Coop's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[HT || Not So Suspenseful]

First try? Lies!

Nah, I'm not buying that this is your first try. It sounds fine to me, so stop beating yourself up and ride the music that you have with you. The piece works wonderfully and with the exception of the high pitched sound you've got acting as a melody, I'd say it all works well.

Perhaps looking at the structure of the tune around something like verse - chorus - verse - chorus, you can work something else into it and get the variation when you need it, while coming back to the tried and tested chorus lines, to get away from the more radical areas of the experimentation.

Certainly a piece packed with potential, I'd like to hear more and see how you can take this forward. Things like vocals could be used to improve the layout of the piece, because the occasional vocal sample can make all the difference to the sound, because it draws the ear away from the tune, subtly.

[Review Request Club]

HyperTrough responds:

Thanks for pointing those aspects out! :) I've been meaning to use vocals in my songs for agessss. Never gotten round to properly trying it. :P lol

Anyway, thanks for the positive constructive feedback :) Much appreciated

[Detuner]

You're lucky

I've just listened to one of the worst pieces I've ever heard, so you're going to get more praise than I'd normally give you :P

Try listening to Alice Cooper's "The Song That Didn't Rhyme", as that will give you some positive feedback into how to play an out of tune song and get the sound right, but still wrong enough. Yours sound like you're trying to play scales badly and that's not enough to really cut it with me.

Give it more work, to make a sound, then throw a note or two out, so that the form remains the same. In the same way that when you type a word with the first and last letters in the right place, but the middle ones slihgtly jumbled up, you'll still be able to read or hear what it's like and not get distracted - yours sounds messy, so strip it back, take out that horrible dischord over the top and you should be able to get something out of this track.

[Review Request Club]

[Little Red Man]

Solid

I like this, the sound can be interpreted as a representation of a little red stick man walking, but in a much more complex way than just a basic walk cycle. First, he walks, then he skips in time with the beat and as the tune changes, so does his step. For me, the imagery is simple and fantastic.

I love the fact that there are Video Game sounds in there, as it adds another dimension to it and I don't mean by giving the stickman a paunch and some blue dungarees, I mean, by giving the sound something to really work with, as I hear the sounds break to a run again, followed by some sort of parkour / street dance moves.

I'm glad that you didn't go over the top with the sound effects, as this could easily have ruined the track, but the overall piece is pleasing at 4 minutes long and it almost loops as well, so you're accomplished on either way with that feature.

Keep up the good work!

[Review Request Club]

smasher501 responds:

Thanks heaps for the great in-depth review. I really appreciate it! Rock on :)

[silly experiment]

Good loop

Basically, it sounds like a collection of sounds from the 8-bit video game genre, which have been combined together into a loosely glued piece that seems to represent a finished article, but for me, it doesn't quite work.

I think that you can give this more form, perhaps consider the merits of verses and chorus for the presentation, so that the different pieces can sound their way through the piece, exposing that they really have something to say in the piece, without it sounding like an experiment for what sounds you can produce with this piece of software and these sounds.

There is a good tune in there, wanting to break through, but the overlying sound effects seem to get in the way, ever so slightly.

[Review Request Club]

SuperBastard responds:

Thanks for the review. I think you're right, I'm really not too happy with most of this and I kind of regret posting such an unpolished work. It was indeed an experiment, and for some reason I guess I abandoned the idea of structuring the track at all.

[This is Nightmare Night (OM)]

Inspired by Greig?

Hmm, in the opening, this piece sounds a lot like In The Hall Of The Mountain King and the dominant riff sounds like a variation of it. Not that I'm complaining, as you've made it sound good and it still retains some very spooky qualities to it

I think that you've perhaps made it a little quiet in the bridges between the booming chorus lines and for that, there can only be one solution, which logically is increasing the volume. The piano is a wonderful addition to it all and given that the contrast is so spectacular, it could stand to be a longer piece, to make the whole piece have the maximum impact.

I think that there is a long way for this piece to go - it can certainly be found a home during the festivities of Halloween, but other than that, it can have uses, since a lot of people enjoy a good horror movie or game these days. In that case, the tune is very versatile, though I'd possibly enhance the percussion there, as it can be as hard hitting as the inspiration - the deathly crashes of cymbals can really rouse people from their seats in terror.

[Review Request Club]

TheBellmaker responds:

Interestingly enough, this piece was inspired by another jingle, which probably was originally inspired by Greig.

Increasing volume, eh? That mean's I'd have to do some compression, which I honestly haven't tried before. That is an interesting idea.....

Thanks very much for the review. T'was very helpful!

[Daydream (Silv3Ster Remix)]

Light hearted and impressive

I think this tune has a lot of positives going for it, as you can certainly say that it's got uplifting tempo and drive, making the song push onwards at quite a pace. I like that, as it's not as hard as the usual techno I get given to review - these pieces tend to be a little downcast and possibly more powerful with the bass beat.

I'm not sure about the change you make to the sound in the early going, as it makes it sound a little 8-bit for me, in the first minute. This takes the edge off the sound at that stage and with so much left to prove, it really doesn't need to push too hard to impress.

The ending is certainly strange, giving a little Limp Bizkit quality to it, with the edges bass synth that you chose. Of course, it doesn't have the obnoxious vocals of Fred Durst, thought I could say that you need some vocals, preferably by a female who seems to be waiting for her hero or something along those lines. The tempo of the tune could be construed to look like someone racing against time to get to a destination, which really does need pushing a little more and to make a piece into a story really elevates your work to the next level.

Yes, through editing, you could stand to make the track a little shorter, but if you choose not to, I can see why. It's been a while since I've said this, so here goes - this is the sort of tune that could fit quite nicely into some of the levels on WipeOut games, with the fast craft flying around the track and blowing the crap out of one another, but above and beyond that, it's also a great sounding track that could have uses in many other sorts of games and even movie style pieces, though not necessarily the latter in its current form.

[Review Request Club]

Dj-GST responds:

Yeah, I usually enjoy writing the softer styles more.

That was an experimental transition on my part. I wasn't sure how well it would fit with the rest of the track.

Haha, I've never heard them before, I'll check em out. In the early stages, I was trying to find some female vocals, but none of the ones that I found fit, so I basically just threw those rap vocals in at the last minute to try and make up for it.

I don't think I'd be able to shorten this track at all, I can see where you're coming from though, it's a tad long, and I had a hard time keeping it from being repetitive.

WipeOut! Love that series man, it would be badass if this track was used in a game.

Thanks for the sweet review man!

3S

[Caught in a Web]

Annoying

The genre should be miscellaneous if you cannot think of which genre it belongs in, to be honest. I don't know what instrument that you chose to make that racket throughout the song, the one which sounded like a vibrating ruler on a desk over and over again, but it sounded awful.

The piece itself needs a little more - try keeping this sound, but using it sparingly. By that, I mean across a bridge or at worst in a solo, where the effect will be more devastating and will discourage the listener from stopping the track part-way through.

The electro-synth-metal second part of the song is where we need to focus, I feel. The sound there is very impressive and worthy of better praise. Yes, the annoying sound is there, like a little fly buzzing inside my ear and I just can't shift the damned thing, but if you built on this sound, there is a great future for this tune.

Consider adding to this part - drums, vocals and possibly synths are the way forward, but I'll leave this to your own creativity, to work out where and how this works. The metal genre is where I'd start, as that's what I feel you can build towards with the last minute of the piece as it currently works.

[Review Request Club]

[[Battlefield]]

Decent

Nothing spectacular, this piece gives forth a good backing sound for the rapping, which other than not being transcribed for ease of reference, I found not to be particularly gripping, thought provoking or inspirational.

It's a good piece to be released around the time of Armistice and Remembrance days, since there is a little poignancy to that which I can gleam from the title of the tune.

If I'm honest, I think that you launched into the vocals too soon and the music is merely backing, which only serves to make the focal point of the track the vocals. They should harmonise and use the effect of the music to give deeper meanings and significance to the vocals.

Yes, it's oldskool, but I've heard better than that. Granted, I've heard worse as well, but this is a genre that needs to grab my attention, which this piece didn't do.

[Review Request Club]

[~SW~ Mental Overload]

Unconventional

Something that I like and something that could prove to be very versatile, with the range of pieces that it could be included in. Abstract pieces, that interpret the music could have an absolute field day with a piece like this.

You've categorised it fine under the genre of Miscellaneous, though it might branch a little into ambient, were you to spend a little longer on there and push to lengthen the track by a minute or perhaps 90 seconds.

I think that would be the only issue I have with the track - it's too short for the amount of variation that you've thrown in there. Consider spending more time blending from one style to another and even developing each individual part into a more structured verse section, which could help your grasp of the individual components.

As abstract audio goes, this is one of the best!

[Review Request Club]

SkyeWint responds:

Cool, thanks for the review! I'll be sure to try to put a short ambient in there, I had actually been thinking of doing that next. Unfortunately, the full version will have to be postponed a bit for a song I'm making for a worldwide competition. I'll be sure to take your advice into consideration when completing this, and I'll definitely be sure to put it up so you can see how it ended up!

[ElectroFusion -DrX-]

Good beat

A well conceived piece, with a nice beat and a decent melody, though I would suggest that it requires a little more, since without the bass, it would be quite tame and even with that said, the bass drowns out the melody a little.

As a 3 minute track, this piece is good, though i would suggest more variation and a melodic solo of some sort would be a very useful addition, to give the piece a bit more form and take it away from the bass line. The outro is very good, though I would suggest as variation goes, it was too little, too late.

I'm encouraged by the sound of this tune and I'd like to hear more, so see if there is anything more you can come up with and hit us with more of your tunes.

[Review Request Club]

DavidRx responds:

i had to do this track kinda fast ;o and
due to time limit i kinda forgot about the solo Dx
and i ussualy focus the song by the bass which is a bit lame on my part :P i feel really comfortable with bass frequencies and a bit of treble :p but thats it xD

;D thx dude and if you rly mean it take a look at my other tracks i got some that are pretty identical to this type of tune
and i got others that are what u call ''test tunes'' trying too push up my familiarity with other types and frequencies of mastering xD

thx for the review :D