dj-padman1's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Return to Cyber County]

At last!

Someones made a song about my hometown!
This is a very sophisticated song, the number of variations and cool 'audio ornaments' is staggering!
The synths you have got in there at many times conjure up images of the Wild West, sounds a little like a dusty guitar sometimes, also that pitch mod flutter sound is a little bit like the digital equivalent of some classic western whistle kinds of sounds.
A bit after halfway when the bass is playing the sustained four note sequence, you have a cool chord that echoes out from the start of the section, maybe a tad before the bar starts. This was cool, I wonder if repeating it more often (which is what I would do) would spoil the vibe of the song.
The end of the song is a fusion of deliciousness.
All in all, well done on a great variation on a great song, really good co-ordination of a lot of interesting elements.

[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?

[-Prometheos-The new begining]

Nice job

This is really good! Sounds like it would go down well in the club.
The kick is a monster! Does the job really well. The lead sounds good too, mysterious and menacing.
The transitions, and parts where you drop the beat work well, sounds like you have a good feel for how a track should progress. The only one I thought didn't suit was when you did that acoustic snare roll.
Also, watch the levels on the mixer, I think I can hear some clipping at times, but it doesn't spoil the track.
Really enjoyable track overall!
Keep it up.

[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!

[Brute Force]

This is cool

Overall this is a cool song, I can see the Roni Size influence. You've done some great things with the drums, but sometimes the filtering makes the high-end hats seem a bit overpowering.
The bass-lines are very well done. Lots of variety and the levels are just right. Sometimes the effects seem to take away from them a little though. I think I hear some chorus or reverb on them at times. Generally I would avoid processing the bass too much.
The lead lines. Nothing wrong with them, I think they want to be a bit harder though to fit in with your bass, and not as busy.
I'll be staying tuned to your future productions, I'm sure they'll be great!

Green-Phoenix responds:

Thanks for your review! And thanks for being a good critic. I need the advice.
PEACE OUT from LONE STARR.

[Exocardiac Madness]

Exceptional

I enjoyed this one a lot. The drum loop is awesome, and the breaks you make from it rock. I think I read you use FruityLoops but I have to say at first I thought it was Reason and you were using Dr Rex and chopping up samples that way. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't sound like FruityLoops and that's kind of a good thing! (no offence Fruitloops, I own you and love you).
I like the eerie synth at the start. Sounds like an Aphex Twin progression, but it gets a little bit played out. I would drop it when the bass kicks in, and maybe fade it back in a little later with a little variation.
That stab bass at about the halfway point sounds seriously old school and awesome, but I'm just thinking some portamento on the more resonant lead that comes in soon after would be nice.
The progression of the song overall is very effective. Everything ran on very smoothly.
Once again, congratz on another great track!

DJKorrupt responds:

Wow... Alot of people think I use Reason! Thanks for the inspiration, I love your music alot. Plus thanks for some approvement thoughts. Great review!

[Learning Slowly]

Awesome

This song is excellent!
The lead in sounds really professional. I love the deep bass, the pause and the fading in of the drums. Top stuff! On the subject of drums, there was some awesome snare rolls and cool pitch shifts and glitches in there, I wish I knew how you can do that with Fruity Loops?!?
I would have liked to see a bit more variety in the drums in the rest of the song though, but the loop you used was cool.
The string part was nice and evil, and I loved the synth part that came in at about the half-way point. The 1-2-3 synth that came in to complement the bass, very nice. And that stutter synth is really effective as well.
This is my favourite of yours so far, I can't really see how it can be improved.
Keep up the great work is all I can say!

[Hitler hacks LINUX (5:33)]

Fantastic stuff!

Wow! This is a fantastic track and I'm really envious!

This time around the mix is perfect as near as I can tell. The bass is chunky and full yet doesn't overpower the mix, and everything in fact sits really well in the mix. So my kudos to you for your mixing.

I'm loving that tension build with the sustained organ chords, it is genuinely effective and obviously you put a lot of time into getting the elements to work together properly. My personal fave is still the chaotic square arp. 32nd notes rock!

The song maintains a pretty high level of energy after and pulls it off nicely without becoming played out.

The sweep with the organ chord and the resigned piano into the breakdown is pure gold, I mean it's simple, but could anything be more effective? (I don't want to gush, but I liked it a lot!). Creepy, heavily affected voices, fx sweeps, nice. Great for breaking up the track.

The next part, i mean after the organ is re-introduced (and tempo automation?), I sense could use a pad or a sprinkle of fx because it seems a bit sparse but the chaos leading up the finishing vocal and alarm fx is very commendable and earns redemption many times over!

The only slight gripe I have is the cymbal which becomes a tad irksome after a while, but really, that's pretty minor.

This one will definately stand up to repeated listens. At least it did for me, and I'm pretty damn fussy.

Top stuff. Great work you can be proud of!

Keep it up.

P.S Silly idea - can a future version have the male "Hello Frankfurt" morph into a female over the course of the track?......

...Actually, ignore previous statement!

WinTang responds:

What a delightfully long and detailed review!! It's so cool to see someone actually picked up all the separate elements in the chaos that is this song.

On the cymbal, I struggled with that but I wanted it to be there to create that Prodigy-feel... but it only fully satisfies me in the coda.

Heaps of thanks for this awesome review man!

P.S. Interesting! Now if I only knew how to do that...