dj-padman1's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Zion-The Trojan]

Another great track

This song is a bit understated at the start. I mean, the bass is effective and everything, but I just keep wishing for it to break into a badass 16note pattern.
The track really becomes magic when that Euro lead comes in, then it really pumps. But I wish the bass was a bit more active at that time.
At the end you have a cool vocodery, bassy type of sound that I think would have been cool throughout the track as well.
I love the big, broad effected sound before the bass begins its more melodic part, and after the Euro lead section when you vary the bass.
Great build to the final section! That snare-roll is water tight. And the phat lead does the job very well. How about making it even more massive with some lfo on pitch at a light depth? Sounds great as it is though.
I'm trying to be critical, so I hope I don't appear harsh!
The bottom line is that I enjoyed this track immensely.

The-XI responds:

Haha, no way man! Your actually being very helpful. Damn, how come I didn't think of a 16th note bassline...? Dammit >=(

Thanks for the reviews! MUCH Appreciated!

[Zion-Terminate]

Top job!

I don't often give 10's for songs but this song fully deserves it.
I mean, it just rocks, simple as that. The bass playing the 3 note repeated sequence gets a little bit played out, but the chord progression later is awesome.
The 303 bass playing over it is excellent! Just the right amount of grit and still punchy and strong, my hat goes off to you for your mixing. The entire mix is really clean and the parts aren't fighting for space, so you obviously know the ins and outs of compression and eq'ing and things of that nature.
I like the ending a great deal, after the 303 is faded back in, the part with the vocoder is great, and the 303 resonant synth goes along very nicely.
Excellent job, I think I'll be a regular on your page :P

The-XI responds:

=P Thanks! I'm actually goign to have a hard drum n bass track up soon... maybe this week, maybe next week, maybe 2 weeks from now.. I don't know =P

Thanks for the great comments!

[Break-In]

nice track

This is cool, very dark and menacing. I like what you've done with the drums, I believe you when you say you are a drummer because you have a great feel for rhythm.
This is your first song and it's very strong, the thing is, it might be a bit full-on. The bass seems too bright. It's ok sometimes, but I think you probably want to bring it back under control with some low pass filtering for most of the time. I understand you're excited and all, but sometimes you have to be a bit restrained and hold back.
Great effort though, keep it up.

itsameyayo responds:

Yeah, I see what you're saying. Dynamic contrast would add to the overall character of the song. Too bad this was all piano created : /

-I'm learning Fruity Loops from the demo, and I'll get a copy at the end of June possibly.

Thanks for the review!

(for rhythm, I might do a beatbox track, lol)

[_-=[Remembering a Dream]=-_]

Enchanting

Very nice piece Maestro. I'm always impressed when the momentum of a song can be maintained and built up without the use of percussion.
The string programming is very strong, and the cellos sound lush and beautiful and mesh with the higher strings in many pleasing ways.
The flute parts are great, it's just a shame that the tremolo characteristics are the same for every note because it kind of gives the sounds away as being samples, and not the Vienna orchestra!
Keep it up, you're a master of classical.

MaestroSorrow responds:

when you have the time to individually adjust each note to sound different, you smack me in the face, because I did indeed have the time to do it, simply forgot >_<.

Long may that confusing statement live.

The flute section has 4 distinctive melodies going off at the same time, one of my more proud moments really, took a looong time to build it.

many thanks for the review ^^.

[rage of light FULL .]

Very good job

I enjoyed this song heaps. There's so much variety in here! The intro was really cool. Really helped create a sense of mystery and fear. I thought the snare could be a bit more distorted or something to fit in. A nice chord progression after with the rapid kicks. Nice synth there.

The next part with the square synth was cool, especially when the low stabs come in. And even more powerful later on, it sounds like a rave!
But then it builds up to something even more hardcore. I like that last part a lot!
You're improving all the time, keep it up man. Definate flash potential here.

MuSic-Creater responds:

ty yea crap i nkewe i should hade change the biginig =( mabye i can fixed it dono waist of space then.
yes i got the last part good.
and thease synth i got i custmized them.
into my own liking thats all. yea but what type of flash tho LOL. yea i nkow i should find more drum samples thanx for the reveiw i love ur new song btw SOOO HARDCORE!

[Lower Norfair (2:39)]

Catchy Remix

I played Metroid a lot, but I can't say I remember this song. Is Super Metroid different to Metroid I wonder?
Anyway, this is catchy and sounds like authentic video game music. The beat is great and the 12/8 tempo gives it a lot of juice!
I love the choir hits descending sequence, and the square arp after (come to think of it, I always like your square arps)..
Having no conscious memory of the original, it's hard to tell if you've veered from the classic version a lot, but what I can say, is that this sounds cool!
Keep it up!

BTW have you been into video game remixes for long? When I scan through your song list, I don't see any others.

WinTang responds:

Hi padman! Thanks for the review again, always a pleasure :)

Yeah Super Metroid is different. More famous, I believe - and it's an awesome game too. The music is awesome and the bosses are great (and quite difficult). The final battle with Mother Brain turns into a scene that is actually moving. Try to get your hands on it, you won't regret it.

The difference between this and the classic is quite big though. If you're curious, go here:
http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/
nintendo/snes/smetnor2.mid
That's actually one of the most accurate MIDI's I've ever heard, in both sound and score.

And no, I've barely done any video game song before, and now I've submitted two in three days :)
Only other one I have up is the Zelda-thing, which I think is kinda nice but only plays through the left channel for some reason.
I may do more in the future, but there are only a few games with music that even remotely interests me.

I'm curious what you'll think of the Super Mario Dungeon though, I really fucked that one over baaad :)

[Music For Robots]

Cool song

I like the concept, and the way you've put it together works really well. I can't believe you got so many sounds out of the camera! The bitcrusher type of effects you used were awesome.
Come to think of it, the crunchy sound that you fade out on gives off a certain 'Robot Rock' vibe of Daft Punk. Top stuff!

jarrydn responds:

Thankyou so very much sir!

This is actually my first attempt at doing a chip tune. I was messing with Quadrasid (the C-64 sound chip emulator) but my sequencer wasn't handling it too well, so I looked around my room for other sources of lo-fi noise, and my eyes stumbled upon the gameboy camera. I decided to use it with my original gameboy (aka brick) for extra warmth ^_^.

I'm really glad you like it...it was very time consuming arranging all the notes :D.

And now after repeated listenings, the fading out bass part does sound very reminiscent of Daft Punk. Thanks for pointing that out to me :D

[My Needed Heart]

Nice, needs a bit of work

ok, I think I know what you're trying to achieve here, but I think if you're trying to express yourself emotionally, you need to cut back on the extra snare hits and that strange kick drum sound.
Take it back to basics, maybe a kind of Moby style drum loop would work better with the piano and strings you have going?
Remember, keep it simple! just sounds like you're going for a bit too much.
Also, with the strings, bring them in later to give the track a bit more of a sense of building up. The piano needs to be developed first in my opinion. The strings sound a little bit distorted sometimes btw, some compression issues? Be careful not to overcompress the track.
Overall, a good track, but maybe rethink it a little.

Prometheos-Dude responds:

thx for the tip.
...(stupidly) what does btw mean?

[Get Smacked Up]

THIS ISN'T DRUM AND BASS!!

In futore putt ur tracks in tHe RIGHT GODDAMN GENNRE! Thiss auddio sampel is TECHNO!!!

-Just kidding dude...

This is some righteous breakbeat action right here. Sounds really contemporary, I can imagine it being played in trendy clubs all around the place.
It's full of variety and always interesting. I love all the effort you put into morphing the sounds into one another and the interplay between the parts. That level of detail is rarely seen.
The production is really spot-on. The number of transition elements is considerable, and you've obviously spent a lot of time on them. Those filter rhythms are spot-on!
There were times when I thought the rhythm did get a bit snuffed out at times, especially that part that sounded a bit like the riff from that Autechre track (the one with the awesome cg video, i forget the name). The snare could probably use a bit more bite.
Other than that, this is an excellent all-round track and I happily enjoyed listening to it several times.
Keep it up!!

KaiSun responds:

Hey padman
im stoked your a fan, your a big time star on here, no.1 and 4 in 1 week! Thanks for taking the time to review, Im sure you got your hottub full of pimpin hoes snorting coke waiting for ya to get back.
I think the best thing about breaks are the transitions and fills, so I try and put as many in as I can. But about keeping the rhythm apparent, I either have a lot of layers or a tight rhythm, getting both is really hard for me. You have it down in a few songs of yours, like roughneck where there are about 4 elements adding to the rhythm instead of just the bass and the drumkit. Anyways ill learn from you.
And it is drum and bass, aarrgh, LEAVE ME ALONE, GET OUT BEFORE .... oh shiit.
look what youve done.

[Cheesy Trance]

Thats.....very good for a first try

Long time no see Jimbob!
This is cheezy, but you make it work. All you need is some vocal about love, beaches or 'falling together through time', and this one could be big in Ibiza!
The half time rhythm gave it a nice Darude flavour, and it sounds acoustic too! I was just missing a stronger off-beat hat to get my heart really pumping to this badass Euro!
The lead synth line sounds great. Nice builds and transitions, although a little delay on the cymbal might be nice. And the choir pad gave it a nice retro charm.

Keep up the great work!

P.S More techno please?

Jimbobsthebest responds:

Cheers for the review Padman. I thought i'd just try something completely different.

I have to agree some vocals would be good over the top. But good vocals are hard to find.

Cheers for another great review,

James

P.S. I'll get working on another techno tune!