PIED3's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[Gen VI] Graveyard Jam]

Oooh i like the piano. The staccato playing mixed with the echo creates an interesting sound. The melodies were pretty interesting and the various instruments and sounds that appeared throughout kept it interesting, the bell certainly gave it a graveyard feel. Overall quite a nice piece, though perhaps a bit repetitive for a loop.
Oh and you should have labelled this as a loop and not a song otherwise it won't replay automatically.

[Mary Had A Little CreepyPasta]

Incredibly cliché. If this is what it's like in your head you need to stop watching so much tv and a few less films too. Everything about it conforms to the tropes of "scary music", from the pointless reverb to the "spooky perversion" of a children's nursery rhyme. The creepy is commonly the unknown and the unexpected but any fan of the horror genre would have heard this concept 1000 times before.
Beyond that it loops okay and the mixing and panning was quite nice. Too short and simplistic to be off much merit though.

MrNumbers responds:

There is a reason things become cliche in the first place, indeed, and I really think I should have added this into the description;

You are right, your comment is actually exactly why I made this instead of something totally original. I'm using it for a Horror Comedy film I'm working on for school which parodies student films and the horror genre (Think the intellectual's Scary Movie), and I needed something original enough to be completely my own work but familiar enough that it's totally recognizable for what it is: An effective cliche that is overused in the horror genre.

I muchly appreciate your technical criticism past that, as that is EXACTLY the bigger issue I was worried about. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

[Smoke them all away]

The reverb made it a little hard to make out the lyrics and i don't think it added much to the song so if it was intentional i'd suggest removing or reducing it's strength. Other than that i thought the mixing was decent, the song had a very full sound that really wrapped around my ears. The singing sounds quite nice though the reverb makes it a little hard to tell how good it really is. Other than that the song seemed fairly generic but still mildly enjoyable. Not bad!

Jayson420 responds:

Thanks man, the mass reverbecomes from really late nights, for some reason when its late and im feeling a little stoney the reverb just sounds so good to me, but your right it kind of takes a way a little. I just make 1:30-2:00 songs that all sound weird and different, not all as generic as this I guess, but thank you very much for the review!

[FS: Between The Bars]

My winamp collection of FairSquare music is growing and growing! Another enjoyable cover though probably my least favourite song choice out of all the ones i've listened to. I can't really think of much advice to give other than a suggestion of perhaps multitracking the guitar with plucking as well as strumming all at once? Or perhaps adding some percussion? Anyhow, keep up the nice singing.

FairSquare responds:

You have a collection of my music? That's awesome :)
And that's a really good suggestion. Coincidentally, i talked with someone who proposed that i record me singing a song + playing guitar and he'd add more things around it (percussion, bass, maybe some synths). So yeah, good suggestion :)
Thanks for the review and i will keep up singing as good as i can :D

[The Secrets of the Dying]

A little bit screechy no? It certainly wasn't easy listening! Then again, i suppose i shouldn't have expected the secrets of a dying tree to sound too nice. As the sort of drone you might put in a horror film to unnerve the viewer i think it works very well, it certainly had me on the edge of my seat. But perhaps the occasional break from dissonance would have been nice? I think this sort of music can lose it's effect it it remains unchanging throughout and it started to just get on my nerves. I think a little more progression or song structure could have really improved this piece, but it's still decent for what it is.

[Godly Skull]

Do you want to here peoples opinions or do you want to be praised? To ask for opinions and then ask people who don't like it to leave is a little contradictory and i don't think it's a good way to improve as an artist. I really didn't like the drums, they sounded very bland, didn't really sit in the mix and the beat was repetitive and dull. That said i did like the other synths sounds and the melodies produced a strange sort of mood that was enjoyable to listen to. I suppose i'm not really into this genre as i found the repeated motifs tedious and felt the song really lacked progression. The slight pitch bend on the synths gave the song a characteristic feel but other than that it all felt a little over done. After 2 mins of the song it felt like you'd revealed all you had to offer and then just fed the listener minor variations on the themes you'd already established. In conclusion poor structure and drums but decent melodies and synths.

[Sad Times]

Well i see in the tags that you used musescore. Whilst i think it's certainly a good tool for composing pieces, for actual production i don't think it's too great. Try exporting the files as midis and then putting them into something a little more production friendly like garageband, fl studio or logic. The piece was interesting but a little disjointed. Why did each instrument have it's own little solo? It made the piece feel rather empty though it did make the ensemble at 1:41 sound refreshingly rich.
This sounds more like a bit of practice in melody and mode rather than a finished song and you have put any authors comments so i'm guessing this doesn't mean that much to you. Try spending a bit more time on structure and timbre and i think you could produce something nice. Good luck!

MacG88 responds:

Thanks for your advice. I realy appreciate it. You've got right, I starded to compose just few days ago and I'm still learning. I think that Apocalypse is better in form and better refined.

[LOOP_002]

Reminds a bit of "Godspeed You Black Emperor!" but of course without the progression (it is a loop after all!). The sounds were all suitably eerie and dripping and it the drone in the background reminds of the billowing winds roaming through deserted streets. The melody (can i call it that?) is mysterious and engaging but i think as this is only a loop it could have a little less repetition to avoid tedium. All in all it's a decent loop and would fit well in any dystopian game.