FUNKbrs's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[¤{<Major Arcana>}¤ - Tower]

very neo-zelda

The rain effect could have used a little more dynamic modulation, instead of just being a constant drone. When I first heard it, I thought you were using a bad cable or something. Then I realized you probably used some sort of composition program, and that it was intentional. The thunder piece then made that obvious. Real rain comes in sheets, it doesn't fall steady. Yeah, I'm being a nitpicking fag. Sue me.

Also, you spent too much time in the melody, and not nearly enough in your bass register. Bass notes aren't just there to reinforce the in-line melody, the should preferrably be doing their own piece of polyphony. Dixie-land jazz is good stuff, and I think it would fatten up your compositions if you were to study it a bit.

All in all, nice solid video game music

Deflektor responds:

Your comment about the rain is pretty strange, as it is an effect sampled from a real rain. Same goes for the thunder strike sound.

Also, you're not the first one to say i don't spend enough time on bass. Yet, i tried to make it a bit more present for this one, and i think it is already too much.

But anyways, thanks for the review and advices !

[Khuskan - Not Enough]

Nice use of texture

I love how you used touches of compression and subtle eq'd reverb decay on the drum samples. The vinylizer you ran on the samples also helped knock off a lot of that "OMFG PROGRAMMED" sound the various fruity loops faggots seem to have.

The track still sounds extremely keyboard driven to me, however, and the vocals sound a little over wrought (yeah, I fucking said it. OVERWROUGHT. The american idol style is NOT to be emulated; it's to be ridiculed) For example, I couldn't hear the supposed "guitar track" in the mix, either because I'm deaf, OR because the guitar sounded EXACTLY like a key board, which I consider a bad thing.

This is still a fucking excellent track though, no doubt. And that's coming from a guy who is definitely not a fan of the whole "soulful ballad" concept.

Khuskan responds:

Well that's awesome, because I didn't use FL, giving me an excuse not to make it sound like FL, and this is an awesome review in that it gives me a bit more time to explain the track, style, etc for the sake of people who have likely never heard this sort of music before - i.e. anyone outside the UK.

The track was written for a big college project, in which we had to closely emulate any style we wish. We got free choice over what style we could do, however, we get more points depending on how close to the style your track is when completed.

The style you're hearing here is called Trip-Hop. It's a sort of ambient acid jazz originating from south-west England, around the Bristol area, and started off with key bands such as Massive Attack and Portishead in the early 90s. It was extremely keyboard and loop driven and almost all have a breathy female vocalist.

I'm not one for using loops, so apart from the very subtle guitar which I recorded and looped myself (you can hear it most after the end of the first chorus, about four bars into the middle 8), everything here is sequenced, but written in a way that adds the essence of what sampled music is. Everything flawlessly loops, there isn't much variation in any of the individual loops and the grungalizer (which you sort of correctly recognized as a vinylizer, though I've never heard it called that before) was used to not only cover up loop imperfections but to add another little bit of depth.

I didn't have as much time to work with my Vocalist as I would have liked, but when compared to Massive Attack and Portisheads tracks, the vocals seem more or less spot on to me.

Oh and trust me, that isn't a touch of compression, the whole track is compressed to the drums - another trip-hop sound, but it creates such a subtle boost that it's perfectly enjoyable :D

Thanks for the review.

[Black and Blues]

Too bad no backing band...

This was awesome as a solo, but it would have been a lot better with a full band. The riffs were honest and authentic, although they didn't push the limits of the instrument too far.

Nothing says real blues like riffs that START OUT fast as fuck, then get depressed and end up long drawn out wails.

[Pub Blues]

A little too jazzy...

For a blues piece. And swung rides just don't sound right in midi. My ears just don't work that way.

My snobbishness out of the way, a very nice smooth piece. There are things I would add to it, but again, taste.

[Time for bed (4:20)]

Nice and relaxing

But a little muzaky. Really good lullabye type stuff for falling asleep too. Really nice use of chords and stereo effects.

It felt really 1960 early psychedelia pre LSD.

WinTang responds:

Hehe... thanks.
Muzak usually doesn't have any dynamic change, though, but I see where you're coming from.

[Napalm Butterflies]

Good layers, but....

Your use of chord theory was seriously limited. You tended to use changes in effects to get different guitar sounds than just by using really weird chords. I did like the way the ambient noise turned out, and there is some nice healthy speed.

[Axeman666 - Showdown]

The use of tonality

You used some really nice rhythms in your melodies, but the chord changes always waited for the measure break. It gave it a bit of a monotonous feeling to it. It's not enough for the individual notes ot have a beat to them; the chord changes have to dance within the track as well to get that "all encompassing" vibe that makes for impressive techno.

axeman666 responds:

That is by far the most intellegent advice ive recieved since I joined NG. Thanx for the advice and the good vote.

[Rock Candy]

More EQ separation pls

You totally neglected to separate the elements of this piece using EQ and stereo pan. While you certainly achieve a good hardcore effect, dedicating say, the highs to the high hats, the bass to the bass, etc, the individual elements would be much more separate and recognizable. The same effect could be achieved differently by dedicating each aspect to a particular left/right ratio (Ex. the bass centered, and the high hats to the left, and the snare hits to the right)

The piece is also a little too fast to let the elements soak in. Slow it down a bit so each note has a distinct attack and decay. That way the tone of the samples would really shine through.

[Troubled (3min42sec)]

Nice bubbly melodies....

I lovely the never ending arpeggios on this track, and the nice fat tones. I really like how you used themes that have a solid base different EQ frequencies so each aspect had more cut and separation.

AdmiralConquistador responds:

Never ending arpeggios was all I could muster about a year ago, but they sound good with the rest of the stuff I wrote to finish this song. Hey man, I'm glad you noticed the EQ tweaks I made, that's pretty cool! Thanks for the good review and score, appreciate it much!

-ac-

[Orchestral Espionage]

Ah, it's a vinyl thing

Vinyl tone and slow decay verb. I'm going to assume you use a true keyboard on your tracks, and not just samples. Good on you.

chead86 responds:

No, i don't use a true keyboard on my tracks, mainly cuz i don't have the money for one right now, but thnx for thinking that. I'll prob get a midi controller in the near future tho, but until then all i can use is the piano roll in fl :-/. But neway, thnx for the review--

-Chead