EmperorCharlemagne's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hypno_Shooter [Box-killa]]

Yeah that drumline IS pretty ridiculous.

It just sounds a bit amateur and a little uninteresting to hear an underlying "BUM BUM TSH BUM BUM BUM TSH BUM" throughout the entire piece. Even with random cymbal crashes thrown in. You definitely gotta work on making the percussion dynamic and interesting... NOT copy-and-paste sounding.

I too get a feeling of emptiness when listening to the song... For all the WOOAHH crazy synth sounds whirring past, there is not a whole lot going on. Again, you have to, when making a song, find ways to make it a dynamic breathing thing, not something that is static and flat. This is very hard, as it requires you to balance simplicity with complexity. The best of the best have mastered it. The mediocre touch upon it. The shitty just completely ignore. I'll be the first to admit to not being an expert.

In short, you have a whole bunch of things going on, but it is a static and dead piece. This may anger some ardent listener wanting, for some reason, to race hovercars. And, I could snarkily say that the "5" I was going to give you would be a 5/10, because it is a bit presumptuous to say 'vote 5' when we all know in the AP that that is a rare occurrence at best.

But I give it SLIGHTLY above average, because it is at least on a technical aspect somewhat put together nicely. You just need to work on making the piece come alive.

Box-Killa responds:

Well first of all, thanks for listening to the song. Now to get down to addressing your comments...

- I dont quite understand why you think it is uninteresting, I mean, I can't make it any more interesting then how I find it interesting, and most people seem to find it interesting so I suppose it is just personal taste.

- The drum beat matches the type of tune I wanted to create. There is nothing wrong with having the type of drum beat It has, I think it fits well, but again, personal taste. But yes, I am always looking for ways to improve, in everything.

- I don't quite understand why you feel empty, 180 bpm, piano, lead, bass, drums, I think you just read the retarded revew below and thought, yea ill say what he said.

- To tell the truth, I think your little "breathing" theory, is a load of shit, Don't box yourself in with some wierd ass mindset. I just make songs, and sometimes they sound good, sometimes they dont. Don't over complicate things. I have progressed a lot from when I first started, not because I took into acount "dynamic breathing" or balanced simplicity with complexity, but because I just make what sounds good :D

- In short I think you just cloned the last review, and i am not quite sure why this wouldnt make a nice hover car song.

Finaly, this is a vg song, not trance, not dance. It sounds good to me and to others, so dont go boxing yourself into 1 mindset after reading a retarded review, you will never progress as a musician unless you listen for yourself and see what you LIKE and see what you DONT like. It is not that complicated.

Anyway i dont really know how I could make it become "alive", it is not dance or trance so I am not going to make it sound how you want it to sound. Sorry lol

And it doesn't have a climax because it doesn't need one, it is a video game song. Besides where in the rulebook does it say you need a climax? I climax would ruin the atmosphere of this song. It is not American Idol lol.

PS. I normally dont mind critics but I just felt I needed to challenge what you were saying. PM me if you want to talk more.

Thanks again for the review!

Peaceout:D

[Planture]

Good job!

Very well put-together, and all the action in the different instruments was pretty sweet in my eyes.

I liked the melody, the drums, and pretty much everything in the song. The solo half-way through was pretty damn bitching. This has a good polish of excellence to it.

The more I listen to this song the more I like it, you did a really good job on it. To the degree, I really can't offer a whole lot of criticisms... actually none.
Keep up the awesome work!

7aiho responds:

Thank you

I am glad to hear that you liked it, more or less, I could have improved some of the transistions and made it sound more fluent, but overall I was also pretty satisfied how it turned out.

The melody was actually the main focus on my work, and tried to get on a groove that would pretty much just capture the listener by how catchy it sounds.

I can guarantee that more will be coming, thanks for taking the time to listen in :-)

[Theres No Oxygen in Space]

As a first try, this is not too shabby... However,

I agree, this is very piercing to the ears.... Quiet things down a whole bunch, and you'll have a much listenable song. This melody kinda jumps around too much, there is nothing really tying it all together, so as a result it sounds kinda random... Work with having a general theme, idea, or motif work the piece towards a logical conclusion (or if you are so inclined, and ILLOGICAL conclusion). In short, not bad for a first attempt, but keep on experimenting, trying things out, and all that other good stuff on the path of audio production.

Advice for FL
Also, experiment with the filters in FL, as they can really add some cool effects to your songs.

Look around for some good samples too. Good soundfonts can really make your songs come alive, much more so than the stock FL stuff.

[Zelda II - Palace]

Pretty decent

I think the rain is a BIT overplayed in the intro, and the wind sounds a little cheesy to me. However, the larger problem is that they completely disappear once the melody starts, which sounds kinda sloppy in my opinion. You should have them still go on softly in the background. i know it's not a whole lot of good to say that now, but the next time you put in ambient sounds, make sure you don't neglect them.

This is some good playing, but this desperately could use a rockin' solo in there for some extra kick and flavor. Something to really make us jam during the song. The other instruments did their job well, and this is well-put together, but it stops JUST short of the extra mile to complete badassery.

I know people don't quite like critical reviews, but there is in this song a foundation to make some quite kick-ass tracks, and with a little polish, I think you'll hit that in no time.

Stage3-1 responds:

I know what you mean. Unfortunately when the songs were mastered they lost a lot of their dynamic, which really mucked up the intro. I actually tried letting the ambient sounds play through a portion of the song but it ended up being too thick and layered, and too me it sounded better fading them out.

I know what you mean with the solo as well, a bunch of people suggested I put one in. The problem was, I did the drums from the songs about 2 years before I recorded the instruments. So by the time these ideas came to I would have had to re-do the drums, and I'm too lazy, haha. If you listened to this song on the album, it fits better.

Critical reviews are what it's all about.

[Haagen's Wharf]

Not bad

I think you need to tone down the strings a LITTLE bit, they overpower the piano way too much. The strings, while sounding nice, should do a little bit more than play straight up chords on your next project... Things sound nicer that way.

I don't quite get the feel of an abandoned fish wharf through this song... It doesn't quite correlate with the description you've given. It's a nice song, but doesn't feel like it matches the subject matter.

As well, this ain't bad, just needs some polishing.

TreborLocke responds:

In my defence, a lot of music has been written in a very similar style. Martin O'Donnell comes to mind (Composer of the music for 'Halo'), John Adams, and Phillip Glass. All well known composers and even they will just take block chords and improvise above them. Even Nobou Uematsu uses chords with suspensions as sole pieces of music. I do need to bring the strings down however, they are not just playing 'straight up chords' as there is movement. It is just very subtle.

[F. Chopin - Valse (op.64.2)]

Good playing!

Nice Articulation and dynamics!

The only thing I can say is that you sometimes muddy up the notes; strive to play each sound very clearly, and be judicious with the pedal.

But this is a nice rendition of a nice Chopin piece. Good job!

SimPelyRocks responds:

I got stock in the middle part and with the fast parts I hit al notes, but sometimes it isn't very clear. (the 'muddy up the notes') :) And indeed the pedal. You are completely right in your review. I'll keep it in mind. Thanks

[Psybot - Digital Spirit]

Ain't bad

This ain't bad at all, but I gotta say, the sounds ya used are pretty generic. I would snoop around for some different-sounding synths and pads etc etc, in order to give a more unique flavor to the piece. If this was the same song with different-sounding instruments, I would have rated it higher. I know some may see that as shallow or snooty, but I dunno, when you use that stuff, it sounds just rather blase and not special.

This is not to say that the song or production itself is bad, which it is not; it's catchy and good. But the way it is as of right now just sounds like it's been done before, so it's looked at only in passing. That's no reason to be disheartened, though, because you already have a solid base and skill to make some good techno and electronic music. You just gotta go that extra mile to make everything unique.

Psybot responds:

i use these sounds because i like that cheesy video-gameish sounds.

I tell you what. im gonna try use some other cool sounds and make that extra mile to see how far i can do it.

thx for your review ^^

[\Psybot/]

[Hades - Psycho Man]

Pretty damn cool!

Production is great, sound is great, synths rock... This is a good song! You have a good ear for what works... and I can only assume you have a good amount of experience under your belt.

This is a good example of good trance: Full of energy, full of brightness, full of bounce. Very praiseworthy.

Good luck on the album.

Kawarapingi responds:

Thanks a lot, I'm glad you like it! I hope the new songs will be better than this one ;)

[Transcendence]

Nice.

Nice work with the piano, and the other instruments. Did a good job of balancing things out so it's not overly focused on one thing.

Nice-sounding, and it's kinda catchy, to boot. You made up for a lack of percussion rather nicely, and I find that commendable. Good one.

Isoken responds:

I have a problem with balancing volumes, so this was really difficult for me. I had to export it several times to hear what it would sound like without the FL lag spikes that occurs when you have too many sounds going on.

When I started this song, I was actually playing around with percussion to see what would sound good. I found that adding percussion made the song seem too much like pop, so I settled for having no drums at all.

Thanks so much for the review!

^_^

[Hey There Delilah-Tommy Grant]

Have the strings do more.

They really feel underused here, since all they do is stay in the background and play block chords. Which isn't too terribly exciting, even for accompaniment. The piano is the only thing really doing anything, which makes you wonder why the strings are there in the first place. Let it go back and forth; you got the instruments man, use them!

As well, the piano at some points was a little simplistic for my taste... The right hand could've played just more than ONE note at a time, in my eyes (yes, it's a hyperbole, but still). Stuff like those arpeggio flourishes towards the latter half were much appreciated, but you could've done a bit more and make the thing even more unique as an arrangement.

As far as sound goes, this sounds fine, and I'm sure those looking for an instrumental will be well pleased, but I say, you can already make things sound good, now make them sound like -you- made them. Sorry for the not-glowing review.

TommyUlysesGrant responds:

Hey dont mention it .. Thank you for the informational review .. I will try better in the future ...

Im sorry this peice is not to your liking