EagleGuard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Carpe Noctem]

Haha, those are some awesome staccato and tremolo runs! The song really fits that picture of Kornel Ravadits. Despite it being short a short piece, I really liked it! It would be great for an action sequence.

Anyway, as you might have guessed, I really like the composition. The complex runs nicely complement the otherwise simple structure and melodies. The brass sections add a sense of mellowness, while the strings nicely add to the tension.

As for the mix, everything sounds well in place. Some parts sound a bit harsh, so I'd suggest cutting the highest frequencies a bit, to soften it. The brass sections also sounds a bit overpowering compared to the strings in some parts. Other than that, it's fine.

All in all, a great piece! Keep up the good work ;)

[Tomorrow - w/ lyrics!]

It's nice to hear another song with vocals on Newgrounds. Even more so when there's a very solid composition involved. I usually don't write reviews for vocals, so there's not much advice I can give in that regard. The only thing I can say about the singing, is that it sounded good enough to my ears.

One thing that struck me with the composition, is how varied it is, which is really good as rock songs sometimes tend to share the same basic structures. The guitars sound quite epic, but the solo from 03:10 - 03:22 sounds a bit sloppy (even though I can't play anything like that), and it may have been worth refining it a bit more. Other than that, the composition and arrangement were great!

The mix is decent, although it could have used a bit more tweaking. The hi-hats, for example, are too loud in some parts, and the vocals could stand out a bit more. In general, it would've been better to make sure the instruments nicely blended into the mix.

All in all, a really nice piece!

guitarmandan responds:

Hi Eagle! I really appreciate the constructive criticism! This was one of my first forays into recording anything but my guitars (I recorded drums, guitars, bass and vocals in my living room), so I can definitely use the practice! Its nice to have a 3rd party point out problems in the mix. After working on a piece for so long... sometimes you can't hear that stuff after awhile.
CHEERS!

[Southern Pastures]

My mind remained silent for a couple of minutes before I was able to write this review, because I simply wasn't able to express how amazing this piece is. If there exists something as a perfect score, then your piece comes extremely close to it. The scenes you described are really well defined by the music itself, and the musical elements you used fit really well, and make the piece as a whole sound really lifelike. The only issue I have with the mix, is that it is a bit too loud when the action starts, and sometimes the instruments sound a bit too sharp. Other than that, it's just about perfect, just like the composition itself, although the ending could have been less abrupt.

I really wish I could've been a bit more constructive with this review, but the track is of such high quality, it is beyond my skills to give you such advice. That said, all in all, this is a great piece of art and a true gem!

[Heroes of Earth]

Haha, it's nice you added your voice, even though it can only be heard twice in the piece. Those little sparks of creativity are always nice to hear when I listen to something new. It doesn't sound unprofessional at all, and I'm really surprised it turned out that well, considering you recorded it with a headset!

I really like the composition. There's a lot of variety and the arrangement makes sense. The only thing that was a bit disturbing though, are those 'big drum' samples you used, specifically at 01:00 - 02:10. The infamous 'machine gun effect' is quite apparant here, so I suggest working with different velocity layers in the future (for all instruments, that is). True, it adds quite a bit of extra work, but the result is well worth it, and makes your production sound more natural and realistic.

The mix in general is decent enough. The only 'problem' I could find was with, again, the 'big drum' samples. Cutting the higher frequencies here might have been a good idea, as they tend to sound a bit too sharp compared to the other instruments.

All in all, a very well written piece! I'm quite curious to see what future productions you'll bring us.

DuttonsaysHi responds:

Thank you for the review! I'm happy when people can take the time to analyse and give me helpful feedback on my music. It really helps :D

It's nice to see I'm getting so good feedback from the voice. Since I haven't done anything like it before or used them in an actual piece, I didn't know how people would react. But it's nice to know it turned out well!

Haha I did play around with the velocity a lot with this one and that big drum sample is the thing I had the biggest problem with! There was a certain point in the velocity where if it was one point higher the in pact sound would be too loud. If it was a point lower it would just have a weak boom with no impact (it would remove the inpact hit completely). Looking back I could have tried filtering that sample alone. I also tried play some sequences on my MIDI keyboard before quantizing them to try and get that natural effect. It's good because it pick up the velocity in which I press the keys but I guess it wasn't so apparent this time... I'll be sure pattern out the velocity more carefully next time so they have a bigger impact :D

Again thanks for your overview! I really appreciate it :D

[To Battle]

The beginning of the piece (until 00:34) is quite well done! It does indeed sound very epic, and the melody is quite nice. The instruments aren't perfectly in sync here, but that's just a small flaw.

However, the last part of the piece is unfortunately not of the same quality. The instruments are 'really' out of sync and the guitar riff sounds quite generic. It's almost as though the final part was rushed, which is a shame considering how awesome the beginning was.

Anyway, I guess it's fair enough for teaching purposes, as the techniques you describe are quite easy to distinguish. I don't play the guitar very well myself, though, so I'm afraid there's not much feedback I can give regarding specific playstyles.

All in all, a decent composition. Keep up the good work!

guitarmandan responds:

Hey Eagle! Thanks for the constructive criticism. The last part is a little more generic in order to drive the point home about the technique being taught. I do admit there are some timing issues, but I seem to be having some latency problems between my computer and recording interface which makes it really hard to sync things up... I play it in time... but then its not.... its pretty frustrating. Something I need to work out for sure.
I could definitely spice that last section up with maybe a well played solo or a continuation of the lead guitar.
I think you've inspired me to flesh the idea out more. I definitely need to fix this latency issue before I record something else though.

[Sky Kingdom of Arcadia]

Hm... is that Edirol Orchestral you used here? It's not a bad library, but its instruments are quite easy to recognize, as they have a very specific tone to them. That's not a bad thing though, but it's always funny to recognize other libraries. That said, here's my review (second time I write this, because Flash Player decided to die on me right before I wanted to click the submit button).

Let's start with the mixing aspect. There are two things I'd like to point out here, both regarding the percussion. The bass drum is a bit too overpowering, in my opinion. It would be good to cut its lower frequencies, so that it fits the overall mix better. The other percussion elements are a bit too 'sharp' sounding, which sadly makes the piece unfit for ambient settings.

The composition itself is also not without its flaws. To be honest, the piece is a bit chaotic, and because there is no clear melody, it is also quite difficult to listen to. The arrangement, however, is the big selling point here. The image you describe (the clouds and all) really comes forward because of the different instruments you used. Good job there!

All in all, it's a decent piece of art. If I were to give you some advice, it would be 1) to spend more time on the mixing aspect of music production, and 2) to invest some more time into studying music theory.

Good luck with your future productions!

[Launch]

First of, I apologize for the low score. You wanted a constructive review, however, so I'll try to be as honest as possible.

The biggest issue here, is that the song is atonal. It sounds as though the notes were placed at random in a hopeful attempt to make it all sound harmonic. This is, unfortunately, not the way to go. In fact, it creates a fairly unpleasant listening experience.

Apart from that, the song is fairly repetitive. I can hear you've tried to put some variation in the song, but the small amount of patterns clearly shows that you basically looped things over and over. Again, not the way it should be done.

Mastering/mastering-wise, the song was okay. There was no noticeable clipping and every instrument could be clearly distinguished from the others. This is, however, most likely the effect of using preset synthesizers, which have usually already been optimized and require very little mastering knowledge to use effectively. Apart from that, the piece is quite 'crowded' with instruments.

If I were to give you a single piece of advise, it would be to study some music theory first. A lot of people start writing music with no music theory knowledge whatsoever, hoping it will come to them simply 'by experience'. While this is slightly true in some regards, you can greatly improve your skills simply by just immersing yourself in the technical things 'behind' the music.

That said, I wish you the best of luck with your future productions!

All in all, 2/5 stars.

BFeltMusic responds:

Thanks for the constructive review. I am still what I consider to be a beginner and I do this mostly in my free time which I have very little of so I'm trying to learn through experience. I wish I had the time to study musical theory, but right now I don't. I do things by ear so I basically try and play off what sounds good to me in the hopes that it will sound good for others as well.

Thanks for the review. I may have to send you a message with questions.

[Carefulstep 2.0]

What I'd recommend, is that you get into music theory first. I found it quite hard to listen to this, and currently the only use I can think of for this is background music (no offense). It's very important that you understand the basics of music theory, before actually starting to write your own music. It's okay to experiment, but don't forget that just as with painting, there are certain rules one must apply (even with electronic music). Also, listen to other peoples' work and analyse it carefully.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Ectohelix responds:

Hell yeah, anything that will help me get better at it. It's funny you mention music theory, as I literally just downloaded an e-book on it. XD

No offense taken, on anything. I expected harsh/constructive criticism when I came here, and like cutting teeth, it's painful but necessary. Your feedback is helpful and appreciated. I realize I'm creative, have lots of good ideas, but lack the structure to pull this off properly.

With time, practice and study, I hope to someday produce something you don't find hard to listen to. lol

[Sanctuary]

I think this is the first 10 (or full 5 stars after the redesign...) I've ever given to anyone... You've created an absolute masterpiece, which is absolutely astounding considering the fact that you're still fairly young! The climaxes/crescendos are sometimes a bit unexpecting, but that's just a small point. Other than that, there isn't a lot more criticism I can give... I like the melodies, the harmony, the overall feeling, the flow, the tempo changes, the mastering... Yep, pretty much everything! You've really made it sound 'natural', which is a great achievement. Well done!

All in all, 10/10 (screw the new rating system) and 5/5! Sorry my review wasn't as useful this time though :)

Step responds:

Hey man, long time no see. Thanks for reviewing!

"I think this is the first 10 (or full 5 stars after the redesign...) I've ever given to anyone... You've created an absolute masterpiece, which is absolutely astounding considering the fact that you're still fairly young!"

I'm flattered, honoured and speechless AT THE SAME TIME. Thanks :3.

"The climaxes/crescendos are sometimes a bit unexpecting, but that's just a small point."

Haha you might be right! I see where you're getting at. Thankfully after the first listen you'll know when the crescendos are and can expect them, so I guess to a new listener this is only an apparent problem for four minutes :P.

"Other than that, there isn't a lot more criticism I can give... I like the melodies, the harmony, the overall feeling, the flow, the tempo changes,"

Thanks, that's good to hear!

"the mastering..."

Wow that's a surprise! A pleasant surprise too. I'm not usually very good at mastering, lol.

"Yep, pretty much everything! You've really made it sound 'natural', which is a great achievement. Well done!"

I'm relieved to hear that since I did work on getting it to sound more real than my other orchestral submissions.

"All in all, 10/10"

:D

"(screw the new rating system)"

Haha, agreed!

"and 5/5! Sorry my review wasn't as useful this time though :)"

No man it really helpful, and a lot more detailed than your average NG review.

Thanks a LOT for going out of your way and reviewing this. It's much appreciated!

[+*. Duty to Fulfill .*+ (WIP2)]

Great!

Saw you needed some feedback in the audio advertisements thread, so here goes :)

Let's start with the positive. There's a nice uplifting feeling to it, giving it that extra bit of epicness. That said, it also sounds a bit 'cartoony', which is not bad, but I think the title is a bit too serious for the mood you've actually created. It reminds me more of pirates than of the need to fulfil my dudy, but that's just my opinion!

Anyway, you've also put a lot of variation in this piece, which is usually a good thing to do. Though some transitions seem a bit inconsistent because of it (more on that later), the different parts in general sound good.

Then there is the mastering, which is well done overall. Nice use of panning and velocity! Not many pay that much attention to the little details, and I'm certainly glad you did. That said, there are some parts where some of the instruments are really hard-panned to one side (timpani to the left, for example), which could use some work.

The quality of the instruments isn't really that high, which is quite a shame, and not all the instruments go too well together. It's not a huge problem, but you may want to look for some higher quality samples for your future projects. Your music deserves it!

There are also a few awkward transitions. Apart from that, the intro sounds like a build-up to some amazing climax, which sadly doesn't come untill later in the song. Try to make your transitions as smooth as possible.

Lastly, there's the rather unexpecting and slightly disappointing ending. Of course, this is still a work in progress, so I'm sure you can think of something clever for that :p

All in all, I quite enjoyed your music! So here's an 8/10 and 4/5 for you ;)

Special-Ed responds:

(/*[]*)/ thank you!

Know anywhere to get good quality instruments free? Keeping in mind I don't know the first thing about samples...