mr-jazzman's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[SpK*) - Enough, And Then Some]

Careful with your words good sir

First, I just wanna say you should have no shame making a dubstep piece. Now you know how to produce a song in the genre, making you that more well-rounded.

Second, I would be careful saying that "someone has to rewrite the books"; there's plenty of people attempting to do that every day here on this site. No problem taking personal pride in your work, but I wouldn't discredit every other dubstep artist here on NG.

Alright, now to get into the nitty-gritty. Your basses are actually not too bad, and your rhythm with them is beautiful and catchy. It's nice to hear that someone else on this site knows how to make a proper formant bass; however, I think it's choked off because it's hitting notes that are too low. Try raising the pitch on the formant bass by just 1 octave; or, perhaps add another layer an octave on top of it to fill it out, so it doesn't sound like a pitchless rhythmic instrument at times.

The other bass was actually quite filthy, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'd say the minimum you can do here is EQ it to get the upper mids and presence regions to come out over the lower mids and bass regions. I'd also consider putting some compression on your basses, and perhaps some stereo effects, to give it a broader and beefier sound.

The drums are pretty good too, very glitchy to your style. I'd say a tad bit of room verb would do the trick in making your drums sound more rounded out. However, I wasn't the biggest fan of your kick or snare; your kick didn't pound enough, and your snare didn't have enough sustain on it. I'd suggest layering these drums with organic samples, as this gives it a bigger sound. Also, a little bass boost in the sweet spot on your kick (perhaps even in the treble some, depending on the sample) would do the trick in really getting that bass to pound.

Overall, a decent track, but needs some work in areas. For future projects, I'd highly recommend combining even more of your glitch with your dubstep, just to see what kind of sound you can produce with it. You're a talented individual who hasn't quite realized his full potential yet because you limit yourself; once you tear down that barrier and open yourself up to anything, you'll be an unstoppable force! =D

8/10
5/5

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

[Hell Yes (Titanomachina Theme)]

Pretty good stuff

I'd love to (and be honored to) make a remix of this. It's much along the same lines as other stuff that I've made, actually. Let me do the honors of giving you a drumstep remix, aight? I'll have it to you by October 10th, 2010. See ya then man! =) Oh yes, and congrats on the Robot Day win! =D

9/10
5/5
Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

[TiGeR - Altocumulus]

Not too bad

TiGeR, I've liked always had an inclination to like your music. Your drumwork in this song is phenomenal, I gotta give you that, and very much of DnB nature...actually more a combo of DnB and glitch, which is nice. The melody and everything is quite catchy, and this is what I love most about this song. Props on the piano work at the end too. ;) I will say, though, that there are a few things that could use improvement. As I'm making a DnB/Dubstep combo song at the moment, I think I can give you some pointers that could really help you out for the future. First, I want to comment on the synths: While they are good raw, there's a hell of a lot more that you could do with them that you haven't even tapped yet. I'd recommend playing with some reverb and a little bit of delay effects, especially on your main detuned square lead. Second, the snare and the kick didn't come out enough in the mix, and I think this is because of the method you layered them in. With my kit, I usually like to layer the electronica kit with some live/real/organic drum samples (this will give you that heavy, beefy feel that Pendulum has...and even if you don't like Pendulum, you gotta admit they know how to get their drums to stick out in the mix). I'm not entirely sure how much compression you used, and where, but I can tell you one thing that helped me out was sidechaining; once you figure out how to sidechain things so that they stick out better in the mix, your song begins to sound elite...and I'm not talking just a little...like legitly elite. One other thing that I believe needs a little work are your drops. I feel that there isn't enough anticipation with them, even with all of the effects that you added. One way that you can do this is gradually build up your drumwork as opposed to showing us a grand drumpiece that would better be used elsewhere.

But, man, I gotta tell ya, this is a fantastic song. Very moving and powerful. It's akin to any epic song that you'll hear here on NG. I believe it deserves its slot at the top man just based on its pure inspiration, despite the improvements I mentioned above. Beautiful work, and I hope you continue to create more pieces like this! =)

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep/metalstep/drumstep/DnB producer (currently, to say the least =P),
-Jazzman

TiGeR responds:

Thanks for a great review! First of all I've gotta say Reflections is one of my favourite songs in the AP, you did an amazing job with it ;D!

Actually, about the synths: the BG synths are heavily reverbed (at least as I recall...) but about the leadsynth kicking in at 02:34, gotta agree it's a little to simple in that manner. The leadsynth was basically the last thing I added before finally mixing the stuff and submitting it onto Newgrounds, so it's possible that I rushed it at the end for the sake of finishing the song :S.

About the drums... you won't believe how much trouble I have with them (along with the bass). Either the bass kills the drums, or it's the other way around. In this song I think I got a pretty even sound. However, as you say it still might not be powerful enough. I tried to but some EQs and compression onto the drums to make them sound way more powerful, but in the meantime they kinda wobbled up the rest of the sounds. Help me please, I have no idea how to do this correctly >_< I guess I'm more the creative composer than the mixing one lol :D. But if you could email me some more tips on the mixing part, I'd be very grateful!

So yeah, I'd say this is possibly the best review I've ever gotten, so thank you very much!

And... just a fun fact: the piano part at the ending that you mentioned... actually that was the first thing I created in this song. For some reason I felt like "hey, this should be the epic ending of an ambient DnB song", so yeah I started working from the piano part and long story short, this is what it ended up to be ^^.

~TiGeR

[xKore - Muff]

As I've said on Youtube

Amazing. Just, amazing. The wobble and the mastering, just perfect. You, xKore, simply win. And I wish to GOD that I can make something that sounds this good eventually. But obviously, you have the superior mastering and EQing skills. While I think the treble could be brought out in the wobble a little bit, and the ending coulda been tied up a little better, this is simply the best dubstep song that's ever been made and submitted to NG. There isn't anything that compares...nothing. Not even my song, "Reflections." Perfect job. I now bow to you as the king of dubstep. Congratulations! =D (Funny thing is, that picture of the rasta lion on Youtube kind of affirmed it lol.)

10/10 (For the perfect job overall...a rare, RARE gift)
5/5
Fav'd.
DL'ed

Your friendly neighborhood aspiring-to-be-as-good-as-this-soon dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

[[dj-Jo] Classical Clash]

Why didn't you submit this instead then?

This is song has a lot to love my friend! The strings in the beginning sent a massive tremor down my spine, and your effects are quite beautiful in here. While the song itself seems to be missing out on that ever-powerful bass, and the drums are, alas, a little muddy, the song itself is beautiful. I give you props, dj-Jo, this is probably my favorite song by you. I REALLY don't understand why you didn't submit this one instead for the round, because I guarantee my WIP couldn't have stood up the thematic might that this song produces. The introduction is just...wow lol! If you keep making stuff like this, you'll go very far in the NGADM (who knows...perhaps to first place? =P)

9/10
5/5

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

[[Forever Mine]]

Great tone!

I'm quite jealous of that tone you've goin on your guitar. I've never been able to produce that sound lol...although, maybe I will this go on the NGADM lol. Your bass is also nice and fat, which I love. Drums are superb, quite nice (Superior, I'm guessing, maybe? Either that or live. ;) ). To be honest, this song didn't remind me anything of Killswitch OR As I Lay Dying lol; it actually reminded me of B4MV or August Burns Red. Which isn't a bad thing at all, because...well, I got outta B4MV a long time ago, but ABR still remains at the top of my love list! =D I'd say the one thing I was wishing for in this song was an absolutely BRUTAL breakdown, just throws you through a wall, ya know? That, and I was hoping for an amazing solo of sorts, or at least a mind-tripping melody to compensate the other beautiful, easy-going melodies that you've already crafted. With that said I loved the song overall, great stuff! =) Right now, I've been producing a lot of dubstep stuff, but I wanna get back to my metal roots, especially since I've gotten so much more inspiration of late...this song just sealed the deal. Good luck during the NGADM man, hopefully your metal will come out over the waves and waves of shitty-ass techno! =) (Which I take no part in producing...ever. ;) )

9/10
5/5
Fav'd.

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer (although metal producer of sorts, and hopefully soon to be METALSTEP PRODUCER as well ;) ),
-Jazzman

[HW - Fever]

Inspirational liquid

The funny thing is, I helped you out to get that formant bass...and I turn out inspired by this lol. I really wanna make a chill song of inspiration now. Great job on that formant man, it sounds excellent! Better in tone than the one that I invented, I think. While the mix seems off in places - a little too geared towards the bass in places (even though it's dubstep lol), sometimes overshadowing the beauty of things that enter the scene, like the piano, or the pads - and while the overall EQing could use a little more treble, it's still an excellent song. Rainy day dubstep FTW! =D Great stuff man...lemme know if you're ever down for a collab or somethin, I'd love to do one.

9/10
5/5
Fav'd.

haywirehaywire responds:

Thanks a lot jazzman, and im totally down for a collab.

[JazzO:SCK-Robot RD2010]

I wish the guy below me knew what res was

Yeah, it has resonance, but too bad he doesn't know that that's what makes it sound so insanely awesome! =) Congrats with the song man, I hope we do well! =)

10/10
5/5
Fav'd.
DL'ed...oh wait, already have it! ;)

Zizmo responds:

I see what you did thur ;3

[HW - Sanguinary]

So chill lol

Hey man, this is really the most chill dubstep song I've ever heard. I think that bass could use more character, but other than that, it works very well. I think the one thing I love about this song is the imagery you create; it feels like something I would listen to on a rainy day in an urban district. Very progressive, I enjoy that. The mastering's great for the most part, everything fits in the mix very well. Good job man; it makes me wanna write a really super chill dubstep song. =)

9/10
5/5

haywirehaywire responds:

Thanks man, i agree it could use more bass now that i look back at it. Thanks for the review man.

[Enzoa - Reflection]

You're my new favorite NG artist

i just wanted to say that. Man, you're stuff is great. It's very artistic, and I dig it a hell of a lot. I really don't know what else to say. This stuff is great. I've been told by a lot of people that my stuff blows them away because of the artistry; well, you're that kind of artist to me. The piano melody is absolutely beautiful, and the drumming was very nice. I think the thing that struck the deepest chord in me was the ambience. I've always wanted to make a track that exhibited a cool harmonic portion like this. It reminds me of the closure to August Burns Red's track, "Redemption," with the guitars (go check it out to see what I mean...at the VERY end...it's similar to that work that you did with the piano). Something else that really caught my attention is how this piece is so suggestive of a few different genres. I hear dubstep, metal, classical, DnB, and new age -- all tied into one moving package. Very cool. Keep up the great work my friend, I can't wait to see your tracks at the very top, where they deserve to be! =)

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,

-Jazzman

9/10
5/5
Fav'd.