DavidOrr's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[DX] Fight]

Nice start-

This is a great start to a rock piece. The progression is simple, yet catchy. It feels a little barren, however. It sounds like it could use some vocals over the riffs, or even a rhythm guitar part. If you add that you'll have a dynamite piece!

Keep up the good work!

If you have the time, I'd love to hear your opinion on my latest piece, ST Suspense!

dx5231 responds:

I ain't good on writing lyrics, or whatever, so I don't think I would be able to add vocals.

Thanks. And I'll check out your song now.

[{Heim} Chorale in D Minor]

Nice Work!

Loved the soprano melody- at 0:08! One of the most lyrical chorales I've heard (you always have been great with voice leading work!) You should try turning your Chorale into a brass quartet- I've found that four part chorales sounds pretty nice in a standard brass quartet setting.

5/5!

JeffHeim responds:

My guilty confession: This uses 5 voices - a baritone and bass.
But that means I can use it in a Brass Quintet!

Thanks for the feedback. Woohoo!

[_-={Lords of Legend}=-_]

Strong ideas!

The ideas here are very strong, and it is clear the emotion you are trying to bring through. LadyArsenic sounds wonderful as always, great job!

The piece sounds very cluttered, though. You're relying too much on block chords for parts and aren't paying attention to how each individual note moves. Also- I'd brush up on inversions and the different strength each has. Throughout the vocals at the beginning everything was in an inversion, which made the orchestration sound pretty unstable. Bring in a Double Bass or Tuba to carry the root of the chords (your D minor chords are extremely important- the bass should try and play D during these moments to provide a firm foundation for the piece whenever possible), and eliminate one or two of the middle brass voices and your arrangement will sound much, much clearer!

Remember to try and spread out the notes across the register of the orchestra to keep the piece sounding full, and uncluttered. Keep up the good work!

[_-={A Dark Cut}=-_]

Very busy music, nice job!

It's been a while since I left you a review, so I figured I'd drop by and leave my 2 cents! :)

There's a lot going on in here, which is nice to hear. You still need to watch out for clashing notes, though. One really noticeable example is at 0:58- 1:00, where you have the 7th of the scale (te) in the voilins, and the #7th (ti) of the scale in the french horn playing at the same time (which results in a minor second interval). This is VERY dissonant sounding, I'm pretty sure it's not what you want in this setting. I'd recommend modifying the voilin part to play ti instead of te, which will give it more push into the resolution at 1:00.

I'm pretty sure these dissonances are a result of sloppy editing. I know you've got a very good ear, so they probably weren't intentional. I think what happens is when you copy and paste parts, you push through and forget to make modifications to a copied part when it's needed. What I'd do is start isolating parts and play them together. For instance, mute ALL percussion, and start to play melodic parts together. If you play just the violins and french horn at 0:58 for example, I'm sure you'll hear that big dissonance, because nothing will be able to cover it up.

Keep it up Chuck, it's great to see you experimenting with different sounds and instrument combinations!

[Pt. 1 - The Vision (Revised)]

Full of imagination!

This (along with all of your other stuff) is dripping with imagination, I love it! The progressions were great as well- full of enough surprises to keep the listener's attention, yet catchy enough to keep right on track with the music.

This truly was a trip, Bravo Nick!

[Our inner kid]

Imaginative!

I figured I'd come by and check out your stuff since I haven't heard it in a while, and boy, have you improved! Your orchestration has gotten much more refined! Also, your woodwind samples are very enchanting! What are you using for them? I'd love to know!

Now, for two suggestions, both relating to the strings. First, I think they could be pulled back overall. It seems their primary purpose is to provide body, but they can achieve that goal. Furthermore, by bringing them back, you can bring one or two of the voices out, which will give them a bit more shape.

Second, I think it'd be really nice to have them playing harmony (or a counter melody) rather than doubling the melody. In this case, they'd be better served to have their own voice. Since the melody has little to compete with, doubling it feels a bit overkill to me!

Very nit picky things, all in all very well done!
Keep it up!

Fuoco responds:

Woah, and I thought you didn't knew I existed. All these words coming you really means a lot.

Woodwinds sounds nice, don't they? It's Garritan's Personal Orchestra. Great library of instruments for slow paced songs.

I can see what you mean by pulling back the strings. I was thinking of something like that for a middle theme, something softer or just different, but I wasn't sure of it. The constant sounds of strings might get a bit annoying if they dont have a rest. It defenitely would have improved the piece, and I will take it in consideration for my next song. Thank you for that.

And by your second suggestion I know you're right. I doubled the melody in that part because I didn't thought of anything else at the moment, and I guess I rushed. Bad move.
But the counter melody idea is perfect. Right now I'm working on another song, with a more developed melody, and I'm sure It'll be easier to add a counter melody.

Thanks for such helpful review!
I'll take all these suggestions by heart, I swear.

[Mad World Cover]

Hey JAZZA!

This is definitely one of the better covers here on Newgrounds, no question about that! The piano part was played well and I think it had just the right presence in the mix; loud enough to be heard, but still in the background. The piano sounded very well recorded as well, props there!

Although there are a bunch of great things done here, I've got two suggestions for you. For one, I think your vocals would clean up pretty well if you run them through a pitch correcter. The recording quality is great, and most of the time your in the ballpark with the pitches, but there are a few notes sprinkled into the mix that are a bit off. Sonar has a built in pitch correcter that works quite well, and there are a few free VST plug-ins around the web that do their job. Aside from that, my only criticism is in the drum tracks, which sounded quite synthetic. I think bringing out the mids in the snare and the lows a bit in the kick will help give them a bit more life, but ultimately it may be a good idea to invest in some real quality drum samples.

In perspective, the pros far outweight the cons, and this is done very nicely. Keep up the great work!

Jazza responds:

thanx heaps bro, really appreciate it. the drums are actually my roland TD20 drum kit thtough my mixer. i did bring up the low, maybe i shouldnt have :P

and yeah, getting the right pites in singing with is is hard. MAINLY coz i recorded vocals WHILE i played the piano. i think it keeps things more synced and flowing.

love your music bro! your like, a prodigy :P

[-ESCAPE- (Techno Remix)]

Nice!

How could I vote less than 10 on a remix of something I wrote?

Always great to see a flash artist get their feet wet in the realm of music. Keep it up!

[The Holy Invincible]

Well done!

I was a bit skeptical at the beginning, but I was pleasantly surprised with the piece. The arrangement is very well made, the piece is very easy to follow, and yet has enough complexity to make me want to listen to it several times.

My only real complaint is sound quality- everything sounds quite snythetic. What orchestral samples are you using? With a quality set of samples, your music could really shine.

Keep it up, I'll be watching you!

CatFromBeyond responds:

Hey thanks for this review. Actually, I use the synths of an old Roland keyboard and some synths of garage band. I don't have any great soundbank because when it comes to serious stuffs I usually prefer to record my tracks with real musicians.

I've listened to your stuffs too and I think it's really great. It sometimes reminds me some Hans Zimmer's themes. Are you one of his fans?