Marks-a-lot's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[*Dark Wave* [IZK]]

Damn!

this is some "choice" shit right here! Kudos on the biggest/widest Hi-hats I have ever heard, lol. drums sound pretty sweet though, I am diggin' the hi end frequencies on that kick. The snare flies a little bit under the radar but I can still hear it pretty good. that sub bass though...damn, at first I was like what sub bass I don't here anything then I reached down and found out that someone pretty much turned off my woofer so I turned that baby up and the sub bass hit me. My pants pretty much blew of from that sub bass and I it blew my dog across the room. I am starting to get a sense of your style now that I have been listening to your stuff. It's sloppy, but sloppy as in a compliment not a bad thing. You just always have 'Wide' samples, none of that thin stuff. This is like a mix between your style (you always have those nice pads) and korighan's (proly spelled that wrong) with all that air/reverb that he uses. I think that saw wav you have could be a little cleaner and a little less fat, But very nice job with the bass. It's nice to hear some dirt every now and then if you know what I mean. It may be short but it is definitely long enough to get a feel for the song. I kind of like short songs anyway. Okay, well great job on this song yet another prime DnB that will make a fine addition to the world's collection. Keep it up!

Oh and if you like IDM style music I am going to put out a Wisp/Aphex style song at midnight. I already posted two today so I have to wait till midnight :(

5/5
-[V]-

Now where the hell did my pants go?....

Jenni-Harry4eva3 responds:

Lol XD Just a mix of two hats to create a good enough rhythm and beat X3 Yeaaah. In the drums, the kick has a shaker and hi hat + ghost snare follow up, which creates that nice slide into the beats. Ooh... can't have the snare do that... but as long as it's only a little bit, then that's fine I spose.

Wow! You're pants and dog are gone XD hahaha. Dude... must be a pretty powerful set up there, man XD hahah. Ahh... my style? Well... really, it's mostly a style-crisis that I'm in, but that would be the general idea, yes. You've just defined it for me XD haha. Koriigahn is a big inspiration to me with darkstep. True true. I feel that a song is incomplete without a pad XD and some reverb lol.

Oooh.. dirty saw wav huh... It's usually what I'm prone to the most when it comes to these kinds of basses that I make. Yay! It's long enough ^_^ Glad. Thanks! Glad you really liked this one!

Ooh! I'll check it out once it hits midnight XD lol. Thanks man. You've been a great help.

GO FIND THOSE PANTS XD hahah.

~[IZK]

[Glowing Dreams[Dj-S](full)]

WELL LETS SEE WHAT WE HAVE HERE!

I am going to do this without caps lock if you don't mind. Okay, sounds like we have a little "castles in the sky" progression going on here. not bad at all, there are a lot of parts that I find pleasant to hear. Your synths sound pretty good, you have some deep sounding pads too, very nice. the piano actually sounds good too! I am suprised that someone actually used/got a good sounding piano. Usually it is just a default fl keys or something that had little or no work put into.

I think your drums/percussion sound a little flat though. The hat work seems very basic and unoriginal to this type of music (progressive trance) so next time put a little more into you percussion work, that's one thing that I really listen for. Maybe a little more mids in your kick, you need to brighton it up a bight more and really bring it out. the drums are pretty much the only thing that I think need to be tinkered with. Maybe a little level work and editing to but that's about it.

Nice song! good job with this and great job with the title you sold it with that. sorry I got here so late you should have just commented on my front page or sent me apm if you wanted a review. Keep up the good work!

5/5
-[V]-

Sacrafan responds:

=D thank you, this is a long review and i'm a little tired right now so i will answer in more depth tomorrow, i know i suck with drums even tho i'm a drummer...

[*Darkness Into Light* [IZK]]

Damn! Excuse me while I go change my pants...

Okay, very nice, very nice indeed! First of all let me say that that intro was the shit, that's why I had to change my pants. That amen is pretty damn sexy too. Your progression were pretty good and your FX were very nice. It would have been so sick though, if right when the synths come in, it was dirty as hell like a teebee or something. Something that was really rough, just preference though. I heard some clips to, I think it was from your sound samples in the intro. It happens w/e. But I can't seem to find them right now so maybe I am just messed up. One thing though that really kind of threw me off from the track was the inconsistency in levels. The drums sounded like they were constantly fading in and out, like there was some kind of leve phaser on them or something.

Those drums were what jumped the track though, they really brought it all together. Where would the drum and bass culture be without the amen break? *sigh* well great job anyhow, keep up the fine music too. Try just messin' around with saw wavs and stuff (tweaking harmonic levels, creating havoc in the wav editor, and some ring mod adjustments) get some really dirty DnB sounds. just for fun, who knows you might invent the next reese or something, lol.

5/5
See ya'round

-[V]-

Jenni-Harry4eva3 responds:

Hawtness. Thanks for the review, mate. Lol! You changed your pants?? The intro could not have that good, mate X3 Yes! Glad the amen rock your socks. It's the clearest that I have ever gotten it. Ah yes. I will consider the major distortion when the synth and drums come in lol XD Yeah, I fixed the clips. Ooh... inconsistency in levels... that's probably due to the sub bass =/ Yeah... that's probably why.

Muahaha. The drums rocked the track. =D I knooow. All credits are for the Winstons, for their "Amen, Brother". Sadly, they've never been able to receive their royalties... since they've long passed away :( Ah well. Thanks for the advice! Glad you liked it. Peace, mate.

~[IZK]

[****Walking on Stars****]

Wow!

You surprised me with this one, I was expecting something a little more amature to be honest with you. But this is far from it. I like your minimal style drums, they gently touch and tickle the eardrum and coincide very nicely with those harmonics and that airy pad. The percussion is what really made the feel for the song in my opinion, and again what a great feel it was. This song kind of has a creepy aura to it and it has a relaxing one as well. Which doesn't really make sense when you say it but that's just what I am feeling. lol, inspired by a banzai tree? nice... What else do I like about this song? Well, the title is awesome so I will just say that as well.

Now for some criticisms. And the only thing that is in my mind right now is the fact that this song doesn't really change that much (and I'm one to talk :s.) I could easily see this being an progressive ambient/trance type song. Just have some kind of build for like 2 min, and make sure it's epic, and that would pretty much put this one in the record books for greatest progressive ambient/trance type song ever made.

Nice job though and keep up the good work.

5/5
-[V]-

aliasf responds:

wow thanks so much for the comment...i greatly appreciate your time

i wish i could add more pop to it....like an extra drums here and there but my

program is o so basic lol....when i get my stuff updated ill def make something thats fire

thanks again bro

[[ 1 M 4 G 7 R G U Y ]]

Amazing...

It's like Gorillaz meets Venetian Snares. I am going to go buy your cd now.

Kingbastard responds:

cool:) Thanks very much for the review.

[Ezra Pound n(weird-ass shit)]

Damn!

Now those are some sounds! very interesting sounds you have hear. That's about all I can say...sounds like absynth

5/5
-[V]-

[MH16: Temporary Return]

lol...

This is pretty awesome! it's to bad you can't save it :( I don't think I am going to give a crazy review on this though. just know that I enjoyed it a lot. Now that I think about it this is actually really good taking into account what you had to work with. Keep it up.

5/5
-[V]-

FairSquare responds:

Thanks :-)

[[Helth & GW] - Gate to Heaven]

Not Bad...

Well, it's not bad that's for sure. And their are definitely some very interesting things about this song. The lead that comes in around 1:50 over the sawtooth lead that you have as your rhythm is very nice. the filter was kind of cool too. progressions are well thought out and it sounds very complete.

One thing that I really listen for is the quality of the synth. Let me elaborate to because I have had someone take this the wrong way before. You can make a nice sound in pretty much everything you use, whether it be a vst, hardware, or w/e you are using. So take some extra time to really explore and learn how to make those sounds. anyways back to the review.

Some criticisms, I think that it is to loud toward the end. when you layer the same synth they tend to be very hard to comprehend. It wasn't to bad but I think that you can find a better way to mesh those two together. I heard some clippings in the beginning and that is something no one wants (just fix it with a compression or some mastering/level tweaks.) Drums were pretty good I thought. The crashes seemed a bit loud at parts but that isn't to major of a thing. One more thing too, I honestly think that the piano could have been better. If that piano sounded better that alone would have put the song into a whole other skill level (maybe some more brightness, treble, put some more re verb on it, take out some res, and hmmm maybe even try upping the pitch?)

This song again is not that bad, its actually pretty good. Just needs some fine tuning and some more originality to it. Sorry for the long criticism too. I always try to make the positive longer but it never ends up that way. Nice job and keep up the work both of you.

4/5
Take it easy,
-[V]-

gamerworld14 responds:

Thanks a lot for the criticism actually. I really appreciate how long you looked at this song to write an amazing review. Really appreciated. I will try to improve on some of those things for future songs, since I cannot really do anything to this song now (we have diff. versions of software). Thanks a lot for the review again, much appreciated :D

Your Fellow Newgrounder,
-gamerworld14

[Is This True Love? (Piano)]

Oh my god :'(

So sad but so beautiful...I hate my brother too at times but songs like these make me want to forgive him. I am going to be harsh on you though because this song puts you in the top of wherever it is this puts you. great job! and a harsh one at that! have a good one and keep up the excellent music my friend.

my god that was amazing...

5/5
-[V]-

Zero123Music responds:

Thanks very much :p
I enjoyed that review lots :)

thanks
>>Zero

[Locked]

Ah!

What a tease, such a good song though. Definitely worth the download. I still think the qoute that was in this song a while ago was a good addition.

5/5
-[V]-

e-lusion responds:

I think the main reason it was taken out was because it was from Star Trek and we didn't want to deal with the licensing issues. Although, if you put this song on loop and watch First Contact you'll have exactly the same experience!