Gario's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Shinobi Surf]

I know not the source...

... but I'll review it anyway, 'cause you're lukethexjesse. It's just what you gotta do.

The guitar tone is pretty good - I like the spectrum it covers. The bass sort of muddies the effect, though, I'd have the bass stick to it's own notes, if it's at all possible (or have the guitar change where it covers the 'rhythm guitar' part).

The synth is pretty weak. It just doesn't cut through the guitar portions. Even if it did, the sample itself just isn't thick enough to be interesting. The synth textures, while more fitting in the background, still sound bland and unnecessary.

The soloing guitar is great. Stick to that and those neat leads.

The overall sound is pretty clean, but I think it's hot. Turn down some of the volumes and get that clipping out of there.

Certainly not too bad, for six hours of effort (plus whatever you added to spit-shine the production).

[[SD] Sonic 2 - Chemical Plant]

Mmm... bass

The bass in this is sexy. It just is. I can't express how happy the bass makes me. The sax is a great choice for lead instrument, although it's a tad piercing, atm. Some humanization with the volume would be great for that instrument, but otherwise it's pretty sweet.

When the synths are introduced, it starts to get a bit muddy, but otherwise it's quite a nice rendition of the classic. Nice work.

[Confronting Magus]

It's pretty hollow

Samples aside (they're not too great, but we work with what we got), the harmonies (which were rich in the original) are completely lacking, here.

The melodies are spot on, but without the textures and harmonies of the original the song sounds incomplete. Nice attempt, though - the effort is appreciated.

As for access to remixing programs, have you tried Reaper yet? It's nearly free, and it's quite a powerful DAW. I hope that helps you out, for future releases.

[Inspector Gadget (Rec0il RMX)]

Holy shit!

This just made me shit my pants. This is seriously oozing with awesomeness, with the hard ass beats overlaying the theme song, and the 'Inspector Gadget' SFX going on in the background.'

The production is a little bit on the fuzzy side, but this is one awesome song you've got going here.

Not that you care about reviews three years later, but hey - I had to leave something for ya, after experiencing this much happiness.

[[Door of Time]*]

Not too shabby

The thick sound fits the emotion of the original here, imo. It could use some less lower mid EQ on the master track, though - that would clean it up considerably. Also consider removing some of the lines in a couple of the instruments so open the space up a little bit, since there seems to be 'too much of a good thing' going on, here.

Short and simple, but that doesn't mean it isn't good ;)

[Plasma Gentleman]

Simple, but pretty catchy

Again, the upper mids need to be toned down. Even at the low volume levels, I can hear clipping in those ranges. The mechanical sequencing is stifling the arrangement, here, so work with the velocities & volume with the piano to produce a more realistic sound.

Probably not your fault, but the song itself sounds a little repetitive. I won't hold that against you too much, though. The sudden ending is a bit strange, though.

I like some of the sound effects that occur in the background, and the energy of the piano tremolos are fun to listen to. Have fun with your next remix track :)

MC-Jimmy responds:

Well I can't help much on the clipping of the sounds, due to the fact I lack high quality wires and devices for capturing stuff from my instruments.

[Up Da Pipes]

Ouch, my ears...

I'm not familiar with the source, sadly, but this arrangement hurts my ears with all of the highs + lack of lows. You need to tone down the upper mids + highs on this track, and fill the bass with some bass instruments. The current mix not only muddies the upper range, it causes me physical pain.

The textures that are there are neat, and the song itself sounds pretty cool. I can't ignore the production on this one, though - fix it up, please.

[Sonic 1 MM: Special Stage]

Huh... Neat track!

I don't understand the low score provided here. The mix seems fairly respectable, to me. It has a lot of neat variation, a relatively clean mix (although the chords starting at 1:10 seem to take a little too much room int he soundscape, there), and the track is soft spoken enough where it won't intrude on anyone's listening habits.

I do recommend variation from the harmonic pattern more often - even the novice listener will notice that pattern repeating for so long.

Not bad at all - sorry you became victim to a zero-bomb. I liked it quite a bit (and find myself liking it more and more the longer it plays).

[Castlevania IV (Buzzsaw Mix)]

Good track!

It's actually from Castlevania III, but IV remixes many older tracks in it, so I can understand the mixup. I won't hold that against you, though ;)

Nice track here. I like the simplistic nature of it, and the source is such a great, under appreciated tune. The production is pretty good.

As neat as the soundscape is, it's really hollow. The vanilla samples don't help, in this regard. You should fill the space better, even if it's with the simple instruments you've used here.

The bass is... not there. We could use more bass in this track, since as it stands it's nearly inaudible.

The mastering could use more attention on the lower EQ in general, as well as some more in the highs (not much, though). The track is very centered, overall - play with panning and stereo separation a bit - that would help tremendously in the 'filling the soundscape' department.

Neat track. Despite anything I said, I really enjoy it :)

Draith-Vicious responds:

"The vanilla samples don't help, in this regard. You should fill the space better, even if it's with the simple instruments you've used here"

What exactly do you mean when you say vanilla samples? and you said I should fill in the space better? You mean like add more background noise or what?

[Killer Instinct Select Remix]

Killer instincts, awesome

Remixing the KI Selection track is ballzy, I'm not going to lie, so kudos for attempting the track. Considering what it is you actually make a fair attempt at remixing it. However...

You need some improved samples + less clipping in this track. Be especially careful with the bass drum, since it's over compressing the rest of the track to compensate.

The strings are weak with their slow attacks. The first note per phrase can use the slow attack, but using the slow attack throughout makes it sound very artificial.

The soundscape is hollow (half of it doesn't have a bass, even). It needs to fill the space more, be it through different instruments, textures, etc.

The arrangement is strange, considering it doesn't do anything for nearly a whole minute. If that's for singing that's fine, as long as you sing over it.

As it's set up, it's begging for a hip-hop vocal track. Because of this it sounds a bit unfinished. If you find a hip-hop singer to lay down a track this could be a pretty neat remix. As it stands now it needs some work, but it's a good start.