PIED3's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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!

[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!

[Not My Mistake]

I actually liked the panning on the bass but the strings fading in and out didn't work very well i don't think. Good driving opening that gets me in to the mood of the song and doesn't let me get bored because of the new instruments constantly being introduced. The very short acoustic guitars at 0:51 and 0:56 are a little loud though. I don't think a hip-hop style rap would go well with this but it's hard to tell until you've heard it. Some singing could be nice. The melodies were a bit too static for my liking, they rose a bit but always fell back to the same base note and that got repetitive. That's probably the worst thing about the song really, the melodic and harmonic stagnancy. You tried expanding it abit with the guitar at 2:50 but even then everything else just droned on and it felt to burst out. I really did like the deeper more rhythmic bass and drum parts and there are nice riffs throughout. Good luck with future work!

Skcy3 responds:

I see exactly what you're talking about with the melody constantly going back to the same note, it's something I never really thought about until you just pointed it out. I'll try and avoid that in future work,thanks for the review, it means a lot.

[Happiness is Hopeless]

The main aspect of this i enjoyed were the lovely melodies. I found them a strange blend of melancholy pensiveness and a stirring sense of joy. Definitely very well crafted as was this whole composition. I think the echoing on the piano at the start might have been a bit much but the richer deeper piano sound at 0:25 more than made up for it.
In fact most of the timbres and synths were good throughout barr the strings (and symbols) at 1:30 which sounded a little santized and artificial and the bass drum at the end (3:58) which was really quite jarring and far too loud. You introduced some dissonance and devloped the tune mid way through and that kept me engaged despite a fairly repetitive song structure.
The more jazzy parts at 3:00 were just too perfect. It was then that i knew this song was one to download and add to my collection. A really charming piece that i'm sure i'll be listening to lots over the summer and that has inspired me to go check out your other works and fan you. Keep it up!

Supersonic63Leo responds:

Thank you very much! I'm flattered

[Ghost In The Synth]

Thick deep throbbing synths that swim around my ears are great even when alone. I think you needn't have made this song so rushed, i wanted a bit more time to explore the first bass synth before the chords (?) came in over the top. Perhaps i'm just a bit too patient with drones type things but i really would have liked this to be a lot longer and slower. Still, as it is there's a sadness to it that sets a nice tone. Good luck with future work!

AlxEllis responds:

Thank you very much for the review...perhaps an extended version I'll make?

Glad you enjoyed it anyhow :)

[Electric Demons]

If you're unsure about the genre stick it in Misc. cause then nobody can complain.
I like the synths and the percussion but i really dislike the lack of melody. Far too much of the song is just one note cutting in and out for 2 bars and then another one cutting in and out for 2 bars. Sure, they played out interesting rhythms but what would have been really nice is if each note of the rhythm was different and produced some roving melody. You sort of do this later on around 1:20 but even then you just repeat the same arpeggio over and over. If it is techno then repetition is to be expected but i can't say i like it. Some parts where you did have more of a melody were really dissonant and seemingly random, the notes formed no recognizable flow or key and it seemed sharp on the ears. You embraced this sharpness towards the end and i think it worked better there as it seemed more like a style than a mistake. Definitely had the feel of robots malfunctioning or some virtual madness.

Seismoz responds:

Thanks a lot for your detailed review!

[Wish's]

I really enjoy the use of pitch bends in this. Those sliding notes are very fresh and funky. The start was enjoyable and interesting but i didn't really like the drums when the first entered. They felt a bit too uniform and repetitive in comparison to the sweetness of the other synths i'd been enjoying up till then. THe drums at 1:58 were much better i think. Fit the mood better and felt a little more grand. I liked pretty much all of the synths and the melodies though the main droning/chord synth that was there from the start could be a little better. It sounded a bit to gratey on my ears. I can't really express very clearly what it is i don't like about it but perhaps you understand my meaning. Perhaps it's the slightpanning it has that i don't like.
As a whole i liked the song and think with a little work and a slightly more interesting song structure it could be something really neat. Keep at it!

deathnerd responds:

Ty sir and yes I do know what you mean about "the droning/chord" thanx for the feedback and will be working on it a bit longer. see where she takes me.

[El Rodeo (Kyuss Cover)]

Can i hear crickets in the background? This song certainly has a nice and relaxed feel but i haven't heard the original so i can't really judge how well it compares. I thought the riffing up until 2:20ish was a little dull. Yes there were some nice melodies but it all seemed a little aimless and i was waiting for it to go somewhere. Of course there's only so much you can do with solo guitar but i still feel it was a little bland. When the chords came in it started to feel a little more structured and i could get into it more. Still though i think a lone guitar strumming chords really doesn't make for the most enthralling music. Have you thought about trying some multitracking? Singing? Percussion?
Just something to add a little more variety to the piece and to allow for more complex structure. As is it remains a failry nice piece that could really do with some filling. It's like a sandwhich with only bread. The bread's nice though. So you just wish there was some ham with it. And tomatoes. hmm and perhaps some salami too...
If you can't sing try getting a buddy to or try multitracking. Good luck!

Viper responds:

yeah i know...but i dont really have any "buddies" to do multitracking and i cant sing the song otherwise i would have at least to do so...im seriously considering taking this down and either re-recording it or just keeping it down ._.

but thanks i suppose...

[The Machinery]

Very dramatic melody! That motif really did sound like a villains theme and i could almost feel his treachery through my headphones. The synths were nice and proffesional sounding but i think the mixing could do with a little work as it all sounded a little weak to me (i.e soft). I also think the composition could have been improved by having at 0:30 a melody join that had double the speed (i.e if the original was quavers, this new melody be semi-quavers) over the top. Because whilst the piece had some good tension it felt more like an introduction than a finished song, i was waiting for it to burst! To explode! And sadly it never did. Definitely shows a lot of potential for a more fleshed out song though and it neatly fits it's purpose as a villians theme. Good work!

Witcherrage responds:

Firstly i considered it as a loop so i didnt make the "burst" you were talking about. I will make a longer and heavier verision though. Thanks for advices.