Darren-M's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[{425} CraZe]

orchestration was great, mixing only good

the levels in this song were pretty good, but the mixing left much to be desired. the bass was a little buddy and a tab bit over baring in the sub range. when the drums came in around :15 seconds i was stunned by its simplicity and effectiveness, geat work with the rhythm there. the clap was ok. i would have compressed that more.

the orchestration of this was great but the synth choice just simply sounded "familiar" to other songs i have heard. but none the less great crafting of your synthesizer sounds.

good work

Michael425 responds:

I worked pretty hard on different drum sequencing in this song. And I admit that the Clap/Snare that i used was not the best.

If you can tell me the name of one other song that has synths like this one, I will believe you.

Thanks for the great review man.

[Always Greener]

stunning intro

this had a stunning intro, you are good at that. the pad was delicious, and spooky. the mail staccato lead that was like steel drum or piano was a little out of key to me at first but then again this song was very different in its atmosphere. the convert into the main part at 1:35 was to say the least eery. i liked the little square wave nintendo sounds. it was a good idea to take out the pad for the ending because it kinda created separation and was dramatic.
this is a 7 based on the hundreds of songs i have reviewed, so that means its pretty good.

keep up the good work.

cRAVE01 responds:

Yeah, this is defentely one of my different songs. but I really enjoy this. People keep saying it sounds eery, but i think this song sounds so overjoyously happy. Maybe I am different like that . . . .

I wish I knew more music terms cuz I have no idea what part you are talking about "mail staccato" . . . more for me to learn ^__^ And I love the nintendo sounds. I laughed so hard when I put them in! but now it sounds wrong if I take them out or exchange them. so yeah. glad someone else liked them.

[elaway]

V.J.

this sounds like something a friend of mine made in v.j.

the synth that came in around :40 was interesting i liked it. and the bass that followed was actually really cool.this song could use a pad for atmosphere and fullness. good manipulation of samples to the drum pattern.

the song felt like it was missing something.the drum in the way back the lowest one that sounded like a crash hat kinda... didnt do much, i didnt like that.

anyway keep up the good work.

upgradepro responds:

thanks!

[NeverWander]

intro

i actually loved the intro, its hard to make something repetitious that people can keep listening too, but i think your kick was kinda.... idk, muffled and distorted, try compressing it and the total mix was kinda low amplitude, try making the track a little louder.

the part that came in at 1:24 was cool, keep that definitely. i liked the pad that came in afterward as well.

the ending needs something, but hey this was a great loop!

keep up the work

cRAVE01 responds:

I'll fiddle with the kick a little ^_' I know what you mean by low amp. there is one synth that is so muddied down, but all my efforts have not resolved the problem : \ gotta keep at it tho! Glad you liked it when things picked up.

[Switch Back [BoC Hell Mix]]

switchback

ok so i know this song, and i think there was a competition a while ago for a switch back remix, i didnt enter but anyway this was actually kinda neat. i like chopping up samples and doing stuff like this. i really wanted to "get down" to this song but after i turned up the volume so high it really hurt my ears.

try using some peak limiters and watch the distortion levels. the part around 1:00 was awesome.

also try using some compression. the HH was ok but the kick was a little too crunchy for my tastes. i liked the drum pattern though. :)

keep up the work bud.

Dj-Fanta5t1c responds:

thanks mate, i will hopefully get around to uploading a 5 minute version that will be all fixed up. this was a test ^^

[:=>Donkey Kong 9-8 Remix<=:]

This is only ok

this song really is not that good. not good enough for the top five # 1 position. but congratulations anyway on getting past the bombers. this isnt a bad song just not a very good one.

ok now for my review.

the off beat bass through the song was a good idea, but got old and the saw or square you used in the osc. was hurting my ears. the cover choice was a great idea and you did a good job of reinventing it from a videogame it sounds very complete in composition. the lead was way too distorted and it sounded like it was conflicting with the drums. your mixing isnt the pits but could use improvement.
the little portamento squeely things in the background were ok at first but needed more variation.

yes im disgruntled and this isnt a terrible song im just disappointed in the top five.

nothing against you personally Molotov. your music is good.

Moltov responds:

Thanks.. I agree with you.
-Moltov

[.HLS. Kiss Me RMX]

samples are great. piano was mixed well.

the vocal samples in this are simply pristine and very well mixed! i loved the piano. it was also well mixed and eq'ed.

there was alot of flavor in this and reminded me of 90's dance that i love.

the drop and WOOH was awesome at 2:25. that was my favorite part.

the bass was a little week for the type of sound you were going for but atleast it made room for the rrhythmic piano.

heartless1298 responds:

Thanks! Yea I know the bass is weak, but every time I tried EQing it so that I could turn the bass up, it instantly distorted everything. I cried T_T (not really) lol.

Thanks for the review though!

[Bend it some more]

Guitar + computer

this was a pretty neat song and the author comment made me laugh.
i liked the drums you chose for this song and your guitar playing skills were pretty good too. there was so much variety.
the plam muting at 2:38 was cool.
i think you need to boost the guitars signal a little. the kick was perfect, but the other higher drums might need to be lowered.

good work

Markjie responds:

Oke then thanks, i will work on that ;)

[Alarm FX]

pretty good actualy

wow i actually like this alarm. it would be ferfect to sample. i hope you dont mind if i use it later as a sample.

i think i would lower the pitch on it though

uten responds:

go ahead

[stairway to the 4th dimension]

at first

at first i thought this song had really strange musicality and structure but i started to enjoy it a lot. it let me zone out and i felt really easy minded. this is a beautiful song. thank you for making it.

the recording quality could have been a little better. but its not a big deal.

Boux responds:

thanks for the comment, in the start its a chords progress going from C to B7, gives a strange beautiful sound, and true for the quality, I got a minuscule microphone on the front of the computer for the recording.