mr-jazzman's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[ParagonX9 - Chaoz Fantasy [Dubstep RMX]]

Fantastic. Very creative and emotional. It reminds me of a song I would've made in my heyday. Keep up the good work.

5/5

-Jazzman, or Bassfly, or whatever I am these days

[xKore - Boom (Prev)]

4.5 ONLY because you still haven't messaged me yet ya jerk! Now I have to DL your song and dissect the hell outta your bass to figure out how in the hell you got those bark tones in Massive. I'm getting closer, but I still have an amateur tone. You could've helped me out and saved me the torture, but nooooo! You can't just tell everyone how you made, now, could you?

Lol jk. I know you can't tell anyone your secret recipe, and don't.

[xKore - Hello (Prev)]

Nice

Grats on the UKF feature. Also, just makin sure that UKF didn't super-compress your song...they didn't.

Still tryin to figure out a good compression scheme...I don't know if I wanna drop the bucks on Vitalizer... :\

[Xkore - Moar Unfinished Lololo]

I agree with alextheDJ

I love that WIP at about 4:23 the most. Everything else is...weak...compared to that lol. I love that you're experimenting, but I've noticed that you have this trend towards heavy LFO pitch modulation. You've got some interesting sounds, and maybe it's just me, but I love layers; while square leads are cool, I love them with more...substance. That could just be me though. xKore, your style is unmatchable lol! Keep it up man! >:D

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman
(a.k.a. Bassfly)

[xKore - Destroyer (NG Cut)]

Good lord...

I have a lot of catching up to do now lol. Even though I invested in Massive myself, you've got a much better handle on the whole master compression thing I think. The mix is beautiful; all levels are exactly where they need to be. I just wish the bass had a little more high end in places (like I guess if you had applied the Scream filter in places? I dunno =P). That's just fucking epic though...it reminds me of some epic rainforest groove. Definitely the best drumstep song here on NG; much better than my Iron God lol.

[[S,J] Derezzed]

Cool. Except...

Pretty good. I'm not too keen on the quality of your YAYA; in my opinion, it's just a little thin. The drums and other synths are fantastic. You love complicated music don't you, btw? Lol. That's awesome!

Just a quick question: Why do you assume that this is the very first true dubstep remix?

SmithCommaJohn responds:

Well there was one dubstep remix that was just the typical fl core kick-snare thing on top of the original song, and that gave me the inspiration to make a brostep song out of it. Mind you, I used no parts from Daft Punk's Derezzed; everything had to be sequenced on my own (also, getting that phased synth just right? near impossible BUT I DID IT DAMN IT)

At the time of submission on Newgrounds, YouTube and SoundCloud, it was the first dubstep song people will readily identify as such (gritty basses, heavy drum hits). Since it was released, other people have released remixes to it which I hands-down admit are far better than mine.

As for the comment, which people like you have been criticizing me over, it's kind of like on a YouTube video from a popular person you scream in caps FIRST. That's what happened in this case.

[Town Theme (EQ)]

Pretty cool

Probably one of my favorite tracks by you. I enjoyed the percussion that you added. The melody -- especially the flute solo -- reminded me a lot of the main theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. Sorry to hear that the .flp got corrupted, I know how that feels. I recently had to re-download my entire studio because the flstudioengine.dll driver became corrupt! =( Btw, have you ever considered increasing the buffer length in the audio settings? This tends to help with lagging and what not, if you haven't tried it already. You might also want to try and get it off of your "Primary Sound Driver" and set the playback (in the input/output section) to whatever speakers you're using.

Here's some suggestions in the mix: The flute sounds a little loud in the mix; if you turned this down by about -0.5 to -1.0 dB you'll have it set a little more properly. The piano also seems a little too quiet; I'd up this by at least +2.0 dB, if not a little more, keeping your strings as a backdrop to your main melody (and in fact I'd slightly stereo separate your strings to give them a big feel without sacrificing their integrity in the mix). The guitar is nice as it is in the mix, albeit a little "tinny" in tone at places; this could just be the sample itself, so if you ever improve upon this song, I'd just experiment with some different guitar samples. The main percussion is nice, and I like where the cymbals and snare hit in the mix; the snare could come up just a HAIR, though, and the kick could come up by about +1.0 dB itself, with a shelf on the ultra-low bass frequencies and no boost in any other portion. I still think your cymbals are overpowering the piano melody you've offered, so make sure that the hats are hitting lower than the piano in your mix (and consider this before applying master compression, which will give you a better idea of your "raw" mix).

Overall, I enjoy this melody. It makes for a great RPG loop. It's very majestic, almost like something I'd here in an ancient Greek town lol. Keep it up man, you've really improved since the last time I've checked out your profile! =)

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

Step responds:

Wow, I love this review. Thanks for taking the time to writing such a massive review, it's really helpful!

"Probably one of my favorite tracks by you."

I wouldn't call it my best (I've got a similar song called Legend which is better) but I'm still very proud of this submission, despite its age.

"I enjoyed the percussion that you added. The melody -- especially the flute solo -- reminded me a lot of the main theme from Pirates of the Caribbean."

Can't say I was inspired by it, but now that you mentioned it, it does sound strikingly similar to a slower version of the POTC theme. I don't know how I came up with the percussion actually, it just came to me naturally and turned out well :D.

"Sorry to hear that the .flp got corrupted, I know how that feels. I recently had to re-download my entire studio because the flstudioengine.dll driver became corrupt! =("

Man that must've sucked. I know how it feels, having to redownload everything. I sent my computer for repairs, and was about to give them my Windows 7 64-bit CD because they were planning on reinstalling the OS, and they said that they don't need it. They fixed the computer after almost 2 weeks of waiting (when they said 3 days) and they gave it back. I reinstalled FL Studio, all of my VST's, and other stuff such as Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Chrome, Firefox, Winamp, Audacity, etc...

Then I realised that they installed Windows 7 32-bit instead of 64-bit (and therefore the 4 GB of RAM I had was useless since 32-bit only manages to use around 3.2 GB of it) so I had to install the OS again myself to 64-bit and reinstall everything all over again :P.

"Btw, have you ever considered increasing the buffer length in the audio settings? This tends to help with lagging and what not, if you haven't tried it already. You might also want to try and get it off of your "Primary Sound Driver" and set the playback (in the input/output section) to whatever speakers you're using."

I use ASIO4ALL and maximize the buffer length. Before it still used to lag, but with my new computer it's not a problem ^^.

"Here's some suggestions in the mix: The flute sounds a little loud in the mix; if you turned this down by about -0.5 to -1.0 dB you'll have it set a little more properly. The piano also seems a little too quiet; I'd up this by at least +2.0 dB, if not a little more, keeping your strings as a backdrop to your main melody (and in fact I'd slightly stereo separate your strings to give them a big feel without sacrificing their integrity in the mix). The guitar is nice as it is in the mix, albeit a little "tinny" in tone at places; this could just be the sample itself, so if you ever improve upon this song, I'd just experiment with some different guitar samples. The main percussion is nice, and I like where the cymbals and snare hit in the mix; the snare could come up just a HAIR, though, and the kick could come up by about +1.0 dB itself, with a shelf on the ultra-low bass frequencies and no boost in any other portion. I still think your cymbals are overpowering the piano melody you've offered, so make sure that the hats are hitting lower than the piano in your mix (and consider this before applying master compression, which will give you a better idea of your "raw" mix)."

Thanks for all of that advice. I agree with everything - in fact I was already thinking of tuning down the cymbals and flute and giving the kick and piano some more volume. I'd use a different guitar sample, but unfortunately that's the most fitting one I have.

"Overall, I enjoy this melody. It makes for a great RPG loop. It's very majestic, almost like something I'd here in an ancient Greek town lol. Keep it up man, you've really improved since the last time I've checked out your profile! =)"

Thanks man! By the way I made a new version of my old WiP Against the Clock in case you're interested ;).
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/liste n/386927

Anyway, thanks a million for the really wonderful review! I'll see if I can get around to reviewing you back when I get the time. Thanks again!

[xKore - Bunch of old stuff]

We have very similar creative ideas

Great stuff man, really. I wish I had more time to devote to music nowadays, but getting a mechanical engineering degree takes up a shit-ton of time. The one thing I learned: I need Vitalizer, a better compression tool, and Massive. Keep up the hard work.

P.S. If you're still looking for someone to collab with, I'll help you out with that project that comes in right at 9:12...or that one that comes in at 9:53, not sure which one you're referring to. That shit is wicked cool man. It would be sick to give it a dubcore feel. ;)

xKore responds:

Ill collab with you on the one at 9:53. the one at 9:12 is already taken.

[What in the Fuck? (Chromanut)]

Bahaha

I still think it's hilarious that there's actually a group of people on this site that is dedicated to ragging on an entire genre of music. IMO, the less music you listen to, the less inspired you'll be. But, you know that saying, "ignorance is bliss"? Well, from your ignorance, COMES bliss, because you're actually pushing the bounds of dubstep to the limits with your crazy-awesome 7/4 time signature. While I think your formant bass is exceptionally cheesy (yes, I personally am guilty of using it and being one of the first on NG to USE it lol...but I've matured a little bit), and the timbre of your stuffy-sounding basses poke fun at the absolute worst dubstep that anyone could possibly find, the brilliance of this song comes straight from the rhythm.

Interesting stuff going on here man...but I personally would be hard-pressed to condemn an entire genre of music to the infinite fathoms of hell, like you and all of these other "dumbstep" producers are. Aside from Mt. Eden, you also should really take a listen to the likes of Gemini and Nero. They're epic as fuck, promise...and they don't use formant basses or hyper-distorted tones. =\ "Classy" dubstep, if you could call it that lol.

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

Chromanut responds:

i actually do listen to dubstep, and while i agree that most of it is shit, im not a diehard hater like many of the dumbsteppers are

as cheezy as formant wobbles are, if people can pull them off, i dont give a fuck how cheezy they are lol

i've heard nero, from what i remember hes ok, if i were to call myself a fan of any dubstep producers they would be Bare Noize and Feed Me