Sawdust's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[No We Can't]

This is pretty good, man! But there are some points to improvement.

First, you guys need more dynamics. Like, get quiet during the verse, loud in the chorus, blah blah blah... Second, the lead is too repetitive. I mean, I listen to a lot of music like this, but the lack of dynamics and the repetitive nature of the lead guitar add together to make this kind of tiring to listen to. Also, the drums and bass are kind of anemic, and

The performance as a whole though is pretty good, props especially to the singer since he has a nice voice haha. But composition-wise, I think this could still use a bit of fixing especially when it comes to transitioning in between the song parts and whatnot.

Overall, a solid effort, good job guys, looking forward to hear more from you. Do you guys have a soundcloud or something? :D

Mismo responds:

Thanks it is always good with honest feedback since we're still pretty new, and it is better to hear the honest truth rather than have all praising you or just down right say it is bad without pointing out what needs to be fixed and improved.

Also I don't know think we have a soundcloud since I didn't know what it was until now. But if we don't I might see if the other guys thinks it would a good idea to have one.

Again, thanks for the review :)

[Shaping D.C.C.]

The guitar is a bit too trebly, don't you think? I think it needs a bit of adjustment in the EQ department, haha. Make it sound thicker.

Aside from that, well, this is a bit too bare to my liking. It could use more in terms of instrumentation, and probably like you said, vocals. It sounds more like background music and an actual song, to be honest. It doesn't grab your attention, or anything, it just... loops. So yeah that's it. Okay job on this, I suppose.

JohnLorique responds:

kinda like as you said

[Sanctuary]

This is a very very professional and well done piece. The harp melodies remind me of the soundtracks of Radiant Historia and hell, even Phoenix Wright. I think you'd be an excellent composer for video games! This would fit very well in one. Not in a movie though, then it'd be too cheesy. But still, yeah, great GREAT work on this. I hope that you end up actually getting places with your immense musical talents.

By the way, I think it would be a good idea for you to compile all of your best works and release them as an album on either Soundcloud or Bandcamp. I'd be sure to download!

Step responds:

Hey man, thanks a lot for leaving a review!

"This is a very very professional and well done piece."

Oh, two very's not one. Thank you :3.

"The harp melodies remind me of the soundtracks of Radiant Historia and hell, even Phoenix Wright."

Haven't heard of them, but I'll certainly give them a listen when I don't have such a massive workload of maths homework...

"I think you'd be an excellent composer for video games! This would fit very well in one. Not in a movie though, then it'd be too cheesy."

Some people tell me my songs will fit great in films while others say it'll fit great in games. I'm cool with both I guess, haha.

"But still, yeah, great GREAT work on this. I hope that you end up actually getting places with your immense musical talents."

Naw man, I'm a programmer at heart. Also I'm deaf from one ear which severely hampers my musical ability, believe it or not!

Although doing stuff like film scoring and making soundtrack for games has always been a dream of mine. I won't pursue it, but nevertheless I find making soundtrack really cool!

"By the way, I think it would be a good idea for you to compile all of your best works and release them as an album on either Soundcloud or Bandcamp. I'd be sure to download!"

I dunno about that - my best works range from pure orchestral, to rock, to video game, to techno, to pop, etc... having an album with so many different genres isn't very good because the person buying the album would (most likely) only be interested in a handful of similar genres. Although it's a nice idea; maybe when I make more good songs of the same genre I can compile an album, who knows!

Thanks a lot for the support and feedback!

[-A New World-]

magnificent composition and production

i really like how well put together this is. the amount of work put into this just seems intense. the composition is intricate and keeps the listener guessing and entertained. and the dynamics! just superb. this song is a great example of the power of dynamics.

however, what i didn't like was probably the overall mixing and mastering. personally, i didn't enjoy the massive amounts of reverb on the percussion. it kind of added an unneccessary layer of sound to the song in my opinion. whatever. regardless, this is an excellent piece! keep it up

Step responds:

Hey, I appreciate the review, thanks :3.

"i really like how well put together this is. the amount of work put into this just seems intense. the composition is intricate and keeps the listener guessing and entertained. and the dynamics! just superb. this song is a great example of the power of dynamics."

Glad you liked it. I think dynamics and mood changes are definitely important when it comes to writing long songs like this, so yes, dynamics are indeed powerful!

"however, what i didn't like was probably the overall mixing and mastering. personally, i didn't enjoy the massive amounts of reverb on the percussion. it kind of added an unneccessary layer of sound to the song in my opinion. whatever. regardless, this is an excellent piece! keep it up"

Ah, you're not the first to point out the percussion's reverb. The first time someone pointed it out I tried to make the reverb a bit more subtle but I guess I didn't make it subtle enough!

Thanks a LOT for the review.

[Metal Parrot!]

Abysmal lyrics

Personally, I found the lyrics incredible inane and vapid. That's normally not a very bad thing, but they were so awful that the general flow, theme and quality of the song suffered. That's probably just me though, seeing how I really value good lyrics in music.

Lyrics aside, however, the song was actually good. I quite enjoyed its composition and how it shifted from minor to major to the solo section. The solo parts were pretty great and I really envy how clean your sweeps are. I also liked how clear and concrete the guitar tone was. Great guitar work in general on this song. Everything else was played well/sounded good. However, I don't like how crowded the mix feels. The drums don't stick out enough and the only truly legible part is the kick. The snare gets pretty drowned out in the mix. But that doesn't really subtract to the quality of the song, though.

The vocals were actually also delivered really well. One thing I enjoyed a lot about the vocals were how some of the yells seemed to emulate pinch harmonics. That was pretty cool.

All in all, great song, awful lyrics. Great job!

DanJohansen responds:

Thanks man! The lyrics are actually intended to be bad.. so I am glad that didn't slip lmao. It's a spaced out tune about metal parrots and about how the goats aren't good enough for metal. How could that be ''good'' in terms of taking lyrics seriously anyways. Glad you enjoyed it!

[Works in progress by SBB]

Brilliant

I'm gonna list everything that sounds great and would make kickass music if finished.

1) 0:00 Sounds like the intro to a post-rock song. Something in the vein of God Is An Astronaut, perhaps.

2) 0:20 Absolutely beautiful! Those few notes just drew me in immediately. I love the synth sounds there, it sounds quite underwater. :P

3) 0:40 I'm digging the whole jazzy rhythms of this. The harmonics are a great touch!

4) 1:21 Kinda sounds like a loungier version of Harry Gregson Williams' work for the MGS games. Cool shit.

5) 1:45 This is just great!!! Definitely continue this one, it has quite a lot of potential!

6) 2:08 This one actually took me by surprise a bit. The percussions, though different, gave a really nice feel to it. Great.

7) 3:05 Cool shit. Nice guitar work. I like how fat and juicy it is tonally.

After this point, the whole thing pretty much just feels like a suite. Everything is just marvelously crafted and has so much depth in terms of texture and melody. Bravo, dude. I can't wait to see the finished versions.

Buoy responds:

Thanks a lot man! I'm a bit late in responding and stuff, sorry about that.

[[JohnnyCrysis] VeVe's Song]

Where do I start...

First and foremost, please stop relying so hard on samples. You're not Daft Punk, and you're just making the songs worse by adding random effects and lazily put together drum beats. I'm really sorry dude, but this is just grating.

For starters, you didn't actually do anything with the sample except chop it up and add delay. That's just too cheap, man. The result is something so insultingly simple and banal that if I was the original artist I'd be disappointed with what someone did with my piece.

And please, for the love of god, do more things with your samples. Chopping up a sample and adding a drum beat that isn't even properly synced does not constitute a proper release. This needs a bassline and way more melodies. At least try to make the piece interesting next time.

Sorry dude, but this song is just devoid of any melodic or rhythmic interest. Please find a way to use your own musical ideas when arranging pieces together next time, they will sound much, much better.

JackRocker responds:

Sampling is a large part of Old School. I do need to try doing some more original works, but currently I lack the setup to do it properly. Check out my Punk submissions and you'll see what I mean. Also, I'm not sure why you say "lazily put together drum beats." They're not the best, I admit. I'm still improving, like I keep telling people. But I did do my best on them. Maybe I'm just taking this comment the wrong way.

You are right on this. I still need to practice with sample editing. I'm getting better, although this submission doesn't really reflect that at all. However, the song I sampled from was apparently made out of Mixcraft loops, so if the "artist" is too disappointed, he/she has no real reason to be.

Again, I agree. Especially on the part of the bassline. I'm still practicing with making my own basslines. Most of the time the bass is just part of the sample I used(assuming that sample has bass). I'm still practicing with using VSTs, etc. to do it.

No need to apologize. You're right on nearly ever point here. I appreciate you taking the time to review this track. Honestly, if I'd have heard something that I didn't like that well, I'd probably pass it up completely. So thanks for the feedback, anything helps me to improve.

Thanks again!

[MoL- Stuff of Legends]

Guitar ruins it

Well, you're definitely being consistent in your work. As always, it loops perfectly well and delivers the urgent RPG vibe. As always, the strings properly line the piece with emotion and purpose. The percussions and bass are also fine and swell and usual.

The main, and only problem with this piece however, is the guitar sound. It's way too thin and fake sounding. It sounds like monotonous white noise. It needs more mids and bass. The purpose of having a guitar in here is to add a layer of sonic texture, but it gets chewed out by the string ensembles. So either remove the guitar or beef it up. Yeah.

Great piece.

MeteorManMike responds:

The guitar was indeed giving me fits. It doesn't behave like any of my other plugins, guess I just have to study up on it. At least I got the drums right for once :P
Thanks for reviewing! I'll play with the plugin some more before posting with it again.

[<EagleGuard> Last Stand]

Nice tone

If that is an actual guitar I'm hearing, I like the tone. What guitars and amps were used? Other than that, not much to say about this song. Probably the only thing I can criticize is the simplicity and anemia of the lead guitar. The orchestral intro gave me the impression that the next section would be charged with emotion and that the lead guitar would play an incredibly expressive passage filled with bends and harmonics and such. However, what I actually heard was something that would have been better off played by a different string instrument like a violin or something.

Other than that, good song, it's just a tad bit sterile.

EagleGuard responds:

It's not an actual guitar, sorry =p I used the VSTi realLPC combined with Guitar Rig 4 VST.

I like to keep things simple, but I guess I could try to spice up the guitar parts in the future.

Thanks for the review, glad you liked it!

[[dB] Menu Loop]

Needs to loop better

Actually, this could be pretty great as a menu loop, however, it doesn't actually loop :P. You could remedy this by removing the ascending brass instrument that ties the loop together, making the loop just 6 seconds long. Though that would also remove any resemblance this piece has to actual jazz music, but then again, isn't it funny how the one thing that ruined the piece made you decide on its genre?

Anyway, this definitely isn't jazz, and this definitely does not loop well. But if I ignored that whole kick in the balls you called a brass, this would actually be pretty great. And if you added a bass instrument, this would be even better.

Anyway yeah, just improve on those points and this'll make a fine menu loop as you intended it to be.

Decibel responds:

Leave it to me :)