Firebalt's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dance of the ghosts]

Its alright for what it is

This is hardly ambient. This is more techno than anything.

zipybug14 responds:

I don't really know genres yet, so...

[Negative_Shifter]

This was intersting...

Despite the bad sound of the guitar effect, it had a nice percussive effect that added a nice syncopated feel. My biggest question is, do you know scales or do you just experiment with the notes? Some of the piano stuff sound a bit off going over the guitar. However there were some lovely tones and chord progressions at around 2:40
Like some of your other stuff there is some good musical ideas with bad sound generators.
One thing i did like that i would have liked to have heard some more off was the weird effect added to the guitar at 00:38 then 2:53 and then again a few bars later, I love interesting stuff like that, what effects did you add if i may ask?
My main problem is the sound of the guitar, some people like Slayer, but it just sounds ameturish, as it is not a very good plugin personally. Other than that you have some very interesting compositional techniques.

Fajita responds:

to be honest i don't remember the plugin i used for the weird effect. i think it was something called reeth? maybe idk and then i just played with the velocity and attack and stuff...anwho i kinda like the guitar sound for slayer. i only use it cuz i don't own onr have the money for any decent guitar recording mics and software. college tends to find ways of finding my money and taking it with out me noticing. and yes i know a few scales. mostly pentatonic and the rest is just experimenting with notes til i get it right. i just a few months ago picked up making songs and a few different programs for do just that. what would you recommend for a broke college student to get thats better that Fl studio and audacity??

[Old Sckool]

Haha this was great

I actually really enjoyed this. The flute was cool. This song reminded me of the music they use in some of those older pixar shorts. This maintained my interest but it was a bit short.

Fajita responds:

this was actually the very first song i every made. i did it in audacity with the usb headset that came with the game SOCOM. that was a decent mic but one of my friends broke it.

[DAn-CE]

I dont usually listen to this sort of stuff

I don't usually listen to House or Dance music much.
However there were some good musicological techniques used. Your different sections do flow well which is something a lot of people struggle with doing. I liked the increase in texture (layers of different sounds)
The peice built quite well and there were some interesting sound effects.
Again i would have to recomend you play around a little more with your EQ's and try adding some Reverb to some of your plugins, what program do you use?

Try adding a little bit of low end to your bass instruments and removing the very low end of ALL your other instruments. That will help bring the bass out in your mix, plus most rhythm instruments dont even need the very lowest frequencies.

There were good musical ideas in this peice, so what really sets it back is the quality of the production, which does sound weak. But practice practice practice and your peices will sound more proffesional.

Fajita responds:

Thanks man your input on my songs means A lot. I'm used to people telling me "That sounds sweet" and giving little else as far as input is concerned. I mainly use Fl studio 7 producer addition for a majority of my songs and I use audacity for some others.

[DangerMan]

Started strong

I liked the start, the drums sounded good.
What did you use for the guitars?? It sounds a bit like Slayer, if i were you, i would steer clear of using it. It just doesn't sound good. I would replace it with a different plugin, even though that would probably make it less rock.
I gave it 6 because there are some good musical ideas, and a good use of homophonic texture (rhythm and melody lines played at the same time)
However you should look up some articles on mixing, theres tons of resources on the internet, and stay away from artificial guitar sounds.

Fajita responds:

Thanks man. I'd greatly appreciate it if you would give me some input on some of my other songs.

[The Revolution]

Pretty cool

Nice riff and over all some pretty nice recording. Can you tell me whats recorded and whats synthesised?
Sort of reminded me of Paul Gilbert and a bit of Satriani at the start.
A couple of things, The lead guitar could be mixed a bit louder that would definately improve the peice.
The bass guitar had a nice hollow, metallic tonal quality.
What program did you use to put this together?

AAAAApenguin responds:

Super Music Looper

[-=LJC=- Grinsomnia]

Good work

Good use of a musical theme and variations on that theme. However i would have to agree with Melt down below, There were to many breaks for me to vote 10, it was an interesting idea but it was over used.

LJCoffee responds:

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not at all unhappy with the 8 :)

[Seasons *MixerMike*]

Its pretty good

I liked it, it had a great ryhtm and the melodic ideas and themes were used well, my only complaint is that it felt a bit static and without a lot of emotion.

Cruston responds:

Thanks Firebalt, everytime I make new songs I get better, I'll see if I can improve on emotion for my next song I am working on.

[untitled INTRO]

Sort of interesting

It may just count as song as there were i suppose 2 musical ideas, but only just. I think if you looped it, it would be a better loop. Im sorry all the instruments sound like they were patches from FL studio, Boo Bass, FPC drums, and Slayer Guitars.
Correct me if im wrong, but it really sounds like the "Slayer" plug in.

bob-turkee-1 responds:

yer close...everything was done in FL(bass ,drums) but thats my guitar patched through it...(and sped up a little ;P)....yeah i might loop it but im still working on the body of it..thanks for the input! (lets remember its just an "intro")