phosphorusprocedure's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[Crysis] La Skate]

I agree with SenatorJohnDean on the guitar, but I don't think your intention was to have rappers on the track, judging by the way the drums sound. With the drums turned down and in the background, it does sound like the menu music to a skateboarding game or something. Not that that's a bad thing. It actually sounds pretty cool. I like the reverse drum intro a lot. Whole thing screams 90s.

JackRocker responds:

Thanks a lot dude! Actually, I do plan on fixing to guitar issue a little, and maybe making some other tweaks here and there. I'd like to have a rapper on it, but until the Portal is fully functional and I can edit current submissions again, I can't upload the remastered version anyway..I don't want to have multiple edits of the same submission cluttering up my page.

Glad you liked it, and thanks a lot for the review!

[[OS] Restraint]

This sounds like something Sufjan Stevens would sing on top of. I like the plodding raindrop-like rhythm to it. I forgot which word there is for that - rubato or fermata? You use great rubato. It's cool that you record yourself playing the music too - most people would just plug the notes into a MIDI file and have a robot piano play it, in which case it would sound good, but not quite like this. Nice work.

ObsidianSnow responds:

Rubato is the word you're looking for, I think. It refers to what's essentially a bend in the tempo for expressive purposes, and I do a lot of that in my playing. Fermata is just a long hold on a note, where the length is arbitrary.

I definitely prefer the sound of real playing, too.

Thanks for the review!

[[OS] Hold]

Really liked the chord change at 1:21. The children in the background is a nice touch. You have great dynamics when playing. I liked the oscillations from loud to soft and vice versa. I could definitely see this working for film.

ObsidianSnow responds:

I like that change, too - starts in the Em scale on the i, then to the IV, then shifts into what I think was GMaj followed by a BbMaj chord. I'm not 100% sure on that, though. I'd have to check the file to be certain.

Thanks for the review!

[J@K's Tribute]

Way cool. You guitar's got great tone. I think it could use a bit of EQ. With guitars there's this spot between 2 and 4 kHz that can make the guitar sound really grating. Peeling back the frequencies in there would make the guitar sound a lot better. I really dig the chord progression at 1:21. Great chords in there.

gamejunkie responds:

Thank You for your great input, much appreciated.

Cheers gamejunkie.

[Lost Ourselves]

Hmm. Slow burner. Subtle build. The arrangement shows you have a lot of taste. I like the female choir. The melody/harmonies are great. I actually like the percussion a lot - normally, some idiot would take a pretty setup like this and put some obnoxious destroy-the-subwoofer type drums on top, but I like these drums because they let me hear what's going on. Nicely done. (If you get a chance, give some of my stuff a listen. Best regards.)

[Dreams Vars can buy]

Hmm. The vocals could use some EQ. When he says YESSS, the sibilance from the high "s" sound kinda hurt my ears. Peeling back the right frequencies beyond 4 Khz would fix that. The beat's great though - I really liked the vocal sample/whatever the heck that voice was. Sounds kinda hawaiian.

[[ f ] Give it All Up]

Quick question: did you use a compressor on the vocals? I noticed the vocals seemed to suddenly get quiet, and then suddenly get loud, and it kinda pulled me out of the song. Compressing it might fix that. (I understand it was recorded on a mic not necessarily designed with music in mind, but it helps to make the most of what you have, right?) I liked the beat a lot, actually. The drums sound great - the kick has oomph, the snares have crunch. I'm fine with the fact there's no bassline, it works well without it. WHAT IS that odd sound effect at the beginning? It sounds like either a feedback loop, or a doppleganger effect gunshot, or something. It sounds really nifty. The melodies are well done, they almost have this middle eastern quality to them. Whole thing sounds quite interesting.

flashmac responds:

Yeah I actually remastered the vocals, this is the old version but i understand what you're talking about, the vocals are a bit drowned by the beat. Glad you liked it overall tho man, thanks for the feedback

[Add your own lyrics!]

The intro was a bit long, but I really liked it when the four-on-the-floor beat and the bassline came in. Your drums don't carry a lot of oomph to them, but I'm sure some EQing/compressing/etc would fix that. Interesting ideas at play.

Genraltweet responds:

Hey, thank you for your advice :) But sadly, I can only use the demo version of FL so I can't do all these super fancy things because I can't save the song. When I get the full version, I'll definitely try what you said!

~GT

[Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot]

I like it. I like it a lot. But I think there's just a tad bit too much reverb on the snare. Everything else is great.

sinclayr responds:

i'll keep that in mind for future songs, then. thanks :)

[Wake Up]

Not bad. The guitar solo was really cool. And I liked that stompy percussion stuff that came in afterwards (sounded like that Radiohead song Giving up the Ghost for a second). And what kind of keyboard was that at the end? A Rhodes? Couldn't really tell, but it sounded great.

thecoreman responds:

Thanks a lot man!

The keys are actually a midi instrument, it's the Scarbee A-200 from Native Instruments' Komplete 7. A pretty awesome instrument, and now that I finally got a great midi keyboard I can start using it properly :)

Thanks for the review! Appreciated!