WritersBlock's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Nav - Lightwalk]

Yeah

I'm always jealous when I listen to one of your DnB tracks. You make this sort of thing sound so neat and easy. This song isn't overly complex in terms of composition, but it's got a great high quality sound and it's got a nice background aura to it.
Great work, this song kicks ass!
5'd

Nav responds:

Thanks! Its not the complex, because I did it from start to finish this morning. That's usually the case with my better tracks: just 1 or two sittings from beginning to end!

Thanks for reviewing! :D

[Rig - Best Intro Ever]

I was thinking of bitcrushers

when I was listening to this, and then I saw your response to Darkside's comment. I ARE TEH PSYKIK!
I'd have to say that the delay might be a bit too much, it was kinda ridiculous, tone it down and it should be pretty good.
Overall, it's pretty darn awesome epic. Quite cinematic.
This song got me thinking, wouldn't it be cool to have a MAC themed as a continuation off an introduction, smaller than this, of course, but enough to give some direction. Continue teh intro game? Anyone up for that?
Anyway, top stuff, rig. Keep it up, or else. >:(
Fifened (oh noes!)

[/|\Piano Medley 2/|\]

Sounds more full and alive than the other

But there's still the dynamic issues. When a whole section is f (for those who don't know, f stands for forte, which means "loud") it doesn't mean that every note is the same velocity. The note that falls on the first beat is loudest, then the third beat, the second and fourth beats are the weaker beats, and the space between are even more so, and that's additional to the dynamic appropriateness to the shape of the melody. I'm sure you'd make a killer piano solo if you applied this theory of performance technique to your composition.
Keep 'em coming, Maestro, it's great to see new and different things coming from you.

[/|\Buried and Forgotten/|\]

Here's what I think

Seeing as this is a song you made to be more minimal than your usual works, I'll give some more criticisms than usual. Oh, to hell with it, brace yourself for a bastard review! Insulting (kind of)

First things first, the piano sounds like a dead cat. If a dead cat played the piano, this is what it would sound like, because dead cats are dead, and they don't care what people think. I'm a bit of a hypocrite saying this, as I've only taken the effort to achieve realism in my piano only a few times. If I played this song, I'd add some more drastic dynamics, make the pauses more dramatic. The pauses in the melody lack presence, it's like the silence before a fart, in which you try to cover the fart up with another one, and all meaning to your polite dinner party conversation is lost. Pianists have emotion. Their fingers are the most sensitive, the most well controlled part of their body. The dynamics in this piece sound as if you cut off the pianists fingers and replaced them with hammers, and then you replaced the pianist with a machine. Sure, it hits all the notes perfectly, perfect timing, and some dynamics applied, but it's the pianists interpretation of the song that makes the music so good. The pause on a chord as it fades into nothing, and the decision to return strong and loud, or fade in gently, it's all about the extremes. Rubato is a term that I have acquired over my last couple of years of piano lessons, and now I can't imagine how I could perform not knowing what this wonderful little word is. It breathes life into any emotional piece. It pushes the melody slightly faster at the right moment, and counteracts it wish a slight pulling back slower to even out. Listen to some Chopin and you should hear it. Composers from the romantic era are full of life and robato. You're writing a romantic piece, and performing it in a classical/baroque style.

Then, I noticed that your piece lacked backbone, it's very thin. Sure, there's the melody, and a rolling bassline, and even a pretty lady singing in harmony, but it's like conducting an orchestra, where half of the orchestra is missing, and your baton is actually a rubber chicken. Sure, this piece is pretty minimalistic, but it wants to be more than that, the melody shows desire to be grand and triumphant. The bass is depended on too much in the second half, which is disappointing, because it's not really outstanding. It's mediochre, and it doesn't diversify itself enough. It's also quite high, and doesn't really move around much. There are 88 notes on a piano, you should use more of them!

The melody. While it would be good in your normal maestro composition, it's not really one to hold its own on such a light piece as this. Should you ditch it for something else? Hell no! You need to work your accompaniment more, maybe bring some more flair to the tune. The jumps in pitch between phrases sound quite "off". You should bring them closer together to give it a better flow. Don't be afraid to delve out of key and throw in some accidentals. When you run between two notes in the same key with an accidental, you'll sound incredibly awesome. There's nothing like an intended accidental on a piano solo.

Overall, you should try and imagine that the song is actually being played by a real person. In all honesty, I think this piece has a lot of potential, really quite good, and I figure you probably know a lot of what I've said here, bit I figure that some "your music is like..." and some thorough talking to and reitertaion of things you may already know will be a good thing for you. Maestro, you are an amazing, amazing man, and I hold you in highest regard. I give you this review because I have this respect for you, and I would like to request this; Would you like to collaborate on a classical piano solo with me? Maybe something for the MAC8 Sorrowed Tears theme? I look at the calendar and see that there isn't a lot of time, and I look at my work roster, and there isn't a lot of time, but if you're interested, I will make time.

Full length review, just for you Maestro, just for you.

[I am Jungleman]

I am Jungleman

Swinging from vine to vine, eating bats for breakfast and sleeping on the forest floor.

I think this song is great. You've got a great atmosphere, SBB. Drums: Good. That riff: Sexy. The Song: Thumbs up. Great work, Mr SBB's Alt.
gtg jungle is calling me.

SantaBro responds:

Eating BATS for breakfast?

Now that's fucking METAL.

Awesome.

[Beach Melo Remake 2008]

Awesome

Congratulations on passing 100 fans. I'll add one more to the tally. ;D
Overall, this song is pretty awesome. The quality of production is pretty high, and your transitions are smooth. The intro was quirky, and I really like the synth used there, I would have loved it to break out into a really high energy beat, but it sounded a bit hollow, maybe putting in a counter melody that uses more sustained notes? Otherwise, top notch, I was really into the beat, the tune was pretty catchy, you've done a great job.
Keep it up man!

FlamingFirebolt responds:

That makes 103 i suspose :D Awesome!
While i was producing this song, i really had a hard time doing those transitions. But in the end, i mixed all transitions together to get that breakdown. And im happy with it :). The intro is quirky ( i love that word ) because i used some weird acid-3o3'ish sound. I should have lowered the volume and eqed it a bit more... I should have eqed this would song a bit more.. ah well.. maybe some other time.
About the melody. Yeah i really didn't know how to make this one sound right. So i started with just placing the melody-line on the kick.. And it kinda stayed there for the rest of the song. Every effort of trying to make it in a 'real' melody, failed miserably! I tried alot of things to keep the chorus intresting but all failed...
well thanks you liked it :)

-firebolt-

[Paradise on E (Karco Remix)]

Holy Shiznit!

An original cover. Nice ambient feel to the song. This song is looong, man, it's loooooooong. Congrats on being so dedicated as to go all the way through with it.
The clashing of the bright happy tune and the sad slow synths in the background worked surprisingly well, it sounded like it shouldn't have worked, but somehow, it did. 5 minutes in and still going strong. It's kind of upbeat, but not rushed, the melody really sinks in. It's quite diverse, changing synths and patterns quite often, the minutes tick by and it's still interesting.
Ok, just finished. Man, great work. Loved it. Gets my 5, 10, fav, download.
Well done.

Would you mind taking a listen to my latest submission?
Keep up the excellent stuff!

Karco responds:

Yep, it's long, I've always wanted to make a song that long too. :D Thanks.

Thanks for the review and all the praise, high ratings, etc. :P

I've actually already listened to it, but I suppose I can go back and tell you what I think this time. :O

[I'm Falling (commission)]

Agree with RyeGuyHead

Very much a radio rock song.
The scream felt out of place imo, but the rest was of mostly a high quality.
Excellent song, nothing less than a 10.
Great work. Nice lyrics too.
:D

[Happy Fun Time Menu Loop]

Happy Fun Time Joy!

For its purpose, I think it's a nice song. The instruments used were good, however I would have loved to have heard that lead hold onto a couple of long notes. Not much, just a couple, to break from all the short static sounds and tie it all together. But that's just a minor thing. Loops well, quality is good, and most important of all, it's fun! =3

Nice work.

nal1200 responds:

lol thanks

[Symphony of the Damned]

Woah

The quality and composition of this track is awesome. It's a huge wall of sound, and the blend of orchestra and DnB isn't too strong, I would have loved a thick reese bass featured prominently in there, but the drums were spot on that in the end, I didn't care, it was that good.

Great work.

Genjo responds:

:D

thankyeeverymuchdude!!!

yeh my friend is giving me the VST for dirty DnB Basslines, so fingers crossed ill have some savage beats up soon :D

thanks for the review, appreciated muchly