SinJim's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Cerulean Fire]

Fire

The song is excellent. You have a great blend of all these different elements and they oddly fit really well together. I think, however, that techno is not the right genre for this song. Seems to me more like Drum n' Bass. Like the use of the atmospheres and I liked the chord change towards the middle of the song.

The only thing I didn't like was the rain drops. For some reason, they didn't seem to fit well. Maybe the sample ended abruptly or something, it just didn't sound right. You might be able to use the cross fade tol to cross fade the samples or even just fat it out so it doesn't sound odd.

Other than that, no complaints, nice job!

~SinJim

BewareOfTheBassist responds:

Thanks! You're probably right that Techno isn't the right genre for this, but I'm thinking that Drum N' Bass isn't quite right either, but I don't know. As to the drops I know what you mean, but I'm not sure that I'll post an updated version on NG, though.
And to clarify this in general, I use no samples, although the atmosphere textures and raindrops are preset on my computer

[L'Amore Perso (Love Lost)]

L'Amore

Well in terms of how good this song, you can refer to everyone else's comments that I agree with. The instruments you chose really make this shine through. I also really liked the subtle tempo changes, that really pulled it together for me.

Going to be hard to beat in the competition. Excellent piece here. Fav'd, good luck in the competition!!

~SinJim

MusicalRocky responds:

Hahah I'm glad you liked it!
Pianos are really beautiful instruments, and I had never gotten the chance to use solo oboe before, so I took it! Went well, I believe :P
The rits are really important because what they do is draw out the emotion in the ends of the phrases they appear in, thus the anticipation makes the beginning of the following phrase feel more emotional as well.

There are a lot of good entries this time around, and I wish you luck too!
Thanks for the review, the fave, and the 10 :D

-Rocky

[[DG] -Fallen Hero-]

Fallen

Kind of got that reflective sadness feel with this piece. Is that a french horn you used for the lead? Worked pretty well and sounded relatively real. The strings were pretty sweet but could have used a bit more in the bass end. You did an excellent job with the percussion and the harp at the beginning was awesome. I wanted the harp to come back in at some point.

For this being your first time in classical, you did an awesome job and it sounds great. The feeling of the song doesn't necessarily pull at your heart but it is definitely something that brings on a melancholy feel in remembrance. I think you did a good job and I'm not one for make-me-cry-I-cut-myself songs so I really enjoyed this.

Awesome job! Good luck in the contest!

~SinJim

DzGuy responds:

Hey thanks for the good review. :D

If you're talking about the instrument that comes in after the strings then that was actually a trumpet. The one near the end of the song was an instrument just labeled as "brass ensemble" so I have no idea what that was lol.

Glad you liked it!

[Everyone Cries]

Everyone Cries

While the quality could be better, I think it really works for this song. I like the rain in the background, but I think you could cut out the crying when the lyrics start. Or just make it sobbing instead with words while the lyrics are running. Just a small gripe of mine *shrug*.

The piano melody is pretty sweet and the contrast with your voice really makes it sad and kinda creepy haha. The song itself sounds like something you'd here in an older horror movie in an elevator. That's the kind of feeling I got from it, it was really morose.

Nice job on this one, if you fix a couple things, it'd be a perfect ten. Good luck in the contest.

~SinJim

jackbliss responds:

Thanks man! Getting a decent critique from a good musician like yourself is always very uplifting. You have inspired me to remake this song with modifications someday soon :-)

[{MAC8}Essence of Time]

Essence

Wow, great job on this one. It's difficult to believe that your prominent genre isn't this one because you really did a great job on this song.

First off, the drums: holy crap nice.

I do agree that the buildup was a bit long but it worked well for me. The choice of pads/strings you used really fit the song and the piano pulled everything together.

At 2:45, wow everything got 10x better. I was really amazed. The theme you've got going and have described for the song really showed through and you just nailed it in the end.

I think you should shorten the intro a tad and this would be really epic. I also think you should put a sweet (a bit more complicated) piano riff in the end buildup.

Great song, fav'd, and good luck in the competition!

~SinJim

Mrmilkcarton responds:

Well on the note of the long intro I wanted to give it a bit of length to convey more of time passing by and nothing amazing happening in your life. Then at 2:45 everything takes a turn and well if I kept this sound through out the sound it wouldn't convey sorrow as much as it did earlier on.

Thank you for the review.

[.:~| V3: Maeror MAC8 July |~:.]

Maeror

Nice percussion work there. Wow I'd love to have a good bagpipe software instrument, where'd you get yours, it sounds really good. Definitely fitting as a highlander's funeral. The chorus samples you used there were really good and the mood of the piece was really...ominous.

I found that it was a bit short but I was also satisfied at the end. I don't know if that makes sense. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it could do with lengthening but it works really well as is.

Also around 0:50-1:00, there were a couple clicks. They weren't a really big deal, but they caught my attention and I was like, "huh?"

Anyways, I really like this song and you really portray a different aspect of the competition's theme. You really differentiated yourself from the crowd with this different sounds and I think that'll help out a lot in the competition

Great song and good luck in the competition!

~SinJim

Draqo responds:

Good ear, those clicks were due to the renderer which are somewhat of a nightmare. This was one of about 20 outputs which was the best so far, but damn, nice catch on those clicks.

I use EastWest/Quantum Leap software for this and all my future works except for Phoenix Chronicles as that is a hybrid of soundfonts and VST's.

Thanks for the excellent review. :D

[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!