Rottenbeard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Shadow night (metal)]

I like it

This was great, has a real doom metal vibe to it, though it's a bit fast to be true doom. At any rate, it was really enjoyable and should be longer, much longer! :)

My only gripe is the drums, if I had to guess i'd say you're using addictive drums? At any rate, they are simply way too overcompressed, the cymbals especially. Pull back some of the compression on the high end.

Otherwise great work!

OPQC responds:

yeh, i know. this is a demo, if you didn't read the description. :D

the snare wasn't meant to be very compressed... but kk, i make it better.

[Ode to New Friends]

Good sound, but needs stereo!

I think part of the reason you're getting complaints on the strings is that this piece lacks any sort of stereo panning. You need to move some instruments around to make the piece fuller, either that or something got broke when you exported/uploaded this song and it's mono instead of stereo.

Aside from that, musically the piece was well done and well thought out and enjoyable. Only thing I didn't much care for were the ?cello? plucks around the 1:05 mark. But again.. with better stereo panning and some level adjustment they'd probably sound and fit just fine too.

Hope this review has been helpful :)

RyanWenke responds:

Thanks for the review! This was my first recorded piece since getting my software, so I am still learning all the tips and tricks. As I progress I will utilize all these tools :) Also, I think the problem with the strings is the lack of quality as well. This piece didn't use any VSTs, but just simple orchestral sounds from the keyboard itself. I have recently bought a VST for Orchestral sounds, so hopefully that improves the quality!

[When The Time Comes]

Quite good!

The first 2 minutes of this song really has a strong floyd vibe that I was really digging, the pace picks up quite a bit after that and, oddly enough, reminds me of some of Katatonias stuff. The vocals were alright, not great, not horrible, just OK.

I can't help but feel they may benefit from better compression and maybe different use of reverb to make it feel like your voice is more in the room with the other instruments.

Anyways, not bad!

Regards,
Daniel

Kor-Rune responds:

Thanks! I'll learn better compression techniques and reverb management. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Lighthouse Song]

Great melody

I really enjoyed this. This style of music is typically out of the genre's I normally review in, but this songs progression and melody was really enjoyable, so kudos to you for getting me to listen to a style of music I don't usually listen to ;).

My only criticism is that the sidechained compression on the kick in a few areas is so heavy I sometimes found it distracting. I know this "pump" is a sought after sound in a lot of trance / d&b music so this is just my own personal perference coming in to play.

Regards,
Daniel

WritersBlock responds:

Thanks for the comments and criticisms, your review was helpful, especially since I'm messing about with a lot of sidechaining in my music at the moment.

[12 Gauge Shotguns]

Love this

I love your playing style, I love the folk and even spanish influence in some parts. It's great!

Your new mic also sounds extremely good (very warm). The reverb you're using gives this a nice 'live' feel.

I enjoyed this, good work!

Kor-Rune responds:

Thanks! Sorry for the bit of rattling you may hear, that's my loose tuners, since I'm using a twelve string, but with only six strings, haha.

Thanks for the review!

[LetItComeForth (Bard&FarCryDX)]

Awesome!

Your vocal style fit this song perfectly, I love how you maintained a growl even through the whispers/soft spoken parts.

The only criticism I can offer is that in a few areas, the vocals didn't flow as well as they could have with the song its self. Some minor re-restructuring of the words might help with this. Not a major deal though, and not really worth going over it again.

This song rocks as much as FarCryDX's instrumental version :). You've definitely got the death metal growl down. Good work man. You guys make a good team.

Cheers,
Daniel

TheBardOfBlasphemy responds:

I would agree with the teamwork comment. Not sure about the flow... any parts in particular? I tweaked one or two lines from the original ever so slightly... anyway, there's no glaring speedbumps I wouldn't think.

Cheers for the listen, man. Keep it metal D:

[{Heim} A Storm in the Night]

Great!

A very well done piece. Lots of complexity in the melody with lots of variation. I'm really impressed with this.

It's not too hard to work with orchestral VST's, string a bunch of chords together and come up with something that sounds decent. But to string together a piece like this, with all the variation and competing melodies coming out as a nice sounding whole, well, it's great :). Lots of varied instrumentation too which is nice to see. This really does sound professionally done.

I don't really have any valid criticism to give because I can't really find anything wrong with this. Someone more tuned with classical "score" music like this might be better suited to offer feedback though :).

Anyways, good job!

JeffHeim responds:

You're right about the sounds, they do wonders in capturing the moment just right. I can't believe I composed without them for so long! Thank you for your feedback. Much more music from me to come for sure.

[Tzu - Night of the Eclipse]

Awesome, calm atmosphere

This is excellent Tzu, I really enjoyed this. The whole song just has a calm, quiet, contemplative sound that I really like.

Good work!

Tzunami responds:

Thanks.

[Quiet Killings]

Kicks my ass all over the place.

Love this, the mix is good, the song grooves and the bass line rocks. The whole piece is very melodic.

That's pretty much it, good work man, enjoyed it.

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Thank you very much! Glad you liked it. Thanks for listening and leaving your review!! Much appreciated!\m/

[Flash-Back]

Quite good!

Interesting use of sounds. Tons of variation. I really enjoyed this.

I don't think it needs lyrics, stands quite well on its own as an instrumental piece. Only criticism I have is that the whole song sounds like it's clipping or something. You've got a slight fuzz/distortion over the whole thing, i'm not sure if that was intentional or not (going for a fuzzy grunge sound maybe? I dunno). Anyways, that's the only thing that didn't appeal to me.

Good work!

ANTI-SPAMGUN responds:

Yea the fuzz (like an old time record player) is put in there intentionally. It gives it the "flash back" feel in my opinion.

Thanks!