Pure-Metal-UTA's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[SR - I Forgot in You]

Calming, with it's harder spots.

Like most ambient songs, it's very relaxing. The delay in the drums is a nice touch to add, and the beat itself if relatively simple. The clean guitar has a night melody to it, but I feel like it kind of clashes progressions you use. The second time you use that melody, it blends in much better. The progressions are soothing... The arpeggios used mix in quite nicely with the backround ambience. Near the end, the change in drum beat really threw me off, but it changed back which was kind of nice. The part that has the standalone piano-type sound has a weird fuzz to it, it made me think my Interface was screwing up.

The instruments went well together, you way you used the effects were quite well used. Although I'm a person that likes to hear more guitar if there is one, and I found that it was hard to hear the guitar in the later parts. But then again, everyone EQs differently. It's just a preffered style for me. Either way it still blends well with the song, and still succeeds in giving a nice calming effect in the song.

[SN | Music is an Expression]

Good melodies and trippy effect...

But the lack of percussion drives me away.

I see what you did there at the beginning! Anyways, this is a pretty interesting intro/buildup, takes awhile, but I like how you add enough every little bit to keep me interested... Then it goes to the expression message, which is actually quite interesting. The part following, good melody, but bring it into something more faster. Once that's done, add more drums! The single beats seem to deter me from this, because I feel percussion is a big need in any song. Ignoring the lack of percussion, the melodies in the part are still good, and have a bit of a trippy effect to them.

Those drums/percussions are needed though. I agree that music is an expression, but there's so many ways to express it! This is one of them, but there's so much more that could be done to enhance the expressionalism in this!

SessileNomad responds:

thanks for the review

i agree with everything you say, hardstyle is not my forte though :/

[[Fiji] Subconscious]

Good groove at some parts,

Good groove at some parts, but some of the note structures bother me.

I have to say, the beginning I found was very slow moving and repetitive (just read the commentary so the repetitiveness is forgiven), once it hits 1:15 it starts to get on a better buildup.

As it starts to get into it, I find that it's easy to get into a groove, the levels seem right, everything is hearable. The melody at 1:30 - 2:13 works nice, but although there's a noticeable buildup to the next part, there wasn't much for it to build up to. Trying to go past the repetitiveness of the following part, the ah's you use are pretty neat, and it works out pretty well with the piano. After that it's easy to get into a groove again. For the piano during this part, I would add just a bit more to the melody, and it could turn out to work pretty well. When it gets to the last minute of the song, I see that you use the melody from the first part, for this, you use same note setup, which I feel that it fits with the song, but those last notes don't move on to anything. For that, make those notes build up to a good conclusion.

Can't say too much about the levels, they seem pretty alright!

MrFijiWiji responds:

this is a very fair review :) thnx

[Ngadm [Echo City]]

Fast paced, but hard to hear the progressions

Seeing as how the song is, I feel it might be hard to review this. I personally feel that the drums are pretty much overpowering the rest of the instruments.
The rest of the instruments are underpowered by the drums, so it makes the progressions hard to hear and I don't hear much melody.
Man I'm finding it hard to review this. It's very fast paced, and I just hear alot of chaos. Sounds like something that you'd hear from an F-Zero game.
So I'll say this: With my knowledge, I would turn down the drums, and turn up the rhythm progressions. Other than that, for me, it's a song that's hard to distinct what it is.
But that's just with my knowledge, which has no experience in DnB.

SteakJohnson responds:

This was, unfortunately all i could pull off in my less than 6 hour total window to work on music (broken up into like 3 different sessions)... with my crappy skullcandy headphones. I know its not good lol, i can hear that much. Thanks for the review though.

[xKore - Last Chance (ADM)]

Short but sweet

What is with overpowering bass in alot of these songs I hear? I'm certainly not used to it with metal. The bass does have a punch effect in
it, which I guess is considered a good thing with these genres. The beginning is nice and calm, and it builds up nice into the main part of
the song. The main part of the song is actually extremely enjoyable, I like the melody in the song alot... but
it does seem too quiet. The progressions in the rythm are also very good, and have a nice effect on the song. When it gets near the end, I feel
that more could be added onto it, I can just hear a good addition to be made. Even though this is your final entry, I'd try and add on and see
what you can accomplish with this song.

Aside from the overpowered bass, which has a good effect with this song, the melody is pretty quiet. But the synths you chose are good and don't have
a conflicting effect on it.

[NGADM Round 1 {Dj-Abbic}]

Good beginning, but gets repetitive

At the begginning, I really like the effects you used to make it seem to bounce from headphone to headphone. The progression has a sad-ish feeling to it, but it's also calming. The melody in the first part starts to put in a kind of happier tone in the sadness of it. At the part where the melody kicks in, I start to notice a buildup effect that doesn't lead into something to make the buildup worth it. Then again, it's not as much of a buildup effect as the part after has. As it gets into the main part of the song, The structure you put sounds believe it or not, heavy. Being the kind of person I am, I really like the heavy effect. However I do feel that it drags on for awhile before the melody kicks in. But when it does, it's already close to the end of the song. The melody at this part is pretty quiet at the start, but I see the effect you put in there. I like the effect the melody gives in the song near the end. But in the end, I would have liked to see more melody in there.

Can't really say much regarding the mastering, it does seem good for the genre you chose for this song. The instruments you picked Also fit quite well. So there's not much to say regarding this part.

DjAbbic responds:

Sorry for the late reply, but my internet's been a *beeep*.

I can't really write a long reply as I feel kind of lazy at the moment, but I have read your review :) Thanks for the criticism and input.

[[CG] - Uprising]

Good, but mastering issues are present.

Perhaps you put a longer attack time on the string synths at the beginning, but it certainly seems to me that the bass drum at the beginning overpowers the rest of the instruments. The rest of the song is definatley nothing I've ever heard from dubstep on youtube. The progessions you use on the rhythm is good, and it fits the title very well.

The piano during the main part I can tell is the melody, and it's a good melody, but it's too quiet, and the rest of the instruments are overpowering it, especially the drums closer to the end.

KroweMusic responds:

Yeah, I tend to have trouble with mastering. It really subtracts from the overall fell of my music, which reallllllllllly sucks.

I try to move away from the norm of genres and make my own style, which is why this doesn't sound like typical dubstep. This song is more like a classical-trance-dubstep hybrid.

Also, I'll agree that the piano needs to be brought out more.

Thanks for reviewing!

[.:Time To Let Go:.]

Very relaxing,

Very relaxing, but some slight adjustments to the instruments might make it better.

This is extremely relaxing, this would be something that I could sleep to at night. The arpeggios you use at the beggining and the end parts, are nice, but they do get a slight bit repetitive. Although you do switch it up just before it gets overly repetitive. The melody is very nice, it's very calming, but it can also seem to be very sad. Having the drums the way they do in the backround has a good effect in the way you're probably trying to accomplish, and the parts where the drums are loud are good. But I do feel that the drums should have more places where they are louder. But that might mean having to make the song longer too.

When it comes to the instruments, the choices you use for the main rhythm and melody are pretty good. I can't really say much more because I can't think of anything more to say. I would say turn up the drums a bit more at more parts, but that's about it.

GronmonSE responds:

Yeah, I turned up the volume on some parts and lowered it on others to get a particular effect, but I see what you mean.

Thanks for the review, sir!

[Timbre On The Walls]

Pretty random, but it still had its good parts.

To start, I have to say the effect you put on the drums are actually pretty neat. It puts an interesting tone to the rest of the song I'd say. Once you start putting in the rest of the instruments, it starts getting weird. The main melody between 0:31 and 1:12 is pretty random but yet it still seems like it fits into the song, which I found to be pretty neat.The following parts still fit in there pretty well too, although it's a little bit random. The last part, again, was pretty random. Using the drums with the effects as transitions perhaps could have been used less and a different way to transition could have been used.

The instruments went very well together, although you could have maybe turned down the piano just a slight
bit in order to be able to hear the other synths better. But other than that, when all the instruments
are present, it kinda reminds me of something I'd hear if I played Earthbound or Mother 3.

This is my review for the NGADM 2010.

[Jazzy Metal Skater]

...Brutal

Not the good type either. This just didn't work.
Work on your quality, maybe even perhaps your playing, and you'll get somewhere.
Some suggestions: Use Reaper DAW, get a TASCAM USB interface, EZDrummer, Guitar Rig 4 and Voxengo Boogex. That should get you set up.
But seriously, try next time...

DeathMetalGod responds:

Thanks for the review and suggestions.