SinJim's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mac8 - A Long Time Ago]

Long Time Ago

Great piece here. With your description and the song itself, I really got the feeling you were going for and the one you experience when writing this. I feel you on the lost family members and, while I didn't cry, I did remember a lot of things with that certain person with a smile on my face.

I'm not much for the cut-myself-I'm-really-sad-pity-me-I'm -emo songs and it seems that a lot of people in this competition are in the same boat. It's really refreshing because it's nice to have a song that can put a smile on your face while at the same time giving you that sorrowful emotional feeling.

That being said, great job with the guitars (I'm going to have to go practice forever now...). The line buzz wasn't that distracting until I really cranked the volume; in fact, I didn't even know it was there until then. So that's not a huge deal. The drums get a bit repetitive, but I think they work in the aspect of this song. They could do with a tad of reverb, but they sound really good here.

Awesome song, really faving this one. This song is amazing because I get happy and sad at the same time. Nice job, good luck in the competition!

~SinJim

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Thank you, very much.
Yeah, emo stuff...not my gig.
If we wait them out, they will take care of themselves. haha.

But yeah, it was different to draw on an emotion rather than aggression. That's for sure.
As for the line in buzz, I could easily fix that, but I don't know if I can replay this with the same emotion. It would end up "blank". So sadly , the buzz stays. I was trying to get a more "raw" feel. Glad it worked, and thanks again for your awesome review.\m/

[Mac8 - Forgotten]

Forgotten

Nice work on the guitar, Bad Man. The pads you choose really highlighted your gutiar's tone. I agree with others on this being a bit short, but with your awesome internet, what can I say. If you do choose to expand on this, you could go with a full tracks (drums, more guitar, vox, etc), but it does really work well in and of itself.

Short but sweet, I really liked this piece and you did an awesome job. Good luck in the competition.

I think you should try and collab with a drummer or someone else to expand this piece. It could be a really awesome song

~SinJim

PS - Nice vocals on Darkside's track.

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

I have a few days left, I might try and play with this a bit yet.

Glad you dig, man.
Thanks for another awesome review. As well as the review for "World so Cold". I'mma have to hit ya back here in a moment!!

\m/

[Tears Of Hope]

Tears

I like the title you have going with both tears and hope sort of conflicting each other. I really liked the piano riff; however, I think you could have made the intro a tad shorter. Maybe cut out a couple bars of the same or something like that. Either that or go in and change a couple of notes. I liked how you changed it up when the 1:10 transition came in. The part you used there was pretty good and I liked all the pads you used. The violin was ok, but when you brought back the piano riff in, I think you should make it more complicated and add a couple parts. Maybe double the octaves on the slow part with the piano or make them parts of chords, I dunno just fool around.

Great song and great emotion here. Good luck in the competition, you really captured a sorrowful feeling here. Nice job!

~SinJim

PS - Sorry for the massive block of text.

JohnnyFrizz responds:

Well a great review here! I like very much your ideas, very constructive review, well about the piano part after the violins I thought it was good to bring that part back, cause it gives good consistence to the song and shows its well structured, what I was trying to achieve with this was to make ppl see how everything comes well together in the end.

Thanks for the review, I hope you can review my second entry to the contest when its up.

Greets!

[Forgotten Tears - Mjattie]

Forgotten

That pad in the background sounds like it's a trance pad that can't get past the filter haha. But it really wants to...

Anyhow, this is an awesome ambient piece and it pulls off the sad aspect, which, in my opinion, is pretty hard to do with ambient since the tempo is all slow and it's supposed to be relaxing. Either way you did it and it sounds great. The piano addition was awesome and I really liked how you managed to put in a buildup in the ambient song you have here. While it wasn't anything epic, it really helped for me and added to the song tremendously.

Did you mean to pan the drums to the right after the buildup? If you did that's fine, I'd just say to pan em to the left after you slowly pan them right to balance the song because that really caught me off guard. Either that or just leave 'em in the middle *shrug* just an idea.

This song gives me an impression of reflecting back on things with sadness and I think it will do pretty well in the competition. Great job on this one a good luck!

~SinJim

mjattie responds:

well, yea it was meant to be on the right XD but if you're so sure about panning it in the left I'll do that for you XD

tx for reaction, glad you like it :P

[Lost - Mjattie]

Lost

Great piece here. The piano melody is great and really leads the rest of the song. The string work is awesome and really adds to the piece as it continues to build. The piano could be a tad louder at times when all the strings are playing. Throughout the song, I wanted more of that cello to fill out the bass end of the song but it's a personal thought haha.

Great work, the only thing I'd say is that, to me, the piano sounds a tad quantized. It could do with some humanizing if it's sequenced. Or at the end, I think you should add a small piano outro but play it by hand and manually slow down the tempo, it would help the feeling of the song.

I really do like the song and the things I mentioned are really not problems, I'm only nitpicking haha. Great job with everything, Faving this one and good luck in the competition, this should do really, really well.

~SinJim

mjattie responds:

well, glad you like it (again) I would like to manually slow down but I don't have a MIDI keyboard XD

[Hills of Tuscany]

Hills of Sorrow

Hmm, given the title, I can't help but wonder what kind of place this is. The piece is really excellent and the subtleties really shine through. Nice selection of chords and great progression. The piano works so well for this type of piece and doesn't need any accompaniment. Strings could fit in, but it works well without them. Is the piano the FL piano? Sounds pretty good.

In terms of your setting for the song, I really envisioned this being a countryside where things may have gone wrong. Maybe even a small village that had been pulled into WWII or something like that. I get the sense that you bypass this village and get a small view of what it's current state is.

Anyhow, this piece is really great, Fav'd it and I think you'll do really well in the competition with this piece. Good luck!

~SinJim

No1r responds:

Hello again Jim,
and again thank you for your reviews. This song came out after a night i spent on the hills near my city .. i should make some photos and show you the beautifulness of these places. But that night really didn't go well, as you imagine.
About the piano: i've used the "Garritan's Personal Orchestra" 's piano..i had a 30 days trial of the VST so i can't use it anymore..it really sounded great.
Good luck to you too, keep in touch.

[Simply, i love you]

Simply

First off, great work on the guitars, you have some nice licks in there and the solo is pretty sweet. The piano is pretty sweet and, while I haven't used AKAI drum samples, I do think that the samples can sound a bit more "live" than sequenced. On the other hand, if you give it the time and have a good quality drum kit to work with, you can make the sequenced stuff sound really good and pretty close to live. Granted, you're never going to get close to a real drummer, but by humanizing and such you have a decent chance at making them sound believable. You just have to be willing to put forth the effort - which a lot of us aren't haha.

Anyhow, I thought the drums sounded good (most likely because I haven't browsed through the AKAI samples, but meh). I do think that this is more "love-ish" than "sorrowful" in terms of the competition. Don't get me wrong, it's got a great beat, progression and all else, but I think for the competition, it might not fit the "sorrowful tears" theme.

Love the song, Fav'd, great job and good luck in the competition!

~SinJim

No1r responds:

Hello SinJim!
First thing: really thank you for your long and beautiful reviews.
I'm glad you liked the song and about drums: yes, you're right the main problem is that you have to spend so much time and effort sequencing good drums..i need to work on it, anyway, and find some good drumkits.
About the competition: i'm aware that this song could sound pretty "love-ish" ..but i just wanted to try it out..:)
Bye bye Jim and keep in touch.

[*-_Alone at night_-*]

Alone

Wow, I have a lot of respect for your guitar work (Makes me sad because now I need to practice a LOT more haha). While this one isn't heart wrenching, it does give off a feeling of reflecting on things done in the past. I sort of get this vision of someone on their back porch alone, thinking about what they used to do and all the conversations they had with a person that's gone.

I think you could have pulled the heart strings on this one a bit more, but seeing as it's an older song, I can understand that you're not pulling out the razors on this one haha. I really am getting to like all the entries that approach a different side of sorrow instead of the emo crap you hear on the radio.

That being said, I love the song, it's calm and the guitar work is emaculate. What guitar(s) are you using? It/They sound wonderful. What amps also? I wants to know cuz I wants to gets me one o' dems. Well I'm Faving this one as well and it looks like when I have time, I'm going to have to go through all your other stuff.

Great job on this one, good luck in the contest!

~SinJim

DarKsidE555 responds:

Hey, thanks a lot for the long and cool review. Sorry for the more or less late response...been kinda busy the last time. ;)

Glad you liked it. You truly got the feel right of this track, really nice to read that people actually think about the music. That's cool! :)

I used my B.C. Rich Virgo blood for this track with a couple of custom fx on my podxt from Line6. It's a virtual amp studio so to say but GREAT for homerecordings. Saves money and space. :)

Thanks again for checking! :)

[A world so cold]

So Cold

Spectacular guitar work on this piece Dark. I agree with a previous reviewer in that it sounds like some of metallica's old stuff. I really like how you kept it simple without adding a whole lot of stuff. The guitar work is enough to keep you interested while Bad man's lyrics and voice really strike you as saddening and mellow.

The wind in the beginning was a nice touch as well, sort of set that ambient/melancholy mood when you started up the guitar work. The quality of the guitar is also very awesome and it really doesn't take over the vocals. The couple parts you showcase the guitar aren't too complicated but they are really nice and I enjoyed that. Tell Bad man he did an excellent job on the vocals and especially the couple times he harmonized.

It could have done with a drum track towards the end but I think that the fact that it didn't have one did not take away from the song. You could have gone with a massive buildup but you didn't and it worked really well.

This is a great entry, Fav'd, good luck in the competition!

~SinJim

[Asylum (ft.Fateful Revolu]

Asylum

I have to agree with Flash on this one, it really is 28 Days/weeks later-esque. Nice job with the effects. The drums don't get in the repetitive guitar riff doesn't get old with new additions like the FX and the chorus in there. The strings coming in at the end were not expected, and I really liked it.

Great song and great entry into the MAC, good luck!

~SinJim