Bezman's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Example I - Dream]

Not a loop but not enough meat for a short song.

The first 22s of this sounds repetitive, after which you bring the melody loop into the bass and it works well as a background bit.

I like the melody you've got going from 22-42s. From 42s onwards is just an ending.

It's an interesting sound - as Coop says, 8-bit goes medieval (though it sounds slightly more authentic than some old chip sounds, maybe).

However, I feel that given its short overall length, the amount of the piece that's taken up by the intro and the ending leaves little room for any meat. It sorta begins, carries on for a phrase, then ends without creating much of a mood.

The tune sounds like you could have looped it, so that may have been an idea. Even though you call it a loop, it definitely sounds to me like it ends then starts again - a loop shouldn't have an obvious start/end.

Adam-Beilgard responds:

This was meant to be a longer, more intensive peice, I just never got around to it! So in less than a minute the intro does take up a lot of time. Kind of a mix between through composed and minimalistic, in the endyou get a small taste of one of my styles. I'm glad you could find 20 seconds you liked, thanks for the review!

[Improvisation Number One]

Sad and lonely oriental/jazz piece.

I'm not familiar with Togaku, but I love hearing something new and so DIFFERENT on the audio portal.

What are the 2 instruments? One sounds like a wind instrument - maybe Sax - the other sounding like a plucked string instrument, but with far more resonance than a normal guitar. What is it?

It's almost poignant, bringing to my mind both a closing jazz club and also a chinese animation with cut-out figures. The strings could maybe perfectly suit an animation done in that vaguely oriental style.

It might have been better if you'd cut off the first 0.5s to avoid the blip, but then it does add to the homemade feel...

I really didn't like the ending though, feeling it just ended too suddenly - maybe some sort of sped-up movement around the notes (similar to the ending of some jazz pieces) would have worked well.

-Review Request Club-

Adam-Beilgard responds:

I'll be honest, I hate beginnings and endings - not my forte. I'm glad you liked this one, I love discovering something new myself and if I can bring that to NG, all the better. To answer your question, there are actually three instruments at work here. An almost inaudible flute plays the bass (best if listened to with headphones), the sax improvised the melody and the stringed instrument was nothing more than my plain ol' dreadnaught acoustic.

I'll work on those endings, thanks for reviewing this!

[+The Broken God+]

Good, not great...

Everything sounds well placed here. Not quite enough progression/variation for my liking, but it's a quality tune I could totally boogie to - could almost see it being played at a club with a few changes.

The starting beats and electronic melody is awesome. Gets When the beats drops off at 0:30, the melody carries the beats nicely, but after the 'revving up' at 36s, I'd hoped for some harder beats or an extra layer or two to be instantly present.

The melody that fades in around the 1:00 mark sounds cool, but is lacking in 'punctuation' if you know what I mean - each beat has the same strength, so it feels a tad flat. Maybe some accompanying occasional beats of some sort would help make it more suitable for dancing to. Hope you know what I mean.

To be honest, that's a wee bit of a problem - it's like the tune doesn't know if it wants to be a thumping dance track to be played in the foreground and either danced or worked to, or if it wants to be the kinda fast-yet-chilled track that you can put in the background, will give you a bit of energy, not hurting any hangovers nor really encouraging dancing with a heavy beat. Maybe it's just me, but the cilldown at 3:00 is also something I wouldn't expect to hear from a quality dance track. I'm all for varying the tempo. so halving the BPM momentarily to provide a respite seems reasonable. However, turning it into a 'flatliner' for 20s seems a bit much, let alone the earlier slow section.

The bit starting at 1:35 is pretty wild.

The 3:00 melody is pretty uplifting - kinda like we're rising up, flying almost...

It is a quality melody and good to listen to, but not something I can have a lot of fun dancing to and nor does it have truly stupendous melodies that would keep me coming back for more.

Sorry I can't be more precise in my review. Feel free to review this review, giving it a low mark. ;-)

-Review request Club-

WritersBlock responds:

No, not at all, I thought it was a very good review. You clearly put a lot of thought into it, and I admire you for speaking so openly about your criticisms for this track. How else will I learn? Yeah, so thanks for that.

[{ANT} - Gray Gallop]

Industrial Polka. Fresh sound.

I really like this!

Quite a unique sound, it kinda reminds me of a russian/polish polka, mixed with techno.

The main channels I hear are the monotonoua beats, accompanying synth, and maybe 2 melodies running through.

When the melody first comes in, it reminds me of galloping horses or something.

I love the way this tune has so much going on! The melodies are full of energy and always surprising (but never in an atonal/arhythmic way).

The style of music works surprising well with electronic beats and synths and I congratulate you on a job well done.

Sorry I can't think of any real criticisms. Well, if it looped, it could be enjoyed in more ways.

Anth0n responds:

Polka? Never thought of that one lol.

[Passionate Playing-UMSL]

A cool energy. Kinda loops. Racing/working.

This had me rocking and swaying whilst it was playing.
I got up for some dancing, but found myself slowing.
Maybe more beats would inspire my feet?
Maybe it's perfect for listening whilst working.

The beats early on are great. Later on though, they fade back a tad too much for my liking.

I think you could have come back in a bit earlier at the 1min mark.

I felt the tune really seemed to be running out of steam from 1:30-1:56. Maybe that could be cut back a bit.

I loved the switch-up at 1:57 and 2:12.

The last third of the tune sounds fantastic - little noises breaking up the melody. Cool beats.

My suggestion is basically to introduce a bit more variation into the 1:20-1:56 mark, maybe keep the beats going a bit more and maybe introduce some heavier beats.

A lot better than your other tune - I could really dance to this.

-Review Request Club-

umsldragon responds:

thnx guy. well critiqued! Ya, that break at one min does seem long...

[BoomChick-Demo-UMSL]

overly simple melody. Nothing much happens.

It was kinda interesting reading those stats, though I must admit I don't know what automation clips, sound fonts or percussion fonts are.

essentially, this is a cool tune, but way too short to really be enjoyed, I felt.

The starting melody is simple, enjoyable, but sounds a bit derivative. Maybe too simple.

The melody that comes in at 0:22 was pretty funky, if uninspiring, but just as it seems to be leading to something, it stops.

With a tune this short, I suggest you maybe have it loop.

The instruments you used do sound pretty cool. I'm guessing most of those tracks were echoing one of the 3 frontmost tracks I hear?

I didn't enjoy this too much, but I hope my criticisms were useful for you.

-Review Request Club-

umsldragon responds:

just a demo man... just a demo

[2'29'']

Enh.

There are a few bits of noise in the audio. I dunno if that's the mic hitting off something else or what.

I would have expected you to just leave the mic unplugged for this!

Regarding the piece - whether the sped-up version or the original - I guess the most interesting part is in the reactions. Sitting in a concert hall, I'd be interested to wee how others were reacting - specially on the opening night.

4:33 seems similar to Duchamp's urinal, which created the field of modern art. Uninspiring in and off itself, but its mere presence sent shockwaves through the field, though not necessarily changing it for the better.

Haggard responds:

"I would have expected you to just leave the mic unplugged for this!"

I don't even own a mic! :P

[Metal (S.C.)*]

Great song, well played.

The tune rings a bell, but I can barely remember the original so can't compare.

I like the piano intro and the little roll and harder beats before the vocals work well.

I understand that you've probably distorted the voice to make it fit better, but it does mean I can barely understand any words. If you're gonna distort it that much, I feel lik you might as well distort it more, making it sound more instrumental, alien and maybe interesting - as is, because I can 'almost' understand some lyrics, it becomes annoying - I feel like maybe I'm meant to know what you're saying.

The instruments that pop up at 1:48 are pretty cool.

I feel you could have had some harder beats and some more variations in volume - at times it was lacking a little punch.

Still an awesome tune though and nicely performed.
-review request Club-

BreakingFaces responds:

Excellent review, thank you.

[Untitled Orchestral Piece (SC)]

Love that change from minor to major...

This seems like quite an uplifting piece - when the violins(not sure - what are they?) come in at 0:32, it really starts transforming. The shift from minor to major is something to behold.

The slow violins end up as something quite beautiful and it just leaves me yearning for more.

I feel maybe the 5-note melody (that arrives at 32s) could have been shifted a bit - maybe if it started meandering around the 1 minute mark and didn't die out so suddenly, it'd be a stronger piece.

Not that it isn't strong already! I'm sure this'll be great to hear at your concert!

Well done on what is already a great composition.

-Review Request Club-

BreakingFaces responds:

Thank you so very much!