Spadezer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Primoris]

I came over here because of your musical journey post on your thread and I just had to write something down here. Metroid Prime 1 and 2 were some of the coolest games I've ever played. And then you made a remix here that gave me chills. I'm geeking out so hard right now! This makes me so happy I can't help but smile as I'm writing this down. It's so good!

Step responds:

Haha I'm flattered! Metroid Prime games are just amazing. I'm pretty happy with this cover because even though I think I could've done some better voicing with the instruments, I thought that the orchestral/soundtrack approach was a great idea for the Prime 1 menu theme.

I'm glad you like it!

[Vagrant Song]

It doesn't work for me as much, and I hope it's not because I'm misinterpreting the track. Your mind doesn't work the same on a small amount of sleep. 03:41 to the end makes sense though. It sounds too vague and too empty for me. Although this is just in my opinion and a bunch of people in the reviews section seem to enjoy it a bit more than I do.

It does a good job creating a low-key atmosphere, and in certain scenarios it's probably not too shabby. The main things hurting it is that it's got a lot of empty space that I can't get past and the distorted guitar didn't feel quite right in the later half of the song.

I'll blame it on some misinterpretation of the song on my part, so I'll give you a 4

Chemiqals responds:

No porridge is just right for everybody! =P

[Supernova]

A pretty energetic piece, although it couldn't hold my attention throughout the whole song. What could have been cool to hear is if you were to change up the first half of the song with the rhythm change like you did at the end, and then repeat that and maybe even vary it a little more after the quiet break you have in the middle.
The drums seemed to be a tad too much. I'm thinking that they weren't too bad of a volume, but after a while, especially when I was trying to pay attention to the lyrics, it would have been nice to hear them be a little more dynamic than full volume 80% of the time all at once.

Enough of the bad though, I like the atmosphere you have. Oh, the vocals are pretty sweet. I'm going to assume that's you singing and I like what I hear. I don't know if they lyrics match the mood of the music, but that's personal preference. 03:14, I catch myself looking around cause it sounds like there's a car outside of my house with a loud bass at first. Nice touch. I really like the rhythm change at 03:30 compared to what you were doing in the first half of the song. Heh, the pop/click at 03:42 makes me smile everytime.

Yes I'm hear and I'm listening. And I'd give you a 8.5/10 in personal opinion.
-Spadezer-

KabukiTunes responds:

Thank you very much for your review! The vocals actually come from a vocal pack that I bought, I really wish I could sing that well. I plan to fix this song up and release it fully (since I only had 2 weeks to do anything), so I'll definitely keep this review in mind

[The Concert]

Yay! I'm so happy to hear another piece from you guys.

OMG, the sneeze was perfect! I would have never expected to hear it on an orchestral piece at Newgrounds. Man, I miss doing band class in High school. I loved performing.

I'm really glad to hear some really good sounding classical piano playing. There's so much attention to harmonies and chord structure with pieces like these. I also like how you have to orchestra add to some of the themes being set by the piano. Like when you add some of the low strings at 02:33. Even though it's a piano piece you still have the orchestra playing along adding to the atmosphere. Ah, the french horns sound sweet. However, like what other people have been saying about the piano, if you had some reverb, it would have sounded more like a piano at a concert and less like a piano in a bar. But that's just beating a dead horse right now.

Loved it. A solid 9/10 from me, even though I'm not a judge.
-Spadezer-

SoundChris responds:

Thanks a lot Spadezer for another great, kind and detailed review of yours! Glad you noticed the sneeze haha. I really (call me insane) took quite a lot of time to make it shine :D I always found it very funny when people after the applause and directly before the orchestral starts seem to think NOW I REALLY HAVE TO SNEEZE - ITS NOT OR NEVER :D

Maybe thats also what makes it so funny- everything is so earnest and then ... cough - sneeze!

I wasnt comfortable with the piano sound but since i finished the piece (the orchestration in the end stil is unfinished since i had massive problems with logic before the deadline ...) i could not check the reverb on my monitors. Btw i fixed that issue here. The orchestration will stil be worked over.

Thanks man for leaving your thoughs here- really made me happy! All the best for you and hope to see you at the latest next NGADM :D
Chris

[Aurora Dawn]

I'm always happy to hear your singing voice! You have great control and it sounds, dare I say, heavenly. The composition is majestic and creates a really soothing atmosphere. There's a bunch of people in this contest with great sounding orchestral software, you're definitely one of them. I really want to get what you guys have (which I'm assuming will be like a year from now cause I'm so broke right now).
What would have been really cool, I would have loved to hear you to some harmonies the last time through the lyrics.

Beautiful piece. Best of luck to ya.
-Spadezer-

etherealwinds responds:

I wouldn't say I have great sounding orchestral software! I suppose I'm just used to getting the best sound out of what I do have. I even use some soundfonts ^_^

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. Good luck to you too!!

[A Girl's Champion]

I feel like you were beating yourself up too much. If you wouldn't have said anything, I wouldn't have even questioned it until you faded everything out except for the glockenspiel (holy cow, I spelled it correctly on my first try). Everything else sounds so beautiful. I'd say that it sounds like professional music.

I'll let the judges worry about judging you. I like what I hear.
-Spadezer-

Bosa responds:

Thanks man! That really means quite a bit actually. It helps to know that I produced something worthwhile at least!

[Voluto]

I don't have a problem with this. You varied up the main theme enough with different rhythms and synths to keep it sounding fresh for me. The mixing is pretty good too. The percussion and the bass did seem to distort a bit, but the weird thing is that I liked it. It seemed to fit like you did it on purpose and it works. I like the sidechaining you have going on, and I really like the bass rhythm change up at 01:37.

I'd give a 9/10.

This track is kickin'
-Spadezer-

AeronMusic responds:

Yep, it is quite distorting, it's what I like too! I am also really glad you like the overall song! (:

[Survival of the Hungriest]

This is pretty epic stuff. It's sounds just like music heard from a movie (sounds like you have some pretty fancy software going on). I want to do a nice review for you but I don't want to bring this down at all.

One thing I can say about the mixing is that the brass sound like they're a notch too quiet. At 01:33, I had to switch back from the submissions tab I was on and come back to this. From this point on, it was so epic I couldn't turn away. The only problem so far is that it seems like the mixing is focused on the strings too much. The power is still there so the mixing isn't hurting the piece at all, but it's something I still notice. Gosh, the last section is so emotional. I hope the couple won... otherwise you've made a really sad listener.

Above all, I would give you a 9.3... maybe a 9.5... I don't know. The themes really told a story fairly well and it had me sucked in the entire time. I loved it.

Respect
-Spadezer-

EvilRaccoon responds:

Thanks for the review Spadezer! :) I've been mixing a lot recently and it's a fair juggle. I agree the strings are a bit too frontal. They tend to be brought forward more by the woodwinds which seemed to enhance their frequencies, so it's something I'm taking a look at as they should all sit in a mix and not have one be dominating the other. I've probably over done it with pulling them back, usually my mix is brass heavy but this helps to confirm what I thought. So thanks for that, it helps a lot to have another set of ears confirm my thoughts.

As for the ending, it's entirely up to yourself. I did have an idea, but the element of it was there was loss of a loved one, but ultimately survival overall.

Thanks again for your comments, they are greatly appreciated. :)

[Distant Memories]

The only thing I have to say is thanks. This was much appreciated.

-Spadezer-

DanJohansen responds:

My pleasure Spadezer, appreciate your feedback a lot man.

[Sleepy World]

I need to say, this is a nifty track but I feel like something needs to be said about the mixing in general. I feel like the low end is too hot. It sounds like the kick and the bass instruments are clipping and washing out the track. I suggest using a multiband compressor and playing around with the sound levels of the instruments past that point. You also mentioned in the description that you're not comfortable with the mixing in the guitars. I feel like they're simply to loud. Not too much, but just too loud and too noticeable.

That's all of the bashing that I have though. It sounds pretty cool otherwise. I love the atmosphere when you had the percussion stuff at 00:15.

Beautiful work otherwise.
-Spadezer-

Azhthar responds:

Thx a lot! Glad you like it. It´s good that you speak about the problem with the bass because in the last time I had to mix with headphones which simply had no bass... So I guess in nearly all of my recent mixes there is to much bass... I´ll try to fix it because actually I got new mixing headphones 1 hour ago ;) Hope I have enough time to fix everything...