Bezman's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Bob-The Chase]

Some real energy.

Now THAT's a track I can get behind! I'm hearing the passion and it got me up dancing for 5 minutes. Good work.

The melody from :22 - 0:47 should perhaps have been a little louder.

There are a couple of points where the lead synth could have had a tad more variation on the melody.

The 1:48 bit is fantastic - kinda mirroring the powerful main riff in its own way, whilst providing a new viewpoint and a little respite.

Cool track and there's a real feeling of energy from that lead synth. The drums/bass in the bg provide some good atmosphere and help add energy, even though they never do anything notable.

Bob-Music responds:

Thank you, at least you don't hate all my tracks! :)

Thanks for your helpful review

[Journey through Dreams]

Again, lacking aggression and too repetitive

I wasn't overly keen on this. The whole thing has a kinda repetitive house-vibe, but it doesn't have the aggression I'd look for in that kinda music.

Love the opening bubbly noise.

The variations at :40 - :50 on the synth were kinda cool.

Also liked the synths you later bring in at 1:06 and 1:17.

Also the change-up on the lead synth around 1:40.

I feel like if you were going for something really pumping, maybe giving your beats a bit more resonance would help.

It can get a bit repetitive at times and maybe playing with the lead synth more would help, as that's really the instrument that comes to the fore.

Bob-Music responds:

This song sounded perfect to me before I uploaded it, and I've since found that the earphones I've been using make songs sound a whole lot better than any other music system I've played this on. There are some instruments that can't be heard at all as well.

Sorry you didn't like it but thanks for your helpful review.

[Bob-Lucid]

bass gets a bit dull.

Overall, this was just straddling an uncomfortable position - it wasn't quite engaging or intricate enough for me to enjoy sitting, listening and wasn't furious or 'passionate' enough to inspire me to get up and dance.

I love the slow synths at the start.

The bass that pops in at :24 and continues on throughout the entire piece is a bit overpowering - specially when it gets to 1:20-2:00. It just sorta made that part seem really repetitive to me and didn't sound passionate enough to be repeated so many times. I'd rather have been able to hear the synths and whatnot you've got on top.

The :30 - :50 part is way cool though. Love the sorta semi-staccato break-beat-y sound.

Ending was cool too.

but maybe either add more fury or more intricacy and a touch more gentleness - with this tune straddling the 2 sides, it currently fails at both imo.

Bob-Music responds:

Thanks for your review, I find critisism very hard to take on this song though as it's my personal favourite. I've taken on board what you've said though and I can see what you mean, I haven't really got the hang of mastering yet so I could be hearing it very differently to you, I do need to work on varying the bass a little though.

Thanks again for your review

[Enigmatic Automatic]

Perfect for a time-challenge abstract puzzle game.

Does indeed loop pretty well.

The melody that rides through the whole thing makes me think of a puzzle game where you're trying to work out the puzzle in the fastest time you can. There wouldn't be a time limit. The graphics would only be basic shapes - lines and perhaps squares and circles, as well as corner curves and equilateral triangles. There'd be an awful lot of black. Maybe cogs?

The long drawn out notes work well and I like the quickly played melody that starts at 0:19.

I don't have much to criticise. The beats and melody seem oppressive and it could get too much for some folk after 10 minutes or so. But without it there wouldn't be that same tension.

Maybe lowering the volume of them by a tad?

My other criticism is that the start and end feel a bit vacant - specially in comparison to the middle.

gregaaron89 responds:

I like the imagery you saw in it, nice :) I had a game in mind when I made this, that's why I made it loop. Yeah you're right about the beat, and looking back I don't really like the bass in this one. Needs moar pads.

[-rT- Nexus]

A professional-sounding dance tune. Increase varie

At the start, the main melody sounds like it's underwater. Then you bring the volume up, bring in the drums and turn on the beats at just the right moment.

After a few repetitions of the loop, you hit a few cymbals and bring in a new synth melody.

It's all pretty formulaic to be honest and continues as such, feeling like I've heard it a thousand times before, but it's all timed and delivered with such mastery that I can't help but smile. It definitely got me moving! I wish I had a tidier room and more floorspace!

The synths you use and the whole intro is delivered like a professional track and the melody you hit us with at 0:55 is perfect for this kinda tune as are the synths you switch to shortly after.

You've certainly proven you can deliver this kind of track and hit all the right moments and pitch the melody perfectly.

I'm not sure the drum roll before the fade-out is a great idea and generally, it did feel repetitive but no more than all but the most masterful dance tunes.

Maybe some drum variation would help with that?

ReaperTechno responds:

great review :)
Thanks, ill keep drum variation in mind.

[just rock on]

An uninteresting experiment

With a 3s pause at the end, it's not a loop. Not enough happens for it to be a song.

The first 7s doesn't seem to have much to do with the remainder of the track. It is full of slightly dud-sounding notes. Could have worked in a different context, but not here.

I think the 8s-16s part would make a decent loop for a fuller song.

It just seems like an experiment - an unfinished WIP. I suggest you keep going and resubmit when it sounds more like a whole song.

- Review Request Club -

piggy123 responds:

ok i might

[Carbon Baby (part 2)]

Another great dance tune.

What I like most about this piece is the energy.

The drum loop is a great one and by holding it back for a few seconds at the start, you help it get jumping straight away.

0:57 is a cool little melody shift.

1:18 drops the tempo drastically and it's kinda hard to keep dancing here. but the payoff is when it picks up - by dropping a bunch of layers, we can find the underlying beat then go wilder than before when it resumes the previous levels of energy.

At the same time, I feel it would have maybe been helped by more of an 'announcement' of the beat being about to be dropped. And maybe one more layer being held onto during that chill?

At 1:41, when the music picks up again, the melody sounds like something I've heard. Something famous, maybe a theme tune...

Anyways, there's more variety in the melodies here than I would have guessed when listening to it in the background last week - only when I got up and danced or sat and listened just now did I appreciate all that's going on.

Suggestions are to vary the beats a bit and also make it longer. Maybe 3-4 minutes? Add more variations of course to keep it interesting throughout that time.

It doesn't loop well enough that we can keep dancing through the fadeout.

WritersBlock responds:

Thanks for the review. I've noted it down for future reference. =D

[Project Part 3 - Omega]

A brilliant first minute-and-a-half.

Quite a different style to the other 2.

The more 'realistic' instruments make this sound like a battle-song - something cinematic rather than something you'd hear in a club.

The switches in mood and melody at the 27s, 1minute and 1:15 mark work brilliantly - naturally progressing and keeping it interesting without feeling forced.

The switch at 2:08 into the tune you used at the start of part1 doesn't really fit though - again, I don't like these abrupt switches of yours and the electronic vibe didn't really fit in with the classical melody you had going until then.

Also, from 1:15 to 2:08, I felt like you could have had a tiny bit more progression. Maybe the melody could have meandered, winding down instead of repeating. Maybe some more tinkerbells mirroring the beats that come in at the end...

As I said, I'm not a fan of the last 30s, but the slowing-down effect is cool.

Seems to me though that it might have been stronger had you kept this as a separate piece and had a more fitting ending. It feels forced to fit the others.

TheBellmaker responds:

Sorry for respoding so late.

I also liked the first minute and half. And I also agree the ending feels forced.

My friend suggested I write a whole song based on the first minute and half. Maybe I will :/.

Thanks for the review

[Project Part 2 - Lambda]

Dance-tastic. Interesting rhythms. Fun.

Not as high a tempo or as much energy in here compared to the previous one. Still persuaded me to get up and dance while the song played once through though!

There's a large variety of melodies and moods here, though at points they don't flow so much as switching, sometimes abruptly.

The fast notes from 44s-1:03 sound pretty cool and though the switch

The switch at 1:40 sound slightly disrupting - seems to me you could have done a better switch and not lost the momentum you do by having that pause/cymbal switch.

After 1:40, the music becomes a lot happier, shifting into a major key and that progression works well. You keep enough themes going on that it does sound connected.

You obviously have a big thing with stopping/starting with a cymbal/reverse-cymbal-type noise. Listening to parts 1-3 after one another (having downloaded and lined them up) I think you may have overused the technique.

There's a lot of cool sounds and this is honestly a brilliant tune for dancing to when it's moving along - really interesting rhythms and som uplifting moments at the end - but I'd recommend you try and have your next tune flow more, maybe changing the layers a few at a time rather than trying to do it all at once and ending with an abrupt switch and a moment of silence like you so often have here.

TheBellmaker responds:

Sorry for respoding so late

Yes, I realize this song is jam packed with rev cymbals, and I'm going to fix that in later songs. The transitions in the song ARE very rough, but I didn't mean for the song to be too coherent.

Thanks for the review!

[Project Part 1 - Alpha]

Dance/move-tastic electronic sounds.

This totally switches at 30s! The first 30s doesn't really seem related much...

The opening bass melody sounded like something I'd heard before so I'm glad you got rid of it.

The computer sound at 55s as you bring in more melody sounds cool and it would have been cool if you'd made more usage of that theme of wierd square-wave-type-things. I like how it actually foreshadows the melody that comes in at the end. Still, more sounds of computers freaking out (maybe as a quiet sound in the bg) would have perhaps been cool.

My favourite aspect of this is simply the energetic mood here. I could totally dance to this - in fact I did get up and dance for 3 minutes - and though some parts are pretty challenging to keep up with, this is the kind of thing I'd love to hear played in a club.

TheBellmaker responds:

Sorry for the delayed response.

Thanks for the review. Glad it makes you get up and dance :). As for the switching its a long story.