Sawdust's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Stargenx - Under the Razor]

Tense

I liked this track overall, it really conveyed the feeling of tension and suspense really well. I could easily see this in a video game, used in the same context as this piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZC16w Th3jM

Good work, it sounds very professional.

Stargenx responds:

Thanks for the review! I've never played that game before.

[-:HaloTopic:- a Bit Retro]

Great work

I love it, the synths sound really tasty :] and the rest of the instruments really contribute to the sound. I dig the drums you used here, but maybe you could use a bit more mids on them? I don't know, that's just my preference. Anyway yeah, everything here is great, the bassline, the melodies, the synths, the drums, everything. It's just a shame that it's so short though. Oh well. Good job, though!

Halotopic responds:

Yes we all have our preferences ; )

I´m afraid the shortness has to do with no inspiration. This song goes in a completely different style than i usually do and write in. The inspiration loss might have to do with that. Who knows =)

Thank you for your review!

[Chalk up Another]

Beat can get clumsy

I kind of see what you're trying to do with all this sampling and putting drums over stuff, and yeah it's a noble pursuit I guess, if done right, but I don't like how this was done, honestly. For starters, it sounds too bare. Sure, you've got the sample in there, but don't rely too much on the sample. This needs a bass, and other melodies to go with it. I'm sure you know how to do that, but you're just experimenting/comfortable with using samples to make songs. So maybe next time, write your own melodies to go with the sample of your choosing?

Another thing that bugged me about this is how it kind of went nowhere. Like the beat clumsily went along with the sample for the majority of the song, and nothing really happened. So probably next time organize your song like with verses and choruses, with verses representing the quiet more melodic parts and choruses representing the parts everything explodes. I don't know.

Anyway yeah, you could use some work making this kind of music. Or perhaps a rapper. Maybe next time collaborate with a rapper, it'd sound much much better. Even Nujabes got people to rap over his beats, even if they were like classical pieces in terms of complexity and stuff. Yeah.

JackRocker responds:

Wow. I never expected such an in-depth review. You're right, I do rely way to much on the sample. I'm practicing a lot though, trying to get to the point where I can chop them up better and make the sample my own, rather than just sounding copy/pasted.

As for not going anywhere, you're right about that as well. That's another area I need a lot of practice in. I'm working on that too.

I definitely need more practice with this kind of music, although it would be pretty cool to have a rapper on this. I don't know if that will ever happen, but I may send some PMs. We'll see.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the good review. I think this may be the best advice I've ever gotten on one of my tracks.

[The Guilty]

Clean vocals ruin it

I dislike heavier kinds of metal, but in some occasions, but when the song is REALLY good, and when it all works to create a sonic representation of anger or something, that's when I can enjoy the song. Sadly, this song does not capture that.
Don't take this review personally, though.

First, I hate the mixing. I produce a lot of music, but I'm still a novice at mixing myself, but even I know that with the right mixing, you can greatly improve a song. I dislike the mixing on this because the guitar really shits all over everything, you could've put a compressor on it and lowered the bass a bit to bring the bass guitar, drums and vocals out.

However, I don't like the music either. The strings alone would've made a much better piece in my opinion, it could pass off as an ambient piece, that's how bad I find this song to be. The riff is probably the only effective thing you've recorded for this song, not counting the rhythm section since it's impossible to fuck those up. Your guitar work on this song was good, except for the solo, that shit was fucking awful. No offense, but I don't know what you were trying to do with the solo, the strings gave me the impression that you were trying to create an epic atmosphere, but the solo sounded extremely amateurish and made the song worse. Sorry. Try something on the pentatonic next time, or even do some tapping for all I care. The growling vocals are alright, but once you go clean the song gets destroyed, you come off as one of those nerds that are the reason why very few people respect metal and why it is not mainstream. No offense.

As for the lyrics, they're so cliched I'm not going to start. It's not a story, it's not quote worthy, and it doesn't add to the song at all. The voice acting was probably the best part of the song simply because the guy sounded like Solid Snake, and Solid Snake performing at a concert would be awesome. Shame though you didn't mix that properly, I kind of made out some clipping towards the end.

All in all, a mediocre song that could only be improved by replacing everything, thus making an entirely new song in the process. Sorry.

Pure-Metal-UTA responds:

Harsh but great
I like the composition of it myself, but i felt the mixing was off and the solo was improvised which didn't help.
I agree completely that the clean vocals suck, that's something I'm working on to improve. And I like the lyrics.
Thanks for the review.

[Spacewalk (FL Core)]

Massive!

I'm the type of guy who like, only uses presets and basic FL vsts and such, which I think contributes to a overly simplistic sound, but then you come along and make this HUGE track piled with walls of pads and synths. I really like what you did here, especially with the reverb, that basically made everything sound bigger than possible.

Amazing song! It would've been better though if you just sliced a packaged drumloop and made that the drumkit here :P

Step responds:

Hehe, thanks man! I'm pretty surprised it turned out like this, I thought with FL sounds I'd have to be limited to making some cheesy generic trance, although I suppose FL Keys served me well (to some extent xD) in this song ^^. I'm not that good when it comes to reverb but I'm glad you like it :P.

Yeah, the drums xP. I layered every kick in FL Studio and still got a kick which sounds like crap. Oh well, maybe I should have done that, but it's too late now, the competition's deadline passed 4 days ago. On the 22nd I'll get the results :).

Thanks for the great review!

[War Lament]

A bit weak

Now, for starters, I love the soundscape you painted here, like very moody, atmospheric, warm and lonely. The lament isn't as perfectly expressed as I'd like it to be, but it conveys the concept of one fair enough. The looming strings on the lower end attempting to substitute a bass instrument, the flutes on the higher end carrying the song and creating a melody screaming out a message of sadness and loneliness, coupled by what is apparently a choir, which further permeates the lamentation in this song. Great instruments used as is and the mixing done was great.

However, the song does have its faults. One of them being how it felt a bit "hollow". For starters, I didn't hear a good kick or a definitive bassline. You probably did that intentionally and my earplugs are probably not picking up the full force of the bass you had, but still, I didn't get a lot of bass. Plus this song was so hollow, you had perfect room for another melody, and if it were a bass melody, this song would have been so much better. Flute playing the role of being lost and lamentation, while the bass echoes happiness in the lower register, something like that.

Anywho, good song, you got the concept done nicely and the melodies and harmony was superb, just a bit weak, mundane and generally didn't traverse the soundscape you had set out to make well enough. Could've used more dynamics, if you ask me. And you are, how hilarious :P

I like it.

4/5 8/10

-Sawdust RRC

popraz responds:

Thank you ! Very helpful, since I intend on revisiting some of these ideas, so I needed all the feedback I could get. Again, thank you, I really appreciate it.

[Etude #5 - Moonlight]

Perfect!

Wow, what a great tune this is. From the melody to the performance to the recording and mixing and all those other details, this is quite the piece. Images of castles and all that Oblivion type imagery go well with this song, in fact this could probably do a really good job of serving as background music for a fantasy-type RPG.

As mentioned, the performance is great. I love clean and well sounded the playing is, how there wasn't any of that string buzz crap going on and how it generally worked the whole time. Like how the bass notes never interfered with the main melody and were played in perfect time and sync, I loved that.

And I also love how it didn't sound too muddy or sharp and how there was ambience present in the overall song, and how the sounds you make when you slide down the neck got in there. Makes a great feel overall.

Anyway, t'was a good song, 5/5 10/10

-Sawdust RRC

Darkmaster603 responds:

Thank you! I'm glad you liked my song! One thing I like to keep in mind with my pieces is that the classical guitar can do things other instruments cant, such as sliding. I also saw a castle, but I thought it was just me. Now that three people see one I don't feel so weird lol.

The original title was something along the lines of "Moonlite Castle", but I changed it to "Moonlight".

Thanks for the review and kind words, I appreciate it!