PIED3's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Every fall]

This piece has a sort of lenitive timbre; your humming is warm; your talking is calm and reassuring. I really like the instrumentation at the start but i feel it gets progressively worse. The drums are okay but a little loud and a little tedious. Your voice is too quiet! I can't hear what you are saying without straining, and even then i'm missing words. You should also post the words in the author comments so people can read along. I dislike the strings very much, they're maudlin and screechy. The mixing in general is pretty bad but i like the melodies and i really like the concept.

Euclasy responds:

Great review, thanks!
You point out the most important, I really need to learn about mixing.

[|.{Time's End}.|]

Strangely disconcerting. The throbbing of the string synths is interesting, is that side-chaining with the bass drum? It puts me slightly on edge to listen to and whilst i'm sure it's supposed to be ominous - i almost want to turn it off. Then again i don't tend to listen to music like this, i prefer comforting sounds. I can imagine it fitting very well in a game or a flash though. That laugh is certainly very creepy. It progresses nicely and the changing instrumentation stops it from feeling repetitive. Good stuff!

DarkstyleProductions responds:

Well, I don't really think it is Side-Chaining to be exact, just difference in volume. It is ominous, as if Time itself is ending or frozen within.

And thank you for the kind words. :D - I aim to please!

~Neos

[Boxcar(unfinished&awful)]

Nice to hear a new song from you! I really like your voice and singing style even if this recording is just a rough sketch. The mix is pretty sloppy and sounds far too crowded. I can't hear all the lyrics and it'd be nice if you included them in the author comments. I think the drums add a nice urgency to the song and compliment your singing style. All in all a messy but fun listen!

Skunk92 responds:

Thanks for the input bud. This was kind of in the never show anyone vault, but I started listening to it again and felt that even though it is quite shitty there are a lot of good things going on within the song. This was the last song I tried recording before I left for basic training, so it was never completed. Maybe someday I will refine it, but I thought some of the people that do enjoy my music would liked to hear this version.

[The Joy Of Music]

Very fun! Interesting instrumentation with a whimsical dissonance between melodies. I didn't like the drums because they felt a bit heavy for the levity of the rest of the piece: too marching and weighty. The song progresses nicely and i like where it goes though the outro seems a little empty. A lonely piano.
Still, fun and innovative i thought!

Carr77 responds:

Thanks, I really appreciate your comment :)

[Eb - Afternoon]

Very mellow. NIce calming beats and a chilled chord progression. However i think the panning of the synth piano (?) is a bit much and damages the mix. It's too far out and spreads the song to wide. I'd prefer a warmer narrower focus. The bass is nice and it certainly has a good mood to it, very much like a sunny afternoon.

howlen responds:

Thanks for the review!

[I'm a Ghost man]

I don't think you should sing louder just up the volume on the singing track. I like your singing style and whilst the recording quality isn't great it has a certain lo-fi charm to it. Definitely needs to be mixed better though. The drums are quite fun and i like the xylophone (?) in the background. Posting the lyrics in the author comments would be helpful and it'd give you something more to say than "FLERKTMGF..."!
Keep at it!

Jackssauro responds:

Alright, thanks. I'll post the lyrics, lol.

[Girl I Used to Love]

Love the atmosphere and the opening synth. You're voice is very nice to listen to but i think the delivery is a little bland. I suppose the song is intented to have a sort of melancholy empty feeling because it's about a love that's gone but still your artificially on the beat rhythm is disappointing.
I don't like the lyrics much either. They're direct which is fine and you get the point across effectively in terms of content but in terms of empathy it could be a lot better.
My favorite line is "Drink a cup of water... is fucking dead" because of the unique imagery and wry contrast between the the opening "cup of water" and the end "fucking dead". However quite a lot of the rest of it is trite and useless. The opening line isn't grabbing enough; it's a common sentiment expressed plainly. Some of the rhymes are forced: it's obvious you've only used the word "vault" because it rhymes with "fault". A vault is not something you fall in to and that lines a complete non sequitur.
Despite these flaws i still really do like the piece. Short and sweet. Pr

XiruX responds:

I am no professional rapper, therefor my work isn't very professional. But it's reviews like this one that help me progress and be better at this. I thank you for such an elaborate review.

[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.

[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