Karco's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Your Eyes (Original Mix)]

Awesome, like I expected. ;D

It's not quite perfect, but definitely your best so far. And my new personal favorite from your stuff, above Deep Blue. :) But it's still flawed... you might be sick of this song by now, and you've probably heard all of this already when you sent me that demo I keep forgetting about, but I'll go through all of the points anyway.

The hihat loop in the beginning is amazing, it sounds completely original, and really catchy. I still have to figure out how to do stuff like that. XD It sounds like there's a compressor (still) on the master channel, it doesn't kill the song like it does on most occasions, but it still hurts it more than it helps it, I think. The kick doesn't sound right to me, it's all boom - there's no punch to it, and only a tiny bit of click that I suspect is part of the hihat line you introduce later on? It's kinda disappointing, and it has nearly no presence, considering the bassline also plays down in the bass ranges, which makes the kick even harder to hear. :\ The clap is slightly hard to hear as well.

Then there's the detuned-sounding synth, but I think I can skip that. ;)

Other than that there's no real problems throughout the song. The melody is kinda repetitive considering the piano only plays on the first beat of each measure, and the gated synth plays that really repetitive and overused "da-da-daaa, da-da-daaa" pattern. Piano solo is amazing, my personal favorite part is 5:54-ish for some reason, as well as around 6:06. Like I said on MSN, it doesn't really resolve, though... it's just a slight buildup and then it jumps into the peak. The FX helps some but it felt lacking there. Yeah, I said it sounded ok myself the other day, I guess it was the comparison to the old version? Because this doesn't sound like enough to me. :\ Second peak doesn't sound all that different from the first, and what's more, it's nearly two and a half straight minutes of the same stuff. That sounds like a lot to me - were you just trying to get closer to a 10-minute song or something? XD

By the way, go post on Rig's Audio Artist Programs list, there's a place where he lists the artists that have made songs longer than 8 minutes. :D

But that's about all I've got to say, other than that, nothing really hurts the song at all. That makes this one of my shorter reviews, which is an accomplishment for you, usually I find more to criticize. XD

But yeah, great job F-777. :D

Mrmilkcarton responds:

Congratulations your a knew goal that I'll have to complete.
-Make Karco write a very short review.

[~EnV~Heaven Rd. 3]

Possibly the luckiest song I've seen on the AP.

As you submitted it, and within an hour and 15 minutes or so it got more than 20 votes and made Weekly 1st. Quite a fanbase you've got there. XD Tons of effort in here, I can tell that, but I'm going to go through it point by point to explain why there definitely could have been more. As I'm no doubt going to spend a long amount of time on this, I'd appreciate a good response. ;)

Intro. Feels like I've heard 0:00-0:03 somewhere before. Just to make a point, let me list every element in this song I recognize:

-Intro (up to 0:03)
-Kick
-Bass Synth
-Hihats
-Clap
-Plucked Synth coming in at 0:31 (from Nexus's Plucked section)
-Bell (same deal here, I believe?)
-Vox ("caution")
-Hit (that comes after the vox, I recognize it out of VEC)
-"HOO" voice :P
-Lead Saws
-Piano
-Mutliple FX samples (recognize them from VEC)
-Fruity Flanger

Quite a few familiar elements in here, maybe they were used to help replicate the feel of Rd. 2, but it feels like you took the easy way out and used most or all of them. :\ The plucked synth, bell, FX sounds, and intro are new (I think) but they're all really recognizable from Nexus or, in the case of some other intro, some other thing I can't seem to put my finger on... thing is, using things people recognize and associate with things they've heard in the past makes it harder for people to associate with said things with you - basically, you'll have less of your style, and your song will sound more generic. ;) It's justifiable that you used, say, the caution vox, the "HOO" voice, the hit, and possibly the lead to recreate the feel of the original, but all of the drums, AND the bass from the original is just overboard in my opinion.

Second, I see you used 208 patterns and 98 Automation Clips. I'm guessing it's waaay too much, considering I used under half that number of patterns and a quarter that number of automation clips for a ten-minute song of mine nearly a month in the making. XD Now, this might be a stylistic, personal preferences in organization sort of thing, but maybe my suggestions will help speed up your song-making progress. ;) What I would do is create separate "sections" in the playlist - one only for the patterns with the kick, one only for the hihat patterns, one only for the bass, one only for the lead, etc. Separate each of them with an empty pattern named "-". This helps keep things a whole lot more organized, so you can keep your number of patterns in check, and things don't get too out of hand. Second, I'd create long automation clips stretching from the beginning of the song to the last point where they're needed, just so you can have one for each knob, and whenever you need one, instead of scrolling vertically and horizontally, you can just head to the front, scroll vertically until you find the want, then head horizontally to the point where you need it. :P Of course, if you're counting audio clips and some patterns as automations, then it's a completely different story, but hopefully this is relevant enough. :) Of course, delete the patterns and automation clips (and Step Sequencer and FX Channels while you're at it) that you aren't using.

Next - your bass synth! Its treble area becomes quiet later on, and I can hardly hear it - maybe you just want your boom, but I bet that crispness would really add to the song. :D There are also various other synths during the peaks, but I can hardly hear them at all, the saws overpower them all. Maybe the melody's important, but if you're going to use other synths, leave room for them. ;)

Your structure. If the review hasn't been helpful to this point (though HOPEFULLY it has XD) this is where it'll help for sure. Your problem here is that you manage to fit two breakdowns, buildups, and peaks, in just three and a half minutes. XD Maybe this is because I tend to review with certain trance-based criteria often regardless of genre, but I'd space things out a bit. You'll get a longer song, but more importantly, a more enjoyable one. You'll also get room for some extra elements, but don't overcrowd the song. ;)

Continuing on my alt...

Envy responds:

Sorry it took me a bit to respond, was trying to think of a way to respond to such a long review and explain my reasoning for certain things.

Okay, lets see here first up the recognizable elements:

I was actually trying to go for a heaven rd. 2 feel because I wanted it to be the same song but better. I didn't use the drums from the original, I made a new kick and I changed the bass's mixing. I think it sounds different, but everyone has their ear 8D.

"Second, I see you used 208 patterns and 98 Automation Clips. I'm guessing it's waaay too much," That's right, it is way too much. The way I make a song is by whoring patterns and automations because I go from start to finish, then backwards. I make the intro all the way to the end first kind of like a base for the song. After that I just go backwards and add tiny things like fx or vox here and there. This piles up my pattern numbers and automations, but it works for me. I usually never revisit patterns 1-50 anyways because theyre usually all the base stuff such as the kick,bass, and melody. (And thats why I place them before I go back and do all the other stuff) What I may do, and I didn't completely understand your reccomendation but I'll create different step sequencer sections? Like the one for automations/audio clips/patterns, but make more? I'll probably start doing that.

"Next - your bass synth! Its treble area becomes quiet later on" B0UNC3 made that bass and gave it to me, and it does have some trouble on a few things, higher notes, held notes, and when it's under alot it almost becomes inaudible. As for the other synths, I like to make people use their ears, and it worked. You had to strain yourself to hear them. This causes you to understand the song more, and feel it. Simply sitting back and listening is useless. I'm a fan of interactive listening. I'll try leaving more room for them in the future though.

"Your structure...three and a half minutes" Here's where your style and mine clash. The length. I DON'T LIKE LONG SONGS. My way of looking at it is this - I want to be able to listen to a song and move on. I don't want to have to set aside 5+ minutes to listen to some audio. Of course trance has the length aspect (This is probably why I never got into it) I'm more of a shove the song in your face as quickly as possible so that you have to listen to it again. It's harder to decide what you like/dislike about a song when it's uber long because you may dislike one part but wait... at minute 8 I like that synth or whatnot.

Now I'll respond to your alts review...

[North Star (Original Mix)]

I'm reviewing this song because,

I saw your "Massive Trance Tutorial" on the Audio Forum. So I'm here to show you that regardless of how far you've come, you've still got a long way to go. So don't let your ego get ahead of you. :P

Intro is nice, thumping, though it sounds like you put a compressor on the master channel, everything ducks slightly now and then, not dramatically, but enough to hurt the flow of the track. Thankfully you didn't boost the bass on both your kick and bass synth, which is the next thing I see people doing after adding on a compressor to the master channel.

Try to stay away from blatant VEC sounds (I hear at least four), maybe if you can find good ones and disguise them well they're ok, but if you keep using them like that you'll sound more like some generic trance producer - the sounds have been used time and time again, after all. ;) That, and your VEC2 Trance Sweeps 03 sample is not only overpowered in some places when you use it (like your hit), but it isn't in the same key as the rest of the song. :P

Next problem, it sounds like some of your synths lack depth to them. It's not a mixing or EQing thing, but it's just the synths themselves. For example, your synth that comes in at 1:08 is really thin, almost tinny-sounding. It comes in later and it's got a little bit more depth to it but in the mix around 1:08 it's way too thin. Often the best trance I hear has a full sound - not cluttered, but "thick." That's because the frequencies are filled - kick and bass in the low ranges, the clap, some filler synths (arp, gated synth, pad/sidechained pad, for example) and maybe some vocals in the mid and mid-treble ranges, and in the treble ranges, the hihat line, the lead, and possibly another filler synth. Here, though, most of your synths are in the mid-treble and treble ranges, there's nothing in the mid ranges, giving the song a hollow sound in places - as it's got plenty of synths but this big gaping frequency hole in the middle.

As for your lead, either it's that synth I described as tinny earlier playing a repetitive rhythm, or some other synth I can hardly hear, lost in the mix, playing what sounds to me to be a pretty good melody. Take a guess at what I'm going to say here, you should know by now. :D

Later on in the song, you have one loud hihat on the offbeat, and the rest get drowned under the mix. The bass rhythm somehow saves the drive a flowing hihat line would have given the track, at least it does for me, but be careful next time. If you have to, use a loop or two, just make sure they're not obvious like your FX. ;D

Your snare rolls are in places really overpowered, which they shouldn't be, considering they're being used to build tension which is released at the end of the roll - they should be heard! Next time, make sure they are. ;)

Now, your progression. I'll map it out first just so we can see what we're talking about. ;)
1. 0:00 - 1:35: Intro
2. 1:36 - 2:10: Breakdown
3. 2:11 - 2:25: Buildup
4. 2:26 - 3:20: Peak
5. 3:21 - 3:34: Buildup
6. 3:35 - 4:02: Peak (though the energy goes down?)
7. 4:03 - 4:15: Buildup
8. 4:16 - 5:24: Peak
9. 5:25 - 6:31: Outro

Now what I don't get are sections four through eight. Basically, the song's the same for the half of the total time, minus some 10-second buildups and a little bit of filtering? Next time, just add in another breakdown, which is a bit different from your first one, followed by a REAL buildup. ;)

Other than all of those points this song's not bad. You remind me of Pulstate (who has an account on this site, find him :D) about a year ago, maybe a bit more, which was before he got signed. Basically, you've got potential, lots of it. And, another thing, I wouldn't call it a matter of getting the right software, you seem to have everything you need. Just learn to use it right. ;)

So I'll rate this an 8/10, though I'll vote 5. I'll be keeping an eye out for more stuff from you. ;)

[==(Ice Desert called Eart]

A nice listen, but old.

But I'll get to that later. ;)

I really liked your intro, the ambience there was amazing. :D Make a whole song with that kind of ambience, and I'd applaud you. Seriously. :D

You take off in your usual style, and what I could swear is the same drumset you've been using since whenever... I brought this up a few songs ago but still, couldn't you bother using another drumset? It gets repetitive after a while. XD Toms help the uniqueness of the song, though. Other than that everything's fine, and very pleasant to listen to.

The hit at 3:03 bothers me, it's louder than anything else in the song as far as I can tell, it's like you had the kick overlap itself and play twice or three times simultaneously. :\

Now, the bass at 3:17, I liked - it's those moments that make songs awesome, and the sliding there fit perfectly (like it did elsewhere in the song, that's just the point where it stood out the most to me).

Like I said, it's pleasant to listen to, what I'd really like to hear out of you is something radically new. I've heard the drums before, the bass sounds ordinary, the lead was predictably in your style, etc. It was new in a few senses, but not enough, in my opinion. Something like the stuff you'd submit at SantaBro, I just listened to a bit of your latest submission there, I liked it. :O

Yeah, that's about it. :D

[Kr1z - A Silver Kiss [Demo]]

THAT'S more like it! :D

Compared to your other song I also reviewed, this is tons better, you seem to have taken my advice, or at least improved by a lot. Still, I hear problems...

Starting with drums. The kick sounds like a Vengeance sample, and not just that, but it's really raw, too. It feels like you didn't add any FX on it, you just used it as is. Which you shouldn't - one, it's recognizable, and two, it's not as loud as it should be, a problem that could be fixed with some good EQing and perhaps some compression. Your hihats sound really good in the beginning, but later on they get drowned out, towards the end I can only hear two or three samples, the rest are inaudible. Clap sounds pretty Vengeance-ish but personally I find them the hardest to disguise beyond recognition, you might have found it difficult as well. ;) Lastly, FX is amazing. :D

Synths are all good, I actually don't recognize a single one this time. :O The bass isn't as bassy as it could be, though - in fact, there's nothing in the song that reaches down to those "booming" bass frequencies. You come close, but you don't quite make it. Just mix and EQ better and you'll be fine. ;) The bassline is great, as is your gated synth, but the song doesn't really have a melody. The closest it comes to one is the top note of each chord the gated synth plays, which probably isn't enough.

Another short review for now, though I really enjoyed this one. :D Finish a full-length trance track like this and I'd definitely download it and add it as a favorite song. Keep it up. ;D

Kr1z responds:

Yeh, i checked ur latest tips & applied them.
Thanks for the help!
Your right about the kick, its raw.. but since i have not much experience at all, i can barely decide what kick to use.
About the hats: i'll try to fix thatz ;D
Clap: yeh thats a damn hard thing xD
Bass: lets make that a lil more pumpy then!
Thanks for the tips again!

[Kr1z - Lost Thoughts]

So I'll try writing a shorter review for a change.

I'm probably going to have to start giving shorter reviews compared to my usual standard anyway - that way I can get to more songs in less time if I need to. ;D So, I'll go through the problems of this song...

One: The bassline. If you're going to make a full length trance track, take it seriously and make your own bassline instead of using that one. If you made the melody first and the bassline second, which I suspect you did, for full length songs start with an arp or pad that isn't based on that bassline and build from there.

Two: I can hear four, maybe five things in here that are blatantly obvious Nexus synths (and from the factory presets no less, they're not even from expansions). They're the arp/sequence (which also has the clap on all four beats in the same synth, I believe), the plucked synth, the shaker line, the piano, and maybe a pad or two (though, even though I may not recognize it, it's probably from Nexus too if so many other things are). Basically, this hurts your own style and makes the song sound more like Nexus (and the person who made the presets, Manuel Schleis) and less like you and your own style. Having your own style makes it that much easier to be everything you wanted to be in music - good at it, popular for it, respected, etc. ;) Try disguising your synths a bit better than that - the arp/gate, Filter Modifier, Master Filter, Amp Modifier, and FX (off to the side, in the same section as the internal EQ) all help a lot. ;D Also try using synths in ways they weren't necessarily meant to be - I used a synth out of Dance Leads as a bass and a synth out of Bass as a lead in the same song once. :D

That's all I'll cover for now. If you can make a song like this without either of those two issues, I'd be glad to give it another review. ;D Keep it up.

Kr1z responds:

WOOTLOL thx for the tippies!!
I agree. You surely know nexus well :D

[Milk{Deep Blue}]

Review time! :D

This is a really great song - it grew on me enough to make me download it earlier today. :D That, and I'm giving it my first review in a month... be thankful. :P

First off, the biggest problem I've got with this song is that it's got too much bass throughout - the bass synth sounds like it's filtered, and it feels like you threw an EQ on the Master channel, boosted the bass to ridiculous levels, then threw a compressor on there so it wouldn't distort (which is good - this is better than a song that distorts ridiculously). All I can say about that is this - imagine playing it loud on big speakers! XD It's bearable on my headphones, but it might make enjoying this song difficult for people listening to it with a subwoofer/in their car/etc. :\ With that out of the way, I'll go through the song section by section...

Introduction - it's hard to relate what the pad's playing to the later end of the song, does it even have anything to do with the melody or are you just having it play whatever? :P Either way it's hard to follow, and in turn hard to predict/expect the next section, which isn't really a good thing in my opinion...

Kick comes in and everything sounds nice and wavy, the sidechaining's great. Though every now and then you realize something bad about the mix... if I focus exclusively on the sawpad, the sidechaining begins to sound off. Listening to the drums, I can hear a really loud hihat panned to waaaaaay off to the right, which is annoying... :\ The clap is almost inaudible, and is there a ride hitting along with it or what? Try to make everything clean and audible, the concept here is great, but it's a mess. Transtion into the next section is weird, the filter wreaks havoc on the mix... be careful with them. ;)

Next section, the panning is even more obvious but the hihats quickly fade out. FX is amazing here... one of the best qualities of the song. :D It sounds vaguely familiar, though, have I heard it somewhere before? It might just be me. :P The break is probably the best part of the song - no mixing problems, and the progression's perfect, you know what to introduce and when. :D My favorite part would have to be the transition at 2:16 or so - clean pads, a moment of silence, then the bass joins the calmness, just as calm this time. ;) Kick comes in, it's filtered, I'm not so sure that was necessary considering the peak came right after that. :\ Couldn't you have done some sort of snare roll build or something?

The peak's amazing, you really SHOULD have done a proper buildup, the energy here's amazing. :D The lead synth playing along with the kick is a nice touch. The composition is great, my only complaint is the mix, which I mentioned two paragraphs ago. Right after the break, the composition is the second biggest strength of the song... way to go. :D Ahh... here's your snare roll! Took its sweet time. :)

That was kind of a cliffhanger ending, unfortunately... you could have picked up from there (if you had pulled it off after a few seconds of silence, that would have been even better :D) with a second break, built into a second peak, and then outroed the song at 7 or 8 minutes long. THAT would have been awesome. :D

I really enjoyed this one, this isn't one of my longer reviews, but hey, at least I reviewed in the first place. :D Overall, the concept is AMAZING, and the execution left some to be desired, but keep doing what you're doing, I see really good stuff coming from you in the future. >:) Reviewed 8/10, though I'll vote 5 anyway. :P Congratulations on Weekly 2nd, keep up the GREAT work!

Mrmilkcarton responds:

Aye everything you said is right. I always think about these things after its all done and wish I had done something different. Always can improve the next one though.

[==(Melting Snow)==]

About time! >:(

Seriously, I was about to get to reviewing this song, and then, whoops! I'm leaving on an over-the-weekend vacation. So it took me until now to review this song. At least I reviewed at all, though! ;D

Nice intro pad/atmosphere. The piano/hihats coming in like that kinda ruined it, though... perhaps you could have brought them in a bit more gradually? They kinda get drowned out behind the rest of the song as well... they're there, but hard to hear unless you focus on them, which you shouldn't have to do with a refreshing song like this. ;)

Your drums all sound a bit standard, in both sample choice and the use... couldn't you be doing some more complex, original stuff by now rather than the same sort of drumwork you've been making for several months now? (Though the toms and triplets were both great ideas. :D) And use some synths/FX along with them too (I like the synth around 2:56 in the back, though it might have been around earlier in the song), instead of just the kick/snare/hihat deal. Give your song some life, it's SPRING! ;D (And the ride sounds a bit weak too - raw-sounding, and it feels like I've heard it, or a similar sample, before.)

Your lead synth is good, though the composition lacks direction. It juts plays harmony. If you're going to use a lead synth like that, in a song like this, at least make it play a melody! ;) I mean, the song's got a bassline (the piano), drumwork, a peak-breakdown-peak progression with buildups to transition between the sections... it's practically an atmospheric trance song minus the four-on-the-floor kick, which you never do anyway. :P The one thing that could make all of your songs better is a catchy (though not simple like the piano playing in the low ranges) melody that people could hum or something, and would LIKE to get stuck in their head. That would make it awesome. ;D

I think that's about all I've got for this song. Not one of my longer reviews, but definitely one of my more helpful ones (I think :P) for your stuff. I enjoyed this one - 8/10, though I'll vote 5. :P Keep it up, hope this advice helps. :)