Kazmo's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Misunderstood Man...]

Pretty interesting.

The kick that comes in at the beginning seems really...dull? It doesn't quite fit the rest of the song in my opinion.

The synths are rather amazing, I really like the grain lead, it's really coarse, and has loads of texture. :P

The pitch up thing was interesting, but right after, the kick is rather none-existent, may need to fix levels, and compress the kick.

Seems like your leads are really pushing it, in volume, they seem to be limited, do you have a limiter in the master? I feel as though the leads are too loud.

The piano is nice, is that FL Keys?

The song seems to drag on a bit too long, it's quite repetitive, there's not really a lot of variation in progression at all.

Overall, it's not bad, needs a fair bit of work, but I see a lot of potential in this if you just fix the levels, increase the bass/kick, and EQ some more, like the hats/leads.

5/5
8/10

Keep at it! I'll be watching you lol

alertG responds:

o_o'

thanks for the compliments :)
yeah, that begining kick could be changed. I'll look at the kick, im usually afraid of having it too high.. I do have a limiter in the master, so ill pay attention to the leads as well.

haha yes that is FL keys with EQ and delay. and I think that if the intro was improved it would improve the song altogether. I think what makes it seem long is the longer fadeout before 4:00. I might change that a little as well.

Thanks a ton for the suggestions and review!

EDIT 1/10/10: Yeah, I can see where I can improve this in mmany aspects. Its funny how I can really notice these things much easier as i improve. I dont think im going back to this one though. not sure..

[Sinking In - F-777 ReMiX]

Well well well...

If it isn't F-777! :P

What's this?! A remix of my song?! Cooooool. :D

Time to review:

I see you started somewhat the same way as the original, except it tends to carry on for a little longer. The pluck is also played higher, which adds a nice resonance to the mix, but I feel it also tends to get a little repetitive, since it's not being automated in any way. The notes don't vary all too much either, adding to the repetitiveness.

I like the strings, very deep and soothing, as well as that pad that comes in at 00:15. Very nice.

I'll be honest, I don't like the acid hit, it doesn't really fit well, and throws off the groove a bit.

The little digital synth at 00:42 was a nice idea, but it sort of has that edge compared to the rest of the song, and doesn't quiiiite fit. Perhaps making the notes shorter, and adding a bit of reverb and lowering the highs would fix that.

That bass is rather granularrr, I feel it almost distorts the mix. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice bass, but while playing it with everything else, it tends to take over a bit.

The end has a nice reverb sound to it. :P

I'm liking the variation in the saw lead, except that the pluck is still playing the exact same thing over and over and over again. :[

2:25 is a nice break, I feel there could be more bass used to back up the epic piano and strings though.

At 3:00, I feel the kick comes in too soon, it may work better if you just leave the kick out until 3:14. Also that digital lead comes in again there, and I don't think it fits there at allll.

Overall, I'd have to agree with Helth a bit on the fact that it just isn't your style. I wouldn't say it's because it's my song, but I guess the way you went around with remaking it - the parts you chose, as well as the structure of the song - just didn't work right with your general style.

Once again I'll remind you that my reviews aren't meant to be harsh, but to be honest and give constructive criticism on your music.

5/5
7/10

Thanks for remixing. :D

You never know, I may decide to remix one of yours! :P

Thanks as well for all the support you've given me, I try to give it back as well.

[Mountain Flowers - F-777]

I must say...

...This is pretty awesome.

At the same time I couldn't help notice that it's a tad piercing. I would've preferred the guitar at the beginning to be softer. so it's more soothing, rather than having a strong attack.

When you have to two leads playing, I feel they sorta get in the way of eachother, but once one isn't playing anymore, sounds great, with the kick and bass.

Ah the bass, I find it quite soft, the kick is fine, but the bass has a hard time coming through. I'd recommend not using the Soundgoodizers so much on your leads ;P

Nice piano arp, wouldn't mind some subtle velocity changes so that it sounds a tad more realistic, even if it's not all that dominant in the mix.

This song really moves, it's quite awesome. The flow is rather good, and nice work with using hardstyle sounds in a dance song o_O lol

5/5
9/10

All I can say for critisism is work on the balance a bit more. Other than that this song is mint! :D

[Party All Night[Dj-S]]

Go Sacrafan Go!

2 hours eh? No offence, but it sort of shows lol.

Remember, quality over quantity. The more you work on a song, the more you'll appreciate it in the long run. :]

Onto the review:

Nice piano, although I feel it could be turned up a bit more, so that it doesn't get over powered by some of your effects/kicks.

I feel there's a huge compressor on this song, I may be right, because your bass is not very constant, it fluctuates.

The synth that comes in at 0:50, is a little all over the place, if you know what I mean. It doesn't really carry any sort of melody, it just plays a bunch of straight eights that somewhat fit the notes in the chord progression. :/ I feel it also overpowers the overall mix.

The outro...oh wait, there wasn't one lol :P

I'd work on an outro, as well as an intro (just realized it doesn't really have one of those either :P).

overall:

5/5 (You've improved!!!) :D
8/10 (The song itself needs workz)

Keep at it man, you're getting there!!! :3

Sacrafan responds:

It was sorta a challenge, my friend was like, make the best song you can before i have to go, and i was like, ok... lol.

[Frenetic Energy]

Needs workz

Right at the intro, I felt the lead was really muddy. Perhaps cut down the low frequencies in the lead, and ditch the compressor. May need to experiment to find the right balance.

The off-beat bass that comes in is quite....low, in a bad way, it loses it's power. It just sounds like grain it's so low. Maybe mix it up with some higher octaves to give it more depth, and lower the really low octave volume.

The clap/snare I realized is on beat 1 and 3, which is different, but at the same time jubbles up the feeling, since the majority of rhythms in trance/dance has the clap on beat 2 and 4. In any case, I'd also consider this song to be more of a dance tune than a trance tune.

The transition with the off-beat kick was a bit confusing, since we think of the kick as on the beat. Interesting nonetheless.

The vox is cool, but at some points it becomes hard to understand/hear, since some of the other surround sounds are much higher in volume

A note: Never have a fade-out outro, everrrrr. I understand if you are a little pensive about making an actual outro, but a fade out just doesn't make the song feel complete.

What do you put in the master channel? If it's the default Limiter, ditch that, it's for the best. Also, under program settings (options) turn off CPL, you'll get a more full sound, you may need to fix your levels though.

In the end, I really really see potential in this, and I don't want to see this stay like thissss. If possible, work on the few things I've mentioned, fix levels, etc.

3/5
6/10

Keep at it, I'm sure you'll be able to improve in your technique and begin creating the music you aspire to. :]

ViceOfFire responds:

Thanks heaps for the in depth review dude.

I agree with you, there's a lot wrong with it, it was my second full song (1st musically correct song), and there's a lot that shout be fixed.

That being said though, I couldn't really be bothered to go back and fix things, and I think I deleted the project file too.
Thanks for all the kind tips :D

[[LK] Euphoria]

K my turn :P

Right off the bat, nice piano :3

I also notice this song is rather 'loud' in a sense, that there's no room for space in the song, and it sounds rather crowded. I can almost guess what you have in the master channel...(Limiter? or maybe Maximus? Both?!) I recommend starting to work with those out of there, and perhaps just stick a Soft Limiter so you don't get over-decibels, and make sure the Soft Limiter's Threashold is down (straight line) though, so that it's not compressing anything.

Yay, VEC drum fills for the win... :/ you're better off making your own transitional sounds to be honest. They add character to a song, rather than hearing the same old same old.

Anyways, when the lead comes in, it's not very loud, seems like the bass overpowers the song at that point, so it doesn't have that climactic effect that I think you were going for.

1:22 was sudden, and feels quite empty, and the hat sounds really...dull. You need more sounds in there, ,,maybe a pad in the background. The bass is also not very interesting, maybe make that spot a bass solo, and mess around with the notes within the chord progression so that it's not so repetitive.

2:31 doesn't sound right, it sounds like another intro, and yay machinegun snare roll!!!! >.<

Overall, this song has compression/mastering issues written all over it. I've learned to ditch the Maximus in the master. compression in most cases is not your friend unless it's just for a specific synth/bass. Even so, you need to be careful, so that nothing overpowers anything else.

All in all, I see promise in this. Keep at it, I think you have a lot of potential in this area of music. :P

4/5
7/10

Big Brother is watching you!!! o_o

LK412 responds:

Mastering/Mixing as most people can tell is not my area of expertise.

I try really hard to work on it but its mostly just laziness. I mean, its not like actually make the music its fine tuning which turns me off. I know its necessary but im just REAAALLY lazy. Ill definitley try to improve myself tho.

I know the VEC fills are WAYYYYYYYY over used, but i love them to death, they remind me of the the days when i found out about dance/trance and listened to Dj Splash constantly. i guess thats why i put em in. Ill try to avoid that from now on.

I definitely should have put a pad in there, i really dont know what i was thinking. I wanted to make the bass simple thats why i didnt make it too crazy.

Yea at 2:31, again, i don't know what i was doing. Just trying to fill in random crap. It ruined the structure. ill try to remember that next time.

Thanks for the review. I really appreciate it.

[Segata Sanshiro]

Interesting

If any of you actually listened to the original, you would notice that this one differs in no aspect whatsoever. The original song is actually playing in the background, and all he did was sing on top.

Mind you, you did a great job singing on top of the original, though there is something called a copyright, Warner Music Japan 1998.

I'd recommend taking this down, since it's not even your creation.

It's good that you mentioned the original creators, but using their stuff was the wrong way of going around this. You should have just made something from scratch using similar sounds.

I guess that'd be too difficult though, since those are real instruments and I'm pretty sure you don't have an orchestra at your disposal.

The reason I'm giving a five is because there's only half-effort shown in the piece, since the music isn't even yours. Great job on singing though, I found it quite funny. :P

3/5
5/10

DruoxtheShredder responds:

It's a parody, silly. I'm protected under fair use. Now, if I did an exact copy of it and said I wrote the music, that'd be infringing. But it's not. Not to mention, it's free to download off the segata sanshiro website =D It's the karaoke version O.o

[TN - NeverLand]

Out of Sync Vocals

That's the first thing I noticed when listening, and that shouldn't be overlooked.

That needs fixed, NEEDS fixed.

Another point, don't overuse extended transitions (even when they're samples), the ones that take another bar out of the song just to transition through.

Also, try to avoid using rhythm loops, it adds no originality what-so -ever.

Your snare is tad loud, it kinda hurts.

Honestly though, those vocals need synced, really badly, it's driving me crazy, b/c if the vocals were fixed, I'd give you 9.

I'd give you a full 10 if everything was more balanced, and that nothing hurt the ears for a long duration. The snare(s) at 2:15 hurt. Just letting you know.

Funny enough, the pads were lovely after that.

Nice lead, but it's also rather generic, if you know what I mean. It's a standard saw lead.

Anyways, I don't want to go on and on, so I'll just conclude saying that this piece has potential to be amazing amazing amazing if you work on syncing the vocals, and perhaps EQ/relevel some of the parts.

5/5
8/10

Keep at it.

PS: Quit telling people to check out your tracks in your reviews, it's considered self-publicizing, and people don't really like that.

TerraNation responds:

Well yea iknow the work vocal needed to be fixed, yea some of the loops is kinda high volume, , well idon know actully how else find people to listen.

[HIghest Peaks, Bluest Seas]

Deep and soothing

I'm really really enjoying this!

The intro is just like...a dream, and it just fills your head up with matter (I'm not quite sure what, but I feel it), and then the bass comes in, and just makes you move.

Then, the piano, amazing feeling, I can't quite explain it, but it's the epiphany of uplifting.

Then everything starts coming together more, and I'm awed by the sheer flow of this. Everything works together in harmony, nothing stands out.

It begins to get a tad repetitive, the piano part and the little high plucks in the background, but then the change up at 2:13 couldn't have came sooner.

Yay, panning effects! :3

The pads could've used a little less presence, since you bring in the pad-ish synth on top of it, but the build is nothing short of remarkable! I LOVE THIS!!! ZOMG

I saw this song before, I guess I just wasn't in a reviewing mood. Today I am :D

As the title suggests, I feel like I'm floating/flying over peaks of mountains, with a partially cloudy sky, and rays of sun poking through, hitting the sea nearby, glistening off the surface.

I'm crying, is that okay?! :')

5/5
10/10

This is awesome, thanks for letting my ears listen to this astounding piece of music.

Keep up the amazing work.

gregaaron89 responds:

Thanks Kazm0, I really appreciate it :D It's great to hear that you connected so much with the song, what you said about it is exactly what I wanted to get across.

The piano is icing on the cake here, I needed something to really top the whole thing off. Actually I lied just now, it started as just the piano and I decided to bury it underneath everything else.

You're right about the repetitiveness I think it's a bit drawn out in places and there's a lot of mud and mixing problems, I'm waiting until I get good monitors to redo the mix on this because it's really really complex. Maybe I can make it flow a bit better.

"I'm crying, is that okay?! :')"

Yes! I think that's the best compliment I could recieve :)

[Denn-C - Intro WiP]

Sounds solid!

The beginning was really cool, with the unique rhythm, and then when the kick comes in, it's just like, DANCE NAO! :P

That's one strong kick I may add, wow.

I'm liking what I hear! Make it longer! lol :D

5/5
10/10

ARE YOU READY!? xD

Denn-C responds:

Yes me iiiis! Woohoo thnx man:D yeh i was going for a hard kick.. though i think it could be lil more bassy=P
Thans alot man!

G'day m8!

Denn-C;)