MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Great Loss]

A really nice piece, it has definite emotional depth thanks to the different layers - sometimes just high notes, sometimes all the part together etc. The piano is lovely too.
Though... it doesn't need to be so drowned in reverb to achieve this, that just makes it harder to understand.

DanJohansen responds:

Glad you enjoyed it, the reverb was a self-preference kind of choice I will admit, and also the want of doing something different as a composer, I've used Piano in a lot of my classical pieces and never had this much reverb, I thought it was both interesting and sounded sweet, I can understand if someone doesn't prefer it though.

Thanks for the review!

[Odin and the Runes]

Where have you been, buddy? I miss hearing your awesome voice and great story-telling.

Big-Cronk responds:

Took a job on the north slope for a few more months so Im nowhere near my equipment haha its driving me crazy and the internet sucks here

[The Garden - Teaser]

Love it! Did you mix this? The piano is wide and lush. The synth bouncing around fits perfectly melodically speaking and in the mix. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the song with all the vocals!

Troisnyx responds:

I did, thus far. The fine-tuning and noise removal haven't been done yet, and neither is this piece done. But I'm really looking forward to finishing it. ^_^ Glad you like it!

[Downloading Snowflakes]

The melody around 0:40 made it for me, love that. I also love the snare sound, that more drawn out splash sound. I think the mix needed to be punchier/have more impact at times but it's a great track and I really enjoyed it.

Neon-Bard responds:

Thanks man! I love the snare, too! I was careful when adding flavour to it, just a dash of reverb here and some minor delay there. As for the mix, I agree 110% - good catch. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it though, thanks so much for listening. :)

[Naturewalk]

Listening to stuff like this makes me want to invest in tons of instruments just to play them live and record them. I love how it sounds and the atmosphere the piece creates. I'm trying to think what it makes me feel - Normally in my mind wind instruments say freedom and the dulcimer usually says civilisation or city. Whimsical life in the city?

samulis responds:

Haha... it's your guess. I had a lot of trouble naming this piece, actually, and I'm still not quite satisfied.

[Skyless]

This is a NGADM Review!
Well Garlagan... You sneaky beggar. Look at what you've been hiding all this time - I knew you did vocals some times but this is the first example of you bringing them out of the mix to the forefront and dude, you nailed it.
Great melodic and rhythm work again, if a tad more repetitive than your previous submission.
I loved the way the song ended, immediately, no BS. Endings like that are always so impactful, you can't help but notice that the song has ended, it leaves a statement and makes you want to listen again in to spot the build-up to the end more precisely.

Honestly you've gone from strength to strength throughout the NGADM and it's a well deserved win. Congratulations buddy!

garlagan responds:

haha I'm really glad you liked it. Thanks a lot for the review Sam!

[Impulse]

NGADM Round 4 review!
--
Sorry it took me a while to get round to this, I'm a busy person. hehe
Well you know from the score I gave you that I love the track, the sound especially the lead synth which blew my mind, the vibe or atmosphere of the whole piece which went even further thanks to the slower section, the variation of style/theme at different parts of the song, the motif or main melody, the way the whole thing comes together...
*takes a breath*

Why did you not get 10/10? Because I think the percussion in general was a little lacking, for example the toms needed more power to really fit the style and could have added an extra edge (and layer of awesome). Also I find the main snare is a little awkward sounding, a little outside the mix.

Did that stop me listening to the song 5 times on here then 10 times on my trips to work and up to London plus 5 more when walking my dogs? Nope.

Killer track, more please. Deliver. Now.

garlagan responds:

haha thank you Sam! Glad you liked it!

[404]

This is a NGADM Quater-Final Review!
--
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