mr-jazzman's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Metalstep: Engage]

Pretty sick...and I changed it to "dubcore" ;)

Much harder than my current dubcore project lol...well, that is until I record some stuff. It's pretty sick though, you're doing exactly what I'm doing! The only difference is that you've got more screaming in your track, and mine is more...melodic, I suppose? A la Attack Attack!, if you catch my meaning. This genre's got a long way to go though; I'm hoping to infuse some shredding with some of my tracks soon.

Some things that you could do to improve your sound: Try expanding that vocal line across the spectrum by bringing it up, adding a slight bit stereo to the vocals, leveling the drums with the bass, and putting a master compression on the track. Also, try some melodic expansion...or rhythmic expansion; try rhythmically switching between this tempo and a tempo half this speed.

Great ideas altogether though man; I'd say you're actually closer to the dubcore sound than I am lol. Haven't really had a lotta time to produce lately, which pisses me off, but it's whatever. Keep workin on it though man, this is briliant! =D

Your friendly neighborhood dubcore producer,
-Jazzman
9/10
5/5
DL'ed
Fav'd

Genjo responds:

Much appreciated bro!!

ill definately try what you suggested, the sound of this is a little rough yes, but im still learning :D

so Dubcore is what they/we call it now? Theres gonna be alot more of this to come :D i just aquired Miroslav Philharmonik Orchestra...let the insanity commence!!

[Intercourse]

An interesting listen

I'll start with my complaint, which is minimal. It's definitely not the bass. If anything, I hate that over-chorused ambient pad you used in the beginning lol; it was just so...ugly. Now, this may have been what you wanted, but it's not something that I would have added, because it just didn't seem to compliment the rest of the song. Just my opinion here; I'm not telling to fix your song at all.

Now, for the good stuff. I really don't see why people have sticks shoved up their asses about your bass. In my opinion, your bass was fantastic. It was different, for sure, but that's not a bad thing. If I would've done anything to it, I would've taken a little bit of the reverb off in the beginning (or done the opposite and blurred it to mix better with the entrance feel). There was certainly enough distortion to it, and mixed pretty well with your sub layer as well. The genius part of it was just how complex you got the chords in it; typically when I'm working with a wobble, the complexity of chords just gets it to sound like mud, but somehow you got it to work, so good job on that! =D

Overall, this is a brilliant song. Come to think of it, I'm having a second opinion on that over-chorused pad, as I've listened to the song 3 times now while writing this review. It does work with the rest of the song...it's just...ugh...I can't place it...maybe it's just not my preference, or it just felt weird to me...and the main reason that bugs me is because I'm usually extremely open-minded when it comes to sounds, so I dunno why the hell that gets to me this time...maybe it could use a faster chorus rate or somethin? Not entirely sure...it just felt "whiny," but it fit with the rest of the feel of the song. So whatever lol.

Good job though woman, keep it up! (If you are indeed a woman and not lying about as so many people do on NG =P)

9/10
5/5

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

Quarl responds:

lol. im 100% grade a female. thanks for the honest feedback sir. ill agree that the pad does sound a little meh but i've listened to the song so many times at this point that i can't imagine taking it out. thanks for the honest feedback sir!

[HW - The Spectrum]

Inspirational

If you know me, haywire, I rarely give out 10s. I'm not giving this thing a 10 because of your wobble bass (which, in my opinion, needed some more character in the timbre), I'm not giving this a 10 because it's a dubstep song. I'm giving this a 10 because it's so atmospheric -- something that you really don't hear in many dubstep songs nowadays. While everyone else is focused on making the most epic wobbles they can, you've backstepped and shown everyone up by focusing more on the drums, rhythms, and melodies. Your percussion in this track is absolutely phenomenal, and the jazz-influenced chord progressions are beautiful. If there's anything I can say, you've inspired me as I'm currently working on my EP. You make me want to get my percussion to GROOVE, for my melodies to give you a semblance of solace, and for my chord progressions to offer a landscape of color that you can only achieve in your dreams. Great work, my friend. Your prowess as a musician really shows in this one, and thank you so much for the inspiration! =)

10/10
5/5
Fav'd.
DL'ed

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

[xKore - Beast Mode]

All hail the mighty xKore, Lord of Dubstep!

Absolutely fantastic. There's so much depth here man. Naturally, my first comment was gonna be, "Like all your other songs, add some synth melodies to give them mohr depth sonn!"; however, this one just transformed my entire opinion. Not only is the compression, mix, and mastering on this track superb, but the sounds are absolutely astounding. Arps, big saw pads, and LFO pulse leads, oh my! =O In my opinion, you have BY FAR the best sound on NG. I'm still baffled as to why you're allowing this shit to be accessed for free; go the route I did and put it all up on Youtube exclusively man.

10/10
5/5
DL'ed
Fav'd

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

P.S. I'm gonna send Reflections to you ASAP. Hope you have enough time to remix it; if you don't, I DEFINITELY understand. ;)

[[dj-Jo] Endless Space(Ion Mix)]

A change for you, sir!

While the mix is a little unbalanced, I'm really enjoying the soundscape you've painted. Great stuff man! If you wanna get it to sound prime, lay off so many of the effects on the percussion, and let the beats carry the weight! Also, I'm diggin that piano dude. Keep it up man, your fantastic composition skills are becoming all the more awesome with your improved technique!

9/10
5/5

Your friendly neighborhood dubcore producer,
-Jazzman

dj-Jo responds:

:D, Thanks Jazzman!
I'm gonna try to do more things like this for my upcoming EP :)
I can't wait to finish some more songs!

And about effects, this song was truly experimental in a whole
Just a whole bunch of new things I wanted to try.

Thanks for the review once again.

[{dj-N} Regret]

Usurped!

Soon, this song will be the most popular dubstep song on NG...nice! Except for the fact that it's gonna pass up my masterpiece, Reflections! :`( Oh well, it was bound to happen at some point...Glad I could help you out with this one brotha, it is definitely epic! You finally -- FINALLY -- get a 10 from me! ;)

10/10
5/5
Fav'd.

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
Jazzman

P.S. Check out the new song I released on Youtube, a dubstep remix of Sleigh Bells' "Run The Heart." I think you'll appreciate it. ;)

[Tom Fulp, Share Your Chicks!]

Hell yes!

This song is definitely the best song on NG, without a doubt. This is pure genius! X~D

-Jazzman

CountBoogie responds:

WOW! Thanks dude!!

[Grinachi Contest]

It's taken me a while...

...taken me a while to finally review one of your songs. And here's my opinion: Your chord progressions are so f@#$ing rich, and I love it. Your stuff is not exactly my style, but there is a certain amount of jazz influence that I can't help but love the style you've got goin on. I think the main things that bug me are: A.) The mastering (it feels like stuff could be brighter, and that the bass could be put in the background just a little bit, through some good ol' compression and EQing); B.) It reminds me of Sonic the Hedgehog games, which for some reason bugged the hell out of me when I played them...probably because they didn't feel like games at all. =P; and C.) The fact that a lot of these sounds are, from what I understand, presets of generic FL VSTs (I bet you could come up with a super-awesome set of sounds if you screwed around more with the FM modulation and some delay effects). I'd really love to see what you could do in the realm of dubstep, because it would be awesome. Keep it up man...oh yeah, and I hope you don't mind if I start to borrow some of your chords here and there in my own songs. ;)

Your friendly neighborhood dubstep producer,
-Jazzman

SHADOWFOX2 responds:

Whoa second huge review in a row
Glad you like the jazz chords and whatnot

I know a lot of it needed fixing back then too
I can agree with brighter overall sound, but I think the bass is already far back enough
I'm sure it's because it phases in an out; I used it mainly because of the bass drops you hear later in
...how do you not like the music from Sonic the Hedgehog...
You are correct once again; back two years ago, I was just beginning to branch out of stock FL sounds and utilizing filters, a lot of which I still haven't touched.

As far as dubstep is concernec, I'll get there eventually!
It has crossed my mind a considerable amount of times now so ye
Thanks for the encouragement!
PS: I do not own any of these chords

[BAZ - Hell Yes! (DNB)]

Pretty damn good...I PM'ed you about it

Check the PM I sent you, it outlines everything that I think about this song. In a nutshell: Exceptional as a stand-alone, except for the tone of some of the synths. Not as exceptional as a complimentary song to Sakupen's music video. But still, gotta love that breakbeat stuff. And great work on your polyphony. ;)

-Jazzman

P.S. Seriously, congratulations on winning the contest. I mean it. =)

BAZmotherfucker responds:

Why thank you :] helpful stuff!

[White TIger Shark]

Very Metallica! |m| |m|

Good stuff my friend. Just a couple things though, if you really want stuff to come out in your future works:

1.) Add a little bit of room send reverb to your drums to get them to pop out more. Give them a 2-3 dB raise in the mids and highs, and your drums will be beautiful.
2.) I'm not entirely sure if how you're getting your guitar on the track; if you have your own software, that's cool, but have you ever heard of impulses? Essenitally, they emulate a cab setup, and they can give your guitar a beautiful live tone if you download the correct waveform. This will give your guitar a beautiful tone (just check out my song "Broaden Your Sound"/"Image >Unmastered<", not entirely sure which one you'll 'ppreciate more; they're the same song, but one version I tried to master and failed =P).
3.) Try setting your guitar on a different master than with the main master through side-chaining. This will take your guitar from the back of the mix to the front of the mix, at par with the drums, and we'll be able to hear the beauty of that guitar!
4.) Lol I'm sorry but that solo is whack! I know what you're aiming for, but it's sloppy. Solos are extremely difficult to pull off under most circumstances, so you gotta spend time with them, period. Practice the solo until you're sick of it...and don't attempt anything too extraordinary (tempting as it is), because all that will happen is that you'll muddy up the solo more than you want. The solo must be do-able and beautiful. (I understand you didn't have a whole lot of time to work on this track...and I didn't have much time on my own...but I'm mentioning this for your future songs).
5.) Give that bass some presence by giving it some bass boost - but not too much. A slight amount of treble boost might not be a bad idea either, to give it a nice, slappy rich tone. It just depends on what you're aiming for.

Good stuff man, good luck in round 3! ;)

-Jazzman

HighBallers responds:

i wasn't really aiming my solo towards anything, i was just whipping out a couple of guitar licks in a sequences. I will admit, i did make it up right on the spot when i recorded the track. I wasn't used to soloin' to the key of E, i'm still learning ya know. I'm getting a new drum program, for sure. I'm only using Fl-studios, i need to step it up. For the guitar tone, i'm saving up for a better guitar, and that should give me the best improvement for my line-6 interface.