MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Wall]

NGADM Review

Your track is something out of its era and seems to borrow from many decades of musical experimentation. I definitely liked that aspect - the over all sound design from the late 80s/early 90s but with more modern production.

The things that stick out most for me are a good use of the instruments chosen and good rhythm. You did a great job on those and they hold the whole piece together through good composition. It makes for an interesting listen throughout.

On a less positive note, I wasn't really drawn in by the vocals as I had a hard time discerning the qualities of your voice through the way it was produced. Sure, it creates a certain feel to the song but I have to admit it bugged me. Still, having vocals is better than not so I wasn't harsh in that area.

Speaking of production I felt that different aspects were masked at times due to an imbalance in the mix and some clashing frequencies notably in the lower mid register. For example the kick drum comes through harshly, most obviously during the intro and in the last, louder section. Another minus for me was the way the auto-tune introduced the tell-tale artefacts in a not so pleasing way. It spoke of someone covering up issues rather than using auto-tune tastefully.

Obviously the other judges rated your song higher than I did so don't pay much attention to the scores I gave you, you won anyway so my subjective opinion on the matter isn't so important.

Scores:
Composition: 4
Production: 3
Sound Design: 3
Instrumentation and Performance: 4
JeNeSaisQuoi - genre and case specific, also synergy: 3

[Stand up and Fight]

Hey don't be too hard on yourself, this sounds pretty good and so do the vox. Halfway between Metallica and Iron Maiden. Keep it up!

MercyfulDeath responds:

I appreciate the review, and I'm grateful for the compliments. Guess I'm hard on myself because I want to at least sound professional musically and I can really hear every single mistake on the vox. But at the end of the day no one knows exactly how much you suck except yourself.

Once again, thanks for the comment and review.

[My Broken Heart]

You mentioned in a thread about wanting more presence in your mix, maybe your issue is two fold:
Too much bass in your distorted guitar is over-loading the audio spectrum. Try cutting out a small part in the lower end and record a bass-line to fill it in again. Distorted guitar is really not good at lower frequencies, it gets messy, fast.
Too much reverb is also compounding the issue, not necessarily a big reverb either, it's just causing it to lose presence.
Check out Steve Vai - Building The Church. It has a similar sound to your work. Notice how most of the low end is handled by a bass guitar that's not distorted?

I'm sure with some work, your tracks could sound like that.

KrinnValKhristi responds:

Thank you Mr. Renard. This is very helpful.

[The Heart of a Tree]

This really sounds awesome, good job. I enjoyed the progression and things are mostly well mixed (the drums however are -super- loud compared to the rest). My favourite part was the palm muted guitars, that sounded awesome.

KrinnValKhristi responds:

me go make boom boom less ouch ouch. tytytytyty <3


P.S. Pssssst! The mut3d guitar part is my faves 2 lol

[Secret of the Woodlands]

Just had a listen to this to find out what all the noise is about. While the composition is interesting, the production is all over the place. Nothing fits together in the track, some is too loud or too quiet and you turned stuff up instead of finding a space for it with the EQ. That's a bit amateurish. Furthermore many of your instruments are playing parts that are quite unrealistic. When does your flute player get a chance to breathe or are you trying to kill them? Do you want your string players to die of boredom or do you want them to live up to their full potential? Plus the way the flute is mixed it sounds so muted and flat. The percussion in the build up doesn't even sound like it's in the same space at all, especially in the final few seconds.

Don't ever make a fuss over your score like that in public again. It's poor sportmanship and immature. If you want respect, get better and prove everyone that you can do it. You'll get knocked down over and over until you can learn to stand of your own accord.

[All Was Lost, But That The Heavens Fought]

--- === NGADM Round 1 Review === ---
This is a really powerful piece of music that builds and builds. I really enjoyed the melodies, feeling and "epic" feeling but a few things bothered me...

The introduction is lovely and gentle but introduces the theme well and leaves a lot of dynamic room for the louder section. You used all the instruments effectively, the way you played with the polyphony of the strings was very pleasing to me. They payoff at 1:30 was awesome and a huge highlight! Super powerful.

Sadly my experience was marred by the drums not quite fitting in with the rest of the mix (louder and in a different space to the rest) and the strange glitch(?) at the very end. If it's not a glitch then it sounds completely out of place to me and if it is a glitch then it needs to be fixed!

The feeling I got from this piece was greater than the sum of its parts. Congrats - I really enjoyed this.

Scores are weighted so that comp and prod are 75% of the score:
Composition: 8
Production: 5 (glitch and drums)
Enjoyment, atmosphere, replay and all the other odd stuff: 9

[Cutting Corners]

--- === NGADM Round 1 Review === ---
I found the intro had a lot of impact! Sadly the rest, in comparison, doesn't quite reach the same height. The intro reminds me a little of the intro to Mass Effect 3 when all the ships are blowing up around you as the Reapers kill everyone. The instruments sound good and are well mixed so it's warm and coherent.

The composition is interesting even if it relies on the very "trailer" typical sound, you've used it to make something different. I found myself getting a little... bored?... in the middle, leading up to the final buildup.

Tells a story of struggle, coherent atmosphere but sadly I wasn't drawn in. Maybe it's a bit long for something so consistently high energy. It could have benefited from a leading melody at times too. To me, it was more background music.

Scores are weighted so that comp and prod are 75% of the score:
Composition: 8
Production: 8
Enjoyment, atmosphere, replay and all the other odd stuff: 6

AceMantra responds:

Hey! Thank you for your time!

I know what you mean about it not having much impact. The intro is definitely where I put most of my creative juices into, and if time was no obstacle, I would have done the rest very differently.

[You're the Same]

--- === NGADM Round 1 Review === ---
Breath of fresh air! Brooding, contemplative and warm, I can listen to this over and over.

Wow this is lovely. Subtle and melancholic, the intro which chills you followed by the warmer piano and deeper violin. That was a stunning transition and you prepped the listener well. A very well written piece that had enough variation, rhythms, melodies and masterful playing to keep the listener engaged throughout. I really got into this one. Occasionally the violin is drowned out, especially in the louder sections where it plays lower notes but this is so minor I won't drop a point for it.

I can't fault this piece anywhere really. Congratulations!

Comp/Prod/Enjoyment 10/10.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thank you for the review, as well as for the high score! It's nice to see that you along with others enjoyed my piece. I was a bit worried that the style wouldn't be fully appreciated.

I admit to having some difficulties balancing the piano and the violin, especially since both are so dynamic (and play across many registers). At the same time, I don't think perfecting that is the most important part of the piece, since the melody, progression and emotions are in focus. I definitely want to get better at these kinds of things in the future though!

Good luck judging the next round, and thanks for keeping the competition alive ^___^

[Incan Night (NGADM)]

--- === NGADM Round 1 Review === ---
Thanks for trying to submit something despite difficulties you had. I think this track did suffer from the last minute approach but it's better to do something than nothing, right?!

From a production perspective, I found the intro sounds were shocking and harsh and heavily on the right. This wouldn't be a problem if it was short term or was balanced with something else soon but it happens for most of the track. I even checked and you can see in your DAW that it's not balanced, right? Didn't it annoy you? It did me.
Furthermore, because the backing didn't fit the heavy drums and strumming, I had trouble working out what you were trying to do. More ambient or dubstep? This didn't really do it for me because until 1 minute in you still hadn't made up your mind about the direction of the piece.
I enjoyed the vocal sampling and use of the stereo field in the louder parts where it was more balanced once you had introduced the strings on the left.

I think the rule is to remember that people like to look at things they hear and if something's constantly in one ear only, you're creating psychologial dissonance for the listener and it's not comfortable. Always balance your audio unless it's done on purpose.

From a composition side of things, I can see a distinct structure to the piece and the melodies fit with the feeling and backing. I think you could have made it more interesting with more variation but it works either way. The break down with vocals and strings was really cool.
The final section was a great pay off for the track, where everything came together and you could see how it all fit. Good job with that.

Scores are weighted so that comp and prod are 75% of the score:
Composition: 7
Production: 6
Enjoyment, atmosphere, replay and all the other odd stuff: 4

[Memento]

--- === NGADM Round 1 Review === ---
A lovely emotional piece which builds up nicely, lets the listener rest then builds up further. Mostly well produced, atmospheric and warm.

This built really nicely up from the gentle strings with many layers which complimented each other well. I enjoyed your choice of instruments and felt they fit the themes and melodies they played. I feel the break at 2:45 didn't quite fit and broke my immersion.

As usual, the production is pretty good with most instruments having their space but as usual, also, I feel a few didn't quite work out. The drums didn't quite fit the mix as they sounded like they were recorded in a completely different space. The soft spacey strings/synth (wide, in the left ear?) didn't find a space in the mix either. You have to be super consisted with your choices of reverb. If you're not sure something fits, mix all the instruments in pairs and then in bigger groups starting with the instrument you feel is the foundation of the piece. For example in my metal tracks, I find the drums get eaten up so I mix against the drums - bass and drums then guitars and drums then vocals and drums, then I do bass, guitars and drums, etc. until everything has a place.

I know I always criticize your mixing, I'm sorry. u_u It's easy to say that this is a very well composed piece of music with a consisted and powerful theme. I hope you can continue to make progress with the mixing side of things!

Scores are weighted so that comp and prod are 75% of the score:
Composition: 10
Production: 6
Enjoyment, atmosphere, replay and all the other odd stuff: 9