Gario's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Eyes Open (FINAL)]

Slow, but clean

The production value on this one is pretty high. The overall sound is good. Some of the mixing sounds wrong, IMO (the synth @ 2:11, for example, seems a bit mixed down, considering it's the closest thing to a melody we've got going, there). I'd say it's repetitive but that seems like it's inherent in the genre :P

I liked it. Doesn't quite strike me as special, but it's certainly pretty good.

5kyLight responds:

Thank you!
I'm going to work more on less repetition, I realized that the worst part of the song is the fact that the breakdown is way too short, lol

And yeah, I didn't have much time to do the mixing but oh well, I'll probably do a remake that's better after these comments..

Thanks for reviewing!
It helps me a lot :P

[Project 26 ~ 10 (Laguna)]

Hell yeah, March is Laguna Month!!!

Last year, OCR had a flood of six (count em', six) Laguna WIPs (including my own). Some were better than others, but one thing's for sure Laguna gets more love on March than any other month of the year, thus I pronounced this month as Laguna month. This track continues that tradition unintentionally, lol.

I guess I should comment on the actual track while I'm here...

The arrangement is accurate, and the soundscape is full (if a little strange with the instrument choice - but understandable considering your background). I really like the percussion choices, personally, but the synths are a little wonky due to certain processing issues (lead has too much portamento, some synths have too much release that muddies the track, some synths have too much vibrato, etc.).

Nice percussion work. There's room for improvement in the synths. Love the source. Good work, overall.

paradiddlesjosh responds:

The portamento was purposeful. One final thing about my percussion ensemble: the conductor is also the electronic music professor on campus, and his deal with synthesizers is "the stranger the sound, the better." The "synth" with vibrato was actually someone's attempt to create the ocarina sound from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time when activating vibrato (by holding the control stick down). I loved the soundfont so much when I got it, I'd made an effort for a long time to use it in everything. Often, of course, it doesn't work, but sometimes (like in this track) I like the timbral flavor it adds.

Your mileage, of course, varied, but that's not really too big a deal.

Being a percussionist, I'd kill myself for bad percussion work. xD

Thanks for your review. While it may be Laguna month elsewhere, I'm trying to give the whole damn game love this month. :D

[Heaven don't sound this g]

Taking a completely neutral stance...

... this isn't half bad. The sounds are fitting (although that repeating mid-bass synth is bland), and the tune is pretty neat. The chorus really picks things up and really brings the track out.

It's has a rather plain soundscape, and the synths, while fitting, are a bit too mechanical for my tastes, but it's not too bad.

BouncyPiglett responds:

Well, luckily for me, ever facet of it which you just complimented are the features that i was working on improving at :D

So basically, you're telling me I'm getting better at what I aimed to get better at, and for that, I thank you

And it has taken me this long to realize that this response sounds very defensive and smug and snarky

So sorry about that

I worded it badly
>:

[A Hero Rises (8-bit)]

This is fucking amazing

This is 8-bit at it's finest. The textures, the melody, the timbres... It's just beautiful.

NickPerrin responds:

Glad you enjoyed it. Although of my own 8-bit tracks, I prefer my two most recent...
Thanks for the review!

[2 Levels]

Ha, you put it up, lol

That's some insanely frantic sounds you've got going there, and I like it. The EQ'd drums, chiptunage, crazy textures, etc... I hear a lot of awesome stuff going on in
here. Beware of some common production mistakes, though - there are times where there's a little too much going on in the mid area, which causes some clipping in that area. Towards the end I hear a little upper end clipping, too.

I like it, though. Nice work :)

CornixEtCorax responds:

Thanks for the Review

[Final Fantasy 8 - Force]

Ooo orchestration

The use of the instruments are pretty conventional, and the stabs that are in it are fairly well placed. There are some parts towards the end that are arranged quite nicely, which kept my interest well enough. There are quite a few things that could be better, though.

The instruments don't sound human. They really sound like a computer playing the parts. People do not attack the notes the same way throughout a song, nor do they stick to the same dynamics. When writing computer orchestral music you need to be paying attention to how a real orchestra would be playing the music, if you want it to be convincing. Set your velocities to affect the volume and try to make the sound a bit more human.

lThose pizzicato strings are... um, a bit too insane, there, for any human being. It's just not possible, so you should avoid it, if you could, since it really takes the listener away from the realistic atmosphere you're trying to create, here. A harp glissando and/or a piano would serve you better, for that reason.

The mixing is a little sporatic, there. While I hear the panning is correct for an orchestra (nice touch), the ambiance and spread seems too extreme, so lower the reverb to a less church-like and more hall-like setting, and fix the spread on your instruments/master channel (whichever it may be).

The bass tracks are too quiet, here. I'm not hearing enough in this to ground the rest of the track. Mind you, since this is an orchestra track simply raising the volume might not be a good idea, so try to achieve the volume by doubling the bass with a bassoon, tuba or something like that. It'd help give depth to the track.

Y'know, I think I've seen you post something on the OCR WIP boards, haven't I? I think I've heard your other stuff before. Ah well, it's certainly a good effort, here, and I hope my advice helps.

CrackMasterK responds:

I do notice the "inhuman" parts you mean. I mostly only put that there so keep to the original theme. Gave them extra reverb to give them a more synth sound. The Church sound it only because somtimes I feel the instruments sound a bit "flat" without drums playing along. I am a fan of adding drums later on to keep the listener listening.

I know the crowd over at OCRemix, they can be harsh. I know in my experiences, they have actually private messaged me saying i'm a terrible musician and should not post anymore on the board so I left OCremix board for awhile since there was no respect for me there.

I do try to play with velocity but somtimes my EQing is off and drowns out the basses or makes the high crackle a bit with distortion. As like any art the more you do it the better you get. Because when I listen to this compared to my first attempt atleast this kinda sound like a real orchestral mock-up.

If you ever want to collab on any music or projects just let me know I'm not a prude or ignorant musician so It's easy to work with me on "just for fun" songs.

[ParagonX9 - Infinity]

Nice loop

Very nice, for what it is. Nice tracking to this one. It's simple, but it's clean. Very catchy, too. I heard a flash entry here that used this track in it some time ago... is this an older track or something? They didn't give ya credit.

I gotta find that flash sometime and harass it a little bit.

ParagonX9 responds:

That song you heared must be 'Triple Gear' which is an old song
i posted on an alt account few years ago.
This song is sort of a remake of that song =]
Thanks!

[Numa Numa (Game Boy remix]

Classy

For what this is, it's pretty close to perfect.

Great translation of a classic tune to a classic system. It obviously isn't written for the original GB's format, but it's still quite good.

BadCommandCo responds:

It was written in the original GB's format. Read the description.

[Alive in the Nighttime]

Huh, wonder what the current rating is for...?

It's bland, sure, but the beat is pretty solid. You fill out the soundscape very well without production problems, and your drum selection is quite interesting. I personally like the use of 7ths and 9ths in the harmonies, but maybe other people don't? Eh, if people don't like 7ths and 9ths then they have no taste :P.

Your texture is bland, though. That arpeggio in the background is lame - make it more interesting. Gating, different texture, whatever, but it's lame, right now.

Not bad at all, really. Hopefully people don't turn away from this with it's current score.

Cam3leon responds:

Ha! Well I appreciate the feedback, sir. I guess I held back on overemphasizing the arps because I intended for this track to be an instrumental. As a standalone track, I admit it's pretty subdued and repetitive. But I can definitely embellish it and make it more varied in the long run though. Again thanks for the review!

[Sonic 1: Star Light Zone]

Not too bad, really

I'm hailing from the OCR forum, here, but I like to use the board here, when I can. Alrighty, let's see what we've got, here...

I hear some descent about the variety of sounds you use for the soundscape from the other boards, but I feel they could actually work well together. However, your lower mids are dominating the sound too much. You'll need to balance them better in the mix by bringing them down and/or bringing the other parts up.

Some of the liberties you take with the theme (like at 0:26) do not sound good. It seems you were expanding on the original and the effect was intentional, but it just sounds like a mistake here. The counter melody habitually gets out of tune from time to time (like at 0:21), so be ready to take a good look at that line again.

I hear some complaints on the OCR board that the song 'just starts'. While as a song that isn't a good thing, this could work out as an excellent loop if you take the silence out of the end, there.

Nice texture, overall, nice drums, and with the exception of the counter melody that tends to get out of wack you take very nice liberties with it. I suspect you could get some more volume out of this track if you play around with the compressors and such on the master board, but the volume isn't too quiet, either, so that's a nitpick.

Not a bad track. It could be better, but it's certainly not a bad track, as it is.

Cam3leon responds:

Greatly appreciated! And yes I did take intentional liberties with the track in the beginning, just to switch the main melody up a bit. For the most part, it's a straight-up arrangement but I guess I could've integrated the counter melody into the mix better. I'll tweak the sound as well. But thanks for the refreshingly thorough review!