Karco's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[TCM] Stress (PREVIEW)]

Huh, you're submitting often...

All right. Well, here's a review for you anyway.

The song starts... well, not audibly pleasant, I have to say that. The synths don't complement each other. Worse still is that string-sounding synth that comes in, and it's horribly off-key, in a different one, actually, from the rest of the song.

There isn't really a melody in this song... if you'd like to consider that string synth one, I'll tell you this - send me the .flp and I can change the key to match. And... if it actually IS in the right key... you need to find a better string synth. XD

Your harmonies don't complement each other at all. I could see it working if you had chosen better synths but your synth choice right now is giving me a headache. >_< Keep trying here.

Percussion... well, it's decent. I can't hear them because of how low the harmonies are, though... I do hear an unoriginal clap sample, though. That's all I can hear.

You know... I wouldn't really call this DnB. It feels a bit slow for that. I would have submitted this under Techno.

Not much else to suggest on this song... I'm disappointed. I'd say you leave it as is and start work on something new. If you really want to continue working on this, I would continue once I'm a lot better, and then I'd start from scratch. Otherwise I'd leave it behind for good. That's my opinion, though... I'd suggest waiting for a few other reviewers before making a final decision. Now, here's hoping they come... for your past three songs, I've been your only reviewer. XD Keep trying.

MtMTheCandyMan responds:

OHHHH BUG AWF!

LOzzLe! What's up Karco? Sorry I didn't get back to you on this review. Amazing. I usually respond in minutes O_O. Thanks for the GREAT review as usual.

*Hands Karco BEST REVIEW OF (whateverweekthisis) and my babies that he immediately grabs and consumes*

[[TCM] Foreshadowing Events]

All right...

So this is the finished version of your last song? All right... hopefully you did more since last time. >:( But we'll see.

No criticism I can offer you, right now... great percussion, I have to say. It's not weak at all. The melody's great, too... as is the harmony.

Not much is changing... you need more variation! The song is dragging on! What did I tell you...? ;) :P

So... you're going to get very high scores across the board for this one... except for diversity. You could definitely have done better there... ;)

Most of the other criticism worth noting is what you didn't fix in the preview that I pointed out in its review. ;) That's why this review is so short compared to my others... but it's pretty long anyway and I just COULDN'T let it go at a score of 2.50 and reviewless. :P

So... looking forward to seeing that collab of yours. :P Keep up the good work.

MtMTheCandyMan responds:

Thanks Karco. I kinda' forgot about adding the new harmony and submitted it like this X-P.

[Legends (Pulstated)]

You must like to remix.

Of course you do. Why else would you be doing so many? XD And you're good at this, too. Review time...

Hmm. Your introduction is very clubby... and on a dark note. But you take this song in another direction later on with your melody... I like this a lot. Again, I guess I can't give you credit for the melodies in this song... but they're awesome!

As always it's very melodic... you're very good at harmonies - the pads, the bass, it's all nice. Those "wind" effects are especially used well too... but they're not harmonies. :P

Your percussion is great in this song... I'm not so sure about that clap, though, as it seems a bit harsh for this style of song. I'm not entirely sure what else you'd be looking for, but I think there are better ones out there if you look for them.

As always you get that great trancy feeling. Everything contributes to it to some degree or another... great job there.

Normally my review would be a lot longer, but I've been reviewing all day and I can't think of much else to say. :( It's plenty long already, though... hope it's appreciated anyway. :) I've voted 5... Keep up the good work, Pulstate, I'm looking forward to more.

Pulstate responds:

Great review, but i must disagree about the clap, i think i picked the perfect one for this TYPE of track.

Don't worry about a shorter review even though it's still long!

:)

[[TCM] Preview 1]

Good... I say continue.

Hmm. Creative rhythms, I like this! It's a head-bobber. I'll get right to the bulk of the review, ok?

Your melody's great, but you could build on it a LOT more over the course of eight measures. I love the synth you've chosen for it, too! No suggestions here other than building on it more.

Harmonies. Well, the one that you have is good, synths and all. Nothing to suggest here, since you only have one harmony. You're going to need more throughout the song, of course. ;)

Drumming is great in this song. It kinda reminds me of what I used to do, creative rhythms with the kicks, but keeping the hihats on the offbeats. Those hihats, actually, I find a bit weak... so you should make those louder. And the kicks - try to stick to one hit every beat, on the beat, but it's ok to have some variation every four or eight measures. Your samples, however, are great! I also need to point out that I hear reverse cymbals - follow up on that with a cymbal at the end! ;)

This song would almost have a DnB-ish attitude, if it weren't for your percussion, which is fairly square if you don't count the rhythms for the kicks.

That's it... I say continue on it! Great job with this... if you do continue, I'm looking forward to the full version. Keep up the good work. :)

MtMTheCandyMan responds:

Thanks Karco. This means a lot to me. I can really learn from reviews like this.

[This is the Future]

Giant review for your first with FL!

Then again, they're always giant reviews... :P Aah well. Either way, here it is.

Hmmm. All right, kick-opening. Nice pad there, but it sounds a little plain, like an unedited waveform I'm not going to bother naming. Still, nice note progression. Buildup. Hmm... your drums could be better... and now, later on, there's an intensely horrible synth playing an intensely horrible melody. >_<

Well, your melody - your real one, not the aforementioned - is actually pretty good, and sounds logical. As is the synth that plays it, but your problem is that it's very weak and should have been louder! I would have also liked to see variations in it over the course of, say, eight to sixteen measures. Do that and we have a winner! The horrible synth and melody mentioned in the last paragraph... forget that. In all honesty you didn't need that.

Harmonies. Well, I only hear some weird bass, which is a nice try but I hear it among the drums, not among your synths! The awful melody could also be considered a harmony but honestly I don't want to consider it at all. >_< Again, this song has a lack of harmonies, though you're putting more effort. Aah, forgot - there's also that synth/pad, but it doesn't sound good among the other synths, for some reason. That one was more of a buildup/introduction pad... it didn't quite work during the introduction.

Percussion is better. MUCH better! You try to be original, which is good... and I hear variety in your drum samples. Kick, clap, snare, and... shaker? :O You'll want to try hihats. Your samples are creatively used, good, but it's best to just stick to the kicks being on each beat, which I don't hear in this song, until you really know how to use your drums, etc. But it's a decent attempt at drumming, I'll give you that.

I hear a few rough transitions... nothing to say about those. They could definitely be a bit smoother.

Once again, nothing to add concerning attitude and emotions... you haven't quite gotten there yet. Remember - you want all of your synths, all of your melodies, all of your drum samples and drum rhythms, all to contribute to the same attitude, the same emotion. If you can do that then you have your first emotion. ;) But to do that, you'll need a bit of inspiration... so go find some! >:)

Nothing to say... I hope I haven't sounded harsh - I'm getting it into your mind what is good and what isn't about your song and your style. Hope all my advice helps... keep trying. :)

New-Milkman responds:

Yes, the second synth put in there is very annoyiing! I tried to put in something else, to try make sound like the main synth, I just couldn't find what I was looking for... maybe next time.

When I was making this song, I couldn't save anything so it was actually sorta hard, but I could get all my ideas down at the time. Perfecting the volumes was a bit hard though, because it sounds different with headphones and through the speakers. I was going to adjust the volume on the main synth, but I already closed FL when I realized it >_<

I still don't really know much about harmonies, so I just experiment with sounds... for now. I might figure it out soon.

Better precussion? I guess. I love being original, no matter how it sounds (well, to an extent). I heard the shaker, and it just HAD to go in a song. I love it.

The transitions were going to be better, just that Audacity wasn't working very well for me at the time. No fading is not fun ...

I thought there was attitude. I based it on a thing that reminds me of Halo/ Futurama. Where the person comes out of something, then he sees all this futuristic stuff, and the main melody kicks in. O well, I'll try harder.

Nothing to say? What does that mean?! Your advice helps. It isn't harsh if you can give logical reasons for why you think that. Thanks for the review!

P.S. Good luck with Atmosphere!

[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.

[_-={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 ^^.

[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!

[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. :)