sumguy720's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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 :)!

[Teh EarthShaker]

What do Quakers have to do with--

This is really cool, I like what you've done here! I think it might be a little better if you took the had sound of SH in shaker and QU in quaker and synced it with your beat a little better, that hard sound, if it happened right on a down beat would sound just right-- it sounds a tiny bit off right now with the emphasis on TH in earth, so if you moved all those samples toward the beginning by 0.0625seconds or something small like that, it'd be right on.
You have a cool beat, cool lead synths, cool rhythm pads, great mastering and motion, 10/10.
5/5

[When a Tear is Shed 2-F-777]

Down.

Hey, this is pretty good. What I'd like to hear is some warmer pads enter into the background. You've got a cool melody and a nice bassline, but it sort of reminds me of a thin layer of ice. It's really really cool, but I wouldn't step on it because it doesn't seem like there's anything underneath.
You Allllllmost get the sound I'm looking for around 2:10, that nice low string-like pad in there works really well-- not exactly what I'm talking about but very close.
Gotta get something to add the heat to that ice. Of course not alll the time, because you need contrast... but a little bit.
10/10 because you changed keys, who does that anymore? Also because you have 10/10 total right now, and this is better than some of the other stuff I've given 10s.
Anyway, nice work. I like where you're going with it. The end is especially cool.
5/5 hope you get more specific advice on FP.

[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.

[(Down And Out)]

Cool

This is really awesome. It would be good for menu music for a sports, driving, or other manly game.
I like your guitar riffs and your drums are really well put together. I guess the breaks are cool, they put me off a little at first, but I actually like them.
Well mastered, well played.
On the other hand, not really good for like... a record or something to listen to as a song. This would be great to go WITH something, because it doesn't draw the ear too much, but for that purpose it's really good, which makes it perfect for Newgrounds.
Anyway, sweet. 5/5 10/10

[Commerse Loop]

Almost-- sort of!

You have a cool lead there, and your kick is badass, but you need to get that bass in there! There's a surprising lack of bass for someone inspired by BASShunter, lol. I recommend pumping that up, and then maybe add a little more percussion, the kick is great, but you can do so much more with it!
Finally, the ending does not mesh up with the beginning, in that I believe you change keys in the middle but never go back until the loop segment, which emphasizes the break, that's sort of a minor detail I suppose.
Fill this thing ouuuuuuuut!
But good work. 5/5 5/10