SourJovis's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Cthulhu Surfaces]

Sounds very cinematic. Great sound fonts and composition. Wouldn't be out of place in a high budget film adaptation of H.P. Lovercraft's work. Some of the parts don't sound as bombastic as others. Mainly the short close by pizzicato strings and some of the percussion distract from the feeling of a large sea monster, and make the song sound less ominous. Perhaps it would work if it is timed with the right shots. Like the more bombastic parts are for the wide shots, and the other parts for close-ups. I would classify this as cinematic. Not classical.

headphoamz responds:

That's very kind of you to say, I'd be flat-out psyched to have it in a film. Yeah, I'm thinking cinematic as well, actually. I just thought there were parts that felt a lot more stylistic than normally used for cinema, but now that I look back on it, a genre change is in order!

[Lazy Island Daze]

Very good song. Clean and transparent mixing. This song needs that because some of the instruments sound kind of undifined, like the chromatic percussion instrument. Is that a gamelan? I like how you use all kinds of instruments from different cultures. Makes me think of a compilation of a travel around the world. The constant rhythm with the bass, percussion and rhythm guitar tie the free styling ethnic instruments together. Like everyone from all cultures can do their own thing whilst being united. Just as I thought it was getting repetitive at 1:25 there's a change in rhythm, good timing. Unfortunately I can't wish you luck with the contest, and I don't hope you win, but you know it's nothing personal :P

acmeDyne responds:

Thanks for the nice review! :)
''Lin Kano's Fighting Show" is awesome and I really think you should be the one to advance.
Good luck!

[Minotaur's Labyrinth]

It does sound better with these instruments yes. Well chosen instruments. Very atmospheric pads. It shows better how good the melody is. I think the part from 1:28 to 1:59 is too long. Especially because not a lot is going on there. I like how the return of the melody at 2:09 isn't as muddy as before anymore. I think you can make it more climactic though by playing the second voice. That's a backup for the original melody but 2 to 5 semitones (depending on scale and chords) below the original. Also the ending is a bit abrupt. I think the melody could even have gone on there, developing into a new part.

GamekrazzyProduction responds:

hmm I like alot of your suggestions... Perhaps I will make a more complete version in the future then. :D

I mean I feel that this is already fairly complete, but more so as a loop I suppose... In my mind I can see this being used on loop in a flash.

Thanks for your review Jovis!

[M. Path Through Infinity]

The composition doesn't sound too bad. Definitely mysterious with the reverb and dissonant chords. It does get muddy though. Maybe you should do something about that. Also turn down the volume. The song clips and sounds blown up when the notes are too loud. I wanted to say you should put more emotion in your playing, because it sounds way too tight, you could speed up and slow down more and change the loudness of your playing. But considering how fast this piece is I actually have a hard time believing you play this yourself. Actually I think very few people could actually play this. That's a downer for me. I'm more about the beauty of a melody and the emotion put into the performance rather than how difficult it is to play. To me music should be art, not a circus performance (though a circus performance can be art as well). I like the parts that aren't too fast better. They're less pretentious and sound more melodic. Assuming you programmed most of this you actually did put some different velocity levels in there, and that's good, but it still doesn't quite sound realistic and emotional enough. Keep practicing and you'll better learn to put emotion in your playing.

Blacklawn responds:

I didn't play this. The overall theme was meant to fit for a mysterious and very powerful character. Too bad you didn't like it.

[Fall From Grace (Part 1)]

Nice man. Great sound. Like a warm blanket of darkness, with beautiful sparks of light. Or in space. Very well mixed. The only complaint is the ending is that abrubt, but I suppose that's because part 2 starts there.

[Deadly Maze]

Not bad. I like arpeggios with 8-bit. It's rather short. For a loop as well. It gets repetitive soon. I would add a part after this of at least halve a minute that is a bit different from the rest with a different chord scheme and melody. I don't like it too well that at 00:47 an arpeggio plays over the melody. At first I thought it was nice because the melody became more complex, but then I realized it was just a broken up chord, and it actually muddies the melody. So I would change it so the arpeggio plays something that actually supports the melody, like a second voice (2 or 3 halve notes lower that the original) or some counter melodies, like fast notes where the main melody holds a note, or a combination of the two. The song fits a retro style game dungeon. I'd like to see it get used.

GamekrazzyProduction responds:

I know the loop feels a bit short, as I wrote it this way. It could probably still use an added part though.
As for 0:47, you got it wrong.... the melody plays over the arpeggio, except it is just as you said because there are more parts going on, the melody becomes quieter, thus making it seem muddied. I suppose a simple fix to this would be to make the melody louder. Thanks for the review Jovis!

[Coin and Haggle]

Makes me think of a shop theme for a game in a medieval setting. Mainly because of the coins, but the rest fits as well. I like how you recorded a live violin. The other instruments sound pretty good and realistic as well by the way. It's not like the violin stands out.

MichaelJ responds:

Yes, I think it all fits together nicely. I'm so grateful to have a friend who plays violin (extremely well).

[Setting Out]

I like this song. Good composition and instrumentation. Very light. A nice adventurous hopeful mood. Reminds me of Wild Arms.

BlazingDragon responds:

I love the Wild Arms soundtrack! The opening theme to the first game in the series is one of my favorite pieces of video game music. So thank you, I appreciate the comparison. :)

[The Ancient Ones]

Nice atmosphere. I actually like the intro. The things I like a little less are that the strings sound a bit too sampled. Maybe you should've used better, more organic samples. Also it becomes a bit too compressed or starts clipping when it gets loud. From 1:30 onward. Some people do that to create more dramatic effect, but i personally don't like it much. I do like the choir and the percussion and the leitmotif used throughout the song. It sounds very dangerous, ominous and also epic.

TitanMusic responds:

Thanks for the review!
Yeah, I really like it too. I guess it depends on what mood you are in when you listen to it.
I'm pretty sad about the strings. I think I could have made this song a lot better but I had the misfortune of losing my "go to" string package. It just stopped working and no amount of "fiddling" could get it back. I think my pc is cracking up again. Despite that, no excuses. I didn't do a great job with the mixing and mastering. Partly due to my inexperience and partly due to time constraints. (Both of the competition and my own personal responsibilities.)
If I get through to the next round I think I will do a better job.
The "clipping" might be a symphobian percussive element? Or just a mistake on my part. I did add a few more distorted sounds to give it a bigger sound but perhaps I should not have.
Thanks for the review!

[substructure]

Sounds very pleasant. You mentioned earlier your songs weren't very complex, but I think it's complex enough though. More complex doesn't mean better. I like the fast synths a lot. They're hard to follow, but they sound funky and go easy on the ear. The ending isn't bad, though just a little cut off it seems. It would be nice if you could fix that, but it's not too annoying. Cutting a song down to most important parts sounds like a good idea. 3 to 5 minutes generally is the best length for me to hold my attention. Good job.

johnfn responds:

I just fixed your problem with the crash as you made this comment.

I'm glad you liked it! The thing about being unable to follow synths was in some way part of my goal, in that the melody would come second to the emotions that the melody brought through. It's kind of weird and I can understand that maybe I could have executed it better!

Your point about complexity is interesting. While I consider this song to have a lot of notes, I don't consider them to be particularly complex notes. ;-) The chord movements are all very straightforward, as are the melodies. But I don't think that's necessarily bad. Some of the greatest music ever written was straightforward too.