SourJovis's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Welcome to the Real World]

Great song. The instruments work well together. I like the synths that are really front and center, but the drums, bass and guitars fit very well too. They form a solid foundation for the synth parts but are interesting enough to stand out at the right moments. Interesting drum fills, guitar solo's and bass licks. Good job making such a full mix sound transparant and not too muddy. Very pleasing to the ear. FM is the bomb yeah. Congrats on winning the NGTreasureHunt23 and the well deserved FrontPage 10 years after the upload. I didn't know about you back then, but you've got a new fan now.

[Nowhere Land]

Nice. I like chiptune. It reminds me of Final Fantasy VII. Maybe because of the midi-ish sound and the banjo that is used on some of the songs in that game as well. Like for the chocobo farms.

The bell synth is cool as a lead instrument. Very light and happy. It sounds a bit like a toy piano. Maybe an actual toy piano sample would be even better. I already like this sound well enough though.

The saw wave I like least. It stands out too much and drowns out the other instruments with its sharp overtones. It doesn't fit a country folk song and isn't light enough for this song. Maybe a fiddle/violin or cello sample instead would've been better. If you need it at all. I don't know what melodic information that instrument gives that the other's don't but you would know better than I.

The distorted electric guitar is okay. I think I see where you're going, but it could be excecuted better. It doesn't sound quite like a country guitar and might just as well be a rock guitar. Too thin and harsh on the top. I know it's chiptune and you're limited in how to make the instruments sound, but maybe a little less distortion and more body would be nice. Like an hollow body Archtop guitar without a distortion/fuzz pedal driven into the pre-amp to get the overdrive from the amp itself, then down-sampled and played back on an snes sound-chip or whatever you use to make it chiptune.

The bass and the drum pattern are good they make it sound very country. Especially the tambourine on top.

It would be cool if the song looped. Like most chiptune/video game songs. That may to make sense for an end credit song, but I think it sounds more like a town theme or happy intermission kind of theme anyway.
The song drags on a little too much for it to loop nicely though. It's a constant variation on of the same themes. I think it could do with a break that's significantly different from the rest but still fits the country theme, where you introduce a new melody and rhythm to keep the listeners on their toes. That creates more variation and makes it more bearable to listen to it for longer periods of time.

Thetageist responds:

The whole point of the song’s instrument choices is to be incongruous and have a “huh?” factor - the best way I can describe the sound is like an electronic artist adding MIDI tracks to a recording of a rock ballad, that was itself playing over an older recording of a country guitar. It’s almost a little cheesy, and that’s on purpose.

But I definitely agree that mixing and EQ could be done better here (if I did them at all - I think this is before I knew how to change the EQ), and that GarageBand’s guitars suck, hehe. I’m supposed to be collaborating with an actual guitarist right now - do you think I should try revisiting this with him?

[March]

Very atmospheric experimental song. I can imagine this playing in a retro game. Although it also reminds me of Star Wars somehow.

It's very hard to grasp at first. The notes seem random, but after a few listens you start to notice a pattern. The recurring motifs grow on you. The counter melodies are interesting. This song has many layers. All kinds of different instruments complementing each other.

The instrumentation is really good. I don't know what all of that is, but it sounds electronic yet organic at the same time. Like a mechanical orchestra but with more exotic instruments. The melody is very outlandish as well. Like it's in a dessert on another planet. The lofi sound is really cool. I'm obsessed with vintage synthesizers and other instruments, that have an old worn out sound that makes them sound alive. That's why I enjoy this so much.

I'm picturing old dusty robots marching through a desert on a distant planet. I guess that's why I'm thinking of Star Wars. But also because of the melodies that sound classical and exotic at the same time. Just like in Star Wars although they dind't use synthesizers for that. I heard George Lucas originally wanted an electronic ssound, but in the end chose an orchestral score to make it sound more epic. Old synths playing original classical sounding compositions sound pretty epic to me though. I saw you even wrote things out as sheet music. Such thought that went into it all. I think you're really underrated, that's why I've scouted you. Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Maybe it sounds a little too soft, lofi and dim. That makes it even harder to tell what's going on and difficult to get into. I know the worn out sound is what it's all about. You don't want to lose that, but maybe clean the mix up a bit more with some effects like EQ, put a bit compression on the tracks so you get a more transparent and louder song so the listener can discern the different layers, better hear what's going on, so it becomes easier to enjoy.

[Chemandos OST: Main Theme]

Cool track! It has a nice funky, retro vibe I really like. Especially in the second halve where the more melodic organ and lead synth kicks in. The percussion and sound effects are also super cool though. I will check out the game.

Jojo responds:

Thank you very much for the kind words. Was too busy to say something before, but in-depth reviews like this are always much appreciated.

[Alloy Reloaded]

Very 90's sound indeed. Very raw digital unpolished sounds. I like the scratching. That choir sound is cool.

[Video Game Virtuoso]

Very good! I like chiptune. You really nailed the gameboy style. I also have Super Audio Cart. You use it very well, but if you're into creating chip-tune on a computer might I suggest algorithmic 8-bit sound emulators, so you can create your own sounds exactly how you want them to sound without being limited to how the samples sound. I haven't found the best gameboy sound-chip emulator yet, but I'm using Ochen K's Chip64. I believe it's only for Reason though and won't work in FL Studio. For FL you probably have other good instruments.

burningmagma responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

[St0p That]

Very well made. The voice acting was good, the sound effects too, and it was very well put together.

[Computer Man]

Great song filled with humour.

[The Theme of the BattleBots]

Very 80's chord progression. The synths sound cool too. I like new wave. The slow atmospheric synth melodies sound really nice over the fast paced heavy drums. The vocoded vocals are mixed in well with the rest.

[T1GHT3R (Robot Day 2022)]

Groovy. I like the pulsating beat. Cool computer sound effects. I like the break best, with the synth choir pad and the atmospheric noises. The outro is nice too.