rtnario's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Kirby Dream Land (Dovax Remix)]

Sounds great so far! I'd recommend the use of higher-octave synths during the hooks, like a 90s keyboard sorta thing.

[Digitwl]

Actually pretty good for your first. Love the constant electronic robot sound, ala Mettaton from Undertale. It kinda gets messy when the melodic arpeggios get in though, could use more coherent ordering and choices, but clear that out of the way and you've got a great track!

[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!

[802-Metaljonus]

F**k yes.

Wow, you never know what you can find in NG o_O This was really awesome. The riffs were great and reminded me of F-Zero for some reason. And those 2 second solo things like another guy said were just, well, whoa. Almost makes me think as if I was listening to a professional band here...

Only part I didn't like about the song was that it tended to get a tiny bit random in some parts IMO, and that it lacked bass of course ^^; Great song nonetheless; doesn't stop me from giving an inevitable 5. And a fav at that.

5/5, 9/10. Fav'd.

Wish to be able to do that someday. But obviously I have a long way to go =)

[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

[A Prelude]

MIDI!

And unlike other people who weren't born on DAW-made music, I know and respect you for such awesome work here o_o If I tried replicating that in MIDI, it'd take me long, but this is really nice considering the format you're using, and since it really does sound great either way!

I only wished that you turned it into a whole song. Make the sequel to what this prelude is for maybe? xD

4/5, 9/10.

~rtnario

[Guitar Vs. Piano]

THIS.

Probably the first original NG Audio creation I should've found. I did find it in Super Crazy Guitar Maniac. And I loved it. It was the first thing I tried playing when I first got FL Studio since very damn long ago. I'm not gonna go super-critic mode on this one; I don't think I need to.

5/5, 10/10.

~rtnario

[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.