SourJovis's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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.

[FD - Plaenitude]

The intro sounds really good. The reverb meshes everything nicely creating a comfy blanket of sounds. Nice echo on the guitar. I like the flute best of all. I like how the bass, the electric guitar and drums come in, and contribute nicely to the buildup. I think they start out a little too prominent though. Very loud. I agree with Kor-Rune about the 16/8 to the floor guitar becoming repetitive. The same goes for the drums and the bass. They also seem more repetitive because they're that loud. The softer instruments have most variation and are more interesting. The guitars and drums get more variation later on. I like that. At that point it's actually nice they're that loud. (though the snare is still a bit too piercing) Perhaps you could've started that part sooner, or let the drums and guitars start later or build up more softly. At the climactic part of the song you could've gone a bit more all out, with the variations and velocity. Anyways this is just my opinion. Good song. Good luck in the competition.

ForgottenDawn responds:

I agree with what you said. I probably needed to improve the guitar dynamics and let the rest of the atmosphere breathe out. Thank you for your insight, good luck as well.

[A Storm Over Lavender Lane]

Very well written. Sounds truly classical and complex. The articulation is quite nice on this piece. Very lively. But I don't think you actually play this live, it sounds a little to smooth. If you did actually play it like this you play really well. I don't think this is an acoustic grand either. I don't hear any resonation of the strings. Maybe if the right people pick it up it will be performed life by a famous pianist in a concert hall. I think this piece deserves it.

headphoamz responds:

Oh yeah dude, there's no way I could ever play this at this speed. But this is how it sounded in my head and how I intended it to be heard. Thanks so much Jovis, good luck to you in the comp!

[Empty]

Nice song. You sing quite well. Better than me (though that doesn't say much). The guitars are played very good. I think I'd like the drums louder and with more processing, and the bass a bit deeper, the other instruments a bit brighter and with some more reverb, to make the song shine more. It's very well written and structured. Nice mood.

DivoFST responds:

Thanks for the review SourJovis :D
im not a singer thats for sure, but i do have a lot of fun singing :D
The drums louder i can see that working, not sure if bringing the higher frequencies and adding even more more reverb would help thought..only trying xD

[The River Flows]

Good song. I think it would sound great in your new game. I think sometimes some of the notes sound very dissonant. I don't know why that is. Maybe there are a few errors, or instruments are a little out of tune, or it could be just my imagination. I also think you should pan the instruments more. That may solve the dissonance issue. It would loop very well if you time it right. I like how the instruments sound simple and pure.

frootza responds:

Thanks SJ! I never applied any panning which was stupid of me, I should fix that. Good call! I definitely should have. Asian instruments do tend to sound off tune at times. And hmm.. Good point, maybe we'll include this one in game! Thanks for pointing out the panning issue!

frootza

[Obsidian Komplete]

Great song. I'm not a metalhead except for a few whims and grunting isn't exactly my style, but I can still respect this. Very well mixed. Transparent. You can hear all the individual instruments easily. The drums sound best of all. It's more difficult to hear what the guitars are doing sometimes. The bass could've been deeper and more droning. The synth effects at the beginning sound a bit disconnected. It's like they're just there for the sake of having an intro. I think an intro with some suspenseful chords would've been more interesting. The song would also have been more interesting if you used some synthetic effects or pads during the rest of the song. And/or some symphonic instruments like strings. Doesn't have to be too dominant. But the instruments you use are pretty standard for metal. It would become more interesting with additional less common instruments added. Overall good job.

adilovemetal responds:

Thank you :) Yes I have to do something about the synth in the beginning. Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it.