Erkie's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Solus- For Schala Remastered]

Game music.

Although I'm not a big fan of the synth sax (snoballnthmonyshot is the NG sax hero), the piano work is fantastic.

The mood is very stable; not hopeful, not helpless, with only small undertones of heroism, which must define the character or the situation your character is in.

In my own head I got the sense of someone trying to rise up out of the gutters.

Well made even if it isn't in my taste. It's just that damn sax.

SolusLunes responds:

One thing to say about the sax: >:(

...I'll have to record myself doing the sax part, it's not particularly complicated...

[=Reclaiming the Wastes=]

I'd fist fight an anaconda naked to this music.

Very jungle percussion but it mixes well in contrast with the bass. (Not that I hate themed instruments, I'm a heavy beat mixer).

Then as the sitar-like string work breaks out and the drums change, it has kind of an American in an Arabic themed land feel.

The echo work feels a bit excessive only in the sense that gives me Starcraft flashbacks/electronic composers in the 90s vibe, and it washes out the presence of the other rhythm based elements.

But the rhythm changes at 1:14 and the guitar stabs at 2:27 change up the atmosphere, chase/urgency and unveiling something evil prospectively, are good mood changers.

Hades responds:

Haha, I must admit I really chuckled at the image from the title. XD

The 'American in an Arabic land' feel that you mentioned, actually is exactly the one I was aiming for with this song, because the general idea was representing a person that is facing a completely new world that is a lot more dangerous than he thought it would be. I didn't really feel that the echo was over-the-top, because the story I used as a basis for the song included the world being devastated by nuclear war, so I wanted to give the deeper instruments that dark, menacing touch.

Thanks a lot for your input, I found your comment most helpful!

[-=LJC=- Grinsomnia]

snaresnaresnare

Straightforward, clear, well developed, thought out and executed.

Honestly, I'm more for structurally sound and morphed beats, but that's only through personal preference and constant experimentation. The whole "map a snare and change its pitch and properties" a la Venetian Snares/Hvartski/what have you seems rather... easy? Although I can condone it to accentuate frustration in any song, and the extent and sweat one uses to butcher a beat, then reanimate it into something else is admirable.

But beat making in this particular situation is quite pleasant against the piano, I can also tell you crumbled some filtered beats in for a nice boom.

The piano itself tries to elaborate on itself, or the atmosphere, but it seems rather independent to what's going on at times.

nice work

LJCoffee responds:

ErkiE! I completely understand your comments - as far as mangling a few beats go, it is easy - sort of. No more than any other percussion though. I always like hearing from you - it usually seems like there's an underlying sense of honesty in your comments and I think that's great.

Thanks again!

[apeman]

Goes down smooth

The rather light minimalist beat with the dancing vox compliments that oh so familiar sax mid song. I do have to agree that although its "flatness" is charming alone, coming from you, it sounds like a base for a lot of interesting variations in the near future.

Let me know when the finished version is out. cheers.

snoballandthmonyshot responds:

thanks erkie, may be waiting a while...

[C.Y.E.S.N.I.A.T.H]

Smooth.

For some odd reason this reminds me of my earlier works -- Melody driven that is. You did a great job at sample selection and how you decided to carry those samples out.

Despite some of the choppiness and muddiness, you have the idea.

I think the only thing to regret with simpler or last minute drums would have to be that their effect withers away with listens. I think this would have been a fine song with just raw melody until you revised it with something more fitting, if you still felt like drums.

pitbulljones responds:

thanks for the review erkie. yea i loved me opening synth on this, it ate up a shitload of my ram just for that as well. twas crazy. glad you like the sound choices and the implementation of them, i tried to glad them as much as i could make them intertwine.

hehe drums, as you well know, are my achilles heel. If i could be arsed i'd spend as much time making music as i would developing drums, but i can't be. it's a flaw in my musical make up that i do the bare minimum when it comes to drums. so you're right on the button there.

thanks for the review. pm me with anything you want done yourself.

pitters

[daffy (demo)]

Dear god

Who the hell let your backwards, alcoholic, tormented, twisted, cannibalistic ass on the dance floor?

I have a pretty hardcore taste, and this fits nicely within.

I really like the way you emphasized an almost seizure inducing climax at about :49 and :57, amongst the choppy beats and alongside the flowing melody rhythm.

No other criticism then to maybe clean the beats so the melody is a bit more cohesive -- only for a stronger impact on said climax.

snoballandthmonyshot responds:

cannibalistic ass climax... awesome
;ped

[-=LJC=- Peripheral Observation]

Grabby

You minimalists and your mastering abilities. :D

I took the time to listen and analyze this.

The first minute or so, minus the lead in, with the raspy, moody, echoing and swaying melody kind of made me think of someone or something lying on the concrete in a basement reaching out to grab things, the beat to emphasize the fidgety effort.

Beyond the terribly explained image, nice job.

LJCoffee responds:

Thanks Erkie,

your visual wasn't explained poorly at all.

Next time I put someone in my basement, I'll play this on a loop for them. That should teach those damn kids!

[dawn of the pistolero]

Rocking

I saw "ambient" so it had my attention then.

This is some layered acoustic goodness. I really like the ambient drone and the echoing synth, what I like about them coming in first specifically is so you can know that they're there. They both make me feel like I'm anxiously overlooking skyscrapers glinting in the sun. Don't ask me why, it's a more complex emotional value.

Then there's the guitar, which keeps things progressing, you seem to chop it up and layer it like how I make the primary the beats in my songs.

I suppose my only real critique is it's essentially a long loop, and there are only small (yet vital) components keeping it progressing.

Nice stuff.

MaliousTrey responds:

thanks for the critique ^^ helps me to refine and better produce my work, the point of the song was to be subtle however, as the songs come out in order youll see the style changing to a darker and darker subline, this song is the one most people seem to like overall though XD

a whole lot of work was put into it and i truly enjoy the fact that i am getting so much positive feedback, thank you ^^

[La Batalla Afuera del Castillo]

Badass.

From playing most Battlefield games it certainly had that same vibe going, it would be very easy to use this is some flash/game and immediately associate the song with good feelings :D

I have no particular critiques, the instrumentation was great, as was any mastering, I've been listening to the loop over and over and nothing grates what so ever.

Nice job man.

MusicalRocky responds:

Hey, thanks for reviewing.

I'm glad you associated this song with battle music. That means I've done my job :D

I do work particularly hard on instrumentation; it's more important than people think... So I'm glad it worked out. I did try to make it loop well, and it does! :D

I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks again for the review.

Rocky

[Tease me (1:04)]

I can feel it

I definitely feel what you were trying to get at, Impulse might not be able to fulfill your fantasy (and I've tried to use it before) with this song but you pulled off a very good concept.

It wasn't clear enough for me to distinguish any beat patterns but I did notice quite a few and they had the stand-alone ambience a lot of other songs miss.

You may want to tone down the glitchiness, it kind of sacrifices on the rhythm.

You weren't shy on the bass but you always want to spare the rates and places you add bass because they work as a distractor, especially on big speakers. Any bass beats help to maintain rhythm and any bass in the melody should be designed to give it it's character, the bass seemed more sketchy and subtle in this one

I feel like experimenting again, whee.

WinTang responds:

Hm - it seems that the stuff IT makes it pretty susceptible to being ruined by speaker settings. Haven't got it connected to my stereo, so I basically go with my mediocre computer speakers. When I plugged earphones into the computer, it sounded like crap and indeed the beat pattern disappeared. Thanks for pointing this out. This may or may not have to do with your comments on the bass, I'll have to look into that more.

The glitchiness is basically the whole experiment so I'm collecting opinions on how to dose it, thanks for yours :)

And yes, go experiment, it's about time you upload something again, whee!