Coop's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Intensity of the Chase]

Still waiting for the start...

It started and I thought this sounded a lot like the "Kraftwerk Tribute" by Bill Bailey. I was expecting it to leap into the bass ridden second part of the intro

I'm really not sure about the last 7 seconds of this track to be brutally honest. If you want to put that as the intro to the track, put it at the start, not at the end , so that it loops into it. Like putting the locomotive at the back of the train to push it, it is not as efficient as having it pull the whole thing from the front.

It's not got as much variation as I would have expected. If someone or something is being chased, I'd add a powerful bass beat, to signify some sort of heartbeat. Maybe add a calm part, where the bass slows down, while they hide from the pursuers, before making a bolt for it, back with the normal speed of the chase.

[Review Request Club]

[+The Broken God+]

Good stuff

Sounds like you've been allowing yourself to become immersed in this type of music. Looking through your notes of how you've been inspired, I can see how this would fit in well with certain areas of Sonic the Hedgehog, for example.

I haven't listened to Daft Punk for an age, I'll have to go through my collection and dig out some of their classics.

This would be useful if added to some sort of puzzle game, so long as you turned the volume down a bit - this is just a little on the loud side for the distraction factor. I liked the addition of the backing bass, as it adds a whole new dimension to the tune, which some artists tend to ignore. You really can't forget it in a trance track, as it is so prominent.

[Review Request Club]

WritersBlock responds:

Hey, thanks, man.
I guess one thing that I'm better at now than aerlier on, is that I'm looking at the song as a whole, rather than as "this instrument, that instrument", so that they blend together better. I love messing about with unusual basslines in this style. It'd be pretty cool if this was used in a puzzle game. Puzzle games are awesome, which means that I'd probably play it a fair bit. =P
Cheers, great review. I'm so glad you liked it.

[Passionate Playing-UMSL]

Good stuff

This tune has all the stuff that i said you last one lacked - length, variation, changes of instruments.

The 3 minute marker seems to be the key. Stick aroubnd this sort of length and you can come up with a decent tune, provided you fill it with variation. I can quite easliy see this being used for some sort of racing game now, it's got that extra tempo, to keep people with quick minds in the frame of mind for racing.

Mind you, if it's going to go for that sort of game, you'd need to add more bass, that's a must.

[Review Request Club]

umsldragon responds:

more bass, roger that!

[BoomChick-Demo-UMSL]

Needs to loop

If it could loop, this track would be decent. As it stands at the moment, it's quite basic, without much in the way of variation or length. With the looping, you could improve the length issue by cheating slightly.

The basic tune is one of the best known blues riffs, so nothing new here. The stuff that you've put over the top of it, combined with your unusual choice of intrument have given something extra, but it needs to be more - perhaps more instruments. Blues likes a horn section and maybe some harmonica as well. Try watching the Blues Brothers for more inspiration.

[Review Request Club]

umsldragon responds:

will do. WOrking on the whole thing into a full version

[Waterfall [R1]]

Innovative

I think that while you've got the basic melody going, the main problem sounds when you put everything together, as the main tune itself sounds very ragged - the counter melody doesn't go well with the rest - it's either too sharp or too flat. It certainly sounds as if you haven't experimented with how they should all sound blended together. Don't get me wrong, some parts work, but others really don't, which is a shame.

I'm not entirely sure as to where you've come up with the waterfall metaphor from, either. To me, it does sound like some sort of a rainstorm, but not that kind of speed that a waterfall runs at. I'd say that if you were doing a waterfall, you'd need to make it quite fast for the whole thing and end the tune abruptly, because technically there is no stopping a waterfall. Looping it might work well as well.

[Review Request Club]

Bezman responds:

It's not really 'blended' together - it's just 2 hands playing. One take. So I kinda had 'experimented', given that I'd been playing with the tune for years.

I'll admit that the left-hand part is a bit repetitive/derivative in the middle of the tune and the piano is out of tune, which might explain you feeling it's "either too sharp or too flat". Otherwise, I'm slightly confused.

You make a good point about how a waterfall should be a loop - that might be a cool little project too, though I don't think I'll alter this. Maybe rename it. 'Waterwider' or 'Passage of Water' or something

[Metal (S.C.)*]

What sort of Metal?

This tune doesn't sound very metal to me, but mind you, I'm thinking of heavy metal, which is definately something completely different. I'm not sure about the vocals on the piece, as they sounded a little out of place.

To make this track sound properly Industrial, I'd have added a hell of a lot more bass, given the drums more prominence, to make it sound as if the track is being played in the back drop of a working factory, for example.

I think it's a nice tune though, but as per your instructions of turn it up loud, because it makes it sound different, I would point out that the thing about volume is that it only makes it louder. It does nothing to change the sound of the tune in any other ways. The bass still isn't as powerful as it should be in my opinion.

Nice piano used though. Your work on the Piano itself, or done via a synth?

[Review Request Club]

BreakingFaces responds:

I synthesized the piano.
It's not 'metal' as in the genre, its metal as in the material.

It was originally a Gary Numan song

I'm not specifically trying to be industrial, I'm not even sure it fits in that genre, it's just the closest thing I saw to it. I don't want to put it in the indie genre because no one looks there.

[Swimming]

You could try making is Ska :P

The irony of this track was apparent that I was watching Bender's Big Score, when Hermes was doing the limbo competition when I clicked this link. Muting the TV, while listening to this track was a neat alteration to Futurama in my ears.

Ever fancied coming up with a piano version of the Futurama theme? Maybe that's taking the metaphor a little far...

Most of the steel drums was great, but when they take your 'traditional walk' around the notes, it stops sounding like steel band and becomes you again, which I personally don't think the tune needs. I would have played more notes, effectively holding or rolling notes for these drums, as that's one of the traditional tools of the steel band. It could add more authenticity to the piece.

[Review Request Club]

[Prelude pour la Gaieté]

Back to the piano

I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away from the Piano for long ;) I love the way that you get several melodies on the piano all mixed together so well. The way that they enmesh is wonderful and you add some extra instruments, like aprize winning chef, bake it for 20 minutes et voila, you have another amazing track.

Not entirely sure about the sad sounding slow ending, but other than that, it's marvellous. The speed of the ending does kind of contradict the loop this time, whcih is a shame.

[Review Request Club]

[Thoughts*]

Different Jazz

Another wonderful piece from Jurian. What more really needs to be said?

[Review Request Club]

... Well, that was all that I really needed to say, but I feel that you deserve a little more waffle, so here goes:

It's nice to hear a piece from you that isn't dominated by the piano. It's got a vastly different sound to it and so isn't instantly recognisable as a Jurian track. I quite liked the way that it looped, with the slowdown towards the end and then it just suddenly picked up some momentum and started off again.

The best and most simple part of this track has to be the bassline. Ever present and hardly ever commented on, the bassline has such a tough life. It was wonderful, as you even gave it a little solo, which probably cheered it up.

[Review Request Club]