Sonofkirk's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Deep_Town_Blues [Box-Killa]]

Nice fusion

I enjoyed how you mixed jazz, electro and blues. Though there are still some details that could be fixed.

Why does it sounded jazz? Probably thanks to the bass line, that's a nice walking you got here. I assume the bass was programmed and I think it took off the groove of the walking, it took off the musicality of it. There was another problem about it, the bass is playing a line that swings a little bit and uses some ternary accent while the percussions play straight 8th note. Therefore it disabled any way for the drums and the bass to groove together.

Pretty good job on the backing track, I see the amount of work you put on it. Nice use of edirol and sytrus. The drums gave the song an interesting feeling, it reminded me of some spying films for a reason that I ignore ^^. The sax background was fine too but as the previous reviewers said, it get boring after a minute of the song. I suggest you to make the chord progression more complex - that standard blues structure is all good but come on :). By the way, after some thoughts, this would fit better in the blues section but oh well, it's just a word.

The guitar now. I'm a guitarist myself and I think the solo could have been better if you jammed a bit more on the backing track before to record the final version, this enable you to get familiar with the progression - as simple as it is - and to found the right notes and licks. This way you could have avoided those hesitations and off notes that I heard throughout the song, though full improvisation add a old fashion feeling to it; there is two schools :).

Oh yeah, also if you want a better recording quality for your guitar experiment, you should have a look to Guitar Rig 3, that's a VST that emulates almost every amps and effects that you can found, that's really usefull and with some practice you get a really professional guitar sound quality. The content of the solo was not bad but you used too much the minor pentatonic scale, the secret of a good solo is to use different scale to enrich your solo. For instance try to play on a A major scale when the bass play the E bars.

Good concept overall with some flows to fix nonetheless. You are almost there :).

*Review Request Club*

Box-Killa responds:

Sweet, i will take a look at this vst, sounds good. Yeas this solo was terrible, it sounds like when i was just starting, for some reason the accents dont come out that well, meh i can play much better, and yes, I love the minor penatonic scale lol.

i liked the walking bass and jazzy saz crossed with a strait beat, sounsd kinda low town groovy :D

thanks for teh ruvuew, now go check out my newest submission

[PyroSea]

Loving it!

I'm really loving it dude, your voice acting skills really improved since you submitted your first demo on the Iron Maiden song. I noticed you are now able to tell the script with really different voices and tones, that makes you a very diverse and eclectic voice actor which is what flash artists are looking for.

I enjoyed the script, it was very well written, the contrast with the Captain's and 1st Mate's way of talking was tasty. You picked the right vocabulary for both of the characters and that's what made the script humorous. The Spanish part was particularly funny. Though, I must admit I didn't understand what the 1st Mate shouts, those words aren't on my dictionary :P.

Overall, that's pretty kick ass for a bit more of one hour of work and it'll be even better if you get a better microphone. I'm looking forward to seeing you acting for a kick ass flash on NG, good luck with the contest!

*Review Request Club*

Coop responds:

Thanks - I'm not sure that I'm going to win something with the contest, but like Tom says, if we can get some fresh new talent out there, the contest will have done its job!

[I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) METAL]

Humoristical metal?

This song sounds funny to me for two reasons. The lyrics were quite funny actually even though you made it for your girlfriend, I liked the "I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you" bit, that made me laugh. What's more this sounded funny because of the sharp contrast between brutal metal and love...

The song might not be taken seriously but the whole thing was still very messy. The structure wasn't very organised, I hardly figured out where were the choruses and the verses. The guitars and the drums were off tempo sometimes and the drums patterns seemed almost random. You overused the double bass in my opinion, at 1:31 for instance - what is the drums playing? 64th notes? haha

The vocals now. Well, I liked the begining and the clean voice although the screams were not that good and the mic quality emphased it. I advise you to lower the vocals level in order to avoid distortion on the voice ^^.

Overall, if you tidy up the structure a bit and get a better sound quality for the voice, this could be a really good song to me. Keep working.

*Review Request Club*

Blackdoom13 responds:

Lol well i made it for my girlfreind but I didnt write this song. It's a "Metalization" of I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers.
Lol nooooo they're not 64th notes they're 32nd note triplets lol.
But anyways thanks for the review!

[Invention No. 1]

Hey loansindi

At first, when I saw the title of this piece, I thought it was Bach's Invention No. 1 that I metalized one year ago but never submited it on Newgrounds. But then, I heard it was in D major and not in C major like Bach's invention ;)

This piece was quite well composed and interesting since you are a guitarist. It was simple harmony-wise but I liked how you arranged the different instruments, it sounded like a canon, if you see what I mean. I remember you told me what software you were using, I guess it was GPO and it sounds good.

Though the piano sound could have been fuller and use a tad more reverb, that would help I think. Also why did you add this fade out in the end? In my opinion it ruined the end, let us hear it until the end :P.

It was good all around exept from one or two things, keep up the good work and next time, make an epic classical song with a symphonic orchestra so I can throw outstanding drums and guitars :P.

*Review Request Club*

loansindi responds:

Thanks for the review!

I've been fiddling more and more with classical styles lately, I think it's a good direction to go.

It is indeed garritan, and the instrumentation has little to no tweaking/FX as I put this together at like 5am.

The fade out is because... I guess I wasn't sure how to end the track, with it being so short.

Epic symphonies are a definite goal, but no promises.

[Animation Voice Demo Reel 2]

Awesome!

I just love it, you have a great range of different voice. Every single type of voice you shown on this demo was great quality and really convincing, very real. It's good to see you actually get into the character you are portraying with the voice, unlike most voice actors on NG with generic voices.

What's more the background music and effects made it even better, this shows how awesome your voice would sounds on an actual flash. Those backgrounds effects also stimuates the listener's imagination. Good use of the effects on your voice, reverb, delay and stuff. I really can't complain about anything.

Best of luck for the future, I hope some flash artists will contact you soon.

*Review Request Club*

Rabidssquirrel responds:

Awesome review! Thanks!

Another very very uplifting review! Thank you for complementing my range! I'm sure you'd find it amusing to watch me VA, because I do that character thing, movements and all xD;

Thanks also for saying how the BGM and effects bring out the voice! I'm not even sure how to further thank you for my review xD

Thanks a bunch! :) Really is going to help me out with my upcoming new demo.

[Ode to Shalashaska-1]

Excellent

Very pleasant voice to listen to without being too common and trivial, it kept me focused on the text throughout the whole piece. I'm glad you provided the script so I was able to understand the whole story, I must confess I would have missed some part if you didn't write them down.

Your voice was clear, and, I reckon very understandable for any English speaker although some sentence were too fast for me. I think some EQing would help making the sounds clearer and fuller - I advise you to increase the high frequencies a little bit (+2.00dB at 3.00kHz). Though working on the equalizer won't do all the job, you'll have to get a better mic if you want a professional quality. Also kill those statics :P

I liked the script, very good write up. There was a lot of funny moments and it made me smile. Thanks for sharing those wonderful moments with us :P.

*Review Request Club*

Coop responds:

Fair enough, I'll have to speak to you on the setup of the frequencies and stuff before I work on the next project. Thanks for the review

[The Metal Rangers Theme]

lol

The first part, up to 0:13 was kinda weird, the drums were playing 8th notes and the guitars were playing a riff based on 8th note triplets... It made it sounding a bit progressive but it was fairly messy. If you are experimenting with odd rhythms, work on the "cleanness" of your riffs. Other than that, that riff was pretty cool and interesting.

I enjoyed the tapping part and the chords progression behind it although the tapping could have been cleaner too. Then the melody comes once and then a second time. Work on the second melody, it really seems off tempo...

The vocals were funnily brutal, so brutal that I couldn't understand a single word lol. Though if you record that type of vocals, use a good quality microphone and work on the sound afterwards, otherwise it's really boring to listen to. I know this song is not to be taken very seriously so you get a 8 :)

*Review Request Club*

Blackdoom13 responds:

Lol thanks for a awesome review from a awesome NG Musician!
I'm not the best at tapping, maybe with some more practice on it I could do em again. But I donno if I want to bother with it lol I kinda got tired of this song after I finished it lol.
Lol and yes the vocals were meant to be funny and I know I know the quality is terrible. Lol but I can't do anything about it really! lol

[Remember the Killings Finished]

Super fuckin' awesome!

Man it's been so long I haven't reviewed anything from you... you improved so much, I can't believe it o.O. With the different versions of this song you uploaded, it sounded quite familiar when I listened to this one. Let's divide this review into paragraphs.

I'd like to start with vocals, you fucking blown my mind with this performance, really. Your voice on this song reminded me of Iron Maiden because of the vibrato, you got a really nice one. It also remind me of James Hetfield, your voice is overall similar I guess that's because you are a fan of their early work. And I also recognize some of Russell Allen's voice in it, this is less noticeable but you could sing in a progressive metal band for sure :D.

There is no flaw throughout all the song, and you sound to be so wise and relaxed when singing this... As Fro pointed out, your voice is dreamy in this song and chilling. The vocals are very clear and the melody beautiful, very well executed. That's the first song I hear form that is entirely calm vocals-wise and I must say this is perfect, the mix and the performance were irreproachable, kudos.

That's all the vocals, it's almost perfect so I can't talk much about it though I have a few points to make out for the instrumental section of this song. First, the rhythm guitar distortion sounded a bit synthetic and not very authentic, I don't know what cabinets you are using on your pod, but you perhaps adding some middle frequencies could fix it a bit. Though I must say the distortion sound was really precis and sharp, you heavy bastard :P.

Ah I was about to forget the leads :P. The solo was beautiful, there weren't too many notes and they were not played very quickly but you just picked the right notes at the right moment, that's how I like a solo. Plus, your solo skills are constantly improving, so I'm looking forward your next song :D.

I liked how the clean guitar played throughout all the piece, this was very well composed. Though it's hard to distinguish the clean guitar's notes, I only hear the high notes well. To fix that, I suggest you to record two clean guitar tracks and to pan them on the two speakers and to increase a little bit the volume of these tracks. Other than that I really like that clean guitar, it added something else to the overall feeling of the song.

The drums now, I think I already spoke about it in another review but I think you could create more "sophisticated" drum tracks. For example, add more crash cymbals and create other patterns than drum kick on the 1st and 3rd times and snare on the 2nd and 4th times ;). But after more thoughts, that simple drum track fits the song well, it's a calm and relaxing song, an overplayed drum track would kill this feeling, so take this as a general advice :).

The mixing and stuff was good, I can hear all the instruments well - apart from the clean guitar, maybe - and the sound is very clear, good job I can't complain here. This is fucking kick ass, overall. I love your voice more and more, I'll probably ask you to record something on my future songs since your voice on this song could fit them great :D.

Keep doing music this way dude,this is so great. Faved.

Bad-Man-Incorporated responds:

Thanks man. Very happy to see that you haven't left newgrounds forever. Haha. And thank you for that spectacular review! Wow man. And you know me, I'm ALWAYS WILLING to work with you on ANYTHING <3

Thanks again, my brother. Glad to see you are still around, gracing us with your presence. :D

[[S:C] White Hot Colonic]

Nice beat

I liked the beat, it was a pretty simple beat but quite effective and captivating. The drums were properly equalized, turning down the high frequencies made it sounding very oldschool-ish as well as the voices in the beginning. The piano melody was well written, I liked the arpeggios. What's more the delay on the piano and the synth - I like how you put the synth in the background - gave an ambient feeling to the piece.

It loops perfectly and doesn't get boring at all, it was actually pleasant to let it play in the background lurking on the BBS :). Good job, you get my 5.

*Review Request Club*

SymbolCymbal responds:

Glad you liked the piano, i actually played this one out and didnt make it using piano roll.. it took a bunch of takes but i finally got it right. the ambient fill i added cause i felt it was missing something in the background. something to make it a little haunted like it has ghosts stuck in it haha.

im really glad you liked this one as simple as it was.. i am very happy with this little diddy as well
thanks for the 5 too i always like those

[Zapp Brannigan Montage]

Well done

The few Futurama episodes I watched were in French language... so naturally I can't tell if you were close to the original voices but reading the previous reviews it would seem you did a great job, kudos. But you have a large voices range and it's easy to distinguish the different characters, the intonations were good and lively.

Although it was better than in your first submission, the sound quality could have been better in two points: the audio was clipping a bit but can fix it buying a better mic. And you could work on the equalization a bit (Audacity has an equalizer), adding more bass frequencies for instance to make the sound fuller. This can also be fixed if you get a better mic. What mic are you using in that piece?

Good job overall ;).

Coop responds:

I don't know the model number, but the mic is made by a company called Genius. It's just a "better than no mic at all" option at present, so bear with me on that ;)

I'll have to speak to you on MSN for a more detailed tutorial on how Audacity works, but thanks very much for the feedback.