KrisKrosNL's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[-The Journey Home-]

Oh wow, a review from me. Didn't expect that, eh? Anyway, lets go onward to the review, shall we?

The piano intro itself is the thing that caught my attention. Excellent composition performed on the piano as a whole, with a kind of 'coming back' emotion within it, but since I'm usually a depressed prick I could also see this as a 'goodbye' song. The percussion addition is good but I just don't like how the very last 'hat' of each percussion pattern seems to end abruptly. This is how it flows:

Ksssshhhh--||| ......

It's like someone shuts its mouth when its playing halfway through. It starts at 0:28.5 and it keeps appearing a few times over. Seriously, dude, that percussion part is bad. Eh...get it? :c

Now to the next part...a suggestion. From 1:16 onwards, you could add a bit of violin and let it fade away at 1:53. Just a suggestion, though.

1:54 onwards kinda resembles a person running closer towards his goal - home. Nice use of drums. That retro sound addition also sounds nice. The rest of the song is pretty flawless - the person having completed his journey. You left 10 seconds of empty sound open from 3:43, so reduce that a bit.

Overall, 4.5 stars out of 5, thus voting 5/5. This is something I can listen to whilst doing other stuff.

PS: Nice catch of getting your ID as 521 521.

- Chrausner -

Back-From-Purgatory responds:

That silencing of the hi hat was intentional actually, it's what I heard in my head, so it's what I put in the song. Guess it's a love or hate kind of thing.

I was actually debating putting some strings or something in the section you mentioned... and I still might... maybe... We shall see.

As for the 10 seconds, that's actually not silence, the piano drops off around 3:46, and the rest is the tail end of the reverb, which is very, very quiet... so it just sounds like silence. ;3
I have a thing against cutting sound off prematurely, no matter how quiet it is.

As for the ID... totally unintentional... I promise.

Thanks for the review!

[Masq ft. Buoy - TGTBTF]

This is some nice stuff!

A nice, long DnB track with a mix of a few other genres, I dig it a lot. ;D

The mix sounds pretty clean, composition is great, and the instruments used sound pretty original (to me, at least).

A suggestion, though. Through 2:03~3:38, the song as a whole sounds a bit too centered because of the wobbles (it's the closest thing I can call it, lol). Maybe you could pan a few wub notes to the left/right to add a more 'stereo-ish' effect on the song, since all the wubs play around the center. I do hear ambience playing on the sides, but it's not enough, so a few panned wobbles would make it better.

But I like those wobbles! You made them yourself?

Anyway, 4:12 and onwards is probably my favorite part. Pretty emotional in some way. The rest of the track is flawless IMO. This is a story-telling song; congrats.

Overall, 4.5/5 stars and thus a vote of 5/5. Going on my favorites and downloaded.

- Chrausner -

jpbear responds:

glad you enjoyed this much!!

The bass and sub are one sound in this project (the modulate and "move" in unision) so u cant use stereo effects without compromising the sub end usually. Its a bit more mono than i like to go for so I understand where you're coming from.

The basslines/reeses are all me yea, no sampling lol.

Thanks again, ill make sure to check your stuff.

[Aquarium: A submarine...]

Excellente!

Sounds very 'under-water with steel machines and water-mazes'! And by the phrase 'a submarine', it reminds me of a stage in Super Mario 64 with the Bowser submarine.

Love the composition throughout the song, especially the retro sound at the two occasions (the second being a tad longer). The mixing is excellent for a 1999 track. This is some amazing music!

5 stars, and a 5/5 vote

- Chrausner -

[Madrid in Black]

This is absolutely emotional!

I usually don't care about people that I don't even know, but this song makes me see the pain beyond other people's minds. It makes me rest and think about the death of a person from your own country by (foreign) terrorists. If I was Spanish, I would probably feel the same pain.

And by 11M, is that 11 men or 11 MILLION? Jeez, that's just awful... /:(

The instruments are all perfectly used in harmony, the quality is pretty good, and the composition is amazing. It has brought a tear to my eye...

5 Stars, 5/5 vote

R.I.P. the victims of that terrorist attack...

- Chrausner -

[*Darkest Shadow* / ZeRo BaSs]

Wow, awesome song!

Damn, I haven't heard about you at ALL after being on NG for one whole year. I gotta admit, the sounds are epic. Quality is pretty sweet, the composition is cool. Some rock sounds with a D&B break and VG melodies. How could this be Dance? o_O Your invented style, perhaps?

Anyway, this is something I definetely would share to my friends. This is just EPIC, especially the part between 1:22 ~ 1:34.

There's no criticism to this. 5/5. You deserved it, ZeRo-BaSs.

-- Chrausner

[[TC] Break Free 2]

Four months straight? That would explain why this is so good.

This song is literally packed with emotions, a human soul trying to 'break free' from it's ultimate enemy, death. It shifts from calm to tense, tense to calm, and repeat.

I loved the effects and the instruments used in the song. Trance and orchestral combined...lovin' it. The structure kept getting new, always refreshing and staying original.

5:24 and onwards is so peaceful...amazing composition done there.

6:50 and onwards changed the mood into a challanging condition. My favorite part is at 7:18~7:45.

There are no flaws that I can find (with these awful headphones). Too bad the quality is only 224 kbits. NG filesize limit forbid you to submit this under 320 kbits, didn't it?

But nonetheless, 5/5 stars and 5/5 vote. Great piece. One of the few Trance songs on my faves. =]

- Chrausner

[Pkmn D/P - Route 217]

Wauw, nice remix. Quite some nostalgia here.

It's been a while since I've played PKMN Platinum. Route 217 is one of my least favorite routes, mainly because of the hail.

Anyway, back to the song. It's really well mixed & mastered.

I think the 'attack time' on the instruments playing at 0:02 and happening a few times more until the beats come in is way too little (in fact, I think you've put their attack times at 0). I suggest to rise the 'attack time' to make the pads & strings sound more relaxing, instead of a sudden appearence in the song (which sounds a bit off IMO).

Apart from that, the song's great. 5/5

Hell, this could as well inspire me to make some PKMN remixes. Good job overall.

-- Criminal-23

AeronMusic responds:

Haha dankjewel zeg!! Yeah it's true. I put the attack time of the strings to 0. Thanks for the tip, I'll remember it and maybe use it in other songs. Because I hear what u mean, to make it more relaxing!

[Cloud Head [Remix]]

I'm a man of my words, thus a review is a review nonetheless, even if it has no tips.

First, definitely gotta like that pan flute and the VG-style thin 'leads'. The melodies play in perfect harmony, and I like that chord progression. The beats are also diverse and 'catchy', unlike your previous song 'Jetstream'.

To summarize, I really like:
-- The melodies
-- Instruments, including the pan flute and the VG leads
-- Basically the entire song, hence why I gave you 5 stars

But I don't like (opinion-based):
-- That snare. I dunno, it sounds like 'gua' and I prefer 'gu', if you know what I mean. In other words, the frequencies on the snare go a bit too high at the end of the snare hit.

At the end of the day, 5 review stars, 5/5 vote, and favorited. You're pretty much one of the only few D&B artists that I like.

-- Criminal-23

Geoplex responds:

Haha, keep in mind this is a collab, so Mac put just as much into this as I did.

That said, I do agree about the snare - its blood overdrive color is a little high, and we'll probably fix it tomorrow.

On the whole catchy beats thing though, this song actually has less diverse percussion than Jetstream (we did it this way to stay true to the original) though the percussion is certainly better in terms of the way it sounds.

Thanks for the review!

[Jetstream]

D&B in the Popular Audio section? Splendid! Doesn't happen very often.

Sounds like a great Liquid track IMO, with the piano as the main driving force for the melodies. I also like that warm bass, even though it plays a rather generic pattern. That part on 1:50 sounds a lot like the background music on Bejeweled 2. :O

What I like:
--Choice of using the piano (and later a flute) as the main instrument and the melodies (patterns) played with it
--Warm, solid bass
--The pads in the background

However:
--The piano has too much reverb IMHO
--The drum patterns don't really change much throughout the song. It gives a bit of a 'repetitive' feeling in my ears.

Overall, 4.5/5 stars for review and thus a 5/5 vote. Going onto my faves despite the cons of the song.

-- Criminal-23

Geoplex responds:

Thanks!

I will agree that my percussion is quite repetitive (that's been an issue i've had for what feels like forever) and the piano does have a lot of reverb, but it doesn't quite feel right without it imo.

Appreciate the review.

[I'm Saving Her Life]

An amazing classical song.

This is the first time I've ever taken a listen to any of your song, and I gotta admit: this is just splendid work. That atmosphere...it reminds me of certain war games. Truly American Power!

The intro began with a related style to a few songs made for Counter Strike: Condition Zero. The start of a campaign into the invaded city of New York City, it seems!

Dat twist at 0:48, that was a wise turn. Afterwards, the song sounds more like Call of Duty. American soldiers going through a Russian-invaded FBI headquater...and then getting spotted by Russian soldiers.

The calming part in the center all the way to 2:43 was nice and calming, showing that the American soldiers have made it alive through the Russian squad, but then get pinned down by the Russian leader at 2:44. A Sergeant Major known as Bosa jumps into the scene and kills the Russian leader, saving the day.

Overall, great song that can tell a bunch of different stories, with no mixing, mastering and composition faults; your piece is a splendid one. 5/5 stars.

~C23

Bosa responds:

Thank you, sir. I really do appreciate your deeply felt review.