KTRECORDS responds:

Great man! Glad you liked it despite a couple things! WF1 did a great job with choosing some strings that we could both work with and even have a little fun with. Same goes for the piano. He worked incredibly hard at giving the pianos a sound that wouldn't make our ears bleed, lol.

Thx for the in depth review and feel free to check out KTRs' and WF1s' other stuff!

-Jason
KTRECORDS