sumguy720's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Archive]

Good, now stop trying ot hit me and hit me.

This is pretty cool, I see that you're using garage band-- That's one of my favorite drum loops. BUT GOODNESS don't use it for the whole song! change it up! You're doing a really good job though, you should keep practicing. I bet within a year you'll have some really good stuff up here.

uhh... okay so my real review: This is okay, I see that you have a lot of original ideas, they're fresh, but you've got to work on your composition. This piece is pretty boring after the first minute or so of material. One contributor to this is the fact that you use the same drum loop through the whole song, another thing is that you don't use your sound space to its fullest extent, you kind of stay right in the mid-range spectrum with sort of blendy synths. I don't know exactly how to put it, but everything kind of warps together after 0:24.

My supreme advice of what you should do: MAAaakkkee mOooaaarrr
Practice makes perfect. Back in '08 I was garage banding on NG too, now I'm in full swing with FL studio, compare my first and latest songs if you want a better idea. Keep working on that midi-editor thingy to make your own melodies, you're on your way.
5/10 5/5
I liked it.

DefianceLLK responds:

Thanks for the advice, dude.

[Thinking in the Rain]

kbrrroaaah

Sorry, being really familiar with garage band this comes across as really boring for me. Besides, you should try your hand at some original composition! You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard these loops.
Hundreds.
Anyway, IF you ever find the time, sit down at a piano somewhere and fool around on it. Maybe check out some of GB's built in loop editor, customize these loops and make them your own by tweaking the notes. Figure out what sounds good and what doesn't. Learn the patterns, break the mold.
The thunder sound effect isn't doing it for me either, but that's just a matter of getting a higher quality sound effect.
So Meh!
Keep at it, don't give up, but you're not... really doing it well yet.

You need practice!
4/10
4/5

DragonSpy responds:

Yeah I know this is a tad stale. I didn't even know that GB had a loop editor. Thanks for the response!

[|No Place Like Home|]

What zenla should have said.

I really like the intro, everything is done very well. The buildup is nice and slow, but it gets a little boring. You could say my attention span is short, but I really think you should add something to that buildup, some sweeping sound effects, maybe a deep echoing drum, something that grabs the listener's attention. The focus of the song is way downplayed. once we get past your buildup (the silence is awkwardly long BTW) the lead pads kind of fall into the background.

Your lead is pretty cool. good mastering too. I don't know what overhaul is, but I'm impressed that it's just a triangle wave... and your ideas are fresh.... you really need to fill this out though.

That's all I can think of right now. Good ideas all around. 7/10 5/5

Keep working on this song if you haven't gotten tired of it.

djInTheDark responds:

Attention span short? ...You have more patients than I do for this (and thats saying somethin).

Everything you said in the first paragraph is true, thats for sure. Overhaul = distortion (mainly when you have to wave based sounds running on different modes, ex. a bassdrum and a triangle [or a sine, which can be worse than a triangle sometimes]).

I don't think I've given up on it yet, I'm gonna at least update it for sure. But I'm not sure if I'll enter it as a new submission though.

Thanks a lot for the great review!
DJ InTheDark

[Sim City [SNES Dance Remix]]

TORNADO TORNADO TORNADO GODZILLA

Waaah! I never played it on a console, but I had Sim City on our Mac (with OS 5, I think) and it was awesome.
I don't really recognize the tune, but it's very well done. You've done a nice job mastering, the sound is balanced, and all the parts work very well together.

The ending I dislike. I know it's probably supposed to loop, but consider writing an ending for it please!
Otherwise, very very good job with everything.

UnrealReno responds:

Yeah, it has a sudden ending because I still didn't finish it XD..

But thanks :)!

[Sonic 2 Hilltop Zone (Remix)]

B+-

Hey, not so bad. You've got the composition down pretty well, and your synth choice is adequate. I think you need a little more filler in this piece though. When you play through the chorus, everything's pretty nice and filled out, but the rest comes up feeling a little empty. Otherwise, pretty solid track, just a little boring because it's a remix, but you know, you did well. This is better than my first track, anyway.
8/10 5/5

Cetaphobic responds:

I agree. Thanks for the feedback

[Movement in Solitude]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATITLE

You have a good composition here, but I think you're limited by your technology. If this were played by a professional orchestra, I think there would be a lot more variation in intensity, dampening speed on some of the faster/more abrupt parts, and, well, other musical things of which I have no knowlege.
The notes are cool and the piece is cool, but it sounds like whatever jokers playing the instruments are screwing it up. You know? Nothing personal against you, I think you have a really good capacity for composition, just the execution is... bleah!!!
Do you have any friends that play instruments? Maybe try fiddling with the instrument 'velocities', note to note in order to achieve the sound you're REALLY looking for.

EmperorCharlemagne responds:

I am limited by somewhat restrictive choices in software (you don't get much cheaper than me!), and I would agree the piece suffers for it.

If I had a personal orchestra at my beck and call, you'd better believe I would use it.

But as it stands, I gots FL, and that can be damnably limiting if you are someone like me, who doesn't know how to use the thing effectively like, say, MaestroRage.

I continue to look for that sound, and hopefully I'll find it. Thank you for the review.

[Mercurial Divarication]

FUuuuuuuuu

Hey, that's pretty cool. You didn't go like... all crazy with filling out the song, but that actually works out pretty well. There's a nice balance of intensity with chill-osity.
You have a lot of really cool stuff in this piece, but some of your composition is left feeling just a little bid disjunct. You pull it right back on the road, but it sounds like occasionally though the song you start swerving this way and that.
You've mastered the track well, the song is interesting without requiring a great deal of attention (it would be good for a video game or flash movie), and your soundspace is nicely filled. I really like the mood you set, and it's a cool blend of DnB with some sort of trance or... something.
Salt.
That's all I can really say, except that your title is pretty bad still. A lot of people don't even know that divarication is a word in English. :P
Overall, I really like it. Good job.

blackduckie responds:

Thesaurus attack! Yeah, I didn't know what either of those words meant before I looked them up. Names just don't occur to me very easily and I've developed a habit of looking up "impressive" words to use with each other for titles. I may hopefully beak that tradition soon.

I meant for the song to change its bass-line a lot throughout, but some of the transitions weren't done as well as they could have been. It's my first time writing this style of music, so I surprised myself that I could even come up with the inspiration for it. I knew that it definitely had to get back to that main tune, though.

I didn't master it so much as reduce the volume until it was hardly clipping and then put a little Soft Clipper on for good measure during the louder parts. I just wonder how people can create extremely loud tracks without getting any kind of distortion. I guess that's where compression and limiting comes in.

This is definitely a tone-down in intensity from the other crap that I've been submitting.

Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it.

[Smoothe mix {Hyperion}]

Sweet

Nice solid beat. I like it, and the ambient effects move with it really well. I think the pad that comes in at :39 is a little too transient for this type of groove though. It'd be sweet to have something a little more substantial driving right down the center to keep it all together. at 1:20 I think it sounds a lot better, but it still seems like that first pad is blurring up the works a little too much.
Can't recommend anything to do about it, so 10/10, otherwise fantastic job.
5/5

Hyperion666 responds:

yeh i know exactly what u are talking about i was stuck on that part it pops but at the same time sizzles i like it but at the same time it feels something is missing from that spot well like i said it was just thrown together and i liked it ill mess with it some more see if i cant make it explode in my ear.... (in a good way) thnx a lot for the review much appreciated.

[We Walk Together]

Bleh

Definitely minimalistic, but not really in a good way. It's very repetitive, and it's a little too attention grabbing for an ambient piece. It sounds alright, but I can immediately recognize the loop from garage band, and I don't mean to be harping on you, but you really ought to compose something more heartfelt or original if you really want to go with this style.
You chose a pretty good synth for the song, and the idea is nice, it just didn't come out well in my opinion.
Please don't hate me.

totojimbob responds:

Don't worry mate, I don't hate you, I see exactly where you are coming from. I understand that this doesn't fit the exact mold of an ambient piece, but I couldn't quite find a place to categorize this, and I hate to use the miscellaneous option.

Yes, this is a loop. I'm still working on my ability to create melodies, and the loops really help me out. In some of my newer works, I've worked on my melody creation, but I'm still not near where I want to be.

Nevertheless, I still feel like this is one of the nicest pieces of sound I've produced to date.

Thanks for the review,
God is Great
--totojimbob

[Satisfaction Rmx (uncomplete)]

Alllmost

Oh snap! You have a good lead here, and your buildup is just great, but you've got to come in with MOOOREEEE. Get some different percussion in there, some heavy kicks, some snappy snares, some high hats, customize your drums a bit. You've got a nice Niiice lead, and you could make this awesome.
Once you amp up your percussion, add some treble parts too, you've eighted your instrumentation heavily on certain parts of the sound spectrum, and it's making your song come across as unbalanced. Maybe if you're not comfortable adding harmony or complementary leads, try duplicating your lead and changing the synth until it sounds a little more balanced, and introduce each one as the song grows.
Also, that sound effect you have at the end would be good to emphasize earlier in the song too. You definitely know how you WANT this to sound, it's just not there yet.
7/10
5/5

DavidRx responds:

thx for the review man i appreciate it :]
RLY good review.. im currently testing out n playing around whit the current project...im gona remake the drumz n put some new in

Bass,FX,percussion an master some shizz up.....thx dude :)