JoshuaHughes's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[<New idea>]

Keep at it, man. Sounds like you have a good jam going on there. I know how much it sucks to want to make something and not have anything inspiring come to mind.

pitchblak responds:

thanks man..

[SSJ3 - Team Plasma]

Haven't played Pokemon since, like, Ruby and Sapphire, but from what I can recall, this definitely something I would expect to hear when fighting the Elite Four or whoever your adversaries are nowadays. Never played Black or White nor do I know if the original track is as DnB oriented as you have made this, but I really like what I hear.

Chopped hats are always my favorite in a DnB track. Also, you kept it both intense and smooth at the same time, which looking back is actually a pretty common theme in Pokemon games now that I think about it. Can't get any more polarizing than that, and here you are making them both work. Great job on this one, dude.

Shiverwar responds:

Thank you for your review. I really think you should give the later Pokemon games a shot. I mean, I really like them, aside from Pokemon X and Y, which I have yet to play, but give them a shot whenever you can. That said, this isn't my usual style of music, and knowing that I impressed someone who likes DnB is pretty flattering to say the least. Thank you for your review!

[Garage Blues]

So refreshing to hear some picking on here. A good ol' fashion jam indeed. I may be a little biased because I spent most of my life around the Nashville area lol. What axe you got, man? The twang is killer.

RaceTTar responds:

Appreciate the review. fender strat. Seymour Duncan hum, which may be contributing to the twang some.

[House thang]

Yeah, I'm not really understanding the out of tune deal. It's just not conveying anything to me that would warrant its existence. Don't get me wrong, dissonance can be great to pull off an eerie or tense feeling, but there just doesn't seem to be a reason for it in a house track in this setting.

[Idle Starlight]

It's great! I'm hearing a lot more variation every few measures in this one. That's good, because things can get repetitive pretty fast in hip hop regarding the beat. Still on those half-working earphones? Keep looking into EQing. It's probably the best all-around thing you can do to improve a sound. Felt the claps could've used some more tinkering to get into the dark mood, but overall I would say your stuff is only getting better.

[-Silence-]

It's a nice track. I really like the arpeggios in the mix. They really add that flare that a lot of tracks just lack, and I'm always a sucker for them. Wasn't really a fan of the drums. They seemed pretty weak relative to everything else that was going on around them. Great job with panning some of the instruments to one side throughout the piece, though. I can always dig that.

The drop itself was good, but a little strange to the buildup you had preceding it. It just sounded like a really good idea was never really taken out of its rough draft, if that makes any sense. I suppose it's just because the drop itself sounds like a lot of it was composed of basic oscillators, but that's just how I feel about it.

ktgen responds:

Thanks for this extremely helpful bit of feedback. for the drums i lack expertise in and was wondering if the weakness you were referring to was composition wise or more technical (samples, equalization, etc.) if you pm me back that would be much appreciated.

[Lucky Day]

It very cheerful, that's for sure. The melody sure is nice and optimistic. The chords at 1:07 weren't for me. Did you really play that part? The note consistency is uncanny. I would have almost thought you used a vst lol. I didn't really feel for the string drawing near the end. It just felt a little unnecessary sinc up until that point, the entire piece was exclusively piano. I still enjoyed it, though. What piano do you have? I really like bright-sounding pianos.

EctiBot responds:

Thx for the review :D
I played this on my midi-keyboard and recorded it directly into the TruePiano vst plugin. Thats why it sounds vst-like.

The feedback really helps. I might try playing on a real piano and record it instead actually

[Watching The World Wash Away]

You have no idea how great it feels to finish a long day of volunteering and typing up papers to kick back and hear an ambient track done right in the portal. I gotta thank you for that one. Also, I am again reminded of how much better analogue is. What instrument am I hearing that's being played on the low-mids? I must know!

Rain bombs, huh? I thought it was thunder lol. You live in the freakin Amazon or something?

Fubaka responds:

The 'instrument' that you hear playing the main melody is derived from a recording of me whistling in the mountains, both the low and high melodies are the same recording. If you want it, I can send it to you.

As for the Rain Bombs, that is simply the result of just the right amount of volume amplification and reverb done on a normal rain recording. If I could go to the Amazon to record, mind you, I would.

Thanks for your review!

[Cold Wet Rag]

I don't want you to feel like we're here to shit on your work. Most tracks that I am unsure of get multiple listens, which is the case with this one, because I've got to be a little blunt while not coming off as an asshole. And for the record, it doesn't sound completely unbearable.

What Gravey said is for the most part correct. It's a very haphazard and chaotic track that is very unpredictable compared to most conventional pieces. I saw that you mentioned that it's somewhat based on Igor's Piano Rag piece. Let me first say that Igor's style isn't my cup of tea, but I can appreciate his talent and will acknowledge that his music sounds great to a lot of people.

The main reason why Piano Rag works and yours isn't is because his pieces are all composed on one instrument: the piano. It's considered to be one of the most versatile instruments ever, and the score is usually played on that instrument only. What you have is two synths and a sampled drum set. Think of it as three people playing three different variations of Piano Rag at the same time. It probably wouldn't sound the greatest to the audience.

Another thing that I need to mention is velocity, velocity, velocity. I would have probably picked up on the freelance style if there was some sort of depth to the track. The synths seem to be playing at a constant volume. There aren't any soft keys to give the piece any brief moment of quieter play. It's all very much bang bang bang. You know what I'm saying?

But if you like it, then ignore everything I've said and keep doing your thing. At the end of the day, it's your work. Have a good one.

cheezz responds:

Don't feel bad, I'm honored to have your feedback, your criticism was constructive and has given me some stuff to think about. Thanks man.