Kingbastard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pitbulljones- Shine On]

I really like the effects on the guitars, the beat and general vibe of this makes me think of early radiohead crossed with snowpatrol (but with a little more meat on its bones;) As an instrumental piece it's involving and the evolution of the sounds creates a good dynamic to the overall piece. i do think it's missing a singer though, something to elevate it to a higher level.

pitbulljones responds:

haha, yea it has got a bit of the snow patrol about it, I will take early radiohead comparisons and run with that though haha. I would love to get vocals on this but do not have a singer to hand. I could send some stems over and you could have a bash though :)

[Pitbulljones- Thinking Back]

Definitely a cinematic vibe to this. I dig the beats, but I think I'd llike to hear it without them also. It could be a very calming ambient piece. I find the little synth string part (panned to the right) that comes in around 1:52 a little off-kilter. Like one of the the notes in the riff doesn't quite work with the chords of the piece. It clashes a little, but only a little. It's quite a 'stargazing' piece this. I could definitely image watching the stars late at night with this washing over me.

pitbulljones responds:

Thanks KB for the review mate! I could certainly try something without the beats and see how it sounds. I'll have to agree on the stringy note thing, that is the weakest part of the track, it's a middle section or it's own sake to break up the track...I'm glad you got that cinematic vibe though. I do try to aim for some sort of atmosphere. Many thanks again.

[Pitbulljones- You're Good For]

Yo. Lovely sound to this one man. Nice stereo width on the effected guitars, and a good depth to the production. Sounds liek there's a couple of 'peaking' issues on some of the sounds as there's a slight buzz or crackle when some hit the limit, sometimes a problem when you pan stuff quite so wide. The track has a great development to it, nicely arrnaged, it grows and changes shape very organically. The persistent glitch beat allows the other parts to evolve and change shape without ever lossing the rhythm. Great job.

pitbulljones responds:

Thank you very much for the review KB. You are bang on about the peaking issues. I have actually been going trough the mix again and redoing the levels, effects etc and should hopefully be posting am much clearer mix. I have got new speakers some m-audio bx5's and I'm using a roland Octa Capture, so I'm still learning the ropes with them but they are loevly, I have to remember they don't mask a single bloody thing ha. I'm glad you like the development, I can appreciate it sticks to the same pattern throughoput but I do i try to change things up. Many thanks again, I'll let you know when the redone mix is up :)

[Just to say I miss you]

First off, it's really nice to hear some fingerpicking here on Newgrounds, not many people posting that sort of thing;)
Really like the chord progressions and melody/riffs, and the transition from the slow to fast fingerpicking. It's hard for me to give you any 'tips' on where to take the track. I think, when you already have the 'bones' of a piece, then the best thing you can do is just keep playing it. Often it will develop naturally on its own through repetition, just follow where it leads, but try not to over-complicate things; in my opinion, it's often harder to write a 'simple' song, but they can certainly be the most effective/effecting.
Perhaps, when you're playing the song through, try to think of a lead vocal line/melody. This might help you develop the piece.

All the best

UnknownGuitar responds:

Thank you man, I switched over to finger picking when I started listening to tommy emmanuel and learned a few things that way. I haven't really gotten the hang of it and was once attempting hybrid picking but all of that was way over my head haha. I've since been fixing up my mistakes on this song and my fingers have found that natural rhythm and pace.

I really appreciate the pointers man they are very useful and the style you play is just what I like and try to shoot for. You're songs have really been helpful to listen to and get more play in my cd player than Dispatch haha. So its safe to say you know exactly what to do and what you've said right there is more useful than half of the things I read.

Your music has truely been a gift man and has helped me a lot, I only hope to make something that can speak to someone someday as much as your music has to me and I thank you for taking the time to help a fellow guitarist out. :)

This review was really uplifting man. Continue making great music and live well :)

[Be Gone Mr. Gawne]

Not normally the sort of music I would listen to, it's verging on eurodance, regardless this is an infectious tune and hard to ignore, I'm a sucker for chiptune/8-Bit sounds too;) There are some really nice techniques and touches to the production.

bossfight responds:

Thank you for taking your time! It's very appreciated.

[SmokeHole]

Atmospheric

Very nice, I too can see it working well over a title sequence, for an RPG game perhaps. The orchestration sounds quite genuine and the arrangement is really well constructed, with each instrument having it's own space. The piece gets through quite a lot of dynamic variations in the timeframe, without ever sounding too busy or cluttered.
There's something about that title that doesn't sit right with me though;)
Good stuff.

KB

fearing responds:

Wow, a review from the KingBastard himself. Thanks man! I really appreciate your kind words. The title was definitely an afterthought as usual with my tracks, so it doesn't surprise me haha. I'll probably change it when I think of a better one.

Love your stuff!

Jevon

[Breakscream]

Entertaining

Good stuff, been a while since I've listened to Breakcore style tunes, I enjoyed it, had all the right elements in there, the brooding mellow start, with the synth strings [reminded me a little of Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Született' album] followed by the somewhat obligatory vocal sample and crushed and mashed drums. I enjoyed the synth work over the breaks, thought that added an extra dimension to the track. I would have like to have heard a bit more broken-beat/glitched elements in the mix to break up the arrangement a little but that aside the track works nicely as is.

KB

PixelPorn responds:

Thanks mate :3 IRL i make dubstep, so the things taht are on newgrounds are mainly just small side projects made to relax from the wobbles;) Really enjoyed what you wrote here:)

[Premoeffect - Stroma]

Gravy

I'm partial to a bit of House every once in while, especially the dancey, glitchy electro house of Feed Me & other artists like Rex The Dog and I think what you have here is a good basis to build upon. The arrangement is solid and progresses nicely, the synth work is good and fitting for the genre, I would agree with previous reviewers that the drop into the main body of beats n synths should perhaps come in a little sooner and also the kick could do with some fattening up, it's a little thin for my tastes atm, but that aside it's a very enjoyable and well produced track.

Glitch it up though, go on, you know you want to;)

KB

PrEmoEffect responds:

I love Feed Me <3 Anyways, the weak kick was just a lack of mastering at the time. I have fixed this now (aka, I did some mastering). I think what happened with the length was that I was obsessed with that starting synth. (this is what happens when you make really cool synths with intricate modulations for the first time haha). Hopefully I will be able to make these quickly in the future to work in the new genre of complextro.

Yes... yes I do ;).

Thanks for the review.

[Ambient 3 (Airports)]

Mellow...

Quality piece of ambience. You should check out Music For Airports by Brian Eno if you don't know it, excellent ambient record.
I give this 8/10 as I think it could develop a little more and it needs some bass-end freq's running beneath it imo, some nice subby drones perhaps.
V.Nice work though.

KB

sonicExplorer responds:

Wow thank you! Yeah I have listened to Music for Airports- that's what inspired me to make this. Awesome to get praise from you- I've checked out your stuff, It's fantastic being a radiohead fan (I find your styles somewhat similar.) I'll keep on working on this stuff probably.