PIED3's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Stone]

I really don't like the drum loop. The guitar is fairly lo-fi but real sounding and those horrible artificial drums clash annoyingly. Of course recording real drums is a lot of hassle (especially if you don't have a drum kit) but atleast try and find some better samples. Or make them quiter, or sit further back in the mix.
I liked the guitar and the chord progression. It has a nice driving force to it and whilst it's short it gets me into it's mood. I feel like this is a part of something bigger as opposed to a finished piece though. Do you have any ideas as to what you might add after or before?

thndr responds:

Thanks for the review man, it's much appreciated, the shitty drum loop was due to the fact that I'm running out of new samples to craft in Reason, as to adding towards these teasers\snippets, I'm really looking forward to it, however due to my lack of real talent or knowledge of musical theory I find it very hard to make longer songs.
Usually quantity goes against quality when it comes to me.
But as I said, in the future I'll try to slowly expand the length of these ideas, hopefully I can reach a 2-3 minute length without the song losing it's feeling.

[steppe_band]

I never know what to expect from you Zump. I like the panning on the opening drums and their echoey tone but they also sound a little too artificial to me. Interesting rhythms. The entrance of the melody at 1:45 pulls me in to the song and i love the distance it seems to have in the mix. Almost as though i'm walking past a man practicing in his window. I love the actual melody line too. Great ending.

[Liberty]

I like how soft the marimba(?) sounds. The chord sequence is nice enough if a little cliched. But the song doesn't progress! We have the instrumentation build a little bit, the piano tinkles away and we get some sort of timpani/percussion. But melodically the song goes nowhere. Even if you didn't want to change the chord pattern you could at least have introduced some countermelodies or overlapping melodies that looped over a longer period than 4 bars. The note at 1:04 seems an unnecessary jump in pitch that doesn't flow from the single note repetition prelude it was given.
That said I like how all the instruments sound and the mixing seems good to me. As background music in a short film i'm sure it would do nicely. Certainly has a feel of rising and inspiring.

ChrisisD responds:

I agree with you on every point. What I forgot to mention is indeed it's background music during a speech. It isn't interesting enough to listen on it's own I agree. Though with speech going through it, it shouldn't be too complicated nor distracting. I thank you for your opinion and vision!
As for the chords, well yeah the most common chord progression known to men perhaps, though it was suitable for this short film.

[Geneva's Dream]

I really like listening to dreamy songs late at night whilst reading on the computer. This is a nice one for that, soft and drifting. A plodding arpeggio that doesn't do anything to spiteful but strays in to interesting places towards the end. The melody line is appropriate and has a little cheer in his heart. A slight sense of melancholy but then there is a slight sense of a lot of things in this song. That's maybe why i like songs like this, they have a subtle depth to them. THey don't force sorrow down your throat or bury you in joy but they have something to say. The part at 00:51 is really quite unexpected and endearing. Definitely bumps the song up a lot in my opinion. Good job on this one, just wish it was longer or looped!

hjhkbn responds:

Thanks, that really does mean a lot to me coming from a listener :D

[Train In The Night Blues]

I want to like your music. You make a lot and you have interesting stories to go with them. There is nobody quite like you on the site and i'm always intrigued to listen to your dulcet tones. You have a very relaxed voice that is very comfortable to listen to but i can barely hear it. Nor the guitar.
Maybe it's your mic, maybe it's your editing, maybe it's your recording set up. I don't know. but i wish that one day you'll put some time and effort in to mixing and mastering and recording and not just lyrics and composition. Because then i'll be able to sit back and relax letting the music wash over me and not hunched over straining my ears to make out what you're saying and playing.

Please?

[Johnny Doo-Dah]

I'm impressed! The extended week-year metaphor was a good summary of the more prosaic aspects of a life viewed from a distance. The line "born on a monday, murdered by sunday" caught my attention and works very nicely. The song structure was a little repetitive but i suppose it emphasized the songs theme and that ever looping "johnny doo-dah" background vocal line gave the song a dreamy dreary feel.
The audio quality was very nice and guitar was very clear and crisp. I think perhaps the lead vocals could have been a little louder but i'm not sure. There was some strange effect on the lead vocals too, they sounded slightly distorted. Not sure if it's your mic or some editing you did but perhaps some equalization might fix it.
I have no concrete helpful advice so let me end by saying good job, an enjoyable song!

Stampini responds:

Hi, Thanks for taking the time to put together those very thoughtful comments. With respect to the distortion on the lead vocal, EQ, Chorus and Compression are the culprits!

[The Shepherd]

Reminds me of Macedonian music, a pleasant surprise on NG! The main instrument (the oud?) has a good sound to it and plays some very catchy melodies. A bit more variation on the theme would have been nice as it was a little repetitive. I liked the driving percussion and the strong sense of rhythm throughout. The strings were an interesting touch but i think they fit in well and added some depth to the piece.
Very classy heavy reverb ending. Most appropriate end to a charming song. Good work!

[sea_salt_daughters]

Ah, that is a magnificent opening. Huge walls of waves crashing down, an unstoppable force of nature beating the rock. The drips used as percussion was a nice idea and all the sounds throughout this song were interesting and unique. I liked the chanting sound, very hoarse and weary like a broken beast. The organ like instrument was unexpected but it's melody and harmony kept the piece from going stale.
I'm not sure about the song structure, it certainly fit the wave/ocean theme with different elements drifting in and out but i think it lacked progression. From a monstrous opening we drifted to peace at 1:50, then we have a sort of breakdown and subsequent build up but there is no real climax. It all fades away like the breaking of dawn, an anti-climax.
Despite that i really like this, definitely a rare gem to add to the collection. Downloaded.

[Coco's Lullaby]

I was tired and now i'm slipping into sleep. I was thinking and now i'm pensive. Prostrate at a poignant pause. I was listening to your song and now i'm writing a review and listening to it again. It's very nice. It's very mystic, almost mantic. All those echoing melodies fluttering by and a song structure that i can't quite grasp.
It's definitely a journey. But is the boat entering the cavernous tunnel or leaving it? Is the captain dead or just passed out drunk? Theoretically the static sounds are inappropriate and i don't want to like them but somehow they work and the odd mixture of percussive noise is haunting. It ends far too abruptly. Is it meant to loop? You say it's a work in progress so i'm sure you'll fix up the ending and give it something a little more conclusive. I can't trust this piece in the hands of it's creator though so i'm downloading it now. Good luck with finishing it up and keep up the wonderful work!

jesseman1 responds:

Thanks for the nice words! I really appreciate it:) Yes, the piece is far from finished, hence te sudden ending. The percussion is still way too static, I really need to incorporate it more into the whole piece. I'll let you know when I finish it.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

Sep

[Kanuvma]

Highly enjoyable. Interesting idea using a custom chosen set of syllables that don't intentionally exist as words in any language, let's any listener enjoy the "foreign" feel regardless of their native language. The song structure is nice and varied and you produced a wide range of sounds with your mouth!
As for things to improve i think the voices sounded a little weak/quiet. I'm not quite sure what it is but i felt they didn't quite fill the sound space. Perhaps some equalizing or different panning might fix it but i can't say. The part at 1:50 sounds better and at that point i was really getting in to the song. A wonderful medley of wonderful melodies! The singing was all nice and soft on my little ears and the panning at 2:58 really felt like you were singing just next to my head, spooky.
Overall i think you did a good job with this. It's fun, creative and unusual and for that it gets a 10!

ZipZipper responds:

Thank you very much for such a thought-out review. I think the quietness is due to bad mixing, in need of better equalization, as well as having so many tracks going on at the same time. The part at 1:50 has the least amount of tracks occurring simultaneously, so maybe that's why it sounds better. Live sounds are definitely harder to mix than the digital ones, so I'm still learning. Again, thanks!