ObsidianSnow's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[theme for robots in space]

That felt nice.

I absolutely loved the atmosphere in this. And actually, contrary to what BlueOceans said, I really liked the sound of the lead synth - and the levels of the bass synth are only MAYBE a little too high until you crescendo the lead. Personally I think the way the lead comes out from just under the bass gives that transition a nice contrast, and that the sound of the bass synth is still round enough that it manages to feel subtle despite being a little louder than the melody at the start. But hey, opinions opinions, they're like tomatoes around here.

In a weird way it reminded me a bit of Donkey Kong Country, but I have no idea why because as far as I can remember this doesn't really sound anything like those games. STRANGE.

Really enjoyed your panning work, worth putting headphones on for.

That was a lot of talk just to say I liked it, but hey. I did.

If there's one thing I might suggest, it's to look at the drums. The sounds you used for those were the only thing that seemed to stick out to me - they worked, but they felt a little out of place, a little too bright and pointy, if that makes sense to you. That, and the individual drum sounds were very static - for example the kick sound was exactly the same sound every time it was triggered, as far as I heard. It would be nice if those sounds were a little more varied, because drums get triggered so often that the sounds get redundant. That said, I understand that this is picky and that this is something that gets skipped very easily on a deadline - I have often skipped this myself, only to regret it later.

But who knows, I might be the only one bothered by that. ANYWAYS, nice work, and merry christmas!

johnfn responds:

Thanks! I see the comparison to DKC, I think they both have a nostalgic sort of vibe to them. I actually haven't listened to DKC all too much, getting on that right now. I like it a lot. Maybe it's also the vibrato lead :D

I WAS pretty lazy on the drums. I had trouble because it's a pretty laid back song, so I thought I couldn't do anything too special or complex. You're right though, I could have done better there.

Thank you for the extensive review and merry christmas to you too!

[Streets of Whiterun Vocal]

Excellent, I really enjoyed this.

If I could, however, provide one piece of constructive criticism, I might suggest tweaking the reverb on the vocals a little bit. The spacial aspect of the sound just feels a touch awkward at the moment, and so doesn't quite click with everything else that's going on.

The vocals themselves are very nice, though, and I'm glad I stumbled across this.

headphoamz responds:

Thanks! I'll make a note of it. It was a little hard to perfect with only laptop speakers as my headphones are a little broken right now (haha) but I'm happy you like it! ^___^

[Faraway Paradise]

Actually.

I didn't find this repetitive at all. If it had continued for much longer, perhaps I might have thought it needed some more variation. For a two minute piece, though, what you've got fits just right.

I enjoyed all 120 seconds of this - you've done a good job mastering, the piece has a nice flow, things generally sound very natural... and your melody is wonderful. Musically, I think everything sits very well.

The only thing that bothered me in the slightest was the way it ended - it was a little bit on the abrupt side. I'd either have added a definitive end (some sort of resolving cadence, if you're a theory guy), or added a bridge before finishing the piece off.

What you've got here is really easy listening, and I liked it very much. Thanks for sharing!

[ 5 / 5 ]
[ 9.85 / 10.00 ]

- Ian

P.s. Out of curiosity, what software do you happen to be using? The character of the audio sounds mildly familiar, but I can't place it.

digital-musician responds:

Thank you very much for the helpful review, I'm glad to hear you liked it :) My.. song writing skills aren't that good, so I tend to not construct the overall song that well, but I see what your getting at. I might try and make a revised version sometime & work on those things.
I used FL Studio 10 & NI Komplete 8 instruments to make this piece.
Thanks again :)

[The Noble Cause]

Always good to hear more of your stuff, samulis.

You did an excellent job with this theme. It stays true to itself, while still providing enough variation to be interesting - and the melody is memorable. The loop is also really clean, you can't tell it's there at all.

By the way, I was wondering what software/samples you're using? The quality is pretty decent, and I don't immediately recognise anything familiar...

Anyways - I like it. Keep that stuff flowing, bud!

- Ian

samulis responds:

Hey, thanks for the review!

I'm using Finale 2009c with the EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold, really the best instruments I have heard short of real life and Vienna.

-Samulis

[Solstice]

vi-IV-V-vi.

That is the chord progression you used. I like this progression. Unfortunately, you spent 7 minutes without ever changing it. This is a pet peeve of mine. Please, for the love of all that is right in the world - I don't care what genre you're writing - don't go that long without changing something.

Overall, the piece sounds pretty good - personally I'd have taken out the drums and either left it without them or replaced them with some other rhythmical voice, but they're not entirely out of place here. They just sound a little dry, unbalanced, and mechanical. It doesn't quite blend, if you know what I mean. At the very least, I would have brought the levels on the drums down so they didn't stick out quite as much. But like I said, it doesn't sound bad, which is more than I can say for a lot of things that end up on NG.

As far as ambient goes, I like it. It's just longer than it needs to be.

I give you a 7.8/10. -1 for 7 minutes of the same chord progression, -1 for imbalance in the mastering (i.e. the drums not blending). The last 0.2 are bonus points that I rarely award. Not a bad score.

Power to you, TwentySixHundred.

TwentySixHundred responds:

I see exactly what you're saying.

[*(\Devn/)* The Final Hour]

Time for a serious review.

Looking over the other reviews, it seems that nobody has done a full, serious review yet. I figured I'd step up to it for you, since I try to return reviews anyways.

I'll use my standard review system (check my first news post on my userpage for more info on the system).

Initial comments: I like it. The strings add a lot of flavour, and your percussion is pretty well done.

Flow: Good, good. The transitions are nice and fluid - although it doesn't really seem to go anywhere. I can't distinguish a clear climax. It's like you were building up to the climax, but ran out of ideas before you got there. It's too short (mind you, without a direction to the flow, that's better than too long. At least it's not boring this way). The clang at the end (I forget what it's called now... unfortunate, especially since I'm a percussionist myself) sounds disjointed and out of place - it ends everything before it has the chance to really come out. It's fine in every other place you used it, and it might still work as an ending, but not in the context you put it in there. I would suggest building into a clear climax and adding a bit of a bridge and a conclusion on top of that. You've done a bit of a mini-bridge in there, but I'll discuss that a little more under "Themes". Decent flow overall, though. [ 1.880 / 2.475 ]

Balance: Also good. It could, however, use some more work with panning. It's all coming across sounding a bit too mono. As a result, you're not getting as much depth and presence as you could be. I don't know if FL has a stereo imager, but if it does you should experiment a bit with it, as well. Not too shabby here though. I do like the bass (although it's almost too muddy sometimes). [ 2.030 / 2.475 ]

Themes: This is where you died. Your themes are great, but they're not diverse. You had one idea, and it petered out really fast. I love the violin marcattos, but there's not enough variety. The violins evidently were intended to carry the melody, and they do... but you failed to use that to launch into any kind of new idea or theme. You also could have brought out the horns a little bit later to carry the melody (you almost did that, but it didn't come across because they ended up just supporting the violins anyways. Maybe if you had brought the strings down a bit there...). I mentioned your "mini-bridge" earlier. It almost worked, too - the problem was that when you came out of it, you pulled back to the original theme again, and only long enough to bring the piece to an unexpected and disjointed end. I will, however, give you credit for the quality of the (I mean this a little more lightly than the word seems to imply) monotonous/repetitive themes. What there was of them was well done. [ 1.115 / 2.475 ] ...(P.S. some key changes would be nice.)

Effects: I liked them, but they seemed a bit lacking, too. The dramatic effects of the piece you generated simply through the properties and application of the instruments themselves was very well done... although I would have liked to have heard some more effects similar to the percussive effect at around 0:55. It just didn't pop out as much as I wanted it to. Otherwise it was fine. [ 2.100 / 2.475 ]

Extra: [ + 0.010 / 0.100 ]. I did like the piece, and it certainly had some interesting aspects.

Overall:

Flow ------[ 1.880 / 2.475 ]
Balance --[ 2.030 / 2.475 ]
Themes -[ 1.115 / 2.475 ]
Effects ---[ 2.100 / 2.475 ]
Extra ------[ 0.010 / 0.100 ]
---------------------------------
TOTAL ---[ 7.135 / 10.000 ]
Review score ----[ 7 / 10 ]
Vote score ---------[ 4 / 5 ]

Nice work. You certainly have a significant talent, and I'd love to see where it gets you in a few years. I wish I could have been so talented at 14... oh, well. By no means should you find my review discouraging, btw. I intend it fully in your best interests. (sorry to break the 10 streak... :/ I'd have rated 10 if it was just based off how cool I think this could be, and how many awesome things I did see in it. :) )

Power to you, Devn!

...(WOOT!!! REVIEW CHARACTERS REMAINING = 0! )

Devn responds:

wow, a good song to you must be insanly awesome. thanks for the insanly long review and taking the GREAT time to write it. wow.

[Metal Ode to Bacon]

Bacon.

There is bacon. Where there is not bacon, there is also bacon.

I love bacon.

Power to you, kevin.
(P.S. LAEK OMG I'M LAEK SO TOATALLY ALL OVER BACON!!! ...actually, it's all over me, but that's another story)

Pure-Metal-UTA responds:

Bacon is everywhere, everyone is a baconist!
BACONISTS REJOICE!!
\m/

[<MWA> Losing Grip]

Review time!

Your message sat in my inbox for at least a month longer than it should have. But here I am, with a review heading your way! (My reviews take forever to write, which is why it takes me forever to get around to writing them...)

Anyways.

Initial comments: oooh! I like the glitch effects. They're very well done, and you're making me want to try some of it myself. That, and this song seems to be perfect for my crappy laptop speakers (my nice headphones shorted out :/ ). The feel of the piece just seems to work even on the low-quality speakers. I like that.

Flow: Beautiful. You even made the ending coherent! I'm so proud of you! ;P It was great, and I have nothing else to tell you here.

Balance: Not bad at all. as always you seem to display a proficiency with getting things to balance out just right. You're obviously not even half as lazy about it as I am... I just wish I had headphones so I could get nice and picky about this.

Themes: Really great. They leave only one thing to be desired - and it's something that I've commented on in my reviews of your other pieces. It doesn't have anything that makes it stand out from the crowd. Listening to it, I can't see any clear "high point" or "climax" of the piece. It's an awesome song, but I can almost guarantee that I won't remember what it sounds like in a week. It just needs a clear melody somewhere in there, something that sounds different from the rest of the piece, even if it's just for a few bars...

Effects: Brilliant. 'Nuff said.

Extra: +[ 0.02 ] - Just for the effects. They were that well done.

Overall:

Flow ------[ 2.470 / 2.475 ]
Balance --[ 2.465 / 2.475 ]
Themes -[ 2.250 / 2.475 ]
Effects ---[ 2.475 / 2.475 ]
Extra ------[ 0.020 / 0.100 ]
---------------------------------
TOTAL ---[ 9.680 / 10.000 ]

Review score --[ 10 / 10 ]
Vote score -----[ 5 / 5 ]

Great stuff, MWA! Power to you!

- [OS]

mjattie responds:

"(My reviews take forever to write, which is why it takes me forever to get around to writing them...)"

lol, as I mentioned before: you don't have to write that long reviews xD, although I appreciate it!

my respons on your review, sorted on subject:
Initial comment: It's a shame you listened on bad speakers. You don't hear bass which is important in almost every piece. But I'm glad it sounded nice to you.
Flow: Thanks for the almost perfect score here xD
Balance: well, I don't master so much, but I listen very carefully to every instrument I make. I guess that makes the difference, but I'm very lazy too...
Themes: Hmm, you're right about not-having melodies, but I think in this kind of music, a melody is not necessary. I think I have to stick out with sound design in this kind of music...
Extra: Thanks! :P

Thanks for the review, I appreciate!

[Mortal Kombat vs. DjBracksta]

Bahaha!

Sorry it took so long for me to respond, I had a lot on my plate...

Anyways:

Initial comments: hehe, I like it. It sounds kind of sadistic... >=D

Flow: WHAT? lol, you used the vocals to tell a bit of a story and to carry the piece, I don't think I've heard anyone do that before in this genre of music. I applaud you. Full marks, sir.

Balance: I heard no balance issues, didn't hear any cracking or fuzz... I didn't get a whole lot of "wow" effect from the panning, but it didn't actually cause a problem so it's not hurting your score. One thing I might mention is that the bassline that plays on the 8th note offbeats only could use just a very slight push with the reverb. Just tweak it up by the slightest amount. I could be wrong, but I believe that it might give just a little more punch to the vocals. Another option could be to totally change its spatial positioning every time it changes what note it's playing (so it sounds like it's coming from randomly changing locations), although I think that would only work until about 1:20 or so. I'd have to hear it to be sure if it would actually work as well as I imagine though.

Themes: You did a fantastic job with the themes, I love the change around 1:20-1:30 or wherever it is exactly. You played around a lot, and it was fun to listen to. Full marks here.

Effects: What you had was great. But for some reason there just seemed to be something missing in this area. I can't place my finger exactly on what it is, though. I just didn't get the "!!!" or "wow" feeling as much as I think I could have. Missing a bit of power every once in a while, maybe. In any case, like I said, what you had was great.

Extra: +[0.03] awarded.

Overall: hmm... I think a [ 9.78 / 10.00 ] is what I ended up with here. [ 10 / 10 ], [ 5 / 5 ]. Good work.

Power to you, Bracksta!

Bracksta responds:

wow, great review :)!
Responses:

Flow: yep the song was a three round death match lol, thanks for realizing that, many did not.

Balance: you are right i did add much reverb and didn't master the song very well.

Themes: the themes were iffy in many peoples opinions, but that is because they missed the point of the song. I took the mortal combat melodies and mixed them with my own meledies, thus "Mortal Kombat vs. DjBracksta".

Effects: there is a lack here because there are almost no effects, mostly transition fx at that.

Overall: Amazing review :) thank you very much for your time and effort!

[Alien Relations - BK]

Aliens are among us...

...And they are known within human society as "musicians". Because normal humans just can't do that.

Initial comments: Enjoyable. The vocal effects throughout were cool... more comments on that below.

Flow: Pretty decent. It certainly did have a flow to it... To me it seemed like it wanted to go somewhere more than it did, though. Perhaps it could use a little more direction. Right now it seems to me that it would work well as an ambient background for some kind of advertisement for belief in aliens or for some other kind of wierd show/tv clip. On the other hand, I don't see this working as well on it's own - as a piece to be enjoyed while sitting on the bus or smth. It's still nice listening, but I'm just saying that it could use a tiny bit more push toward some abstract but recognisable goal.

Themes: You've got plenty theme, sir. What I said about flow applies a little bit here, too, though. Perhaps you could add that extra direction by throwing in some more significantly different themes once or twice. Not a big issue, just something to think about.

Balance: ^^ Love it. Full marks to you here. The mastering is next to untouchable.

Effects: Fantastic application of the effects. I might go so far as to wonder if you could have messed with the vocals a little more - I can imagine some pretty intense possibilities there that weren't fulfilled in the piece. Nonetheless, I can't deny that your effects were otherwise extremely well done.

Extra: [+ 0.01] Awarded. There was definitely a little something extra there.

Overall: Solid. [ 9.29 / 10.00 ], [ 5 / 5 ], [ 9 / 10 ]. Good work. I really did enjoy it, even if my review suggests otherwise. I'm just really picky when I'm trying to be critical. ;P

Power to you, Bracksta.

Btw, I apologise for the late review - I was pretty busy for a while there.

**A description of my review methods can be found on the first news post on my profile, should you be wondering at all what any of this means.**

Bracksta responds:

wow, thanks so much for the amazing review, not many people sit down and do such a extensive job. wowsers. i will reply :).

Flow: I agree that i could have added a few more solos and variety to liven thing up to the listener, i just stuck to the basics lol, nuttin to flashy, just enjoyable and chill :).

Reply to Review:

Theme: i should have gotten some more vocals or alien soundeffects, i got lazy :P

Balance: i just made what sounded good, it's all in the ear lol.

Effects: i added some reverb, filters on the pads, and delays to make it spacy

Extra: Thanks :D

Overall: feckin awesome review by obsidian snow