MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Aviator]

Very cool and cheerful, enjoyed a lot!!

Noisysundae responds:

Good to see you again. Thanks man. :)

[Asau]

This is quite different from what I was expecting, especially in the rhythm section. Quite unusual for the genre, which is definitely a positive and makes the song stand out.
Good luck!

Onefin responds:

Hey, it's MetalRenard! Thanks for dropping by!

...Rhythm section? That's weird, I can't remember making a rhythm section :/ eh

[Africa (Singalong)]

Maaaan we need to do this again, or just a smaller collab or some mini project. I need an excuse to sing more, I haven't done it enough lately.
This was such an awesome project, you really inspired us all, Ceevro.

Ceevro responds:

Yeah. Still waiting for Step to get the Under Pressure one done...I'm just not a good enough mixer to do it myself. Until that one comes out, I kinda feel like I let a bunch of hardworking people down. Like I got no cred, ya know?

[The Prodigal]

\_.-=*[NGADM Review]*=-._/
My initial reaction:
Oh my gosh just yes. All my bloody yes. I love you guys so much. Please, more. The warmth of the mix and the acoustic instruments mixed with the beautiful, haunting vocals and tasteful way the vocals were mixed really lent itself to the style. I LOVE the percussion so much, it fits the whole thing wonderfully. There were a few things I would have changed in the mix but it's a magnificent song and I'm so glad you guys took a new direction this round. Congrats!

After having listened about 20 times over the course of a week:
This is a fantastic song, congratulations on the huge score too, it's well deserved. All the judges have said it already but this song shows a certain maturity that may have been lacking in previous pieces your team submitted in previous rounds. I know it's cliché but predictability or repetition in a song is popular for a reason, it gets you involved in the music and I find my self wanting to listen to this with the vocals so I can sing along.

The vocals were mixed really well on the whole but I feel their sound could have been more consistent. The female vocals, flooded with delay and reverb, could have been mixed somewhat dryer so that they might better match the male vocals, this stands out for me now as it did the first time I listened. Yes, you can mix things differently, even two voices, but it's still important to have some kind of consistency.
The banjo/guitar is mixed... flawlessly. Left/right panning of two different instruments and yet the sound is super balanced, this is really impressive mixing. Also the percussion is fantastic too, from the sound to the way it fits perfectly into the rest.

I can't offer enough praise for this song, well done guys. :)
9.95/10

bassfiddlejones responds:

Sir Renard, thank you for the review and the score! This arena is where Josh does his best mixing for sure (general band set up). For the percussion we layered a ton of stuff, and recorded some stomps and claps to mix in too. So glad you liked it man!

[Vanquish the Night]

_-=@NGADM-REVIEW@=-_

If Iron Maiden's Eddie had sex with an entire orchestra, this would be their baby. Great guitars, awesome variation, even a kind of change in the genre at times. Bonus for an excellent guitar performance too.
Fantastic arrangement for the orchestra, the piece really flows despite all its changes which is lovely to hear, some really thought was put into the composition.

Where it falls short for me is in the mixing. Again I'll say it, symphonic metal is NOT easy to get right and you're doing an admirable job. Even big record labels get this wrong so for you to churn out something like this in such a short time is amazing. For something this complex I'd take at least twice the amount of time (but I'd probably try to add vocals too 'cause I like the sound of my own voice way too much).
The orchestra doesn't sit very well with the guitar, it's almost like they're two different worlds colliding and it's kind of messy because of it. You really need to tone down on reverb, throw out the normal rules you would use for mixing orchestras because this is metal, this is not a guitar playing in an orchestral setting. You have to see it in the same way you see pop music, how the mixing has to serve the song, not the instruments. Again - Throw out the rules, throw out what you've learnt about an orchestra, this is high production value metal and it needs to work together.
Less reverb, don't be scared to carve out a space for the guitars either, our brains know what all the instruments sound like and will do most of the work by filling in the gap and that way you get a much clearer mix.

8.8/10 but normally I wouldn't hesitate to give you a 5* rating for this. Awesome stuff guys, I hope my feedback helps you do something even crazier next time.

bassfiddlejones responds:

MetalRenard! Thanks for the review man. Yes, mixing orchestra with guitar and all that becomes really tough, and I really sprung the due date on Josh (as in, he had 7 hours to do this). So all things considered we're pretty happy with the result, but it's something we need to experiment more with to really figure it out well. We worked hard on this piece because we knew our competitor would kill it too, so compositional elements took the forefront. Thanks again for the feedback man, it's helpful!

[Modern Day Mafia]

__--=***NGADM Review***=--__

I liked the drums and percussion, I also liked the progressive rock style outro.
Hmmmm... I have to say though… Too many notes. I think if you want something to be this busy, musically, you need to really know how to mix it to satisfy all the instruments' requirements while still maintaining subtlety. It's DEFINITELY a step up from your previous mixing though, but is it enough for this stage of the competition...? The composition was fun, I enjoyed its variety even if I found some of it a little non-sensical like 1:33 which sounded quite amateurish to me in comparison with your other work. I think this would appeal to certain other judges more (Step perhaps...) but for someone like me it didn't tickle me the right way. I can tell you put a lot of work into it though!

7.5/10

frootza responds:

Thanks dude, I wish that I did but I only spent around 2.5 hours making this one. Yep my mixing is horrid. Ran into some problems. Maybe next year. Just wanted to get out of my blippity bloop comfort zone because I got tired of making it but I'm thinking of just settling for making more of that. Thanks again man!

[Clockwork Waltz]

__--=***NGADM Review***=--__

I enjoyed the orchestration, it had a bit of a Banjo-Kazooie vibe minus the weird stuff but still with some sound effects etc. (could be due to the instruments used... If anything I just wrote makes sense). It sets the tone quickly. I liked the detail in the highs (the ping-pong echo of the small metallic instrument for example). The strings sounds good too, but I would have preferred if they were a little louder, the woodwinds totally dominate in this and pushing them back a bit would have really smoothed out the whole thing. I'm not sure about the reverb used either but I guess it sounds ok, I would have gone for something a little "closer" (not so "roomy") maybe.

You may want to snack on your 8.5/10 with a side of lettuce and vinaigrette.

Azhthar responds:

Jay! Second review for this round! Jay! lettuce and vinaigrette! Thanks, glad you liked the orchestration. I like doing weird orchestrations. Maybe that´s the Banjo-Kazooie, although I didn´t really had the soundtrack in mind when I did this one.

Strings louder in general or just in the middle part? Actually I didn´t use a very big room (about 2 secs or something). Maybe I just added a bit too much reverb in general? Or too much compression on the reverb and it got to dominant? Anyway I´ll check that out.

Thanks a lot for the review! I´ll wait till the others drop in and try to adapt all the suggestions. Then I can resubmit it for next years auditions ;)

[~SW~ Thurm ins_wa_]

__--=***NGADM Review***=--__

I found the track pretty interesting, the intro was unusual (I haven't heard that kind of sound for a while, reminded me of BlueManGroup) and the percussion lead in well (for some reason reminded me of Worms… O.o). The blend of acoustic-y instruments with the deep bass and synths worked brilliantly and you mixed it beautifully. Smooth, deep, impactful where needed. The eb and flow of the lead synth really leant itself to the piece as a whole too. Excellent production choices.

Honestly I really loved this piece and don't have much to say against it. I think the melodies were a bit awkward at times (for example around 1:20) which detracted from my enjoyment of the piece. Minor details though - stellar work.

9.5/10

SkyeWint responds:

Heyo, MetalRenard! I'm glad you liked it! I can understand the awkwardness of the melody sometimes, yeah. It's hard to make good melodies in 7/8 lol

[Facing the Foe]

__--=***NGADM Review***=--__

I really liked the individual melodies in this, I think if taken a part and put back together in a slightly different way, this track would absolutely shine. There's also a ton of cool rhythmic work, the snare certainly gives it an energetic feel with the staccato/marccato strings and brass.
However, the track as a whole is a little messy I feel - there's always SO MUCH going on, I got exhausted listening to this quite quickly.
The ending too, it didn't make sense for me at all, the change in key etc was abrupt and messy. I wish you'd chosen something else to finish it off because I actually really like this piece.

I was torn when giving this a score so I settled for 7/10.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Hey! Thanks for your review :p
Great to hear that you enjoyed the melodies in this. I personally like the arrangement, but I think the production is somewhat weak instead. I do however agree that there is a lot going on, and that that might not be for everyone. I tend to try a lot of different genres, and this is the first battle track I've made, at least as an orchestrated version. I made it as a solo piano composition at first, which I'll upload at some later point. I wanted to use a lot of variation and a lot of intruments, switching it up constantly, especially as it's a piece composed for a competition.

The ending, I agree with. However, you do realize that it loops, right? You probably do, but it just sounded like you were referring to an actual ending, while this piece has none. It really sucks if you listen on your phone, as it will just cut off. However, even as a loop, I think the ending should be different. I would actually like both a calmer intro and ending, as the loop would be much more seamless and less "in your face" that way. But I didn't have time to make it that way, and the intro is also the first thing I made for the piece, so I kinda just wanted to keep it in there anyway :)

Thanks for listening and judging!

[What Lies Beyond]

__--=***NGADM Review***=--__

Lovely flow to the piece, the instruments seem to work well together although I feel parts are maybe a little crowded (too many notes), a little goes a long way in composition. The mix leaves something to be desired in terms of clarity although it has plenty of warmth to it, giving it a lot of depth/ a nice rich feeling, like an intimate setting, sitting together in a warm cave telling stories about your adventures.

I think the composition maybe lacks direction, I didn't feel like there was a continuous story to be told, more like it went from one idea to another without really transitioning.

Charming as always though, I've always enjoyed your style.
7.5/10

ChronoNomad responds:

Thanks for the NGADM review, MetalRenard!

I so often have people say that they want to hear more going on in my music, more instruments and rich layers of music going on at once, so when you say parts feel too crowded I'm not sure if I'm relieved, frustrated, or simply more confused. LOL! Different people always seem to want different things, so when I try to cater to one side of the equation, something else just ends up getting lost in the shuffle. I guess it's best to make the music that I want to make, for myself; no apologies and no compromises.

I'm glad to hear that the mix has a real warmth to it, and your analogy of telling adventure stories makes me smile. Not sure what to do with the comment on clarity, though. In what way is the mix lacking in clarity? To you that probably makes complete sense, but to me it seems vague and nebulous. I've always thought of you as a pretty harsh critic when it came to mixing in general, but without suggestions and ideas for improvement the feedback feels incomplete. For instance, what could be done to improve said clarity? I know well enough that you're an accomplished mix master, so it seems like you would probably have plenty of wisdom to impart on the subject.

The music feels relatively cohesive to me, but there's that good old subjectivity in motion again. Ah, well. There really isn't some huge central motif much of the time, and that really seems to bother folks, so I guess I can't fault you for saying that it lacks direction. But there is an overall theme that - at least to me - is crystal clear. Of course lacking that main focus through so much of the piece probably ends up relegating it to background music. *sigh* C'est la vie.

I am very happy to know that you find the music charming and my style enjoyable, and I appreciate the critique. I really like the song for what it is, but it certainly isn't the best thing I've ever produced, and I find your comments and scoring to be fair. Keep on rocking.