Pure-Metal-UTA's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[-Above It All-(Feat. BMI)]

Fucking great! I couldn't say anything to help improve it. Awesome work!

Back-From-Purgatory responds:

Thanks!
\m/

[Demo Tape]

I really dig it! The only critisism I have to offer is that your vocals are standing out way too much. If you haven`t already put a compressor on there, and maybe turn it down by 1-2 dB.
Can`t wait to hear the final take!
\m/

Blackowtt responds:

Thanks for the review, helpful critisism is always accepted :) yeah, i do agree, i will in fact put a compressor ive been wanting to. Yeah the mixing of it all was a bit harsh, but i think ill be able to fix it :) Working hard on the final product, it will be nothing short of absolutly AMAZING, i promise!
As for the compressors, what do you recommend? Anything?
ALSO i have TWO versions of this demo, the other one soundsa bit better with the vox, its not as "emphasized" as this one, which is better suppose :P

Thanks! \m/

[Satan Ist Krieg]

Haven't heard 80's-90's black

At least not like the quality you mentioned (if I even have before)
Honestly though, I see potential in this song, I'd like to see this longer and with better production.

seel responds:

Thanks, yeah the production was intentionally bad, I was actually going to remake it with better quality and make it longer but never got around to doing that.
If you want to hear some 80s black, youtube Immortal blashyrkh, and call of the wintermoon, silly gaylords ensued. Contrary to popular belief it's actually harder than one might think to get down to their level of shitty production without it just sounding like noise though.

[SpK*) - Busy Tone]

Great effect!

Since it's not your fault your competitor dropped out I'm still taking the time to review this song.
Composition: I have to say throughout the entire first half of the song the progression really stands out over everything. It's simple, but something about it really seems to make it stand out. It isn't the progression that gives it the dark atmosphere, it's everything else, the reverb you have on the instruments at the first half just really sets the tone. The percussion even though it would seem that it would be something in DnB just gives it a darkish effect that I really can't explain further, especially near the end of the song. Overall this is a dark song and I would not want to hear this as a busy tone, that would creep me right the fuck out.

Mastering/Instrumentation: All I can say is that if you picked different instruments or mastered it differently, it wouldn't have the same effect on the song, so good work!

[[dj-Jo] Histrionic Legend]

One part bothered me, but it was still good!

Composition: The piano at the beginning is very nice, good melody you have going on there, then all of a sudden it built up into something of crazy awesome proportions. Sounds like you kept the same melody in that part as at the beginning. The parts after 1:30 the composition was fairly well done, despite the downsides to it (see below), then you hit the dubstep part, here I could tell that there was wobble in there, but I think that since you set that to a higher octave than the normal dubstep wobble pitch, it was kinda hard to tell it was there. Yeah there's not a single thing I can pinpoint that's out of place for the composition, well done!

Instrumentation: Can't complain, everything complemented everything else just fine... Up until the one part from 1:30 - 2:30 where the main seems kinda compressed and unsuiting for the part. Other than that, it's just really good.

Mastering: For a while during the first part, everything remained consistant, then around 1:52 it blared up, something about it just seemed very loud compared to the part before and past the 2:30 mark where you went dubstep style. Past that, it's fiarly consistant and suiting, just that one part that seems off from the rest.

Good work!

[[Fiji] Hold One Last Breath]

It's good, but pretty normal.

This is very trancy indeed, and progressive too, just as you were going for. It's pretty hard to go anything beyond that or complain about anything, to me it's just a normal trance song. Not to say that it's not good, just normal. It's still enjoyable though and it's songs like this that make me enjoy judging this competition more and more, so I'll give you that.

Since I can't really complain I'll give you a fair 8/10, everything's alright to me, good work!

MrFijiWiji responds:

thanks :)

[~Alfa~ Broken Flow]

This is astoundingly awesome!

I have to say, this is a difficult song to put into a structured "Composition, Instrumentation, Mastering" review, since each part complements eachother so much, that I tried to start instrumentation and I was goin onto to how a awesome a certain part was composed. So I have to scratch that entirely for this song. So I'll state certain parts that come to mind as I heard this.
At the beginning I read your comment saying how you used over 20 instruments, at first I was concerned how you would jam pack them all into one only to find that trying to hear them all wasn't the issue, it was counting them all. Because of that I just said screw counting every single instrument you put in there and just went with the flow. I can tell that this is a very trancy song, and there's alot of different progressions and there's a pretty long pause there - by pause I mean the part with no percussions and the part that's supposed to trance out. At this part I really like the piano and it's uniqueness. While surely there's songs with pianos that do that, I believe that this is the first I heard.

You say there's minimal mastering involved, but if that's the case then why is everything so hearable, I mean I've heard songs where everything is hearable, but it seems to me that this takes it to a new level!

You put alot of time into this, and it really shows! I don't know if I can favor songs since I'm a judge for the NGADM, but if I can this is certainly going on the list, superb!

aliaspharow responds:

Wow thanks man! I'm honored.

[White TIger Shark]

Holy shit, this is good!

Throughout the entire competition I've been waiting to actually review one of your songs considering my preffered genre. Can't be biased though so I'm going with the same review structure that I give everyone else now. Before that I will note that while your opponent did a completely different genre, there are many similarities such as the past 2 minute song, the multiple parts, and a very awesome solo-ish part. I will also note that this brings some nostalgia back in me from when I listened to thrash metal alot.

Composition: One thing that sets you apart from your competitor aside from the genre is how you change the progressions, each progression that you used... I can't say too much about the progressions, they're just extremely suiting and I really really like them. The melodies in the each part are great as well, the two melodies that stand out the most is the one at the beginning and the very fast solo at 1:20, the solos shows that you have skill with the guitar, and I really appreciate that as a guitar player myself.

Instrumentation: Given the genre, there's not much to say about the instrumentation, it's pretty basic compared to the electronic genres. There's more than meets the ear though, not all distortions are the same. The distortion used for the guitars sounds very thrashy and that's why it gives me nostalgia when I listen to it. One thing about the drums, if BMI's correct and you're using FL, then I have to say, they sound pretty bland, not the drumbeats themselves, but the drums if you know what I mean. I would talk with him and get some samples, they could come very useful later in the competition if you make it that far.

Mastering: with my knowledge of Metal, this is mastered quite well, one little nitpick I have is the lead guitars a just a tad bit quiet for my liking, they're not underpowered or anything, it's just it seems like they need to stand out alot more than they are.

Great work!

HighBallers responds:

ha, sweet thanks a bunch man. Yep, BMI hooked me up with a badass kit.

Appreciate the comment, its nice to read how somebody can listen to a song very deeply.

I had all my guitar tracks tuned to the same volume level to give it that live performance feel. ha, but maybe i should cranked up my solo a lil more.

[Some Cheesy Trance Thingy]

Wow, not the best but wow.

Composition: HOLY SHIT SO MANY DIFFERENT PARTS!!!! While you maintain the same progression throughout the entire song, there's so much changed after every 8 bars that it's hard to tell that you keep the same progressions at all, that I give you props for, great work. The melodies in every part are great! One complaint I have with the composition is the extremely sudden ending, there are the few times when the song repeats that it sounds like a loop, but it could just be the NG player screwing up the looping effect.

Instrumentation: While you maintain the same instruments for the progressions, it's the melodies with each transition that keep me interested, especially during that fourth part with that cool sound and the fast arpeggio-style notes, that was absolutely great. Nothing's wrong with the progression's instruments either though, it's just the melodies that really draw me to this song.

Mastering: I can't exactly pinpoint it, but something seems wrong with the mastering. At this point I've listened to the song a good 6 times and something with the mastering still seems off.

Great work! This is a great song IMO.

mr-jazzman responds:

Hey, thanks for the review Pure-Metal-UTA! Yeah, I can tell you exactly what's wrong with the mastering. It has too much bass because of the way I've got the compression on the master...or it might even be a lack of it. I'm not entirely sure which yet, I haven't listened to it in my brother's car, as I usually do to see where I'm off lol. Honestly, it was experimental, so if it didn't work, I don't really care lol.

Glad you liked it though man! =D

[xKore - Eden]

Excellent for dubstep!

Instrumentation: At the beginning of the song I was thinking "my friends show me so much youtube dubstep I'm not used to hearing dubstep without wobble bass" But then the main part happened and I said "oh there it is!" Glad you put it in there, I feel it's pretty essential for dubstep. Of course with dubstep the bass and the percussions are pretty much the only thing there (note pretty much, not entirely) The non-bass instruments are extremely suiting for this song, so I can't say too much more in this part.

Composition: The beginning was really well put together, but just MAYBE adding some of that wobble bass into the intro would be pretty sweet. After the intro, I extremely enjoy the bass, it's certainly unlike most dubstep on youtube where it's just a simple wobble. The strings throughout the entire song are... soothing. If you only played the strings it would be extremely relaxing, but since it's in a dubstep song it adds epicness to it. The closing is really well put together and when the song repeats it just flows right back into the beginning, almost like a really long loop.

Mastering: You've put the basic essentials with the mastering, Bjra says that there's no range, and he's probably right, but to me as long as the bass is in the front and everything else is hearable it's absolutely fine.... (I could also be wearing some mediocre quality headphones, which makes sense since I paid $45 for these)

I'm going to add this to my faves so I can show my friends what real dubstep is like.