carl565's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Agro]

Because Waffles? Dude this is pretty sick. I always hear this like DooM-ish vibe in your music and I love it. Always this heavy, high-energy feel. The clarity of the mastering in this is awesome. Very moody. Kinda jealous because my mastering is shit, even after all these years, haha. Hope you've been well man.

Lublub194 responds:

Truth be told this is all a drum kit. Sampled guitars and sampled drums. So of course it sounds clear, lol. I'm still struggling to get a good master/mix for live stuff.

All is well, hope the same for you!

[let it all out]

Now, I'm a pretty experimental guy and I like hearing original stuff like this. Sure, perhaps it has aspects of different genres within this one song, like the guy below stated, but this song is under the genre of "Other - Experimental" so it can easily be this way and SHOULD NOT be criticized for being different... So don't take what that guy said too seriously.

Onto the song though, I loved this intro. With the sliced up vocals that go from the intro to the 35 second mark, they gave me chills. Getting rid of the vocals after 35 seconds really did add a sort of effect to the song that I felt was needed, and I cannot explain it any better than that, haha. I loved the stutter of the kick in the drum loop.

One thing I did not like with the song was the sudden cutoff of notes after 54 seconds and the weird vocal FX that sort of sounds out of place. I thought that there was a radio playing in my house somewhere in the background. This piece would be perfect otherwise without out, but that is only my opinion.

Also, the last guitar chord played before the end could've also been removed. I felt like the song should've ended at 53 seconds and simply ended with the reverb of the last guitar note at that mark.

I loved where this song explored, and it definitely had a sort of emotional tension to it, which I can always respect.

Keep it up man, and just do you. Take any criticism you receive as speculation and speculation only. Don't ever be afraid to be original.

exnfox responds:

well to just tell you how it is, i was sequencing to guitar recorded and really only did stuff for about 8 bars of it,, that loops for a few then the guitar samples just plays out, i do intend on finishing the track and maybe sort of define the genre at one point or another i appreciate any input at all and apologize for any inconvenience it may cause when it comes to genres . ill be sure you msg you a link tpo it when i finish

[Horizon]

You haven't been scouted yet and your music is this good!? What's up with that? Well, not to worry, I'll definitely scout you out for the audio portal so your music shows up.

Things never used to be that way. Before, anyone could upload to the audio portal without any limitations or qualifications.

Onto the song. I love the kick. One problem I always have in my songs is picking a kick that has enough power to be heard throughout the entire song, without overpowering everything else. My EQing doesn't really do any kick I pick and justice either. The overall drum loop is very well implemented and I love all the percs you picked.

The transitioning of the song is perfect. For some reason, 3:16 sounds a bit rough to me at first. The reverb of the bell-like synth kind of gives the synth that gets introduced a weird tone. It eases and starts to become less of a problem as time goes on though, so I really can't complain too much.

The end is something I wish was a bit different. Again, I can't complain too much, but some sort of an end that doesn't leave on a cliff-hanger would be awesome. I guess that's mostly because I'm used to my music with having the songs fade out in the end, so I can't criticize the way you chose to end your song.

Overall, I really did like the song, and to see how little of music you have actually uploaded and you're this good, is a surprise to me. Never listen to any of my early music! That's for damn sure, haha. This puts all of my first couple submissions back in 2008 to shame.

Good job! Like I said, you have been scouted, and now your next submissions should make it straight onto the audio portal.

MrUnderlay responds:

Wow man, I really can't thank you enough. I've never had someone review my music so this is a definite change!!

I see what you mean by it ending on a cliffhanger, it's not the only song I've done that does it. This song used to have a bit of a tail on the end where it transitions out, but it never seemed to sound right so I eventually gave up on it.

Thanks for reviewing and scouting, you're more than awesome!! :)

[Star Journey]

I love the melody for this, and the transitions to a softer tone around 2:05 was awesome. This is nearing perfection, but it feels... lacking? At least a bit. To me, I think a calm 8 bit drum track in the background would be great with this. Maybe adding bandpass to it so that it's not overwhelming over the rest of the entirety of the song. Transitioning the drums would be awesome along with the transitions of the melody in points where it's more soft in some parts and heavier in others. It is your project, and you did what you believed was best, and for that, I like it.

erenik responds:

Thanks for the review! The idea of adding some sort of drum might not be all too bad, I just didn't think or see it needed when working on it (much since I want to focus on melodies first). Will poke you if I do add a version with drums. In the mean time, if you have an idea for the drums, by all means, you could give it a try and add some on top of it, if you want to :)

I've never tried any "stylized" 8-bit drums, so not sure how I would go about doing that XD

[Stream]

This sounds to me to be an epic intro for some sort of game or movie, but the genre? I have no idea what genre of game or film it would work in, but I CAN tell you it'd be epic as all hell. The way the string compliments the piano is beautiful, but this leaves me wanting more! Stunning work here, I really wish there was more for me to say other than keep up the work!

LawnReality responds:

Thank you! I'm glad you like this piece! I'm probably going to continue it at some point in the future, and hopefully make it even better!

[Clockwork EP]

The riffs, they're intense as hell. I really don't listen to this heavy of metal unless there's a good implementation between the guitars and the vocals, and all of these seem to be spot on. Perhaps the vocals could be boosted a little bit, as it's hard to tell what the lyrics actually are in a few. I could get down to this, and it's still awesome to see that you're still active. To see how far you've come in these past years is amazing. Kind of mind blowing. Time flies.

Lublub194 responds:

I produced this, but it's actually my bands album. So I can't take credit for some of it!

I'm happy to know and have you as a friend for the past few years! Thanks a billion for keeping up with me :)

Any parts that you think should be edited/fixed? Which parts were you thinking?

[Ampianii]

The piano melody is beautiful. The transitions were also excellent. One thing is a major downer however, being the drums. To keep originality, never use the default drums from FL Studio. That is the only problem with this short song that I can see, other than it's too short! haha, but I can't complain with that one. Good work!

liuzirui1122 responds:

Thanks. about the drums yeah I'm using the default one. But in fact, before I started to use flstudio I was always finding a kind of drums that fit my own one, and I find that one quite good. Maybe there are some more better sources but my computer doesn't have enough room to download.

[Trekkys And Tekkys]

Very random, haha. I really can't say much else about this, there's really not much to say. I really did like the drum loops that kept changing, but perhaps they changed a little too much. In some parts, the loudness of the bass from the kick kind of distorted the rest of the instruments a little bit. It wasn't too noticeable, so we wont really worry about that so much. I really like the part after 1:30 and it made me wonder why you didn't take that synth and use it as the melody throughout the entire song, it was extremely catchy. I see that this is your first submission, so I cant be too expecting of your stuff, and I also see that you haven't been scouted out yet on Newgrounds.

If you upload another song and I really like it, I will scout you out for the audio portal.

Bloxers responds:

Thanks, man! I appreciate your feedback! I will try to work on that and get more practice before my next track! I might also use that loop for another song. I'm undecided.