MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Your Father's Blade]

This is a NGADM Quater-Final Review!
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You've done it again! From a softer and yet moving story-telling atmosphere to a huge final build-up, I can defnitely see a trend in your work that I would perhaps call your vibe or your style. It's very modern film-score indeed, and I'm sure you could make this work with many an on-screen tale.

Having said that, my honest opinion on this piece is that it has an incredible final section but the build up to it was too laborious to justify the time I spent waiting for the pay-off. It's similar in that respect to your previous submission where the outro gave me chills but I got bored before reaching that conclusion.

Maybe a way for you to move forward with this would be to include two build-ups in a song rather than just the one in the final section. Such is the way a story is told; context - tension - release - tension -release; instead of a single plot-line that lasts throughout the story.

I definitely enjoyed how it came together in the end, I hope you continue to make some awesome music!

9.1/10

[404]

This is a NGADM Quater-Final Review!
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Admittedly I'm not the first person you'd choose to comment on a jazz piece since I don't really enjoy the genre to begin with when it becomes so technical and discordant as it does at times in this piece.
With that in mind I thought it safer if I stuck to what I knew and focused on the production/recording and performance side of things.
Honestly the out-of place, kind of fake sounding instrument really did stick out for me at times and kind of ruined my immersion. If you didn't have something fitting in this case, I would simply have left it out or replaced it with something I -did- have. It would have completely solved the issue.
Having said that there are some fabulous performances in this and you also did a great job organising it all, bringing it all together and mixing it. I bet it wasn't easy mixing stuff from so many sources and with so many different acoustic footprints (here, read "room verb"). In the end it sounds quite convincing and I did enjoy parts despite my aversion to the style overall.

Cool stuff guys, good luck with that other project of yours!

9.1/10

camoshark responds:

Hey other Sam, thanks for chipping in!

"Admittedly I'm not the first person you'd choose to comment on a jazz piece since I don't really enjoy the genre to begin with when it becomes so technical and discordant as it does at times in this piece."

If I had wanted every to like the things I do, I would've went with something safe like rock or pop, so don't kill yourself over it! :P

"With that in mind I thought it safer if I stuck to what I knew and focused on the production/recording and performance side of things."

...Well shit, better duck behind cover then. :X

"Honestly the out-of place, kind of fake sounding instrument really did stick out for me at times and kind of ruined my immersion."

It goes without saying in this case, since the entire concept was to go for something organic and acoustic, and so replacing it with something cheap like this was bound to not really work.

"If you didn't have something fitting in this case, I would simply have left it out or replaced it with something I -did- have. It would have completely solved the issue."

We honestly debated a lot over this, and we almost did, but again, since the sax part was only meant to be played as a sax part, replacing it with a synth wouldn't ACTUALLY solved the issue, since it'd instead have sounded like a cheap synth.

That's my take on it, at least.

"Having said that there are some fabulous performances in this and you also did a great job organising it all, bringing it all together and mixing it."

Many thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed them nonetheless! ^^

" In the end it sounds quite convincing and I did enjoy parts despite my aversion to the style overall."

I'm glad you managed to find at least parts of it enjoyable, considering your aversion to the genre. I'm also glad it didn't affect your bias too much.

Thanks for the review!

-Sam

[Hope]

This is a NGADM Quarter-Final Review!
I'm really sorry for your loss, my condolences.
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Since I hesitated to give you top marks for the last round I was more willing to go all-out on this one. After listening to yours and Garlagan's tracks I realised I would need to break out the decimal places anyway.
Some have said they found this less inspired than previous pieces but I think it is simply less polished. There is a crazy amount of massive riffs in this with insane guitar-god playing to top it all off (seriously, are you human?), that mental lead section at 1:40 with all the fast playing AND variation. Just wow.
However, it's lacking in the details at times. For example, I find the drums don't sit well in the mix - too much reverb and I think I hear a touch of distortion in places where you've pushed the limiter just a little too hard (around the 1:20 mark a few times, for example).

So have you always played 8-stringed guitars (thinking of your Harmony of Heroes post)?! :P

9.8/10

[redemption]

This is a NGADM Quarter-Finals Review!
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Automatic admission to the next round, lucky you! :)
It's a chill track for sure and the way the slower section really throws you off the beat with different sections coming in early or late making it feel like 3/4 mixed with 5/4 works well to lose the listener in the music. The sound effects of children playing at 3:00 really brought the piece home for me. Coupled with the title and that section I think I understand what you were aiming for emotionally in this.

I can see what you meant by the drums not quite being there yet - they're a bit distant and separate from the rest because of the reverb, but that's the only thing I can fault in this track. I love the sounds you used (special mention for Etherealwinds' lovely vocals too) and I really enjoyed the journey.
Fantastic and good luck in the next round!

9.5

johnfn responds:

It's funny how some people love the drums and some people don't. Eh... I'm a drum noob, but I'm getting better!!!

Thanks for the review! Though I don't really remember using a mix of 3/4 and 5/4 hehe. I think you think I'm smarter than I actually am ;-)

[Here]

This is a NGADM Quarter-Final Review.
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Nice work! With me, anything over 9 is pretty damn awesome and this round saw me giving out a lot of 9s.
I think you used some really nice sounds/effects/glitchiness that came together well with the style of the song. I also liked the really... Mechanical / metroid-esque sounding synth in the last third of the track, it had a great amount of drive to it and finished off the piece well.

I do wish it had a bit more going on at times, hence why I didn't give you an even higher score. I mean, I think there's still room for improvement in places, maybe a lead or melody of some kind around the 1:40 for example.

Honestly, some great stuff here and I hope you feel like you've had a good time in the contest, I think you did briliantly to get so far. Congratulations (and happy birthday!)!0

9.3/10

[There]

NGADM Quarter Final Review!
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Solid as always!!!
As usual, this song benefits from an impeccable mix, you're one of the most consistently good sounding producers I know. It helps that this song is catchy as hell and that I'm loving the retro/90s vibe. The vocals remind me (in all the best ways) of Savage Garden too, I'm assuming that's you singing, very impressive work.
I really enjoyed the composition - the level of work this competition has dragged out of you guys is insane and forced me to revise how I score tracks from 1/2s to decimal places. What can I say? Excellent work Garlagan. Best of luck in the final!
9.6/10

garlagan responds:

Wow cheers Sam!
Yep, that's me singing. And it reminds you of Savage Garden?! NICE.

[Reborn as Machine]

I really love this piece of music. The way the synth and guitar play of each other at times, it's kind of retro but in a really cool way. Oustanding guitar playing as always, too (yeah, I've listened to a bunch of your tracks).
Awesome! \o/

DanJohansen responds:

I am very inspired by retro video games and I love mixing up the synth and leads XD Glad you dig it dude, appreciate it! \m/

[Of Epic Proportions]

So much awesome, can't believe it! Shame about the compressor being triggered by the kick drum non-stop. :(
Need this again. Need MOAR!

[WHATEVER]

Loving the track, you have a great sound, clean and precise. The drums sound great too. The riffs are also really cool.
You could maybe clean up the bass a bit, it's overpowering the rest. Other than that, awesome!

RobSoundtrack responds:

Thanks dude!

[A Night in the Attic]

This is a NGADM "Round of 16" Review!
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Well Troisnyx, this is definitely an interesting piece and your mixing has improved a lot. In this one you've managed to almost completely avoid distortion and you've begun to truly explore the possbilities stereo shaping offers you.
Where you lost points with me is that the piano is very unoriginal - I've definitely heard it more than once before. While it's ok to do that, I know you're capable of making things that are much more unique and I wish you'd gone for it and tried something else with the piano.
There are quite a few sounds that don't quite fit into the mix either and sometimes volume levels are off.

Where you did get points is pretty much everywhere else. The vocals are good, they could have been spookier if you'd messed around with reverse reverb effects and other things, but your performance is solid. The sounds you used work well together and on top of that the piece had depth thanks to more judicious mixing choices that in your previous work.

I've already given you feedback on better recording techniques for future songs so I hope you take those into account too and continue to improve. You've come a long way and the road is long and arduous.
Congratulations on making it this far, it's sad to see you out of the contest but you definitely left your mark with the pieces of music you made for it. Keep it up!
8/10