Buoy's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hong Kong]

This song

I'm absolutely blown away by the atmosphere you have created with this piece! :D If I close my eyes while listening to the intro, I immediately feel like I'm soaring over a large, grassy highland with rivers, lakes, steep mountains and falls. It's been a long time since a song has been able to do something like that to me. The timbre of the flute is absolutely brilliant, same with the strings and percussion (I love the sudden changes in intensity around 0:42). The clear, thin metal-like percussion just adds another dimension to that- high pitched metal percussion is, in my opinion, always welcome, no exceptions.

Now after that fantastic intro, the less impressive break with percussion and bass was a little disappointing- I was expecting a beautiful, grandiose sort of resolution to that build-up. Eventually the familiar atmosphere returns, with (hopefully intentionally) a hint of heroic struggle from the brass, choir, timpani-like percussion and the overall composition.

You've done a swell job with the stereo field- I can clearly hear it when analyzing the piece, but even though it is pretty much unnoticeable when casually listening to it, it adds so much to the atmosphere.

I hope you realize that you're much, much more experienced and skilled than most of the Newgrounds userbase, so I can't help but praising every aspect of it. Please keep up the fantastic work, and keep submitting!

nathanallenpinard responds:

Much thanks, and wow...that's a hell of an interview.

The image I had was a large cinematic shot of Hong Kong at night, distant, to where you see only the buildings and the lights. At the percussion break, that's where a chase scene on foot would begin, so it calms down almost to let any sound design through that starts, or dialogue.

Then later upon when the brass come in, it's increases, possibly with a car chase, or some other vehicle (though a shortened version as this was a concept) then upon the theme at the end, that's when a helicopters rushes in to pick up Arkady.

The end was Velvet (who at the time was the enemy, but had a thing for Arkady) looking at the distant helicopter flying away.

The whole scene it's pouring down rain.

[Solus + SBB- Switchback]

yes

The wang-bing is misplaced in relation to the third yogga of the xomp-gong, that must be fixed, other than that it's probably the best song ever made.

SolusLunes responds:

Well goddamn, I'm pretty sure the third yogga was what you were responsible for.

[Guide to Sophisticated Living]

Fantastic

All the instruments sound ridiculously fat- did you put chorus on absolutely everything? Got any tips or tricks to share?

Anyway, hire a sax player and have him and your bass player (or your bass soundfont, ha) do a combined sax/slap bass solo. Please, for the love of God, do that

That's all.

Hyper-Freak92 responds:

I love slap, and I love sax. That's totally something I'd do.

In fact, expect a song today that's a bass vs sax soundfont battle. lawl.

Which means I should answer the next most obvious question - Yes, everything in this song except for the guitar is a soundfont.

[Collosal Collaboration]

Sweet

Love all the treble you put in here. The piano is thin as hell, but I consider that a good thing in this piece. Those square waves are raw and unfiltered, almost 8-bit like. I love it! Even the bass has a LOT of treble.

It doesn't really sound finished though. It evolves into this funky square wave solo thing at about :26, then keeps doing that until a very abrupt ending. So there's not too much to say about it, except it's short. If you guys try and continue on this one, I think it'll be great. For now though, it's mostly a disappointment due to the short lenght and abrupt ending. :(

Very cool sounds and feeling though, nice one

Aydin-Jewelz123 responds:

ye thanks for the feedback, it was pretty rushed and im busy with another project at the moment but will do something about the length pretty soon. thanks for the advice =)

[lost my pants]

HAHAHAHA

BRILLIANT.

TheBardOfBlasphemy responds:

hehe, thanks man.

[MS - Madness Gun Sounds!]

ooold

This is an incredibly old concept alright. Some really really basic drum patterns made with gun sounds. I myself don't think this is more interesting than a drum pattern. The sounds are extremely similar to typical drum sounds anyway, so I can call it a drum pattern if I want to.

If there was ANYTHING else than drums - perhaps some dark bassy melody that fits the dark mood of the Madness series, I dunno - this track could become slightly interesting. So how about you try making a full song out of it?

For now, this song is just another boring "using gun sounds as percussion" track.

MortalSymphony responds:

Well I'm afraid that the 4.36 above disagrees. (and rising)

[Moonlit Mechanics]

Hey!!

How come this has such a low score?

I love it. I would not consider this a drum n bass piece though. Ambient is a much more fitting genre, I mean come on, this track has all of it: Mellow sine waves with delay and reverb (which alone could define the ambient genre), Experimental, complex but repetitive drum patterns and loads of SFX as well as reverb. Ambient/Downtempo/Mellow/IDM in a nutshell.

And that is perhaps why I love it. I love everything about this genre, so this song is really satisfying. Lots of variation too, so it keeps me hanging on. Easy to ignore, makes it perfect for listening to while being in bed, and the atmosphere is just right for it to be a soundtrack.

Seriously, I love this piece. This low score is not deserved!
One sweet piece man. Perfect in fact. Keep making tunes like this!

nostromer responds:

Thanks for the review and kind words, They are very appreciated.

I'm not sure why the score got nailed, Probably trolls? I don't really bother with scores anyways, its best to just let go of that number :P

And you are correct, its more ambient. I'll probably change the genre now that I think about it haha, I wish they had a "down-tempo" or "breakbeat" selection, but thats okay haha.

Thanks again man, - Enjoy

[Fantasie Mystique (NG Cut)]

Eey, guy

The first looooong notes from the strings are very very promising.The thin little synth adds a nice, classy feeling as well. It actually made me think it would be an epic masterpiece until I read the description. Oh well, that makes SBB a little disappointed :(

I like the subtle background sounds, which are sadly too much in the background for me. Is there a harp sound back in there? Some flute things perhaps? Feels like something needs to be be more present in the piece.

I like the long cymbal thing introducing a kick, 'tis very effective for that dramatic effect. Later in the piece, the drums sound way muddy and packed though. There's a shitload of different drums going on at the same time, I think some slower, harder drums would give the track much more power than it currently provides.

Now that lead synth, kind of destroys the whole feeling. I don't like the general sound of it, way too much treble. Sounds a lot like keyboard improvising with no real direction at all. Needs a stronger, more memorable melodic theme in my opinion.

The intro with long drawn out string notes and whatnot is great. I expected it to turn into something different. I'm not so sure what it would be about though.

Perhaps it's just not my cup of tea. Or maybe it's due to the low mp3 quality. I still think there are a few general flaws with the piece anyway. I still think this track needs some work (mostly within the last half, the intro is fantastic).

I gave you the 5 anyway, your score appears to be a bit low

WritersBlock responds:

Hey SBB.
Thanks for the review. Seriously. Awesome. I really feel that I've achieved something I've never been able to before with the classical intro. Yes there was a harp in there, I wanted the mix to be pretty quiet and I knew it was pretty hard to hear, sorry for not bringing that out for you more. The drums, well, I used them to get that change of pace to get the song moving, but it's just repeated over and over to sink in, and I think that something harder might've lost that feeling. That's just me thinking, I could probably try what you said and it might probably be awesome, but honestly, I think they get the job done and I'm willing to lay this track to rest.
The lead synth, I'm sorry that it spoiled the song for you, but I think that building the piece up to have more classical instruments added would just be too hard on my computer and it wouldn't have that contrast between the soft classical and dominant digital. I wouldn't know where else to go with the track. Thanks for the 5, and thanks again for the reivew. It's good to hear a bit of negative/constructive criticism along with the positive reviews. Thanks for putting a lot of thought into the review, it's left me with a lot to think about.
Cheers, SBB.
:D

[[L3] No Way Home]

Very nice indeed-o

Sounds fresh and chilled right from the start- so I would say you did a very good job hooking the listener since you made me think "wow, this is a good song, I'm gonna listen through this" within the first five seconds of the song. I like that very subtle filter fade in on the piano, makes it sound very ethereal. The piano sound itself is a bit thin in the beginning and lone parts. Not a problem when it's mixed with those fat fat synths and drums later in the song though.

The next thing that strikes me is "holly shit that's a lotta treble"- I think you might need to do something with that open hat, it's ear-hurting sharp. The other drum sounds are fine- I like that pumpy kick and love that cowbellish thing in the back. In general those drums sound very very good and stand out nicely.

The bass is a bit too grumpy for me. I think a cleaner or smoother sound would do better. Perhaps it could be a wee bit boomier too, though I'm not sure whether that would completely ruin the mix or not, so please don't listen to me.

The main arpy synth is lovely- I like the little hipass on it, it really makes it sound different from your typical trance lead. A lovely "melody" too, well it's not exactly memorable and about impossible to hum to, I guess that's just another reason to keep listening to it then! :D It produces a massive amount of noise though, making the tune less comfortable to listen to overall. It is probably the only reason why I don't feel like listening to this one much in the future- I suggest having a look at the high frequencies if you're ever going to tweak or remix this song.

Now there is one thing I could think of that would make this song very awesome, and that is some long drawn out strings chords or some other ethereal pad, maybe even both (I hear there is a very subtle pad going, almost inaudible but I know it is there in the first 40 seconds or so), playing something like the chords of the piano, maybe a couple of octaves higher. I'm imagining how it would sound and in my head, and I get the idea that it will make the tune sound more completed. I'm pretty sure it would do awesome in reality too.

Enough of this awesome anyway- I'm wondering why you put a "cheering audience" sample in there? I mean I know it's used lots in trance- but it's dedicated to a dog that was lost- that, the mood of the song itself as well as the title "no way home" are all sort of melancholic and not really something that would make people peppier and happier- so why the cheering? I was just wondering a little about that, it's not an important aspect of the song at all.

That should wrap detailed stuff up. In general, it's in my opinion a great song, although a bit generic. Sound quality could be improved on a bit. The melody theme is wonderful. That melancholic emotion and mood is portrayed very well. I can hear a lot of effort was put into this song.

Good job, well done! I hope you enjoyed the review (it's probably boring as fuck to read lol).

LiquidEvolution responds:

And in turn, a humongous reply! I think you diserve it anyway, after that monster review (and for the record, I enjoyed it alot).

Okay, the piano is the FL Keys VSTi. As you probably know, it's hard to get a full sound out of it and when you drop it a chord let's say, it sounds horrible so for lack of a better sound, I just went with my own patches for the piano. As for 2:05 and 3:27, I wanted a really lone and decreased quality sound to the piano so it gives you a more in-depth feeling of sadness and lonliness. Hopefully it pulled off.

The treble is due to my inexperience with mixing and mastering. I just throw the instruments in there and make sure it sounds good to the un-trained ear. For instance, the open hat is quite distorted (I didn't EQ it either so it's the sample's fault, not mine ;)) so I threw so many instruments over it that, your attention would be diverted from the faults.
As for the kick, no low bass and high mids.

Ok, the bass is a modified preset. I can't make basses worth a shit (Check out my track 'Deviant' and you'll understand). I couldn't find any preset basses that fitted this song so I just used the bass that I did in a previous song and it worked well enough for me not to look into it anymore.

Lol, the leads and the melody. I've used the arp' melodies in like 7 songs. I really think it's time for some variation and change (although, those leads, only 2 songs). Really, I was concerned about the amount of emotion I could put into the song and what instruments would be best to do it with (Piano, pads, percs). Crunchy arps' don't really come to mind when you think 'sadness' and 'lonliness' so, I just made a melody to fit the piano that was deep enough to fit the emotion levels in the song. I actually was surprised with how much emotion was brought out with the leads so, I just thought my job was done and that was that. 'Memorable' didn't enter my head for a second. About the graininess. I went out of my way for a crunchy, powerful arp' and I thought it sounded good. Maybe I was wrong, lol.

Hmm, more strings and pads you say? I've never been good at using pads and string effectively. Not to mention, if I added anymore crap to the song, my CPU would have died. I agree though, it would have added to the emotion of the song. Sadly, I'm not even sure what an etheral pad is so, I don't think that will be getting added (Unless you explain it to me, :P). I'm actually having a bit of enlightenment here and imagining strings being played over the interludes between the trance breaks. It would give the song a classical feel aswell. Hmm, we'll see how that one works out, thanks for the tip!

Crowd samples can add alot of anticipation to a build-up and I thought it worked marvelously in this song. Sure it doesn't really scream "Sadness, depression, destress" yada, yada, yada.. I guess I just lost sight of my sadness and my productivity kicked in.

Thank you so much for the great review. You're giving Karco a run for his money too. I'm glad my emotion can be heard in this song and I will have a see what can be done about what you suggested for the song. Thanks again!

[From Inside]

Sweet

It's very refreshing to hear an audio submission that's performed with real instruments and whatnot. This is of excellent quality (all kinds of quality, that is) as well, so reviewing it is a very pleasing experience good sir ^_^. I am not in any way experienced with this kind of music, so my review will be very much based on personal opinion.

The general sound quality is outstanding. No background noise at all, and crystal clear instruments/vocal sound is wonderful. Well done, whoever is responsible for mixing :D. Everything is in its place (except maybe that guitar in the very beginning. I have no idea why you would pan it completely to one side. Very minor problem though), and through the most of the track, everything can be heard perfectly.

I love the sound of the clean guitar. It's got that exact sound I love (if there was just a weeeeee bit more reverb, now THAT would be great). I'm pretty much neutral on the heavily distorted guitar though- I think it's a bit too dominant, and a bit too thick, bit as I've said that's just an opinion. Those solos though, are absolutely amazing. Very wonderful stuff, I love the guitar layering in the 2:12-3:00 area.

For the vocals- I, too, couldn't understand much. The vocals are very clean and loud enough, so that's not the problem- it's probably just because English isn't my first language. The singin's good, but the voice feels a bit anonymous and monotonous in a way. The singing doesn't change much through the song, so it's not too exciting. I can find no major flaws though, so it's mostly very good.

Then whatever is left- drums = good. Varied and nice sounding through the track, flawlessly played- but they drums don't stand out much. It's not really a problem, the drums get the job done very well. I don't have much more to say about drums than that. And- if there even IS a bass there, is is very subtle- I think the track could use having the bass a bit more present.

That's about it. Well done, you guys! An absolutely excellent song, great quality and, well, overall pretty damn sweet. I hope you don't mind me praising it so much :)

Satoris responds:

WOW! Thank you so much for the review and all the kind words. I'm going to be receiving a copy of the lyrics from my singer tonight. So everybody else who listens will be able to understand what's being said. Thanks again for the stunning review!