DonaldFletcher's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Trauma (Demo)]

Now that's some Industrial.

1st impression I got within 15 seconds of listening is that your sound quality is off the charts. The strongest element this track's got to throw at the listener is sound and your manipulation of it. I'm listening with several hundred dollars worth of headphone right now, and it's safe to say this is almost completely error free, especially compared to the other stuff around here that operates on similar frequencies. Based on your style, I'd say there's a good chance that everything I'm hearing that could be construed as a fault (i.e. crackling, clicking, etc) is likely there on purpose because it fits the tempo. So I gotta hand it to you on that one.

Since this is a demo, I'm hoping that when you throw the finished product out there that your intent is to add more sounds to it, not make it longer. I like the length of this piece because I see that there's a lot you can do in there, though as it stands now I find myself getting lost before 3:46 when you go back to the spoken vocals. Before that it's about a minute and fifteen seconds of audio that has little to distinguish itself between repetitions. This is a sad betrayal of the phenomenal intro you started with, which gave me the impression I was gonna get a six minute rocket ride through an industrial bloodbath. So currently this track runs a minute or two too long for all that's in it.

Normally, I despise spoken vocal samples in music, but you're one of the few people on here who can actually do it RIGHT - give a good quality voice its moment, then build back into the meat of your track inside of a beat or two.

When you finish this thing it's gonna be 10 star material. Killer start.

Siborg responds:

Those clicking sounds you speak of were half purpose half accident, they came from the bassline. It a patch i made in Vangaurd and the initial start of the sound had this pop sound...i could get rid of it so i decided " ok it wont go and i liek the sound...let's incorporate this into the song!" And so i did. As for the samples they are part of the story im telling in this piece so i had to compromise a few areas to get them to fit in, but yes its still in the works and im going to add more elements to it once i get this demo album finished. Once the track is 100% ill let you know thanks for the review and im going to check out some of those areas and tweek a bit :)

[Piano Macabre v1.1]

Nice finished product.

Upon reading Siborg's review, I gotta say I agree with the "stock" sound criticism to a point. A couple instruments /could/ use some effects, maybe some instruments are left un-fucked-with. That's up to what's judged appropriate by the composer. And this is coming from someone who used to be limited to throwing reverb and maybe a generic phaser onto basic MIDI instruments. So I know what it's like to get stuck using what you've got. And since your composition is so solid here, I can't take much away for that bit.

I stuck my finger in the water of FL awhile back and didn't like it, so I don't know what sorts of tweaks it offers at the moment. I don't know what version of ACID Pro you were running when we talked earlier, but 7 comes with a nice little pack of Izotope effects which I wish I had years ago when I got into this game.

Anyway, for the matter of the review itself, I like what you did with your previous sample. I already wrote quite a bit on that one, so I don't think I have to speak too much at length here, since I gotta congratulate you on a very appropriately finished piece. You did a fair bit to make it better and to close it off. Definitely liking the new title as well- classy.

But let me reiterate that I wish there was more original material like this on top of the page here. This blows away all the repetitive ear trash that keeps somehow managing, like a buoyant piece of horseshit in a fishing hole, to float up through the 1st page. So you got my sincere thanks on that one. PLEASE keep making your music.

[Thrill (Spurgin)]

Nice touch up

I'm missing all the keyboard/synth work from the last version; I thought it added a hell of a lot to this piece, but this is a much cleaner and stronger mix. Even though it's short I could leave this on repeat for an hour. Damn fine job.

[Red Ocean (Old)]

Sweet, smooth Industrial track

You're doing pretty much everything right from the start here. I like how you allow this track to introduce itself so smoothly, and you're using some very full-bodied effects here. Your string melody gets a little repetitive before the end, but I gotta give the credit for writing a really good one to stick with.

It's cool that you left the whole center of the stereo plane largely empty of your major percussion. This has a very immersive, encompassing effect on the listener and seems to work well with the wide stereo presence of a lot of the non-percussive sounds you've got going here. Perhaps it might be judged to be a bit extreme (since it is constant), but I think you did a great job with it. Keeping the industrialized snare in the same place on the right and the BDs (which are very well composed for this piece by the way) in the same general location stage left gives this track a steady quality that really works for the mood you're conveying, while the hats floating around the center still leave a nice subtle treat for those of us with headphones.

I also like the stereo sensitive LFO in the soundscape effect in the background. That's working extraordinarily well here. I'm trying to do something similar on my current project actually, and so far I haven't had the success you've got here. That effect is also really helping your conclusion, alongside instrumental subtleties included mostly on the right channel. Very classy.

I would have drawn out that final note for another beat or two at the end. A track like this seems to demand a slightly (though very slight) longer outtro.

That just about covers it. Nice to find you in Industrial!

Aeris responds:

I love your reviews, they're so intuitive, :D not just a simple "it sounds awesome" or a "it sounds like shit" and moves on. Thanks again, I'll look it over, sleep on it, and relook into the conclusion. If something awesome comes up, i'll be sure to reupload it.

My genre kinda varies x3 I can't really "classify" something, like analytically. But I can hear something, take the subtle differences between the other genres, and decide "so that's industrial, i'ma try" sometimes it comes out awesome x3 sometimes it doesn't.

[F**k Off- Instrumental]

F**K!

I'm liking the "I don't give a rotten fuck" kind of melody here. It really does seem to be saying "fuck off," and "I'm gonna say it over and over again until you get tired of the song."
Truth is though, I never did get tired of this thing. As indicated by so much of your other work, you have absolute mastery over your instruments and can get them to sound any damn way you like at any time. Not only that, but you precisely know how and when to change them at those crucial transitional moments. This keeps it intensely interesting through the whole damn track. And with that, there aren't two sections of this track that sound exactly alike, and your build at the climax is simply awesome, yet it remains clean all the while (while as you know a lot of other artists here might let the volume clip all the way to hell and back in proportion to the intensity).
I think by now you already know most of my other praise for your style and technique, so I'm just gonna close this one off with one of those cliche "keep up the good work" deals, except it's envisioned with the appropriate amount of expletives ;-]

DomesticTerrorist responds:

Haha thanks mate, I definitely will keep it up :P

[Psychopath Mosh [WIP]]

I'm DEFINITELY in the mood to mosh after this one.

I'm absolutely getting that kind of vibe here. This has the ideal kind of build for a pit worthy of mention in Dante's Inferno. If anyone who reads this is a respectable metalhead they'll know exactly what I'm talking about!
You've got the drums just right for the effect, and you've got the heavy melody to flesh out that killer beat.
And not only that, but it's also Industrial. You got everything in here from the right kind of instruments to a little bit stereo channel play (enough to suit a live show for sure). Truly a good job with this.
Normally I'd be going on a rant about how this runs a little repetitive at times, among a few other minor criticisms I'll often throw out there to tracks on this listing, but really for what you're getting at here all of that would be pointless to bring up. The point of a Mosh is to keep a goddamn crushing beat going at key times to keep the intensity of the pit constant. This not only makes for a better but a, dare I say it, safer pit since it keeps confusion to the minimum (so no one gets hurt TOO bad, haha). As a pit veteran some degree of experience I know that's exactly how it's supposed to be.
Killer job on this one dude. Spot on. Keep up the good work.

[+++Emergency+++]

Think about it-

"if u dont like psy trance then u wont like this" - the above commentary

If you, yourself, define this as trance, why did you submit it to Industrial instead of... um, Trance? Not to be a smartass (and I know I am), but there's very little in here that I'd classify as Industrial anyway. Did you just get mixed up?

As far as trance goes, this is alright from my experience in that genre, hence the decent review I'm leaving you. But I'm just gonna refrain from voting because A) I don't want to hurt your score here because the average scores in Trance are always a lot higher than Industrial and B) I don't feel qualified to give your trance track a vote that might permanently affect its chances among your target audience.

So when you get the chance switch this thing over. Good luck

[Flashpoint (Spurgin)]

Damn, I was missing out on some killer material.

Yeah, I was mostly out of the loop for so long I'm embarrassed that I missed out on a couple of your tracks for so long.
This seems to me like a mix of some of your older material, but I like what you did with it. I'm picking up parts of "Stay True to Your Heart" and "First to Die," both of which are never gonna leave my favorites. But you went and made this into a three minute track and it ain't no sin to reuse your own material. Plus I'm liking how you did more with the drums on this one.
Dude, really, I can't get enough of your material. This is awesome.

[BSE - Haunting (Industrial)]

Great original piece.

Honestly, seeing as you didn't use loops here I'm very, very impressed. I'm always happy to hear such original material!! That really shows an enormous amount of talent compared to much of the other material I hear in this genre.
Even though it's simple, I love that kick beat you've got running. It really keeps the intensity going. The rest of your percussion works fantastically to this effect as well.

Now even though you didn't use loops, the melody does get a little repetitive before the end. It shouldn't be hard for you to appropriately tweak the notes at parts though. I was waiting for a key change, or something, for the last minute and a half of the song. Seriously with the talent you've obviously got you could get away with going nuts on that melody if you wanted to.

Stereo work was a little mild, but still appropriate for the genre. You've got a pretty good concept of what Industrial listeners are expecting when it comes to instruments. I enjoyed the flow of the song, and the variety and layering of the instruments kept this an interesting listen through most of it. It's also clean and smooth- not picking up any clipping, static, clicks or any other adverse audio issues. So you did a great job on that end too.

Nicely done.

[Dr. Ishii's Experiment]

Another really cool track.

This might be short, but I really dig it. This is a really cool, imaginative piece of material. Not much I can say bad about it, other than that the transition at 1:27 seemed forced. I'd have built that thing back up with some percussion. That'd've kept the intensity of the flow back into that sweet melody while smoothly leading the listener back at the same time.
This combines a cool classic feel with the intensity of the synths, which conflicts here and there (like when you have the electric piano [I think that's the midi instrument you've got there anyway] running beneath your synthesizer after the aforementioned transition) but is overall very well done. It does add a lot to the classy scientific sort of mystery atmosphere of the piece though. It'd be a bit difficult to change it without losing that quality.
This could've been drawn out further past the conclusion though. If you ever find the time I'd love to hear a fuller version of this piece. Nice work man.

Surdu responds:

Thanks for the review! I would love to make it longer but i felt like I already had reached a climax and didnt want to ruin it. Some day I'll wake up and know what to do to lengthen it.

And yeah, the electric piano does conflict harmonically with the synth stuff. I suppose i was kind of lazy and made the excuse that the dissonance added effect but i'll play with it.