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

[Ronin Underground Fights Theme]

Very Intense

Very strong, dark an d propulsive. I dig it. The tapped cymbals kind of break the mood for me... I'd suggest trying a darker / more evil sounding sample there instead.You'll have something great here if you can create a consistent mood from your instruments.

Thanks for posting this!

[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.

[Printer Jam's Revenge]

OMG This is hilarious....

This is awesome. I love the tension... I feel like I'm watching a horror movie that takes place on a planet of printers...

Is that Symphobia you're using for the trailer risers?

[Maximus!]

Great vocals

Hey Man, I really dig your vocals on this. Reminds me slightly of Insane Clown Posse for some reason.

This could totally kick ass if you work on the synths/production abit. The blues organ you're using sounds a little flat to me. Just like the vocals you can push the attitude of your instruments. If you want a wacky sound from the organ really push it a bit. Also, the drums lack the punch and intensity of the vocals. People usually put a little (tiny tiny bit) of distortion on hip hop hi hats so that they sound more balsy.

With the growling vocals, it's feeling a little flat to me as well. If you want it to sound aggressive and dirty tray really pushing that louder, pan it, warp it. Push it to the next level.

Hope this is helpful, I'm not great with the genre myself.

[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 :)