Jakesnke17's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[River of Memories (updated)]

Think I reviewed this song earlier

I'm pretty sure I did...hopefully you read the review. haha

Anyway, as before. Good stuff, I look forward to hearing more from you. :)

TheBellmaker responds:

Yes, I read your excellent review! As soon as I deleted the old, I was like "dang it, forgot to tell the other person...."

Thanks for listening again!

[TL - Yet another trance loop]

I think you should make a full song of this.

The pads are clean and the groove is....heh, dance-able.

I hear a clear chord progression but...I just really want this to be longer before I can actually give some more detailed critiques. Either way, I'm loving the sound from this and I'd encourage you to finish it. :)

Good work.

TeHLoY responds:

Yea, I'll probably work on this once I'm more free.
Anyway, thanks for the review!

[Metal Dub]

Choice of sounds is cool, but...

This is a cool idea, but I think...what you need is a more defined set of percussion and a clearer bassline. Right now, the majority of the song is relying on melody and the mixing is a bit messy, so what I'd suggest is lowering the main instruments right now, and EQing the drums to make room for a more prevalent bassline and percussive groove.

EwaSC responds:

Thanks will do. I'll PM you when I'm done :3

[Pokemon RSE: Mt. Pyre (WIP)]

Very cool.

I tried remixing this source myself at one time...so...naturally I'm biased. This is great though, cool instrumentation...some interesting dynamics so far, but the intro is really what keeps me interested. I like the ethnic instruments you chose as well as the cool percussive groove.

You should totally finish this, I dig. :D

Cam3leon responds:

Appreciate it, dude! Do you have the remix posted up anywhere? I looked through your works (VERY dope, I must say) and couldn't find it. But yeah, I tried going for a mystic foggy mountain feel with the instrumentation and atmosphere. It's a bit different, given that I'm not TOO too familiar with the game, but hopefully it'll come out well :)

[Solar Winds~]

Wide Soundscape

Very epic start...lots of textures....and then sidechain. :)

Very cool stuff, I can't say I have too much constructive criticism here. Piano just came into the mix, and everything is well mixed. Sort of uplifting, really.

Great stuff, look forward to hearing more from you. :D

codbarley responds:

why a 9 then man? Go for the full 10!

[Adjeye-3 ~ If it starts t]

Great strings.

As I read the last review, I agree almost completely...but as far as constructive criticism...what I'd recommend is...since this is Liquid DnB, you might want to use a very mellow sine wave bass with...no attack on the notes...so it has that "thump" to it. The idea is to create a powerful background sound without sounding too aggressive. Or you could mess with other bass sounds and maybe utilize the cutoff filter more heavily on various VSTs. Another thing you might want to look into if the cutoff filters don't work, is multiband compressors. You can more accurately pinpoint what frequencies you want the bass sound to be more prevalent in. As far as a low sine wave bass, the "sweet spot" is normally around 60 Hz. The intro with the strings is gorgeous, lots of dynamics and overall...creates a great sound, I can tell you know what you're doing in that area. :D

Here's an example of what I mean, since I've been trying to do something in the Liquid DnB department too: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3253668/DnB%2 0%235%20wip%20%234.mp3 (something I haven't uploaded to NG yet)

Feel free to listen to that and gather what you can...but, overall, I like this song man. It's interesting to see your use of strings along with progressive drum patterns, only thing I'd say in the percussion is...it needs a bit more variety.

Man, I wrote a lot...geez. lol

Great stuff man, I hope to hear more from you in the future. :)

Adjeye responds:

Wow thanks man! I will try to aply your critism!

[Tether Your Consideration]

Very, VERY interesting

heh, well...I practically gave you my thoughts on the song, but...just to clarify, this song is intense. Must've had a ton of automation clips, there's a lot of things to look for in this, the crazy glitches on the drums or melody, the overbearing pad in the background that never fails to give an eerie ambience, or the high pitch synth(s) that appear from time to time. It's kind of all over the place, but it's held together with the background pads that are only somewhat noticeable....and that's not a bad thing. I can't tell if that's an actual violin about halfway through...or just a testament at how good you're getting at sound design. Either way, cool stuff man. :)

InvisibleObserver responds:

Thanks man, I always enjoy reading what you have to say. The violin-esque sound is a synth made from synplant, each note in it has a different intonation ever so slightly and it gives it a humanizing quality, so I've made it a bit reedy.

[Stargenx - La Petite Fleur]

A knack for the orchestral stuff, I take it? :D

Just thought I'd check out some more of your songs, and man, you didn't disappoint. You've got some catchy tunes that remind me of some classic SNES RPGs, I'm loving the instrumentation on this, my only problem is the instrument that comes in about 20 secs in, I almost feel like there should be more reverb to it. It sounds a bit robotic, but you could've also been going for that effect. With something like this, it seems like you'd want to get the most realistic sound possible, like an orchestra is actually playing this. But...again, this is a great composition, good work again. :D

Stargenx responds:

Thanks for the review! It's probably the instrument that sounds that way, there is a lot of reverb on it already.

[Stargenx - Longing]

Chill, smooth, and with a touch of emotion.

Damn, that piano is downright sexy. The introduction with the guitar, and then the lead of the piano, sounds great. Is there some added background ambience, or is this piano recorded live. I'd be interested in hearing what you used for the piano, if it wasn't recorded live. Cool strings fill the rest of the soundscape, and this is awesome. Good work, this totally makes me think Chrono Cross...and man, that thunder effect adds some real emotion, just wish it was extended a bit longer. Totally downloaded. :D

Stargenx responds:

It's not live, just manipulation of reverb, hehe. I added rain effects in the background. I made this in Logic Pro 9. It's one of the standard plugins with some edited effects.