Knuckstrike's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Waiting for Vblank]

You don't know how long I've been waiting to review a happy song with > 170 BPM. The happiness in the song and the good-soundingness mean that I just can't give this song less than a 4/5.

The build up is perfect. It's happy, to the point and original all at the same time. I love how you started to build up the tempo really fast. It's something you never hear.

Sometimes the little bleep sounds and the don't-know-how-you-call-it sound that starts at 0:26 start to irritate me after a while, but that isn't the case in this song at all. I think they fit perfectly with each other. They weren't too apparent or overshadowing, but certainly hearable.
In fact, during almost the entire song the volumes were chosen perfectly. Nothing was too loud or too soft.
Here comes the almost: in the middle bit (that starts at 1:15) you lowered the volume of the melody quite a bit. I don't think it was necessary to do that. This is because now the beat is too powerful in that part. It's probably because I have an aversion against loud beats though, so if nobody else mentions this you can ignore it :P.

Another thing about this song I think could've been done better is the ending. I know it's nitpicky, but I'm talking about how the beat slows down. I would've preferred the beat slowing down gradually instead of staying about the same for five seconds, then decreasing by 40 in a second, and then staying the same again. Next to that, the last note sounds like it's cut off.

Long story short, this is one of my favorite songs that I've reviewd so far in the RRC. Very nice work.

After reading the other reviews I do have to agree that this song is repetive. It didn't take away anything from my enjoyment of the song, but I can imagine other people finding three times the same part in a song pretty repetive. If I didn't love this song so much I would've thought the same.

Review request club

Hikari responds:

Thank you very much for the review. I'm going to have to agree with you on all of your points. I feel like if I was going to slow the volume down that I should have waited for when everything cut out to mirror the intro. On the point of decreasing the volume of the melody in the break down, Its just a reflection of my insecurity in my own work. I felt like having that drag on for the whole song was a bit much but then again I did bring the volume back up when I brought the speed back. I could say that I was trying to give a sense of dynamics but that would be crushed by the fact that the drum sounds are too loud because of this. Thanks again for your review. ^-^

[Complextro thing]

First of all, I love your username.
I also love the build-up. It's a bit cliché, but the length is perfect, which is something you don't see that often. But what I definitely like most about this is that, while it's a combination of dubstep and electro-house, it doesn't blast your ears off. I really dislike songs that do, so it's nice to have some variation. Another thing I liked about this more than usual is that the calm bits in this song are not there just to have a contrest with loud music, but that they sounded nice, even when the rest wouldn't have been loud.

Not everything about this song is perfect however. If I had to name something I dislike, what would first pop up in my head is that for the first minute the buzzer (I really don't know how it's called, it starts at sixteen seconds) is too loud. Partly because it's sudden it grabs all the attention. It's the strongest for the first thirty seconds it plays, where it is the only thing I can listen to. Maybe it's just because I don't really like the sound though, I don't know.

When, after 46 seconds, the beat kicked in it felt like it was a second beat. I didn't know what the buzzer was supposed to be because it was louder than the beat, but I didn't like the sound on its own.

I'd like to end positively, because this song ended positively for me as well. As the song progressed I gradually got to like it more. It started to sound more like a song than annoying sounds in a rhythm. Especially the clearer bit which started at 2:27 is something that made the song better for me. After you threw more sound effects in there after this bit I completely forgot about the irritating stuff. Nicely done.

A large part of this review is negative, but that doesn't mean the song is not good. The electronic sounds are just not my cup of tea. I hope you can also get a review from another member who can appreciate this genre more.

Review request club

Yoshiii343 responds:

Short response to well-worded reviews to make myself guilt-ridden when I read my response several days later:

Uh...thanks?
Cliche'd stuffs are my strong suits. Loud musics hurts my ears. :C
The loud, distort-ish, sorta dirty bass thing? Cut a wee bit from the mids, I guess?
I don't really know how to respond to that... :/

Thank you for taking your time to give this review. :)

[Sun Kingdom]

Happy song, yay!

I do love how this song immediately catches your attention. It's really upbeat, and since I'm a sucker for those type of songs, I'll give a pretty high rating. :D.
I think you did a great job with the melody. It doesn't have the same notes as anything I know, but yet sounds familiar. Those are the best kind of songs.
Even though the melody was pretty fast (I don't know how to say this so that you'll understand it without a doubt, but I'll try anyway: the time between the notes that make the main melody wasn't a lot.), it didn't sound complicated or chaotic. Well done on that.

The only thing that feels unfinished is the ending. I don't know if you didn't feel like putting much work in that, but a fade out the last three seconds sounds pretty lazy. If you could either make it so that the song loops or make the song less full at the end, I think it would sound better. It'll become more of a song instead of a simple, constant tune.
Also, the difference in how low the notes were at the end is something I would've liked in the song itself, and not as a teaser the last few seconds...

I have absolutely no clue about scales, so I can't help you with the thing in the author comments, so sorry about that.

The song is really simple, but sounds great. I am always surprised by how people with FL can make great sounding tunes. Great work.

Review request club

Merpy responds:

thanks and yeah i was lazy with the ending i was in a hurry

[An (un)Calm Morning]

I certainly like the point of this song: how it goes from slow to fast. It works.
Because I like orchestral music I immediately think: make the contrast bigger by putting in more instruments on the fast part than there are in the quiet part. But on second thought, I don't think this song needs it. The simplicity is fine.

I do indeed think it's worthy for the audio portal, but it's not something I would love to listen to more than one or two times. The first time you hear it it's pretty cool and you think: "Hey, that's original!", but once the surprise isn't there anymore it is, although still calm and kind of soothing, not that exiting to listen to anymore.

So my conclusion is: pretty original and something classical-ish I haven't heard before, but only 36 seconds of pleasure, which is short for a song. If you could either make a 2-minute song or make it loop and the 60 percent build-up a bit shorter, I'm sure you'll get a really good song.

Review request club

Jeromia responds:

Thank you for the kind and helpful words and I'm glad you enjoyed it whilst the feel lasted :)

["Cowbell"]

This beat is okay, but it's certainly not something I would like to listen to more than a few times. This is mainly because the beat sounds a bit boring to me. I'd like it if you could do a bit more with it.
I don't know the instrument's name (is it a jungle drum or something like that?), but with the instrument that starts to play at 0:23 I would like to hear a tune that's less monotonous. It's the instrument that jumps out because it's louder and really different from the drums, and if you make it monotonous it's a bit boring.

Even though it's boring, I do hear that you've at least put some time in this trying to make it sound like a beat you could hear in a real song.

As a last small bit of advice, could you remove the first half of the first second? If you could edit that a bit it would loop, which is almost a must for a beat you would find in a game or song.

<boring conclusion>
The main reason why the score isn't that high is because it's just a beat. It's not a bad one, and for a beat it's actually okay in terms of variation and loudness, but I review the audio here as if they are songs, and it's not really a song of its own. If you would find a way to give this beat a bit more power and surprise people with it, it'll certainly sound a lot better.
</boring conclusion>

Review request club

RazzleDazzleBeatz responds:

Thank you! So basically, it needs more oomph? Something to make it stand out.. I see, I see, I'll work on that for the future definitely! I seriously appreciate the review! Thanks!

[Maybe Tomorrow [8-bit]]

A very nice 8-bit song.

I really love the intro. It has some great things that make it stand apart from the usual intro IMO.
I like how in the intro the notes echo a bit. It gives a retro feeling. It's also good that you stopped with the not-so-clear echo after a while, because if it would continue more I think it would get irritating.

Another thing I like are the four-beat transitions. It fits perfectly, and I think it's pretty original. I like good transitions, so I am happy with them.

The high and pitched sounds work well with this song. The difference between the lower and the higher sounds work well as a build up. And it also gives the song a bit of happiness.

Basically the only thing I don't like the beat that starts at 0:29. It's nice that you tried to give the song a bit more power, but I don't think the song needs it. It is a bit too dark for the rest of the song, which makes it grab more of my attention than I want it to have.
I also have mixed feelings about that it frequency changes often. I guess it fits with an 8-bit song, but I enjoy a bit more structure in a song.
These things probably come off nitpicky, so I want you to know that this song is still really nice. It deserves four stars, even though some parts are not entirely to my personal taste.

Review request club

SuperBastard responds:

Awesome review, thanks! It's great to get some feedback on the transitions especially, since I'm trying to get better at those.

I really appreciate your input, criticism, and opinion. You RRC guys really have helped me get better.

[Simplicity & Serenity]

The starting beat is okay. I like that it's not a normal beat, in a way that you don't have four beats constantly, the fourth being a bit louder than the other three and that repeating. Having a different beat makes the song a bit more special.
To give the beat a bit more power, you could try adding something that "breaks" the beat by doing something different every fourth or second beat later on in the song; something longer and dark sounding or the complete opposite: a clear note. It's still a good beat to carry the song. Though

I really like the (jungle?) drums that start at 0:22. Along with the mysterious feeling that the electronic instruments give, it makes a nice combination of instruments.
What I also think is great is that you made the song less repetive by switching between parts with the dub sounds in them, parts where the jungle drums are more on the foreground and parts where the beat was almost on its own. While the song is called simplicity, it's not simple as in there are not many differences.

I have two small points of critique. The first one is that I don't like that you used the trick of the beat going faster, and right after that a stop twice. (At 0:49 and at 1:55). If you make a stop in your song every minute, the spontanity and the surprise isn't there anymore. Although it's a trick that you did well, I don't think it wits with a quiet song like this that well, and certainly not twice.
Another nitpicky thing is that I don't like when you started the beat again at 1:00 and 2:07. It's just before the third beat I think, and It doesn't sound right. I can imagine that you tried to make the song a bit more playful, and you're probably more experienced with rhythms and songs than I am, but that's just how it feels to me.

Overall a song with almost no mistakes, and with enough effort put in to sound well. It doesn't need any exiting stuff IMO.

Sorry I'm a bit late with reviewing, by the way.

Review request club

ToxInjection responds:

Thanks a lot for the review! I really appreciate it (:

I was thinking about it, but I didn't want to risk hurting the track. Besides, I wanted to keep a sort of consistency throughout the song. Simplistic, nothing fancy.

Those higher notes you're hearing is actually a harp (according to the synth name.) To me, the synth sounded like a sort of chinese folk instrument, so I rolled with that. That's how the monastery type of feel came to be!

I didn't really plan on making them near each minute mark actually, but I noticed that happened now that you mention it! I just wanted to build enough suspense and anxiety before the drop (also it keeps up with the fact it's a dubstep track. I know the drop is obvious.) No worries, I plan on making things different on my next song!

I actually don't know what you mean by this. If you mean the actual beat as in the kick/snare pattern and the hats, I kept them the same. If you or another person mentions this again, I'll be sure to keep it in mind in my next production.

Thanks again for reviewing! The constructive criticism really helps me out! I might be releasing songs a lot slower than other artists, but I'm still new to FL Studios, and being a perfectionist doesn't help with the speed either. Be sure that more will be coming :D

[Turtles Are Fast]

The intro beat is cool. It's rhythmic, and while it's repetive it is not irritating. Perfect for the rest of the song.
I do feel that it's a bit too little. While it's rhythmic and okay for in a song, it's not something I would love to listen to on its own. Even an experimental and strange song should have something to back up the beat apart from a few strange sounds.
What you definitely should do is make the fuller sounding part come a bit earlier in the song. Because I do like that part. When, at 2:09, something a bit more loud and clear came in than the rest of the instruments it was a pleasant variation.

What is done amazing are the transitions in the song. During the whole song I did not once have the feeling that there was something really different between now and a few seconds ago, but the ending sounds completely different from the start. Good job on making the transitions not too clear, I appreciate that in a song.

You did your very best with this song, and nothing sounds off, but it's just not something I would like to listen to, for example in the car or in my room. But I'm sure that, if you can find a good game, it would create a perfect atmosphere.

Review request club

Carr77 responds:

Thanks, dude :D
Your comment made me very happy :3

[C23~Blue 15]

Amazing. Every song seems to sound better and better.
Even though you have way more knowledge about music like this, here is my stubborn opinion and critisism. :)

INTRO
I love it. I'm always a fan of simple intros, so I'm certainly not negative about that. It's really different from the rest of the piece though. Maybe you could get some piano or similar sounding instruments in the rest of the song, so the intro is more of a preview?

GENERAL SOUND
As I said before, the piano sounds amazing. The orchestral instrument gives it the idea of a song instead of a string of notes.
You always have really different music lines. Great originality. Where do you get all that inspiration from? I'm really jealous.
Of course, when the beat starts to come in it starts to sound like a full song. As I haven't carefully gone through your previous songs I can't say what familiar elements are in there, but I do want to say that I really like it. Especially the higher part that starts at 1:26. That's probably what I like most about this song. I always like catchy bits that get stuck in my head. If something like that works, you can always expect a high mark from me.

The quiet part is something really different. But because you used something of the first part in it, this part works. I can't explain it differently. It is a welcome difference from the first part.
I think it's the tension that's the same as with the first part. (And of course a few of the same series of notes). Anyway, This part is pretty close to the catchy part in terms of good-soundingness.
It's also a plus that you didn't make this part drag on too long. Not because it's not good, but because otherwise a great part of the song will become slow. You already have a pretty long intro, and I wouldn't like if a too big part of the song will become as slow as some of your other songs.

And then, yay, bell sounds. I don't think you'll ever forget where the bells are in FL10 :D. You manage to find a place for them in your songs very often, and I'm happy that you do. For me that's the biggest characteristic of C-23/NLC.

As with the intro, the ending is long. With the intro I didn't really mind, but I thought the ending dragged on a bit too long. My unexperienced ears didn't get bored, but did find it too long.

TRANSITIONS
The hit at 0:22 is a great transition. It gives full attention to the extra instruments put in there. I felt like you could've done something a bit different at 0:43 though. Maybe the same sound but a few times in a row? Something that doesn't make it sound like you put three intros in the same song, separated by a hit of a drum-like instrument.
The beat going faster from 0:54 to 1:04 is a classic transition. Although I hear it really often, it does fit there. For originality, you could make a different rhythm. This is nitpicking though.
There isn't a transition between every part, and I really don't mind. In fact, I think it would be irritating if there would be a transition every time. So great job on that.

I'm getting to the final thousand characters now, so I'm finishing my review. Know that I think this is maybe your best song yet. It isn't one that fits into the style of music I like, but It still definitely deserves a 9. You can hear each of the six hours you put in it.
By the way, I'll get to reviewing your other songs soon.

Review request club

KrisKrosNL responds:

This is the longest review you've written. O_O

Achieve inspiration...through determination...=)

Thanks for the feedback. I really DO want to make each transition different, but I don't have other samples. =\

[Final Fatasy 7 Overture]

This is my first time reviewing like this. I hope the review will turn out okay.

INTRO
The start is really good. The ladders work well with this piece, and the calmness you start with works well as an intro. It gets a bit boring after a while though. To an unexperienced listener like me it sounds as if the part from 0:00-0:48 is almost the same ladder all the time. If you could start with putting that extra instrument at 0:49 in at half of the current intro (0:24) It wouldn't sound as repetive.

GENERAL SOUND
You can easily count the amount of FF games I've played on one hand, so I'm not familiar with the kind of music. I've never heard this song before either, so I had to search for the original.
I like how you made the music sound a bit fuller. The extra instrument you put in from the start fits just perfect with the whole song.
Because you made it sound full from the start and didn't put that many instruments in later the surprise of orchestral instruments wasn't as much as in the original. It didn't make it worse than the original though. Just softer. I think it would me more suitable as background music now than it did before.

ENDING
A compliment here on how good it loops. The original didn't loop as well as this. It's not too different from the rest of the song, so not much to say about this.

OTHER REMARKS/OVERALL
Even though it lacks the climax of the original, I really enjoyed listening to this piece. The only thing you may need to watch out for is that parts don't drag too long, or it will get boring. You did a great job though. It's not easy to make a special song out of an intro.

Review request club

Rinibra responds:

Thank you so much!