JoshuaHughes's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sol Soberstein]

Any meaning behind the title? All I know is is that Sol is Latin for Sun. By the way, neat solo. I'm thinking of early Gran Turismo on this one, and dat snare is so full of ghost notes, I could call it Paul Walker. BOOOOMM!!!

OcularNebula responds:

the title is relatively meaningless, I was just going for an alliterated fictional name

for the percussion pattern, I just spliced a couple of sample loops together, got some cool snare hits in there, I guess

most of your other references are sorta lost on me, like ghost notes and Paul Walker? cuz... cuz he's dead? ...like a ghost? topical, lol

[Magazines]

This is definitely a quality mix. Very reminiscent of the old synthpop. My only gripe isn't that it's so barebones regarding the instruments, but that all these instruments adding on throughout the choruses seem to make it sound like there's no relief. But that's just me. I have no idea why this is scored a 2 right now. Did you piss somebody off?

headphoamz responds:

Thanks so much! And yeah, I dunno. Maybe. I'm just proud of the mix on this one!

[Blind Eyes & Muted Minds]

A word of advice from someone who hardly knows anything about vocal work: don't hold back, man. That's all I got.

Spoonukem responds:

Fair enough.

[Funky Funk Funk]

This honestly sounds more like classic rock than funk. When i think of funk, I think of electric pianos, twangy basses, electric guitars that use 7th, 9th, and 11th chords and sometimes are accompanied with wah. They may have a little distortion, but not nearly as much as this piece does.

The only thing I can say you kind of got right were the drums, but they are a little too loose to be instantly picked up as a funk beat. Hats and snares are normally a lot shorter than what you've got going on here.

Keep trying, man. I can't say this is that bad of a piece, because it's not, but if you really want to label your work as "funk," you should seriously reconsider your sound.

SonicWombat responds:

Thanks dude. Good thoughts, and I pretty decently agree with you.

[Penumbra's Fate]

Good loop! This may be personal taste, but I would have cut the mid-range down a tad in production to make it sound less muddy. Yeah, I can hear the click in the beginning, but it wasn't intended to be a loop in the first place, so whatevs. What kind of piano do you use?

AshleyAlyse responds:

Thanks! :) I can't remember, since I made it a couple years ago, but I do remember I used one of the pianos from "Reason Pianos" in Reason 5.0. :) I think it was a producer style Yamaha with jazz mics and a bunch of reverb, but can't be sure. You're right on that note, I wish I had done a few things differently and you can definitely hear a click in the beginning... which is odd because when the file is played on iTunes on repeat, you cannot hear any click. Try downloading it and listening to it on iTunes to listen to it without the click. :o

[Von Neumann]

I can definitely rock out to this. It's certainly a lot more aggressive than most of your other works that I listened to, but I wouldn't really call it "in your face." I usually hate the distorted bass you have going on in most of your pieces, but it's so appropriate in this one, I can't knock it that much. It still sounds like it could have been cleaned up a little more, though.

OcularNebula responds:

certainly could have been

I'm not actually sure if this piece is any good, it seems like there are many sound compatibility issues

I wonder which other pieces you think have too much of a distorted bass? if you were to drop a quick message in my inbox about that, it'd be super swell, but anyway, thanks for the review!

[Sakura Jinkai (Complete)]

Dude, I can rock to this all night. Especially those panned drum fills. Oh, lawdy.

Listened to your earlier version. It's definitely a lot more full now. You've made something already awesome even better. Definitely favoriting this.

deliverance84 responds:

Thanks a lot man! :)

[Waterslide]

I know the guitar/brass is supposed to be the lead, but it still seems to drown out all the other instruments that are playing a bit. Maybe try some more EQ? Liked the part at 2:36. It gave it a little flavor at the end.

If this were playing at a waterpark, it would have to be a pretty badass waterpark.

[Theme battle 2]

1:20 you fucking nailed it. This reminds me of some of the music I heard on NG back in like, 2003 lol. It sounds great, man.

[Sines of Respect]

Hey, don't talk shit about sines. X-Files theme, bro. You gotta show your respect to all of the basic waves. Great mix, though.

OcularNebula responds:

you're right, I was a bit too quick to slander the sines

after all, they are basically the building blocks of all waveforms, isn't that right? (someone please for the love of GOD correct me if I'm wrong)