Flash-MX's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[>Welcome to my Haunted House<]

A bit underrated!

Although it is not a particularly memorable tune, it is a bit underrated!

Technical Aspect: Not much to comment on here, the mixing was pretty average, In other words, nothing wrong with it. Not many effects, but none are really needed in this piece, reverb would have destroyed this piece.

Artistic Aspect: What you pulled off is actually pretty hard to do with the piano, have two almost completely contrasting piano parts come together to form the melody. It's not something easily accomplished. That being said, it doesn't come all that well together here, but the concept is there, which I happen to like.

Overall: An average piece, attempted a pretty difficult "fugue" kind of piece, and almost accomplished! (Another example of this kind of piece would be something like the haunted mansions in Super Mario World)

4/8'd, it's there, but not completely

DjCompass responds:

Actually, there was a bit of reverb, but just enough to give it a sort of real room sound.

Well thanks. Look at me, i'm blushing XP One day i'll get them to fit perfectly. Just like boo mansions! Until then, thank you for your sage words.

[Sad²]

A little disappointing..

Here's why:

Technical Aspect: Well done, nothing to really complain about here, well used samples, effects, the works.

Artistic Aspect: Here's were its a little disappointing, the intro is done so well but the rest of the piece is akward to listen to. Its building up to something great but nothing happens, it is essentially one long introduction. You could expand on this and create something possibly classic, but take off with it. Introduce at least one more instrument and vary out the melody a bit, and it's not too soothing because it sounds like its meant to be a song, not a soft ambience piece.

Overall: Technically pleasing, artistically disappointing; my suggestion, build on the piece, introduce a new instrument, vary it somehow.

3/7

.Review Request Club.

loogiesquared responds:

-I guess i'm a more "thecnical" artist. =p

[{dj-N} Not Alone (RMX)]

A little out of control

This is a pretty ok piece, but I think you can probably do better. I can give a lot of pointers here though that just one change could make a major difference.

Technical Aspect: The song shines in some place and not so much in others, the synths first off are pretty fat sounding, the EQ work is nicely done I wouldn't change much here, the drums could be a little tighter though, some Compression work would help fix this. Here's how:

Bring the ratio on your compressor out to 2:1. lower the input gain, bring the threshold up to about 80% and bring the output gain up a little bit. This is using Reason's MClass compressor, not sure how it works on others.

Effects wise, I liked the use of filters but the fade-outs were not very good. A hint of advice, all the great trance artists use the fade-outs when the song is about to either change key, rythym, melody or add something new. If you fade out in between a phrase though, it will only sound interrupted and amateur. Balance wise it did fine for the most part, just make sure the mid-range instruments don't play over the melody, thats what makes it sound sloppy.

Artistic Aspect: Not much to say here, its just well done. The progression is nice. very trance like, maybe happy hardcore? Nothing really stood out (If you notice, what makes Nate stand out is the "nate" piano in all his pieces. If you find something that makes a song your own, you'll get major points already for your song ;D

Overall: Good attempt at making a trance piece, but not quite. Although I don't have much experince making trance, I have heard plenty of it, if you follow some of the given pointers, it could potentially be very great.

4/8

.Review Request Club.

FunkmasterCatking responds:

Thanks!

About the fade outs, those weren't intentional, that was one of the side-effects of the Nexus demo (which actually DOES work when exporting as an mp3). This was mainly just to test out Nexus, and I definitely like it!

Thanks for the review!

[Jasons Phone Call]

Funny!

It was pretty funny, I'll give it that,
There's nothing technical or artistic points I can give here, so I can't really give it higher than a 5, but its pretty funny and I will 5 it on the vote, gotta be fair on the review though

5/5 (wtf???)

.Review Request Club.

KlanMaster911 responds:

Thanks.

[Succubus]

Nice..

Wow, very scary at some parts, very fucking metal at some

Technical Aspect: Nice job with all the effects, only flaw (and its a pretty medium flaw), was the compression/limiting work, it wasn't very well done and I had a lot of clipping on my speakers, which usually happens when the mixer volume was probably up too high or the limiter was not quite limiting.

Artistic Aspect: Definitely stands out there for me. It's anger to the point were its pretty scary, psychotic. But it's very cool, loved the minute-mark effect of the plane crashing, crazy shit man. Loved it.

Overall: Mixing wise was pretty mediocre, but artistically, I liked it. I gave it a

4/8

.Review Request Club.

KlanMaster911 responds:

Thanks dude.

[Forgotten Tears - Mjattie]

Jean Michel Jarre anyone??

Haha, well this reminded me of one of his songs for the Blade Runner OST in which he performed with Vangelis.

Technical Aspect: Well made, everything blends nicely, great effects on the piano and synstrings, one thing though, the bass overpowers the drums just a bit on some parts, just some mixing will fix this though, not a major flaw. Balance was well done, overall close to flawlessness.

Artistical Aspect: Very relaxing, but, not sad enough for July's MAC, IMO. This would better fit a chill theme, or a VG ambient piece, but sorrowful-- doubtful. The chords and progressions were just awesome though, very groovy/house/trip hop almost. Loved the piano break.

Overall: Minor balance issues with the drum and bass, very well done musically however, reminiscent of Don Davis.

4/9'd

mjattie responds:

Well, you know, ambient isn't supposed to be clear (most of the ambient songs are without drums and with all kinds of weird pads and boring melody's) I did the bass on purpose but that could be not good sounding with a great sub woofer (I have a cheap one) (well now you say bass, I can't hear the bass drum that well XD yea you're probably right) Maybe I'll change it another day...

BTW, WHO IS DON DAVIS. Is it bad? Or is it good? XD

tx for reaction

[Winter Dream]

Very nice piece

This was a very good arrangement for orchestra, well composed sir!

Technical Aspect: The Orchestration was done very nicely here, you used several instruments to paint this in a different way each time a new instrument came out on top. My only complaint here is the lack of a low presence. Although I do hear a cello/bass in there? It does not come out enough and with the whole piece being mid range/hi range instruments, it does get a bit tiring to hear. After about 2 or so mins into the piece, a true lack of balance becomes clear, so next time, try to bring out a bassoon or bass in there, its really only a minimal flaw though.

Artistic Aspect: Very well written, the chord progression is hopeful/dramatic, reminds me of something that I would hear in one of Aaron Copland's compositions. A favorite composer of mine btw. This would fit well in a western I think, the instrumentation at least.

Overall: Very well done, the end is very Debussy-like, you just need to bring out the lower parts more, thats basically it.

Loved the piece, will give it a

5/9

.Review Request Club.

BlazingDragon responds:

A well written review, my friend! Your advice concerning a greater low-presense is of great help. I always felt as though the song became a bit repetitive, and I feel as though a low voice would ease the strain on listening. I was reading a book by Aaron Copland a few years ago with the title "What to Listen For In Music". Though I never finished, it was an excellent read. I am also glad you pointed out the likeness to Debussy, as I am a great fan of his music. Clair De Lune and Reverie are excellent piano pieces by him.

Thank you for the wonderful review. It has been of great help!
~Blaze

[Bob-The Chase]

Haha, excellent >:-D

Well I said I saved 10's for the epic stuff, and this is no exception, not in my book at least; it is epic.

Technical Aspect: The mixing is done best here, with the bass and drums truly dominant throughout the entire piece, and yet again the synth has room to breathe :D Now I'll nail you for effects though, throw some in there!

Artistical Aspect: Excellent, all the way around, reminds me of Fight Club, Future Cop LAPD, Deus Ex, Fifth Element, etc. Just excellent.

Overall: Loved it, the bass especially kicks ass.

10/5'd

.Review Request Club.

Bob-Music responds:

Thank you! The only reason for my lack of effects here is that I'm waiting for an upgrade. My laptop crashes because there is too much going on, so towards the end of making the track I was having to make changes without being able to preview them before exporting it and it was just taking sooooo long. Roll on September, should be getting my studio set up instead of a crappy laptop and some £5 headphones :)

P.S Future Cop LAPD, I fucking loved that game! I'll get straight on getting me a copy

[Journey through Dreams]

Thoroughbly enjoyable!

This is a big difference from the previous song of yours I reviewed, here it is

Technical Aspect: Balance is good here, the bass and drums are dominant in this piece, however the synth lead still has room to cut an edge into it, very nice. The drums coulda've been compressed a little better, maybe getter a nicer crunch from it, but its really nothing major.

Artistic Aspect: Stands out here for me, this is my type of music; dystopian--industrial, so already you get some points there. It is in fact unique, but not too over the top. The fast tempo really gives it a feel of urge/suspense, and the atonal (well almost) feel of the song really sets a nice mood of "industry
.

Overall: Not much to say, there were a few variations on the melody, there was a good overall mood and balance to the piece, so i'm going to go ahead and give this

4/9

I save the 5's and 10's for the epic stuff, but this piece is very well done

.Review Request Club.

Bob-Music responds:

It's obvious from this review, and my previous review for Lucid, that you have really taken time out and listened to my songs before you have reviewed them so a 4/9 really means a lot to me. There were issues with both songs that I have been wondering whether they sound wrong, or if I just notice them because I've heard each second hundreds of times, so to have you raise the same issues shows me I definately need to work on them. Thank you

[Bob-Lucid]

Lucid dreamin..

Hey, I'm going to go ahead and cut straight to business. I will split my review into 3, easy to read paragraphs so that you can get the best feedback possible from my review:

Technical Aspect: From a technical aspect, there were a lot of balance problems. By this I mean both on the EQ and Mixer. The drums and bass were almost completely drowned out by the overpower synth leads. My suggestion here is to bring out the rythym section a little more, raise the gain on the lows, and lower the gain just a little tiny bit on the synth; you still want that cutting edge lead. Just bring down the volume on them too, a little bit and you'll be fine.

Artistical Aspect: Artistically, it is fairly repetitive, specifically in the mid-section of the song. The intro and ending are done well however. It would not have felt as repetitive if there had been some effect modulations to the synths, or even a nice reverb would have been good. However, there are some music programs out there that don't have extensive effect features, so I won't take off points for effects. The chord progressions and melody were done fairly well though, and which is what particularly stands out the most for me in this song. Reminds me of Deus Ex :D.

Overall: Missing some points in the technical department, however, musically it was well done, so i'll go ahead and hand out a

3 and 7,
Almost but not quite

.Review Request Club.

Bob-Music responds:

This is one of my first songs, made before I had the slightest clue what Mastering/EQ, or even the mixer were. Because of that, I seem to have made it in the most complicated way possible and a complete remake is needed and I just haven't found the time yet.

So yes, I'm aware it needs work but I still really liked it and thought I'd upload it anyway. I really appreciate you breaking it down and describing why you have marked me down and I'll let you know when I've re-submitted :)