EmperorCharlemagne's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Nonascertainableness]

It a'ight

I think things sound a bit out of tune at points, but overall, it's a pleasant-sounding song and one that is not that bad. Things sound a bit too blaring, so I would work on blending your instruments into a more seamless mixture next time.

[Town Crisis]

Alright

Tone down the steel guitar, as it is a bit too loud for the effect you're going for. It is blaring at the listener far too much.

This sounds as if it was made with the standard Fruity Loops instruments (I recognize that bass). I would recommend looking around for some free soundfonts that can diversify what you can and cannot do, sonically speaking.

The song is not that bad, but can use some spicing up in some parts, like maybe a few more instruments, or more importantly, some more variation in the melody, which is pretty bare bones for the most part.

This sounds similar to some of my early songs (which are not on the AP), so I can certainly see where you were coming from at this stage in time.

JinsokuMan responds:

Hahah. Yep. I was pretty sure people would immediately pick up on the FL. I was madly in love with that steel guitar back then. I cringe now, but still like the melodies I came up with.

I'm looking for my soundfonts and FL and all this other stuff to reinstall and start toying with things again. I want to post one of my later ones, as I thought I actually progressed, but my one problem is my bare bones melody. I always hit a wall and can't think up anything else.

Thanks for the critique!

[[dj-Jo]Your Trance Awaits SloV]

Could use some variation

This is not *bad*, per se, but it could use something to distinguish it from a lot of the other techno/rave/trance/etc songs in the AP. It sounds awfully similar to any given number of them.

Mess around with chord progressions, melodic riffs and lines, and harmonies and such. In short, this needs a touch that says that you -and no one else- created this song. And that is the biggest complaint I have.

It's solid, but it feels like it has been done before.

[[dj-Jo] Drum Acerbity]

Bitter Drumwork

I rather liked how as the song progressed the percussion got more and more intense, giving it a pretty cool feel of rising tension and whatnot.

As for the Clint Eastwood quote, I think that you could have put some echo on it, to make it mesh better and all that jazz. It's a little jarring as it stands right now.

But the drumwork here really shines, and the knack for percussion shows in this one. Good job!

[Tokyo Jive-Metaljonus]

I'm feelin' it!

Everything meshes pretty well here.

In terms of production, things are remarkably put together into one organic whole. Everything fits, so to say, and the drums, crystal synth, along with the bass and guitar-ish synthy thing all sound great.

Musically speaking, less is indeed more in this case. The sparse beats and rhythm section makes for an easy-going melody and feeling that is quite a joy for the ears.

If I can say anything, though, it's that the ending could use a definitely more final tone. It kinda feels like things stop too suddenly, and that we should be eased into the end a bit more.

Other than that, this is a high-quality submission. Great job.

Metaljonus responds:

Thanks! I think the ending does need to be a little better I'll fix that one day lol.

[Rucklo - Deal with it WIP]

Some cleaning up needs to be done, to be sure

But what we got here is something that is already pretty enjoyable, and any further polish would show improvement in an already cool song. The beat needs some fixing on the audio level, and you've mentioned that yourself.

But on the whole, I think that this is a pretty awesome track, and look forward to the final product.

As a matter of preference, I would not have minded if the drum intro was a bit shorter, but that is a minor thing. I really liked it once the instrumentals started kicking in, and loved the percussion-less part towards the latter half.

[Toccata]

Impeccable.

Delivered on nearly everything. Great use of the economy of instruments. It sure didn't sound like only 8 playing. Shows the marking of true skill.

Loved the Slavic feel to it as well.

I would try criticize, but I fall short of finding things to point out. At the very beginning a few of the instruments sounded out of tune to eachother, and I think a heard a mistake or two. That's it, though.

Everything else was masterfully done. One of the best songs I've heard on the AP for quite a while.

[{Heim} Begin the Attack]

Wonderfully done!

I loved how off-beat everything was. It really sets things apart and makes this song unique.

The swells, instrumentations, sound quality etc are all top-notch, and everything oozes quality. I have to particularly commend you on the percussion, as that is often the hardest to writer for, but sounds perfectly natural here.

I have to say that this would be very easy to imagine in any game, and I hope that that project goes through for you, because this song screams talent. I also think you did a great job of meshing the two main musical ideas towards the beginning into something quite seemless. Kudos to that!

I am not exactly one to always gush praise, but I do think that this is an outstanding example of audio for the AP.

[Melody Of Death]

Many things need much work.

First of all, I am completely baffled as to why you thought this was fit to go into the Classical section. I am not trying to be a category whore or some Aristotelian prick, but come on. You should know what classical music sounds like in comparison to your own music. But that is minor (in many cases I would call Frank Zappa classical) compared to the larger things.

First off, this is about a 10 second loop, maybe less. I didn't bother to count. You stretched a ten second loop over 2 minutes. That is a load of crap, frankly. I am sorry if that sounds harsh, but that is the truth of the matter. There is nothing wrong with repetition; several of my own songs are rife and entirely based on repetition. But the difference in that is that you can't repeat the same thing over and over again, but rather, you need to expound upon the musical idea so people can follow your thought pattern. Because as it stands, this is entirely forgettable. The only meritable thing to say here is that the sound quality wasn't that bad.

I know there is the whole "That is not what I was going for" thing you can play, but then, if it is a simple loop, then why is the loop over two minutes? With that length, you make someone think that something is going to happen during the song, but it doesn't. If this track was 30 seconds long, or 40, tops, the score would not be as bad. Probably a 4. But I personally feel that doing something like that is pretty not-cool. You say "nothing fancy like chorus or crap", but really, adding ANY changes could have made this loop 50x better than what it is. "Nothing fancy" is not how I'd put it. I would put it "something that makes this thing musically coherent". You can achieve a much better effect of "dark and lonely" without a short loop repeated ad infinitum, a much better effect in that people connect to your song.

I am sorry, as I was not "gentle" as you wished. But posting audio is a lot like posting flash. You have to put some actual effort in to it, and it can't be some half-assed stuff done in your program and then sent to a public place, hoping for praise. Don't settle for mediocrity, or below that.

[Remember the Killings Finished]

Rather polished and well-made!

Gotta say, everything really flows on this one. The guitar work was good, the lyrics enjoyable (certainly heavy metal/death metal!), and I feel like the sound production left no discernable flaws in the performance.

Whoever did the vocals I say a good job of keeping things clear, understandable, and at its best, emotive.

The work with melody was impeccable, and I feel this bleeds (lol pun) quality. A top knotch job over usual Audio Portal fare (the type that one doesn't even bother to review). Liked the solo-ish parts at the end, and all in all this is a really well done piece of music you have here. Kudos to you.

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Thanks muchly.
I did all the stuff here, guitar, bass, drums (programming) and vocals. Glad you like it.
Thanks again!