ProudAardvark's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Bagatelle di Mari]

Some cool ideas, performance suffers

Thanks for sharing this.

The performance here really suffers from being overly quantized and lacking in velocity variation. Try to get a human feeling into it and it will sound much better.

were-panther responds:

Thanks. I'll remember that.

[Toccata]

Wow this was great...

My only nitpicking comments would be that it didn't really feel like a "toccata" to me, but that's neither here nor there.

The vocal entrance was a little on the surprising side.

That's all I got though, this was fantastic.

robomanus responds:

The first title was "Scherzo". But it's in 4/4 :) Scherzo should be in 3/4. Thx for review :D

[Lost Believed Fellow]

Very nice work

I really enjoyed some of your unusual percussion choices, as well as the epic flow of the thing.

Unexpected but neat. I'd love to see some more use made of the unusual textures in general though: If you're gonna toss in vibes layer them with something more interesting than just strings for example. If you mix it up with more doubled instruments I'd be sitting here thinking "cool texture" instead of "hey, is that a vibraphone"?

Also, the "softer" section at :45 or so could use a quieter string sample, maybe sordino if you have one (judging from how good this sounds I assume you do).

The choir entrance was very well done in particular.

Thanks so much for sharing this, and please check out my submissions as well.

Johiak responds:

Thanks for your feedback and your advices!

I have strings playing con sordini indeed, but since this was my first song I was a bit overwhelmed by the endless number of different string varieties ;)

Maybe I am going to rework the song someday, I will keep the things you said in mind!

[Barnaby's Untitled Song (WIP)]

Some things to work on...

Hey James,

First off, take a listen to Stravinsky's symphonies of wind instruments and octet, I think you'd like the style.

As far as the composition goes, the pace seems slightly plodding to me. It could use some rhythmic variety. The fact that everything seems to move in quarter notes and the bass keeps a steady pace makes the whole piece lack surprise.

The instrumentation leaves you no bass instrument; you might want to use a bassoon instead of an oboe or a bass clarinet instead of the clarinet so that you'll be able to write with some more depth.

I'm assuming that the harmonic style is supposed to be "modern". The harmonies sound slightly off, but that's fine as long as it is intentional. Typically, such harmonic variety should be matched by rhythmic variety as well.

As far as production value is concerned, it is going to be very difficult to get a slow piece to sound good without investing an equal or greater time into *production and performance*. This is one of the hardest things to learn. As we write our piece, and hear the computer playing it back, we tend to hear *what's in our head* instead of *what's actually playing*. Your sample library can definitely be pushed to a new level by using dynamics and volume expression. Having crescendos and decrescendos on sustained notes is going to be the key to making this sound real instead of synthesized.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to take another listen. I hope this is helpful rather than harsh. Thanks for posting this, and don't get discouraged.

Pizzaroma responds:

Thanks for your review. Full of good constructive criticism.

[The Theory Of Fibre Optics]

Cool work, needs some mix work

Hey man, followed your thread from the audio advertisement thread.

Generally groovy. The mix is a bit loud. It crackles slightly on my speakers. I think you might have good results if you turn everything down slightly and tone down the reverb when you have many voices going at once. The choice of synths isn't quite punchy enough to support the volume/intensity - I can see this working as a more chilled out piece.

itsfoxhall responds:

Yeah I think I over did the maximizer in Reason haha, generaly what I do to mix it is turn everything down, and then use the maxi to put the volume up, I'll turn it down when I get some time :)

Thanks for the thoughts :D

SSF

[Fredgy - Eurodancer {Remix}]

Um, wow...

Holy jeebus, I've not heard a techno song *orchestrated* so well before... the tension builds and swells are fantastic.

It gets a tad dense in places, but I'm just nitpicking here.

Fredgy responds:

haha thanks :D
ye, it could be the places which i'm going to edit a bit because more people said something of it before :p like my phaser that isn't yet perfect placed, .. :p

[p4c-Sometimes I Forget]

Wow...

This sounds just wonderful. I especially love the really sharp metallic attacks you have going early on... feels like nails and staples flying around or something in a good way.

My only suggestion would be that I was wanting the theme to be either *epic* or *introspective* when it came in. Instead, it was just sort of there. I'd love to see you push that in one direction or another.

You have a great take on it here. Added to favorite artists.

p4c responds:

YAY I HAVE A NEW FAV

ok now with that ecstacy aside, i went for the kind of foreboding style but i guess the swing pushed me off of that a bit too far lolz. ill see what i can do, but thanks for listening and im glad u enjoyed it :)

[Save The World!]

Nice mix, cachy theme

This and your funk song are both sort of dwelling in the space between synth funk and trip hop in a cool way. I'm loving the portamento on your leads.

If you don't know the music from the old SNES game "Axelay" look in up on line, i think you'd like it given your style.

Just moved from 8 to 9 because its been looping continuously in the background while I've been writing and I wound up liking it more. 5/5 9/10

itsameyayo responds:

Yay for extra point! Thank you for the review. I'll check out Axelay right away.

-ImperfectDisciple

[FunkMasta]

Wonderful mix!

Love the mix, everything is crystal clear. I have two suggestions:

When the melody comes in, you could break up the individual phrases between the synth lead and the blues organ, or else have the electric piano come back in to double the melody for the second half.

Also, some horn stabs with a downward bend at the end might sound rad over the melody as well. Just as little accents.

The whole thing reminds me a little of the music from the original spyhunter in a good way!

itsameyayo responds:

Thank you. I'll have to take that into account when I start doing this more often at school!

-ImperfectDisciple

[Industrial March]

Strangely good...

This was weirdly compelling. Nice work. You're choice of synths really created an atmosphere that stands on its own, independent of the original William's. I especially liked the snappy repeated notes which have a great attack to them.

I love the idea of your bass/kick but feel that the kick part could be more vicious. Maybe a hint of distortion and less reverb? Double the snare with something harsh and metallic like an anvil? Dunno.

Good Stuff!

Darkmoor responds:

added some more dist and changed the mainsynth to a more evil metalvocalizer. Better/worse?