Coop's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Noisy - Lifehouse: Beacon]

Bordering on euphoric

What a nice, uplifiting piece - it really does get the blood flowing, with the slow and steady pace of the tune, carried by the beat and then brought forward once more by the piano scales that seem to fit so naturally. The whole piece paints a picture of a bright future, with people getting along in harmony. Too bad it's just a picture.

A little top-end static needs dealing with in some of the louder phases, but I think that it's something that only proves that you're human. Keep up the good work!

Finally, I think that to bring this piece forward, give yourself a piano solo - the beat and the melody / counter melody seem too overpowering, so that the piano's subtle tones cannot be heard, sadly. Such a powerful instrument is not a backing singer - let it take the lead for a change and shine through.

[Review Request Club]

INoisy responds:

Euphoric, wow, thank you! I appreciate it, and thanks for the suggestions about the piano. I agree, at the end you can't hear the beginning of the solo, and that needs to be brought up in the mix a little bit.

Thanks very much (:

[My Savior (Dance Remix)]

Quite repetitive

While this tune has some good crisp sounds to it, I think that six minutes is a little excessive, even for this. You'd be quite able to getting away with looping this after three minutes.

Basically, I'd add a lot more variation, or cut the tune down to size - the listener can get a little stuck in a rut with the repetitive sound from the almost 8-bit sound of the lead keyboard, which for me does no favours. The start was nice and had lots of variation, but this became very sparse later on, so think about the spread out of that sort of things.

It can be a good sounding flash that will work, but it does need something else, be that a new sound to add to it, a change to the primary melody, or just cutting it down a little, but I'm sure you can get there with it :)

[Review Request Club]

DJ-Chilvan responds:

Thanx for the review! Many ppl have agreed that I should add more variety. I have absolutely no free time anymore (school, college apps, x-tracurricular stuff, work, etc.) to even open up my DAW but when i get some time cleared up my next goal is to experiment with variations.

[Almany]

Ambient Classical

Not a bad piece - very evocative of a mood for a very good situation regarding the death of a loved one, I feel. Either that, or something sad in a game situation, where the protagonists are making what could well turn out to be life-changing decisions.

While it's not the best piece I've ever heard, it can certainly hold its own, especially within the genre. I think that the strings were slightly overused, and could have been complimented by a little more use of the woodwind section, maybe not to lighten the mood, but to give a more rounded feel for the emotional significance.

[Review Request Club]

DJ-Chilvan responds:

Thanx for the advice! You're not the only one who commented on the woodwinds. I agree with all yall who say that there needed to be more, but the woodwind VSTi's in my DAW arent all too great IMO and dont come with too much, and this was before I got Edirol.
I really like your interpretations to the song. They give me a broader perspective to future projects now that I can compare this song and my future projects based on your interpretations.
Thanx

[Flash/Audio Collab Submission]

Sounds like Spore

Some of the sounds that you've used here sound like they were taken from Spore - a really interesting sound that you've managed to duplicate here. I think that it could do with being stretched out a little, to maximise the effect of this, as at present, it is a song in two parts.

Part 1 is the vocals and the start of the music. It progresses nicely into Part 2, when everything seems to go a little mad and stretching it to maybe as much as 2 minutes would help you out greatly, by giving this piece another dimension.

Sadly, when you get to this part 2, there's everything going on, so if you try and avoid the 'rush hour' there, you'd end up with a much nicer sounding track.

[Review Request Club]

SessileNomad responds:

spore, the video game? if so, ive never played it

i kind of did want to make this track a little longer, but the rules of the collab say its gotta be 30-45 seconds

avoiding the rush hour at part 2, im fairly certain your talking about the drums that kick in, i cant really avoid those, its sort of a genre thing, sort of a personal style thing, and sort of a wanting-to-diversify-the-collab thing

i get the feeling your into more of the pristine styles of ambient, sadly i dont have any sypes of those songs

i guess i could give them a try, but i get bored with them

thanks for the review dude

peace out

SessileNomad

[Cast From the Stars]

Great sounding tune

A lovely sounding piece, this has got the perpetuating sound of the beat. Even when that fades out, there is a melody or a counter melody that keeps the tune going nicely, without the song losing some of the overall character.

I love the way that the guitar sounding piece comes in and blends in so naturally with the rest of the dance-sounds of the keyboard.

The pace is wonderful and I think that the only way to make it better would be to either add vocals or a guitar solo, just to add even more variation to this piece.

[Review Request Club]

Bracksta responds:

Thanks for the great review Coop, i like to see that face in my reviews because i can always depend on you for great advice :). Peace bro

[The Outsiders]

Great ambience

Quite an epic cityscape comes to mind when I hear this piece of music - the point of view is from someone walking into a massive city and seeing the towering buildings from below just pass by .

I think that there's a definite issue with static on the louder ends of the notes, which needs to be dealt with slightly in remastering. It's a nice calm track with a good blend of drums, synthesised rhythm and a good sounding melody that keeps the whole piece moving forward nicely.

Perhaps a little more variation could be incorporated rather than just a little bit at the end of the track, as solos tend to work better as a part of the middle of the tune, rather than a fade out piece.

[Review Request Club]

LightKeeper responds:

Entering a new genre for the first time is never easy. :p I think the static may have developed when I upped the volume in the mastering or you may be hearing the saws. I don't really know to be honest. I love your insight and imagination when it comes to the song. The ending part wasn't really a solo either, but I'm glad you still liked it.

Thanks for the review. :)

[[dj-Jo] Drum Acerbity]

Not bad

The start sounds like an 8-Bit Mission Impossible tune, which is quite good. We then see it added to and added to pretty much to destruction, before you stop and start again, with a slightly different sounding (instrumentally) riff, that sounds like the same.

The vocal sample wasn't bad - Eastwood's quote is always one of the most recognisable lines out there. Then you come back in and race away with the next piece of the tune.

I think that the main issue that you've got here is it's too short - another minute is something that you can probably get away with adding, so plenty more variation and you could even mess with the vocal samples - throw them in, cut them off, put the same piece over the top on very short repeats, that sort of thing. If you're looking for examples of this, the searching for Drum 'n' Bush, by Bill Bailey - that's what I'm referring to ;)

[Review Request Club]