Karco's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[YAWA Records Demo (Original)]

I'm on a review spree. :)

I'm going to go through your songs and review a LOT of them... because you're all that deserving of it.

Hmm... introduction I don't like very much. That snare sample doesn't quite sound original, though the kick does give it more oomph. The bass I don't like much either... this doesn't have the feel of your latest two, at all.

Weird melody... notes clash with each other here. I don't like it much. The synth's a bit weird and it doesn't change at all. There are creative rhythms, and you build on it now and then, though.

Now the bass is changing and I hear piano. Your harmonies are so far pretty good, but nowhere near the awesomeness I heard in Nova and Higher Force. You're very lacking, and then the ones that you do have don't have that professional feeling, at all.

New percussion. You're getting better... and this song feels now as if it was set up for my style of reviewing. XD It's all good, except for that closed hihat sample which I CAN'T STAND... it just feels so boring. An open hihat would have done the song more justice, in my opinion. Overcliched snare roll right there, and transition into the next part.

Well, not much else to say about this... it goes up an octave later and the volumes start raving, too... not good, not good. XD Keep trying... this isn't one of your better songs. Looking forward to more like your two latest... oh, and by the way, don't send me any more high-quality versions of your songs just yet. Is it okay if I go through your songs and then send you a PM with the names of the songs I want higher quality versions of? Much appreciated... and expect reviews on a few more of your songs later. :)

Pulstate responds:

Yeah, thanks for a great review mate, i'm really disappointed with this, i'd prefer if this wasn't reviewed anymore.

Btw, didn't you ask me to send you the higher quality? ;)

[Higher Force (ClubMix)]

Another review...

Well, you reviewed three of my songs (four counting Nova from a while ago) and I really liked your full version... so I'm going through your audio page and reviewing some of your songs.

And, so far, this one's sounding pretty good. It's just started, with the arp, the bass, and the percussion playing... so far, so good. Nothing wrong qualitywise, in my opinion, either... so I'll be downloading straight from here. :)

You really take your time introducing things and it begins to drag on after a while. Ooh, effects like from Nova (Pulstated)! Or, rather, that song had effects from this one. Unless you started that one before this one, but finished this one first... or you could have started on this one first but started on that one, had the effect, then thought of putting the effect in this one... I'll stop now. My head hurts. >_< Basically, you take your time and you could have progressed the song a bit faster.

Your melody sounds pretty good... no complaints here. Calming like your other song, with the piano, etc. Creative rhythms, too. Now you just introduced a synth, a sawtooth? Whoops, you're slipping up in quality... and when I download this song, it indeed says this is at only 80 kbps! :O But nice synths and nice melody, I like it a lot.

Your harmonies are, as always, very proffessional-sounding and at times are incredible, creating a feeling every now and then in this song I don't really have a word for... I'd call it "perfect harmony." XD No, I'm not trying to flatter you, I mean it... you're good at this.

Percussion is simple, with a hard, very audible kick and a nice, reeverbed clap... there's a nice hihat there, too. Yep, this is definitely trance... :P Nothing to add, though you could have been a bit more creative with the rhythms. Samples were, though, as always, great.

Another calming, airy sort of trance... I like this a lot. And I'd keep the MP3 I downloaded earlier to check the quality, but again the quality's making me reconsider - though it's definitely better in this song than it is in Nova.

Great job with this, you're very good a making music. Keep up the good work, I'm staying tuned to your audio page. :)

Pulstate responds:

Your reviews are great, i fully agree with everything you said. Btw, this had nothing in it that was used in Nova. :)

[[TCM] Hope Is Found]

Could use a lot of work...

Opening... not nice. I hear a very boring-sounding synth (or is it a piano?) playing half-decent chords... a bass comes in with a little better to show but not much. The song's improving as percussion comes in... but some of your drums are weak. Nice transition there...

Your melody's simple and it's catchy. I like this one a lot... the one thing that's keeping me from overwhelming you with flattery about it is the synth choice. It feels very boring... at times you go over the top with VERY weird synths. This is the main problem with this song - your synth choice needs a lot of work. You need all of your choices in synths to work towards one particular attitude or emotion... not that I get very much of an emotion from this type of song, but still, try. Finally, it gets pretty boring and the song seems to drag on... you barely change the basic melody at all. You could try making a new melody, and you could alternate between the two. Maybe even mix them together if possible for some nice harmony.

Harmonies are decent, but lacking. Later in the song they get better, but still there's nothing, i.e. a pad, to support the song. Thus that empty feeling I'm getting from this song... mind you, a pad isn't always necessary, but it sure helps in filling in the empty spaces. Synth choice again is the worst part of these and you need to work on it - but everything else is good: notes complement each other, there are nice note progressions, etc.

Percussion is one of the better parts of this song, though it could still use work. I hear a nice, strong kick... I like that a lot. No suggestions there. Your hihat is at times very weak, and at times just right. Your clap, finally, I don't hear as often as I'd like to - that sample's a great one and sounds very original. I don't hear creative rhythms in the drumming very often, though it's there. You just need to build on it more.

Again, most of this song needs work attitudewise. Your synths don't all contribute towards the same atmosphere... thankfully enough, I can say your note progressions and drums do. Keep trying here... it'll come with time.

Overall a decent song... hopefully you'll get better as you go, because this one seriously could be better. I don't think it's as much in need of remastering, as it sounds pretty good to me qualitywise, save that hihat which is quiet at times. I'd suggest save a new version for experimenting and then do just that - experiment with synths, with FX, etc. until you get something that sounds really, really good. That's what I'd do, anyway, after recieving a review like this.

I hope all of my advice helps you. Why don't you stop by my audio page sometime, review some of my latest? Much appreciated, and keep trying.

MtMTheCandyMan responds:

Wow... nice review. Thanks for the tips. Could you give me your MSN messenger e-mail so you could help me out? Again, thanks for the great review.

[Nova (Pulstated)]

You need to start selling your music.

Nice introduction... similarly to the last song of yours I reviewed, (Weekend Has Come) it has that very professional trance feeling. Yep, it's low quality... I'll set that aside for now. Nice buildups and transitions... you've been submitting for as long as I have (two and a half months) but how long have you REALLY been making music? I swear, you could sell this stuff.

Your melody's very nice, I like it a lot. Nice and trancy, at times I can't tell what's the melody. Synths are chosen well too... my one problem is that pluck-like synth which I hear a bit later on in the song... it got on my nerves some, and you could definitely have chosen that one better. But other than that, great job coming up with an original and creative melody. Again, very professional-sounding.

Your harmonies add a lot to the song... there are a lot of pads, along with a bass, and lots of others, and it blends together. Because of the low quality, I can't tell whether the abundance of harmonies is the cause of the low quality, or if it's because of a low export rate or similar. Nothing else to say... great job.

Your percussion... well, the song just entered an interlude with only a kick, so I'm going to have to wait before I can appropriately review this part of the song. Gaaaah, I hate it when that happens. All right... so the percussion in the beginning is pretty good. Nothing to add... cleverly used samples and creative rhythms are here. You add onto it as the song progresses... professional feeling, creative rhythms and samples, it's all here. So... great job.

Again, that airy trancy feeling is here. This is something I like a LOT, and you've got it down pat. 10/10, 5/5. The only thing that's not making me want to download it is the quality... now, if you were to send me a PM with the full-quality version uploaded to a filesharing site, i.e. megaupload, putfile, savefile, etc... >:) It's up to you. Great job with this song, I like it a lot. Keep up the great work.

Pulstate responds:

Thank you alot.

Check our PM. :)

[Infinnion - Snowflake]

Could use work.

Hmm. You don't introduce nicely... but the section with the bass is nice. You should have introduced with that, in my opinion.

Not much to say... the melody sounds somewhat random, as if you didn't put very much effort into it. It might be trance but it's a bit too repetitive anyway. Ooh, nice filter here... sounds good.

There are too few harmonies, in my opinion... you could have done with one more. But the ones that you do have are great - the bass/arp/whatever synth is great, and I love that note progression! Not much else to say about them, though.

Again, you just made nice use of filters... good job.

I also like the percussion with this song... the only problem is that the kick is causing distortions in quality and the hihat sounds a bit weak at times, compared to the clap. The sound quality of the clap is also fairly low...

What's that? This almost made me laugh. You had your lead synth play notes getting faster until it was getting laughably fast... was that an attempt at a buildup of some kind? Hah! That shouldn't have happened. Oh well.

You don't give off much of an atmosphere in this song, for some reason... the synths, the melody, the harmonies, and the percussion - most of them go in different directions. So I really can't derive a particular emotion or attitude from this song... keep trying.

Overall decent, but could use work. I hope my advice helps. =)

Infinnion responds:

thx man, I liked the buildups, I heard in some trance song and tried to make it in this song. Really really usefull review =)

[The Village Waltz]

RPG style?

Let's see how you do with that.

Hmm. I can see what you mean. It's simple and yet it has the authority you'd imagine to hear in your typical RPG's castle town.

Nice horns, which add to the authoritative feeling. No comments here... the transition into the strings is smooth - nice choice there.

The drums in this song are very nice, as well. They're simple, repetitive, but don't get boring since I'm finding myself more often paying attention to the other parts of the song, namely the melody. Cleverly used samples, too. Nice job here.

Not much to say about this song, as it's fairly simple. A simple song earns a shorter review, I guess. But still, great job. You're very good at making music. :) What do you use to make your music?

MeteorSuit responds:

I use Fruity Loops with vst's by Native Instruments

[Watch for snakes!]

Third review. :)

I just might go all the way through and review your last one as well if I have the time. I hope you're enjoying my reviews. :)

Well, this isn't giving me as good of an impression as your other songs. Then again, in your other two I may or may not have mentioned that you need to work on your introductions, so I'll give this song some time to develop.

The sixteenth-notes played over and over on the piano are very irritating, in my opinion. You could have done without it.

Just a question - where did you get that title? It doesn't make sense at all to me... maybe some people just don't have an affinity for naming songs. =\ Oh well.

The piano is a bit harsh, and the volumes sometimes get too loud - and if I were to turn down the volume on my computer, it would probably begin to get too quiet. Try to work on that.

Once the violin comes in, it starts sounding a lot better, and a lot more epic. (The chords on the piano achieved the same feel but nowhere near to the same extent.) Great work with the melodies and harmonies here, I like this a lot!

Woah. Nope, it's not a duet anymore. And that new instrument is murdering the quality! >:( You have major volume issues in this song... notewise, it's great like your other two that I've reviewed so far but that mastering needs to be completely reworked...

There are drums, too, I've noticed, but the new instrument almost drowns most of them, except the crash, out. So I honestly can't offer good criticism for them. From what I can hear, though, I can tell they're decent but a bit too simple.

A great song, but quality killed it. :( Keep trying... I hope you don't make this mistake again. ;) On to reviewing your first submission.

[Treehut Society]

Second review... :)

You have no reviews for any of your songs and anyone deserves more than that, regardless of song quality. Seriously, you're virtually invisible here... making a profile and reviewing a lot of other music would help get you better know. Actively and often participating in the Audio Forum on the BBS helps a lot, too. But, I'm going to review your song, not your actions, right? ;)

Good opening. The drums took me by surprise a bit, and I thought you'd follow up on those strings with more... but now I'm hearing piano and flute. Simple, I don't like it... aah, this is better. You just introduced a lot of instruments - I like this a lot.

Again, good note progressions. It's all very melodic. After the first part in which there are a lot of instruments, the piano and drums (bongo? congo? =\) sounds a lot more natural and less empty. Good work making it that way.

This song has a very nice "tribal" feeling to it. Everything in this song contributes to that feeling, which is a great quality that shows effort.

Huh, I didn't like your ending, with your drum pattern cutting off. Looking at what appears to be an in-depth knowledge of musical theory you have, I'd think you'd be able to be a bit more creative than that. ;)

Overall another good song. :) Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to more.

MeteorSuit responds:

Thanks a lot man. About the ending, these are intended to be loops, but you can't have them repeat midway so I just rushed it. If this were in a game, that ending wouldn't exist, and the string intro would be heard only once.

[A mummer's dream]

No reviews? At all?

I'll fix that. ;)

Hmmm. Okay opening with the piano, but you could have used something more to support it and not let it feel as empty. You also took your time developing the song. Too much time, actually. I'm hearing a new instrument, I like it. Saxophone now... nice, and very jazzy.

The notes complement each other and it all sounds very good together. Once again, you could have used a bit more to support the song in places, but later throughout the song it sounds very good. The piano is especially nice in my opinion, when it plays three chords and then two single notes... I'm not going to bother checking what those chords are now, but I'm telling you that you composed it well.

This song gives off a distinct vibe, and I can easily imagine it in some games - though I wouldn't have submitted this in the Video Game genre... probably in the Jazz genre. Again, it has that very jazzy feeling... I don't see how it sounds like an eerie dark forest... it sounds more like a "night in the city" kind of song to me.

I like this song a lot, and it sounds like you put quite a bit of effort into it! How long have you been making music? You're good at this, it would be a good idea to make more songs like this. Keep up the good work.

MeteorSuit responds:

Yeah I do agree with you about the opening feeling empty, something I played around with but couldn't find something I was happy with. When I rendered the song to an mp3 the rhodes samples cut out midway through the song making it sound pretty weak. I appreciate your reviews man! Thanks a lot.

By the way, I've been making digital music for about 2 years, and recently obtained those nice new samples. I've played piano since I was six and have been drumming for about 6 years.

[*- Revelation -*]

Wow... this is good. Nice job!

No wonder after more than a week (two? I'm not going to bother checking) this song's at such a high score... it's really good! You deserve much more than what you have now.

Your melody is genius, I have to say. There are creative rhythms and note progressions, and the notes support each other melodically - nothing clashes and it's all pleasant to listen to. You chose your synths well, too. No suggestions here... you've got it perfect. Try to beat this next time you're making a song, it's really good.

Your harmonies are also great, they support the melody and add harmony to the song. Honestly, with all these synths, I'd expect a loss in sound quality... but it's all clear and I have no problems. Better still is that nothing sounds cliched, you don't use any overused note progressions in this song. I like this a lot...

Percussion is also great in this song... it gives off a very nice "hardcore" feeling... I would have submitted this in Techno, but okay. Anyway, your drums samples are very creative, and I hear creative rhythms a lot but not as often as I could, I think.

You get a great half-dance half-hardcore atmosphere in this song. Very nice and ravey. My one problem is that the song seems to drag on after a while. You could have condensed it all into a three-minute song that would have ended before the listener gets bored. Try not to let that happen... length is good, but only if themes aren't repeated and the song isn't boring. This is the one flaw of the song - fix it and you've got a masterpiece.

Overall great song... PM me later on if you want me to review a song you've submitted in the near future. Keep up the great work! Voted 5, and downloaded.

Jebbal responds:

Woww, Thanks for the long and detailed review! I have to say I really enjoyed reading it. So many compliments! =D lol

Yaa, I put a lot of effort into this. I was ready to use good sound samples for the first time, and I wanted to make something that would blow away the other stuff I've made. But that wasn't too hard to do. xD

I agree with what you said about it dragging on after a while. I rushed to get it done and just copied the part from the beginning of the song and put it at the end. I should've had it go into something new, or maybe I should have just done what you said...

But I'm proud of it either way!

Thanks for the review! You may have the last dinner roll!