Bezman's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Some Short S**t]

beautiful start, but went nowhere

Interesting scale.

I love the sample near the start and also the simple melody goes well with a feeling of launching off into a beautiful peaceful environment.

I didn't like how some of your notes kinda 'stuttered'. If you listen to 0:14-0:17, you may understand what I mean.

Anyway, this could be beautiful if extended and a simple piano melody was placed on top. Found myself sitting down for some one-handed playing whilst having this on repeat.

Some wierd instruments could also work really well - some 'alien' sounds...

==
It's a beautiful start, but went nowhere unfortunately.

Platinum-Chrome responds:

thanxz good lookin out

[Adagio For Strings, Remix!]

A step down from the original imo.

Unlike the 'electronisation' of the Canon in D, I felt that this felt like it was a real step down from the original.

The synth that sorta just repeated the notes was too 'obvious' and whilst I heard some interesting simple melodies in the background, I couldn't make them out too well at first with that loud vibrating synth.

The 'violins' at the start were played fairly well, but they sounded too artifical - a bit of volume changing and some changes in quality could have helped it be a more moving intro.

==
Really, I still kinda like it. The melody is dramatic as ever and that fast melody in the background is cool.

I personally think you should have maybe changed more and made it your own.

[Metaboliz3]

Beautiful. Not totally keen on the ending though.

Some great sweeping synths at the start.

The repeated notes you drop in give the whole thing a beautiful feel.

When you switch to the faster melody and add in the 'windy' noises, it reminds me of flying dreams. It's all got a lovely dream-like quality.

I personally preferred it without the beats, but hearing them, I start to groove in my chair.

I love the pause around 2:06, before you bring the beat back and totally change the tune from the way it started out.

I'm personally not too keen on the last 30s or so - it's really a retread and the beat could maybe use a few changes. Maybe a new few melodies dropped in.

Also, the way the beat ends, it seems almost 'chopped off'.

I was listening to this on the NGAPRadio, engrossed in something else, so the long pause followed by the 'bonus bit' kinda perked my ears up and got me wanting to listen to this a few more times, which I did.

I find it interesting how it loops really well from end to start, but has a long pause in the middle...

==
Great track, beautiful work.

Is it meant for the final track of an album?

I can imagine someone taking off and flying... maybe going in a spaceshuttle and bouncing slowly around another planet... or maybe he has an adventure with alien critters and sends a false message back home... maybe the alien critters used to live on another planet, but that was taken over and their relatives were experimented upon? Maybe the astronaut had a trip through their memories, before sending his message back?

It could make a beautiful loop for a game, maybe one about flying or swimming through a fairly harmless alien world. Only if you were to make such a loop though.

[We Die Fighting - My Hero]

great voice, spot-on guitar, terribly quality

The recording quality is terrible.

Whenever your singing gets louds, there's real static. If it's a cheap mic, you should sing far from it. I mean, my mic cost 6 quid and I get less noise than that from my singing...

From what I can make out, your voice is pretty spot-on. You've got good tones - aggresive/calm and all the right notes.

Also, the guitar seems spot on.

==
Sounds like it'd be a good-quality accoustic cover if only the sound quality were better.

Chaz responds:

We recorded in a bedroom that had crickets next to the cheap MSN headset we recorded into, using Microsoft Sound Recorder. So yeah you're kinda right about that then...

[Strings for Tears]

Beautiful, but make it loop or be longer

Thanks for your vote, Bezman! You voted 4 for Strings for Tears, keeping its score at 4.00.

When the piano came in, I was loving.

Straight off the bat, you have some great beats and a brilliant harmony that sounds like an electronic analogue to a vocal chorus.

I love the restrained tempo of the piano melody and the synths give it a great bit of diversity.

But then... just as I'm loving it - it ends!

I really think you should either lengthen this or make it into a loop. I listened to it a few times on the trot, but the pause and fade out/fade in between the end/start annoyed me.

==
Beautiful, but ends just as I'm getting into it.

RainManN7 responds:

thanks

[Cleyra Dancing Stage]

fun, epic feel, but ruined by lead instrument

I liked the way you started off with the melody already present, quiet in the bass. It was a nice foreshadowing.

There was another instrument that sounded a bit like wind.

The drums - though kinda repitive loops for the most part, have a great militaristic feel.

When you changed instrument around the 2min mark, I found myself enjoying it a bit more.

I did find the repetition of the lead melody, in the forefront of the music, a bit annoying. I'd have personally liked it more if you'd changed up the instrument... I'm not to keen on that electric synth you use for the most part.

I could maybe see this working brilliantly as a symphonic piece, with more trumpets or whatever joining in with the melody, harmonising along as we went on. Maybe adding in some horse-galloping samples if you can find any...

It reminds me of horses galloping and folk running into some epic battle, like in the LotR or whatever.

Or maybe the 2 leaders are engaged in a heated swordfight. Whilst still on their horses. Swinging axes and arrows rain down.

I notice you asked about my originality marks. Well, basically, if you're following the notes that someone else composed or doing a remix on a basic existing thing, I don't think that's generally very original. I'm not saying it doesn't take skill to do a cool remix, and sure - mixing up the basic theme, maybe shifting key or thinking to use new instruments - that can be original. But it's not as original as an entirely new composition in my opinion. I rate things with 5 as an average - not shitloads of 10s as some folk give. 4/6 is still roughly 'average', 3/7 is 'definitely good/bad', and 1/2/8/9 are for things that make me go 'wow' and are really special. 0/10 are things I'll give as rarely as possible. I doubt I'd ever give a 0.

I'm just trying to explain that 4 isn't particularly 'bad' - just 'sub-par, in my opinion'.

Anyway....
3 for originality, purely because it's a remix. (poor, but it is what it is - that doesn't make it any worse.)

clarity - I could hear everything clearly, but in the later moments, I felt the lead instrument kinda drowned out some of the others... 6.5 (good)

diversity - you did split it up and had a few changes here and there. But I just found the melody on that instrument a tad repetitive for my tastes. I know you broke away from it at one point, but I'd have liked more change-ups to the basic notes of the melody. 4 (slightly below par)

effort - It sounds like you put a lot of work and thought into this. You could have maybe made the drums not be loops, but that may have actually lessened the military feel if not done well. I do feel you could have played about with it a bit more though. 8 - great!

==
It was fun to listen to, with an epic classic military feel about it, but I found myself getting tired of way the lead melody was being played.

As always, this is just my opinion, yadda yadda.

Seriously though, a symphonic remix would totally rock. I strongly dislike that lead instrument playing the melody. To me, it doesn't go well.

[_=Trippy Techno Shitz=_]

This is... wierd.

When it started off, it sounded like a fairly standard uptempo dance tune. And the the melody we hear a bit of is cool.

Then you go through all that volume shifting...

Around 0:35, when it totally changes, for a moment, it's kinda like we've broken through a wall, out into another dimension, or something...

Then, around 0:40, that melody's kinda like an old computer game for some reason... it also reminds me of pinball tables, though I dunno why...

This is... wierd.

I listened to it maybe 6 times and... well, it's not something that I enjoyed amazingly, but it's certainly memorable and has some cool sounds. For that I give you props.

eyechieftrees responds:

THAT'S RIGHT! YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE I WAS BLASTED WHEN I MADE THIS.

Thanks for the awesome review! =]

[Old time party]

Boring... like a simple AI-derived tune.

I kinda agree with LJCoffee - it almost sounds like a random thing made by simple computer AI!

I liked this a bit more than your first attempt. Mainly because it seemed to harmonise a bit better.

I do like how at a couple of points you mix it up by playing single-notes instead of chords.

But apart from that, the 3 minutes all seems much of a muchness. Constant tempo; no real sense of forethought, let alone any surprises, in the 'melody'...

Put a bit more thought into these tracks. It honestly just sounds like you started recording, mashes some keys, improvising as you went along, then stopped. You gotta put thought into these things!

DP00 responds:

ok

[-=LJC=- Atonal Rythmic Noise]

Overall, I really enjoyed this

I think a better name would be "Disjointed Arhythmic Noise".

As someone else mentioned, this could be a lot more atonal. I felt it had nearly as much harmonising as your usual stuff. Mainly because of the little melody that we hear a snippet of at 8s and then later comes back at around 26s to remain as the backbone, pretty much.

There were some disharmonies, sure, but it (to me) kinda seemed to centre on that key.

Also, it really isn't as rhythmic as it could be. I mean about half-way through, you start breaking it up, pausing the rhythm... and then you speed it up! I suppose it does have a rhythm - just not a constant one.

Was listening to this whilst testing out my new build of the country wordsearch game. I found myself really enjoying this - specially the sped-up parts, which made me try and type as fast as I could to keep up with the rhythm!

Question - do you actually increase the tempo constantly as the last part continues? Or is it just adding new beats?

I'm personally not a big fan of the break-up half-way through.

If I'm being ultra-pernickety, the buzzing sound at 37s wasn't to my liking. And there were a few other points I maybe could say, "that's not a particularly nice sound" about, but that's kinda part of the charm of this piece.

Anyway, I really, really dug the last half, as I said, where it speeds up.

I'm gonna shoot an e-mail&PM your way to ask you something.

Great track. The reason I'm not giving it a higher mark isn't necessarily because of any shortcoming, but basically once I give marks above 8, it's more about being 'brilliant and making me grin, laugh, feel a shiver of beauty, whatever...' rather than simply being 'flawless'.

Just wanted to mention that as I'm sure I'll be reviewing much more of your stuff soon. So basically, to be above an 8, it needs to REALLY 'wow' me.

==
Overall, I really enjoyed this and it was certainly original for the portal. In fact, the slight lack of 'atonal' qualities may have helped my enjoyment.

LJCoffee responds:

Disjointed Arhythmic Noise - it probably would have been a better name!

to answer your question - the tempo is being increased from 110 to about 150 or so over the last half.

I have two slightly different versions of this as well as a set of support sounds taken from this piece that can be used on thier own as interface noise - button clicks and so forth - I'll be finishing those up soon and I'll get an email to you so that you can do what you need to do with them on your end.

Thanks!

[Your Mom Took Acid]

The computer-loadery and beats overpower...

After a couple of listens, I was ready to turn it off. But I was working away while it played for an hour... that's maybe just a reflection on my slightly zombified state. I should maybe get to bed so I don't make any programming mistakes...

I did find myself finding it more palatable after a while longer. Your glitchy sounds are generally a bit of a headfuck for a while.

The 'lead' sound (that sounds like a spectrum loading underwater... hehe), that carries on throughout, maybe helps give it some consistency and makes it a better background loop. And yet it's a tiny bit annoying. Also, it seemed to kinda overpower what was going on in the background.

The soft notes I heard when you dulled the background beats at 0:57 (and also the start/end) were rather lovely, and I'd have maybe liked to hear more of that.

The beats fit in with the trippy theme really well.

As with all your stuff, this loops wonderfully.

==
You definitely have your own style and I enjoy hearing things from your angle. However, in this, the beats just seemed to overpower everything and give it a slightly irritating monotony.

..............................................
Btw, you mentioned in a response down there of some problems with your music when played on speakers. For the record, I practically always listen to stuff on closed cup headphones in my bedroom.

LJCoffee responds:

:) - thanks for taking the time!

The headohone/speaker issues apply to a lot of the older stuff - not really sure at which point I changed things but I'm sure that somewhere along the way you'd hear a definite difference on external speakers. I haven't listened to this track in so long. Made about 2 years back - Plenty of mastering issues on these tracks.

I always start thinking about remastering some of the older stuff but I know I'll never actually get to it.

Thanks again for your comments!