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

[Wobinidan - Leaning Out]

why doesnt this half more downloads!?

this is a kickass track dude!

when I first heard your voice, it reminded me of Layne Staley from Alice In Chains. it even has a nice grungy acoustic touch to it. very nice vocals in here, and I can understand the vocals.

well panned and mastered acoustic tones. very crisp and clear. love the fingerpicked melodies that glide across the strings. love the little lead riffs that fits so nicely with the rest of the track. Love the pieces put together in the track, has a very nice major-minor track. I hear some nice vocal oohs in the background too, pretty sweet.

the drums are cool as well, nice beats and patterns. also the beatboxing was pretty cool and original as well, cant say you hear a lot of people in acoustic folk music do this type of stuff.

I dont know about the ending tho, it doesnt exactly take away from the track, but it is just kinda pointless to me. I wouldnt have bothered including it in there IMO.

the clarity is already excellent as it is, but there could be a few things you can do to make it top notch, which is up to you, I wouldnt care myself. include some more bass melodies in here. you've got a cool "bassline" as it is(what I mean is the chord tones that are played on the the lower strings of your guitar) but it can be more audible if you add an actual bass in there. the vocals seem a little bit low relative to the track, and can be brought out more. you're beatboxing is fine as it is, but you could probably sharpen up your techniques a bit. just a bit ;). i dont know how you would be able to make them more distinguishable between the actual drums tho..hey i'm the critiquer not the creator >_>

anyway, real kickass stuff in here, I'm impressed. upload some more cool stuff alright!

wobinidan responds:

Wow, thanks a lot for this review, you offer some really sound advice that I am going to take on board. Actually I feel like giving a review to your review! 10/10!

[Show no mercy]

striking !

this definetly does fit a war type of theme movie or game. the beginning part actually reminded me a lot of God of War, which is a very good thing.

nice mix of the choirs used in this track. what do you for the one in the center? it sounds nice and like an actual choir. the lower pitched male choir is kinda muffled, but the rest our nice. the higher end, spacey sounding choir pad is pretty kickass too, it develops a nice eerieness to the track. the orchestra strings bit fits the loop nice as well, adding some seriousness to the mix. good use of panning as well, you might wanna EQ them a bit more tho. some orchestral percussion would sound great in here.

this track doesnt loop well, it ends too abruptly, and there is a second of silence. you could have stretched out the final note longer.

otherwise, great job on this loop!

meneldil responds:

I have no knowledge on equing, that's my problem:( But I'm gonna start learning all that stuff when I have time, as there are some tutorials in the internet.

Thanks for the feedback, very appreciated!

Check PM.

[2 minute guitar solo]

wtf

I'm not gonna lie, this is mostly horrible :/

its very sloppy, and sounds like you're playing random notes as fast as you can. half of the track was messups. I slightly cringed when you did the intro bit. you were playing fast, but not very clean, I couldnt distinguish the notes you were hitting, it was just a random mumbo jumbo at a fast pace..this is all improvised right? unless your're a God of improvising, I strongly suggest you have a general skeleton of what you what to play in mind before recording. this also had some nice short melodies that could have connected for a very interesting riff, but they were ruined by sloppy shredding, and licks that really lead up to nowhere. the tapping bit was decent, but still, needs some work and more consistency. the slower bit hat a nice melody, it started off in a harmonic minorish sound, then drifted to a nice spacey lydian type of sound. I liked the last bit you had going on here even though it was still kinda random, but not as bad as the first half.

your guitar tone is not bad, perhaps to much gain to make the tone sound overly distorted and pickup too much, or maybe its just too much decayed reverb? wouldnt worry about it too much right now!

sorry for being harsh man, but someone needs to give you some criticism. I dont mean to come in here and lay down a "YOU FUCKING SUCK!", because you definetly dont...if you can play that fast, then you obviously have a good deal of talent and skill...unfortunately here, this is an example of wasted talent IMO. I recommend you practice some music theory to compose a more appealing sound and improve your ear a little. improvise too, but not just random notes, pickout a key, and play notes within that key at first. 99% of the time you need to know the rules to break them. try to step down the speed a little bit(its better to be slow and accurate then fast and sloppy), and slowly work you way up with a metronome until you can play your chops even faster and with little to no messups. once again man, nice speed, but your skills and theory knowledge need to be refined. keep on practicing guitar man and you'll sound great in the future.

{and now I look like an idiot :/ didnt realize this track is a year old, I clicked on it off your profile. so if you fixed up your playing, then ignore this :)...but heres your review, no point in deleting a long review that I already wrote)

darkkloud responds:

well, you were right in a few portions about why the notes were unclere, alot of it has to do with the reverb that i used, i hate reverb and dont normaly use it, but in something like this, you need some reverb to make it actually sound good, unfortunatly i used to much, also, the distortion was way to much as you said. i appreciate the honest review mate.

[Choosing the Door [exerpts]]

some nice metal riffs in here

thats a nice good collection of demo riffs youve got in here dude. where you planning on using all the riffs in one song? I could see them put together to create a nice diverse song, but they also could be good individual base riffs for different tracks.

the first riff is a pretty kickass melodical bit, kinda sounds like a dreamtheater intro. Love the drums in here, like the good hi hat rolls in here, sounds pretty sick.

the second one is pretty \m/ and evil sounding. it would get kinda boring, but the second part of the riff sets up a nice intro for a solo. nice double bass work in this one.

the third one is pretty nice one..really good job on the guitar once again, and is packed with another good metal guitar bit. the open hi hat adds some nice intensity

the acoustic section carries a nice rhythm. the lead is nice and soft...its pretty nice that you didnt go "all out metal" throughout your album, so props for including hits. the lead guitar flows over the top nicely. do you have a nice section with a reverb soaked guitar in there too? seems like I tell a lot of people that, maybe I have a reverb fetish haha :P

the fourth riff is probably my favorite. love the metallish sound with the little dissonant fills on the guitar. the solo guitar plays a really nice chromatic sounding riff too.

the fifth riff is probably the most diverse one you've got featured here. sounds kinda medieval, it reminds me of batman. the first half sounds megadethish, and then when you conclude it sounds a tad like metallica.

so definetly a nice album that I would probably look into. some nice interesting riffs in here. great performance as well, some of these licks sound like they would require a great deal of dexterity.

clarity wise, the track is clear for the most part. nice dark, distorted tones suited for metal. drums are good too. your acoustic guitar tones are pretty sweet as well, they could have been a bit crisper, but whatever. use different levels EQs to make the lead and rhythm sound more distinct too. I also would mind a wider variety of tones used throughout your track, too make your album more distinct and interesting. the solo guitar tones are not too bad either, I say they need more punch, more of a screaming, sharp tone I guess. all in all tho, nothing major to incorporate.

the track is nice and original as well...it wasnt too typical of "chug chug chug" sound like a lawnmower, no emotion repetive power chord riffs. you've definetly got some nice melodies and well constructed riffs in here. its not stuff that blows me away by its uniqueness, but youve definetly got a distinguishable style that would appeal to a metal audience IMO. keep up the good work and good luck with your album!

FlameMesial responds:

First of all, this was a fucking great read - thank you for taking the time to write this :D

The first section I did try to go for a Dream Theater style thing, but also a sorta greyish, moody English riff, if you know what I mean :P

With the second section I did think of making it a bit more in-depth, but hard powerchords are fun in small doses, so I went for it!

The third section, the one with the soloriff, was probably the hardest fucking part of the song to play, but I'm glad I nailed it.

I actually wrote all of the acoustic section before any other part of the song, and I found that all of the notes in this recording aren't too clear, but it's good enough for metal :P

After the acoustic part, it's the part of the story where the dude decides to turn back to his drug life, so I had to make some weird fucked up riffs to musically represent some horrific hallucinations. So that's the fourth one, and the final one was just a cool-sounding riff that I picked up from using a John Petrucci exercise technique, so I went and threw it in.

I'm glad you're interested in the album, and thank you for the definite compliment of an original sound. For the next upcoming songs I have a different (and better) tone, and also more professional sounding drums, so the whole thing will be very cutting-edge :D

I need to get a paypal account up soon, so I can settle album sales over the internet.

Thanks again for this review, it kicked ass.

[Mega man mix]

never heard the original song before

but I enjoy what you got going on here.

good choice of synths, and the melodies flow well anything. if anything, I would say that the bend note utilized in the front and the beginning went on too long..but it sounded cool when you released the bend and the main beats and melodies hit the scene. I was taken aback by the well panned arped synth. nice bassline, and I can feel all the instruments and samples throughout the track, it sounds really cool. nice job not using the repeated kick the entire song for the bass, you pretty much used the same beat tho...and added a ride cymbal fill in the track. I love the decaying pads you have going on the track. overall definetly good remix..I cant give you accurate scores on originality and effort, since I havent heard the original. still, very nice track, sounds fairly megamanish too me!

Chaingun00 responds:

why thank you for the review, i appreciate the advice and complements :).

[[TMM43] HXC (?)]

"whooooo!!!!"

cool beat you've got going on there, and nice amount of reverb, just perfect to be complemented by the crowd cheers. then I like when you harmonized another acidy synth with so the crowd could cheer at a more epic moment in the music.

the beat is definetly catchy and fun to listen, but a bit too basic to recieve an super high score. it would be nice if you placed some different lead melodies over the top..but still, the "basslines and beats" flow well throughout the track. also it looks like you put the majority of effority into sound quality, and I definetly am impressed. perfect reverb that sounds like an arena and kinda echoes without leaving a murky background sound..clear drums too, love the sample that sounds like a mix between a clap and snare.

another nice track by TMM43...I'm amazed how you're able to release a track every few days and they sound like they've been worked on for weeks.

TMM43 responds:

Thanks for your review Suspended-3rd-Chord, I always appreciate a good review from you.

I really wanted this song to epic, so thanks for picking up on that.
I really loved the beat of this song, it's jumpy, and I LOVE jumpy beats. Yeah, I was a bit repetative with the lead, I suppose I could have used another one.

I wanted this track to be the clearest I've ever made, and from the looks of it, it is! xD

That sample that sounds like a mix of clap and a snare, well, IS a clap and scare! I put that together. haha

I'm able to release a track every few days due to me always working on multiple tracks at a time. I'm rarely or never working on just ONE track, I've got 3-4 other I'm working on now!

Thanks for your awesome review!

[Opality]

trippy, slightly generic, but not bad

nice synths in the start with the nice reverb/echo effect...I love the slow downtempo feel in this track. the lead synth in the intro was basic, but catchy. When you use the thin echoing synths, it does indeed remind me of the ocean. in fact, it reminds me of the ocean level in vectorman. I also like the shore sound you used at the end of the track...nautical! if you gradually add more reverb to the thin synths towards the end of the track, I think that would sound really cool...like drifting out further into the ocean.

the drums fit the track...but only because you were using light synths that didn't overpower the track. these samples surely wouldnt hold up in a loud, intensive techno clip-so I guess its okay here. but it sounded lame in the begginning of your track when theres was nothing else, try addding more bass levels to the bass and such, or just use different samples altogether, they're kinda basic they way they are now and need more punch.

but nice chill track here man. it sounds like a secret infiltration mission at night at the beach.

RougeChocobo responds:

yah the drums were a bit lame. Ill keep it in mind next time. thnx for the constructive critisism. i cant tell you how much it annoys me when people say ...17 W4s C001 !!!!

[-(WB)-Lava Reef Extinction]

nice new touch mate

its been a while since I heard this track, but it sounds like you changed up the original composition of the lava reef level track. if you did do this, then major props to you dude, it definetly gives it your personal touch. A lot of people who remix other peoples work just lay out the notes in a sequencer(usually imported from a midi file) and just add whatever synths and FX without changing any of the actual notes. IMO, this isnt entirely a full remix and sometimes doesnt take a good deal of effort. but thats just my own personal view. the saw synth kinda drowns everything out. and when it went solo, the sound of the saw was too screechy..I thought I heard another synth layered under the saw, but it was hardly other.

clarity wise, the drums need some work. it sounds like you are using factory presets without messing with them much..I can't hear the bass and snare, so those need to be louder. either that, or turn down the volume levels on some of the other synths. also add a hi hat and some cymbals to give the carry the track better.

nice track man! thanks for the nostalagia..

but you captured the feel of the original song and gave it your own personal flavor, so good job here. I think, you wisely choice your synths for this track. I do like the pan flute, however in this case it doesnt fit in real well with the other synths IMO. the saw

WritersBlock responds:

Cheers man, looks like you took some time to think out this review. Can I cover it all? Yes, I did work this out note for note instead of importing. It took me a while to work out the notes and rhythms, and you might notice I added my own riff in there near the end ;D
The saw is the lead of the track so I pushed it up so as not to get drowned out. The other parts are just there for harmony, and that's why they're soft by comparison.
The drums weren't presets, I filled them out myself, and for that reason, the kick tends to come out softer. I'm still working through getting the right sounds from the high hats and cymbals, but compared to earlier tracks, these drums are loads better.
Once again, cheers for reviewing.

[Electrick - Tranquillity]

Cool man

thats a interesting, mysterious pad that you started off with in the beginning, which could set up a good track for a lot of different styles. it revolves to a happy adventure type of feel. some of the melodies in the intro sound really nice, and you wisely selected the appropriate sounding synths for them, and laced them with nice effects. catchy bassline. you also choosed the perfect samples and EQed them very well making them suitable for this style of music...too bad it was the generic repeated drum kick, but in this genre, what are you gonna do? or does it really matter? when you hit the part with the sad piano bit, I think the trance part ended to abruptly and there needed to be a better connection piece. But the sadness part of the certainly added a lot more of interestingness. nice work with the second phase of the song. overall, pretty slick track. very catchy. this would be great music for the lasergun arena, atleast the high paced parts of the track.

Electrick responds:

Thanks man. I thought the piano was actually pretty neat. I guess I was too careful with is so it sounded more ambient then. Thanks for the review dude.'

Electrick

[Dewy Embers]

Glad to see you back with a new mix Gillenium

I love how you take simplistic and basic melodies and lay them over a beat, or a nice pad with some swirhling FX, and make everything sound so sweet. you are like the clapton of ambient/eletronica music. and it sounds real fresh and original too man. I can't even criticize you on anything here man. :)

the main synth in the beginning is real nice. it was just a two note melody, but you got an amazing tone on that bit. how do you do it? the intro didnt catch my attention much, but once the track and miscellaneous instruments worked it self in, it put me in a trance. the drums are pretty damn slick, like a young lost boy is running in the rain, under murky skies, in his teared up raincourt. the melody around 0:30 is downright touching...sounds so peaceful and has a major minor feel. the low frequency is tear inspiring. I guess removing the drums in certain parts give some recovery, chill time, i would have liked to see how the track progressed with without the short delays. i really dig the background ambient effects, they help make the track as good as it is. the fade in stuff in the second half of the track is killer too, it sounds like you took a lot of effort into tweaking out the right sounds. around 2:20, such a wonderful, beautiful pad. i also love the new FX you put on the drums after that bit. nice ending man, sweet, sweeet, sweeet man. amazing track.

Gillenium responds:

Very very nice review! Thanks for taking the time to write it. "Electronic Clapton" is one description I've never heard before :) But yes, I'm finally getting into the groove of my new software and hardware. Having a midi-controller is really great. I can just turn on the "record" feature and mess around. The melody of this song came from just messing around. I like that freedom.