EmperorCharlemagne's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Nuclear cathedral [TMC]]

I love the sounds you use in this set - they sound very much like Gameboy pulse waves, which are the best in terms of chip-sounds, in my opinion.

In fact, this sounds pretty much like it came from an Amiga computer from way-back-when.

The song itself is substantive, and I like the jazzy stuff towards the end, and really builds to a nice satisfying climax.

Calamaistr responds:

you know what to expect ;)

[I am the machine [TMC]]

Hot damn, some good stuff.

I absolutely love the little break at :24 and 1:24, it really bridges things together and on its own is pretty great - some really pleasant harmonies and extended intervals.

Calamaistr responds:

sweets in the rough :)

[All will be here. [TMC]]

Sweet, a 3/4 chiptune. Don't see those every day.

The chords here are really rich and warm, and I love their sound. The stuff 1:25ish is really excellent - loving the little bits floating around here and there, and the fake "reverb" that I love in chiptunes so much.

Sweet super stuff.

Calamaistr responds:

thanks buddy, i also love that fake reverb, n fact i make all effects manually, never use a single filter when i make 8bit ;)

[do not talk - 8bit]

The phasing done with the pulse waves at the :40ish range are something I always love in chiptunes - that sort of false-reverb type stuff that you can only really do convincingly with chip instruments.

Your compositional style really always makes for some highly enjoyable, listenable chiptunes.

Calamaistr responds:

and its all handspun :P

thanks brah.

[Power down - 8bit (Headp)]

I like all of the sounds moving beneath the main melody's surface - gives the vibe of vast, slowly-coming-to-life robot factory. The melody itself almost sounds like it has a sort of Gothic influence (what with old monster movies and the like).

Some really fantastic work.

Calamaistr responds:

its very tensionlike huh, check out my just uploaded one too hehe.

manly no homo love to you my emperor, thanks for your reviews :))

[Ge0metr0 (16-bit)]

I like the sound of the bass, and the punchy-poppiness of the percussion.

It's a pretty solid track.

DiroNomer responds:

Thanks man.

[Piano Tune]

I think you'll need to get a little better at mixing and humanization, judging by this track.

Listen to a real piano record, and the dynamics are well, dynamic. This piece itself sounds a little flat, the left hand especially. It kind of sounds like you used the base piano library in FLstudio, which in itself isn't bad, but you need to mess around with FL9's filter effects to evoke a more realistic sound - I like using a bit of Fruity Reverb, and Stereo Enhancer.

Like I mentioned, dynamics are important - they liven things up and add a bit of variety. This piece has everything just kind of plink out in mezzo-forte, which gets a little tired after awhile. I've made the same mistake when I started using FL Studio close to 3 years ago - you find that playing a piece is not the same as sequencing!

As well, the song never really takes a break - it's always rushing forward, not allowing you to think about what's going on because the left hand is always grabbing your attention with its constant movement. If that is what you were going for, that's fine I guess, but you need to be careful with compositional techniques like that lest they bore your listener.

If you keep on trying, you'll only improve (I'm still improving!), so don't take this too harshly- the better you get at the program you use, the better your music sounds. Good luck.

Lefoby responds:

First of all, thanks for the review.

This was my first attempt at using FL Studio to make a more "traditional" composition. Usually I use Finale for this sort of thing. I kind of forgot about adding any sort of dynamics.

As to the left hand: I kind of filter out that sort of thing. The only effect it really has on me is to create a sort of flowing movement beneath the movement -- sort of like the quiet sounds of water from a river. But I understand what you're saying. I'll see what I can do.

[This.]

I almost get a Sandopolis vibe from the track. You don't hear that type of harmony used in quote nquote "techno" songs these days. Makes this one stand out from the pack.

Not bad, all in all.

Lefoby responds:

The way the song is here isn't how it should be. I added 0:19 - 0:54 and 1:42 - 2:18 because somebody on the forums had been asking about collaboration. I left those spaces in there to see if he could work with that. He never responded to me though, so...

Anyway, the harmony comes from using a natural minor in the bass, a harmonic minor in the guitar and bells, and a combination of harmonic minor and blues in the last synth.

Thanks for the reviews.

[TTCD -7- Somam's betrayal]

I like this track a whole lot, and I don't know if it's just me, but some of the lower registers, like the bass drums etc. have a little bit of crackle and pop to them.

This has got a good mix of traditional instruments and electronic influences to it - almost like a more classical-minded Brad Fiedel! If that makes sense, ha ha.

Calamaistr responds:

in the TTC albums i always mixed electronic and classical together :)
dont know about the crackle, it might be intentional it might not, i often do put intentional crackles in my music however, its funny when people mention them as bad mixing or clipping ;)

[TTCD -8- Barrier of time.]

Great drum samples got there!

Sounds like a mix between Masafumi Takada (Killer7) and Chrono Trigger (Black Omen specifically), at least to my ears. Love the jazzy augmented chords - give a nice bit of flavor to the piece.

The piece builds a nice tension throughout, with the help of some well-used samples for strings, drums, and a nice brass set as well.

Keep it up, man.

Calamaistr responds:

hmm i only know chrono trigger :) (doh)
thanks for your kind review again. :)