jkap1's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[JEBBAL - Dead Logic]

Fun

Nice jam. Lots of dynamics and would be a fun one to hear on the dancefloor. I don't know about the contest, but a criticism would be that I didn't really hear much in there that made me think "symphonic" (though I don't know how strict that rule was). It's a good tune & you can tell you put a lot of time into crafting all the different parts, but I didn't hear anything really groundbreaking. I hope that doesn't come across harsh. I imagine other folks will have needed to have done a great job to edge you out of any prizes or anything like that.

Jebbal responds:

'Eyyy thanks for the honest review! I did put a lot of effort and care into each aspect like you said, and I did my best to make it a fun track. As far as groundbreaking goes, though, I suppose there isn't really anything to offer here that you can't find somewhere else in one form or another. It was my first attempt at DnB, and overall I'm content with what I was able to come up with.

As for the lack of "symphonic" feeling, that depends on how you define symphonic. With the literal definition: No, this track is not symphonic whatsoever. But the title of the game is mostly just trying to get across that its tower defense set to music I think.

Anywho... your review didn't come across as harsh to me at all, so don't worry about that :). Its nice to get some honest opinions rather than a 10 rating paired with something like "THIS SONG IZ KOOL GOOD JOB!!!"

Thanks for the review!

[Everything is Floating Up]

Great stuff.

You're on my short list of guys to follow. This song is another reason why. Please keep making music!

[[SJ] Blast Furnace]

Good stuff

Keep em comin'!

SteakJohnson responds:

thanks abunch dude!

[.:A Gypsy's Festival:.(RAC 5)]

Great!

Really impressive piece. Only complaints I can think of are that it sounds a little too treble-heavy & tinny on the mixing end. Also the ending is abrupt & it's clear that it's three separate themes instead of a comprehensive song.

But other than that, the actual composition is incredible and lush. The instrumentation is nice, and I really enjoyed listening to it. There are so many different factors to consider when judging this thing, but I wouldn't be surprised to see you go very far with this tune. GL!

camoshark responds:

Thanks for the constructive criticism!

I'm not too sure what you mean when you say it's too treble-heavy and tinny, but it's surely got some link with the crappy EQing. I'm perfectly aware that the bass isn't well-defined enough, and that the theme on the winds isn't loud enough, but I can't work them more than that with my current softwares.

As for the transitions, I didn't really find anything creative, so I just stuck with the short and practical build-out form. And the ending, believe me, isn't near anything I wanted.

Thanks for the nice compliments, good luck for your submition too!

Cheers,
Samuel Hébert

[Italian Partita in D - RAC5]

:.:.:.:.:

Beautiful!

Darkmaster603 responds:

Thanks.

[RAC5 Born Again]

-= -- =-

I am really struggling with how to rate this one, so I'm giving the standard cop-out "9" rating (sorry). I want to give +10s for the really good live instrumental performance, and for the overall concept - which is killer. But then there are small nitpicky things that keep it from being a 10 overall IMO. Stuff like the drums being mixed a bit too loud without enough dynamics, etc. But should I let small things like that take away from what is really a good, innovative, and well-preformed piece that's perfectly in the spirit of the contest? I dunno. Hence: "9". GL though! :)

SoulSecure responds:

That's fine, I have some problems with how I mixed and made it too (like putting reverb on the "ooh ooh" part gave it less impact somehow and I was too lazy to fix it). About the drums: I don't usually use drums in my music so I'm still learning about what sounds good. The problem is that I have so many influences that sometimes they clash. The reason the drums are so loud is probably because of my experiences with hip-hop and rap where there aren't very many dynamics or variations in the drums and they are usually loud, but I also did this intentionally because the instruments can drown out the beat sometimes. Also, I'm a stings musician so when it comes to making drum beats on the computer, I find it to be an agonizingly monotonous ordeal and so I get really lazy.

I also have a problem with the first "chorus" as I like to call it (since it occurs twice). The guitar at that point doesn't feel loud enough even though it was just supposed to introduce that guitar riff for the next time I play it, where I have overlapping guitars.

To sum it all up, I'm an experimental artist and when I make my songs, things just happen. This is the first time I've done a song like this and when I started out I wanted it to be a rock song. Start with sanshin and drums, add some neat bass lines and keyboard, then at the end I put in the guitar. This was a long process and I think I worked longer on this song than any other but as always it came out being something totally different from what I had intended.

["Tai Chi Orb" RAC5]

Excellent

Not much to say other than I really enjoyed this piece. Thanks for uploading!

XayberOptix responds:

You're most welcome! It is my great pleasure!

[Chameleon -Dejinelli-]

Great idea

It's a little treble-y (might just be my crappy speakers), and I'm not that into the actual sounds you chose to use - which are a bit too up-front and blast-y for my tastes.... but this IS a remix of Herbie's Chameleon, so I shouldn't complain. Just nitpicking. Great song choice & overall very good. Thx for the remix!