Karco's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[~[ Evulsive V3 ]~]

Second latest!

You start it nicely... there's atmosphere here. Something like two drum sets too, apparently.

You don't have much of a melody in this song... well, you might have one, but your drums dominate the volumes and I can't hear the synths as well as I should be able to. So... since I can't hear it as well as I should, some of my criticism might be off. But... from what I do hear, it's good stuff and the only problem is the synth, which should have been tweaked a little in my opinion to fit the rest of the song a bit better.

Your harmonies, few as they are, complement your melody nicely. No complaints here... at times you get some nice harmony in this song. If only those drums were quieter...

But all volume problems aside, your drums are really good. Creative rhythms and samples, it's all here. The only problems I have are that the snare drum sounds especially loud, and the volumes. So... good job there.

Nice atmosphere here, it almost feels oriental. The things that detract from it are, for the umpteenth time, your drum volumes and some of your synths... now, I'm not asking you to apparently make a FOURTH version... but it could definitely use work.

I hope all of my advice helps you... keep up the good work. :)

[-[ Must PREVIEW ]-]

Two reviews for one, huh?

Or at least you said so on the Audio Advertisements thread. So, naturally, I'll come here and give you a review... actually, I'll give you two if I can, because I see no reason why I shouldn't equal your generosity. :P All right, review time...

So this is only a preview? Aww. :( Nice panning with the pad, and nice note progressions and creative rhythms. The bass later in is okay, but could have been replaced by something... a bit grittier... though it would have changed the attitude of this song a bit.

The drums are fairly simple, I hear only a closed hihat playing eighth notes. So... make that very simple. :P

Well, a short song gets a short review. I hope the finished song is better! :D PM me anytime in the near future if you want me to review something you've submitted. :)

(And, as for reviewing my songs, you can review my two latest, Troposphere and Stained Chrome. :P But not until I review your second most recent! :D)

[Neverland [EON Remix]]

New song... again? :D Then a long review to match.

You're one of the few favorite artists of mine who submits this often... so just saying thanks for being such a consistent submitter. :P (Consider these long reviews gratitude! :D) Onto the song, now.

Opening with an arp... not sure about those vocals, they seem a bit harsh for so soon in the song, but it gets better as the song progresses. (Remember that there's a chance that your listener is starting your song from listening to nothing, so a sudden JUMP into the full blast of the song in the beginning or, worse, AS the beginning is most of the time a bad idea. Not that you did that, but just a tip. ;) )

Hmm. I can't really offer criticism on the melody since it's apparently not yours... but the instruments that play it are well-chosen. The sawtooth later in the song, however, I'm not so sure about, though...

On diversity - it's a little more than four minutes long, however, and it does begin to drag on after a while, in my opinion. :( I heard somewhere that the ear can only take about two and a half minutes of something before becoming "bored." True, that must mean we all have ADD ears, but it also means we had better be seeing some serious changeups by that 2:30 point! ;) For example, you could have ended this song by the 2:51-ish area... you know what I'm talking about? And it would have been good. The synths coming in right after that somewhat made me sigh and think, "again?"

Your harmonies are VERY accomodating to your melody... it would seem you overuse, for example, the arps/etc. (from Vanguard?) but surprisingly the abundance doesn't cause a loss in quality. I'd also like to point out the sections when the piano's playing along with the vocals... at that point, I think, while building up, you could have added another harmony on the piano... it's not that easy to describe in a review, though. =\

Wow... until now I've been so busy looking at your melodies and harmonies I didn't notice your percussion at all. Your percussion, actually, sounds a bit... weak. Except for that snare roll, which is decent. But I can barely hear it under the abundance of harmonies. From what I can hear, it's typical EON percussion, though... :P You might want to try being a bit more original than that...

Overall a great remix of a great song... that I've never heard the original of. I'll look into it. :P Can you look into my audio page at http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/view.php?id=1828837 if you have the time? A review for my latest, Troposphere, would especially be appreciated as it's the first part of a big work in progress, and I think an opinion from a much more experienced artist would help out a lot. Much appreciated... and I'm looking forward to more. :) Hope all of my advice helps!

[Kill robot kill.]

Cool...

You've got your first reviewer that's not me! Congratulations. :P Now you just need to get people to review your songs with more than one-liners... :D

So you made an Industrial song? Hmm. I made one of those too, recently... I'd like to see what you did.

Starting with low notes... and now you come in with some surprisingly realistic drums. Guitar, too... this, I guess, is sounding pretty industrial.

Your melody is low, varied, and consistent, and the choice for the guitar, and the choice of having one to begin with, were both good ones. Nothing to add here.

Hmm, quiet piano-ish break. It fits surprisingly well and adds new atmosphere to the song... you then change everything else to fit it and then slowly make a smooth transition back to the original, low guitar mode. Nice... :)

There aren't really any harmonies unless you count that bass that was there from the beginning. Which is, by the way, too low and the biggest fault of the song - in my opinion it should have been either an octave higher or only in the beginning of the song.

The percussion is great - your choice of realistic drums adds a lot to the industrial feeling. I especially like that reeverbed snare drum... they do get a bit boring, though. You could have changed things up a bit as the guitar progressed in the foreground.

Again, I don't quite get your choice in titles, but not as badly as last time. And, again, I can see this in a professional video game.

You know... you have the potential to be very popular on NG... problem is you're not trying to get that publicity! How will people know how good your stuff is if you don't advertise yourself? And I don't mean creating spam threads on the BBS, of course... write reviews for people! They don't have to be long like mine are... they just have to be decent, offering at least a little positive criticism if you want them to be motivated to look at your audio. (Offering the URL to your audio page helps, too. :) )

So... here's basically how you should do it: Any chance you could stop by my audio page at http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/view.php?id=1828837 sometime? A review for some of my latest would be appreciated... thanks a lot, and keep up the good work. :)

(And I mean that! I was giving an example and asking you to visit my audio page at the same time. :D Much appreciated.)

MeteorSuit responds:

Haha, hey man, I'm pushing 30 reviews here. Yah you're right I do need to get more active, I'm working on it. Thanks for the reviews and constructive criticism, helps a lot.

[The railway of riddles]

Aah, two more songs...

I'll review them. :) (Ever noticed how I'm your only reviewer? Get yourself noticed and start reviewing other people's songs, asking them in the reviews to look at your stuff! ;) You can also be a frequent to the BBS, namely the Audio Forum, which will get you and your songs some attention.)

Good introduction, though you could have progressed the song a bit faster. Once it does, though, it's pretty good.

Your melodies are pretty good, but they sound a bit plain. I'm not sure what instrument that is playing - I'd guess Soprano Sax but I've never heard a Saxophone like that - but that's what I'm talking about.

I'm not the best reviewer of this kind of song... but I'm thinking your harmonies fit VERY well for this style. They all contribute to that tribal feeling again, which you're pretty good at.

The percussion you have in this song is quiet, subtle, and distinctly ethnic - nice choice there, they also contribute to this tribal feeling.

You have a great atmosphere here... and I'd have to say the only thing that doesn't match it is the title. XD How, exactly, does this song sound like a railway of riddles to you? I guess we all name songs differently... =\

Overall a great song. Again, I'm not normally one to listen to this style but you have it down pat! I could actually see this in certain video games... the professional kind that come out on your everyday system of choice. :D That means you did a great job... so keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to more. :)

[Keth Andril-Rediscovery]

Trance Rock?

Never heard of that one. But I can review this.... here's a very nice, big review for you. >:)

Nice opening... and I'm not so experienced with terms so correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds a bit like MIDI to me. I might be wrong, though.

Great harmony between synths, though. Aah... now I'm hearing a melody coming out... it sounds a bit cliched but I can bear with it due to the great harmonies I hear.

Aah, this is good stuff I'm hearing! Great guitar there, well-introduced, and there's a nice melody it's playing, too.

Your melody sounds great, you keep it fresh throughout the song. It wanders a bit too much at times but otherwise I have no problem. Great choice in guitars, too - it's rockin', (I don't use that word often at ALL :P) but not so much that the guitar is distorted and kills the rest of the song. So... great job here.

Great harmonies but they sound a bit MIDI-ish, or something like that, anyway. No clashing notes, you appear to know some musical theory... or at least a good grasp on what's harmony and what isn't. XD No complaints here, except for that you could have found better synths.

Drums are good... I only hear, however, a snare drum... you could have been a bit more creative than that! And if there are other drums, then I must have missed them because I can't hear anything else, really. You use your drums well, though... the snare drum definitely adds that rockin' feeling (I don't feel like saying rockish today :D) and the crashes go right at the right places. So basically... be more creative with drum types and rhythms and you're good.

I wouldn't call it Trance Rock as much as I'd call it Techno Rock... but okay, that genre works fine with me. You do get the feeling you were apparently aiming at... if you had had a bit more diversity in harmony synths instead of all those MIDI-ish ones, it would have been even better. So... great song overall! Mind stopping by my audio page at http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/view.php?id=1828837 sometime? A review for my latest, Troposphere, would be nice. Much appreciated... and keep up the great work. :)

[_-={This Frozen Land}=-_]

Eerily calm... chilling.

Hmm... I was wondering how you would make a chilly-sounding song. I guess I'll find out now.

Nice opening with the piano, there... and the strings come in - very fitting, by the way - and then plenty of other instruments come in, and the song starts sounding a LOT better... the piano speeding up was especially nice but it should have been louder, in my opinion.

I didn't like the male choir so much, really... I can understand your reasons to use it but this didn't seem a fitting choice in my opinion. It hurt the peaceful, eerie sense somewhat that a female choir, in my opinion, would have added to. That's my opinion, though... what do you think?

Hmmm... I hear a flutish instrument that seems to be a favorite of yours... or, at least, it matches your style very well. Any chance you could tell me what it's called? :)

I LOVE the atmosphere in this song... so calm and chilly, yet epic as well - and it fits perfectly what you were aiming at, too!

Those jingling bells... those are pretty cool, Maestro, and well-used, too... well enough, apparently, they deserve their own mini-paragraph. :P (More like a sentence, but you get the idea.)

Last paragraph of praise, I promise. But I really like this song. :D Transitions are very smooth in this song, I barely notice them... great job there. And when I saw that you said the song loops, I was expecting a cut-off sort of ending... but you surprised me and ended it the same way you started.

Great song overall... this has my 5, and I've downloaded it as well. Looking forward to more of your works... and now, storytime. :)

This story surprised me a bit, especially since it's on something I hardly take any interest in at all. It's also influenced a bit by your description... "Gently flying over frozen land." At least, the setting is. But... here it is.

We sit in a cabin high up on a mountain. A fire burns gently inside, the crackling of the wood sounding eerliy soothing to the group of mountaineers sitting inside, around the fire, under blankets, sipping cocoa. It's been several hours since they arrived and they all sit awake, silently.

Their cocoa is cold and the wood the fire burns on has diminished greatly as well. They have returned from the mountain, several near-death experiences having happened. Yet as twilight falls, the frost refuses to leave them alone and let them forget what they barely avoided, slipping in through the cracks in the walls to chill the fire, their bodies, and their souls.

Hope you enjoyed my review and my story... again, I'm looking forward to more of your songs. :)

MaestroRage responds:

I always enjoy your reviews Karco, you seem to be able to see so many layers of the piece, it makes me happy to see you break it down like this.

This flute instrument thats captured my SOUL is called the Panflute, originated in North America I believe, I don't rightly know what time period it was made, but I gotta tell you, it's got a HUGE range, and each octave in my opinion gives the instrument a new angle and edge to be used for. It's crazyness I tell you.

The sleigh bells were perhaps too loud and too frequent in my opinion, perhaps I should have just kept them to one segment instead of 2, but I do love them so :'(, they do after all belong to the bell family, and I love bells.

The male choir part, ah yes, this was an area of much debate for me. You see I wanted to give the landscape a somewhat unfriendly, more foreboding feel. Though I realize the female choir would have in fact made it gentler, more chilling, I also wanted to include the dangers of being here, the deep and angry core of this frozen landscape, unforgiving yet beutiful.

For your story. You seem to have nailed the feeling of the piece perfectly. That is what I meant by the unforgiving cold, brutal but so silent. As if they sat with old man winter itself, placing his bony fingers on their shoulders.

"I'll be back, for all of you" and leaves them for only a few hours.

I greatly enjoyed the review and story, thank you for both Karco, i'm glad you liked the piece ^^.

[NH22 - Isolation]

A new style?

I've liked many of your songs so far, I wonder what kind of style, exactly, this will be... again, you have two reviews (three, counting this one) even though you've just submitted this. I'm jealous. >:(

Weird pad. A bit loud... but that's my computer, not you. Awesome piano, I'm liking it, a LOT! As always, you're a genius at composing for the piano... then an awesome synth flies in, (though that one could have been better-chosen - Vanguard has exactly what you want here) enter the kick, so far so good... unfortunately, your percussion is, again, barely good enough to be called second-rate. I'll continue...

Your melody needs no criticism... you've conquered this area. I seriously can skip it, since you've gotten so good at this.

A key change... and this time you justify it! Great job with that.

Harmonies are good, though the pad in the beginning clashes with the piano, and at parts in the song it feels a bit plain, fast-paced and filled as it is. Hmm... I swear, I recognized a piano riff from Dimrain's Twilight Techno, but... I'll ignore it.

Percussion... well, you're trying but you're not going far. I can imagine how fun it must be for you to compose melodies and harmonies, but for you to spend ten to fifteen minutes on these, finding random samples that came with FL and fit your general idea, and then making a couple drum patterns - which, I'll give you, are to a degree diverse - or something similar to this, anyway, I would consider serious neglect. Note this is why the Effort rating gets a 7. Send a PM my way and I'll give you some nice drumming tips including but not limited to a website with good drum samples (have I sent it to you already?) and how to effectively use the Fruity Slicer.

Again, you have this great style here - I don't really see how this is different from your other songs that I've reviewed, though. But if you say so...

Nice ending, with the reeverbs of the synths, etc... reminds me of the ending to my song Nova. :D

Great song overall. There's a lot of effort here, but, again, your drums are lacking MAJORYLY for someone so musically accomplished. Send me a PM! Downloaded and voted 5... keep trying with those drums, and keep up the good work.

[Honour (ClubMiX)]

Another low-quality song?

Only the REAL pros do that... that automatically means you're good! auto10

Just kidding... you get a full review as always while I continue to go through your audio page.

Nice introduction... woah, those effects didn't quite take me by surprise but they sure sounded good! Nice use of kicks and hihats, but the hihat reeverbs too much, in my opinion. Hmm, you're taking the note progressions in a different direction now. I don't like that pad...

This melody's nice... this song kinda reminds me of some of Music-story's stuff, in this area. Positive feeling and everything. ;) Nothing to suggest here, it's good.

Harmonies are nice... gaaaah, either I'm not in a reviewing mood or I honestly can't think of any criticism right now, other than that the synths could have been a bit more well-chosen. There were no clashing notes, which was nice.

Percussion I can think of criticism for. When the song opened up there was nice use of the kick and hihat together, but the hihat reeverbed too much. Did I say that already? Anyway, you cleverly used your percussion... but the samples could have used work. I.e. the aforementioned hihat, and a closed one which didn't fit at all when you introduced it in the beginning. The clap didn't really fit in the beginning... though you use it VERY well in some transitions. Nothing else to add.

I'm getting a very nice positive feel from this song, which I wasn't expecting... it's nice. At times a few synths or note progressions don't quite match up with it... one of your buildups doesn't quite work either.

Overall decent... as I go down your audio page, I'm hearing songs getting worse... no offense, of course, what I mean by this is you're improving! =D So keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to more by you. :)

Pulstate responds:

Thanks for a great review again mate.

The thing at the start isint actually hi hat, it's actually a ride, and it's not reverbed at all!

[==(Walking Through Time)=]

Yep...

AWESOME HARD ROCK! AWESOME GUITARS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!1!!!w

It's hard to leave the rest of the empty space in the Description are blank, isn't it? XD I resisted with Stained Chrome, though. :P

Not much I can say about this I haven't in the PM I sent to you the other day... very nice harmony between the synths, though. Now that I think about it, though, that one synth that plays quarter notes didn't really fit throughout the song... just my opinion, though. I honestly can't think of anything better to replace it with... =\

It's another great song... glad to see you submitted it. Keep up the good work. XD