dj-padman1's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tome - Centurion]

Very pleasing

This is a great track! I really enjoy the string sequence you have going there, excellently mixed and the percussion is great, but perhaps a bit loud.
The French horn or trumpet that follows works well, sets the scene very nicely, and the transition into the next section is very thematic with the additional string parts coming in. Well done there.
Is that an oboe I hear later? It sounds very effective anyway. The pizzicato is spot-on with the strings at that point.
I can't say I know much about classical, so unfortunately I can't offer that much in the way of constructive criticism, but I can say that the song sounds excellent!

By the way, in a few of your descriptions for your other tracks, you say things like there's a "lot of experimental accords". Do you mean chords? Or is there new music terminology that I haven't learned about yet?

Tome89 responds:

I can hear that tom giving quite a blast on the compression now. My bad...
Plus it's a trumpet that sounds two times with diffirent attitudes, no french.
And the oboe you hear later - there is an oboe at the later first half of the calm point, yes.

Experimental accords. Chords, I dunno.
Notes with more than or equal to three keys pressed down.

Thanks for reviewing!

[Happy!Hardcore!Fighting!Loop!]

Fair enough

A lot of chaos here. I understand you want it to be a bit frantic to suit a fight-scene, but I think you really need to think about the song a little bit more in terms of co-ordinating all the parts. There is a lot of jarring and off-key components which don't really help the track. Sometimes you have to hold back on some parts, and subdue them, so when you do let them out fully they have maximum impact. That throaty, pitch sliding synth is way too overpowering. And there is a fairly annoying distorted rhythm that blankets the whole track that definately needs to go.
You probably need a more pronounced bass-line as well.
Keep trying, I give it 3.

[Hyper House]

Music...

Ok, it's not bad what you've done. Your chord progression is pretty solid. The arp is too dominant in the mix though, bring it back, and your lead has a good rhythm and the tone is good, but it definately needs more generous reverb.

Something else that needs some more attention is the hi-hats. They don't exist for most of the track! A strong off-beat hat is pretty important in trance, and you at least need an eighth note pattern. The kick roll is a little 'in your face', and generally, if you roll up like that you really need to crank the energy of the song up as well, so use it sparingly.

Keep trying, I'm sure your tracks will rock big time eventually.

Aephion responds:

Thank you so much ^_^

I really don't know the first thing about trance, so your comments are really helpful (seeing as this is my first attempt at a trance track, really.)

[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)

[Mad Monk Bop]

I like it

Ok, this has a very 90's dance kind of feel for it, so it's not exactly the freshest sound around, but for what it is, it's really catchy.
I mean, that monks voice sliding and metallizing all over the place, it's pretty hypnotic! Nice melody, and the strings complete the 90's picture.
Nice job, nice mixing, you juggle a lot of parts in there and maintain clarity.
Good luck with future productions.

[_-=[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 :)