Arbiter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Names]

Love_Hate_War - Names

First Impression: "This got some promise..."
And you didn't fail to deliver the goods.
I loved your drums to compliment the piano, as if gave this even darker feeling.
The vocal-names was also fitting to the title.

You might want to do as DavidOrr said and get a better piano. The pause was great, because it let the mind breath a little when analyzing the music, and the guitar was a nice touch to the song.

I haven't heard anything else than this from you---but this didn't disappoint me.
I believe you have a future in music, if you don't already have gotten signed.

I'll give you a e-hug if you check out my page :)
Christian S. (Arbiter)
9/10 - 5/5

Love-Hate-War responds:

Yeh, sorry about the piano, it's a VST, it was free, its the best i could do with my finances =P Thanks for the review, a 9 means alot coming from you!

[Tority (MTech)]

JamesMillen- Tority (MTech)

First Impression: "How can he call this epic piece circus music".
and for the first time ever, Second Impression: "Oh."

It really gave me this epic feeling in the beginning, and I believe that you should have continued that. But that's just me.

Later on, when the circus part comes in, I like all your aspects of the music.
I also like your chronomatic percussion.

You seem to be pretty technically good at music, and you can reach out quite far.
I wish you only the best in the future.
And I'd love you to check by my page, there's currently only two songs, but you might like one or both :)

-Christian S. (Arbiter)

[Introduction, Rondo et Scherzo]

MusicalRocky- Rondo et Scherzo

First Impression: "Why is the pauses so damn long..."
Anyways, this piece I feel is a bit empty, though well produced. It's mostly just chord playing, and it's VERY predictable.
Mostly because you're following some classical-styles.

If this is you playing the keyboard, as it's not a real piano. It's rather impressive.
And even as sequenced, it's quite good.
And you're 15 years old, giving you an advantage later on, because just think about what your skill will be in a couple of years.

It's like some other piece I heard today not that diverse, and I would have loved to see several different tempos and styles.

It's one of the better pieces on NG, but there's room for more.
Anyways; If you find the time. Head over to my page. I've only got two songs up, but according to my comments thus far, it's rather nice quality songs. (New to this site)
I wish you all the best in the future.
-Christian S. (Arbiter)
8/10 5/5

MusicalRocky responds:

Um I thought the pauses helped with the unpredictability :(

Lol um...Empty? Maybe the long pauses and pedal made it sound echoey, but it's not empty haha. Mostly just chord playing? Well, what in any music ISN'T chord playing?

No, this is a computer-generated performance, with sounds from Garritan. With my dynamics, tempo variances, and pedal usage, I aimed to make it sound more like a real performance.

I didn't do any of the sound quality of the song lol. That was Klace.

More tempos, eh? Well there are like...10 different tempos, with ritardandos and accelerandos all over haha. And with my slow, improv-like intro, rondo-ish themes, and heroic parts, I think it's got quite enough different styles in it :(

I'll swing by your page sometime. I'm kinda busy at the moment lol. Well, as you can see, I disagreed with a lot that you said. Thanks for the review though.

MusicalRocky

[WC > Going Home]

WaterColor- Going Home

First Impression "Rhode-like pads, seem's interesting"

After a while I felt that it was getting repetive for the long amount of time being elapsed. The drums was about the only varied thing you could clearly hear.
It's technically good, but it's really not my style.

That's not the reason you get the score you do, that is length compared to diversity, It's just a too long track to actually just consist of those few instruments you had in it.

Overall - 7/10
Ps; Wouldn't mind you going over to my page and leaving a review or two :)
-Christian S. (Arbiter)

[Khuskan - Dance in E Major]

Khuskan - Dance in E Major

First Impression: "Piano, mmmh."
Ok: I'll try to keep this one brief.
I liked your "playing" though it sounded a bit sequenced because of the volume level's.
This was a very good piece, but on your "F - PP" "F - PP" part I felt that the first "PP" was a bit too low. I consider this "Muzak", or elevator music.

But that's just me.
No offense meant, You're a great composer if I'm to judge that from this song.
I haven't heard any other songs of yours yet, but that might change.

I feel that it's great, but there's something I can't quite put my finger on, something is missing for me to give it the perfect 10.
(But none has recieved one yet, and I've reviewed 40-50 people the last two days)

Anyways: Best of wishes to you Khuskan, continue composing and I might see your name on the credit rolls soon enough :)

Ps: For SoundTrack referances, see my two tunes (They got validated today ^^)

Christian S. (Arbiter)

[Without Limits (Fixed)]

NightVision - Without Limits (F)

First Impression; "This isn't classical"
And I was right, First off, You need some better string/pizzicato strings. I liked your piano and some of the string-buildings.
But I really disliked the pizzicato sample.
Your drumming was good, but it had another quality level than the rest of the song, making it imbalanced. Lo-fi Strings and Hi-fi Drums.
It just clashed.

I think this song would be worth a 9-10 with some vocals to match your R&B tag.
This is really Fusion between Classical and R&B, but I feel that it fits more in the R&B section.

Anyhow, Great song. 8/10.
Ps; Check out my stuff, will ye? SoundTrack/Classical.

Christian S. (Arbiter)

nightvision responds:

This is great, having the diverse reviews that i've recieved. Each time you do this, it helps me understand the collective response, and it tells me what I need to change. Thank you Christian S.

[One Last Goodbye V.2]

DJ_Dinero - One Last Goodbye V.2

First Impression; "Okay, A piano. Sounds R&B"
But you've certainly proven me wrong.
I think the pauses was a bit long, but that's really ok. I like how you play them (If that's not sequenced, that is)

But this has the diversity and variation of a real piano. Though it was a rather low quality recording/sample. This section later on gave me this feeling of "It's gonna be ok", but I disagree with the flute thing that SoulStrings came up with. This song need's a lower string support. Full String Ensemble to fill out void.
It doesn't have to be dominant.
Just giving a more wide and full musical picture.

The ending was pretty straight forward, but worked just fine.
Keep up the work my friend, and you will reach out to the Video Game industries.

Ps; Check out my two songs for more SoundTrack references. Review's apprieciated as you know ^^
-Christian S. (Arbiter)

snazzypadgett responds:

Thanks for the suggestions on how to fill in the "void" on the frequencies the piano doesn't cover! Yes, you're right, when I add strings, they don't have to be dominant, I can just use them very lightly to fill in those gaps. I am considering doing this, but I wouldnt submit it here. I might submit the orchestral version though (see 2 reviews down).

I'm glad the emotions I meant to give you worked out :) The sadness, the nostalgia, and the middle section's brighter side. It's a good feeling to make somebody feel happy or sad through music :)

I'll definitely check out your songs!

[Imperion]

Dj_Padman1 - Imperion

First Impression: "Wrong Equalizing."
Ok: I hear alot of synthwork has been done, and I like alot of your idea's, but the club-kick drum has overpowered the song alot, making everything sound staccato.

The synthwork was the best part.
Your padwork was pretty straight forward but rather good. The equalizing on the Kick drum needs lowered bass, and a bit higher treble.
If you use FL, You can do this with the Parametric EQ.

The snare drum later on introduced for something, but it just never came.
Anyways, Good Song overall, don't get me the wrong way, this was one of the better trance song's.

-Christian S. (Arbiter)
Ps; Check out some of my music, will ye?:)

dj-padman1 responds:

Wouldn't the kick drum overpowering the song be a question of compression?
Thanks for your advice, I must go and have a long hard look at that kick drum!
The snare drum was an incidental sound, you may or may not hear a handclap that plays on the 2 and the 4 of the bar for most of the song.
I will certainly check out your music, I think I actually have listened and voted, but I didn't review, so maybe that will change.
Thanks again :)

[Flight Of The Pheonix-with vox]

Darkkloud - Flight of the Phoenix

First Impression; In the beginning you was a bit offkey when it came to the drums.
But it got better after a few loops.
I couldn't hear that much of the vocals, and you need more guitar recordings, including a rhythm guitar along with a lead.
Whilst the vocals playing, the guitar sounded thin.

After the first vocal thing; It lost alot of it's touch, with random playing, singing and impossible drums.
I suggest you start a foundational riff---just something easy. Just something like "Chug Chug Hit Chug" or something.

I liked your third riff thing.
There's some errors with time signature.
But that's ok.

You gotta drop the 8/2 drums.
They're just too fast.
Anyways; Overall I give you 7, you have a long way to go. But you'll get there.

-Christian S. (Arbiter)
Check out some of my stuff, it's not exactly metal, but It's cool anyways.

darkkloud responds:

well thanks, but th vocals were not at all random my friend.as well as th song was only meant to have one guitar, i wrote it for only guitar and drums, but i added vocals.

[Lufia II - For the Savior]

General_Leo - Lufia II | For The Savior

First Imperssion; "So...horrible samples..."
Anyways, I didn't really hear that many changes from the original song. But I guess that makes this a remake.
If you're using FLStudio 6, I suggest you download new samples from Www.hammersound.net .
It's a bit harder to mix them properly with reverb etc etc, but it's well worth it.

The timpani should have been lowered, and I didn't like that you faded it out instead of adding this extra OMPH in the end, as it's not a quiet and calm song.

Anyways, it's a pretty good remake.
Christian S. (Arbiter)
Ps; Check my stuff out if you find the time.
You wont regret :)

LoneEagle responds:

I know about the horrible samples, it says in the description that this is more than 2 years old now. It was done with fl4 or even 3 i don't remember.

Right now i'm using fl studio 5. I don't know shit about how to use vsti/vst so i'm pretty much stuck with the default samples... but i don't really mind cause i don't want to take hours to make some samples sound good. All i want to do is compose just for the heck of it and as long as i'm satisfied with that, then cheap samples it will be.

I know there's nothing new to this song, as i only wanted to remake it. What is an "OMPH"? That's right you are talking to a noob now so terminology like this is out of my vocabulary.

Hmm... about the reverb thing, i don't even know how to use that in fl5. I mean i found where it is and all but it won't let me use it. I guess i'm not doing the thing right.

I'm listening to your stuff right now and i am very impressed about what i'm hearing. It's a shame that it cannot be downloaded, i'll go and review it shortly.

It was a really hard decision to make when i was about to upload that song because i know that it isn't so great, but i said what the hell. Plus there wasn't any songs from that great game on all of newgrounds so that's why i put it here.

Thanks alot for the review Chris.

Oh, i might sound pissed but i'm really not, it's just that i haven't been able to come up with anything these past few weeks and i really know that my bad samples are hurting me.