rtnario's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Cyberfire]

Amazing SID.

Well, well! Guess who's here to review your work once more Alex. :D

The start is very much, well, synth-ey with a lot of NES and SID sounds. I liked the fading-in intro, but for some reason I'd prefer it more if it had a crash (as in, cymbal crash XD) to go along with it. The riff and chord progression at the intro sounded like a great mix of Cryosleep (once more! ^^ MaSu inspiration ftw) and the, err, the theme of the first Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers! XD

The guitar is well EQ'd and panned appropriately; the drums are clear and each kick can be heard. The SID and NES lines are really incredible...I'm not sure if anyone has done SID Rock/Metal this well aside from Machinae Supremacy themselves.

5/5, 10/10.

~rtnario

...wanna collab someday? I've learned a lot since the last time you've heard from me =)

MashedByMachines responds:

Thanks alot for that detailed review! I really appreciate it! :D

Im glad that you liked my EQing, I have been trying really hard to do it correctly, its really hard :P

I would be more than happy to do a collab with you someday :) I like your work a lot!

Thanks again :D

[Xyirx - Dragon's Heart]

That was...beautiful...

I'm currently looking for ways on how to compose orchestral music with DAWs, and so I thought that a good place to go to for examples is here. Went to the "Classical" genre and listened to some songs, but this really seems to be what I was looking for. Now for the review.

Like the summary, this really is beautiful. I'm taking a guess that you used Edirol Orchestral on this? The piano gives it away for me =) Although I still don't know how you managed to "fatten" the sound and make it more epic in terms of panning and EQ. It blows away anything I try out XD

Pros: I LOVED the progression of the song and its different parts, which gave even more of an impact because of the story. There's the appropriate tempo changes, the epic use of choirs, the powerful timpani "hits", the blending of the strings, flutes, oboes, harp and the REALLY well-placed mystical-sound-thing which sounds like a lot of chimes, or probably is. And especially the very main melody evident in the piano, which underwent variations all throughout the entire song.

Cons: ...um...I know it helps much more to give points for improvement, but for me at least, you made it really hard for me to find any to the point that I couldn't. Sorry? XD

Overall, that was perfect. 5/5, 10/10, fav'd.

But now I have to ask you this: how did you do all that? ._.' For one, it sounds so "mastered" without giving a single piece of evidence that it peaked. Another, the epic "timpani+cymbal+snare?" things and the timpani then the small two-note percussion after that makes it sound like it was made as a film score. I would really love to know, and would really appreciate it if you tell me how XD

Thanks for creating and submitting such a great song on NG. This deserves to be #1 in the Classical genre, I swear.

*downloads and analyzes more*

Xyirx responds:

Oh, this is probably the longest review I have ever received! Thank you so much for all the detailed analysis. I really appreciate it.

Now for your question. :)
"how did you do all that? ._.' For one, it sounds so "mastered" without giving a single piece of evidence that it peaked."

>> Well, I really have to admit that I don't know anything much about mastering stuff, but for this song, I remember lowering master volume in FL8 to half, then apply all filters (FXs) in my mixer. That also included my mighty friend, Maximus, which does a decent job on getting the song more "epic" but I never let it go 100%. I usually lessen its intensity knob to around 40-60%, most of the time. And after that, I export the song to amplify it later in Audacity. That's how I do my song.

--
"Another, the epic "timpani+cymbal+snare?" things and the timpani then the small two-note percussion after that makes it sound like it was made as a film score."

>> Do you mean the 2:35 part? If yes, that is the part where I combine a lot of percussions together. (And I like this part most too) It's composed with timpani, cymbal, snare and also bass drum which I borrowed from other soundfonts. The small two-note you mentioned is probably bass drum, not timpani.
When I use instruments other than ones editable in Edirol VSTi, I send its channel to mixer first, then simply use reverb and adjust the EQ a little bit to specify which frequency range it should fall upon. This can really make the instrument very epic and moving. Sometimes, I use a little bit of delay and flanger too, very subtle, just to make things a little spicy.

I'm not sure about "fattening" method you're talking about, but I guess what I explained above might answer it already.

I got the epic feeling of composing the song from Edgen. You can search this name in google, and his site should pop up the first or second. He's composed very suspending and emotional songs too.

Once again, thank you for your review. I'm glad you've enjoyed both the story and song. Hope you could find new techniques and produce great songs too. :)

PM me if you have any further questions. :D

PS. And yes, I used Edirol for most of the elements in this song.

[802(Final)-Metaljonus]

Actually...

...I think I'mma have to agree with pitchblak. Listening to this really makes me ask why you're not already competing with other artists. But I guess you're still gaining popularity on the internet to have a fanbase of sorts before going big time. If that's the case, you remind me of my favorite band =)

Keep it up and you'll get somewhere in no time.

Metaljonus responds:

Yuyu!!!! lol I really love you tribute to that song! I am a little intoxicated to I can't help but speak the truth lawlz. I appreciate the kind words!

[Distant Homeland (Mimiga Town)]

Again with this "rtnario rtnario" thing!?

HU R U TALKERING ABUT? OMG DIS REMIX SUXXXXXXX!

*ahem* xD

Seriously speaking, there are still a number of errors in melody when it comes to accuracy in the remix. Bass from 00:40 - 00:41. Lead, 00:45 - 00:46. 2nd Voice, 00:48 - 00:49, 00:52 - 00:53, 00:59 - 1:00, 1:01 - 1:02 & 1:04 - 1:05. You can ask me here (or via other ways) about the mistakes, since I also remixed the same track and made a MIDI file of all base melodies, which is what I used to compare to this one. Of course, there's also what a remix means, which is your take and/or twist on the original piece, so what I pointed out can either be right or wrong. But you already know it's for the better. xD

The track itself is exactly how you said it: it's a simple remix of Mimiga Town. Faithful to the original with some instrument changes here and there to make it sound even better. It's great as a cover, but not really as a remix since it could've used some variation IMO =)

Awesome first submission. Keep it up, (and I'll be listening to "THANK YOU.mid" until then xD)

5/5, 9/10.

~rtnario

carlohmf responds:

Ah, you didn't need to be that specific about the errors, but it's for the better, yes. Tack. XD

And you're right about the "remix" part. It's more of a MIDI version than a remix actually, but I still like it anyway. Like you said, it can use some of my own variations. =)

Hehehe, listen to "THANK YOU.mid" while you still can. Because the final version is gonna be totally different... -Elite Pose- \m/ ...kidding, the final version is pretty much the same as THANK YOU, except- *beep sound* ...tuuuuuuuuut. XD

[Speed Boss Batle (full)]

PC-made or not, I don't care, it's awesome.

"omgomgomgitwasdoneonacomputerzzz" is a big disadvantage only if you don't know how to make up for it. You could be better at it, but you already do it well enough. =) And I know what I'm saying; go ahead and try checking out any of my songs (preferably any of the 5 on my second News post) to see what you could do with just a PC.

On to the song, from the start the guitar riff instantly gets your attention. And the rhythm+bass+lead "hits" are all placed correctly. As the song goes on, you can already tell that it's gonna be a fast-paced one, what with the drumming and the rapid-fire guitar playing.

And a personal request from me: may I remix this song? Even though the Creative Commons license says I can, it's always better to ask. I'll just use it as an example to show you what you can do if you decide to go back into composing songs like these. =) (and also because I love it o_O)

5/5, 9/10.

~rtnario

masterjiji responds:

sure. go ahesad with teh remixage, just do credit me for the original. ill PM you too.

[Never Back Down]

5/4 isn't new when it comes to you xD

More Sakuraba-style I see; sounds great. The drums are clear, piano is very catchy...everything blends in just right. I just thought that the bass synth was a little too powerful and it caused the overall sound to be a bit unclear. Of course, that's only when the loud bass synth comes in. And the guitar sounds odd, but fuIfills its purpose. I love the intentionally-off violin, (and all the other violin parts) because I think that it's one of the most defining features of the song.

I'm not gonna ask about why it ended abruptly since you answered that in one of my reviews...in...one of your songs...xD

5/5, 8/10

Keep it up,

~rtnario

P.S. You get to compose things like this in your music class?! I'm damn jealous. But then again, I wonder how the ordinary school teacher would react to a playthrough of Trump Card Alteisen on full volume...=)

UltimaTricksta responds:

You're right about the bass synth. When looking at the waveform of the audio I saw the that the bass synth almost caused the audio to peak. But it didn't sound really bothersome, so I left it. As for the guitar...I'm still playing about with Amplitube ;D Everyone says that the violin was off in timing. I painted the violin in accurate time...O.o Perhaps it's the attack on the sound, maybe... Anyway, I don't neccessarily get to compose this kinda music in my class, only in free time. ;D

[{LAi} Cave Of Darkness]

Good but could be better.

I'm not sure if it was the right decision to get a person like me to review your work (if you notice I am not one to create anything techno or dance...), but if you say so, here goes. =)

Of course, I noticed at the start, with the instrument choice and the way the whole thing began that this was gonna be techno. I think the song really lacks a bass synth, and that there's this consistent synth that doesn't change at all and makes the entire song kinda linear. I also suggest on getting a better piano VST; something Edirol Orchestral-ey or similar. On the better side of things, there's no doubt that this is still a good dance remix of "Last Battle", with the upbeat sounds, always-there bass drum, phase-ey instruments and such. I just think, like the summary says, this could be better if you took note of my suggestions and added more instruments and melodic variation ^^

4/5, 8/10.

Keep it up,

~rtnario

Laikros responds:

I notice this now. Alternate genre favorites. ^^;
Do note that this was created more than half a year ago, skills could improve over the months, you understand! I get what you're saying though, and I'll take it into mind.

Thank you!

[|The Staring Sun|]

Sounds too much like Cryosleep, but w/e. XD

Listening to the synth at the start instantly made me think Cryosleep. Listening to the guitar riffs made me think Cryosleep. Listening to the middle part with the clean-sounding guitar made me think Cryosleep. No wonder, this song was inspired by Cryosleep. XDD

That's meant to be a good and bad thing though. While this song does clearly show its influence to MaSu fans, and while sound quality, instrument choice, panning, & melody are all awesome, I think it lacks a "hook" of some sort. To make sure of what I'm saying, I listened to Cryosleep while making this review ^^

I noticed that the main "refrain-ey" part had the synth and the rhythm, but also had other lead guitars and string-ish synths playing as well. Maybe if you added your own version of that, it'd be better, but that's just my opinion since this alone already sounds like a great tribute of sorts already to Cryosleep! I especially love the way you ended the song; that was just perfect. =)

5/5, 8/10.

But if you ask me, nothing is topping your original version of Mirrorworld. You know me enough to know that I'd say that. XD
~rtnario

MashedByMachines responds:

Thanks a lot for your great reviews :)

Yeah I know that the song turned out pretyy similiar to cryosleep in many ways, but that was part of the plan. I didn´t really "copy" anything, just made some parts(like the guitar and drums) very similiar. It´s no secret that I am influenced alot by MaSu, they are after all my biggest source of inspiration.

Thanks again for your great review! I am not too fluent in english so its kinda hard for me to express myself as thorough as you can :) I hope you dont take offense in that my response isnt as long as your review ^^

[J-Up Castle (Level Up!)]

Castle indeed.

I listened to this since because...you're Stage 3-1, and that you mentioned it was an original. Well, it's awesome, but it's not like I was expecting otherwise. =)

Although I don't get what that "J-Up" is for, the melodies really make it very castle-ey. The intro's blending in with the clean guitars was well done too. The choirs fit great with the entire song and exists to make the song much more "spooky". And I especially love that harp at the end; what the heck was that, it was f**king awesome @_@ The riffs, as expected, have much melodic metal influence that you probably know I love. By this I mean every riff that has two guitars playing in unbelievable harmony =)

To top it all of, everything was made with beautiful recording quality. That's the kind of sound people like me are looking for in recordings. How I'd love to be able to record like that in the future ^^

...I now want to make an original. XD

5/5, 10/10.
~rtnario

Stage3-1 responds:

The origins of J-UP. It's a long story, and it doesn't really make sense unless you were in Stage 3-1, so I won't bother, haha. Yes, it is a harp at the end, courtesy of Fruity Loops. I can't play keys well enough to do it, but I can program it. As far as recoridng quality, you'll get there soon. Listen to my old recordings, they aren't near as good as yours. Thanks.

[For Better or Worse?]

Forgive you?

NEVAR

j/k XD That's something you don't need to ask you know! That's like me uploading a Classical song! Which I have!

Listening to this makes me feel that it has a really fitting title. You say you made it when you were depressed, but does this song really express that emotion, or something else? The way the strings are used in this song really just make me ask that question. Talk about perfect harmony, although still we don't know what for. And yeah, I heard the SEoE piano again! Starting at 2:00 XD You know it's hard NOT to like that =)

The only things I found off were the choirs at the end; they just didn't seem to fit in with the overall feel of the song IMO. And also the fact that it ended like a loop...if it were me it should've ended with a variation of the intro or something.

Either way, ? song is ?! (that's meant to be a good thing ^^)

~rtnario

UltimaTricksta responds:

Thanks. For this song I wanted to find some good chords before-hand so I got on my piano to make some. It's just a shame I don't have a keyboard plugged in. Everything I do is painted through the piano roll. Whilst this was composed during my depression I did intend to make it fit with the game I'm creating. A scene where the main character is lying on a hospital better with question of whether or not he'll die. "Better?" = Staying alive. "Worse?" - Dying in hospital.

As for the SEoE piano, this is the 2nd time I used it (with An Invunerable Enemy being the third). I sometimes like to recycle old melodies and create motifs. Similar to how in most of Nobuo Uematsu's Final Fantasy battle themes that start of with: "duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-dun-dun..." I currently have 3 motifs. A 3 note low piano bassline, the SEoE piano and set of chords from With Haste We Decide.

To be honest I also felt the choirs felt a tad out of place, but I thought it would help make the piece stronger towards the end making some sort of crescendo. It ended like a loop for purposes for my game, and even still FL Studio tends to do that anyway =/