Gravey's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Legacy (Final)]

Great Foundation...

This has the foundation of being something great. What I mean by that is that the different instruments and synths mesh very well, and that the structure of the song itself flows and builds quite nicely.

I do however think there is some room for improvement. First off I have to say the piano is a bit iffy. For one, it clips a bit still. I know you fixed a lot of the clipping, but I still hear some during the piano section.

Second, the snare during the piano section and on towards the end really covers up the mix when it plays. Listen to when it rolls, and how the rest of the ensemble gets hidden behind it. What that tells me is a lot of instruments are playing around the same frequencies, and that the snare is just overpowering them. I would look into either changing the pitch of the snare, or changing up the mix a bit so the other instruments are predominantly on other frequencies. Either way, I would do some work there for sure. I know how hard it is, especially in FL. For some reason FL is a lot harder to mix in than other DAWs I've used, especially when compared with Pro Tools.

The piano is where I want to focus next. I mentioned it earlier, but I would like to focus on it in more detail now. What you have written is nice enough, nothing really there I can complain about personally. It is a bit simple, but I actually like it a lot because it creates tension and sets the mood. But the piano itself sounds shaky. It sounds as if you have some iffy compression and reverb work on it. My ears seem to feel like you compressed it after adding reverb, which gives it that weird vibe creating an unstable sound. That is just what my ears are telling me, it could be something else. But from the sounds of it the compression and reverb is having some adverse affects on each other creating a warbly sound.

The beginning of the song sounds pretty cool. You did a nice job using different synths to grab the ears and hold them hostage. My attention was definitely grabbed right away and you never lost it. So kudos to you there.

I really like the style you are going here overall. My favorite part is when the full ensemble hits at 2:24. The mix of synths and orchestral samples really has a wonderful mood and atmosphere to it. And the ending is perfect in my opinion. It is simple and to the point, and fits the song wonderfully. Nice job with the last portion of the song indeed, it really was my favorite section.

Lastly the percussion was very tasteful. Your rhythms fit very well and enhanced the song and mix tremendously. Nothing stood out obnoxiously, yet there was enough life and detail in them that kept my foot tapping the entire way through the song. I do think however some slight glitch work on the percussion would have been nice. Maybe a slight retrigger here or reverse there would have added that final sparkle to an otherwise solid percussion line.

This is a really good song my friend. I hope my review was helpful. :-)

5/5 and 9/10 overall. Nice song, very nice indeed bud.

-Gravey-

Theledge93 responds:

Wowsers! i'm glad you lked it enough to write that much. i did have a problem with edirol, becuase it's normally much quieter than all the other plugins i own. so i had to put it in EQUO and raise the volume after i did tht, i had a hard time balncing out the intruments in the actual Edirol panel ,and i pretty much just said Fuck it. so I kinda gave up on that aspect. (and the "snare" is actually a timpani!!!!)

The synths i actually used a guitar amp emulator to get the sounds. it sounds great in my opinion.

Once again I absoutely love each and everyone of your reviews they are extremely helpful, and i'm glad you put in as much time as you do.

[--Declare FULL]

Cool...

The guitars are a bit iffy because they sound somewhat robotic. Almost like they are being generated by a program rather than actually played. Maybe I'm wrong here, but it does sound that way.

The percussion sounds really good. It has a very nice feel and sound to it. What you wrote fits with the style of the guitars as well. The song sounds as one good cohesive piece, which is a good thing of course.

I will say that as for the composition I think it could be more complicated. The riffs were cool, but nothing really extraordinary. Basically they are power chords playing a straight 1-2-3-4 rhythm the whole time. Not exactly the most original stuff ever. :-P

4/5 and 8/10 overall. Good song, but just not great exactly.

-Gravey-

OPQC responds:

yeah thanks. i've not made rock so much, so i think i'm going to improve on the time :P
still thanks for the comment

[Pobeb-Metaljonus]

Ugh...The Intro, But Still A Good Song...

About time you pm me with another song you posted. :-P

The intro either clips, with the "wafting smoke". At least there was crackling on my speakers when listening to it. Just a heads up.

I'm not crazy about when the guitar comes in right after the "wafting smoke." It just doesn't seem to have any real purpose and sounds a little out of place. I don't know, it also sounds like your fingers weren't very clean there. It just does not sound clean in the fact that your fingers are all over the place and there is no real tempo. Maybe I'm wrong there, but it just sounds like you are not playing evenly, which makes it sound messy.

Now when the whole ensemble comes in it sounds great. The way the song flows is pretty wonderful in all actuality. The sections lead into one another pretty well and it just feels like everything is in its personal place perfectly.

As for the individual instruments. The guitars sound great. The riffs are for the most part simple and cathartic with an emphasis on just having a real groove to them. The lead has a good sound quality to it, the distortion meshes wonderfully with the rhythm guitars. The actual lead part is pretty interesting all the way through as well, so kudos to you on that.

Now onto the percussion, it rocks. Your percussion sounds pretty realistic in all honesty, and for NGs music that is rare to come by. I'm guessing you used EZdrummer? I think you told me once before what you used but I can't remember. But anyways, the percussion sounds great. And I love what you wrote for the percussion. I'm ecstatic about the double bass during the section beginning at 2:08. LOVE the double bass there, props to you there for sure.

How about the bass guitar? Oh yea, everyone mixes the bass guitar right out of metal, so I guess I'll just say it was nice to actually be able to hear some bass in a metal song for once. ;-)

Lastly the overall mix. You did a nice job mixing this song. I can hear everything in the mix, yet nothing stands out obnoxiously or is out of place. So you did well with the mix for sure.

I really like this tune bud. It has a nice groove and was written/recorded/produced very well.

5/5 and 9/10 overall. Like I said, I heard clipping in the beginning and that one section of guitar right after the "wafting smoke" intro would have caused me to turn this off if it had not been a friend's song.

-Gravey-

Metaljonus responds:

Yeah about the intro it was pretty much one take on each track. I know that it is off and was too lazy lol. Since everyone is talking about it I redid it, The volume has been turned down on the reverse guitar intro. For drums heh Imma tell you this for the last time! I am using Superior 2.0 write that down LOL. Thanks for crit and honesty. Thanks for listening nugga!

[ArcH - Cockjoke!]

You Get A Zero...

Because when I clicked this on the audio front page, it said it was voice acting. When I refreshed it, it is now under techno. You posted this under voice acting in order to back into weekly top five.

Therefore, you get 0/5 and 0/10. Don't do stupid things like that. Ruins the entire system.

-Gravey-

P.S. - I took screen shots, so don't deny it.

Archealor responds:

Meh, I tried. Still, you'd think this would get bombed.

[Midnight Illusion (DP&KP)]

Alright...

You asked for a review, and you shall receive a review. ;-)

I'm going to start off with this comment, I hate trance. Although there is a style of trance I can enjoy, such as what InvisibleObserver often writes, this style is not for me. BUT! I will try to keep to the fact, and not so much my opinion.

First off, the percussion makes me cry. I did not like the percussion for a variety of reasons. First off, there was no variety in the percussion at all really. It's basically the same rhythm through the entire song, which is a bit much for me personally. All you had to do to keep the percussion fresh was to add a few glitch effects. That would help out the percussion IMMENSELY! All that being said, the rhythm you created was nifty, it just should have changed up a bit more throughout the song.

Also, I didn't like the percussion samples you used. They were just to stereotypical trance percussion for me. Now I'm not saying you have to create drum samples from dogs barking, such as my friend IO that I mentioned earlier does, but the samples you used were really bland for my taste. Especially the kick. The kick in my opinion is the most important hit in the percussion for this style of music, and it just sounded blah.

The piano is decent. I'm a pianist, been playing for over 20 years now. So there isn't much that really lives up to my standards here on NGs. The piano here does not wow me really, but it does get the job done. It's simple and affective, and I can respect that. So decent job with the piano.

The pads are a lot like the percussion, stereotypical and bland. But they fill up space, and that is what they are there for right?! ;-)

The synths you used were decent. There is one that reminds me slightly of a moog that I like to distort a lot. So it made me smile.

4/5 and 7/10 overall. For the genre this is decent, but nothing mind shattering. All in all nice work here.

-Gravey-

Kalapsia responds:

drums were definitely bland and they weren't mastered, so I can see your point of view. and thanks for the compliment about the piano, i've been learning music for about a year now. I agree that this isn't mind shattering although I did put a decent amount of work into this song. I appreciate the honest review.

[Into the night [Omega4.5] WiP]

Eh...

Well the guy below me is right on. That first lead synth is pretty obnoxious in just about every way. Especially when it is standing by itself. Also, its way too loud in the overall mix.

The vocals are kinda cheesy, yet not awful. I think you should just stick with the "shake it, don't break it" lines. You can drop the rest, like the "GO!" I heard.

For a WIP its got potential. The mix is obviously bad here. That lead synth is just way too loud, and the percussion is lacking punch.

Also the song doesn't really do anything at the moment. It's just basically following the main synth line. That does switch up once or twice, but tp be honest it all runs together quite a bit. Nothing just stands out as different in this song so far.

But all that said it is a good start. The percussion you have written is tasteful and adds to the song nicely. At the same time the percussion does not steal away any thunder from the song and become overpowering. I do think you could make the kick a bit punchier though with some EQ and compression work.

For a WIP this is not half bad. But still needs quite a lot of work.

3/5 and 5/10 overall. Good start here bud.

-Gravey-

OmegaGlow responds:

Well Electro usually has a nice loud bass and this track is similar to Benassi's in a few aspects. The bass mainly. I do admit i have to work on the beat itself though im already working on that. Im still learning how to EQ and compress things as well so i may be good at making the beats but i cant achieve the sound i would like to get out of them just yet.

[S:U - Cybor.G]

Interesting...

I actually like this possibly being in a flash. Like it isn't a great song really on its own. But I think it has a very nice timbre to it and would fit in a game or video nicely. The thing is making sure it is appropriate for the flash it is being used in.

But really this isn't all that bad. In fact it is pretty good I would say. I think it would fit well in some mechanical/industrial underground level in a first person shooter. That is what is coming to mind when I listen to this.

4/5 and 8/10 overall. Let me know when the flash gets posted. I would like to see how this fits into the game.

-Gravey-

StaticStigma responds:

Haha, thanks man! Yeah, I didn't make it to be a standalone song, but just a theme for a video in my game. I'm glad you liked it.

Yeah, actually this song is going to play in an area that's underground, in a lab, where you are being stalked by a cyborg named G.A.V.I.N. When you are safe, and he is not on screen, the slower parts play, and when he is chasing you, the faster parts play. When you finally do kill him, the synth depicting his heartbeat will slow to a stop. I like to think of this as an interactive song.

I'm happy to see that some people actually like this odd mix of sounds. I'll be sure to make more like it in the near future.

-BlackStatic-

[[LC] -Extinction Clinic]

:-)

I saw you reviewed my new song, and thought I would return the favor. :-)

I actually liked this quite a bit. I think it is quite fitting for this time of year (Halloween!) The vocals you used were really cool, and the glitches and effects you threw on them sounded very nifty indeed. I'm getting into the glitch thing a bit more than before thanks to a friend. So I have more of an appreciation for them than I did in the past.

As an actual song, the composition is pretty weak. BUT! This was not intended to be a classical masterpiece. This is just about perfect for what you were aiming for I do believe. And for that, you get a high score.

5/5 and 9/10. I just can't quite give you a perfect score, something is missing in it for me. I can't put my finger on it, but it just needs a little something more to get into the 10/10 range.

-Gravey-

ElectricalBypass responds:

Hey man! Thanks a lot for the review! I realize something is missing as well, I have NO IDEA WHAT IT IS. Still, thanks a lot for the review! Keep on doing what your best at as well!

[Lackadaisical Cohort - Part 1]

Well Then...

I know I've told you what I think over MSN already. But I'ma show some love here.

It's GRRRRRRREAT!!! *sketchy Tony The Tiger impersonation* :-P

5/5 and 10/10 overall.

-Gravey-

InvisibleObserver responds:

To avoid copy right laws, It's GRRRRRANDOISE!

[::Out Of Mind::]

YEA!!!

First off, how dare you not tell me you posted a new song! :-P

This my friend, is beautiful. I'm saddened greatly that this is your last song for Newgrounds. I would be very interested if you could tell me where I could find your music on other sites from now on. You know how much I simply love your music bud.

I don't even need to discuss this song really. It speaks for itself. Any analytical review by me could do no justice for this song. So I am going to leave this review short and sweet.

5/5 and 10/10 overall. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful talents here on Newgrounds my friend. And best of luck with future projects. (You better keep me in the loop on them!)

Possibly, but hopefully I'm not saying this for the last time about your music...This song has been favorited.

-Gravey-

gOrc responds:

Don't you recieve an email? I am sorry for that I thought I sent the news to all in my fav list.

Thanks man, I worried a little about that I don't recieve any criticism ^^ anyway your review was great, thanks for the kind words!
I turned to a german site for musicians - it's only accesable if you do register, but I could send you the link to my myspace site, that I am building up right now. I will post my future projects there, too.

I am still listening to your songs. Sorry for not reviewing them, life is getting busy right now..

please don't stop sending me your news, too!

gOrc