Godknown's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Say Ah!]

Funny song. I think you should change the reverb effect on your voice. I don't even know what kind of room you're in, honestly, and the other instruments confuse it, too. Although, your chorus is pretty sweet. Reminds me of the artist VAST. Change your bass instrument to something less twangy. Lower the frequency on it, I'm thinking, and you'll soften the edges. This could be so much deeper. I actually liked it, though. Haha.

Cocobanana responds:

Thank you so much. I'll work on balancing better next time :)

[Plants]

These drums just are not matching your play-style at all. You should go with drums that are softer and play a little slower. Also, the guitar-work is still just kind of muddy and uninspired. Keep trying.

thndr responds:

Thanks for the review man!

I'll shy away from using these kind of drum loops in the future, selecting it this time was mainly due to a challenge I set up myself with: making an impro that's at least 1 min long, maybe that was the reason behind the guitar being kinda uninspired.
I have to be honest and say that I don't want to give the wrong impression to people, I don't feel so hot about these ideas I upload, these act as mere milestones in what I hope to be a longer run.

[Krempossible]

Haha, excellent start! Was so full of energy, it just pulled me right in! I don't like the "spray" sound of the cymbal you used. I think it's either too loud or just kind of at an annoying pitch. Try adjusting it a tad. There wasn't much to the transitions you put down. I honestly can't say I've listened to every single one of the songs involved in the medley, but I trust your ear at least somewhat. Now, this is a problem... your drums were just constant. Because they were unchanging, it got monotonous. The effects are pretty awesome, and the instruments you used are great. The 2:50 mark really did it for me. Then the part at about 3:45 was really singing out. Loved the portameno (the legato sliding) effect on whatever that instrument was. Anyhow, overall, I think this mix is pretty grand. I got down to it. Would listen again, but wouldn't be a favorite. Could be much better, in my opinion. You probably outdid yourself on this one, but I still dare you to do much, much better. Still, nice going!

Kaeo

[Cleaning]

Hmm, the beginning is sort of off. The feel is kind of nice, but I'm bothered by it sounding so unnatural. The drumloop was decent, but I know it was a drumloop, so you don't get much points for that. The guitar-playing, as said, is kind of nice. Work on the timing and give your playing a little more energy to a drumloop like the one you used. Is this supposed to be a loop? It was very short. Ah, well, don't give up.

Kaeo

thndr responds:

Hey man, thanks for the review!
This wasn't my best work that's for sure, I'll try to take your advice and play with a bit more energy.
The reason behind these snippets being circa 30 sec long is that I cannot yet find it in me to improvise for more than 30 secs at a time, all my attempts have turned out to be unsatisfactory.
As you said, there's no magic in these drum loops, they're premade in Reason, I just pick them out :)
Problem is, I'm running out of premade drumloops, so in the future I'll have to edit some of my own merit.
If the guitar playing turns out to be kind of nice, that's all I need at this stage of the game, I don't have any proper knowledge of music theory.

[Guitar Vs. Piano 1.2 rmk]

Warn the ears of your listeners next time. Haha. That guitar is quite shrill, and annoyingly so, since I know it is just emulated. Maybe put a limiter on any frequencies above 15000, more or less. The drums are kind of dull and left unappreciated. The guitar just stays relatively the same all the way throughout the intro. Man, definitely need better drums, though. Start EQing your instruments a little more. The piano was alright. I wasn't impressed with it. I'm intrinsically unimpressed with the tune overall. It's just not much of a battle, in my opinion. They're more-so complementing each other in a way. Though, actually, toward the end, that's when I'm imagining more of a battle. I can see the dance going on, and that's pretty cool. So, overall, I'm not very satisfied listening through it, and I think it needs more work. Pay attention to the notes you're putting down, and pay attention to the production quality of your music. Remember, treat it like art, not just like some goal you're trying to get out of the way. Make this more of a journey!

Kaeo

lantaren responds:

I was trying to replicate goukisan's guitar Vs. Piano 1.2 as closely as possible, including the shrill guitar, and drum samples. I know it's not the best rendition ever, but I consider it to be a fairly good representation of how the song goes (being that every part is 1:1 with the original, including length) Yeah, I just honestly did not expect to be criticized so heavily on the composition part of this (being that I did 0 of that-it is 100% the original song, I changed nothing)

[Spirit of Distant Lands 2]

Alright, I like what you did here. Not my taste, but it's good music. The only thing about it is that it sounds so hollow. I'm thinking you should boost the bass of the hums a little bit. This would go great with some actual singing vocals, and then perhaps you'd have some light drums kick in around the 2:25 mark with a giant chorus that lasts for a long time. Leave that ending effect for after that chorus, and you have yourself a more complete song. Just thoughts. I like it, keep it up.

Kaeo

HypnoSophistication responds:

The bass-thing is probably a good idea. But even as a drummer, I'm keeping this drum-clean.
Thanks for the feedback!

---HypnoSophistication

[Plateau]

So, I like your patterns as well as the transitions. The pattern placement is pretty decent, and you have a good understanding of how Dance/House music is composed. Only thing lacking is in how the genres sound, which seems to be more of a skill-related issue rather than a talent-related issue. The transitions would be a little better with maybe a bit more reverb time. Extend those cymbals out, and maybe make sure there's a little more going on in the higher end of the frequency chart. I like the energy in the song, but there just isn't enough of it going on. Your kicks should be deeper, there should be a little more bass in the instruments overall, and like I said, get some high frequencies in there to push the tension. Increase your production quality by layering instruments together and using reverb where you think is best. Just don't overdo it. A little goes a long way. Anyways, I was able to listen through the entire song without once feeling it was unpleasant. It just doesn't stick out. Overall, a well-put-together but hollow and uninspired sound. Feel the energy of the music itself more! =D Keep it up!

Kaeo

tomdink responds:

I think I understand pretty well what your saying, thanks for the review!!

[Jingle Bells?]

The intro is a little too long for my taste. We all know what "Jingle Bells" sounds like. Though, to be honest, a few of the notes are incorrectly placed, but I wouldn't dock points for that, seeing as it doesn't have to be exact. =P The kick is punchy and good, and I like the lead synth. The backup synths are kind of weak, but I'd have to say the weakest part of this song is the bass that you're using. This sounds like very kiddy-like dance music, which is fine for Christmas music, but... I think I've heard way too many Christmas songs with this kind of sound. More originality!

Kaeo

Xsalvaz responds:

Well thank you very much for your review! I knew that some of the notes were incorrectly placed, but I spent like 2 hours on this at most, so I didn't really care to change it haha. I need more backup synths, mostly because this song doesn't really have any. Thanks!
~X

[Singularitisms]

I do like that uncommon time signature. Sounds like 4/4 for two measures then 3/4 for the next two? Not sure what that would be called. Anyhow, the song itself sounds pretty sweet. The synths used sound a bit cheaper than I'd like. The drums were good and the energy was good, but I think what was lacking was a more grandeur feeling with the instruments. Like, perhaps think about throwing on some reverb or delay. Decent, though. Keep it up!

Kaeo

[The Evil Nutcracker]

Loved this a lot. Was very well thought out and put together. I'll say what comes to mind immediately. Maybe you don't need so many hard kicks in your drum patterns all the time. Don't need so many snares going on every measure, either. Other than that, what you did with the drums is pretty insane, and went very well with the heavy nature of this song. I wish there was more to the transitions at times. Dial the reverb down just slightly on some of the louder instruments so that there isn't so much background clutter, too. Overall, quite beast, my friend. A very good entry in this contest, mate. Hope you get something! =)

Kaeo