Rottenbeard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Spirited Steed (Piano Improv)]

Brilliant. I love this!

A really superbly played piece. Your command of playing dynamics is fantastic, and overall the whole piece just flows really, really smoothly. I'd say you captured the image of what your friend envisioned pretty damned well.

Your ability as a pianist is truly impressive. Bravo!

Cheers,
Daniel

MrMusicalLion responds:

Thanks Again :)
There are other improvs I have, that I would upload, but they are too long.. xD [I have some improvs that are 30 minutes long. Have done a 3 hour one before, but not recorded.] If you go to my YouTube channel [search MrMusicalLion] , you'll find a whole bundle of other stuff I've made :) Enjoy!

[Death's Migration]

Well done.

I love the progression and soft plodding atmospherics. A very nice calm, grooving song to listen to. I do think it would've been nice if the song actually progressed just a bit more though, having it open up a bit towards the end with a bit of distortion and some more layering would've really added some impact to this and kept it from getting stale towards the end.

Production was decent, though there is some audible clipping. I also don't much care for the drum samples you used, though the patterns were otherwise relatively well done.

Overall, I enjoyed this, and i'm glad to see others on Newgrounds making this sort of music with this particular vibe. Keep it up, good sir!

Regards,
Daniel

Kayoszx responds:

Thanks for the review :D
I agree about the progression thing. I've been wanting to remake this song with a heavier ending for quite some time now, and now that I have to rerecord everything (cause of a computer crash) I'm probably gonna add a heavier ending ;)
and Idk about the drums, I personally like Drumset from Hell, so I think I'ma keep em ;)

[Movie Intro]

Nice!

Great evolving ambiance, and nice quiet use of piano. I really enjoyed this, shame it's so short though, I think it could've been drawn out a bit longer!

Very nice, though. :)

Cheers,
Daniel

SuperGoodSound responds:

i do a lot of pretty short ones i find

[Over The Moon]

Real nice.

Nice stuff here. I really enjoyed the soft, quiet groove of this track. I hear a really strong pink floyd influence here, which is great. There was a few areas where I think you could've benefited from a bit of layering though. Some nice backing ambient pads, perhaps, to real complete the whole floyd sound, ya know! : )

I did quite like the odd funk influences here and there, and the inclusion of the sax was a nice touch.

The only thing I didn't much care for were the drums. They just don't really fit the vibe of this song at all. They are simply way too punchy for this style of music. Something a little more natural sounding would've been better I think. Sounds to me like you may be using superior drummer? Cause i'm pretty sure SD only has one setting.. punchy! haha.
The other thing I noticed is that some of your guitar parts are clipping which is never good.

Overall, I really dug this track, especially since there isn't much music like this on NG (tis a shame..)

Cheers!
Daniel

VGstudiosTeam responds:

Thanks man!! I actual added the background organ/synth sound right after I uploaded this. I may reupload one of these days... sounds much better with the kind of ambient sound songs like this have. Thanks again for the review! and if you get a chance check out some of my other stuff! I'm dying for reviews xD

['10 Reprise of The Brave]

Absolutely brilliant.

You never cease to amaze Peter. This is a remarkable take on the original song. You've taken the original and added an immense of amount of intensity and drama to it.
The explosive finale was superb, and not something a lot of orchestral composers aim for particularly with the heavy, powerful brass near the end, just really gives the whole thing a bigger than life vibe.

The percussion was also superb, lots of power behind it. Overall just a really powerful, intense 5 minutes. This piece really blew me away. You are truly one of the few greats here on NG in terms of film score style orchestral composition and arrangement, i'm hoping I see your name in the credits roll of a triple A game or movie in the future, any studio would be lucky to have you!

Cheers,
Daniel

EvilRaccoon responds:

Thanks Daniel! I really appreciate the review! I really enjoy trying to make the orchestra powerful and will be hoping to pull even more out next year. I'd love to work in a studio just working on this stuff, but I dont really know anything about the theory or really correct way to make this kind of stuff, as Ive just done it for a bit of fun.

Thanks again! :)

[We wait - BMI SoK]

NICE!

You guys did a great job. Great mix and guitar tone in this one, love the smooth heavy distortion of your power chord section especially. The singing was all very professional sounding too, badman did a superb job.

The way this track progressed I kept hearing some odd Lacuna Coil influences. The singing also reminded me a quite a bit of COG's stuff.
This was quite a bit different than your usual stuff though. Almost numetalish sounding I think, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. And I CAN HEAR YOUR KICK DRUM! YAY! Actually a little too much now if i'm being honest. The kick is a little TOO beefy, sounds like it's making your compressor work a little too hard, especially during the double kick passages (most noticeable at the end), but still, a big improvement over your other tracks. You've managed to balance the bass frequencies a lot better this time around, so kudos!

Overall, a well written, well produced track with a lot of thought clearly evident in its layout. You guys did a great job! When can I buy the album? ;)

Cheers,
Daniel

Sonofkirk responds:

Thanks for the quick review man! The most horrible thing on NG is to submit a track you worked on for ages and it goes through the portal with no review and you get shit scores... I'm not a score whore but I admit that when it happens it drives me crazy ;). Anyway thanks for all, my goal for my next song is to keep a good mix and to fix that drum bass :D. I actually I spend a lot of time to listen to the mix on different audio set up I ad was quite happy with this one. But when I pump up the bass I feel it needs more guitar, so I put the guitar up, but then I need more lead guitar, and then it becomes like hell... I really need good audio set up.

Thanks again for the review! I'd love to make an album with him you know :D

[Chaoz Fantasy Rock/Orch.]

Great!

I liked this, original and enjoyable to listen to throughout. In particular I enjoyed the nice piano melody, the way the song evolved was also rather nice, with a nice heavy finish (right up my alley!)

There was two things that stood out to me however, first being that the drumming just didn't seem to fit. In terms of the composition this is my only real complaint. I think partly it's due to the samples and robotic nature, but also maybe just the choice of samples, anyways, they just didn't seem to gel with the track, to me.

The other thing is that there is just way too much hard limiting going on in this track. The 'crackling' that a previous reviewer commented on is because the track is clipping rather harshly, especially noticeable in a few areas with the heavy orchestral hits and at the end when the track reaches its climax and the heavy drumming and guitar kicks in. This to me was the biggest issue with the track (and it's a common issue with music here on NG, not just exclusive to you, unfortunately).

Overall, good stuff, just do a little less crushing of your audio in the future to preserve some of your musics punch and clarity, loud music is no good if it's distorted when you listen to it!

Cheers,
Daniel

Step responds:

Hey, another review by you. Thanks, they're always very helpful!

"I liked this, original and enjoyable to listen to throughout. In particular I enjoyed the nice piano melody, the way the song evolved was also rather nice, with a nice heavy finish (right up my alley!)"

Thanks, glad you like those aspects of the song. The fact that the song evolves nicely is due to me having planned it all out from before, as I said to Rory. Usually I just compose and add new sections to a song spontaneously, but this time I had everything from the piano intro to the introduction of the guitar to the brass sections, to the guitar solo, to the ending... all planned out, and I must say that I've got to do it more often :3.

"There was two things that stood out to me however, first being that the drumming just didn't seem to fit. In terms of the composition this is my only real complaint. I think partly it's due to the samples and robotic nature, but also maybe just the choice of samples, anyways, they just didn't seem to gel with the track, to me."

True :(. I have a tendency of not humanizing any drums I make at all. I might scrap all the drums and ask my dad to drum for the song instead, but that's when I have time. D:

"The other thing is that there is just way too much hard limiting going on in this track. The 'crackling' that a previous reviewer commented on is because the track is clipping rather harshly, especially noticeable in a few areas with the heavy orchestral hits and at the end when the track reaches its climax and the heavy drumming and guitar kicks in. This to me was the biggest issue with the track (and it's a common issue with music here on NG, not just exclusive to you, unfortunately)."

I know what you mean. It's something that's out of my control, I'm afraid. I'm deaf from one ear, and for some reason that greatly affects how I easily it is for me to notice clipping. That, and my speakers are terrible :P. But yeah, I suppose you're right about that.

"Overall, good stuff, just do a little less crushing of your audio in the future to preserve some of your musics punch and clarity, loud music is no good if it's distorted when you listen to it!"

Got it. Thanks for another detailed and helpful review! You've got some really good songs, by the way.

[SSBM Zelda Temple Metaliz]

NICE!

Seriously rocking track man, it's almost ridiculous to hear the improvement in your mixing ability between only a few songs. The whole track sounded great, the guitar playing was superb (as always, from you!) but more specifically, it was buttery smooth and sat in the mix perfectly, the songs progression was great and interesting to listen to through and through.

The drumming, was again, also superb like most of your work, you're getting some impressive results out of the stock AD kit, if it wasn't for the distinctive sound of the cymbals I wouldn't even recognize it.
My only comment, as it has been on some of my previous comments on your work, is that the bass drum is once again lost in the mix. That was the only real major problem I could find with this track.

Anyways, this rock man, keep it up! I'm almost afraid to hear what you'll start doing if you ever get a set of balanced monitors!

Cheers,
Daniel

Sonofkirk responds:

Thanks man! I enjoy reading your reviews so much, all those compliments, that's great :D. You are right, the bass and the bass drum are always a problem in my songs, I'm constantly struggling trying to find out how it will sound on "normal" monitors... But I'm quite happy with the overall mix too :). I'd love to get a better sound card and a set a of good monitors y'know :3.

Thanks for all dude!