bassfiddlejones's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Weirdo's Gigue]

This is an NGADM Round 6 review.

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8-bit steampianist!

What I liked:
-This is a fantastic track. Quite possibly my favorite from you yet!
-Amazing rhythms throughout this piece. It's very funky.
-Great main melody, and the harmonies are all done well.
-This belongs in a video game somewhere.
-Neat 5/4 section.
-I'm really a sucker for circle progressions.

What could have been better:
-The 5/4 section was lacking some of the punch of the rest of the piece.
-The ending was a bit abrupt, but not entirely out of place.

I really don't have much to complain about, this was a great piece! Excellent job.

Score: 9.8/10

steampianist responds:

Thanks jones as always

and im glad my scores got higher from you each round thanks man

[Busy Feet]

This is an NGADM Round 5 review.

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What I liked:
-I like the harp sound in the beginning a lot, the intro is very nice!
-Vocals are set well in the mix, great job!
-Neat chords in the beginning/throughout.

What could have been better:
-The "background" synth doesn't really do it for me, I think it takes away from the rest of the piece.
-I don't really hear anything from the intro again in the rest of the piece - would like to see that reintroduced.
-This feels altogether like it lacks some cohesion as a piece - that could possibly be remedied by introducing some more rhythmic elements as in the introduction.

Overall a very neat piece, great job!

Score: 8.6/10

[wide world]

This is an NGADM Round 5 review.

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What I liked:
-Very chill atmosphere.
-Neat piano work!
-I love the introduction of that synth around 1:20. Very tastefully done playing it off the piano like that!

What could have been better:
-It's been said already, but the drums need some variation.
-Wasn't a huge fan of the synth you chose in the beginning, but that's just personal taste.
-I don't think the breakcore section really worked. It feels out of place to me, and even throughout that the drums in the background stay the same.

Overall this track feels a bit rushed to me, and I think you can definitely do better, but the ideas presented here are quite good.

Score: 8.2/10

[Graveyard Shenanigans]

This is an NGADM Round 5 review.

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What I liked:
-Catchy melody and chord progression, as always!
-You did an excellent job using atmospheric sounds in this.
-Great melodies and harmonies all around!

What could have been better:
-I feel like the track was lacking some low end.
-Mixing wasn't bad, but it felt a little flat to me.
-I would love to hear you change your instrumentation up a little - there's no doubt this is "steampianist", which isn't necessarily bad, but I would like some more variation!

Overall a great piece, not too much to complain about. Excellent composition, sir!

Score: 9/10

steampianist responds:

Thanks man

[Confession]

Wow Emid, this is fantastic! I really love the groove you have going on up to 1:59, almost like epic funk music. Makes me want to play some bass. The way the bass and drums work together is fantastic. I can't get over how good this section is, actually.

The part following that is very cinematic, but feels a lot less "full" then the amazing start to your track. You could use some bass between 2:00 and 3:18 or so. That would add a lot and really round out the track. That's probably the biggest critique I have of this piece. The only other thing that I would suggest is bringing back the original rhythm and melody (the funky stuff) and reintroducing it near the end.

I really love the choir/cello near the end! It's so beautiful sounding and you still have the pulse of the strings in the background giving the piece consistency. I can tell work went into this - you've done an excellent job! Looking forward to hearing more like this, friend!

Emid responds:

Lovely to see you again.

I agree with you inch by inch. I could have easily introduced bass for the fullness you've mentioned. Don't know why I didn't. Will redo it again. Yes my biggest bet was to return back to the starting 2 minutes patch. I did certainly want to do it. But I couldn't find the work around to merg them smoothly. There is where my creativity ends and your's starts as a pro..... yes I mean it.

I recently downloaded free cello from Blakus and found it amazing. As you are a cello player, you would understand well. And if it is integrated ok in the piece for you then it is good for me and believe me, am tapping my shoulder for that :)

Thank you a lot bassfiddlejones, am really happy to have your attention.

[Underworld]

Awesome atmosphere... I really like what you've got going on here. You're definitely improving as a composer and your production value is only increasing. I'm impressed! The percussion and sound design really make this piece. Are you a Metal Gear Solid fan? It makes me think of MGS instantly, which is a great thing. The only complaint I have is with the ending - you can probably smooth that out with a gradual decrescendo or turn it into a loop somehow. At any rate, top notch work friend! Looking forward to hearing more from you!

Emid responds:

I remember your recommendation of listening Bear McCreary and I was very impressed. One of the reasons because he likes doing experimentation by incorporating unusual instruments in his music which is why you recommended him as you saw me doing something like this. Zebra is an amazing plugin and most of the things were done in it. These white noises are crazy and I really enjoyed morphing them. Not very much into gaming and never played MSG, can't say. Ending...yeah, I was more into publishing it due to time constrain. Thank you so much and BIG thank for having your presence here again.

[Silver Lining 2]

Neat choice of synths.. very catchy, I like it!

What I liked:
-I like that you have very clear, discernible melodies, even if they are a little loud in the mix.
-I like your transitions a lot.
-This is a very happy sounding song!
-I like that you leave some room for the song to breathe from time to time, that's super important.

What could have been better:
-This gets a little repetitive after awhile, I would have liked to hear another section to break things up a bit.
-I was hoping for more of a climax!
-The ending could have been much bigger.
-Feels a little overcompressed

Overall this is a pretty cool song! I like it, and it's quite catchy. I feel like it could use some piano, actually (if there is some in there, it's too flooded with reverb for me to distinguish it). The mixing is pretty good, but be careful not to go too crazy with the compression. Great job!

Smitsy responds:

Thanks for the review! I understand what you mean about the ending and repetition. I decided against adding more parts as I didnt want it to get too long, but now that you mention it I might lengthen it for when I get around to adding lyrics. Cheers!

[GM - I Surrender(NGADM13)]

This is an NGADM Round 4 Review.

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What I liked:
-Very cool intro.
-Great atmosphere right off the bat.
-I like the beginning and end with the strings – it’s a cool combination of sounds.

What could have been better:
-I would like to see some more variation overall in this piece.
-This is pretty short – it’s hard to develop a song in such a short period of time.
-This doesn’t have nearly as much punch as your other pieces, especially after last round!

I liked the ideas presented here a lot, but I feel as if they were put together in a rush and don’t end up being very cohesive. The bones you have here have the capacity to be awesome, but it’s not quite there yet. I’d be interested to see you revisit this, particularly the middle section - still, a joy to listen to!

Score: 8.8/10

[Psychodynamo]

This is an NGADM Round 4 Review.

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What I liked:
-You’ve got chops, and it shows!
-Love the solo!
-Great vocal work.
-Your intro and outro are both fantastic.

What could have been better:
-This got a little repetitive at times.
-Feels like this was overcompressed a little bit overall.
-I don’t have a whole lot to complain about.

Great job as always, Kor-Rune! You’re an excellent songwriter and you’ve got some serious skills both on your instrument and in production. Keep it coming!

Score: 9.5/10

[She Was Picking Flowers]

This is an NGADM Round 4 Review.

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What I liked:
-I’m impressed you jumped a little bit out of your “usual” for this one!
-Awesome atmosphere.
-Great use of chords!
-Unexpected orchestra at 2:00!
-Great pizzicato strings throughout, they pair well with the taikos.
-Great bass line!
-Fantastic ending, I love it.

What could have been better:
-This song sounds like it needs a vocalist or lyrics – that would really set it apart.
-Some of the melodies seemed to clash a little bit with the accompaniment at times – maybe some parallel somethings?

Overall I don’t have much to complain about in this piece, you did an excellent job as always. It was nice to see a more emotional piece coming from you!

Score: 9.6/10

steampianist responds:

Hey man thanks for the review. yeah i wanted vocals on this piece. But writing lyrics isnt my forte so yeah haha