Mataro's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[~The Girl From Memory Planet~]

This was.. Well. Unique.

Well now. I don't typically review featured songs, as they often don't need my two cents, and obviously, you don't either, considering the praise this seems to be meeting. I was debating whether or not to give this a 7, but I decided on an 8. The production quality is great.

The overall feel is great.

The lasting effect is not.

Piano is expected. I can't really criticize you on it, because it works, even though it's a little overused in this styling. It's all got a rather unique, ambient feel. The vocals were, great, I'm assuming you're singing, and you've done a great job. The reverb is perfect, and the EQing is great. The glitchy synth playing alongside the piano is great, but what really makes it awesome is the reverse on it every so often. The drums are also great. Awesome tom work. The church bells (tubular?) were a bit unexpected, but also work great. I can only guess that's a timpani in there, and it's a welcome addition as well.

Where this falls short in my opinion is the lack of some real diversity. It doesn't get boring, or old, per se. The story in of itself keeps it going. Though, I'd rather imagine it modern day, than invaders on another planet, but I don't know the whole story anyway so I won't say much. The lyrics are all good, but what I feel is seriously missing is some real power. Some real punch. I found myself leaning forwards, just waiting for it to explode. And.. It didn't. I feel a little let down, a little disappointed. Some dark, gritty synthy guitars and a deep bassdrum and perhaps a barely recognizable choir for a short instrumental break would have been very welcome, continuing on with the story at some point thereafter. Either way, it's good the way it is. I just feel like this could have made some great, dark, rock of some sort as well. Kinda' wish it was, but I'm sure there are just as many people that prefer it this way, so pay me no heed.

However, as such, replayability is somewhat limited for me, for it lacks the power to really drive the anger home for me. It's brooding, and it conveys the darkness well, but the anger seems to be taking a backseat behind the hate through the whole song. As powerful an emotion as hate is, it's my experience that hate comes first, and then anger. I would have liked seeing the anger taking a greater role in the second half of the song, but great job nonetheless.

8 out of 10. 4 out 5. And a download, because I feel this deserves it, even if I may not play it very often. Few people have the capacity to properly write lyrics. Well done. Keep it up, Hania. I hope you've enjoyed reading this. Best regards :D

[Mad World - Rock]

Holy hell in a can.

Abso-freakin-lutely awesome.

I'll tell you right here, 5/5. This is plain wicked. Commercial stuff here. A tad cluttered, but it sounds great. Vocals sound a little off at times.. But they sound awesome for the most part. If that's you singing, awesome job! I'm really curious what you used for everything.. What filters did you use on the vocals? (If any? o.O)

What's that guitar? Sounds too damn synced to be real.. Is it? And those strings are brilliant. The drums are perfect though. Been looking for that sounds for a long time.. Damn. Awesome job here. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this.

I refuse to lower myself to download spamming, but I will promise you that I'll come back and slap some fives on this for the next week or so ;D

You deserve it. This rocks. In the best way. Keep it up, and rawk on! >:D

Sasha-Tarquin responds:

thankyou very much for your review, i'm really glad you liked it. In response to your questions.

it is me singing thankyou for your support,

the guitars are real, it's me playing through a line6 pod xt,

with regards to the drums i've bin looking for this sound too and onli jus got it, if your curious look up parallel compression :o)

really appreciate your support thanks again.

[Apex9 - Paradigm]

Groovy.

I'm liking this. Great synth choice in the beginning there.. The gate sounds a little odd, though. Just a weird gate rhythm, in my eyes. Or ears, rather. The drums sound awesome. Does have a sort of eighties feel, but it just sounds so much cooler. Snare drum is wicked, by the by. That square synth that comes in around the 2 minute mark is wicked, as well :D

As you might have noticed, I'm reviewing this as I go. And the more I hear, the more I like. This gets better and better. But it still feels a tad lacking.. Perhaps some bass? That might ruin it though.. It sounds good as is. Ending is great.. Sounds amazing. My only problem is that this song is a bit too repetitive, even for trance..

Highlight of the song, by far, has to be right at that 45 second mark, where it goes from some basic trance, to something a little more.. Groovy. Minute mark is the same way. Same thing, with more going on. Awesome job. But, mabe 5 minutes is a little long? 'Aye, it's your call, of course. And you've made quite a few good ones on this already. Wicked well done, and unique :D

8/10, download, and 5/5. I'm in a good mood today.. Plus, this is some cool stuff. Keep it up ApexNine. Eager to hear more ;D

[C:\Program Files\Breathe.exe]

Wtf is this?

I'll tell you what it is. It's brilliant. Percs were great. Synths had an amazing oldschool feel. Bass was somewhat plain, but it go the job done. Drums were.. Well, I've heard better, but this is pretty good. 4x4 kick, but it's not like I really criticize you on that. This had a pretty icy feel for me. Not blisteringly cold, but just.. Chilled.

Having said all that, this isn't perfect. The percs that start up about half way through were a tad.. Random. Not rhythmic enough. Kick sounds great, if not a tad lonesome, and the drum progression was basic at best. The wobbling synth is great though. By far the most stand out part of the track for me. Sounds awesome. I did like how you did some filtering on the rest of the drums aside from the kick, sounds great, and light. I would have liked to see some sort of hat rhythm though. How about some icy clangs in place of hats? Oh well. Intro was amazing, by the by. Couldn't have been better. I loved that lightly distorted synth.. Sounded perfect.

Great job, but not stellar. Love it though. 8/10, a download, and a 5/5, because I'm feeling nice ;D.

Keep it up, Cutting-Christ. Good stuff, can't wait to hear more! :D

Cutting-Christ responds:

Wow. Thanks for the long review and great critique. ^_^

Also, the random-sounding drums may have been because I changed the time signature to 3/4 in one part of it and it's difficult to get rhythmic 3/4 drums? I dunno, just guessing.

[_-={Newgrounds Spectrum}=-_]

Son of a..

You gone dun' it again! Why haven't I reviewed any of your stuff lately? Well.. Lack of internet probably had something to do with it, but that's no excuse! This is so utterly, brutally awesome that it is.. Er, awesome? Sure, we'll stick with that. Excellent job all the way throughout. I don't even know where to begin, it's so spectacularily well done. Truly professional, as usual, MaestroRage.

I honestly wish I could say more, or give you something to improve on or something of the like but to be frank, you're so bloody far ahead of me that I really don't see this getting much better.

You're work is absolutely brilliant. I'd pay for it.

I haven't much more to say.. Really, I don't know what I could. Excellent job, keep it up, and I'll keep listening. 10 out of 10, 5 out of freakin' 5.

MaestroRage responds:

Well the way I see it, you probably were being eaten by grizzly bears which delays the desire to visit Newgrounds. I understand my friend, I understand :'(

And internets has a say in all this too.

You won't have to pay for a single note I pop out Mataro, for however long I exist! Thank you for the review, i'm glad you liked it!

[Shimmer - Demo]

Good for what it is.

Really not much to say here.. It's pretty decent..

Towards the end it finally gets mixed up a bit more, but before that when the other lead comes in it sounds kind of odd. The guitar itself but the harmonies between it and the other two just seems really out of place. I'd suggest focusing on it a bit more? Maybe build it a bit, drop down to just an acoustic guitar and then come back in with that lead instead of just stacking it like that. It would give it more punch, but hey, your band, right? :P

I would give it 8, but without at least drums you get a 7, and because it sounds a little off at times I'll give it 6, but don't get the wrong idea. It's pretty well done for what it is. Good job, and keep it up. Let me know when the song is complete :D

[The Sky Dive]

Pretty cool.

The guitars sound great. And a couple of the riffs sound really awesome. The drums on the other hand are a little bland and seem to be lacking a bit of punch.

What the hell is with the total change in song half way through? o.O

I'm going to make the assumption that these are loops that you got god knows how. So your arrangement skills have a ways to go. If you actually played some of this though, then excellent job with that. You just need better composition throughout. There didn't actually seem to be any bass, which was kind of odd. But it works, so long as the other two guitars didn't seem so.. All over the place. The synth towards the end is alright, but the effect is a little out of place again.

Really not much more to say.. It's your second song, so it's pretty damned good in that regard. I'll give it a 7 and a 3/5. When you release any more songs, let me know, I'd be happy to come by and review them for ya'. Keep it up.

SamuraiGuru responds:

Ok, so this review is incredibly old and you may not even use newgrounds anymore, but this was done with a web program called orange mixer. Its all samples that you pretty much just choose the length of and the rest is done by pre-recorded instruments. Mainly, i was playing around with sounds which is why everything is so effed up half the time, XD. But thanks for actually listening to the song and reviewing, im surprised.

[Karco - Message]

This is the song, right?

Or maybe it was another one? x.X

Let me know. :x

Always the techno guy, you :P

Overall, it's pretty cool. The arp is a little too powerful, and the bass is a little quite, it's got a lot of treble to it. Which isn't bad, it gives it a sort of floaty feel. The piano sounds great, but it's a little quiet. It also sounds a little out of key for some reason. Maybe it just needs to be a tad sharper, and a little brighter. It seems kind of out of sync with the rest of the mood.

The percussive elements all sound good, but they're still kind of generic. It's your average 4/4 kick, with the offbeat claps. The hats on the other hand have a really cool kind of roll to them, but they could be even cooler if they panned a bit more.

It's your average trance song, overall. It's nothing special or particularily unique, but what's there is done pretty well. I understand that you can't go back and do anything because of a corrupt file, which is a shame. This could be really cool with a few breaks. A lowpass on the arp, and a switch to a sort of broken up breakbeat with some bit distortion while the piano takes the real spotlight for a moment there would be really cool. Maybe even some strings run through a flanger or, better yet, the love philter.

All in all, at present it's an early demo. It's what you can expect of an early demo, that it's lackluster but full of possibilities. It's a shame it won't get finished because it could have been damn cool :D

Having said that, I'm fifenin' it anyway because I think your stuff deserves a little more attention regardless. The ten is just because I think ten stars look really pretty :X

Karco responds:

Yeah, this is the one, I haven't really submitted anything else recently...

Honestly, I thought the arp was fine, but seeing as that you and the other reviewers thought it was strong, I suppose there's some reconsidering to be done.

I'd have to disagree with the piano, it sounds in tune to me. I can see where you're coming from with volume, though. Unfortunately, the .flp corrupted, so I can't fix it anyway.

The average 4/4 kick and the claps on every other beat are part of a normal trance song - the only creative variation that's really left open to the artist (as far as I know and have heard so far in every trance song I've heard) is with the kicks and claps on the transitions, snare rolls, and in the hihats throughout the song. I'll definitely agree that these are some of my better hihats - adding panning might be a bit distracting to the listener in my opinion, though...

Interesting ideas you have there. Again, it's no early demo, but an older render of a project file that had come a LOT farther before corrupting and becoming unusable.

Thanks for the high ratings and the review!

[System Override (MS RAVE)]

Damn!

Now this is great stuff! Forget about overpacking it with harmonies! This is perfect! It's... It's.. SONIC AWESOME. Sonic as in sound, not the blue psuedo-animal :D

Really, this is bloody great. The transitions are perfect. The analog buildups are incredible. Makes me realize the my "Unstoppable" needs more pads xD

Is that a vocal sample I just heard? It's so fitting in the transition I barely noticed it!

Haha! Anyhow, I only reviewed this one this time because it said that Karco helped you make it on the introduction, or at least gave tips.. As it stands, Karco and I are doing a lot of work together. The guy progresses fast! :P

Drums are great. The only detractor here is that the quality in the end lowers the enjoyability quite a bit.. I could even give you a really simple tip on mastering.. Just give me a shout through Msn if you have it; [e-mail]

Great job overall! Bloody well brilliant! :D