dj-padman1's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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!

[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...

[Xic]

Nice

I really enjoyed the strings in this one!

The flanged percussion part after was nice, it really felt like something ominous was coming.

I think when the beat and bass comes back after that it needs to be harder. It felt like you were holding back the kick and the bass in the song. If there was a time to unleash them, it was at that point.

Great filtered pulse sound at the start, but just overall, I think the kick needs some more strength, and the bass is cool, but not cutting enough. TS-404 acid maybe would do the trick. Cool slides, distortion, you know how it goes.

I guess it depends on your aim for the song though, maybe you don't want it to be 'in your face'. In which case, ignore my review!

Stay cool.

TheCon-Sept responds:

What I was trying to do was make a some what eerie track that made you feel like you were in it for the ride. this piece isn't finished yet which is why the file name is Xic2. Xic 1 had a different beat to it and it sounded retarded to me. the aim of this piece was to put you in the mind of Alice... but just as a figure of speech... so you play the role of someone who is in an area unknown to him. then toward the end things get weird. the wacky drumloop toward the end resembles the person having strange thoughts, and fear of which is unknown to him.

[Android]

Keep trying

I think you're trying to put too many ideas in this song.

You need to take it back to basics. For starters, the hats at the start were actually quite cool, but the kick and snare loop you've got going on are buried WAY too low in the mix.

In techno, you absolutely have to have a strong, powerful kick.

Don't try and get too fancy with chords and harmonies. Simplify your song and give it a consistent, strong bassline.

Try just using two different notes in a simple 1 bar bass loop. You'll find it turns out far better to just keep things simple and direct.

Good luck on future productions!

Professor-Doom responds:

Yeah, I'm not particularly proud of this one.

[<R> Hypernovum]

Good work

This is a well-produced song.

The drum loop was awesome as were the fills you added and the cool timing, sounds like 24th or 12th notes or something at times!

In my opinion you need to lose the acid stab that comes in on the off-beat as it makes the whole production seem a little dated. Sounds a little weedy, no offence.

You need a filthy, rolling bass to shake the floor! Or if you want to use a stab kind of sequence, running it through the waveshaper or any distortion fx you have might give the necessary d 'n' b grit we all love!

A sub-bass stab every now and then would give the song something extra as well.

Nice strings as well, could stand to be louder possibly? The arp that runs through the song sounds great, I like the chord progression a lot, but a bit more variation wouldn't go astray. Or even just repeat one chord for a build-up to create suspense?

Overall, nice effort and keep it up!

Rawrthaas responds:

Thanks man for taking the time to review this. I agree, I shoulda put more effort into a more 'extreme' bass!

[HARDCORE BEAT 1]

Nice

Sounds like a pretty authentic underground club song!

The hits you used sound like Mortal Kombat a little bit.

There was some slight inaccuracies with the timing sometimes, but hey, it's still a great song.

The kick could perhaps use some nice overdrive or extra distortion to make it extra evil?

Keep it up Music_Creater, I can feel your close to getting really good. There's a world of difference between your recent stuff and your earliest work!

MuSic-Creater responds:

cool thanx yea dose remind me of mortal combat =p.
yea some of timing were of bit of when changing the synth or the beat.
yea i could have made it a lower kick base sound mabye next version if i ever cuntinue it. and thank u for the tipes a bit u to will be vry good at making music also gona chke out ur stuff now keep it V

[Unfinished Trance]

I predict that...

this song will be very popular on Newgrounds.

Personally, I think it's cheese.

It's well produced however, nothing is out of place and the overall structure is very commendable, although nothing new.

It's just so formulaic though, you can imagine it as the preset trance song for a new synthesizer or something, which is not want you want if you want more respect than just from the simple- minded pre-teens on Newgrounds.

However, if thats your target market, then awesome work dude!

Good luck in the future Dimrain.

Dimrain47 responds:

Meh, I really don't care how well it does. I kind of forgot about this song, and I found it on my .mp3 player and was like "Ooooh yeeah..." and I uploaded what I had done of it.

Like I said, this isn't finished. I planned on making it like a 10 min long kind of low-dance track, but I never finished it and kind of got uninterested in it.

And yes, I realize the synths are old, but that is because this was written back in the days of "The Prototype" and "Revolutions" (As well as "The Ring's Tide", which no one on NG has heard because the file size is over the allowed capacity of 4.00 mb for uploading.)

I kinda just thought you all might want something to confirm I'm not done here, and I'm not gone or anything. You'd be surprised how many e-mails I get asking "OMG WHY DON'T YOU WRITE MUSIC ANYMORE?!?!??!?!"

----BTW----

If any of you have Myspace, look me up... www.myspace.com/Dimrain47

---------

Thanks DJ_Padman1

[All and Sundry]

Needs some work

I have to say I enjoy your techno a lot more, I think you may need to rethink a couple of aspects of this one.

The sub-bass (kind of) that plays from the start and for quite some time is way too resonant and quite off-putting. The rhythm of it is quite clunky, you need something more incisive and agile. Is it clipping perhaps as well? Lose it anyway.

The synth that comes in later is much too clean and wholesome, you need to dirty it up at least 300%. It's just too happy in general, when the bass is kind of foreboding and dark.

The beats are really great, I fully endorse them! Way better than I could program.

Sorry if I sound harsh by the way, this is just my opinion and feel free to zero vote on all my work if it makes you happy :) I'm cool with that.

Triskele responds:

NO! It's good to get constructive criticism.

I originally programed the beats in basic 4/4, and then offset some of them so that they were synchopated. I think they turned out great.

The Happy/Dark thing as purposeful, as was the clipped bass, and I like how both of them ended up. Sorry they didn't sit well with you.

Actually, I like the string-synth as well...that was actually a found loop, and I like how it contrasts with the rest of it.

Anyway, thanks for the review, I'll return the favor!

[Hitler hacks Linux (preview)]

Unique piece

The bass in this one is phat! Drums at the start were wicked.

I think the arp you use after the drums are introduced might be a tad busy, some of the chords at the end of it seem to clash a little bit too much with the organ.

Ahh, the organ, you don't hear that very often in drum and bass but it gives it a nice Kill Bill feel. It might be 10% funkiness overkill though, I would personally introduce it a tad slower. And when the sustained organ chords come in, it's definately clashing with the bass. Maybe drop the bass a little at that point?

I'm loving the square arpeggiator that comes in towareds the end!

Overall, killer song and I'd love to hear it in its finished form.

WinTang responds:

Interesting things there. Yeah, I have been a bit lazy on the bass, I just loop it and transpose to subdominant after the part with the sustained organ chords.

I think I'll fade the organ part in, because I like the chaos to enter quickly, but I can imagine your remark on the "funkiness overkill". That arpeggio will probably remain the way it is though, I love the clashing of the chords - I'm often looking for a hint of bitonality when I'm aiming for a creepy feel.

Thanks a lot for your detailed and helpful review man, when it's finished I'll review some of your stuff and point you to the final version :)