MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Can't Be (ft. Popushi)]

_.-=*[NGADM Review]*=-._

Hrmm. This posed quite the conundrum for me. On one hand...
Well... It sounds good but… weird? I admit, I didn't like the style, that I found the "solo" part a little uninspired too. The chords didn't do much for me, the way their attack is quite short makes it feel repetitive even if they're not.

On the other hand, objectively, I can appreciate the sound and quality of the work. It is mostly well put together, the mix is full and good compared to most of what you hear on Newgrounds. The somewhat vocaloid/Asian pop style was an unexpected direction and kept it fresh for sure.

8.75

[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!

[Past, Meet Present]

_-=@NGADM-REVIEW@=-_

Dude you knocked my socks off again with this one. You really live up to expectations, never disappoint, perhaps NewGrounds' king of metal, and that's coming from a prideful metal head who's somewhat in competition with you. Intense playing throughout, I love the chorus section - how the rhythm guitar and lead section work together is brilliant. The blistering pace of the song is fantastic too, I really struggle to write fast stuff like that so I'm kind of jealous! :D
Plus around 2 minutes in it changes so it's not tiring at all.

I'm going to level the same criticism at you as I did last round and one more now since you took a risk and... I don't think it completely paid off.
One thing I would never say is that your stuff sounds same-y but at the same time I can understand the urge to add something new when you're in this situation. For me, the synth didn't work too well. It sticks out a bit (on speakers and with my headphones, so I'm not just imagining it).
Secondly, same as before, your lead guitar is too central. I understand the need for wide rhythm guitars which you have ABSOLUTELY nailed time and time again (seriously excellent rhythm guitar sound). However you always put the lead guitar dead centre and never use anything to widen it up so it doesn't really... flow into the rest. I dunno how to say it. It doesn't gel. Is your delay a stereo delay? Have you tried adding a touch of stereo chorus?

There you go... I hope you feel my criticism is fair. Keep on rocking buddy, I love your work.
8.9/10 but under normal circumstances it would be a solid 9.9 (aka 10/10 on NG's scoring system).

[~Echo~ Understated (Instrumental WIP)]

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

A change of direction for you, but I like it. The drums sound good albeit a little harsh, I would have liked something warmer and less snappy for the snare to match the feel of the piece better. As always though, your mixing is spot-on outside of that once choice (and I say choice, not mistake), the synths sound incredible - rich and full, love them. That section around 0:39 is really captivating and I found myself really getting into even more from there. As always, I'm a big fan of your work despite our differences in genre.

However, why so short? That's gonna cost you... That ending too... :'(
Could have been 9.5 easily otherwise.
8.5/10

[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!

[[IV]Mokosz]

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

Very "big" without being over the top. Very TV or movie cue sounding but with a bit more soul. Production values are through the roof - very professional sounding, not too full or muddy, parts are understated but in a beautiful way, like 0:57, that part is stunning. I found I liked this more and more as I listened to it AND THEN THE FLUTE HAPPENED and I died. Happily. Excellent track.

9.75/10... Not bad I guess... :P

[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 ;)

[Self as Context]

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

I enjoyed the melodies in this and the synths sounded great. I find the main melody quite catchy too though I'm not sure about the amount of repetition of the main motif, I would have liked something somewhere to change things up a bit.
The mix is almost perfect - rich/deep/warm and clear. Nothing dominates too much but the important factors come through really clearly and form a coherant whole. Excellent work on that front.

Enjoy your 8.75. :3