Suspended-3rd-Chord's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[don't]

Emu Proteus?

Is that the soundfont you use in the intro?

Sick intro man, I love when people add an ethnic touch to their work. Loving the tamburas/dulcets that you use in the intro, and they work real nice as a pad. The drums are crisply recorded, and have a nice "in your face" feel. Lots of cool noise and ambience that works quite well with the track. The compressed sound is real powerful in the the 2nd section, some of the retriggered glitch snippets were a little too much for me tho, haha. sounds like you worked an incredible lot to tweak them so much. I guess what this needs IMO is a little bit more melodical content to go along with the track, and maybe some variation in the drum patterns. Maybe a tabla in here too since this piece has some Indian/middle Eastern influences huh?

Kickass track snayk, this is a real original sound here on NG!

snayk responds:

Never heard of 'emu proteus.' Thanks for the great review!

I see what you're saying about maybe adding some melodic content to the song (though I could only see that happening to the first half, because I love the second half as is), as well as maybe some drum variations and other instruments.

When I was writing the song, I didn't really know where I was going (which becomes evident with the 'big switch' at 1:43). I suppose if I'd had a fuller idea about the track before I began working on it, it would be quite different.

Thanks again!

[Urban Color]

Smooothh hazzzzz

Once again, No1R, I'm absolutely stunned by your work. This composition is flawlessly crafted from the jazzy drum beats to the smooth, sexy guitar licks.

I really like how you open up with the airy pad drifting in the background with ride/crash rolling on and the beatiful guitar licks. I mean the guitar is absolutely perfect and flows so well-did you improvise all of this? The intro bit sounds very sexy and romantic, and the bit around 00:33 has the naughty/teasing romantic type of feel-excellent job including those nice tension chords and the rather abstract soloing following it. I like how you end into the end with chromatic bluesy riff-I would have stopped the track right there, or make a different conclusion, as it is too similar to the intro IMO. Otherwise, this track is flawlessly sequenced!

I indeed agree with the reviewer below me, this definetly does have a romantic feel-but like you described, does go along with a bright city of lights theme during the night. What would contribute to this track even more is a sax, clarinet, or another brass or woodwind instrument! Again, drums are real nice and suitable, but maybe to break the repetiveness you could add some tom fills every now and then.

Everything sounds real authentic, with the drums and bass. Your guitar tone (just like in Carribean Sunflower) has the excellent sound for jazz music, as its nice and round and not drowned in with effects.

Amazing work No1r, good luck in your professional career, I hope to hear more from you man!

No1r responds:

I really have to thank you for this long review.
I'm happy you liked my work, and really appreciate your feedback.
Good luck you too and i hope i can make more of this soon.

[4 Minute Guitar Workout]

Crits

your guitar playing is actually pretty decent (skill wise, but the composition doesn't really have a substance and is overly random, even if its just for a workout), I'm only giving you a 6 because your guitar tone really hurts my ears. Trying lowing the treble and put some compression on your guitar :P

I would cut back on the shredding/tremolo riffs a bit, or try practicing it on a clean tone at first, as you're shredding is a bit sloppy at some times and comes in too randomly. I do like you're pentatonic licks more. The other stuff you incorporated was a bit too abstract for my tastes without any ideas to support and help structure your soloing

As for starting, I would start with an appealing melody, yet nothing too complex or fast. it can be a pentatonic rock riff, a catchy dissonant metal riff, or a sad slow ballad lick, whatever you're going for. I hate to put limitations and say whats right (don't take my advice unless you personally can agree to an extent) but generally just jumping right into shredding doesnt sound good, atleast with me. Gradually add on to this by adding more complex and faster bits-every now and then add a quick hammer on/pull on riff (I would be much more interested in a legato fill then tremolo picking) and build tension as you move forth. Try using more bends and slides to bridge into different riffs. And as you reach the climax, or resolve from the climax, fast tremolo picking and whammy jazz will generally fit better hear. This is also a good place were you can transition into different sounding ideas.

anyway-you certainly got talent, just don't waste it trying to impress people with fast playing :P I hate when people do that just for the sake of trying to show off. I'm not saying you're trying to do that, but try utilizing shredding more sparingly and when appropriate.

Hope this helps!

[Schism cover.]

The Pieces do fit!

wow this is great man, looks like you nailed the bassline, drums, and guitar dead on! 10/10 job if I was just grading this for the sole factor of covering! (you get my 5 anyway). Melodically this song may not be very hard to play, but the rhythms and different time signatures makes this harder than it sounds, so kudos on that. Near perfect matering too.

Drums sound nice and clean, are those live real drums or just programmed drums that were mastered well? Guitar tones are almost emulate the exact ones in the original track, bass is real solid too, but it could use a bit more boom to fill a void. Guitar could use a bit of decay in the chorus sections to give it that touch of ambience that the Schism songs sparks, as I personally think its an essence in what made the track. Right at 0:04 it would be nice if you had a volume swell of some guitar feedback too lead into the main guitar riffs. Also, you need to lay down the mellow guitar chords in the intro-but ah whatever I'm being too critical, I'm sure you know that. This a great start for a WIP! Keep up the good work man!

Zyclon responds:

Thanks a lot man. You pretty much nailed everything I thought about it in this review. I'm gonna finish the rest of it soon as well as rerecord the guitars. The drums are done using ezdrummer which is the best drum VST I've used. All the detail it use to take hours to do only take minutes. Check it out if you are into drum programming.

[[TMM43]Ride on me]

Another one :P

Well, indeed another nice track here indeed mate!

I really could really say the same stuff I said in my review yesterday (or early today actually)

I can't give you an accurate score regarding originality because I havent heard the original track, but regardless great main themes with nice synth textues, again very danceable. The crash hits were compressed so they dont clip this time aroud, a good job with the mixing and I'm liking the reverb you use with this one again. I think the hook you used to get into the more epic phase around 0:27 was a bit on the weak side. And this track ended to abruptly IMO, there was no real climax in this track, even for being this short...

But once again, nice work man, hopefully you can finish it and include some unique, cool ideas, like in your old track HXC. Peace!

[-Emotion Burst locomotion]

real trippy

I agree with WritersBlock, I'm liking the upbeat style of this tune, definetly lots of energy this track gives off. Jumpy drums sound real nice, I like the violin and piano in combination with the synths, nice stuff. Melodies are real happy and catchy and flow quite swell with the bassline. Progresses real nice, section at 2:10 was a good addition, gives room for tension to build up once you hit back with the chorus. I just think the last chorus could place more emphasis on new riff if you were aiming for that to be the focal point of the track. Conclusion was wrapped up quite well.

Mixing job is near excellent in my opinion, I just think the piano sounded a bit cheap, just need some thickness and a more defined sound. I'm not too fond of the poppy techno sound here, but very cool track regardless!

Waterflame responds:

a intelegent and nice review :D thank you for the constructive criticicm! i actually agree with your points . infact all of them :P and im glad you took the time to give a serious review altho youre not really into this style. thats the worst mistake pepole usually do, judge the songs after personal taste. again thanks! :D

[Water and Fire Fractal Tune]

Interesting

very unique sound you got here, care to elaborate on that fractal idea?

some really sweet ideas, I like the general sounds (I like the pipe percussion and the panned cymbals the most, and the way the horns slowly move in the background) and mixing. although it does sound a tad cluttered.

so a pretty cool mix of sounds in here dude, but its unstable. I'm interested in hearing what you're process was in making this tho :)

gleegleep responds:

Thank you very much for your thoughts, I really apreciate it.

As for elaborating on the fractal idea, a fractal is a mathematical pattern which is generally irregular, branches out into many layers of details, and repeats itself after a while (what mathematicians call "self-similar"). For example, if you zoom in to certain parts of a fractal a few times, you will eventually find a pattern like the original fractal pattern.

As for the mix of sounds, it does sound a bit cluttered. This tune was made back when I didn't know much about the program I used, Fmusic. I've been practicing though.

Basically, in Fmusic, you choose the instruments, and the set of numbers that determine the rhythm and notes that will be incorporated into the MIDI file.
One can also determine percussion, which may work from regular (non-fractal) pattern. But you can also make percussion a part of the fractal rhythm, too. Here, I used both types.

Thank you for asking about the process I used in making this.

[[TMM43]The Final Cut]

Head bopping S3C

pretty sweet track, i haven't heard the original piece so i can't give you a fair rating based on originality-but very nice clip you got here. All your tracks are so danceable and catchy w00t!

anyways, good sound overall, the melodies and bassline are a bit on the generic side but whatever. I like how the reverb gets larger after the huge crash hit..(or am I just hearing things?), and how it sounds like you're in a stadium. The synths are fitting, samples sounds good. Just the crash hit is too powerful, try lowering the volume or take out a layer or two. The kick sample sounds almost perfect (could use a tad more bass), but the claps and snares could be adjusted up a level IMO. Also a slow synth string melody would be a nice addition alongside the lead saw!

Great work once again!

[Drugs In That Bag Boy!]

10/10

great story man. would read again. :)

AudiosErgeon responds:

An epic story i one day will be able to tell my grand children about!

[Total Eclipse]

ya ya ya ya

haha thats a sweet wah/yah effect thingy...I have that same type of effect on my guitar pedal-and this is the first time I've heard this effect used in newgrounds. I really liked the choice of synths you used in here, its a real unique selection. I like the plucked string, and how you make it do the fast legato runs making it sound like a guitar riff. The backing synth sounds real nice and sits real well with the drums and that other lead. You should probably lower that effect that you have on the strum once the main section starts, it feels a bit loud and is overpowering, so lower it or just decrease the stereo portion. Some nice soft reverbed pads would be a good fit in here, and I can just hear a tight saw synth waiting to come in!

you and you're friend did a great job with this one. Unfortunately its unfinished, but splendid job so far.