MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Shatter the Walls of Hope]

I wish it was longer because I loved what you have so far. Do you plan on finishing it?
-1/2* because it's not finished and I think you should work on getting it done! ;)

PirateCrab responds:

Y'know I've always wondered if it's worth finishing this song, I just never really bothered and abandoned it. I might just go back and produce it to higher quality ;)

[Xena's Ruin WIP]

New "fan" inbound. :)

PirateCrab responds:

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay :D <3

[Monsieur Blacksky]

Awesome sound! Could do with a little melody in there or something, but good mixing solid riffs.
If I'd had the choice I would have pushed you through to the next round of NGADM but sadly I didn't get the opportunity since I'm only a replacement judge. I think you deserved a spot though. ;)

PirateCrab responds:

Ahhh many thanks dude I wish I had a spot! The only reason it's lacking melody is because I'm currently working on vocals from a singer/screamer I've got in contact with. That'll be uploaded here once it's done :)

[My Requiem]

You're going to want to get more control over that drum kit (mainly the kick drum) but I liked it anyway. Good transition from metal to piano, wasn't expecting that but I feel like the track's unfinished somehow...
What happened to the guitar? T-T

[aPsyche]

I could imagine this is films. It sets the mood without being overpowering and it has an interesting vibe. It lacks some kind of evolution from start to end so it could have been shorter, or you could have introduced a melody somewhere to fill in the gap. I'd love to hear a subtle clean guitar melody drowned in reverb over this backing.

sakesensei responds:

If i'm not mistaken the song is in Am, so there's no progression at all. Also it's really simple on purpose to provide some hypnotic feeling.
Check the B-Side of this song here:
https://soundcloud.com/pedrobona/bepsy
I believe you might enjoi it.
Thanks :)

[Kung Fu on Ice]

Nice work! The drums come in just right (nice filter btw) and you used some nice sounds. I agree with the previous poster it could do with some lead sound to add that extra edge, but other than that good job.

sakesensei responds:

Thank you! Glad you like it :)

[Step by Step]

Nice vocals, original ideas, I had to listen until the end.
I wish it had a better mix, something that gave it that finished polish it rightly deserves, which is why it lost a star, but otherwise really great work guys. :)

Firefreezer responds:

Thank you a lot for that review!
It was a hard one for my partner since he's kind of a perfectionist and that makes guitar recording a pain in the a**. But we hope for the best and think it was worth the time. =)

[In Memory of Buoy]

Brilliant.

Bosa responds:

What can I say? lol

[Downloading Rainbows]

Moody now are we? ;)
Like people have said, I definitely see this as "credits music", that would be perfect for it, a closing statement on a good game or film.
To help out, I'll pinpoint mix issues:
1:08 the string sounds don't fit the rest very well. You have two solutions, either brighten the whole piece up slightly (except those strings) or dampen the staccatos a bit. I think a mix of both would be best.
The drums could use a little more "snap" to them. Right now the snare is a little flat, you could make it cut a little more and that would go a long way to putting life into the piece.

Over all I really liked this, good job!

Neon-Bard responds:

Not quite sure what you mean by moody haha! :)

I really appreciate the advice, it's always great to hear another perspective. I'll be sure to liven up the song a little more by adding some 'snap' to the snares, and by 'brightening' up the the song overall. Thanks for pointing these things out man.

[Russians [Int.]]

Nice idea to commemorate the new genre in the portal. :)
The strings aren't terribly realistic in places (the high strings toward the beginning that fade in and out) but the piece most definitely accomplishes what you set out to do which is tell a story. I don't know the film but I enjoyed the piece a lot.

samulis responds:

There are things that happen at 1:30 AM that probably shouldn't happen. Also note I am happily working under the limits of a notation program- all that fancy automation stuff people waste their time on is either not done or accounted for by the virtual performance component of the program, which alters the MIDI data to sound more realistic such as swelling and such (but is not wholly compatible with EWQL... thus a more robotic sound to my music than there should be).