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

[-=LJC=- Grinsomnia]

it's about time you submitted a new track

damn, you've already got 21 reviews

anyway, glad to see you submitted another track, its been some time.

well, this track is pretty good as expected, well thought out and continuously variated. Lots of chopped up bits and interesting drum parts. sounds like these type of tracks would take a great deal of time to work with. My only qualm with this one, the drums are *too* variated, I think the breaks IMO were overdone, and the volume fades and drum absence were too much- to me its like one long intro, I would've definetly liked to here a more continually moving beat with more stability. but really its all in taste, IMO its much, much, much better than 4/4 kick trance beats. styles like this are always appreciated.

anyway, I enjoyed the piano chords, a nice progression that works with the beat. sound is very genuine and dark too. it's minimalistic but changes up quite some bit, and then you fill in the silence with some nice connecting licks. although it might ruin the feel of this track, I would suggest adding just one or two more instruments in here, maybe some light synths or strings to play extended notes in the background, while there's a more upfront lead melody. I do love how it ends so empty though.

and back to the drums, I still enjoy them very much for what they're worth. I love the bouncing snare rhythms, sounds like you threw one in a room with rubber walls and the sounds bouncing all over the place. the reverse bits are good too, some Dnb patterns in parts are a nice fit, in parts it kinda sounds like you got two drumkits playing at once, or maybe just two snares, but its cool how neither one takes away too much from the other.

so all in all, very diverse interesting track. Not my personal favorite from you, but it was a pleasure to listen to anyway. Great quality sound, submit more man! (i also probably went overboard with criticism in this track :/)

LJCoffee responds:

Didn't go overboard with criticism at all. You not only offered your opinion but you gave solutions and suggestions as well and that helps me a great deal. I really appreciate the advice.

I would love to submit more often but my life is a roller-coaster at the moment and I don't have nearly enough time or energy to spare. I'm really glad to hear that even though this may not be at the top of your list, you can still appreciate it for what it is. Thanks!

[Cayur - Better Days]

in awe once again....

Heartfelt. Very nice chord progression in the start. Extremely calm, very serene. while upfront the notes are upbeat, there is some underlying tones of sadness. Excellent choice of pads for this too- I really love the warming texture, sounds like you've got some muffled pad combined with a woodwind of sorts and some mild strings. Very visual too, it would work wonders in a scene were someone such as a father is having a flashback of their deceased wife and daughter, are playing gracefully in a field, or a vision were he's talking to his past away family in heaven. Well, that's what it reminds me of atleast anyway.

Hi hats, come in nicely, i like the panning effects and blend of experimental blends in rhtyhms. quite minimalistic too, which is great for not ruining the mood. While I do appreciate experimentation, perhaps some of the little percussion snippets were just a tad overdone, and perhaps you could have eventually built up a more steady beat, as the constant mallet percussion doesn't seem like it should be there- but at the same time I would hate to tell a musician to take something out. the track does take quite a shift when the guitars come in my opinion, but I like them more listening the third time around. very lifting melodies. Ending was done nicely too, I like how you establish a nice meld of sound and fade it out. (tho I think it would sound better without the choppy delay effect)

man, another excelllent track. loving the production from start to end once again, just keep up the good work and continue to upload more to NG! :D

sculpted-cold responds:

This one is about how much I miss Japan, so it's sort of upbeat and depressing at the same time. The drums took me awhile to do because there's lots of panning and volume changes, but you're right about the snare that's playing on the offbeats. I think I might just turn the volume down on that a little bit. The guitars were kind of a last minute idea I had while listening to it, haha. They could be mixed a little bit better, though. I'm kind of surprised no one has said anything about that yet.

Fun fact: I actually used my delay pedal for this song...instead of using FL Delay.

Thanks for the listen/rate/review/criticism; always love reading it from you! :D

[Cayur - Chapter 1 (Demo)]

just loving it!

This an amazing track, excellent composition with some unique more intricated than normal sequencing. like snoball said below, some nice post rockish sound (a genre I should definetly look more into).,

I love the harmonization in the start, some nice creepy buildup in the pipeorgans, and the soft EQ cut pads in the background. they sound really great in combination. Digging the guitar riffs of course, they flow really well and have a different melodical progression. Another interesting thing about them is how you put some nice exotic sounding chords in places with the single note riffs- and how the both guitars are differentiated from each other but play real well together. I really like the the subtle filtered choir that comes in well, adding even more tension. all the same, some very nice changing drums that have a calm yet complicated patterns into the start and continue to evolve.

I really like when you introduce the first metal distorted guitar riff, I thought it came into soon at first, but you kinda tricked me as it went right back into the clean parts without really establishing its own developed phrase. In retrospect, it fits in there perfectly.

The first chorus section is sick. Very well constructed rhythmic guitar sections, doesn't sound generic at all. Lead guitars were performed outstanding as well, great solo, just like everything else, drums sound great in this section as well, outstanding job with the tom patterns.

Amazing transition work, which can be hard to do when writing a track complicated like this (I wouldnt know, so thats what I'd assume atleast). I like how the distortion guitars play into the next section while laying down the themes in the main part of the track. Ending was really well done too, I absolutely love the driving drum beat and how the pads and guitars morph into one very nice sound. The ending might sound good too if it had some guitar feedback or some sustained harmonic noise/ambience, but the pads are a nice fit. I just think the track ended too soon, as the notes could have been longer and the chord you ended on could be more resolving.

clarity sounds great, guitars are crisp and EQed quite adequately, drums sound authentic and have lots of varied velocities, and are placed very well in the speakers, as all the instruments are panned nicely to make for a nice full mix. Distortion tones are damn nice too, nothing too heavy for the themes in here, and its not wimpy or overly fuzzy. I just think you're leads could be brought out more, as they seem to be more in the background while IMO these parts need to stand out. I'm no mixer, but I would suggest maybe some reverb + louder volume?

anyways, kickass composition, kickass track. Can't really find much wrong with this one!

sculpted-cold responds:

Now THIS is a review. Holy balls, dude.

The lead guitars definitely need to be turned down, but the reason why they were turned down in the first place is to prevent the song from clipping...but as I said before, I've been reading about EQing and mastering, so I can easily fix that. Hopefully you'll like the bass part when I mix it. The tone is pretty sweet-think ATDI's "Relationship of Command". I'm not really sure if the guitars really need much more reverb, but I'll give it a try.

As for the end, it's supposed to end on a resolving chord, but when I was recording it I just...didn't feel like doing that, ahaha. IMO, it fits perfectly but opinions are called opinions for a reason. I actually might try that feedback idea, haha. And hopefully the vocals will make the song seem a little less dragged out.

I actually used Sytrus for the warm pad and just added a little organic fuzz to it. The strings are actually a really nice soundfont I downloaded a few months ago with some VERY slight organic fuzz. The choir is a soundfont as well, haha. I'm pretty sure it's from Sinfonia's soundbank.

Anyway, I can't put into words how awesome a reviewer you are. All I can do is say thank you very much and review some of your music in return. So with that said...thanks, haha. You rock.

[Nav - Wii Love 2 Play (Remix)]

underwater basket weaving!

gee golly this one's good. sounds very professional, mastering and FX is really "thinking out of the box" atleast IMO. (maybe i just need to listen to more DnB? it generally isnt my style, but recently i have taken up a liking) havent heard the original, i'm sure I would like your version better tho :) I can already safely assume that you have put a lot of work into differentation while keeping the same themes, unlike a lot of people here who just directly import or transcibe the midis and replace the channels with seperate instruments, and label it as a remix.

The opening is so crisp, clean, and visual. Is this a bit like your loop "aquatic paradise" or "engiish class loop" I cant remember. I love those peaceful juicy melodies that float around on the top, those airy pads, some adequate subass that's effectively packs a warming boom yet not too overpowering- it reminds me of swimming in some futuristic, enormous giant aquarium. Track goes into a nice shift with the synths that sound like guitars/plucked strings, and I like the bells and how they sync with the bassline. love the constantly variated drums. Then you bring those great melodies that you start with, which is what I was hoping for. Interlude is very refreshing. new horn-sounding parts are great too. composition is kept quite simple, but very promising and work quite well with the visualizations I get.

i really enjoyed the slow down section as well- very interesting diverse sounding glitched drums, lots of changeups that flow good with the mix, and not overdone. ending was very nice too, i enjoyed the harmonization- this was pretty much perfect from the start to end.

some very interesting FX and professional quality as always, very enjoyable themes, overall a sweet track that I can't find much wrong with. What more is there to say? It's like jumping into a clear, brisk lake after sweating under the desert sun for hours.

Nav responds:

Thanks for the review man! :D

Its funny... those aren't horns! Those are actually some lower register notes of an awesome freeware synth on KVR. Look for "String Synthesizer." Its great!

Hmm.... its not really like those loops. They were more meant to be loops than this, and they generally just set a slight theme. This one... I had made that opening loop's FX for a small game, and build the music behind it. It was a simple matter to incorporate it into the final piece!

Thanks for the awesome review dude!

[Restaraunt Music (Minor)]

damn i'm good

when i saw this on the AP page I knew this was gonna be by you haha.

that piano sounds very authentic, certainly a major upgrade from FL keys. I'm gonna have to dl it fo' sho.

and good composition too, nice and laid back.

WritersBlock responds:

lol, nice.
Yeah, it's impressed me, I'll probably grab the orchestral samples tomorrow. Thanks for the review. I've had a lot of fun messing about with rhythms and chords, and some improvisation. These last few days doing that has heightened my abilities to sit down at my keyboard and improvise certain styles. Cheers.

[midnight party]

much improvement from the last track

it does sound like a generic trance track, but regardless this is quite a bit better than your previous "not so simple" track, the synths have some direction, there's an actively moving beat to accompany the main riffs, and it flows decently and doesn't really have any awkward moments. it stays in key as well, so its not just completely random.

I like the opening bits on the Eurogate arp, but once it gets past the intro the melody is too predictable and needs more changes. I would definetly include one or two more synths in here, such as a bassline, another lead melody and maybe some extended sustained notes for some background sound. The beat works out decently , but is nothing special. i applaud for starting to use some dynamics, but the rhythms lack diversity and an interesting beat.

For the next step, try routing the channels to different slots on the mixer, and adjust their levels and experiment with FX on the mixer. try tilting the hats to the left or the right, and put more EQed bass on the kick, and definetly raise the volume levels on the kick and clap just a bit. Try messing with the controls so you can hear the sounds more audibly. The clarity is rather good in here, nothing overly loud, clipping, unwanted sounds, but practicing mixing to get a more interesting sculpture.

well certainly keep it going man, you've gotten better! :D

aldlv responds:

wow.. you are very exigent... XD
but your review are the most helpful ones...
I really appreciated it
thanx for all the advices

[Electrified Snake]

untz baby

some great ideas in here, with some somewhat overused blase sounds- but you still did do an great job for making you first full track and I wouldn't expect anything more at this stage.

I like the melodical ideas you start with, and then put those same melodies on a rave lead (I was just making a track yesteday with a similar 3xosc sound). bass is nice and is distinguishable from the kick. I thought 0:30 was too soon for you to break into the interlude section, as this is usual when the intros end! and nothing had really built up for a break section to be needed yet. Some nice big synthstrings and the muffled trance sounds work together well. The track takes a nice lift at 1:10, some full grand harmonization, and decent job with utilizing your themes. Possibly a different, bigger synth could be used to replace the rave lead in the end (or even a nice phaser effect would work well on it) , but its all gravy.

drums could use some mixing. Give the kick a bit more oomph by EQing some more bass. also, it distorts in some places so put some compression on the drums. Also, i would tilt your hats more to the left or the right to make your drums more full- and puts some reverb on your snare. and lastly, try to experiment more with dynamics in your next track. as far as the beat, it could use some more changeups, like you do with the snare in the end, and it wouldnt hurt to change up the kick too, by filling some steps in sporadically.

keep doing what you do!

Assios responds:

Thanks for a good review! :) Glad you liked the melodical ideas, bass etc... I agree with you that I broke into the interlude section too soon. I realized that afterwards ;) Thanks!

[Jazzy Loop =WB=]

yea its restaraunt-esque

nice jazz chords(I just don't like the one you end on but thats personal taste), the melody on the top sounds swift and slick, very nice jazz sensibility. and I like the triplet rhythms. i would probably put the middle tones on a different instrument but its fine. a nice chromatic riff on a plucked bass would be tight too, as well some percussion, even its only the light 'ti-ti, tiss" (1 & a & 3 e -if thats the correct way to count i cant remember) hi hats or a simple ride rhythm to add in the background. but really tho, duff little diddly right here, good job with the reverb on this one, and it loops seamlessly.

*puts shades on*

WritersBlock responds:

Thanks for the review. Yeah, I thought about getting a plucked bass, drums, maybe a saxophone for this, but for the restaraunt sound, I kind of pictured a solo pianist.
Cheers.

[(NUB)Time To Go Home]

I thought you said?

i thought you said you wished you had 1/10 the composition skill i did O_o? cuz this piano stuff is very damn great!

I like the opening notes and the long ring out on each note, making the piano sounds very genuine, its muffled sound makes it sound dark. sounds that are built around the piece are good, and I really like the creepy, echoing synth with nice ping pong delay FX. strings give this a nice touch as well, but they sound too quiet, also wouldnt hurt to have them play chords to make them have a more powerful effect (of course fill up the lower voices more, since there's not much going on in that spectrum, or it could be my headphones). I can hear the sub at the end, if I didn't know the length of this track, i would have expected to hear some blast beats while keeping the same melodical style. its all good tho- just a suggestion you might do (if you havent thought of it already) if you decided to make this track longer. one thing that doesnt fit well with me (you would only notice if you're trying to) is the chord you end on is a cliffhanger, you should probably stop on a more resolving chord, but really its a matter of taste.

as always, gotta love those constantly changing drums, some very nice work in this department. well, not so much in this one compared to your other tracks, but you wouldnt want to overdo the job for a calm piece like this. i like how you start with the underwater EQ, the sections where you slow down (extended triplets?) the pace are nice to. it also sounds as if you might have a subtle drumset playing in the background during some parts, and you throw in some extra lower snare sounds sporadically for good measures, which is quite cool. beat is pretty good in the end too, i like how you increase the industrial drum usage.

great work dude!

nubbinownz responds:

The reason it ends so cliffhangingly is that the inspiration to the song hinges on ending suddenly. as is the title "time to go home" it has to do with the several deep ideas.