Coop's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[a solo tolittle wing]

Mellow

I like this piece, as it's a nice mellow start to a solo, but it gets a little fast and rocky in the end, so watch out, as it seems like you're crossing too many genres there. You start off sounding like Clapton (a little), but end up wanting to sound like Hendrix. These two styles are very different, so perhaps settle for a happy medium and make your own sound?

I think that it's a great piece until we hit the up-shift at about 50s, where it just seems to go all Marty McFly from Back to the Future, when he added the Heavy Metal riffs to Johnny B Goode. Great at the start, but then he took it too far. Good drums, a good sense of timing, but don't think that because it sounds good, you should try for better, more ambitious riffs. Sometimes, simple is best.

[Review Request Club]

mistermurfi responds:

"seems to go all Marty McFly from Back to the Future" aww but i love that :D thanks for the review mate :D

[-(Raindrops-For-My-Soul)-]

A good ambience

Just what I needed after a hard day in the office - something to project a sense of calm and expansiveness, which can be interpreted two ways. The way of an out-of-body experience, floating above your own body and looking down at yourself, just lying there, as you begin to experience euphoria. The second way is that there is some sort of flight involved. Possibly an astral projection here, as it feels like everything else her pales in comparison with the actual feelings of flight itself, so other senses may become distorted due to this.

I think that the three notes that keep repeating, but moving up and down through scales are nice, but they are a little simplistic for a track of this magnitude. Perhaps start thinning them out and putting other combinations of notes in, just to change it slightly.

I like what you've done and I can see this track going a long way. An interesting thing to note was that you essentially gave the track no beat, but you discovered a nice rhythm, throughout. Excellent work.

[Review Request Club]

Tykwa responds:

I was trying to work on that kind of feeling, aiming for ambient/trance, I usually don't even have a beat in any of my songs, but I do what i can

[-(she Takes Up My Tiny Chair)-]

Good experiment, but...

I think that while you've got a good sound, you need to work on the mastering phase slightly more. In the intro, I get a lot of static that tends to indicate that you're just a little over enthusiastic with the end product of the sound, namely the volume. Quieten those notes down a little and you won't get so much feedback and interference with them.

When you move onto the dance / trance part, you've upped the game - no more sign of these notes and it seems to all want to piece together, giving a well designed beat and melody that mesh together nicely. I think that this experiment needs to be taken out of the lab and given a proper airing.

Using the preliminary results, I'd consider stopping the beat and going for something like a melody solo, while the beat then comes back with something a little different. Small steps, but I'm sure you can get there.

[Review Request Club]

Tykwa responds:

Hmm, I'll take these points into consideration if I get around to opening this one back up and i'll see what I can do to make this better, esp. mastering.

[Frozen thunder - TTC1]

An interesting title

I think this is a tranquil forest-style theme that reminds me in part of the trailers that I've seen for Avatar. In all honesty, it's probably a lot less hostile that I've seen of that, especially when you get the pan pipes playing at the start.

It loops really well and it certainly doesn't sound like a VG track until you come up with the 16-bit sounds that just anchor it firmly to the late 1980s, which is a shame. Change those to more modern sounds, like a piano, for example and you'll suddenly be able to step forward to something that sound slike it belongs with the intro.

[Review Request Club]

Calamaistr responds:

thanks :)

[Virtuous]

To the victor, the spoils

Very reminiscent of something from the end of a Star Wars movie, though with a medieval twist.

I love the sounds and the way that it sounds so grandiose, as if there is a prince of the realm entering the city, his honour proven to one and all, as an enemy now vanquished pays tribute to his country and their forces.

I think that the reduction of cymbal crashes is a great move and it does make the piece seem to have more significance, especially when the cymbals actually come in now.

[Review Request Club]

DJ-Chilvan responds:

Thanks! I really love your interpretation of the song! I actually did get really "in tune and immersed" when composing this piece. The whole part from 2:42-2:52 was my most emotional part, the mix of harmonies there just get to me everytime, it feels so great=P. I was actually picturing some type of royal orchestra performing this piece while I was composing it haha.
BTW, this song sounds even better now for me because i recently completed all of my personal victories (read my response for Zouk's review)
Thnx again!

[Countless Stars]

Light-hearted

I like this track, it's a nice, uplifting tune, that really does make you tap your feet and smile.

I think that sometimes, the bass is a little overpowering, but that's nothing that can't be dealt with over a few small tweaks. Just take some of the power out of it, so that the natural bass of the piano can be heard and you'll be fine.

With the way that the piano carries this tune, you would think that there was no need for any other instruments, but this is where it gets a nice lift from the occasional strings that come along and just seem to cameo. It's a nice blend, especially when they hum, as opposed to pluck.

[Review Request Club]

Sawdust responds:

Yeah, the bass blows, I admit.

Also I was intending for this to be like an epic orchestral piece, but I guess I'm incapable of doing that then :( Thanks though

[The End of Our Journey]

French video gaming

An interesting concept, where people stand around in a rural town square as the market gets set up for the day. People turn up riding bicycles and the pace of everything slows to a crawl.

I can see this getting used for video games and it would be for something along the lines of a LoZ style of game, as the hero enters the peaceful square, just before something cataclysmic happens, thus involving him in the plot and giving him something to do.

I'd certainly suggest on that line of thought you make some sort of 'evil thing attacks rural town' style piece, just so that if this was being done, people don't have to cope with two different artist's styles, as that could imbalance the whole setting of a video game, for example.

[Review Request Club]

itsameyayo responds:

Sure, if I have that opportunity, that would be according to plan...thanks!

-ImperfectDisciple-

[[MC Crispy] - Fast Pace Game]

You want a new mic for Xmas

It's not a bad start, but there are two main issues here:

1) You need a new mic - try looking on eBay, as there are some good deals for around £50. This will get you a much better sound quality for the piece overall. Perhaps having a look at some tutorials for Audacity, or whatever sound program you use would help, as you could do with work on equalising it as well, but that's a minor issue.

2) The pace. Your rapping is a little on the quick side. Slow it down, as you're forcing your lyrics to go along with the beat. Relax, take a few slow, deep breaths and let it flow. Practice makes perfect.

[Review Request Club]

chrisG755 responds:

thanks a lot, my highest review yet, and yes i have asked my parents for a mic for Christmas which hopefully i'll get hehe.. but yeah i need to work on breathing but thank you anyway.

[-PdG- Darkness]

Good loop

A little short, but not a bad piece of programming or playing, if you actually did that :P

I like the upbeat melody that goes along and carries the piece forward, while there's a nice understated beat in there that can give a very different perspective of the whole piece.

I think that it possibly could have done with being a little longer, giving room for some sort of melody solo, just to bring and added dimension to the piec,e other than that, it's great and is very versatile.

[Reivew Request Club]

Prodigal responds:

The programming is actually a VsTi called Glitch, if that's what you are looking at. THe reverse snares, the sustained snares, etc...

The Upbeat melody is going to be fiddled with in the full version.

Thanks for the review!