ErikMcClure's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Reflections >Dubstep<]

Bizzare bass

This song has a beautiful melody, but I feel that you sacrificed it for the purpose of having a psychotic bass just to make it a dubstep song. The intro is wonderful, and 2:45 is nothing short of divine; but these brief moments of melodic complexity are crushed by the overbearing power of the crazy bass synths, drums and effects that clearly only exist in an attempt to make the song sound more epic. While you succeeded at making an epic song, I feel like it went in the completely wrong direction. The atmosphere here has a hint of SessileNomad's work, and taking it in a more melodic fashion may have produced a result that was just as epic and maybe a little more appealing.

Honestly that bass just sounds corny.

8/10
4/5

The only two people in this competition who ever had mastering skills were bjra and xkore.

mr-jazzman responds:

Yes. This song was fully intended to be a dubstep song from the beginning. Never did I want it to be of any other genre except for dubstep, so I did my best to create a cool melody and weave it into the region of dubstep. Yes. The bass is overbearing because it is dubstep, which I like to think of as a slower version of intense DnB, meaning that a humongous emphasis on the bass will be required more so than in other genres, such as trance or techno, or even DnB for that matter (with DnB, the melody is usually faster-paced, so the bass just kinda molds in with it; here, the bass actually CREATES the melody, intensity, and drive all at the same time). Yes. The drums and effects were there to blow your mind; without them, the track would sound empty as hell and boring as balls, and I wouldn't want to waste your time with that. No. The song didn't go in the wrong direction; it was experimental, which was what I wanted and got in a genre that's not entirely developed and has a huge amount of experimental potential. I can see how SessileNomad sneaks in here, but my melodies aren't trance or techno, as his are; he's a little bit too happy for me lol. No. That bass is not corny. If you must hear a corny bass, check out most of the random dubstep songs here on NG and you'll discover it (a square bass that opens up with no power whatsoever is people's definition of the "dirty bass," which is not true; I highly recommend you check out Bar9's "Motion" and tell me it's a corny song, or Skream's "Filth" and tell me it's a corny song, or Nero's "Act Like You Know" and tell me it's a corny song, or Pendulum's "Set Me On Fire" and tell me it's a corny song...and corny because the bass is corny...no, sir, none of these tracks are corny). No. You're wrong about the mastering skills; you've got some, for starters (not to mention a boatload of EQing skills that I have yet to develop even though we're the same age, which is embarrassing for me because I really should be EQing like that because I'm a college student but still EQ like a middle-schooler), and Gravey has some as well...even though his current song has a lot of reverb on the instruments, but this is simply because it's an orchestral song and requires it (sounds good enough to me, and it would fit well in a video game). Sir, you need to learn how to "get into the shoes of the author" and understand what's up with the song before you discredit it to such proportions. I'll give you the fact that the bass sounds bad because of its loudness, but NOT because it sounds cheesy or corny; I worked with that bass to accomplish the opposite of your claim. It's supposed to be a grimy, filthy-ass dubstep bass, which is exactly what it is, and I have no shame in saying it. You just can't stand it because it's a dubstep tune...and well, it's loud as hell, but we both know that. Meh, I kinda expected this sort of feedback on NG, but that doesn't mean I like it. This is exactly why you're not judging for the NGADM: You can't get into the author's shoes, so it seems. You don't really think in terms of what somebody desires from the feedback, do you? Most people, when they get a review, want to hear something they can improve on. You seem to do this, usually, but you definitely didn't do it on this one. I don't know what you have against dubstep tunes (and this tune certainly sounds better than that metal song you reviewed that sparked controversy), but if you didn't like it because of its genre (which is what you're suggesting), then I can't credit this review much, sorry. =\ The only thing I can do is thank you for noticing the epicness, which is fair enough.

[Orchestral Theme 2]

Generic

While a lot of people are mistakenly saying this song sounds like Gears of War, the only reason it does is because Gears of War music happens to be the most recent very popular generic soundtrack. This song is very good - however, it is not particularly original. For me, the beginning reminds me of a Babylon 5 soundtrack. I'm sure to others it will sound like any song that happens to use this extremely popular tension motif. Thus, while the production in this song is very good, and the atmospherics and transitions superbly crafted, the melody is not a strong point.

Also, as Nick said below me, the amount of reverb used in this is extremely excessive and goes so far as to blur the mix. It might work better to remove some of the reverb and try to bring out the instruments in a stronger performance. FL studio 9.1 just came out and it FINALLY has some good convolution reverb, which helps create nice sounding reverb without requiring abhorrent amounts of it, so you might want to give that a shot.

7/10
4/5

But hey, at least I didn't give you a zero like that guy trying so desperately hard to sound intelligent (and failing miserably).

Gravey responds:

It's what the client asked for. As for being unoriginal, this was a sound I came up with all on my own. I've never even played the games this has been associated with, so to say I simply went out and tried to emulate someone else's sound is faulty.

Maybe this sound isn't unique to the rest of the world. But for myself its something I came up with without outside intervention. Therefore its unique to me, and people are paying me to make it. So I think it stands to say that its obviously not just another Newgrounds hack job.

-Gravey-

[SN | Shift | SN]

Missing melody

The effects and drum processing are, as usual, astounding, but this song's melody is very decoherent, and nowhere near at unbelievably awesome as your previous songs. The atmosphere is all there, but the melody itself just isn't. The song also feels very short. I would recommend coming up with an alternate melody and then doing an A B A song structure by going back to the drums + melody after you hit the ambiance at the end, and then finishing off with more of a climax. Production quality is top notch though.

7/10
5/5 cuz your awesome

SessileNomad responds:

oh how nice xD

yeah the melody is a bit lacking on this one due to deadlines

the atmosphere was a big one on this, sincei was actually planning to go full blown ambient, but yeah, drums came in and whats done is done

[[SxHx] TheSkyBegins - Windows]

Superb intro

And then i stopped listening when someone started screaming guttural shit into the mic, thereby ruining the entire song permanently. The lyrics in general do not improve the song since the instrumental backing is of such incredible quality. I would recommend doing something like this and ripping out all the lyrics, because then it would be amazing instead of something I can't bear to listen to.

shesmackshard responds:

thats because you cant appreciate music ;-)

you're not the only pair of ears in the world man, never forget that. And your review is opinionated. Not helpful. (-)

[A Piano's Testimony]

Superb

I keep coming back to this song over and over and every time the melody seems just that much more brilliant. The rolling feel of the instruments and how everything comes together is extremely well done, but I think it could use just a small boost on the higher frequencies, and the middle of the song might have benefited from some very subtle hihat hits and possibly some very low and quiet drums to keep the percussion going. It'd have to be pretty delicate to maintain the superb atmosphere you have going here, but if you could pull it off this would be the essence of perfection.

9/10
5/5

Gravey responds:

Interesting, I'm boosting the high frequencies between 5-8 db (It's on a curve) because it is so lo-fi sounding if I didn't. If I raised them anymore the song just wouldn't sound natural. So I really can't bring the high end up anymore than I already have.

I thought about adding a studio kit to this song, but when I did it just sounded ridiculously out of place. So you are on the same track with the high hats comment as I was when I was in the middle of composing this. But you will just have to trust me when I say the studio kit simply sounded odd in the mix. ;-)

Thanks for the review.

-Gravey-

[SN | Felix^3 | SN]

Hahahaha we're all so silly

Bjra and xkore haven't even started yet, its hilarious. I realized the due date was tomorrow and i've just been running with a random idea I picked up.

This song is good but its definitely not one of your best. It's really missing the atmosphere, but it sounds like it has potential. The lack of inspiration here is fairly noticable (but I think its more noticable in mine anyway :P)

I MAY BEAT YOU YET.

SessileNomad responds:

yeah i didnt have time to really put it together the same way that i usually do my tracks, with the crazy drums and whatnot

i thought i did a good job with the atmosphere dammit! those choirs are tasty as fuck

meh yeah it could be better though

[[DJ_ITD] - Red Light District]

If this is what I'm up against

I am so fucked. The intro and outro are terrible, but the melody is beautiful, as are the synths, and the production is superb beyond all reason. Unfortunately you still only get an 8/10 because despite all the epic potential for pure awesome this song has, I don't think you executed it particularly well. I am, however, dearly tempted to try and remix this... a pity I don't have any time to do so :C

8/10
5/5

djInTheDark responds:

No don't worry, this isn't what I'm using. Like I said before in the thread, I didn't want to start working on it until the next match started, due to the fact i had an extra week. I liked your submission to, it had soul. I'll review it as soon as I get around to it. I'm making something thats been sitting around in my head a while. It will be much, much, MUCH better that this. Muhahaha!!!...

[SN | No Purpose Flour | SN]

This is Genius

This song has left me stunned and in awe. You're talent in crafting soundscapes and melodies is beyond almost the entirety of newgrounds. This is a drum and bass song that sounds beautiful, which in of itself is a feat I previously thought impossible. I would strongly encourage you to look into alternate genres that would benefit from your amazing melodies.

The glitching and effects in here, while consistent with the genre of Drum'n'Bass, serve only to distract the listener from the pristine brilliance of the actual song. The drum lines themselves are extremely well crafted and fit into the song nicely, its the effects themselves, bizzare noises and glitching that take away from the song.

1:07 is simply divine. It is just fucking DIVINE. I would have taken more points off here because of the distracting effects, but I can't give you anything lower then a 9/10 if listening to your song made my jaw drop.

9/10
5/5
Added to favorite artists

SessileNomad responds:

horray

the effects, i admit could have been tailored a little better to compliment the track

glad you liked it man, i remembe rthe last track i did for the contest you were like "wtf does no one var their drums anymore!" lol

peace out, thanks for the review

_edit_

oh yeah about the exploring genres thing, ive done a lot of exploring, ill probably explore out of IDM sooner or later

[-Orr- Colony]

Superb

The piano notes seem to go a bit too high - pianos almost never sound good played that high. Maybe bring it down an octave? The piano sample in general doesn't sound particularly impressive, actually.

Of course, that's nothing compared to the awesomeness of the rest of the track. I can't even keep track of the plethora of chords you throw the melody around in. The song is extremely varied and yet is able to sustain a theme throughout the entire piece, and does a superb job blending rock and orchestral genres, although I didn't hear much electronica in there (but then almost everything these days has elements of that).

The piece seems a bit quiet, but the volume is good considering its background music for a game. I still think some of the instruments could use a bit better EQ work for that professional feel. The instruments just don't sound crisp enough, and some more powerful higher frequencies would help out there a lot. I keep thinking the guitar should be a little stronger too, but I'm not sure about that.

The guitar solo near the beginning bothers me because its very empty sounding. There's just the guitar and some drums and a few quiet strings. The soundscape is really lost there and it feels unfinished.

Everything else, of course, is crazy good.

8/10
5/5

DavidOrr responds:

Awesome review! Lots of great ideas in there, I'm going to go work on some of those things and probably re-upload. Unfortunately the piano sounds I have aren't great, but I have some awesome ones in the mail as I type this, so I'll redo that once those get here, which should make a big difference. EQing has always been something I'm trying to improve, since that can really make or break a piece.

Thanks for the review, I'll be returning the favor soon!

[-:YRX:- Deuz-armaggedon Demo]

Melody == Good

However, as the reviewer below pointed out, it seems pasted on, the drum loops are uninspired, and if it weren't for the gratuitous use of that horrid amenbreak this wouldn't even qualify as a DnB song. The melody does have some interesting chord progressions that I like, but never actually takes advantage of them. It never really takes advantage of anything at all, its just one random melody after another with some boring drum loops going on.

As the reviewer mentioned below, if I were to pay attention to genre here, you'd be losing major points for the fact that it's called drum'n'BASS, which implies the use of some sort of bass, which is completely absent in this song. Contrary to your expectations, there is a way to incorporate a subtle bass into this song without ruining the mood - it has to do with using reverb and carefully weaving it in and out of the main beat.

The drums in this need help. They barely change at all and they aren't even interesting to listen to in the first place. There are 3 drum samples used. Three. A kick, a snare, and a hat. That is just not going to cut it. This is DnB for crying out loud, you need varied, interesting drums with a significant presence, which should enhance the soundscape instead of intruding on it.

6/10
4/5

YouriX responds:

sorry i changed the submission. So your review is irrelavent now :P