MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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 :)

[I'ma put you to sleep]

Does what it's meant to do but in the best possible way - mesmerising.

[~Delta~ Karma (WIP)]

Not what I expected, I enjoyed this a lot. :)

[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

[My dildo is missing :(]

Since you asked, here's an in-depth critique of that piece to help you along.
Like a couple of others have suggested, much of the problem may be due to the midi programming. Another thing they didn't mention that's linked is the quality of the instruments playing those notes. Yours aren't so great, they sound very thin, they lack depth/richness. There are some tricks to fix that such as increasing the 200 to 300hz range on lower instruments or 300 to 500hz on higher instruments. This will bring a little more warmth to them.
Also, right now you've panned one far left and the other far right. Bring them closer to the middle, about 25% is as much as you should use in this kind of piece and even that is quite a lot.

Another thing you could consider is the composition itself - it doesn't lend itself to mixing that well because the notes are rarely played together and they're panned anyway. Your job is to make them sound like they're in the same room so you could try applying a convolution reverb on to a bus track that you "send" them to.

[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).

[Kender's Dream]

Awesome use of harmony here. Some high impact sounds too! It lacks clarity over all, a bit of bite in the rhythm section, but I loved it!

[[~*The Perfect Color*~]]

Shame about your friend's server. ^^ You should try something like Redunoise by Voxengo. It's a very powerful noise remover. I don't know how successful it will be at removing all of the noise without damaging the recording but I think it will get rid of 70% of it without any noticeable damage.

Awesome song by the way, I like the drum sound with the guitar and I love the acoustic guitar harmonies. Good job. :)