Gravey's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Poor Jamal Jackson]

Interesting...

Way too repetitive. The beat doesn't change at all. Basically you just drop out the snare, and leave the kick doing the same thing. You really need to mix up the beats a lot more. Because that kills the song from the very get go.

You have a neat little melody line, but it is limited. You need to use more than one octave when you write a melody line. Melodies should never jump around too much, but that does not mean they shouldn't move around at all.

There is a rule I learned in my theory classes for writing a good melody. Always go in whole or half steps, or thirds. If you jump up more than a third, then go back a note. So say you start on C, and you jump to an A, your next note should probably be a F-F#-G-G#. This is the formula all pop artists use when they write songs. Now of course you can break the rules and still have a cool melody. I do all the time! ;-) But when starting a new song, it is always good to stick to the rule for the most part. Then vary it as you go.

So vary that melody now that you have a foundation to work with!

I love the Gameboy-esque sound you have going on through most of the song. The one that comes in by itself around the 0:10 mark. Keep using that the way you are. That is PERFECT! But you need something other than the Moog sounds to go along with it.

I think there is a bassline, but it might just be the Moog sound just dropped really low. Like I said before, if you are using FL Studio, check out the FL Slayer bass kits. They are pretty decent as far as generators go.

I think that you should try using some pads every now and then. I use them to take up a lot of filler space in some of my song. They are shitty when used on their own most of the time, but as a background effect they are AMAZING! Especially when used right.

So yea, 2/5 and 4/5 overall. Just too transparent, and lacking vertically. Good luck working on this though bud. You should not allow it to be the final version. ;-)

-Gravey-

DJFilteredFantasy responds:

Thanks Gravey, I'll keep working on this. I was thinking about a new melody the other day for this song, so this will definitely not be the final version. I'll look into those bass kits. I only have the basic fl studio stuff and some extra strings to work with right now...so some extra drum pad/kits would be nice too if you have anything that might work. :)
-DJFF

[Bill's Tribute Version 2]

Eh...

Kinda boring. But it could become something nifty with enough work.

First off, you need to find some sounds that actually sound good together. Your instrument choice seems to be a hodgepodge of electro sounds, but none of them really fit well together. The strings are a good idea, and the instrument that is prevalent all the way through is nifty. I'm talking about the sound that ends the song by itself.

Now the strings are a good touch. But they really need a lot of help filling up space. Which could be accomplished in a variety of ways.

First off, make a real beat. Basically your percussion is just a kick and some random crashes. No snare at all that I could hear, and that is always bad. So add some drums to help out the mix. Because they are always very important.

You need to work on writing out chords as well as a melody line. There is more to music than a single line of melody playing along with a kick. Write some full chords, or if nothing else at least some straight fifths and thirds. There is no way words can describe how a simple third of fifth is an improvement over a single not.

Now, I say change the bass. It kinda sucks. I'm guessing you are using FL Studio, because it really sounds like it. If I'm right there, I'd lay money the bass is in the PACKS section, correct? You should use one of the FL Slayer bass generators. I like the PUNCH the most personally. Because if you get rid of all the slap and then boost the bass and lower the high gain, it has a very smooth and heavy sound. Very rich and thick as well. And that will help improve your sound.

Also, vary the melody line some more. It is pretty straightforward and anemic as it is right now. It isn't horrible, but just boring. Some ideas to improve it, hmmmm. Well you could always create two channels with the same melodic instrument, then pan them left and right. Once you do that, you can have a back and forth melody line. Call and response is the actual musical term for it.

I do that a TON in my songs. Especially the ones with acoustic and banjo sounds. Go listen to my Mongolian Banjoman song to get an idea as to how two channels panned left and right can help a melody line. It makes it a lot easier to make complicated melodies as well.

Also, it sounds like there is no real mixing/EQ-ing/Mastering going on. Compress some of your stuff. Add reverb to channels. EQ certain things to bring out the high end more, or the low end. Whatever sounds the best to your ears. One thing that is almost always nice is reverb on strings, and compression on snares and kicks. You can't go wrong compressing a kick or snare. Or with reverb on strings.

After doing all this, you might want to put a limiter on the master track. This will help keep things from peaking out. Also it helps with an overall mix sounding tight. Everything stays within the realm of the limiter.

So, after all this, I think you should have some ideas on how to improve your songs. 3/5 and 5/10 overall, because it isn't horrible. But at the same time could really use a lot of work.

Best of luck bud!

-Gravey-

DJFilteredFantasy responds:

Thanks. This is the original song, so it was worked on, but you are right. I do call and response in my written songs, i just haven't gotten use to fl studio yet, so I'm getting aeris(test subject a) to help me with some stuff. but once i get the hang of it, i'll be cranking out some much better stuff. Thanks for the advice, and you are right on the money. :)
-DJFF

[Heavy Boss Loop]

Interesting...

Being a metal head myself, I'm very particular when it comes to this genre. But I will try not to be too brutal in my review of this song. ;-)

As for the song structurally, I think it is fine. I personally think loops should about two minutes long, and this is spot on. I do think there could be some work on the song vertically though. Add another instrument here or there.

As for the overall sound. Good god this is some epic video game metal. I think of Bowser from Mario when I hear this song. Very Bowser-esque.

I like the guitar sound a lot, especially considering the intent of the song. The mix is perfect as well. Although for a real song, the guitars would be way to low. But for an old school SNES game, it is perfect.

I love the kick especially. Good god that kick really punches you in the face all the way through, and I just fucking love it.

5/5 and 10/10 overall, and that is rare for me. I don't give out 10/10's often. So that should really tell you how much I really loved this tune.

It has been favorited!

Best of luck on future projects bud.

-Gravey-

DrSalvadork responds:

Thanx for the score!

Yeah, that's what I was going for, an epic video game boss battle.
This was my first try at heavy metal, and I don't listen to the genre too much either, so I guess I was lucky to make the song so satisfying.
And thanx for not strictly comparing it to the heavy music you're used to, though you weren't being brutal in the slightest. :)

That's a good advice, I had the distorted piano there to add variation, but it could use some other instruments to add layers... I'll try and remember that for other songs, in case I don't bother working further on this one.

This was an awesome review, thank you!

[Hero's Tempest]

I Think...

I remember hearing this before? No?

It sounds a lot like something you wrote before. The intro mainly. I can't remember off the top of my head.

I like it all a lot, but then again big surprise right?! It's a piano piece, I'm gonna love it. First off, I love the somber mood it sets. A very serious sounding song you have here, and I like it a lot. Completely different than anything I write! X-D

I love the rolling chords around halfway through. And how you rolled them up as a change in places. Made a nice little effect.

My favorite section is near the 2:00 mark. It is simply beautiful. And the rolling melodic line is really sexy.

The timpani makes me smile, and yet sad at the same time. Because I can't seem to find a timpani in my FL. I'm guessing it is a pack you downloaded. It sounds badass, and you use it well in your songs.

5/5 and 10/10 overall, because I can't think of any way to really improve it.

Amazing job yet again man.

-Gravey-

Aeris responds:

lol thanks,

it's actually kinda funny, you listened to this that one night you were drunk lol. You said you liked the rolling chords, and didn't really like the snares, you also loved the timpani.

The timpani is in the Roland Orchestra Soundfont. Oh you also you'd take my sheets and play them at gigs. Of course, being drunk you can't always be sure of what you say so if you can't then i'd understand.

Thanks muchly again friend
-Aeris.

[Japanese]

Neat-O!

I loved it the moment it started. A very unique sound you went for, and you hit it right on man.

Now I'm not sure about the acid smack around the 0:45 mark. That was more than a little out of place. But up until then this sounds really cool.

I like the water effect, and the dog barking in the background. You not only set the tone and timbre of the song musically, but of the environment as well. Pretty cool really.

The ending is really sweet as well. Really loud, in your face, and yet in a good balance. And ending with the birds. Beautiful ending.

Overall this is a great little...song?...I liked it a lot. But I think there are some things that could be worked on. Maybe the ending could be dropped down a notch in volume. It gets more than a little bit louder than the rest of the song. Which is it fine to get louder, but it is a bit out of balance where it is now.

And like I said above, that acid smack in the beginning is a bit out of place. Maybe go try a few different sounds there instead. I'm sure you could find something that would fit better there.

But in all honesty, this is really good. 4/5 and 9/10 overall, because not only was it good but it was unique. And I like unique things! Hope this review helped you somehow.

-Gravey-

Saigon responds:

thanks for the review, i'll work on it if i ever find the original file. :)

[As Best As We Can]

Nifty...

I'm not sure what I exactly think of this song. It is very beautiful sounding. It is almost crystalline in timbre, everything really shines. It is a very unique quality, that is for sure.

One thing though, I don't like the drums at all. I think this would be much better of without the drums. Although, the breakbeat kinda feel in areas is nifty. I just don't like it with the background at all. It seems such a shame to ruin the atmospheric effect with a beat keeping time. I really feel like I should float on air endlessly when I listen to this song.

Really this is pretty cool all around, except for the drums. And you should really make it a bit longer. That would be nice as well. But other than that, I can't really think of anyways to improve this.

4/5 and 8/10 overall. Nice job here truthfully. Very nice job.

-Gravey-

Reticence responds:

Thanks for the review ! :D

[Serenity In Fire (cover)]

Interesting...

VST guitars blow ass, but for what it is worth you got a halfway decent sound out of this. It doesn't compare to real guitars in the least, but still not the worst thing I've ever heard.

I'm a Kataklysm fan to an extent, but by no means die-hard. So I'm not really familiar with this song. I can imagine how groovy it would be with real instruments. And that is the point of having VST guitars, at least in my opinion.

I do think the kick could be raised a bit in the mix. The snare a smidge as well. You should add other stuff to it. I mean its a cover, so why stick with the exact same stuff that is in the song? Maybe some strings in the background. Or some cool hits here and there with some funky techno sounds. I think that would be rather nifty in your covers.

3/5 and 7/10 overall.

-Gravey-

PENTAhazardous responds:

Mmm... dunno about the sound... this is better then FL Slayer, alone, but ain't really the way I wanted to sound... I must playwith some other plugins too (Green Machine AMP, Rock Amp Legends or Revalver)... this one is the AmpliTube. I guess right now the best guitar sound obtained is on the track The Fire Arcane. I'm not a die-hard fan too of that band. This song is nice and groovy as you said but the main reason I chosed it is because that... solo... it's very easy to do... That's my biggest problem with FL Studio, the solo guitars are very hard to do.
And about the covering thing... well, to do what you suggested (which by the way seems a good idea and I'll probably try to do something about iy) you have to get the song right first... and after you got every note, and you have it all as a whole in your head, yes, you can try to add a... personal mark on it...
Thank you very much for your time, dude... you gived me something to think about for the... near future :).

[Dancing Banjo Duet (TSA Remix)]

:-D

I can't lie, I almost like your version of this better. And it's my effing song!

5/5 and 10/10 overall, yes I'm shameless!

-Gravey-

Aeris responds:

Haha it was fun :D

But nothing beats the original :P

thanks for letting me do naughty things to it.

[Imperfection]

ROFL!!!

I love how you said, (scoffs at own stupidity.) Made me laugh sir.

As for the song, it alright. I don't listen to much Meshuggah. I think Mnemic does a way better job at mass syncopation. But that is a topic for another day.

So I can't really say if I think it sounds much like Meshuggah, cause I really don't know. As the song goes though, I like it. The syncopation is what I'm guessing you took as influence from Meshuggah on this song.

I think it is a little too repetitive. Some of the riffs are syncopated, but they tend to repeat themselves every 2 bars. I do know that the syncopation style used by both Meshuggah and Mnemic does not repeat so quickly. And therefore is much harder to follow. Because if you extend the riffs out longer, then the syncopation has the possibility of becoming beyond complicated.

I am not fond of the one crash or high hat it is you hit on the downbeat around the 2:00 mark. Really odd sound. The guitar sounds great as far as the distortion goes. I like it a lot.

So I say good job, but extend the riffs. That should help you get a more "Meshuggah-ish" sound. Definitely on the right track though.

4/5 and 8/10 overall.

-Gravey-

masterjiji responds:

i do try.

well, everybody has an opinion.

it is.

thx good advice, this IS my first whack at such metal.

yeah. GarageBand cymbals just aint that great.

i say, what what.

thanks.

i see your name.

[(<-Dark Minds->)]

Stupid Moms!!!

I tell ya, they get in the way of everything anymore. :-P

Interesting little tune here. You are right in the fact that it takes a while to get going. But once it does it has a real nice sound to it. That pad/sweep that comes in around the 2:25 mark is a cool sound. Very typical of trance/techno music.

I'm not sure what I think of the kick. Kinda annoying after a while. I really can't stand those high end techno kicks. Drive me insane, but they are pretty typical in this style of music. The rest of the percussion stuff is pretty good. Although a little quiet in the mix for my taste. For the most part anyways.

I like the ending. Not really anything special, but fitting for the song.

Overall pretty good. Too bad you couldn't keep working on it, cause I think it could have turned out really well if you had more time to work on it.

4/5 and 8/10 overall, cause it is pretty good, but the intro is sooooooooo looooooooong. You should have tightened that section up a bit.

-Gravey-

jbarnett responds:

Ya. But you know whats wierd? The intro was gonna be an entirely different song lol. Also, I wanted to make this song without any percussion but ppl tend to get pissy if they dont have their bass :P. This is a song that I hope to remake once I get the full version of FL Studio. And as always, thanks for takin the time to review my song :)