Joeyag's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[We'll Meet Again]

This is exactly what it aims for. Nostalgic and uplifting. The repeating chord progression with the addition of layers one at a time works pretty well, and when the first drop comes, perfectly announced by those 80's sampled tom drums... It brings us quite a satisfaction! Quite joyful and dancing! Great job! I kinda missed a more developed bass line, though, maybe with a cleaner sound to contrast from the synths. To me this is the only thing away from a 5 stars vote (in the mood i am right now at least).

Ditchy responds:

Thank you for your feedback - Will take the bass advice onboard :)

[VS. Don Gula, The Icon of Gluttony]

I definitely can imagine a very dark level here. It doesn't have a melodic theme, it's more about textures and progressions, which makes it easy to listen to without it getting annoying. This is very good for a game. The only disadvantage is that it is less assimilative, you know? I see this song more in a dark level than a boss. I would think a boss should have a clear melodic theme, something that would make you think "oooh it's that boss' song!". But that's just my opinion... This would definitely fit great in a game regardless of that.

[Radar]

Nice, i can really see this darkening down a scene. I'm not used to rating audio yet.. my first thoughts are that this audio is very simple and short, therefore it shouldn't get an outstanding score. But simple and short is often perfect for certain purposes, and your audio is definitely ideal for a bunch of purposes. So i'm giving you three and a half stars, score in which the little head is smiling but not particularly enthusiastic(as he would be if listening to an outstanding piece of music).

LittleLuckyLink responds:

Thank you! A fair rating, I shall agree :)

[The Legend Of Lady Candella]

Greetings! First of all, you did a very nice job keeping the music's affection well aligned with the story! I will now say somethings that caught my attention. First of all is around 1:30, when she comes to life. Though there is an increasing tension in the harp, i feel like the resolution ends up being way too much. It feels like an unprepared climax, you know? What comes to my mind that could make that smoothier is the increase of tension by addition of layers: more instruments, instead of only the solo harp doing accelerando and going up the notes. The sudden appearance of all those instruments seems to come out of nowhere, you know? Which brings me to the other thing that i noticed, also about orchestration. The main theme (i guess? the one at the beggining and end), as beautiful as it is(great theme!), i feel it lacks orchestration. Mainly when the strings are playing it. I miss information, all i hear is violins making the melody and "the rest" as one homophonic voice, only there to establish the harmony. This problem appears once again around 6:17, when there's that climax that is a little bit disappointing due the lack of orchestration. Finally... come on..... give us the tonic at the end! Lol

You clearly have talent bro, keep it up!

P.S.: What's that hurdy gurdy library? pretty cool

Codefreq responds:

Thank you for your review! :D

I'm pleased to hear that you liked my theme and, more importantly, that you thought my music aligned with the story well. The latter was my number one concern and what (I hope) could be an asset if someone want me to work with them on a project.

I'm not used to writing with orchestral instruments, so your criticism is duly noted. Listening to it now, I can understand the lack of balance and oversimplification in the orchestration in some parts. While I tried to make the "Coming to life" moment spectacular, perhaps I did over do it a bit, expecially since that's not the main climax of the story. I'll keep your feedback in mind, much appreciated. :)

As for the "hurdy gurdy" library, It's actually not a hurdy gurdy. It's sampled Uilleann pipes (irish bagpipes), which I chose because the story takes place mostly in Ireland. It's a library included with Kontakt (part of Komplete Ultimate 12). I program all my music in a piano-roll view included with Cakewalk, and with the pipes I put in some extra effort to try to make them sound more realistic.

[Dreamscape]

dope, bro

[Moog 3]

awesome shit!

[Epic Music - City of Gold]

Score 3.93? people are clearly deaf. You are making real music here. I'm glad my vote could boost the score to 4.11 at least. Congratulations!

SteveSyz responds:

Thanks so much for the kind words! I haven't updated my page at NewGrounds in a while, I have some new music at BandCamp and YouTube ;D (shameless advertising haha)

https://stevesyz.bandcamp.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/SteveSyzzle

[Total Payback]

too repetitive..

At the start it is cool, but at some point it is annoying, I mean, it is a loop, so it will repeat all the time, then it is boring. It should be more varied.

Chrizzly responds:

Yeah, well it's hard making a loop varied. That means I would have to put in more riffs, more parts, maybe tempo changes, maybe more solos, and oh... it seems as we have a full song now, ey?
Loops ain't exactly made to be varied, 'cos variety demands length, and length means a full song.
Anyway thanks for the review, dude. I'll post something less repetitive in the future!

[Iron Man (Black Sabbath C]

well..

.. the music is great, but there is 2 things I want to say:
You should make the voice, it doensn't need to be real voice, just the melody..
And the eletronic noise should be eletronicless, like the real guitar.
after all, it is very good !

himenow responds:

Well there is no really good VST for realistic guitar-sounds.