MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[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).

[<EagleGuard> Nemesis]

You've captured an epic feeling, good stuff. You get the stars because I like the composition. :)

On the critique side: To be honest, I think you would have been better off with a synth for the lead since the guitar is very unconvincing, especially to someone who's played guitar half their life like myself. The low mids are muddy which make it hard to understand the chords and rhythm guitar, try cutting the bass away above 300hz and cut the guitar away below 200 to 250hz to improve clarity.

EagleGuard responds:

Thanks for the review, MetalRenard! I'm glad you liked the piece as a whole!

Your advice is really good, and other guitarists I know have indeed also mentioned that my guitar "solos" sound a bit too artificial. I hope to get an actual electric guitar in the future, so that I may get a better feel of what is realistically possible for such guitar parts.

Mixing has always been a bit of a struggle for me, so those suggestions are always welcome, thanks!