EmperorCharlemagne's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Scattered Dreams]

Some things to note:

-You gots to pan your instruments, period.
Since everything is falling in the middle, when all the instruments get together, it sounds pretty muddy, and I could barely distinguish the strings when they made their instruments. Just shift things a little bit to the left here and to the right a smidge, and this problem is solved.

-Use a bit of dynamics
This ties into the first point, in that every instrument is playing at the same volume at all times. This makes things again, hard to distinguish and muddies up the composition. Also, with not dynamics, parts of the piece feel a little bit lifeless.

-Strings need a bit of fine-tuning
For the most part, they're all right, and this is a note for FUTURE compositions. In the future, try to shy away from using the strings like block chords. Not that this is a bad thing, but I say let them live a little bit as instruments of their own. As well, in this composition the low block chords sound really muddy and hard to recognize, so now how to balance things out. I don't mean to sound like this is a crappy piece; it's not, and it's likable, but I think it was hastily released.

Mainly, the main thing this needs is balance and mastering. Fixing all the small problems so this can be a better piece as a whole. You said this piece took a day to fix; well, it takes far less than a day to address the problems I listed (minor edits at most). Hope this helps.

roensb responds:

wow thank you for such in depth review. I'll go back and do some mastering like you said. Once again thank you very much for taking the time to write so much about my song

[[Dr.S] Sunset Voyeur]

Cool title, cool shirt

Cool song too.

Like the augmented/9th chords, and the piano jam that starts up.
This works up to a nice groove that continues the good pace all through the song.
I think some of the augmented triad stuff (3:09ish) doesn't quite mesh harmonically, but that is only a small qualm in an otherwise bitchin' track.

Nice jam dude.

Dr-Slump responds:

Yeah, 9th chords are amazing chords. Unfortunately, and I know you know this, they're not very friendly chords. They can be really dissonant, but small dissonancy as in the triad can be heard by few people, like yourself (even I didn't notice it). Thanks for the uplifting comments.

Also, I wish I could tell what chord it is by ear... you really did amaze me now. Oh well, until then, my friend! Thanks again for the review!

[[Dr.S] Greyboy]

Cool funky stuff bro

This is all around pretty nice, pretty enjoyable funk.
I would have liked something of a melody to appear a bit sooner, but I suppose that's the nature of funk, mon. It's honestly not a big deal, I can tell you had fun with this one.

This is an all-around solid track, that is cool and groovy.

Dr-Slump responds:

Thanks emperor! You're always welcome to review my stuff! And I guess you're right about the melody. That really funky clavi that starts after the first minute was kinda of an accident. I started with that "not-so-funky" riff and mixed it until I found the pot of gold. A lot of my friends enjoyed it too. It's clear and some of my friends said that it feels like real people are playing this. Yeah.

[Amazon Groove]

Got to love the percussive vibe!

Feels right at home with locales like Horteka, or quite obviously, the Amazon.

It feels a bit Terry Riley-inspired, mainly because Riley liked to go in these types of directions outside of creating his own musical genre...
Love the ambiance thrown in there for very good measure, works perfectly. This is a bitchin' track that I can not find a whole lot wrong with, if anything.

You even threw in a false harmonic lead here and there to throw me off. Excellent stuff, and worthy of the highest praise.

Also you get the 6th (or maybe 5th) 10/10 I've given to music on this site. Cheers!

sorohanro responds:

:)
Thank you for the very nice and interesting review.

[Mario mario mario mario..]

Wow a Calamaistr song with good ratings!

Let me add to it!

Ha ha, this is a pretty neat arrangement, and while the ragtime is not as jumpy as I would have liked, the way you weaved the different melodies together is quite skillful and enjoyable.

The piano sounds good, and the writing is good in my eyes. Congrats on a good mix!

Calamaistr responds:

Yea i tried a faster pace but the piano was scrambling, it just didnt sound right anymore. So i started over. on a 1_4. Then decided to switch to a 1_3 on the other melodies and back.

I had fun doing this anyway.

Thanks for the review man, check out and review some more of my recent uploads? :þ I did some nice remixes on my older work too.

[Strangled - to be the sea]

Pretty cool stuff

It's my personal opinion that the rain needed to be a bit more varied, but as it stands, I thought this was a pretty smart and well-made song.
Like the sound of the instruments; the glockenspiel/bells sound pretty authentic, as does the organ.

I as well how the sounds meld together.

All in all, this is quite good.

Calamaistr responds:

Thanks, prepare for the great cometogether though, there is one last piece to go wich will blend all the melodies as for an ending.

:)

thanks for the review man.

[The outaken]

Oooh... Cool!

There ain't much for me to say (techno isn't my strong point in terms of description and reviewing), other than I really liked it.

Just when I thought the intro was getting repetitive, a nice catchy melody came in to spice things up. This melody is good; nothing too mind-blowing, but as a whole, this song is listenable, likable, and does its job pretty darn well. I think I'mma put this in my favorites.
Cheers!

TommyUlysesGrant responds:

Yes It is quite repetitive, but isn't that techno. I have no clue. I guese I will stick with classical.

Thank you once again.

[End of time.]

Very very nice!

In any event, I always have to give someone props for going the full distance in using real instruments. In a good composition, that is just class; icing on a cake. On mediocre songs, it boosts it from being forgettable (at least by AP standards).

This short song reminds me a bit of Phillip Glass in its composition and structure. It is definitely reminiscent of a type of Glass-like style, at any rate. If you don't know he is, he does make some pretty good (or some would criticize as repetitive) music; I think this applies to this piece as well.

While simplistic, it gets the point across, though I'm not sure if it fills the grandiose proclamation of the the title as "the end of time."
It still is a good listen, though.

Keep up the good work!

TommyUlysesGrant responds:

Well thank you again my freind for the reveiw. But I have never heard of phillip glass. can you give me a PM about him?

Thank you very much.

[TTC 2010 (hypernet versio]

Cool stuff

Like the jazzy feelin from this, and I like the piano-ish arpeggiated synths going on from the beginning throughout the whole song. As well, the cymbals and drums had a nice beat going on throughout.

All in all, I say, good job on this; this was pretty enjoyable.

Calamaistr responds:

its actually a accoustic guitar not a piano haha.
I entered every individual key manually too.

Thanks for the review, the scores are absurdly low.. so i would like more people to review this, i mean what do i need with scores anyway.

[Get Funky Tonight]

Cooleo von Schooleo

I think that the very synthy-sounding instruments works to the favor in this song, as opposed to its detriment... It works very well within the electronic style that typifies your usual (good) output.

The sax, sounds like something out of an old SNES game, or something on the DS soundchip, which I kinda like... Because it sounds fake, but not in a bad way. Fake, in a good way. If that makes.

Other than that, this is an all-around solid piece, with a nice bass, and nice electronic drum kit.

Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk, son.

Syntrus responds:

I used a keyboard. If thats faking then herbie hankcock should give his grammys back.