Score: 8

"Great composition, but watch the levels"

submission: Experimental Menu Theme

date: July 30, 2009

I suggest you revisit this song and bring down the master volume (and perhaps the bass instruments as well), there is a quite intense digital distortion throughout the track, especially when the bass is at its heaviest- you can see this with the "SimpleWave" vizualiser here on NG, or any audio editor.

The composition is very good- the use of percussion is great (can I ask were the samples are from? I'm having a bit of a trouble finding the right percussion samples myself). The rest of the instruments produce nice tension and drama at the appropriate times. I couldn't hear most of the brass (except the swells) the first time I listened through it, it is perhaps something that could be brought out more imo.

The use of reverb makes it the piece creates a nice and big atmosphere without being too muddy. The various sound effects compliment that very well. Great work! You just need to bring down the general volume. How long have you been composing/producing?

Score: 10

"I must say"

submission: Ethereal (loop + W.I.P)

date: July 29, 2009

I must say it sounds pretty sweet even though it's a wip. The lead is very similar to a type of lead that was used much in gameboy advance generation games (pulse wave with a relatively short delay), so it brings back memories from 4-5 years ago I believe.

The bass has that very delicious, nice and fat analog sound. That's a rather high range for a bass but I still love it. The arpeggiated synth is nice and airy, gives it that ethereal sound, I think this would be amplified with a more prominent delay. Good work with the drums too, nothing too fancy but it fits very well in the mix.

Great use of the stereo field by the way, it really fills up and makes the piece less one-dimensional. The only thing I slightly disagree with is the panning, sustained percussion sound- sounds a bit harsh and could use a bit of filtering or something similar imo.

Anyway, sweet little loop, keep going on this

Score: 10

"Sounds great"

submission: brokenbeat

date: May 29, 2009

The kick really packs some punch, very ear-pounding at a high volume. Snare is nice as well, perhaps a bit damp. I'd like to see you get more crazy with both bass and drum programming, the little fill at 0:07 is very promising, but it never gets crazier, right

Anyway, great for a mini snippet thing. Keep working on it, I'll be looking forward to a finished product. This - rhythm section/break/whatever this is - sounds neat already, but a full arrangement/mix would be very swell. Send me a PM if you make something huge from this

Score: 9

"Sick as fuck"

submission: iKONiC Instrumental

date: May 29, 2009

Man. Right from the beginning, you've got that dark, deep, bassy atmosphere. It's seriously fat as hell, especially when that distorted bass is introduced. The drums (as well as the other percussion) turn me off a bit. I think they'd fit much more into the atmosphere if they were more gritty or distorted. At least change the open hat, give it some flange or something, it sounds distractingly much like a stock sample right now. I think I hear a distant kind of piano sample in the beginning?

I think the atmosphere would be improved generally if you allowed a couple of elements more reverb (I guess the shaker or open hat, vocals perhaps, could use some). I realize it might fuck things up since the mix is so chock full already, so take my tip with care.

Anyway. This is some incredibly sick shit, darkest thing I've heard in a loooong while, I love it.

Score: 2

"You must've read my cookbook! :D"

submission: [ RaveLeNation. ]

date: May 20, 2009

"Right off the bat, insert THE most generic chord progression in the world, accompanied by a very thin, very horrible and very generic sounding synth lead.

Now, insert a generic kick on every beat, insert a generic bass and some other random generic synth that follows the generic chord progression without a single variation at all.

Repeat everything, then after a minute or so, remove one of these vital ingredients once to create the illusion of diversity. And then, by the very end, the whole song is randomly quantized into triplets to make it seem more interesting.

Make the master volume as loud as possible so everything gets that flavour of overcompression and digital distortion that we all love.

Serve."

Score: 10

"This song"

submission: Hong Kong

date: May 1, 2009

I'm absolutely blown away by the atmosphere you have created with this piece! :D If I close my eyes while listening to the intro, I immediately feel like I'm soaring over a large, grassy highland with rivers, lakes, steep mountains and falls. It's been a long time since a song has been able to do something like that to me. The timbre of the flute is absolutely brilliant, same with the strings and percussion (I love the sudden changes in intensity around 0:42). The clear, thin metal-like percussion just adds another dimension to that- high pitched metal percussion is, in my opinion, always welcome, no exceptions.

Now after that fantastic intro, the less impressive break with percussion and bass was a little disappointing- I was expecting a beautiful, grandiose sort of resolution to that build-up. Eventually the familiar atmosphere returns, with (hopefully intentionally) a hint of heroic struggle from the brass, choir, timpani-like percussion and the overall composition.

You've done a swell job with the stereo field- I can clearly hear it when analyzing the piece, but even though it is pretty much unnoticeable when casually listening to it, it adds so much to the atmosphere.

I hope you realize that you're much, much more experienced and skilled than most of the Newgrounds userbase, so I can't help but praising every aspect of it. Please keep up the fantastic work, and keep submitting!

Score: 10

"yes"

submission: Solus + SBB- Switchback

date: April 12, 2009

The wang-bing is misplaced in relation to the third yogga of the xomp-gong, that must be fixed, other than that it's probably the best song ever made.

Score: 10

"Fantastic"

submission: Guide to Sophisticated Living

date: December 24, 2008

All the instruments sound ridiculously fat- did you put chorus on absolutely everything? Got any tips or tricks to share?

Anyway, hire a sax player and have him and your bass player (or your bass soundfont, ha) do a combined sax/slap bass solo. Please, for the love of God, do that

That's all.

Score: 7

"Sweet"

submission: Collosal Collaboration

date: October 1, 2008

Love all the treble you put in here. The piano is thin as hell, but I consider that a good thing in this piece. Those square waves are raw and unfiltered, almost 8-bit like. I love it! Even the bass has a LOT of treble.

It doesn't really sound finished though. It evolves into this funky square wave solo thing at about :26, then keeps doing that until a very abrupt ending. So there's not too much to say about it, except it's short. If you guys try and continue on this one, I think it'll be great. For now though, it's mostly a disappointment due to the short lenght and abrupt ending. :(

Very cool sounds and feeling though, nice one

Score: 9

"Cool"

submission: Our Dreams [MAC8]

date: October 1, 2008

Very sweet. Makes me wish I could play the piano. I especially love when you roll those high notes off. The lower notes really give it a nice deep base too. Just watch out as it becomes a little muddy in the parts where the bass notes are at their most prominent. Now I think this piece would have benefited from a little more reverb. Almost like in that amazing "Cave" song of yours.

I have little more to add, as it is a solo piano piece after all. I'm not going to analyze everything about it like I would with a more intense piece.

Now for my opinion on the piece in relation to the contest- I don't really think it fits the theme at all. I guess it would have been some sort of "looking back at those great times" thing, which could sort of relate to the "being free, flying etc" kind of theme. In a way. That's just my opinion though.

Good job and good luck in the contest!