WinTang's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rucklo - I Switch It On]

Contest review!

SuperDrummerStyle review!

Originality - I don't come across this stuff every day, that's for sure. It's really genuine, reminiscent of the Avalanches, but much more minimalistic.
23/25

Clarity - Clear as crystal production, top notch. It's very transparent with all the weirdness going on. It's also worth a compliment that you didn't lose yourself in fancy programming. You build up and ease down very smoothly.
25/25

Diversity - It's diverse enough what with all the sampling, but what saves it from permanently sticking in my mind is that the voice samples, while interesting, don't really seem to be connected to each other. I'm not looking for an epic or something, but it could have risen more above the gimmick.
20/25

Effort - It breathes perfectionism. Would've been perfect in my book if you made the "dialogue" more coherent, but that's probably the only complaint I got. Excellent job.
22/25

23 + 25 + 20 + 22 = 90/100

Rucklo responds:

Yay thanx for the great review man!!! :D

/Rucklo

[HM vs DjVisor || Goa Unlimited]

Contest review!

I'll try to do this SuperDrummerStyle.

Originality - I think it's more crafty than it's original, it follows a basic dance structure. Not that that's a bad thing, because you managed to be quite inventive within that idiom. The "main theme" which the song starts with is very catchy and it's nice to have the beat enter so quickly. The all minor-chord scheme works well too.
22/25

Clarity - A flaw is that some of the synths are slightly out of tune with each other. It may be something not everyone notices, but it makes me cringe sometimes. Especially when the piano engages in a duet with that synth.
Luckily, the production counters this. You put a lot of FX and tricks to good use, without having it sound too virtuous. The rhythm section is solid, but somewhat generic.
19/25

Diversity - is okay, but toward the end it doesn't really sustain in my mind. The use of FX and the melody fragments help keep it interesting, but the beat could've used some more surprises, other than being switched off and on.
18/25

Effort - it seems that you have worked minituous on this. A lot of detail was put into making it run smoothly and creating a consequent atmosphere. The only thing you left behind was tuning all the instruments. 23/25

22 + 19 + 18 + 23 = 82/100

HouseMasta responds:

i appreciate it. thanks a lot for the review. im looking forward to submitting in the next compeitition.

-HouseMasta

[Organ Warfare]

Energetic

Well, with a description like this, I expected a lot, and at first it seemed I was not gonna get that, but as soon as the bass actually came in, it became nicely offensive. Good job. The drums sound as if they were at least partly done live. If I'm not mistaken in this, even better job. The drums are very tight, solid and full.

My only complaint is that after a while, the organ sound becomes somewhat dull. I think some sort of effect (flanger comes to mind, or whatever) wouldn't have hurt.

I'll give it a 5 as a buffer against all the zero-voting that ends up happening to all the highly rated music. It deserves to be heard by many.

Check out my stuff too!

[About Time]

Dude this is SWEET

deck_head_tottie is a dickhead who tries hard to live up to his self-proclaimed expertise in "art". The truth is probably that he spent a lot of time on Wikipedia while downloading his own song 50,000 times. So just refer to the people who don't have to pull their pants over their head every morning.

I don't want to know how you put this together, for all I care you sampled porn underscores. But it's awesome and actually manages to be laid-back and frantic at the same time. I love that word, frantic!

A high 9 on this one. You are my new discovery!

Oh btw: I almost forgot AGAIN but I finished my "Hitler hacks LINUX" and it's begging to be checked out. Would ya?

Ugh. I had to write a whole new review to promote myself.

(just kidding)

(but you knew that)

dj-padman1 responds:

Done and done, song analysed, and I have to declare it was tasty to the max!

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with your first paragraph. But let's not dwell on such matters any more! This site is rife with exploitation but the best anyone can do is keep pushing for improvement in their music and not be TOO concerned with ratings.

I'm glad you liked this one, I wasn't sure how a down tempo d 'n' b track would go, is it lounge? err..lounge post punk? Well, whatever it is, I'm honoured with your kind words.

Frantic IS a good word, I like frenzied as well. Saunter is good on weekends. -steps back from the brink of insanity...

This was all played with virtual synths. I mean, I was really surprised that the guitars actually sounded like acoustic guitars. It's actually a soft synth sawtooth patch with a healthy dose of reverb. I can't tell the difference.

Once again, thanks again for taking the time to listen and review. It makes a world of difference.

[Unreal Rebirth]

What the fuck?

Why the hell are your scores so low? You can obviously compete with the best!!

Let me tell you that I despise this kind of music. Generally. And I'm not going to exaggerate and say that you opened my eyes to it, but you really pulled some fucking impressive tricks here. The production is near flawless, save for a few transitions (for lack of a better word) that I found could've gone more smoothly, but that is nitpicking.

Lots of cheesy early 90's cliche effects, which is good, because it shows expertise. Especially because you used them more inventively than I've ever heard. The same goes for the composition, really. You actually followed sort of a verse-chorus-verse chord structure, and came up with new melodies everytime a new instrument was introduced. They worked with each other excellently.

Man, you deserve a 5-by. Based on this I can safely assume you deserve some countervotes. I hope I'll get your scores a fair bit higher.

Keep on submitting great stuff and don't let the lukewarm response get you down. With stuff like this, you'll get recognition eventually.

dj-padman1 responds:

Yo Wintang, first of all, (if you read replies to your reviews), killer job on the updated Hitler Hacks Linux. Very, very classy efort.

Thanks for taking the time to prop up my ailing musical will as well. I don't know what's going on sometimes on this site. I mean, I'm not saying my work is world-class or anything, but to be savaged time and time again with work that more or less can hold its own against the competition gets a little frustrating.

I admit it, there was many cheesy aspects to this production, i sold out a little I'm afraid! Fear not though, I try to come up with one legitimate, hard trance or techno track for every 1999 cheese anthem I make. I'm glad you could enjoy it for what it was.

Thannks again for your encouraging review. It's really beneficial, and please please don't hesitate to rip my track apart if something makes you cringe. I can really use the opinions of the musically knowledgable.

Later WinTang,

[All and Sundry]

Syncopation!

Though the previous review makes a lot of sense, my sentiments are almost completely the opposite. That bass-line works wonders with me. That (again) Underworldesque jazz/fusion chords are awesome and that little synthy delayedly following it is brilliant.

The drums, if a little distorted (which I never really mind, and keeps happening to me too), are friggin awesome. That guitar interlude is cool too.

Still I feel it could've been taken a bit further, dynamically. It ends slightly too soon for my liking.

Check out my new one: "Hitler hacks LINUX". I'd really like to know what you think.

5/5 for this one. You rock dude.

Triskele responds:

I actually started this one a long time ago, but never finished it, cuz I thought that it wasn't going anywhere. I couldn't even find where I saved the damn thing until yesterday. Anyways, I just did a quick finish-up on it yesterday, so I probably could have expanded it more.

Thanks for the review!

[Strings4Breakfast (onBuzz)]

I dig. Again.

I've listened to the original version a few times, and all that really does is give a general idea of the composition - MIDI is never overwhelming in terms of resembling the represented instrument, but the strings sound exceptionally awful. Not your fault, of course.

But this is a lot nicer to listen to and helps a lot in getting the clever harmonies across. Because the sounds blend better together, they (paradoxically enough) are easier to follow on their own. Now that one harmonic note which made me cringe in the other version actually adds to the fun!

Cool to hear that, though you follow the "rules" for writing counterpoint closely, it still doesn't hold you back in trying out some interesting stuff. Sounds vague, but I think you know which parts I mean without me having to point them out.

The double time part is awesome. So is the ending. You have that knack for fucking up your own music, but you do it so clever that no one will be fooled into thinking that you don't know what you're doing. Respect for that!

So it's a 5/5 again. Keep on surprising man, and send me that e-mail about the CD swapping. And go and review my last submission, Hitler hacks LINUX. Also in 3/4 with syncopated beat, but that's where the resemblance ends :)

attemptedperfection responds:

I was afraid I wasn't going to get any feedback on this one, after putting so much time into the tedious process of writing each note out from the original score into Buzz... for all that I praise Buzz, it admittedly is not very user-friendly...
Anyway, thank you muchly for the detailed review!

[on the front (summers day)]

Awesome.

Great job on this! Reminds me of Mogwai and Sigur Ros a lot (hopefully you consider that to be a good thing). I love these reverse effects. A whoppin' 5 man.

pitbulljones responds:

nice one mate, nice one. that is a compliment i take very highly, and i'll wear that with pride, n a lil trick with the reverse effects, a tip i picked up a while ago, reverse your track eg the guitar on this, apply a lush reveb with early reflections, then reverse your track again so u hav reverse reverb, the affect is really good on guitars, synths, strings and vocals. u can also apply fx as the same way. anyways thanks for listening.

[Tipper]

Very interesting piece.

What exactly is Bodhran? I've never heard of it. This reminded me a lot of Underworld, mainly because of the jazzy Rhodes motive.

Anyway, it's very cool and your parts work very well and original together. The guitar is a little off-tune though (tuned too low), and the drums are a bit too soft and need a deeper beat.

When that intro thingee kicks in again, it gets really beautiful. Well done. A high 8/10 and 5/5 because it deserves a way higher rating.

Check out some of my stuff too!

Triskele responds:

Bodhran is the traditional Irish drum...info can be found at http://www.ceolas.org/instruments/bodhran/

Anyways, thanks for the review. I really like that ambient track, and I thought it was cool to re-introduce it into the piece later on.

I'll look at remixing it as well, to see if I can get the drums louder and w/out distortion

Cheers :D

[Heavy as Fuck Loop 1]

Make it heavier than fuck

The riff is cool, and played very tightly, good job.
I found the drum fills annoying though, mostly because they delay a bit. And you should add some manner of bass, even if it's synthed it will already make it sound twice as phat.
Now go rock the fuck on.

ManSpider responds:

Thanks alot mate. I've been thinking about using synth bass lately. Unfortunately I can't look into it right now because my soundcard is fooked and I can't record anything :-(
Thanks for the review man.