MetalRenard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Draesdne Adaas]

This is not a NGADM review... I'm here by choice! lol
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Actually I feel that the organ is used perfectly, despite having read opposing reviews from others. All due respect to them, their opinion is as valid as mine. I can really feel the atmosphere of this piece (there I go, on a wild journey into metaphoratopia), I think you did a good job.

Next time you should chain Bosa down until he finishes his share of the work. ;P

samulis responds:

I tried, but Bosa is my superior. That would be betrayal! :(

Thanks for your thoughts. I liked the organ too, but I think it was too irregular for what a lot of people were expecting.

[Divine Prayer [Live]]

Man that's beautiful... <3

samulis responds:

Thanks. :)

[WWUOTBT [8bit]]

It's a cool little piece of music but it really lacks any kind of depth or development. It's a shame because you've done some pretty cool stuff (hence why I follow you on here ;) ).

Calamaistr responds:

wellll the depth is in the details, like i made sure the melody at the 2nd part is as guitarish as possible, added a pretty cool 8bit xylophone in the background etcetc. :)
-cal.

[There's A Time For That]

Wow this is a really charming piece of music, I love the atmos and sounds you used to compliment the music.

ZipZipper responds:

Thanks!

[_.-:| Time Alone |:-._]

Did you ever upload the 2nd part? This was really good. :)

Wolftacular responds:

Second part's one of those songs I start and never finish! I should get back on it sometime, I really liked it.

[The Holy Pixel]

Hi! I was a replacement judge for NGADM round 1 and this is my review of your track!
I scored mixing and composition/arrangement separately so I'll explain here what score I gave you and why. 8/10 in my scoring scheme is "Great", 10/10 is exceptional. To get 10 the piece needed to go beyond expectations, to have a unique sonic quality and present an original aspect (or several) in terms of composition.
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Production: 7
Each individual section is well mixed and you have good sounds. A lesson you still need to learn is that mixing isn't just about the broad strokes, it's about the details too. If you want to transition between two completely different things quickly you need to work on the mixing side of this too.
(If we were chatting via PM I would give you an example but I won't link to things I've done in a review).
Composition/arrangement (where valid): 7
Well it certainly is unique. That scored you a lot of bonus points. On the other hand it's a little repetitive and you really need to work on your transitions from a composition perspective too.
Most people struggle with this aspect so don't worry too much on a personal level.
You just need to put more time into constructing the details.

7/10 good work on some aspects, lacking on others. Over all good score though, congrats.

Slug-Salt responds:

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my work so carefully. I'll take your criticism into serious consideration for my future work.

[Normal Mapping]

Hi! I was a replacement judge for NGADM round 1 and this is my review of your track!
I scored mixing and composition/arrangement separately so I'll explain here what score I gave you and why. 8/10 in my scoring scheme is "Great", 10/10 is exceptional. To get 10 the piece needed to go beyond expectations, to have a unique sonic quality and present an original aspect (or several) in terms of composition.
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Production: 9/10
Very good mix. Everything has its place and all that good stuff. On the other hand I found the voice too shrill.
Composition: 7/10
Well it fits the genre, that's for sure. I feel you could have done more with it though, for example around the middle I feel like it's just dragging on and on. Something in the background to add more depth at that point would have been great, just some wishy-washy synth or anything to create a change from always hearing the same sounds in the same places. Diversity is a great tool.

8/10, good work garlagan, you know what you're doing.

garlagan responds:

thanks for the feedback MetalRenard!

[Brolo]

Hi! I was a replacement judge for NGADM round 1 and this is my review of your track!
I scored mixing and composition/arrangement separately so I'll explain here what score I gave you and why. 8/10 in my scoring scheme is "Great", 10/10 is exceptional. To get 10 the piece needed to go beyond expectations, to have a unique sonic quality and present an original aspect (or several) in terms of composition.
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Production: 9
It's a good mix, the sounds meld well despite the difference in textures. I admit I may be biased because usually I hate retro sounds as they assault my ears and since yours didn't I added a point... Hey, sue me.
Composition/arrangement: 8
I'm a sucker for when good rhythm meets good melody. Some of your melody work is lacking that... spark, but the two married so well I really enjoyed listening to this.
Also it's a little unusual and I like unusual things.

That's 8.5/10 for you my friend.

Mawnz responds:

Thank you for the review MetalRenard, you along with the other judges are doing an awesome job that is very much appreciated!
I think i agree with your opinions there. There is something missing and I couldn't find just that, unfortunately...
Glad to hear your thoughts on the retro sounds! Thanks again for the judging, keep it up!

[Rosso]

Hi! I was a replacement judge for NGADM round 1 and this is my review of your track!
I scored mixing and composition/arrangement separately so I'll explain here what score I gave you and why. 8/10 in my scoring scheme is "Great", 10/10 is exceptional. To get 10 the piece needed to go beyond expectations, to have a unique sonic quality and present an original aspect (or several) in terms of composition.
____
I gave you 8/10 in "production".
You mixed the track well, vocals are clear and full, the sound is bass-y and everything fits. Nothing to say really, you did a good job. :)
Composition/arrangement (where valid): 6
The first minute of the track seems to be where everyone in this genre experiments. The sad thing is that this experimentation always ends with the same result - 4/4 kick on every beat and sidechain synths. I like what you did with the intro but the rest feels like "more of the same" to me. I'm not being genre biased either, I've said the same to people in other reviews of other genres (including my main genre heavy metal. In fact I've been harsher with people in that genre).
When I listen to music I do enjoy cliches but I also look for something to spark my interest intellectually. Generic ideas don't do that for me. Admittedly your chorus breaks away from that nicely which is why I didn't hit you with a lower score than I did, so nice work on that.
I know it's "music you can dance to" but why not make it exciting too?

Over all that gives you 7/10. A good job, you can be proud of your work.

TEIONmusic responds:

Thank you for the review, I will take everything you said into consideration for the next production.
I think the production was a bit messy to be honest, everything sounded clustered to me, but overall, i guess it worked out.
The part where I experimented the most was combining glitch elements with dance. For this song in particular, I don't think I did a grand job of doing that, and it ended up sounding extremely cheesy and generalized (unoriginal). I think next time, glitch sounds good with dance only if I try out different tempos and rhythm, because 128bpm is like...the epitome of dance, and its too "edm" for me.
I don't like generic ideas as well, I guess I was just going for too much for this track, and what came out was dull.
But next time through, I'll be sure to change everything up, and re-think about new ideas.
Thanks