Bezman's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Still Under the influence]

I don't like the mood evoked as much

Very different - more beats, different instruments... if the original was a dream about swimming in a submerged boiler room, this is about running through a forest, away from a scary monster.

There's a little bit where I can recognise the piano melody being played on a different melody, but it is almost unrecognisable for the most part.

This is equally polished and stuff, equally listenable.

I don't like the mood evoked as much as that of the original though.

LJCoffee responds:

Thanks! I' not even sure I remember what I was thinking when I put this one together - As usual it was more of an experiment than anything else.

You're reviews are always nice to read.

Thanks again!

[Under the Influence]

maybe too normal a sense of 'progression'.

I really love your music. They all loop perfectly and I find that when I play them through Winamp, it becomes a sad affair to turn them off.

I always make sure to listen to any piece I'm considering for an in-game loop for at least half an hour - if I don't enjoy it for that long, I consider it too short-lived to accompany a game.

When listening to your pieces though, time stretches and snaps... and I lose track of time.

Enough of the general compliments, down to specifics. Relatively speaking.

The sorta reversed cymbal noise you have going on reminds me of some big dark room full of gas pipes and some of the later noise samples sound (to me) like gas escaping from those pipes.

It could be a dark, sinister place - and it is initially. But the piano - well measured and each note well chosen - lifts the mood slightly, giving it all a dreamlike quality.

My one complaint is that the whole thing is more like a normal 'piece of music' than your usual affairs and so - whilst we can still enjoy it as an endless loop - it becomes more 'obvious' that it has a start/end and where those are. Both because of the slight silence with the bouncy notes bringing us in/out at the start/end and also because of the introduction of the extra instruments, after which they continue, until just before the end.

I hope you understand what I mean. In some other pieces, you have extra layers coming, leaving, so there's no one place where the tune is 'denser', just places where it's 'different'. This actually feels like it has a normal sense of 'building' and 'progression'.

The sorta reverse-echoey effect you have with the piano sounds great and really softens it all up.

In conclusion - yet another masterpiece from you, but maybe too normal a sense of 'progression'.

LJCoffee responds:

Let me say that I really enjoy your reviews - they are very clear, you're not afraid to point out problem areas and you're not afraid to assign reasonable scores.

Your opinions are stated with a great deal of tact and I really appreciate honesty more than anything else.

More than just about anything else, our time is worth a great deal - I very much appreciate the time that you've spent listening to and reviewing the music that I've posted here.

Thanks again and I'll catch up with you at some other point.

[Holy Grail Theme Remix]

made into a 2-min loop, this'd be great for bgm

I really liked the instrument you started off with, to depict the main theme.

Felt that the whole tune was slightly lacking in variation though. After a few listens, I did start to get tired of the whole thing.

I did still kinda enjoy it and - if it were shortened and put into a loop - this could be a great background loop for some medieval-style game.

But as an actual tune to listen to, it didn't really grab me.

Still a cool tribute. I fancy watching the film again now!

winKoneR responds:

thx ;) yes it´s little bit long, so it might get annoying... however, I put a lot effort in it, so I´m glad that people are downloading it... that´s all ;) yeah, I would like to hear it some medieval-style game ;)

[The Apple Song]

Funky groove.

I really felt you needed a tighter tempo. The beat seemed to be all over the place, specially at the start when you didn't have the funky guitar sound to keep us occupied.

Near the end, around 2:00 there's a click and you seem to tap the wood a few times... I really reckon it'd have been better just cut off.

I really enjoyed it when you had 2 guitars going - around 0:45 and near the end.

Funky groove.

It just really feels more like a practise session than a proper recording to me.

Maybe use something to help you keep your tempo tighter and think about adding more than 2 channels to your tunes.

FrozenSheep responds:

plus the some of em weren't in the same key. Lawl, well anyway thanks.

[Supported Characthers? (REMIX)]

Didn't much enjoy listening to it

I'm guessing that something's going on here... something beyond my understanding.

I listened to it a few times. Loops well and if it was being used for atmospheric noise in, say, a warehouse scene in a game or film, it might work well.

But I can't say I particularly enjoyed listening to it (mainly because of what it is - just sorta atmospheric noise) and its usage seems like it'd be fairly specialised.

The whirring that pops up around 1:50 is a tad annoying.

Anyway, I was wondering if you could enlighten me. Is that all it is? Is it just meant to be used as sorta ambient atmospheric noise? Or is this some sorta code-making thing, or some technical puzzle or music game?

Idiosyncratic responds:

Most, if not all, of my music is meant for background ambiance. That's why, you don't come to me asking for let's say something really enjoyable. It's made for the mood.

[Echo Location]

trecking through a dark forest....

Having aleady decided upon this for the Katakana games, I hope I don't have to mention that I love this track. Should go without saying.

The wailing kinda reminds me of ghosts whilst the sorta tribal drums makes me feel like I'm walking through a big jungle exploring stuff. Maybe it's dark. Maybe kinda scary. But I know it'll be safe.

The wailing kinda sounds like crazy animals for a while.

What is the lady saying. Did you get that sample somewhere or did you ask someone to voice it for you? All I can make out is 'natasha'.

I love how your tunes have a very distinct mood. High originality marks, natasha!

LJCoffee responds:

Hey there - I didn't even notice that I hads a new review... I wish this system would give some indicator when new remarks were present. :(

Thanks for the feedback! I'm really glad that you liked this track.

The singing is from the
ILONA!: Universal Female Vocal Toolkit

Decent collection consisting of just a ton of female vox - some have words some don't - As far as what they are I honestly couldn't tell you :D They may be saying "the person who made this track sucks" for all I know... heh... Most of the vocals that resemble speech are either various bits and clips in 4 or 5 languages or they are a slurred together mix of all of the above.

Thanks!

[Restricted Excess]

classy electro-mechanical feel but not 'great'

I decided that I'd listen to any music I'm considering for games for at least around half an hour. I mean, I like to think a game will occupy /someone/ that long when it's reached its final iteration and so if I use music, I'd like it to stay interesting for as long.

May be arrogance but enh.

I just noticed that this actually ends pretty well, kinda on a single note - the base note of the scale?

Also, loops perfectly.

I really liked the main melody to begin with - sorta futuristic, but with personality. Kinda a mechanical, gritty futurism? With pumping cogs and maybe even some steam. And also big metal things crashing down.

The doubletime beat was nice in giving it a bit of variation but I felt it kinda destroyed some of the driving mechanical feel.

I found after a while it got kinda irritating and the buzzy instrument I enjoyed previously is now getting on my nerves.

Maybe it could be a tune for one level of a full multi-level game (with really long levels), or maybe it'd work well as a rhythm-based game... just thinking out 'loud'.

The constant melody from the buzzers does give it a cool mechanical feel, but I'd have been interested to hear you having played around with that element as well. I like how you have a lot of other stuff going on though - your tracks always seem fairly packed without being 'fuzzy'.

Cool mechanical sound but doesn't totally grab me.

My new year's resolution is to make more games this year. (This is also LLL btw.)

LJCoffee responds:

Thanks LLL!

That seemed to be a very well thought out and hinest review. I really appreciate the time that you've taken to leave such in-depth feedback.

When this was made, a few years back, I didn't have a great audio setup - most of my "mastering" (I'm using the term very loosely) was done on headphones and so the levels are all off a bit - a lot of the older stuff sounds a bit.. tinny on external speakers. Very little punch compared to the headphones right up against your ears you know?

No biggie though - Thanks again for the review and although it seems that you've left a few reviews for the older stuff (which I'm grateful for) you should have a listen to one or two of the more recent tracks.

Again - Thanks a ton!

[Jase & Bazz]

Another brilliant, unique tune.

Really love all your tunes that I've heard. All your loops do indeed loop seamlessly and deserve to be listened to for a long while - looping.

Listened to this for half an hour.

Question: what are 'hooks'? I previously thought that they described catchy melodies, like in a pop song or some pop rock stuff that's repeated to 'hook' folk in. Something kinda easily repeatable that gets played a fair few times in the tune... But the way you're using the word, I guess it has a different meaning?

Anyway, I do really like this tune. It reminds me of smoky bar joints and the meandering melody really does have a jazzy feel and also some almost indian undertones, I thought. (Specially with the melody that picks up at 45s and becomes more prevalent at 53s.

I really love how you play with different influences - all your tunes have a different feel and though they all seem to come from the same kinda laid back place, with kinda chilled vibes, they all sound really individual and I love how I can listen to one of your tunes with little idea what instrument you'll use, what you'll focus on etc.

My only comlaint with this particular piece is that I kinda felt that when you were using the louder drum beats (like you did from 21-52s) they were a tad too loud. After a while I still found the melody intriguing, but the drums got a tiny bit irritating.

Also, if I'm being ultra-critical, maybe if the first 'phrase' or two of the tune were slightly quieter, it'd loop even better?

Still, it's another great piece and comes from a very unique place. Would love for you to explore this area more.

LJCoffee responds:

Hooks :D

I'm just using the term to indicate where, in the track, that it "picks up" or "gets going".

Normally though, the term is used for something more along the lines of your definition.

The reason why I even bothered to mention anything about it in this and any other track is because there is such a zero voter problem in the AP - they hurt a lot more here than they do for flash because there are so many fewer votes on audio.

My theory is that NG people might click play - listen for 6 seconds and if it isn't trance then they click the 0 button and move one... :(

I figure that if a track takes 15, 20, 40, etc. seconds before it picks up then I'd make some sort of a note instead of "listen for more than 8 seconds"...

Meh... doesn't seem to have much of an effect - people still either listen or not and zero voters are just as active as they ever were...

[*left intentionaly blank*]

an enjoyable tune. Not really 'special' though.

Been listening to this for nearly half an hour and unlike the other one, it's actually growing on me.

Question: at the end, does it say, "That wasn't the sound of DJ Max"? What an odd thing to say...

Anyway, I kinda liked the lack of an obvious melody and the way all the notes sorta sounded like they were being hit repeatedly rapidly. It kinda made it more of a 'background' piece than your other one - kinda brings to mind a racing game tune or maybe a tune for a shooting game. With proper looping it may suit that purpose perfectly. At the same time, it's ripe for dancing to. In fact, I just got up and danced to a couple of loops in the middle of this paragraph.

Not got much to criticise about this piece, apart from the lack of seamless looping (though that might preclude the sample you have here...).

Basically, I did enjoy it and could happily keep listening to it, but even after over half an hour, it didn't really feel 'special'.

~review request club~

DnX-Danefex responds:

yeah. i was trying to go for a style that was sort of goa and sort of happy trance. and this is what i pulled out of my ass.lol thx for the review

[suzuki techno]

Hyper bouncing flashing dance beats

I honestly wish I could save 'favourite audio artists' and 'favourite audio tracks' the way we can with flash stuff.

Really incredible tune.

It totally got me up dancing for a while. Been listening to it maybe for 15 minutes and I just don't want to stop.

The first time I listened, I was really impressed by how you varied it with the beats and backing notes you used and occasionally skipping parts of the melody. Kept me guessing and kept the song interesting. This is what everyone should do!

Maybe you could have taken that a wee bit further, maybe varying the main melody a little more. Maybe varying the instrument you used as the mood shifted.

I do kinda like the way the notes stay the same but just with parts missed though - gives it a real coherence, whilst the skipped parts are chosen so cleverly as to give it enough variation.

It all have a real sorta 'acid' feel - it seems perfectly suited to some sort of hyper platformer with flashing colours and bouncing characters.

This is the first tune I can say I've really heard and felt a need to make a game for. My only real beef is that it's not a very good loop. I mean the way the melody comes to and end and we head the 'brrrrr..r...r ....rr' sorta engine slowing down noise means that it'd be a bit jarring as a loop.

Also, after about 25 minutes, I'm finding it a bit tiring to be honest. So maybe it'd work perfectly for a hyper platformer lasting 5 minutes at most, or maybe some other game... I'll think of something.

But I reckon maybe if you made the melody a bit subtler and varied it as much as you do the rest of the tune, it'd have more lasting appeal. And made it loop more seamlessly.

It may then have less of an instant hook, but it'd work better as a loop in a longer game.

Anyway, great tune and I'm looking forward to hearing your other tune.

DnX-Danefex responds:

thx for the realy nice and long reviews. i like it when people give me constructive criticizm along with what they liked. and all keep all of that in mind.

dj-maxxx