Gravey's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Reflections >Dubstep<]

Typically...

...I don't review my competition. But I feel I should since a point was made below that is simply stupid. The bass, as much as I hate dubstep the bass in this song is perfect.

If it wasn't for the wobbly bass synth in this song, this wouldn't be dubstep. I felt I had to mention this because below it was said that the bass is corny. No, its not corny, its dubstep. Without this bass the song isn't dubstep.

I'm not a fan of this sort of music. I find the composition of dubstep to be obnoxious with the bass in your face all the time. But to sit and say the bass is corny is like saying "synths are overused in electro music." Without the synths an electro song would no longer be electro, thus is this style of bass within dubstep.

As far as dubstep goes, this is a really good song. In fact, I find it much less obnoxious than anything I've been shown by friends on Youtube by well known dubstep artists.

The one thing this lacks is the overall mix. It sounds like everything is competing within the song. Like the compression is so hard it is causing instruments to get sorta halfish side-chained and wobbly. The bass should be wobbly, not the overall mix. Also, I just didn't get the feel of a unified group of instruments in this. There is synths, that wicked bass, some sort of wooden block percussion, a piano, I mean a total hodgepodge of instruments. Which is fine, as long as they mesh well. Wasn't so sure they did here.

But other than the mix, I think this is solid.

5/5 and 9/10 overall. I don't hate dubstep quite as much as I did before.

-Gravey-

mr-jazzman responds:

Thank you so much Gravey! I can't tell you how much this means to me. Thank you for sitting down and taking time to write me a decent review, even though you don't like dubstep much. (Haha I used to be the same way... I just figured it was good to expand my understanding, ya know? Next thing you know, I'll end up with some EastWest in my hands and I'll be producing some classical stuff lol. ;) ). Yeah, I can see what you mean about the compression and what not; to be honest, I think this is one of the biggest problems right here. As for meshing...>sigh<...well, this is one of the problems I had with the whole tune in the first place. At first, there were too many empty spaces, and now there seem to be too little places for breath -- and this is something I just caught on to today. I think it may be the way that I approached this song in the first place. I started out with a formula for the song (believe it or not, I was gonna add vocals in there to fill out the sound, but that didn't happen when my freaking computer speakers went haywire on me >=( ), but then the thing just expanded into something else...hence, the instruments blended, and I went off in a direction that I wasn't entirely sure would work, but ended up nicely in my opinion because of its experimental nature. There are definitely things I want to improve upon from here on out, but I just spent way too much time on this track for the results not to come to fruition, if you know what I mean. Anyway, thanks for the review a whole lot man, and may the "better song" win! =)

P.S. I'm glad I could sway you a little bit with the lessened obnoxiousness. This was my plan; as you can see, I don't like fitting the formula, going with what the wave of the crowd does. I can sense the same thing in you. This is why, though we're not professionals yet, we have the potential to get there soon. You seem like you've got some studio time under your belt; I'm hoping I get the same sort of experience when the band Nothing More starts to record their second major studio album, and maybe something good will come of that. We'll see.

But anyway, thanks again man! And don't be afraid to review your competitor's work man; I've reviewed my friendly competition throughout the entire deathmatch, gave em some advice, etc., because I figure they could use it to their benefit and simultaneously know that the competition is actually interested in their song.

[I Hate Jologs People]

Haha!

I wouldn't call it fail at all really, in fact its not a bad sound at all. Now that being said, its nothing near to being a classical song. But oh well, you wrote a nifty little ambient sort of groove here. Nothing too bad.

I enjoyed this in its simplicity. The fact its 5 am where I live and I can't sleep probably leads me to being able to appreciate long warm tones like this song is living off of. It just feels so right at the moment.

As for the song from a technical angle, its really simple and straightforward. But that doesn't translate into bad by any means. Sometimes being smooth and simple is a good thing. Love the synths you used, sounds very Moog-ish if I recall that sound correctly.

And the mix you created is nice an warm in tone. I really like the mix you created a lot. Granted I'm listening on my speakers, and not my headphones. Everything sounds better on these babies, so maybe you just lucked out that I'm not wearing my phones at the moment. But that being said on my speakers the mix sounds very yummy.

5/5 and 10/10 overall. This hit the spot for me and fit my mood perfectly tonight.

-Gravey-

Sawdust responds:

Wow, thanks!

Also, it was classical. The gated synths used to be strings and the moogish main synth is an automated Rhodes, I thought that it wouldn't work well as a classical song, that's all, so I wrote some basslines and drum sequences and re-instrumented it, so now it's a hip-hop song.

Wow, just thanks, I'm sooooooooooo happy you enjoyed it. :)

[Orion mixed]

Interesting...

For a first submission this isn't half bad, not half bad at all. I'm actually kind of impressed for this being a first submission honestly.

For starters your mix is really nice. The percussion could be slightly louder, but that is just personal opinion. What you have at the moment is a nice ensemble. Everything really fits well in its own little place in the mix and that is important.

You did a nice job in creating interesting melody lines with that lead synth you are using. It has a certain wah wah effect kinda going on, almost guitar-ish in its tone as well. Makes it very enjoyable to listen to.

The song progresses well and really flows from section to section. There is no moment in the song where anything really sounds out of place, or poorly written. It's smooth my friend, smooth indeed.

One thing I would hit on is adding a little bit of variety maybe. It seems like the same percussion rhythm is being used throughout the entire song, and that kinda turns me off a bit. Also the lead synth is the same throughout the entire song. Maybe think of switching it out during a breakdown section or something to create a different feel for a little bit.

Overall I enjoyed this, even though it isn't my typical listening style.

4/5 and 8/10 overall. It's a nice little song, but not really anything extraordinary. Definitely a solid first submission though. :-)

-Gravey-

TJ4477 responds:

Thank you i'm gland you like it.

[Kw- Illusive Illusions]

Ha!

This is great man, albeit the piano is way to fast to be realistic, its still really cool.

The orchestral stuff sounds wonderful to be completely honest. You created a really good mix that has a rich full sound, and that is important. Everything really blends well and adds to the ensemble, so well done with the overall mix.

The piano itself is frantic, almost too fast to be quite honest. If you were going with realistic you totally missed that, but if you are going for jaw dropping you probably hit it because it sounds great. It's just way to fast to be realistic, mainly where you are hitting the same note in succession. There just is no piano in the world that has that fast of action in order to allow you to hit the same note over and over that quickly. But that being said, I really like it anyways. ;-)

My one issue is the compression/limiter put on the overall mix. It creates a funky mixing issue with the reverse cymbal. If you listen closely it throws off the mix slightly, basically you slightly overcompressed it and when the reverse cymbal rises it cause the rest of the ensemble to sort of recede in the mix. I would raise the ceiling on your limiter/compressor a little bit to help with that.

All in all though I really like this. Could be expanded easily if you ask me into a full length song. It definitely has a professional quality to it and I would like to hear more of this from you for sure.

5/5 and 10/10 overall. Really good work here my friend.

-Gravey-

nightsurfermusic responds:

Thank you very much! :D

[Striltch]

Care Bears...

That is what comes to mind when I hear this. I feel the emotion within this song, and it leads me to believe that you have found the all elusive soul of music. You see you have done it once again, you have not only created a unique piece of music, but you have also come up with an entire new way of hearing things.

And by that I mean with your heart. Yes, hear it with your heart. Not your ears, nor your toes, but your heart. And that's deep man.....reeeeeeal deeeeeeeep. And this song is like my soul, deep and full of emotions that can only be explained internally with the heart.

So I thank you my friend for yet again writing something that not only is fun and interesting to listen to, but also for writing music that touches the heart and soul of others. That is the greatest gift man can give to one another.

I love you.

5/5 and 10/10 overall.

-Gravey-

InvisibleObserver responds:

A tear is shed at the beauty of your words.

[[Preview] Piano Solo]

Awwwww....

You make me smile. :-)

As for the preview, its short. :-P

I like the overall tone so far. Although some things to keep in mind :

- Block chords are nice, and can really set the tone for a piece. So I don't mind them too much here. But throughout the piece you will need to think of different ways of creating chord structure. You could roll and/or arpeggiate them. When I say roll I mean you could incorporate more than just the chord itslef, but really anything within the tonic's scale. Whereas arpeggiate I simply mean roll the basic chord only.

- Velocity edits are your friends. Do not be afraid to use extremes. One cannot be seen as being loud in one section if he is not quiet in another. ;-)

- I'd recommend some more realistic sample packs. This sounds like a soundfont, which if you have no money is a good stand-in. But if you can afford it I would look into getting EastWest's piano sample libraries. I've fallen in love with them. Also Edirol has some nice piano samples if you need.

Overall I like where this is going. So keep at it bud. I'm sure it will turn out to be quite a wonderful piece.

3/5 and 5/10 overall. I give all WIP's this score. I reserve final judgment for the final piece. ;-)

-Gravey-

[The Reason For Living Preview]

:-)

It sounds like it could turn out to be something very nice. I think the velocity on the arpeggiating strings feels a bit odd. I think they are emphasizing some odd notes in their pattern. Maybe rethink that a bit, but they do sound nice overall.

I like how it is building up with the legato strings and brass. It has a nice fat sound, which lends itself to building nicely. I'm excited to hear the final product my friend. :-)

3/4 and 5/10 overall. As always I'll wait to hear the final product in order to give a real score.

-Gravey-

Theledge93 responds:

I fixed the Strings, and i'm thinking about adding a guitar solo in after the demo ends. with the right distortion it would sound kickass. of course id be the one playing it :)

[Hardstyle Preview 2 (Check it)]

Well...

Some things to consider. First off, the dj vocals annoy the crap out of me. I get the idea, but I've just never thought they made any real sense in a song that isn't being pushed live by a dj in a club. In this sort of situation I just wouldn't use them, then when it is being played live with a crowd I would use the version with the vocals. But that is just me, a lot of the kiddies here really like them, and this isn't my real strong genre so I can't be the final judge and jury really.

The song itself is redundant to be honest. I think you have some very good melody lines that fit the genre well, at least from what I know of hardstyle music. I do think there could be more done with it though. Vary it later on in the song and switch up the synths using it in order to keep some interest in the song. Because these are made to dance to, but lets be real for a second. Nobody is going to be in a club dancing to this when listening on Newgrounds. So that being said, I would change up the version for Newgrounds from the live version a bit to keep it more interesting for the listener.

The percussion has a nice tone to it, but I think you could do more with it. Like they really sit in one place the entire song. You could add filters, flangers, choruses, delays, glitches, anything really to add some spice to the percussion. As they are now they are great samples, but they don't do anything but pound my temple over and over again.

Also, what is that synth that is playing one long note? It sounds almost like a car screeching to a stop in a weird sort of way. I think it has a place in the song, just not such a prominent one. :-P

What I mean by this is you need to introduce some new sounds to the overall mix, which would let you not rely on that screeching sound to hit on every other down beat. There is a lot of room in the mix for new sounds and synth, so don't be shy bud.

I think as it is it is a good foundation for something that could turn out well. So for a WIP its not bad at all. But it definitely needs some love in order to get it ready for the clubs. :-P

3/5 and 5/10 overall. All WIPs get this score from me. I reserve final judgment for when the song is finished.

-Gravey-

ShadowsOfLight responds:

As usual I love the bold and blunt force trauma to my music that is Gravey :) Haha thanks again mate. Your reviews really help me out!

[S.r.: Sand Ruin [rmx] [wip]]

Interesting...

I don't know the original song, which is a good thing. Means I'm focusing more on your actual work than what its "supposed" to sound like. ;-)

Well for starters, this is a good foundation. Like you have a cool melody line and a nifty little sounding synth playing it. Also you have a solid base for your percussion, which should make it easy to expand on. Here is where I would go from here...

First off I would add percussion. I would get some unique percussion packs online somewhere, be it freeware or something that you bought, it doesn't matter. You seem to need some better percussion samples so you can expand your sound a bit. Either that or create your own percussion samples like my one buddy does. Granted that takes more work, but you get the exact sound you want from them every time.

Once you get some new percussion samples, or create your own you can start creating new rhythms with them. What you have is pretty straight forward and bland. I would work on adding some sort of glitch effects to the percussion if it were me, that would give it some life for sure.

Moving on I would add some layers to the melody line here and there. During some sections I would have it layered heavily and in others I would drop a lot of the layers out so that main synth can just shine through on its own. Adding some filter effects would probably make the kiddies here on Newgrounds swoon, it always does really. I personally don't like them a whole lot anymore because so many people overuse them, but when applied sparingly and in the right places they can create great tonal changes to your song.

Also I would add some sort of harmony lines. A great way to do this would be to add a piano to the mix. Pianos go with nearly anything really, so adding one to a mix is super duper simple. You could create some rolling chords above the melody line with some thick hall reverb, or even have them in that middle range right below the synths frequency sweet spot but still above that "bass" frequency range.

And speaking of the bass frequency range, add a synth bass to this. It would be super easy to do and would fatten up the tone immensely. Really, there are two things a song can almost always use, a piano and a bass of some sort. This has neither, so add both and you shall see immediate improvements. ;-)

Lastly, I would lengthen this a bit in order to give it some more variety. Add some more sections that maybe have some call and response phrases in them. That would make it sort of easy to write and would help to fill up some space. It would also create some unique variety with the song that is lacking.

Hmmmm...I think that should be enough to keep you busy for a while. Best of luck bud. I'll reserve my true judgment for when this song is finished. Therefore you get a middle of the road score for now.

3/5 and 5/10 overall.

-Gravey-

jbarnett responds:

I thank you many times for the help and I will get to work on this as soon as I can. :)

[Hardstyle (Critisize Me :D)]

Haha!!!

Oh you kids and your hardstyle! You know what this needs now? Noizekick! If you don't know what that is, go DL sylenth. It's every nooby Newgrounds hardstyle artist's dream. :-P

In all seriousness though, this makes me smile just due to its simplicity. Its not a badly mixed and over compressed mash of a billion synths vying for my attention constantly. It's actually kinda cool in terms of background music for a flash game/video. The vocals might create some issues with that, but the music itself would be nice background for something I'm sure.

Not a lot in this one, but to be honest that is a nice surprise. For once I don't have way to much thrashing on my ears. I can appreciate that for sure.

4/5 and 8/10 overall.

-Gravey-

ShadowsOfLight responds:

Ah yes, I think "Simple Hardstyle" is better than normal. I agree, hardstyle demands a lot of attention and it's easier to listen in a simple form :)