Ceevro's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Peachymaiden & Javier Anibarro Z - Hidden Lines (Original)]

So nice to hear a softer side in this competition! Good luck!

Jabicho responds:

Thanks so much, Ceevro! :D

[Rushing into Deepness]

Friendly hint...I'm not your direct competitor yet, so I don't mind offering a little advice:

Adjust the volume of your lead-line during the loud sections. It's getting overwhelmed by the percussion.

Solid track, overall! Good luck in the NGADM!

Adjeye responds:

I have lowered the volume a little bit of the drums, but not all to much.

[-Hopper-]

Huh...your style is about as much of a contrast to mine as I've ever heard! That is not to say that you don't have talent...you clearly have style for days!

Looking forward to going against you in NGADM17!

Congrats on making it this far!

Preds responds:

Aww yeah!! Good luck in the NGADM17!!

Yeah, your style is pretty different to mine, but is also great! This is going to get real soon!! xDD

~ThaPredator

[NGADM 2017 Auditions Podcast]

Huh? People know me? How'd that happen?

ChronoNomad responds:

Of course they do! You're that world famous Sing-Along guy...aren't you? But seriously, those are awesome. Haters need not apply.

[endK - Bouncing Squad]

Huh...this like nothing I'd ever personally compose...and yet it hits the artwork right on the head, IMO. This almost begs to be a level in a videogame about the picture! I'd play the shit out of that game!

endKmusic responds:

Thanks a lot Ceevro, enjoyed your Rothgar piece so much. :)

[AIM - Light Enduring]

This is just lovely! I'm in agreement with johnfm about the warbly pad, but really, the composition here is enough to bring a dude to tears in the right circumstances! The raw talent in this place never ceases to amaze me.

Phonometrologist responds:

Thank you Ceevro. You and johnfm convinced me to get rid of the tremolo effect as I automated that. It probably isn't necessary, and I think I got carried away with it for fun.

[The Dark Desolater]

Thoughts while listening:

Starts out VERY Tim Burton. Somehow turns all Slender Man, while retaining that Burton quality. Love the drop! Makes me wish I'd pulled out the headphones for the first listen! Methinks I'm gunna hafta have a convo with you on how to make dub...I wanna, but I keep failing. Do you use a keyboard while you record, or do you do the qwerty thing? Or what I used to do when I still used FL - manually click in each note on the grey grid?

I am totally getting down with this! Needs a strong voice shouting a hook. Maybe some kinda mass of people.

Thoughts after listening:

Welp. You gots the dubstep, there is no doubt. While I am personally not a fan of overly digital-sounding FX, you've used them remarkably here! When the competition is over, if you'd like, I'd love to put an electric guitar track in there for the melody line! Methinks I should get into contact with you to maybe start learning a bit more about the genre. I love good dubstep, but dammit, I can't make my DAW do what's in my head!

Full marks, my friend! Good luck in AIM!

Spadezer responds:

Much appreciated, and thank you. If you want, sure go ahead and hit me up. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to help, especially since I still feel like I fight with making what's in my head play out well in a DAW. What has helped me though with the first time I really tried making a dubstep piece, binge on listening to some dubstep songs and try to listen to the details. What I found is dubstep requires a lot of attention to the small details to make the whole. For example, I watched "We are Number One (Dubstep Remix)" for inspiration and found the drumming generally in Dubstep is a lot more minimal than what I was doing in my other stuff. Also, dubstep tends to separate sounds a little more than what I've done in other pieces too, like there's less harmonizing among different synths.

As for what I do, I have a keyboard to attempt plucking out what I hear in my head, or I use it as I'm messing with knobs to play with the sound of the synth. Otherwise I'm doing a lot of clicking either because I know what I want or I'm cleaning up what I record.

Thanks for the compliments and good luck back to you.

[AIM - Unstoppable]

Thoughts while listening:

Nice build-up! Really cool 80's techno-feel...just done better. Love the synth choir at 01:10. Sounds like something totally played on a synth. Dunno why...generally electronica isn't my cuppa tea, but I'm totally getting down to this! Like...I want a spandex unitard and a glowing motorcycle, so this can be my theme music while I throw laser discs at things.

Thoughts after listening:

The mix is spot-on. And your instrument selection is definitely exactly what the song needs. There's not an error in here that I can point out! You've done precisely what you set out to accomplish!

5/5! I don't give those out often!

TIMETRAVL responds:

Thank you for your feedback!

I'm glad you like and that you caught the feeling of the track and the setting.

Also thank you for you neat rating :)

[RPG Town Dark Fantasy Music]

Thoughts while listening: Totally something I'd expect to play in the background of a PS1-era FF game. Sound at 0:35 is grating...not the wrong notes...more the wrong instrument. You need a more realistic clarinet or a bass-flute. Perhaps a wood-flute, like a shakuhachi. It works OK when it's soft.

REALLY sudden change with the percs at about 2:10. Like a total scene change. This should almost be a separate piece. It feels like it's in a jungle, and the first movement was in a village. I love the gong, though. Adds great drama.

Thoughts after listening:

You've got a really nice vibe here. I'd like to hear it with more realistic instrumentation (but that's almost always my preference, so take it for what it's worth). Your synth-oboe kinda sound needs to go. It would work WAAAAAAY better with a softer instrument, like a flute. This is background, I get it, but if you want it to be background, you have to make sure that the sound stays under the action, and abrupt tones tend to push their way forward in the listeners mind.

3.5/5 R4R

-Ceevro

UserSigon responds:

I don't remember what instrument I used for that flute/wind thing that you don't like, it's from Sampletank, but honestly I didn't play with its settings or keyswitches enough. Lmao yes the second part is a bit too different, but I wanted to add some percussions/drums element

Thanks for the tips about the background/tones thing, it's my second serious attempt at something like this, but I only spent like 2 hours since I've never done anything similar. Will probably try to make more soon, thanks mate

[Coming of Age]

Hehe! I've never actually played any Zelda game (for some reason, I've never owned any Nintendo device), but the medley is a rollicking bit of fun!

AAAAAAND of course there's the classic Step quality. Dammit, Step should be a full-on brand!

Step responds:

Ahh, man, I took forever to respond to this haha. Thank you, always great to read your reviews.

Zelda is an awesome franchise, you're missing out! I have regretfully only played Twilight Princess, but one thing I know for sure is that the soundtrack is consistently amazing.

LOL at the brand comment.

Thanks again!