H2opoloseal's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dying Earth]

Terrific rhythm and percussive bed, but please please please get some better percussion samples! Most were fairly cheap (not necessarily your fault) and mixed a bit dry, but not too much to where it's bad or bothersome, just a stylistic choice. I loved the track as a whole, just get some better samples! There are some great free packs online. Very well done! I liked it a lot. The concluding piano segment was my personal favourite.

Firefreezer responds:

Yea, I agree with you there. But for example: The military snare drum samples were really hard to find and I wanted to use them for such a long time - I just had to do it. :)
The hip-hop beat...yes, they could be better. Thanks anyway! =)

[007: Eurodie - EuroOil X]

Not bad at all! I wanted to take away half a star because I really wanted it to get bigger, and it didn't, but I did like it, so I wanted to give it 4. The star I docked was due to composition, leveling, and compression issues I noticed - I also think it could ave been a bit more varied. I thought the piece was nice, definitely suitable for background music in a game. Maybe some of the strings could have used an elevated octave or two for some segments, maybe with a faster riff variant of the same melody you used... maybe a key change? Just throwing out ideas, but I did like it, and I'll be listening to your other work. Kudos!

Ironclover responds:

I appreciate your feed back, Its suppose to be in the style of Goldeneye's Multiplayer levels. Since the original file was All or Nothing, I had to stick with this style. Thank you for your suggestions and I will try them next time.

[Sky Kingdom of Arcadia]

The brass work on this track is astonishingly well-done! As another user said, very Lord of the Rings-esque! The vocals are similarly wonderful and wholesome... and in addition to the cymbal work, it is simply masterfully done.

Neon-Bard responds:

Thank you! That's really good to know! Actually this is the first time I've really worked with brass to this extent so at least I'm on the right track. Again the LotR reference is more than a compliment for sure! :)

[A Grand Adventure]

Sweet!

Not sure what's up with THAT doucher down yonder though!

I think this has a heck of a lot of potential. It is already very solid as is, I simply take issue wit ha small number of minor things. I feel the singing vox could have been mastered a bit differently, to provide the track with a more full sound... tickling the edges of the L/R channels with delay, for example. Keep in mind, this could simply be a preference thing, as The Chemical Brothers do a great deal and tremendous work with a minimally mastered sound, quite often.

Other than that, I feel that the beat was a little staccato, and did not quite match up with the "busy" feel that the track took on. Again, it could be just taste, but I feel that a number of other subtle percussion elements would do a great to making the track feel more "wholesome" and professionally done. As someone else mentioned, the percussion you are using sounded a bit dry, but going back to my Chemical Bro's example, it doesn't sound bad necessarily! The vox are the main thing that could use some moisture, in my opinion :)

Now that I'm finishing being an ass, I commend the great melodic and harmonic work, and I liked the underlying string "bed," if you will, very good. I thought the use of basses and kicks were very balanced and well done; orchestral stuff isn't meant to shake walls. I didn't mind the instrument quality at all.

My biggest thing are those vocals... they would sound strong if you just opened them up!! You know, some gentle reverb and stereo-seperated decay... I'll be looking out for the second edition! Based on the feel and sound you were going for, I think this track is very strong! Very Age of Empires - background-music-esque... or title menu theme... or credit roll music. Along those lines. Really liked it!

Let this all be taken with a grain of salt, as I do consider your melodic and composition skills much superior to mine own. That being said, perhaps you'd take the time to similarly critique my track "Core Collapse?" :)

Thanks mate, and great work!

Neon-Bard responds:

Hey H2o,

First off, I have to say...this is a fantastic review! I really appreciate it! Also, thanks for sticking up for the song! :)

"I think this has a heck of a lot of potential."
That definitely made me feel like I accomplished something because knowing that something has potential is a special thing indeed! :)

When you mentioned the vocals several times I couldn't help but agree. They seem too...I don't know...it's hard to describe. Continuing on, you were not being an "ass" at all. I had to laugh when you said that! If anything you've provided me with invaluable feedback that is crucial to me growing as an artist/composer. I'm going to take everything you said and think about it for the next song I make, which will undoubtedly help me improve. In particular, I'll try and aim for that 'wholesome' feel that you talked about.

I should mention that I haven't even heard of the 'Chemical Brothers' so I'm thinking it's time to check that out ASAP....but in the meantime I'll head over to your song and have a listen! :D

Again, I really appreciate this, it means a lot!
Neon-Bard

[Induced - B4M]

At 1:15, I think the lead could have really used another layer of itself at one or two octaves higher coming in and giving it a little anguish, making the lead sing a bit more... that being said, liked it well enough! Really liked 2:00 - 2:13ish too.

BeefourMusic responds:

Thanks, I will play around with it a bit next week and see how it sounds with the higher octave lead in place :)

[Metamorphosis of Crunch]

Noice.

Good harmonics, that was something I personally was late at getting down, and its the critical key to any good dance song. Again, for the professional sound, check out the manual that comes with the software for tips on EQing and mixing. There's also a ton of online tutorials from random people, while Image Line also has their own FL Guru tutorial videos. You had some really good parts, like at 3:24, where you did really good work with that pad with the electronic, and the following breakbeat was also good. The ending was a bit abrupt. At this point, your next big step really is what I mentioned earlier, and from there a natural progression and evolution of style and sound will emerge. How long did you say you've been playing around with this for?

ThunderBeats responds:

thanks - mastering and EQ is my next big project :D I've been playing around with this stuff for the past few weeks now. Thanks for the review :)

[Reflections >Dubstep<]

Bad

-ass. Was really hoping for the traditional bump-bump-bump-bump to break out during the metal-step sequence, but still sounded good with the dub beat. Get those mastering skills down! :)

mr-jazzman responds:

Lol not entirely sure what you mean by "bump bump bump bump," but I assume you mean like a breakdown or somethin. And trust me, I'm workin on making the metalstep more legit. Thanks for the review. And I'm trying my absolute best to get those mastering skills down man! It's difficult stuff, especially when you finish a project then realize that you should be letting something else different into the mix at a certain point...>sigh<...it's a frustrating job. You can check out my Robot Day submission to see what I mean (I like it, but the bass is kind of "buried," so to speak...and it just ended up that way, not by virtue of my own want =P). Anyway, thanks for the review man! =)