Arbiter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[*+*_collision_*+*]

DarkSide_555 - Collision

First Impression; "High Quality?"
It seemed to me as the quality of the song was above the NG-Standards, great job at that.
One of the real good things here, was the overall feeling I got from it.

The beginning had this flow to it, and the guitar was really nice. I could see this being used as a whole "downtown" og rugged thing.

I didn't really like the end that much, seemed to just...end with this thin guitar.
It's overall a harmonic track with little to none dissonance clashing.

9/10 - 5/5
Keep on with the music, mate.
Best of Wishes, Chris.

DarKsidE555 responds:

Yeah, I really had no idea for the ending, so I just did it that way. Your right, I could have done a bit better with that.

Thanks for the review and the vote! Oh and sry for the late reply, it seems like I totally overlooked that one. :(

[The Tankmen Are Coming!]

Cerrax - The Tankmen are Coming

First Impression; "This could be interesting."
Song-wise I really prefer the first theme, but I'm also very fond of classical.
I'll try not to have any bias.

The one thing I hated the most, was your distorted bass drum, as it cuts---try to set the volume a bit lower. The brass segments you had were really realistic, and you're pretty good at those once again.

I found this tune not to be your best, but it might as well be exactly what Utah seeks in his tune. So good luck in the MAC6, and may the best win =)

(Wouldn't mind if you left a review at my TankMen piece) :)
-Chris (Arbiter)

[Tankmen--_--(1:26)]

Zenon - Tankmen

It had a nice beginning and continued pretty nicely, but got boring after a while.
Even though you had small changes the general picture was still the same overall, and no "drastic changes", which I believe should be in this piece.

The percussion were well written, as well some of the synth's. From what I've heard from your pieces, it's not your strongest one.
But overall among the better of this webpage.

I'll five you because of the 0 bomb.
but it gains 8/10.
Good luck in the contest, and I wouldn't mind you going over to my page reviewing my contest piece. =)

PERVOK responds:

From what I saw in the first Tankmen, I was trying to make something that was not progressive, since it is a talk-comedy. Listen to the backround music of the first one and you'll see what I mean. Steady, repetitive. There to simply fill space.

Oh well.

I'll probably drop by your page and see that song o' yours..

[_-/| The War Helmet]

SoulStrings - The War Helmet

First Impression "What the hell was that thing?"
The abrupt full-orchestra edirol brass section in the beginning kinda halfly scared me the first time. I'm actually damn impressed with this one.
To be 100% honest, your other pieces have been average to decent.

This one is the exception.
I like your chord structure---and it's pretty much ALOT better structured than the rest.
This one actually doesn't have the dissonance clashings that makes it sound horrible.

I really think you can go a bit further, but you're gaining groud for sure.
I believe this to be your best song yet, which shows signs of progress.
It's not as "epic" as some of your other ones, but it surely is the best.

You have my 5/5.
As DavidOrr pointed out previously, your stuff does remind me of MaestroSorrow, but I believe you to have passed him.

MaestroSegments responds:

Awesome, thanks Arbiter. Coming from you that is a real compliment.

To be honest, I didn't really think about chord progression, or did anything different then I normally do. Maybe i'm just getting better.

I do plan to go furthar, lets see how far I can go :D.

Thanks for the review.

PS.

I likes the dissonance that makes stuff sound horrible :'(

^^, thanks for the review, really.

[Top Gear Symphony No.1]

Cerrax - Top Gear Symphony

First Impression; "If this is East West, perhaps I've been ordering the wrong thing"
The string samples sound REALLY fake---And I believed the drum's NOT to fit in at the beginning. I loved your brass part, and it sounds more real than most things I've heard here.

Some of the other parts were done nicely, however.
I don't think the techno and the orchestra fit well together, what I'd like to see here is a pure-orchestra version with a bit slower tempo.

Christian S. (Arbiter)
You're more talented than most people here, and I see you've been submitting to Rama's "ThaSauce".
I'm a friend of some of the people over at there.
Anyways, To me you're a welcome addition, but there's as with the most of us, still room for improving.

(If you believe me to be harsh, Remember that I'm more strict to experienced authors.)

I'd like you to see some of my soundtrack works over at my NG-Page, perhaps review a few ?
I'm looking forward to any reply :)

Cerrax responds:

Thanks. I actually like the harsher reviews. It gives me stuff to work on for next time :D

Basically everything you said has been covered by other people on OCR and ThaSauce (you should submit stuff!) This was a piece I did the same day that EWQLSO came in my mailbox so I didn't do a very good job with the production end of the song :P

Thanks for the review and I've actually been meaning to review your stuff, I just haven't had time! I'll see if I can review some of them today!

[-Orr-Stormy Seas]

DavidOrr - Stormy Seas

First Impression "Sounds Warcraft 3, Sounds Edgen"
Ok, This piece is one of my favorite 10 at newgrounds, and even though I've expressed my feelings for it previously.
I'll do it again.

There were some progression with the high strings, which I just couldn't quite like, as they became a bit too thin, if you had some low brass to back it, it would be awesome.
It had amazing quality, and great melodic work.
And excuse me for my bluntness, but it's too bad for me those fuckers just won't come up with my copy of that package.

You're as great as always.
Your friend, Chris.

DavidOrr responds:

Hey Chris! How long has it been since you ordered the software? There is nothing worse than waiting for something to come.

I'll go in and add some low brass to back the string melody, it will probably help give it even more a climax. Why didn't I think of that?

It's quite an honor to hear that his is among your top 10 favorites on Newgrouds! Thanks for the review!

[FFMQ - Doom Castle]

GrumbleDuke- FFMQ Doom Castle

First Impression: "So...oldschool"
Which I absolutely love, while every other person sit on their fancy computers with HL2, I'm sitting on the floor with some liters of coffee, and we're on with the SNES.

However, your samples isn't exactly the "best".
The drums sound a bit washed out, due to little bass. I like how the guitar sounds, is this hypersonic or something?

You certainly got some talent as stated in the Favorite Author List. Good luck in the contest my man.

Ps: Check out my three songs if you haven't ?
(Won't regret it hopefully).

-Arbiter

Grumbleduke responds:

Guess I mised this one, oops...
Oldschool music revamped is/was/shall forever be the way foreward. I know my samples are not brilliant (as I use GarageBand which everybody seems to knock mercilessly), and I know why the drums are a little washed out too; treble reduction. It was that or horrible tinny cymbals. The guitar is actually a default GarageBand MIDI sound with a few tweaks for added grrr. I like that one a lot; unfortunately I can't put all my music up here with it in to show you, as most of it has been contracted for the personal use of employers (who paid for it to be written).

It's happened again; I was certain I reviewed your stuff, but it appears I have not (I lose track sometimes). Better rectify that.

[RGH: Climate Storm(Remix)]

RyeGuyHead- Climate Storm

First Impression; "Sound's professional"
Ok, this is one of the pieces that actually sound professional at this webpage.
There was some clashing at the chords, making a poor chord-structure in the beginning.
But later on it was really driving.

It's overally a nice song, giving a FPS-feeling.
Should be ideal for a flash-movie.
I'd love to critize more, but I really can't find that much I dislike.

Great Job RGH.
I'm glad I saw your advertisement
9/10, noone has yet recieved a 10.
Well, see some of my tunes if you find the time.
SoundTrack'ish for movies :)

Fived.

RyeGuyHead responds:

A flash movie would be ideal

Thank you

[KoT - Mightnights]

Killer_Of_Trolls - Mightnights

First Impression; "This can get interesting".
I like your use of bells, reminds of me of MaestroSorrow's fetish for those things.
What I believe was your strongest essence in this piece was actually your string work, they didn't sound too washed out as most Edirol Strings do.
I recognize these things.
I believe you should have had a contrabass in the deep octaves to have a steady line so you wouldn't get the empty holes.
That's the con of this song.
It doesn't really go any far, and has little variety.

I believe at point your string section's came in, you should have done a Timpani-Roll continued by some slow and dark percussionate works to compliment the bells and the strings.
The piano should have been sustained, and in a lower octave, as well as perhaps having some chord-left hand.

Do not at any circumstances believe that I dislike your music, as I don't.
I just felt that you didn't quite finish this one.
I believe you should have used the fullstrings a bit more, as well.

As for my samples, I've been using various soundfonts for percussion, as well as GigaStudio 3.0 for the two first song's percussion.
What you heard in "War of The Mice" is actually the same sample package as you use.
Edirol HQ Orchestra, legally of course.

Slayer-of-trolls responds:

Thanks for the review and sorry for the late reply. I'm actually using a different sample set for the this one but still thanks for the advice. I've got a few more pieces in the works. Do you have MSN?