Karco's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Up and down (Loop)]

Wow, a long review for just a loop. :O

But it's a GOOD loop. Classical-sounding, and your composing skills really shine here. :D I have to say, great instrument choice, and the melody's great, too.

It's played by... what, a woodwind? I don't think it's an oboe, though... enlighten me on what it is, will you? XD But great instrument choice, very fitting.

I have to point this out - your title, Up and Down, is SO fitting. :D What your strings play at times, UP and DOWN. UP and DOWN. UP and DOWN. UP and DOWN. Etc, etc. Very well-composed and a creative element.

Enough flattery, as much of it as I have for this song, though I suppose you did deserve to know what you did right, for future songs, right? :P But you did pretty much everything right in this song, VERY creative, (can't stress that enough) etc... except for what I'm about to criticize you on.

The only criticism I have for this song is how it ends - yeah, I know it's a loop, but it seems to end on an odd measure - not the 16th of 16, the 8th of 8, or even the 4th of 4. It ends suddenly. I think you cut it at the wrong point... you either should have kept going, or started it at a different point and ended it at a different one. What I'd have done would be to take the first four measures, and put them at the end of the song... that would have made more sense to me. :P

Wow, a long review for such a short song... hey, you deserve it, you're good at this. Keep up the good work. :)

MeteorSuit responds:

About the ending. When you hear it loop correctly (without the pause), there is a flow. It's just the sig. changing back to 4/4. I love you reviews.

ps: It's a bassoon.

[Mountains beneath]

Well, it's about time I reviewed this one...

I took my time, didn't I? :\ Sorry about that...

Anyway, this song so far is at where the drums have just been introduced. But going back, I'd like to point out how, between the melody, there's a fast rhythm playing, and the song brims with energy. That's a very nice touch.

You could have built on that feeling, but you go tribal/etc. upon introducing the drums, and later, strings and... an oboe? A woodwind of some kind.

Very simple at times but always full and always meaningful. It's a great style of yours. Don't let it go... ;) I don't know many people that can have only a few instruments and then at the same time have their songs so full-sounding like that. And then the rhythms of the instruments, and their notes, they all blend together so well to contribute to the same attitude. I wouldn't call it extremely happy, though... :P VERY good job.

Your drums... they're unique and the rhythms are especially creative. You said in response to my last review for a song of yours that you're a drummer, but it takes an extra amount of skill, I think, to be able to create rhythms for another type of drum kit entirely. :D

Great atmosphere in this song, I shouldn't have taken my time getting to it. >:( Bah. How'd it get to 2.50? I'm going to insta-5 it right after I click that submit button. Now to review that loop of yours...

MeteorSuit responds:

Theres a few things I wish I had fixed before submitting this one. One being the volume of the oboe, I realized it was quite a bit piercing, and in the end when it comes back into the beginning line, the second piano clashes with the sustaining notes.

Knowing you still really liked this one makes me feel awesome :) Thanks K

[Brainwaves]

Gah, I'm a week late...

But I was going to get to reviewing this one sooner or later. Also, I think I'll point out your two gold tracks and your one platinum - they're either mass-downloaded or real, and in the latter case, congratulations. :) In the case of the former, however... >:(

No comments on the introduction... I hear your melody but it doesn't have any of that Nighthawk22 magic that some of your other songs, namely Variation D-19 and earlier did. :P I'm talking about composing... aah, there's some piano. It's good, but the same thing applies.

Your melody... it's good, but you can do better, I'm sure. >:( The lead isn't anything special, either. What I do like is when you introduce that guitar... it starts out awkwardly but then is AWESOME. :D Great choice there, though you should have been a bit more careful in the first part of that.

Harmonies... well, I have to point out how you put that extra effort into your bass, and the variation is very nice. The pads sound like "filler pads," though, and don't really stand out to me at all. And then these "filler pads" often get in the way of clarity as parts in this song are often a little fuzzy or distorted.

Percussion. What's new? It can make or break a song and continuing like this you won't get anywhere. Imagine if you applied at least a little of your composing skills to drum beats... it would make them a LOT better.

Now a new, weird lead synth, and apparently it's going freestyle. Well, it's okay but nothing special again. You need to improve, Nighthawk, and I don't see that happening as often as I used to.

Overall... well, the main problem is that you're not improving as much as you used to, so your songs are sounding more and more similar and less and less special as they used to. Remember the piano in the very beginning of Isolation, that I really enjoyed? I don't see any composing like that anymore. :( Keep trying...

NightHawk22 responds:

I'm gonna have to assume that Isolation and Alternate Dimension were mass downloaded, because when I checked last, Alternate Dimension was at around 460 and Isolation was at like 260. I had no part in this, and was very surprised to find that they were gold. This song I agree was not my best one, but I'll be putting out a new song on Friday, and I think that one is by far my best, still uses crappy drum beats, but still better
NightHawk22

[Telepathy (Pulstated) (NS2K)]

Took me long enough, huh? :P

But I was going to get to reviewing this song sooner or later, anyway. :P

Nice introduction... sounds like a variation of that Nova/Higher Force/Legends/etc. style I like a lot. :P The song builds up and yet stays the same... awesome stuff. :D

Not much to say... until that melody comes in. Well, it's apparently the buildup to one but it's awesome! And now it's the actual melody... and it's great. :O That lead and the notes/rhythms that it plays are amazing and go VERY well together... and then it never gets boring, an extra plus.

Harmonies, harmonies... well, again, your basses/pads/etc. are well-chosen and fit the song well. No clashing notes, and good note progressions... not much to comment on here.

You must like the bass, too, huh? That's an awesome kick. And I'm not so sure about that clap, but it works. Next thing you introduce in the song is a closed hihat, followed up shortly by an open one... good thing, too, as the former was getting boring. :P All great samples... I wish I had as good ones as those. >:( Rhythmwise, they seem to be normal 4x4 beats, which fit well, except for a transition here and there - and they're very well-pulled off. :)

Overall a great song I should have gotten to reviewing earlier. 5'ed... and you get my download, too. :) Keep up the great work, looking forward to your next song.

Pulstate responds:

GREAT! Thanks mate, i worked hard on this for ages!

[System Override (MS RAVE)]

Finally, a rave outta you. XD

After so long of you making generally the opposite of rave songs, it's nice to see this. And it's the finished version of your preview! :D Faster, too, I see... and it's building up VERY nicely.

I don't know if I mentioned this in the last review but the number of harmonies at times completely destroys the quality... mind you, the notes are GREAT and I understand the preference to have more harmonies and bad quality over less and a simpler song, as I have that one as well. Still, be careful. ;)

Nice interlude, it seems we're entering a new section of the song. I wouldn't call it Rave, though... ahh, well. Minor key! Or at least, it sounds like it... and it's AMAZING! O_O I haven't come close to any sort of rave as professional-sounding as this one. I have one in progress, actually, and this just might be an influence/reference/etc. :D Great job. You're VERY good with minor keys, as well. Make more! >:(

Later on the harmonies again overpower the song, but that aside they're AMAZING! And here's the alarm... not much to say about the ending though it's nice. Nothing fading out or anything but it flowed very well. Great job with this, Music-story. My 5, 10, and download... I don't have much else to say that I didn't say in the other review, but I've said plenty already. :P Keep up the great work, I'm really enjoying them. So, in return, I hope you enjoyed this review... :)

Music-story responds:

Yes, this is in minor key. C minor to be exact. Near the ending of the song I wanted something really crazy and fast. The only problem is that lots of pads and drums are needed. This is a real pain for the clarity issues, but than I decided who cares. I want the chaos feeling so if a bit of the song mumbles..well than the system is crashing. There is my music story for you. :) I thought the other parts of the songs were clear, but than I made the song so I already know what notes I'm playing which can decieve me into thinking the song is clear. I did some normalizing this time, converted my instruments to real instruments, and a whole bunch of other stuff to raise the clarity level as much as I could, but it looks like from the reviews after yours that I still failed in mastering. That's the problem with electronic music...you have to be good with computers which I'm not. I wish I could just compose music and someone just makes all the pads for me...even masters my songs. I'm quite the opposite to most people. However a guy said he is willing to give me tips on how to master my program so yeah that will help me alot. As for making more...well it looks like ppl enjoy raves alot more than my happy tunes so I'll think about it. Thanks for the review and bye for now

[[TCM] Stress]

Well, industrial's a fun one...

I made one myself... did you review it? I'm not going to bother checking right now.

Stressed, huh? Well, this song makes it evident. Weak percussion in this introduction section and clashing notes left and right, as the melody's in a different key from the bassline, as well as quality being... ouch. This is exactly what I remember from the song last time, too, so it seems you didn't do too much to change it. Mind pointing out to me what you changed?

Looking at it like an Industrial song, it's actually pretty decent but is largely lacking in the bass area. Also, I don't like those hihats... I know a pretty good Industrial drums soundfont I can share with you...

Hmm... well, you've been saying it's really good but I think this could have gone a LOT farther. Better bass, better drums, etc... (Oh, and fix that string synth, too. XD) Keep trying.

MtMTheCandyMan responds:

I'm so pissed right now. I can't say anything good so here's your response.

[[TCM] Foreshadowing (RM)]

Ooh, this one!

It's a good one, I'll see what you did with it. I won't have much to say about this... or about your finished version of Stress, which I also plan on reviewing soon, but I'll make the reviews long enough. ;)

Well... it's a remastered version. And that's it, it seems. The better quality is there, but that's it.

Ooh, I stand corrected... I hear an AWESOME arp synth coming in now, in this new section! VERY techy and VERY pwnsome. :D What did you use for it?

All right... overall good song and the new synth was a nice surprise but you didn't do too much with it. Remember those diversity issues! Should've taken care of those as well. ;) Overall decent but it could have been taken farther. Now on to reviewing Stress...

MtMTheCandyMan responds:

Yeah I know, I'm sorry ,;'`~_~`';, Will you forgive me? LOzzLe.

Anyway, get on MSN! You're never on when I am >_<. Yeah I should have done more to it. I might then resubmit ^_^.

[The Daylight Burning :I:]

O_O

Amazing song! But I won't get into it too much... you need to read the entire review! XD About time I got to reviewing this... I'm catching up with reviews left and right! XD

Great introduction, you come in almost on an ambient note and then pull out the awesome industrial drums! Unfortunately, they seem to be a bit panned to the right... >_<

I LOVE it when the guitars come out with their melody! Great industrial feeling there, I'm going to have some serious competition in this contest. :D

Your melodies in this song are great, and sometimes they're more in-depth than I'd expect them to be in an industrial song... while keeping the heavy feel. Nice! Great note progressions, too... I don't have much to say about the harmonies I haven't already said about your melodies... so I'll simply say you did a great job in both. :D

Great percussion! Very realistic samples, perfectly fitting this song. The only problem is their panning, which seems to be on the right side... =\ But the highlight of it all are the rhythms! Great rhythms, and original, too... gaaaaah, you have me beat by a mile and a half drumwise. >:(

Aah, transition, and now it just went ambient on me again. Ending... great job, MeteorSuit! I took my time reviewing this song but by the time I did, it was worth it! You get all 10s and a 5 today... you don't deserve any less. :) Great job.

MeteorSuit responds:

I really appreciate this review. I'm a drummer, so I tend to think about them almost more than everything else.

[Journey to Heaven (calm ride)]

A-HA! XD

Found your new song! Is this the song you told me you would make in that PM? Well... here's your review. ;)

Well, you open up a bit suddenly, and could have started quietly, crescendoing up to a normal volume. Remember some of your listeners are starting the song from silence... imagine someone waiting for your song to play, late at night, and then jumping once it does! XD

Melody... what can I say? It's a music story, and it rarely or never repeats! Hah! I do like the synths that play it, though in the beginning it could have been a bit quieter.

Ooh, transition into a quieter, slower part. Nice one, it was very smooth. And now here are your drums... nice, though that weird hissing-ish drum that comes in later on I don't like too much.

New section... I have to point this out - your drums, while retaining your style, are sounding original! Great job there. Your rhythms and samples are well-chosen and well-made, nice job. :D Not too much to say about it...

All right, since you want a story, I'll give you one. I've written stories to songs before but never really to an electronic one, or to a happy one like this. It'll be a change, but I'll try. :P

Hmm, I'm not getting much, so I'll list images as they come, starting from the beginning of the song. Sorry... no full story today... though if one does occur to me later I WILL let you know via PM. ;)

Second section, the quiet one - here, I get a very pleasant, calming image of sitting on the beach at dawn, watching the sunrise as the waves roll. Very relaxing, I like it.

As the song gets faster from the above point, the sun rises higher and higher...

Not much to say about the song now. Hmm... being a happy music story like this, I don't have much to say about it. =\ Aah well, hope you enjoyed the review, anyway. Today... I'll give you all 10s and a 5 - you deserve it, the effort in this is very easily seen. Great job! :)

Music-story responds:

Thank you karco. What would Ng be with out you!!! As always a super review and finally someone that actually took the time to answer my question about what story you get from this song. You wanna know what story I got from this? Well first your walking (if you want say skipping) to the....(warning cheesy factor!) heaven's airport. It's supposed to be a happy setting with perfect weather. Sun beaming down not too hot. You than go liftoff on umm flight 7 heaven? LOL. Up to the skies we go to heaven. So now we just enter heaven and we see the beautiful scenery and the awesome animals all perfectly calm and obedient. Now enter the majestic storm (power of god) and well let's hit the "heavens dancefloor." Oh about the ambience song I was going to make for you...well this one isn't it but funny it does have a lot of ambience sounds in it so I guess here you go :) Bye for now and glad you liked the journey.

[On My Way (Pulstated)]

Gotta catch up on reviews...

I'm far behind! About time I reviewed this one. :P

It opens up much faster than your usual stuff, and it's giving me the impression it's going to develop into some sort of happy hardcore song.

Aah, there are the note progressions! Now it's giving me more of that impression. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure about that lead synth. Interlude. Okay... there's the buildup. Snare roll...

Well, the melody isn't yours, so I can't really criticise you there. Hah! Your synth, however, could have been better chosen. I don't like it that much...

Harmonies are decent. The bass is nice - I like that bass synth... and the pads, when used, are nice. No clashing notes or anything, good, but you could have made it a bit better. My thoughts for this are thoughts that belong on the piano roll, not in a review - though I can say some more variation in things like the bassline would have made the song AWESOME. Unfortunately, the quality isn't quite that nice due to an abundance of harmonies in parts - maybe it's the bitrate you exported it at... I hope it is. :P

Percussion is great, and I like how it develops and builds up. Drum samples are a bit questionable - I think that kick could have been a bit harder, bassier, etc. while still keeping some treble to it. The hihat was weak, too... overall, while it's good percussion on its own, it's not quite what I'd expect to hear in this kind of song. Hmm.

Overall, it's good, though not your best. I hope I'm not disappointed with your song Telepathy... :D Will review it soon.

Pulstate responds:

Hey, thanks!