EmperorCharlemagne's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[-Orr- Larry and the Gnomes]

These are all really damned great!

I don't know anything about the game in question, but if I were to judge from the soundtrack alone, I'd have to say that it was a high-quality professional production.

Because the music is at the very least.

Some more fantastic work from you, Dave, and I hope the game is as good as the music you've made for it is!

DavidOrr responds:

The game is great, and raises the bar for flash games (of course, I may be a bit biased :D). But seriously, the team was *top-notch across the board - and I think the game reflects that.

Thanks for the support!

["Desolate Path" - SM64 Remix]

It was Ok

Some things to consider:

-The lack of bass really hurts the song. When it needs it the most (which is pretty much the entire song), there is no bass instruments to balance out the whole thing. This makes the song extremely top-heavy, and it ruins the listener's expectations, because we WANT a bass to come in and even it out, but it never happens, leaving us hanging.

-The instruments sound good for the most part, but you really have a lot of wasted opportunities on them. They all basically play the same exact line, and the ones that DO do things differently are too quiet to make a difference (because they have no bass support, so the melody drowns everything out). The drum addition was alright, and not TOTALLY necessarily, because it didn't necessarily add anything to the song, though it didn't take anything away

-There is no panning I can detect here. This makes everything fall straight into the middle, making things even harder to make out. This is a problem that most new people make, and the ones that want to improve figure this out first. Move the positioning of the instruments around; the sound will be better, and you'll actually be able to hear things better.

There are lot of good singular elements to this song, but you did not mix them together in a way that allows the song to be anything but merely average. Keep on trying, and I'm sure you'll improve. As I said, the singular elements in this song are good, but the sum of the parts is less than desirable.

dragoon132 responds:

Regarding bass: I completely agree with this entire statement, I just couldn't find the "right" way to include it.
Regarding panning: Funny thing; I actually panned a LOT of the instruments after I uploaded this version. I realized how kind of flat it sounded so I panned some things left and right.

My newer version sounds a lot better but I'm not going to waste my time uploading it. Thanks though. (:

[The Moon Is Falling]

Kinda reminds me of Phillip Glass....

mixed with a bit of Beethoven.

Then again, I guess if you make a song about the Moon, you're probably making it with Moonlight Sonata in mind, right? My hunch, ha.

Especially considering that there are definitely a LOT of similarities in the chord progression between this and Moonlight Sonata, but your composition structure mimics a lot of what Phillip Glass does.

That's fine, because i love both Glass and Beethoven.

For the most part, this was pretty relaxing and well-made, though I think at the end the sustain could have been lightened up a bit; when you sustain too much the lower keys, things get hard to discern.

All in all, good job!

The-MickMad responds:

Well, actually the moon thing was due to the fact that I made this piece at like 3 am, and when I was submitting the song here I said "sooo, how do I call this one?", I looked outside the window and there was this beautiful falling moon up in the sky, there was nothin else. So, that's why I called this song "The Moon Is Falling" :D

btw thanks for the kinda in-depth review ;)

Cheers,
Mick

[Kaskade-Dynasty [RegicidalMix]]

Really awesome beats; inventive stuff!

Got yourself a pretty cool progressive beat going here; I like that. The differing percussive sounds are rad to say the least.

As a remix, your job at sampling is pretty top-notch. And again, adding the very interesting percussion to a sparse vocal/backup synth stuff is really effective towards making something not only unique but highly enjoyable and head-bob worthy.

In short, this is really fun to listen to, and has a lot of positive and contagiously fun energy behind it. Good luck with the contest!

p4c responds:

thanks!! im glad you liked it, i definitely stepped out of my usual modus operandi doing this one, and im sure regardess of the results that it paid off creatively for me. yeah!

[Discovery [Dr.S]]

Cool stuff!

Interesting opening right there, I'll say. I would have certainly berated you if the whole song was like that (that is, very loud and blaring, like a hammer swing), but since it was just in the beginning, it just makes me ponder; always a good thing I suppose.

This has got a good beat, and everything on my end sounds for the most part just fine and dandy, technically speaking. I like the saccharine combination of poppy and upbeat synths, along with a generally uplifting mood given from the groovy beat/bass work, sprinkled with an interesting choice of ambient sounds (namely the running water). In a sense, this KINDA reminds me of Black Moth Super Rainbow, who work with lo-fi yet sugary-sweet synth songs, much like this piece right here.

As well, the ending with the single solitary beeping coupled with the water was another nice choice that I dug, thinking it closed out the song well, being just long enough without being long and boring.

Great job, overall!

Dr-Slump responds:

Hey there emperor! Wow, I'm yet stunned with your fantastic choice of words. You, sir, are quite inspiring. Let me explain the beginning to you. I don't know if you've noticed but there are some Yes' "Close To The Edge" elements in this song. Like the birds, and the nature ambient sounds overall, and mainly, the noisy and somewhat of "disturbing" beginning. I'm sure there are a lot of great songs that I heard in the past that has this unique beginning. However, in this case I've used it as a sign that something important is about to happen, to call for the listener's attention. It's also a way to suck the listener in the music, I guess. It worked on me, so, i guess it's a relevant idea.

Also, the C and G keys were key part in the upbeat and dandy style of the song. However, the secret touch for this one was the B key in the composition of the chords. Surely dissonant, but gave the trippy and spacey touch i was looking for.

And at last, but not least, since all my songs until today were instrumental, I tend to make them themed. I imagined in this one, the landing in a new and unknown planet, thefore, Discovery (it's also a quick homage to Daft Punk).

I guess this answers all your doubts.

Thanks again for the review, and until then.

[Endless Solitude]

I don't find this song all that depressing

But I guess that's just me ;p
Or perhaps upbeat electronic music just doesn't convey sadness well?

The part towards 1:20ish is a bit painful, because it's like hearing THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD THUD.

A far better technique would have been to pan it and sweep it around a bit, perhaps with a touch of reverb. But as it stands, it's pretty hard to listen to. Fiddle around with those volume and panning knobs!

I think as well, you could've handled the transitions a little smoother; the most egregious being at the end, where the synths really come out of nowhere. There's taking the listener by surprise (a perfectly ok technique) and then there's kinda cobbling together something. This kinda straddles the line, but leans more towards the latter than the former.

This could also use just a smidge of clean-up, I think, since I hear some pop or crack faintly on the main synth and the drums. Or whenever the bass hits a low enough register.

So yes, good attempt, and I'm glad you got some feelings out through song, but this definitely could use some refinement.

Blueragebar responds:

Thanks for your honest review. I appreciate the constructive criticism.

[KurdStep (RAC4 Dubstep)]

It ain't bad....

But I think, representing an ethnic community as unique as the Kurd, you could have thrown a bit more ethnic Eastern flair into this song, with different instrument choices etc.

This sounds like something from the mean streets of Harlem, as opposed to the plight of the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, etc. As an American song, it ain't bad, but I think ya could have represented the country a shade better, eh?

I really liked the part where you spliced in that voice recording. I honestly could have gone onto listen to that for a bit longer, ha.

Like I said, it ain't bad; it does its job for the most part.

Aydin-Jewelz123 responds:

Ye I had that exact thought after I finished it :/ For the previous RAC competition a few competitions ago I had made a more suited track > http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/225483 and with this one I had the same intentions, (if you notice the instrument at the beginning is the same in both tracks), but the melody creation in this track took away from the ethnicity and vibe. To be honest, I didn't think I had the knowledge or understanding of the musical scales used in Kurdish music to create a masterpiece representative of the sort of music listened to by the kurdish culture (which usually involves the saz instrument) and didn't want to take the risk of trying to make a track like and failing then ending up spending the remaining time trying to pull together a new track which wouldn't have sounded as great given the time restriction as I also spend most of my time thesedays focusing on my A Levels exams (UK exams to get into uni).

[Elixified - Forest of Life]

So is that like Forrest Gump?

Interesting choice for the drums, since it makes such an interesting sound.

However, there are some things you definitely need work on:

-Panning your instruments: everything hits the direct center, which really makes things hard to hear or discern, since everything is channeling through the same area. Try moving your instrument/synths around, so the actual song is much more richer.

-Things sound blurry, and this is not only because of the first point, but because in the beginning, I think you try to do too much. With a whole lot of instruments going on at once, it's very easy to lose your way in the audio department. This gets better as the song goes on and less instruments are playing at once, but it is still something to work on.

-Use fade ins and fade outs a bit better: the bongo in the beginning just kinda weakly stops, where a fade out would have been much better. Put a TINY bit of reverb on the instruments, it'll make them sound more authentic (however, if you put too much on, you go back to the problem of things not sounding clear. As well, vary the dynamics (volume) of your stuff, since everything is the same again, and it makes the whole song feel very dry and mechanical. Which is the opposite of a forest of life, no?

-Finally, as a bit of a personal preference (you can ignore this one if you want): this song is a bit too samey for me. It does the same thing over and over again, and you RARELY insert new sections or beats in order to liven things up. It's almost like you copy-pasted four measures throughout the entire song. I'm all for drone music, but drone music and good minimal music throws in little touches here and there, like different instruments or modified beats, to keep the listener entertained and enjoying the song; both are absent here.

However, i will give you that your bongo beat is fresh and inventive, meaning I haven't heard something like that on here before.

So keep on improving yourself, and hopefully take some of these criticisms to heart.

Elixified responds:

Thank you for your helpful review, i will definitely use these tips in my next song.

[Experienced Loss V2]

Well this sure got 0-bombed...

Which I think is unfair, since this is actually a pretty good track.

I like the simple sparse string-work, and I like that background.... mallet/pizzicato/synth (any of those right? Ha) thing going on... Also, this is produced very well, with the samples sounding very good and technically speaking, I really can't fault you for anything here.

This is above what the average AP song is, and hopefully folks will realize that. Don't think that an 8 is too low a score; for me, that means I really dug the song, or thought it was really well-made.

In your case, that's both.

callitsleep89 responds:

Yeah, I die a little inside every time I see a track dive from 4 or 5 to 2, regardless of whether it is my song or not.

Anyways, thanks for the review. And you're right, it is indeed pizz strings playing in the background.

Thanks for the kind words, and thank you for listening.

[Fugue in A Minor for Organ]

Pretty good

Not bad, not bad at all. I hear a little muddiness, but i suppose that's a minor complaint.

As this is just the intro, I am not sure how the rest of the fugue pans out; all i know is that it is a pain in the ass to attempt to write a fugue; you have to be competent on a shitload of levels; especially with that whole counterpoint thing, y'know.

This sounds pleasant and serviceable, and is much the enjoyable piece.
You wrote this for fun, for a class, or for the public? :p

TreborLocke responds:

I'll get rid of the muddiness later (you can blame that on me being lazy). I mostly wrote it because I could. The whole thing is actually done, I'm just making sure every nuance can be heard for a final recordng (Yay OCD?). Don't know what I can use it for (I'll probably add it to my portfolio).

Thanks for the comment all the same :) I'll slide you a note when the full thing lands on here. I hope life has been good to you as of late :)