Bezman's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Torture Train]

2s might make for a good loop

Hrm...

it does kinda loop well and I'd say it would work well for an industrial level of a game if it didn't sound so re[etitive despite its length. From 0:23 to 0:48, it sounds like the same 2s loop repeated over and over.

I like the piano sections, but the heavy mechanical loops just give it an annoying vibe when its on loop.

If you took a couple of seconds of the song, it might work well for an area that folk would spend maybe 2-30s in. As is, it was interesting to hear the first time, but gets dull.

Review Request Club

[Surrender (S.C.)]

Pleasant enough... but formulaic.

Though distortion in the vocals kinda fits the tone, some of the distortion seems to be because of the recording.

It kinda hurt my head after a while, listening to the distortion you have in the guitars and everything.

The instruments are well placed and I liked the sorta rising synth notes you have at the start.

However, it starts to feel a little bit derivative. The places where the guitars come in work well but it all sounds kinda formulaic. I like to be surprised when listening to a tune - I love it when it takes a turn that I didn't expect but still fits somehow. That never really happened here.

It's a well made tune. The distortion gives it a real 'garageband' feel and it was pleasant enough to listen to.

It just never lit my fire.

-Review Request Club-

BreakingFaces responds:

I applaud your honesty. Very thorough review, thank you!

[Snakes on Fire]

maybe use for RRC reviewer-sidecollab

The tune had some cool instruments and moments. However, altogether it didn't really gel for me.

The part start starting at 0:16-0:37 sounds kinda like a pop-electro tune. Kinda like something that could be used as the basis for a loop to be used in a little game.

The instrument at 1:46 sounds cool too.

I generally don't like drop-downs in tunes like you had at the end. Just a personal thing, I guess.

Hrm... essentially this is an accomplished tune. It is kinda derivative in places though and it could have gotten a bit more 'pounding' towards the end.

All said and done, I somewhat enjoyed listening to it.

-Review request Club0

Assios responds:

Thanks, I'm glad you somewhat enjoyed listening to it ;P

[The AfroBlues]

Fun vibe. Like Plok!

I love the vibe.

Sounds totally upbeat and reminds me of Plok! (John Pickford's game for the Snes). Maybe because of the tempo, vibe and harmonica.

There's an excellent rhythm in all the instruments and the volumes are set really well.

The harmonica really carries the melody, but the piano kinda fleshes it out, bringing it to life.

If you have any loops with this quality of playing, I'd love to use it in a future game or something.

this will probably stay in my playlist for a long while.

-Review Request Club-

[The Street Life]

Great improvement, though melody could use more va

This definitely kinda sounds different to the version I downloaded a while back. Maybe it was before the 5th...

Anyways, the rapping is awesome, but you don't need me to tell you that.

I like the new beats you have going on, that pop up at 1:53 and various other section.

There's a fair bit of change in the drums now - some really tight loops and they never got too predictable or overly repetitive.

I still feel the piano melody is too overpowering and repetitive. If you were to work this up any further, I'd suggest trying a few different instruments for the melody and maybe maybe lowering the volume or cutting out the treble of the piano at points.

I really liked the part where you did that for the little sample.

It's an enjoyable tune and after getting this new version, I'll probably keep it.

You have every right to feel proud. I'd be really interested to know how you isolated the rapping.

A few changes in the melody (as well as the key change later on) would have helped it step up a notch though.

-Review request Club-

AfroShine responds:

yea i started getting really into this project so i did a lot of things to up the quality to better than most of what's submitted in this or the hip hop genre here on newgrounds. thanks for the criticism, i thrive on it.

edit*
forgot to tell you that i used audacity to isolate the lyrics. i just got the normal version and instrumental version, i inversed the instrumental version, and it cut out almost all of the instrumental part of the song. I've just found a few sites that will supply me with all the accapellas i could ever want, so i wont be doing that any time soon.

[Halloween (unfinished)]

Turn it into a loop.

The opening instrument sounds like a NES soundchip or something similar. Kinda reminds me of a castlevania vibe. Though the beats and string synth perhaps sound less 8-bitty.

Anyways, if the beats were a tiny bit softer and maybe more like a retro chip, it might be a cool loop for a level of a deliberately retro game set in some creepy location. The melody that pops up is simple and I think I've heard it before but it works well.

As is, it's just too simplistic a tune to really call it a piece of music.

-Review REquest Club-

[messpionage]

I was kinda disappointed by the samey choruses but

I love the mix of instruments here.

The bongo-type drums are a great base and when guitars come in, it sounds sorta spanish-y.

I really wasn't expecting the electronic pulsing beats, but they sounded cool and I love the rolls that come after. Clapping was a nice touch.

The long droning noises after the 2nd bout of pulses sound kinda like African music somehow. Makes me think of a jungle.

I have 2 complaints:
1 - after 1:30ish, it all feels like it could use a bit of freshness. I think it could have worked well if you'd altered the dirty guitars as well as some other bits, instead of keeping the instrumental 'chorus' exactly the same each of the 3 times.

2 - the end. The bleep is great. But why the 1s of noise before the end of the track? It doesn't loop well onto its start and it'd just sound slightly irritating when it precedes a diffferent tune.

I was kinda disappointed by the samey choruses but loved the vibe and the refreshing mix of stuff.

Please follow this line of experimentation further.

_Review Request Club_

spamwangler responds:

thanks for a in depth review- you review request club are excellent at writing constructive reviews:)

i agree with you on the point of samey choruses now that you mention it- that one riff feels like its relied on too much.

if your interested, i have a song posted here called snorker-ace which is on the same style line as this, but i think it has more varyation than this one

[.:Failure of the Heart WIP:.]

Well made but needs another layer. Rhymes?

To me, this sounds like it should be the backing track for some rapping.

Specially at the start - the simple piano and soft beats really need something extra.

You really start layering on the beats at 0:32 though and there's a few cool sounds like drillsnstuff. The violins that come in after 1:00 work well and really help give the tun a crescendo.

The end is a bit slow but yet nicely paced.

However, I'm just thinking how cooler it would be with some dope lyrics on it.

I'd try and fit of some rhymes fitting the theme if you're willing to let me have a bash.

Otherwise, good luck with whatever you do with it.

Everything feels well placed and I liked the stereo effects etc. but it's all sounding a tad empty.

_Review Request Club_

[Cm JazzlyJam]

Great vibe. I'm thankful I got to hear it.

3 layers again - piano melody, piano chords and a drum set.

Seems like you only have a few patterns going on with the drums, but they're put together in a pretty complex way. It sounded more like someone jamming along than a computer loop...

The piano parts all work well together and with the beats.

Towards the end, the bg chords started getting a bit repetitive and coming to the fore. There were a few points where it kinda felt like you were losing your way and it's simplistic enough that I'll probably be deleting this.

However, it has a great vibe and I'm thankful I got to hear it.

[32 Changes]

Nice vibe but piano felt stilted.

Quite different to your normal stuff.

I hear 3 instruments - the piano, the guitar and some sort of tinks that pop in at 13s 22s 33s 57s and 1:16.

The guitar lends it a lovely vibe and sounds really smooth.

I felt the piano could have used a little sustain. It feels a bit stilted as is. Though the chords used sound good and I liked the part around 1:10.

Overall, it was a lovely vibe but I just felt the whole thing lacked fluidity. I think more legato piano and maybe even an added instrument (non-lyrical vocals or strings) would help it really shine.