Mataro's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Aftermath]

What the BLOODY DEVIL IS THIS?!

This is certainly not the Karco I remember. I was sort of bummed there wasn't something newer to review. The production values on this are very nice. The melodies are sweet and simple. A touch melancholic, but that's good. Strangely Christmasy, but that could just be the season working its magic.

There isn't too much for me to say here.. I haven't reviewed anything in ages. I hope you're still writing music though, mate.

This was good stuff, even if it's not your usual bag of tricks-- if anything, I think diversifying is great.

Something like this, but a bit darker, and stretching into your usual techno/electro stylings could be a pretty awesome second half to this piece, but alas.

If you still remember who I am, perhaps we can get to talking again some time.

Merry Christmas, my friend!

Karco responds:

Glad you like it. :) Haven't been writing too much music but that might change when I have some time this summer. Thanks for the kind words!

[B7 - Infernus]

Not digging the mastering.

But the rest is a whole pile of FUCK YEAH.

Wicked riffage, brochacho. The break at 2 minutes was somewhat unexpected, but awesome. Felt like the lead into it could be a touch better on second playthrough. That aside, if you could reduce some of the digital static from recording during the softer bits, it would really add to the awesome that much more.

Altogether; drums feel a tad bland at parts, mix could use some adjusting, some better recording would do it justice, and some minor arrangement changes could be in order. Nevertheless, you get titanic props for a tune that rocks ass more than I've heard in quite some time. I can only hope I aspire to riffs of this caliber.

Burn7 responds:

I completely agree, this is one of my older songs and as such... has absolutely no mastering/mixing other than panning the guitars L/R.

This was also my 3rd or 4th song using the drumkit, and had never orchestrated the drums myself before then. I'd say the drum arrangement is pretty stale as well.

The recording static is also something that I have fixed overtime. It really is pretty apparent without any distortion around the clean bridge.

Thanks for being honest and giving me suggestions. You'd be surprised how rare that is, I think out of every 100 reviews I get only 1 or 2 of them have suggestions or improvements.

And thanks for giving my stuff a listen!

[Pantheion 1999]

Jim The Worm..

Was amusing. But what I really got out of it was that this is a pretty awesome piece. Love the sounds. In fact, I love it so much that I would like to dig into it and see what I can come up with to remix it-- with your permission of course. :D

If it sounds like a plan to you, just let me know through a PM and we'll figure it out. I'll probably need at the very least the sheet music. Or if you use FL, then the project file itself would work great. Let me know, looking forward to your response. :D

-Mataro

Vertlain responds:

Remix? Sure, why not! It was made in 1999, so as far as I know FL Studio was just launched and probably wasn't very popular. I used soft called FastTracker 2 at that time. Still I'm almost certain I have midi version somewhere. Would it be good enough?

[Techno Rocker v2 - RdM]

This is pretty awesome.

I'm not a huge fan of voice clips for this sort of stuff, but the "Techno" bit fits pretty well actually. Not too much to say, it's pretty solid. My only problem is the odd panning of the mix. It sounds like all the elements are completely on one side or the other. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but there needs to be more to it. As it stands, it feels like it's pretty heavy on the right channel. With a more full sounding mix, it would definitely be a ten. Awesome job. :D

Bahdshah responds:

ah yeah sorry bout that!
this track was done when i was sort of into the stereo enhancer effect XD

[Mario 64 End]

Well I'll be. Percussion.

A five, because the song itself is already, a six because it's tolerably well done. Very midi-ish. Would have been a seven actually, but some of the frequencies are a tad grating on my ears, but that could just be me. Alas, not much to say. I reccomend trying out some original stuff. If you would actually like to work together, I would be happy to. Or perhaps just start you off on a project or some such, your choice. Anyhow, let me know if you put up anything else, and I'll review that too if you'd like. :P

Brawllord responds:

I originally made this as a midi so i know where you came from on it being midi-ish I was lazy though and just put it straight through to mp3, i already regret that. oh well harm done and i don't actually feel like editing it maybe in another 396 years i might come back and make it creative.

Yes Percussion, i've given up on putting piano on here, i'll come back to you on that working together stuff when i'm used to making my own original stuff and not just video game stuff. ahh well i've got more video game music projects in the half making after that i'll give a shot at original stuff.

[Fountain of Dreams (remix)]

A six this time.

But mostly because I just have a soft spot for the Fountain of Dreams. Again, I wonder about you playing it. On one hand, there's no fuzz, which would suggest it's not a recording. But on the other hand, it's fairly low quality, which could just as much be a bitrate thing as anything.

For an example of the quantizing that I was talking about, check ~1:27. I'm not sure what to say. There's just piano here, and little to the piano at that. Practice makes perfect and whatnot, of course. If this is indeed you composing the song and matching the original, then I'm impressed. But I'm left scratching my head as to what to believe.

Brawllord responds:

My response in general to that is...ready for this?...okay too much suspense, my computer is, in simplicity, f***** up and it really does what it wants. this is a recording i can assure you. My equipment on my computer as i says gives it the quality it wants...old computer i should upgrade...but i can get rid of the fuzz from general recordings by recording the fuzz on its own and then my program wipes that noise from the recording.

[(_RGH_) Bender Screwbot (!)]

Awesome.

Doesn't stand out too much, or even try to be particularily bold at all. No booms. Nothing. And it's perfect that way. Ambient, rich, full. Sounds great. I can definitely hear some of your older work in here. The harmonies are wicked. Synths are clean, the drums are smooth, and it all sounds great.

I like it as is, and I love that choir. Great job. 5/5, 10/10. Love it :D

RyeGuyHead responds:

You remember?

always pleased to satisfy!

[[LR] This Sucks Fuck You]

Eh.. Heh?

I liked the sound. Not really a song. But the syncopation makes it kind of.. Ambient. Needs a bit more to it, of course.. It's alright. I get the idea you went out of scale left, right, and center. I'm curious to see what you might be able to accomplish if you really put your head to it.

Good luck.

Little-Rena responds:

I was messing with a program really, don't really have great audio making programs, this was made with an MIDI Keyboard :S

[[LR] Pointless Beat]

Rofl @ Straight 10's.

Progressive? Yes. Minimalist? A bit, yeah. Interesting? At first. Lasting appeal? Not really.

It needs a lot more, but that goes more or less without saying. Really not much to say here. Uh. Samples were nice?

Little-Rena responds:

I dunno?

[Take No One]

The minimalism really carries over.

I wouldn't call it techno, really. But I'm not sure what I would really call it. Almost.. Ambient? Heh, almost. There's really not much for me to say here.. It all sounds pretty cool. The effects were a nice touch.. But it all feels pretty plain. A little underdone, if you understand what I mean. Took far, far too long for some percussion to come in. But the choir there is brilliant. Sounds awesome. The last minute or so of the song is by far the best part.. But even then it feels like it's on the brink of busting out, but it never quite makes it.. That saw-ish pluck is pretty awesome, by the by.

What it really feels like though, is that it could have been great, but the amount of time you spent building it, fading back out, really killed off the momentum. The bomb siren was bloody brilliant. But in the chaos thereafter, like bombs striking the earth, should have been some booming percussion, some powerful bass, and a chaotic, distorted synthline just to usher in the impending doom that the piece seems to convey.

I prefer it more when heralds actually herald something, if you know what I mean. Regardless, it's solid. It's just not spectacular. Good job nonetheless. 7/10, 4/5. Keep it up, and thanks for your criticism on -=Gallows=-! :D

Jimbobsthebest responds:

Thanks for a wicked review man. I started writing this piece with the ambition to carry it on to more of a tune. When I first submitted this, it was only allowed to be a certain length of time... I think under 4 minutes, so I left it as it was. I may have to go over it and release a version 2 where it gets a bit heavier.

Thanks very much for the review and rating. Good criticisms and very fair.

Cheers, James