Adam-Beilgard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[High Enough]

Turtle Power!

Seriously, though, nicely done!

Poniiboi responds:

Michelangelo is a party dude!

[Fortress (R-Man Cover)]

That was really good: nice use of voices, I liked the form. Just listened to the original (for the first time) and this did it justice.

Good work!

RetromanOMG responds:

Thanks for the review. I have very little experience with Dubstep, so it's nice to hear that you liked it.

[Soulless]

Pretty good overall. About halfway through, I start to hear some dynamic contrast (other than instruments dropping out) and even some effects at the transition. I would use those more to give the piece that extra dimension. And maybe, for a number this long, one extra section to the music to use another voice.

Otherwise, this is sounding good!

CardboardowI responds:

Yea i still need to work on making my effects better.

Thanks for the review!

[Honey]

Very nicely done. Simple, easy feel, kind of bittersweet lyrics.
Like Dylan meets Neil Young meets Lennon.

I like it!

Kingbastard responds:

Cheers man;)

[DJ Cray- PIzza Power]

Some basic ideas here, not sure they flow together well.

Basic, almost sterile instruments used here with (what I hope are not) samples from the cartoon. Other than the voices interjected almost randomly, I don't see this as having anything to do with TMNT. Very little bass to start with and you use less and less as you go on.

What I would do first is listen (critically) to other dubstep artists and see what kind of voices (instruments) they use. Start incorporating those into your works. Then, as you listen, get a feel for the form they use (how do they use different parts to make it interesting, and how do they transition to those parts).

There are no hard and fast rules for making music (despite everything I just wrote), but this is too much of a mish-mash of core instruments and (what I hope are not) copyrighted sound clips.

megaepiclulz responds:

thank you for the criticism, I agree I'm still finding my path but I appreciate the listen!
No copyrights were broken either, don't worry XD

[Everyday, My Day WIP]

Flow is pretty good, overall - I can't understand you, though. Sounds like there's too much reverb, and it sounds like the room/mic combo. Without knowing your exact setup, all I can say is try to get as hot as you can with the mic (record at 0dB, basically) so you have as little post-production as possible. Also, try dampening the room (hang blankets on the walls for a cheap fix). The intro doesn't really fit and the breaks around 0:29 seem weak. Maybe put hits in right before it cuts out to add impact - it sounds like you just hit mute for a second and let it come back in on its own.

Really not bad overall. The biggest thing is fixing the vocal track, otherwise we lose the story.

AK-49 responds:

Thanks Adam, will look into all this! appreciate the review bro

[Your Marbles]

Interesting piece, it always fascinates me to try and connect the dots between an artist's inspiration and the final result. Not at all what I hear here, but that's not bad! Pizzicato strings and syncopation make me think more of Grand Central Station filmed with time lapse, or a colony of ants.

Still, a well composed piece. The only things I would change are the ending (kind of abrupt) and the mastering (maybe bringing the strings down a bit, and softer, overall).

But like I said, this was an interesting piece, I like it!

BenTibbetts responds:

I know what you mean about pizzicato strings! The fact that you would put a time-lapse of Grand Central Station in the same visual category as a colony of ants just goes to show that the behaviors of people and insects aren't always very distinguishable.

I do have a tendency towards abrupt endings but since this track could loop comfortably I probably should have submitted it as a "loop" instead of a "song". You might also be right about the strings, because I'm not sure that pizzicato strings would be this sonorous IRL, but I like the sound anyway.

Thank you for listening.

[Frosted Night]

This was kind of loud overall, but especially for an ambient piece. Instead of setting the mood, it takes over and says "LISTEN TO ME!". There are even parts where I can hear clipping, so I would go back over this and really isolate each voice making sure the loudest one doesn't go over -2dB while keeping the whole thing under 0dB. The ending felt way too abrupt for the pace you set, I'd let that ring out with a longer fade.

What I'd do from here on out is the multi-speaker test. As you master something, listen to it over as many different speakers as possible (headphones/tower/stereo/car) and see what you notice each time. It took me one listen with headphones to realize this was mastered way too hot.

On the plus side, you kept it simple. It was energetic and you used some variations in the form so as not to get stale or boring.

DeafAndDead responds:

Thanks for the review. I'll take that on board when I'm making my next pieces and when I redo my older tracks, including this one. The suggestion is also quite interesting regarding the different speakers test... That'll be something else I use in the future.

Thanks again mate, I appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

[Mysterious Sleeper cover]

The first thing that struck me is that it's really quiet. EQ was done pretty well, overall - just needs to be normalized.

Just listened to "Mysterious Sleeper" for the first time, this was a good cover. Good choice of instruments and, for the most part, mastering. I feel like if I comment on content, I'm really critiquing Nemesis Theory, so I guess I'll leave my review at that.

Looking forward to hearing your original work!

Rinibra responds:

:( It's not supposed to be that quiet, I don't know what happened. I'm going to see If I can bring about a louder version. Thank you for the review. Also, I have a couple of originals from 2011. (Rain Drums and Pre-legacy) Those were pretty well liked.

[Beautiful Isolation]

I can't remember the last time a song felt long in a good way. That was ethereal, man. So simple, the mood gets across fluidly and so complex you can get lost when you want to.

Wow. Just wow, man.

Kingbastard responds:

Thanks man, appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment;)