Ceevro's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Return of the Banished Barbers]

All that jelly, and no toast!

[Up and Up]

Thoughts while listening:

Great dynamics in the opening effects. The 'bell-type' effect attacks a bit too fast...kinda harsh...syncopates with the beat in an interesting way. The mainstream wouldn't like the syncopation, but those in the know would love it. Change-up is harsher than I normally like, but that's personal preference, and this actually works well. Too short.

Those were my notes while listening. And here's my commentary:

You've been doing this for a bit, clearly. You have a very good sense of melody, and to work that bell-line over those drums in such a complex way was either extremely skillful syncopation, or a dumb-luck error in computer composition (I do jazz, so off-beats are kinda a showy-offy-thingy).

I hate to say this, given the difficulty most people have in finding/becoming one, but you need a vocalist. For this piece, anyways. It's got a great, airy-type feeling, and my brain wanted a soaring vocal so badly, it started to superimpose a female Celtic singer overtop. At least a choir FX. Something to bring it just a little more into reality, and out of the computer-scape.

All-in-all, solidly composed, a bit on the short side (I realize it's a loop, but I want more of it!), and quite toe-tappy.

asid61 responds:

Thank you for the input!
The short intro got to me a little, but I wanted to get to the melody faster. Plus, I couldn't think of anything to put in that would still sound good.

Vocalist... not sure on that. Not much of a vocals guy, and I don't know what I would add. I might looks for a good synthesizer then.

[Ecco512 - Forget the past (v2)]

Listening...so far, love the airy theme...drum build-up/intro is too Nickelback...do like the overlay of the chords with the orchestral, but it sounds like you didn't tune your guitar precisely. Don't sweat it...I've had to redo whole songs because I forgot to tune up first.

Now, the melody is pretty repetitive, and you're a bit over-distorted. Try adding a second guitar part in harmony with the first.

Nice alteration at 2:41...change is really sudden though...could use a build-up/lead-in to the changes. Change to clean distortion at 4:10 kinda comes outta nowhere there...

OK, so those were my notes as I was listening, and here are my overall thoughts:

Solid concept, nice chord progressions, great mixups. But this track feels incomplete and underdeveloped. I can tell that you're a solid guitarist who has put in a lot of hours to play like you do, and as one guitarist to another, this might sound a bit harsh, but it's with the intention of helping you get better - if you are playing the same thing over and over, it is not a solo. That's the rhythm part. When you were chording the solo bit, it actually sounded like it was time for the real soloing to begin. I'm willing to bet that you would actually have come up with a better lead line if you had improved the whole thing.

Next: I can't hear anything at all resembling a bass-line. Your low-end is completely unfilled, and if you want epic sound, you need to fill the whole soundscape. Trick for poor-man's-bass: Play a bass line on your guitar, and use a tone-modifier to drop it down an octave. Barring that, you can also achieve a poor-man's-bass by running a guitar bass line through a female to male vocal transformer (your software has those things, I guarantee it).

This is a solid idea, and can be expanded, reworked, and mastered well. Don't give up on it, but do do some more work with it!

Cheers,

-Ceevro

R4R

Ecco512 responds:

Hi!
Nickelback? Interesting I never listened to Nickelback.:)
It was my first recorded song 2 month ago. I wanted to try my new soundcard, but I didn't have any experience with studio work. I've played everyday in this summer, and recorded things. maybe now I could make better mastering/mixing, (but I am still shit in solo writing:)

I used guitar pro RSE bass. It's a good idea with the bass, yes it has these functions. I am planning to rerecord it later, but before it I want to buy new strings, and ask someone to set up my guitar right. I see more potential in this song this song too.

Thank for this review, and your time.
You helped a lot. :)

[Shiny Little Gloom]

Something about this track just gets me. I LOVE the super-relaxed, jazz-type feel. The bridge was so simple, yet perfectly suited...most people try to make the bridge more complex, and you turned that ion it's head. Now for the improvements part: the whole mix needed some dynamic range. The volume and tone remain the same throughout, which left it feeling a bit like elevator music. I'd also like to push for some vocals. Specifically, it almost needs a little girls voice telling a creepy story. This would be a MARVELOUS track for narration.

-Ceevro. R4R

Azhthar responds:

Glad you liked it! I knew the problem with the dynamik rangebut this was a bit of a problem of the instrument I choose. Actually I did some extreme velocity editing to the metallophone but it has nearly no velocity response... Then there is the huge tailing of that spacy reverb... If I just do a volume automation it just sounds so unnatural. Actually I also tried different instruments and a music box also suited that track quite well and there was way more possibilties in the dynamics. Actually this changed the feeling of the track completely making it much more "mellow" or "soft" in tone and I didn´t like this very much. I definetely agree that this is more kind of a background track. Some narrative vocals would be nice. Do you know someone? ;)

[The Abyss]

Full marks here, man! I wish I could do orchestral stuff myself, but my mixing programs just never seem to be able to give me anything even close to realistic sound....I don't know how you did it, short of actually hiring a durn orchestra, but this could easily be seen in any epic movie soundtrack.

DamienFleisch responds:

It's like most other forms of music, just takes some tools, practice, and time :)

Thanks for the review!

[Cats]

LOVE the distonic sound of this! This is now the soundtrack to every interaction I will ever have with a cat. They're totally like this...

-Ceevro

motakay responds:

Haha! Thanks! I am glad you liked it! :)

[Piano Strings]

The beat is groovy...but you've simply not got enough complexity in this. It could be so very much more.

-Ceevro

[Fill It Up (Inst.)]

Love that! Only thing that could make it better would be real guitars (but perhaps I'm a bit biased)!!

-Ceevro

Stavier responds:

Thanx & yeah, this is probably the most realistic sounding guitar I got since I'm not good enough of a guitar player or anything :P

[A Story]

Hey, I know that sometimes mistakes come through, and you have to decide whether you're gunna redo the whole damn thing, or screw the mistake and publish. This has the potential to be an excellent, relaxing track. You might find that you're getting better reviews by playing with a metronome track over headphones. The composition is quite nice. You lose lot by losing the rhythm, which to me is always a do-over error.

Enjoyable, nonetheless!

-Ceevro

DjSkyFall responds:

i know but i probably should of added it wasn't a full on project, it was more of a quick inspirational work, atm I'm busy working on other tracks as well as one here on NG, so that's why i pointed out my mistakes, i hope this clears that up... but i loved your review and i will tell you this.. i will go back and re-do the song when i get the chance and fix it... Thank you!