Coop's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[touching the sky]

Seems a little monotonous

I wish that something else was done with the piano here, as that beat along the entire length of the track just makes me cringe - the piano is a much better instrument than this, so why not treat it as such?

That aside, the rest of the track is nice, though there is a little bit of high end static, possibly as the notes are just a little too loud in the track, so this could be sorted by some simple mastering.

The synths would certainly have benefitted from increased interation with the piano along the solo that you did - try having a more advanced solo, where you can get the two sounds together and have them compliment one another?

[Review Request Club]

superuberinsaneausm responds:

i think i was afraid of making other melodies because i was so satisfied with the one i made, and didnt wanna jinx it.

[Wily Tower Wily 4 8-bit remix]

Basic, but that's 8-bit

Well, what can I really say here, except for the fact that you've worked an impressive little tune out of the 8-bit sounds that are available to you, though it does seem a little long for the context of it - are you going for a theme song here?

I think that with the way that the song seemed to be repeating along the lines of this, you could save a lot of file space for anyone that wanted to use this track, by cutting it down to the first minute / one minute thirty seconds, without really losing too much, since it's just looped.

[Review Request Club]

kchrules responds:

Thanks, and the length has been fixed.

[Yuricharai's plan - TTC CHG]

Organ, piano & harpsichord

I'd have never dreamed of using such a combination, but you dared to. What's more, it worked really well, so major kudos to you there. Akin to an old Hammer House of Horrors film, you've given us a real treat with this piece, which really does use some vivid interpretations.

I'm guessing that you wrote the description, before interpreting it in music. With that in mind, I'd absolutely love to see someone do the same with your work, but interpreting it in flash. This piece represents so much progress on your part, that it really does deserve to have something bigger made of it.

(On the subject of the writing, if emper is a place, it should be spelled with a capital E. It would help for the interpretation, particularly if there was to be any voice acting done in a flash interpretation)

Before I run out of superlatives to describe it, the mood that is set from the start to finish of the piece is incredible, with a combination of dogged determination, suspense and inevitability, that seems to accompany the journey. He will arrive at the destination, one way or another.

[Review Request Club]

Calamaistr responds:

TTC CHG in flash? that would be my greatest wish definately, but who the hell would want to do such a huge play haha, and in quality too.. hell it would take atleast 2 years of work for a artist to make that happen, and thats really a minimum.

The story was there before i made this track yes, but this tracks isnt truly based on the happening written itself more on the character yuricharai personally. Sorry about the capitalisation missing, for some reason i sometimes forget stuff like that.

Emper used to be a great forest (one of the CHG version storyline's missing characters 'pekara' was cut because his name was also used in a mortal kombat game for a stage, and i didnt want people to think i stole the name, same deal with yunberi but i left him in.. people couldve thought i stole him from suikoden as there is a black knight in that game called yuber, and there are alot of other names who are similar to others like 'Sha' used to be called Shamoke but in dynasty warriors another game.. is also someone called sha. etc etc..anyway back to the forest:
It (the area) was eventually taken over by the library of sorcery and literally burned down, the leader of these sorcerors 'kirov' (later changed to Oji che, same name..problems) was the one who summoned the god golem 'Icle' (stands for great nail/point, how coincedential heh).

Oh man theres so much to tell about this.. ive included it all in a txt file along with the cd..
wich i still have no host for though, ohwell.

I can keep talking about this forever. ;l

Anyway thanks for reviewing and im flattered by it.

One last 'fun'fact.. i liked the unmastered version of this track alot better for some reason, the instruments were all closer to eachother, in this (mastered) version the instruments are alot more placed in 'locations' so theres more room inbetween.. i wont ever do that again would i make another hi fi track, and im sure i will..
In the definate (CD) version i editted the 'room' slightly again, so its a tid bit more like the unmastered verison. :)

I dont know when the CD will finally be online, it depends on a friend of mine who has host space but is hardly ever home to talk with.

Greets. -Cal.

[Are U Ready {Dj-Abbic mix}]

It works

Good build-up, a very pleasant rhythm and overall a reasonably enjoyable song, even for someone such as this reviewer, that does not really get on all too well with these genres of music.

It seems that the track adds new components as it progresses, but it is also not afraid to lose stuff, which is where some artists can go wrong. The way that it changes phases between a pumping hard track and has a relatively calm ending was quite a novelty, that I really enjoyed, myself.

Perhaps the next step for this track would be to add some vocal sampling to it, keeping it all together, but being ready for a more commercial appeal, since people love to listen to and dance to tracks that have some words, so that they can sing along while they gyrate in something that they call "dancing", though I doubt that this would get many marks on the floor of Strictly Come Dancing, for example.

[Review Request Club]

DjAbbic responds:

Wow thanks. It's great to know you enjoyed this even though you don't like this genre of music :).

This was a remix, so adding vocals would probably be impractical, but I see your point here.

Thanks alot for the input and review :)

[After Rain]

Good piece

Wow, this really lets me think that a massive rainstorm has just passed overhead and that the sun is just peaking through a gap in the clouds. The last few drops are starting to fall from the trees and as a result, the occasional drip falls into a puddle, sending ripples spreading across the surface.

I'm not sure what the bass beat signifies here and with that, it does feel like something else is going on, as if the storm was a thunderstorm and it is rumbling away in the distance, leaving us behind.

It almost seems as if you've put the ripple effect on the drips, to make it sound like the start of birdsong as well, which is very reminiscent of what happens after a rainstorm, especially in late summer.

I'd love to hear a piece from you based around the rain itself, as those two ambient pieces would seem to go together really well. After all, you can't have a song about "after rain", without the rain to go before it, can you?

The Oriental sounding wind instruments just seem to complete this piece and I am taken away from my own garden to somewhere more spiritual, such as a Buddhist temple in the mountains, as the monks come out and carry on their daily tasks after the rain has passed.

[Review Request Club]

EvilScorpio responds:

Your review is good as always, Coop)) Thanks)

[I Am John Mayer]

Not bad, but needs a little work

I think that you are hampered by the acoustics of the hall you were recording in, as this does change the dynamic of the song itself. A well written piece and it was performed well, though the recording equipment could have been a little better, since there were one or two occurrences of static in the early going.

I think that you also need a drummer, just to give it a little more of a boost, to distract a little from the earlier mistakes "Whoa-oh-oh", for example. There might be self confidence issues there and it's a case of being confident enough to belt the song out at the right, consistent volume and tempo all the time.

Don't get me wrong, there is some real talent here, but it's a case of refining it better. Good luck.

[Review Request Club]

Sawdust responds:

Thanks man!

[Chasing the Clouds [Sonic 2]]

A nice loop

Something that would be very useful in a video game, probably as a menu tune, but that's not to say that this is the only use for this. A nice soothing acoustic guitar, accompanied by some well placed synths and a little touch to the high hat.

I think that this is particularly useful for such games as Final Fantasy style games, but its use would be determined entirely by the author of such a game. FMV sequences would be brilliant for this as well, though you may need to write a longer piece for that, just to leg it out to maybe three minutes, for the effect on that piece of cinematography / animation.

[Review Request Club]

DarkKyoushu responds:

Thank you very much for your time to write this.

[Cmb - Kill A Baby! >:d lml]

Not really metal

Well, aside from the genre clash, you've presented us with something that I think isn't really music in a sense. Too much clashing from the various instruments and the vocals just makes it a noise, which is unwanted sound.

Spend more time in mastering, to get it sounding like the piece that occurred after 1.46, as that was better, but as it built back up, things got bad again. The pause wasn't used well, since I thought that the song had ended, which was quite disappointing in all essence.

Ah, reducing the bass worked so well, so listening to it the second time with that was better, but it still needs some work at your end to kill that off a little more, otherwise you're just giving yourself a lot of rope to hang yourself with.

Guitars recreated like this aren't metal - this is house, dance, trance or something else along these lines. You also need better drums to make it metal.

[Review Request Club]

cheesemonkeybill responds:

WHO THE HELL TOLD YOU TO REDUCE MY BASS?????
i think it's the spirit that the music is made in that defines the genre, not the instruments used. this is more fitting in metal than house, dance, or trance. tsk.

[-RG- In a Teardrop]

Great stuff

Well, what a way to come back to the Audio scene.

I think that the contrasting sounds of the glockenspiel and the strings on the intro are brilliant and I'm straining my ears to hear if you carried these on when the more dramatic music comes in and takes over.

To be honest, I'd say that you're looking at Ambient as the genre for this music, since it's something that can very easily be adapted to a great many themes, just as backing for silent flash, since a lot of people do go and make dramatic flash suited to this sort of music.

I think that with the percussion coming in, it does tend to dominate the track a little and perhaps the balance is slightly out there, considering how the strings have come across as dominant early on, so perhaps the drums and cymbals need to be toned down a little, just to add some balance to the track in all.

[Review Request Club]

Raven-Guard responds:

"Well, what a way to come back to the Audio scene."

Cool :3.

"I think that the contrasting sounds of the glockenspiel and the strings on the intro are brilliant and I'm straining my ears to hear if you carried these on when the more dramatic music comes in and takes over."

Personally I can't be sure, since Darklight took care of all this stuff, and I'm deaf from one ear so I can't tell, but glad you like the intro. That's actually a xylophone though :D.

"To be honest, I'd say that you're looking at Ambient as the genre for this music, since it's something that can very easily be adapted to a great many themes, just as backing for silent flash, since a lot of people do go and make dramatic flash suited to this sort of music."

Hm, an interesting point of view. We were first contemplating on whether to put it in Classical or in Miscellaneous. Classical because it incorporates strings and brass, including a few other orchestral influences, but Miscellaneous because of the rock drums, although Ambient isn't such a bad idea.

"I think that with the percussion coming in, it does tend to dominate the track a little and perhaps the balance is slightly out there, considering how the strings have come across as dominant early on, so perhaps the drums and cymbals need to be toned down a little, just to add some balance to the track in all."

Haha, yeah, you're entirely correct. I'm thinking of EQing all of the drums, probably by then the balance between percussion and strings will work out a little better.

Thanks for reviewing, and sorry for the late response.
--
Supersteph54

[<EagleGuard> Never give up!]

Awesome

What an amazing piece of classical music that really has some great variation and instruments thrown in there. I'm not sure why or how the guitar fits, but it really works so well that I'd consider asking you for a bigger part for that guitar.

The harp is the real centre piece of this track and as a result, it's quite "light and fluffy", though the backing strings and the drums do lend a more sombre and grounded atitude, as if there is combat either ahead or just behind. It doesn't quite have the emotion and pace to be something that really grabs your attention, taking it further to a real life or death situation for me, but you're one of the better artists on this site that can protray a huge gamut of emotion in a few minutes of music.

[Review Request Club]

EagleGuard responds:

Wow, thanks! Wasn't too sure about the guitar part, but I'm glad it worked out OK ;)
About it not really 'grabbing your attention', you're right, that's something I have to work on.

Thanks for the review!