Kazmo's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[When Im With You - F-777]

Review Tiemz :3

I must say, you're pretty good at this kind of stuff, although I wouldn't necessarily consider this Classical, since it's got some pretty unrealistic sounds/mixing. I think this is the closest genre you could get for this...although it's almost Trance, but not really (the piano and pad sounds really Trancy).

As DJOrsa said, changing the velocities make all the difference in the world when it comes to making a more realistic sound to your channels.

Some panning on the channels would've been nice as well to give some sense of space and location in the mix. I noticed that the Piano is stereolized so that as you go up on the keys, it goes towards the right, which is cool, but that makes the piano sound like it's in the very center of the mix. Things like this have to be thought out sometimes, depending on what feel you want to get across. I myself may have, for example, panned the strings to the left a bit, and the piano to the right, and then monolize the drums a bit so that they're sort of in the background/center.

Now to get specific.

Reverse crash at the beginning feels a bit unnecessary. IT does it's thing, and then there's silence again. I think the song would be a bit nicer if it just led right into the playing :3

1:01 is pretty sweet, I like that pad, very ambient. The sound on top is different, I don't even know what it is! Oh well, it fits well with the pad, although it's a tad on the "punchy" side of the mix. It's probably just compressed a bit too much.

2:14 was a bit sudden for the drums to come in in my honest opinion. And then they stop after like... 10 seconds.... *sadfaic*

Lovely strings and piano nonetheless, I did mention the velocity changing earlier for the piano, that'd make it even more lovely.

The overall flow of this tracks feels a bit redundant. It moves/flows nicely up until 2:28. I feel that the track starts to lose some momentum there in terms of themes. It keeps repeating the same general pattern for about a minute. Perhaps some more instruments in that part would help a bit. It just gets a bit boring there.

I guess you wanted to have an ending chord, which is cool, I guess I'm just not a fan of yours, I prefer it be a button or a cadence. I think I would've liked it a bit more if it was a unison tonic chord. The 3rd throws off the ending in my opinion, plus the chord comes in significantly later.

In the end, this sounds nice, but there's always things that can be improved upon. Thank you for gracing us with this piece of yours! :]

F-777 responds:

Ye its not classical but i don't think NG really
has a genre for this i think its Down-Tempo maybe?

As for changing velocities i actually did that a lot here
but i think it wasn't enough of noticable changes still.

Panning yes i agree i should have focused on that i did
aim for simple but i missed out on a lot of opportunities
for atmosphere. Ya i didn't focus much on the piano going
off to the right either =(.

I kinda failed at a good intro kept trying diff things then
got frustrated and settled with that.

Thanks about 1:01! Its a panflute i found but i edited the heck
out of it and it ended up being really cool/weird. It sounded
relaxing so i added it to the song =). No compression it just
probably needs less attack.

2:14 what i was trying to do was twist the listeners emotions
like make it uplifting back to sad memorial back to uplifting
to resolved past memories etc. so i thought added the drums
for a bit then ending right away would help screw with your
emotions more =). But i probably should have let it go one more
time. *sadfaic*

O.O HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE MY ENDING CHORD?!? Haha thats ok
but for my preference i thought it went well with where my thoughts
were going =).

Thanks so much for the review!! And ya looks like im going to have
to make a new version of this. Im not a perfectionist but now this song
is nagging at me to fix it up haha.

Thanks man!! Appreciate the awesome long review! They arnt too common
on newgrounds =).

[Aspiration Rd. 2 {NewYear Mix}]

Uhm

Your kickdrum fills remind me of hip-hop snare fills, which isn't good.

This is so bad, I don't even know where to start.

I see that all you used were presets and a generic chord progression, explains all the listens though because people on NG seem to love that kind of stuff (at least the majority of the site).

You have some major balance and mixing problems.

Now that I think about it, I swear I've heard this melody from somewhere else, but then again, it's hard to make a new melody with that chord progression, there are only so many different variations that can sound 'ok'.

This track also lacks continuity, it keeps breaking the flow as well as adding too many different random variations. Stick with one idea and build from there, don't bring in random stuff.

"I uploaded this a couple weeks ago (before the new year), and realized the mastering was awful and that were a couple of other problems.. so I took it down and fixed it." You may want to work on it yet some more... Plus there's a difference between a finished track in terms of length/structure rather than mastering/mixing. This is nowhere near finished in terms of mixing. It was agonizing listening to this, especially the end part.

b0b3rt responds:

Yes, Kazmo, but don't tell me this was worse then the original? That's were you heard the melody, because you reviewed that too.

[GAS - Vocal Gunslinger]

Epic

Considering the length of this track, it's still quite solid and I love it.

You have a shitload of talent, it shows in this track.

The mix sounds clean and strong, and your vox are crisp! I wouldn't change anything in terms of balance, it's perfect.

Keep up the great work, your rhymes are really sick!

[The Land of the Forgotten]

I love...

I love how people love over-compressed tracks.

There's wayyy too much bass in this track, the guitar has a hard enough time trying to cut through it all.

It's also quite repetitive. The guitar is rather boring too.

So ya...I'm confused...oh wait, no I'm not. NG FTW

[Monodisc&Vitalis - Soundtrack]

Yo Man!

What upppp, I just uploaded a new track too. :P

This is quite relaxing, I really like the piano riff. The chord progression is interesting too, but it works very well. :]

I want moar! lol

I love thisss, keep at it, this fits a movie so well!

tijnn responds:

I want your babies too <3

[Osher - Trantastic]

Kick = Wowzers

I think the kick's too bass-heavy, or over-compressed, b/c it's just knocking my brains out lol. I love the bass and leads though. But the kick definitely needs to be turned down in the mix.

I really dig the pace of this song, it starts off quite solid and slowly builds with pads and cut filters. It's a little mushy, but it still sounds pleasing. I would've tried stereo seperating the pads or something, to fill out the song more.

Now that the kick came back in at 2:50 ish, I think it may just have too many mid frequencies, but that may be due to too much compression as well, hard to tell really.

I really like the chord progression, very soothinggg. :3

What'd you use for the lead at 4:10? It's sooooo awesome.

5:02, I would've left out the open hat to be honest. lol

Overall, awesome track, keep up the great work man!

Osher responds:

I had very trouble with the kick. I could not find one that fit well with this song, but that kick is what I stuck with for the final export. As I've told you before, it's 96kbit. So it does get a little mushy.

Thanks mate.

[Violin Flight (WIP) ~P~]

Flight of teh Violinz :3

Look at them go! lol

I really like how this opens up, with the multiple violins. The sound quality of the violin soundfont you used is actually quite pleasant :P It has a nice timbre to the strings.

I must say, when the choir/pad stuff comes in, it's a tad on the louder side, it's almost covering up the violins :(

All the sounds you used are awesome, and I can just mellow out to this.

PS: It loops perfectly! :D

[.Aspiration. [Trance]]

Seems like you don't like criticism.

Too bad.

First off, this is dance not trance, primarily due to the kick and chord progression you have.

The intro, or shall I say lack of, is quite generic. I laughed when I read "Totally original trance piece."since it doesn't sound all that original.

Not going to lie, this song is extremely repetitive, and the lead that comes in at 34 seconds is way too high pitched, and it's definitely not a pleasing sawlead either.

1:50 is pretty much the nicest part of the whole song. Good job with the piano.

You also have some over-compression issues, which I'm sure is due to the lack of effort and time put into this piece. (2 days for the framework...point proven)

Nonetheless, it sounds okay, but it's not excited or new.

"TOP 5?! WOOOAH" I'm just as shocked as you are...

b0b3rt responds:

Actually, Kazmo, I love criticism. Unfortunately, most people, unlike you, don't actually tell me what's wrong and should be fixed.
I'll keep working on this piece, and I'll take your suggestions into account in the future.

[Kick S. Beats ~P~]

I must sayyyy...

This is quite interesting! :3

I'll be completely honest, but I had nooo idea where the beat was until 10 seconds after the beginning of the song. The kick had a tail that gave a misleading offbeat.

This song is so gritty and baddass. :P

The bass just rubs against my ears like sandpaper haha it feels...nice? XD

>: ( Needs more cowbell!

This is quite different from your other experiments nonetheless!

:D Keep at it! Always enjoy hearing what you come up with ^^

[DjTyph - Let's Do The Mario!]

Let's do the Mario!

Also reminds me of Super Mario Sunshine a bit, it's so happy! yayyyy

Keep at it!

Me love you long time! :3

Prodigal responds:

ME SO HOOOOOHRRNNEEEYYY