Gravey's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Golden Age]

One More To Add...

Tokolos pretty much said it all. Except I have one thing to add to his critique. You need a low cutoff filter on the acoustic. Get rid of the low warbly sound. Other than that, I have nothing to add to what Tokolos has already said.

3/5 and 6/10 overall.

-Gravey-

Theledge93 responds:

i would change it, but i have no idea what you are talking about. is there a portion of the song that this is the most apparent? because i honestly don't see a problem with the acoustic.

[MH16: Rage!]

WHOA!!!

I like it a lot! It has a cool groove to it man! And the guitar is bitchin'!

There are a few things I think you could tweak. The percussion is kinda weak. You should really compress the fuck out of the kick. And then raise it a bit in the mix. That would really help a lot.

The cymbal crashes seem to be distorting a bit in places. Not sure what is going on there, but you might want to work on them a bit. Because their sound isn't tight.

Also, you should vary your beats a bit more. Pretty standard and straightforward, which is ok. But you should change it up throughout the song to keep it interesting for the listener.

The bass is pretty standard sounding. It sounds kinda like it is from a pc generator. It doesn't truly real, which kinda dampens the effect it has on the song.

The electric guitar is awesome! The riff at 1:14 is fucking awesome man! Simple as can be, yet grooooooooooooooooooovy! Love that section.

As for the structure of the song, I think you could add stuff both vertically and horizontally. Maybe add another instrument or two throughout the song. And definitely add another section or two. Maybe another verse, chorus, or a bridge even. It definitely should be longer.

Overall though, this is a kickin' tune man!

4/5 and 8/10 overall. I liked this a whole fucking lot man!

Nice work bud!

-Gravey-

FairSquare responds:

Thanks for this helpful review!
Maybe i'll get back to this song someday and do what you just said, but i'm currently working on a song as you can read on my userpage :D
Again, thanks for this review!

MH16

[MH16: Still No Inspiration]

Interesting...

I agree, the melody line is awesome! Really like it a lot! The harmonies are decent, but are a little to repetitious. Maybe change up the bouncing chord structure in the left hand.

I like it when the strings and winds kick in. It creates a very nice, rich, and full sound. I think it is a little lacking in the low end though. Maybe add a bass line, or raise whatever bass you might already have in it. But as it is, I really couldn't hear any bass at all.

It could be a bit longer as well. Pretty short for a song. Perfect length for a loop. Maybe you should turn it into a loop instead. Because this would be an awesome loop for a video game. That is my opinion anyways. :-)

4/5 and 8/10 overall. Nice job here bud!

-Gravey-

FairSquare responds:

Thanks! :D

[Old Mountain Lake]

Very Nice...

This is very soothing and mellow. I like how you have created an almost distant feeling with the guitar.

I like your picking style. It is different than the stuff I'm used to hearing. I like the harmonies that flow along with the melody lines. Very nice overall feel and effect you have going.

Like I've said before though, this could really use some percussion. Congas really come to mind. A lighter drum feel, but with some flavor. You REALLY should add some congas to it. Whether they be recorded live or just a sound font you find somewhere. I really think that is the one missing piece from most of your songs.

4/5 and 9/10 overall. It just needs a little something more to get a full 10/10 for me.

Great work bud. And best of luck on your future projects!

-Gravey-

Boux responds:

Thanks alot again for your thoughts, yeah im no percussionist : ) sometimes i tap on the guitar while i play but thats the only percussion in my tunes, id love to add some beat. What program are you using for all the effects and percussion?
Yeah its quite different from what i've heard too, dont know how i came up with this style.

Its tune D,A,D,G,A,D if anyone needs to know.

[MH16: A New Era]

MORE MORE MORE!!!

Why so short my friend? This is a badass sound. It seems like it would be perfect for an adventure theme in a movie.

I love the instrument choices you made. Everything is very tasteful. The oboe really makes me happy. One of my favorite instruments ever, and oddly enough one of the few I don't play. Go figure right. -_-

The brass is pulsing. Really makes you want to go out and start an epic quest. Their harmony structure is pretty simple, but still badass.

I really like the percussion. The timpani is a little hard to hear, but I know how hard it is to make a timpani noticeable. And the crashes are perfectly timed. Really man, very well done.

And the strings give this song a color to it. Very rich and full sound all over this one.

4/5 and 8/10 overall. Just to short bud. Lengthen it, and that score will definitely go up!

-Gravey-

FairSquare responds:

Wow, thanks for this awesome review :-)
And the reason it's so short is... well, i don't know actually :P
I'm so inspired to make a new song right now! I'll make it longer and hopefully better than this one.

MH16

[The Boring Song]

lol...

Awesome concept to write on, boredom! lol

I like how it fades in gradually. Nice little touch to start off. I don't like the drop off after the intro. It feels like it should grow exactly like it does, and then lead right into the song. No breaks, just right into it.

As for the song itself. It is mixed pretty well. I like the lead electric piano sound. I don't use it myself, but it can be cool in the right spots.

I love how you switch to the traditional piano. That is a really cool idea you came up with. It worked really well here too, because this song really fits both sounds well.

I like the percussion sound you have going. Always present, but not overpowering. And you used toms. I'm not used to hearing that in music here on NG. Nice touch. One idea though, maybe put some reverb on the snare. I think it might be a good touch for this song. Normally I hate reverb on drums, but this might be the exception to the rule. The shaker off to the right is badass!

I like the rich full sound you got. A nice flow and generic, yet pleasing chord structure. Vertically I think you did well. But it could be expanded greatly horizontally. Way to short bud. Needs to be much longer. That seems to be my only issue with the song.

4/5 and 9/10 overall. Lengthen it man!

-Gravey-

[When Sadness Builds Up]

Interesting...

I like the chord structure in the piano. As simple as it is, it gets it's point across. I really like how it carries the descant melody for a couple measures near the end.

Everything grows and fades out. Very cool concept on introducing all of the different lead instruments. Obviously fade in and outs aren't ground breaking, but they are used so little by people here on NG. So it is a nifty change of pace to see them being the focal point of the song.

The percussion is decent. Although the beats are simple, the drum feature halfway through is decent. Kinda gives that touch of randomness to the song. Because they are pretty energetic and lively, whereas the rest of the song is pretty mellow.

This has a somber timbre to it all the way through really. And like I said before it builds and dies throughout the song with the different instruments. So the title is appropriate for this tune.

I like it. It is a nifty little song.

4/5 and 8/10 overall. Because it is good, but not really great. So I think that is about the appropriate score for this song.

Best of luck on future projects.

-Gravey-

GronmonSE responds:

It is :) Perhaps a bit too high even, haha.

Thanks for the thorough review.

I'll review one of your songs sometime this week.

[New Psychology]

Wow...

So simple, yet so rich and deep.

The sound you have is so wonderful sir. I love the guitar work...not like...LOVE! Very original and creative throughout the whole song. It seems like there is two lines of guitar going. Is there? Or am I slightly retarded?

If so you did a great job mixing them together for a great sound. If not, then you got an amazing sound on one audio track. Very intricate, but never too complicated. It stay interesting all the way through, and yet is simple enough to appreciate it one the most primary level.

I like the background ambiance that is going on throughout the song. It really adds a layer that is almost undetected, but still gives it color. Not an easy thing to do by any means, and you did it so well here.

I would say add some minor percussion to it. I'm not sure what, but it seems to need something. Maybe just some stick clicks. Like when a drummer hits the edge of the drum, rather than the head itself. Gives that click noise with a slight hint of the drum itself. Just an idea.

5/5 and 9/10 overall. Amazing work here really man! I'm excited to hear your other tracks!

-Gravey-

Boux responds:

HAHA! no man youre not retarded, youre right on this point, some parts of the song have a second line. For the percussion theres some guitar tapping but very subtle. Thanks man glad you liked it, im working on other tunes to post soon.

[Hostilities Exist]

Damn...

For doing this in FL Studio and Adobe Audition, this sounds really good. Never knew anyone to use FL as their DAW for recording metal. Nicely done though.

I like the riffs a lot, even though I'm not much into doom metal. They are full and very methodical. The drums could be slightly louder in the mix in my opinion. And punchier too. Compress 'em some I say! :-)

Nice little tune here overall.

4/5 and 8/10 overall. Nice work here.

-Gravey-

Rottenbeard responds:

Thanks Gravey, this is pretty old and also the first piece I ever uploaded to newgrounds, i'm surprised you liked it. I was still learning a lot about working in FL Studio which is evidenced by the god awful drumming, I was also still very new to recording in general which is why the mix and everything is pretty bad. I've got a lot of metal stuff on my hard drive which I will, one day, get around to finishing, I hope ;). I'm glad you liked it though, i've always liked the general ryhtm in this piece, I do want to redo it properly with the tools and knowledge I have now, and probably will do so, one of these days.

And yeah, FL Studio actually works pretty good as a DAW, at least, I like using it for that, I find it easy to work in. I've tried other DAW's and find them really clunky in comparison, though they do make working with WAV's easier. I dunno, I know most pro guys look down on FL Studio, but i've always liked it, and it's only getting better with every release. And i've always found adobe audition to be incredibly good for wav editing and recently, with newer versions of it anyways, for general mastering.

Cheers,
Daniel

[Turning Of The Tide]

Nice...

I like it a lot. It is stern, powerful, and mystical in places.

I like the brass sound you used. Very forceful, and it really gives this song an inner strength. Which is obviously created by the harmonies as well.

I love the chord structure. It isn't simply a melody and bassline. There are full chords, and a lot of harmonies going on.

The percussion is a bit limited. I personally think you could expand on the percussion a bit, but that is just my opinion. Take it or leave it as you will.

The strings are very nicely written and portrayed, kudos to you. They really fit well within this song.

Now, my biggest beef is the electric guitar. Either use it, or toss it. Right now it is so out of place it is ridiculous. Now I love metal, and especially orchestral metal. From Blind Guardian to Dimmu Borgir, I listen to it all. But this guitar is extremely out of place.

You either need to choose to make this a metal piece, with the guitar in it the whole time. Or leave it out completely. Because as it is now, it does not fit the song at all. But other than that, everything seems to be in pretty good order.

4/5 and 8/10 overall. Just some minor tweaks in my opinion to work out.

Best of luck on your future projects bud!

-Gravey-

P.S. - If ya get bored, you should stop by and listen to my entry. :-)

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/215108

Rottenbeard responds:

Hi Gravey, thanks for the in depth review of the piece.
It's unfortunate you're not fond of the guitar as it's my favorite section of the song, the reason it's placed where it is, is because to use it through the entire piece would cause the finale to lose much of its impact, to not use it at all would have left the piece more empty sounding and not as powerful as I intended it to be. I like the guitar placement as it is, I can understand and appreciate different taste so don't think i'm just shrugging off your criticism, I just don't personally agree with it is all.

I do agree on the drumming though, some more variance would help, especially near the end, and truthfully, I did experiment with it (even using taiko drums to change the tonality a bit), but ultimately wasn't happy with the sound so I settled on a minimalistic timpani/cymbal approach, better than nothing at all I guess!

Again, thank you for taking the time to pick the piece apart and provide real criticism, I do appreciate it. Ill check out your piece for sure. I don't need to be bored to check out other peoples stuff, I enjoy listening to all the stuff here on Newgrounds, it's much more interesting and refreshing than the regurgitated crap on the radio these days! :)

Regards,
Daniel