curriemaster's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[scarred]

There's a train driving over my head!

Neato starting sample. It morphs from sounding like a train going post to some weird tribal drums in the distance.

The strings and pad have a nice high quality sound, but I think they could be panned around a bit to suit the "train going past" sound a bit better and create some crazyass aural soundscape. I like the weird chords used as well, very dark and unsettling.

You must have noticed that I love using glockenspiels/bells in my songs, so I was very pleased to hear you using some.

Just looped again...

The strings come in a bit harshly I think, but you completely forget about that once it gets going. You could maybe start the strings on a lower octave and move slowly up to where you are now to allow it to blend with the "train" sound a bit more.

The bells! They inexplicably remind me of the film "Saw", creepy and unnerving. I really enjoyed listening to this song, it inspires a lot of different thoughts and feelings; which for me is the main reason for listening to music!

Awesome Fünf/Fünf.

pitbulljones responds:

yo thanks very much for the review man. That opening synth is supposed to sound like bombs or somehting, just an atmos synth, helps portray a mood though.

The strings were a case of trial and eror, finding weird progressions and stuff, works well for this. i don't know why sometimes things cut in too harshly, i have an inkling it's to do with my limiter of compression i really have to spend more time doing shit like that.

thanks vey much again and i'm glad you enjoyed the piece.

pitters

[And Now I'm Fearless]

Asploding with teh Joy

Yo Pitters,

Sorry I haven't reviewed you yet, I've been a lazy son of a biznatch. This song is pretty stylish I must say, it evokes an "everything is getting better in the world" type of feeling. Definitely something for any flash that contains a "ultimate redemption of the hero" plot line.

I did think the overall sound was quite subdued and muddy, there is not much that rears its head above the gentle lapping sonic waves (there is a guitar picking chords that sounds really cool though at one point). However, I think that makes it particularly suited for a soundtrack as it is unintrusive yet mood changing.

It would be nice if the piano had a little sustain on it in some places. Also, you should try alternating the cello/contrabass note with the same note an octave lower. You'd be surprised how much it fills out the bass and gives some flavour.

All in all a really excellent song, the chords chosen and the instrumentation are very well chosen.

Fünf/Fünf.

pitbulljones responds:

yo curriemaster. how do? like this would ever get seen in a flash, it's me lol, but it does have that soundtrack feel to it, i agree.

Yea KB pointed out this middle feel, must be the eq, i'll have to attend to that. The piano choice is actually very soft tho and not meant to be very cutting which is where this distinction may be coming from i dunno.

I may have to try the alternating the bass notes and shit, i just tend to forget these things, a probelm that i have is once i get near a full piece i'll tend to forget the niceties that would really push the track up.

Oh well, thank you very much.

pitters

l;et me know when you have owt up.

[Dance to the beat now!]

Score

Hey FoD as I said Im not much of a techno fan but this is a nice tune, the instruments are well chosen and the mix is done nicely. Good layering at the end as well, the fade out is cool.

Good buildup at the start, though I thought it was drawn out a bit too much. Nice tune anyway, keep it coming!

-Curriemaster

Father-of-Death responds:

we!!! thanks!

[Lion King]

Ladies and Gentlemen...

FoD this is properly crazy, but it still made me laugh. Did you take some magic mushrooms or something before making this??

For rizzle!

-Curriemaster

Father-of-Death responds:

hello my scotish freind!!!

thanks for the reiew and i am ashemd of this song now... bleh! i dont think its funny anymore :(

maybe time for a new funny track...

[Mutzi Schnutzi (2:40)]

Hells yeah!

Mr. WinTang,

I didn't know that you could fingerpick so well! I myself am a fingerstyle guitarist and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed this. The thumb notes were very well placed, and the finger notes give a playful yet dark feel to the whole song. I particularly enjoyed how your changed your metre near the end of the song to suit your chords. Magic!

Honestly, WinTang there have been very few NG audio submissions that I have enjoyed as much as this. I'd rate you a 6 if I could, but I look forward to hearing more of this from you.

By the way, are you going Pinkpop in Landgraaf? Im a big Smashing Pumpkins fan so I might see you there :P. Keep it up big man, Ill look out for your next piece.

WinTang responds:

Wow, that was heartwarming really, I'd love to hear a fingerstyle thing out of you.

No Pinkpop for me this year, regrettably. Hope you have fun. The beer is fucking expensive and mixed with water, which has the severe side-effect of toilet intoxication.

You can still sell the tickets on E-bay though. Hehehehe.

Seriously though, thanks for the love there. I'll make sure to visit your page when I can spare some good time.

['''3:00''']

No kidding!

That is pretty damn intense. Nice layering of instruments though and I enjoyed the eclectic percussion; it sounds pretty cool with the other instruments you've chosen. I can imagine this as a boss fight on some top down scrolling space arcade because it makes you want to shit your pants a wee bit. "Sharting" I think is the technical term :P.

Nice work chief.

attemptedperfection responds:

hmm... now I'm wishing I had named it "top-down-scrolling-space-arcade-boss-battle"... would've probably gotten me more downloads than '''3:00''' XD
thanks for the review!

[|-| Destruction |-|]

Hard Corpse!

Hehe nice wee tune here, I can imagine sitting in the room while you record this would rock quite a lot!

Maybe it was the final mixing or maybe it was original recording but the overall feel was a but muddy. You got a sweet sounding crunch when strumming the lower strings but it seemed to lack a high end a little bit, except for that cool pick scrape (or was it just some fast alternate picking?)!

However, these are just recording points, the actual song rocked! 5/5

-Curriemaster

DarKsidE555 responds:

Yeah, it's pretty muddy indeed and it pisses me off. Getting some new equipment the next time though...so maybe this problem will be solved then. ^^

And yes, it was just some fast alternate picking.

Thanks for checking it out man!

[There will be blood!]

So Metal You Must Be Iron Man

Hey DarKsidE,

This tune kicks ass, I was enjoying the heavy speed picking, the notes sound very clear and distinct; did you practice this for a while or do you just kick bottom?

I do agree with speedmetalmessiah a bit with the drums not being a bit more present. It sounds to me like they have been compressed too much though and the rides and crashes come out more because of their higher freq.

But thats a minor issue, the guitar is some serious sexy right there. Good job man, I look forward to your next track as always!

-Curriemaster

DarKsidE555 responds:

I usually practice before hitting shit. It's easier to record then. Yeah, drums are always my problem...maybe not anymore pretty soon. hehe. :)

Thanks for review man! Keep in touch! ;)

[Eyes so tight]

Interesting and Subtle

Hey Awfullypretty,

Im really enjoying this song, I like how much of the song is just drums, vocals and piano. It stays simple and clean sounding and provides a nice contrast when the guitar kicks in.

One thing I would suggest is to change the pan values on the two different voices slightly. At the moment it sounds like voice 1 (the one that sings all of the words) is panned to the left and voice 2 (the one singing only some words to provide accent) is panned in the centre. I would suggest swapping the pan values so that voice 1 is centred and voice 2 is left. You could also add another accent vocal and pan it to the right.

Otherwise a nice relaxing song. Nice work, it deserves a 5 I think.

Awfullypretty responds:

Thanks dude....yeah i did all the vocals over but i left that up here jst for the flash makers to use im a big fan of the flashes, and im gonna make sure to check out ur stuff

[*+*_collision_*+*]

Seriously...

...that sounds fucking sweet.

I really like the deep, heavy crunching rhythm this song has to it, its complement very well by the discordant lead guitar. I also thought the short sharp strokes on the lead added a nice percussive quality that offset the drums brilliantly.

Are those some pinch harmonics my poor metal-deprived ears hear? Sumptuous :D.

DarKsidE555 responds:

Sry for the late reply. ^^
Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, you heard right, there were pinch harmonics in it. I love playing those babys. The drums are by speedmetalmessiah and I have to say he did a pretty good job on it!!

Thanks for the review! :)