Kingbastard's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Breathe With Me]

Emotive...

Thanks for the link/download to this track, really good listening. It's a very visual piece, conjures up all sorts of imagery, as all good ambient music should. The pad sounds are very contradictory in my mind, in a good way. There's a glassy/icy cold feeling to the pads in the mid to higher frequencies and yet a noteable warmth in the sound too, perhaps thanks to the subtle bass frequencies giving your ears a little hug:).
Perhaps you could develop the track even further with some extra layers, maybe some deep sub-bassy pad elements or some fx/field-recordings and some extra synth layers. Whilst the track definitely conveys your mood I still think there's scope for creating a more evolving piece. At the drop out in the middle section around 4:30 it would seem a perfect opportunity to bring the track back in with a big flourish of extra layers, sounds and development to take the end to a big crescendo, but then again, perhaps adding to much and busying up the track may be detremental to it's emotive nature, it's a hard one to call, but maybe worth trying out?

KB

FatKidWitAJetPak responds:

I actually had thought of going out to my classroom and record people walking by and mixing it into a subtle background atmosphere that could provide a certain sense of "insanity", "enlightenment", or other things depending on how the track is interrupted. 4:30 is exactly where I wanted it haha, but I am not skilled enough to develop such a layered 2nd part. I did not want to stop it there, however, because I wanted to create another soothing pad development. I also had problems making the right type of sounds that, as you said, wouldnt distract from the flow of the song.

I am creating an album currently that has a mix of ambient / jazz / classical. It is all about the journey of this man who falls in love with something/someone and comes to realize its all in his head. I have been slowly improving my ambient skills and was very happy to get such a great turn out from this one. I just need to add a bit more of a "spark".

Thanks a lot KB, your one of the guys I look up to here. :)

[SR - Organic Matter]

Lovely

Just Lovely:)

SineRider responds:

thanks :)

ya might like the new version check it out

[SR - No City Dust Here (Cover)]

Nice

Cool to hear this on guitar, I never thought of translating this track across and have to say you've made it work really well. Look forward to hearing some additional layers to it too if you get the chance:)

SineRider responds:

Yeah it isn't exactly a song you would think to arrange for guitar, but the idea popped in my head yesterday and I was dead set on tabbing it out and figuring out the best way to play it. I originally played this on my classical guitar. It sounds best there but I was having trouble with my mic so I just went to electric guitar.

I'm definitely going to make a new version. I'm gunna try and add in some strange background noises like the original. I want it to be like an organic version, so no synths :)

[SR - Shortwaves]

Great

Just the sort of ambience I like, just the right amount of mellow mixed with noise:)

SineRider responds:

I'm not lying when I say I was heavliy inspired by your ambient songs on this one :)

[Hermit Recluse]

Industrial Solvents....

Really like the sub-bass, use of reverbs and spacious mix in this. I'm also a big fan of the static and slight industrial feel, you could use this piece as an intro to a full-on breakbeat style assult utilizing that full bass sound as the main driving point of the track. Apt that you mentioned Chris Clark in the review for my trk as I feel that this could sound great leading into his style of beat glitching off his 'Empty The Bones Of You' album, something akin to Indigo Optimus. I could also hear this having a long building ambient intro, featuring the sounds used
gradually becoming more layered up to the point where the bass drops in and this trk takes over.
My only minor gripe with this is the BB vox in there, I'm not sure they're entirley necessary as I think there's enough going on to hold attention without them.
Cool stuff.

Erkie responds:

Thanks KB

Good luck with the EP.

[SR - Tape Werms (Tape Version)]

Cool stuff man

I especially like how it was made:) Stick some vocoded vocals over the top and you have yourself a Black Moth Super Rainbow song:D

SineRider responds:

The vocal idea isn't bad, but only if I could write decent lyrics :P

thanks a ton

[Rucklo - Empirical]

Sounding Great

Great slow build, really solid production, good depth. It's like Industrial Trip-Hop:)
The scratches and vocal snippets definitely add to the overall mood of the trk.
This trk is definitely the complete package, most impressive.

Rucklo responds:

Always good to hear from you, buddy! Thanks for the review and for listening to the track! see you around! :)

[(_RGH_) Wisped Away (F777)]

Chilled...

Im a big fan of good ambient music for the very fact that it can transport you to somewhere else. This trk has all the right elements for a modern world music style of ambience. The production is nice n solid, the beats are electronic but earthy and the swirling synths pan around the head creating a nice open feel to the trk.
Some of the sounds used are not to my taste, I'm not a fan of that screaming lead synth at all, it's quite nasty sounding in an otherwise mellow trk, it's the pitch bend in it that clinches it for me:) I suppose it breaks up the mood, but then the trk fades where it might have gone on and developed into something a little harder/harsher perhaps?
Overall It's a really good piece of ambience, I think perfect for a role-playing game and as you mention in your description there is a definite feeling of drifting cross vast plains.
However If you are looking to make something more contemporary I would consider your choice of soundsets, as I think musically all the right pieces are here, but they need updating in places, mainly the synths I would say and I'm not a big fan of bongos in ambience either, personal preference:)

Good Stuff.

5'd

RyeGuyHead responds:

Alot of the work on this track got short on acount of my computer not being able to play it through Reason at some points. I definitely plan on doing more with this later.

The fade with the lead melody at the end almost created a sense of anticlimax

Sooo glad you liked it :)

[DXM - Nirvana Via Elysium II]

Pretty epic......

Pretty epic piece of ambience here. I think the mood of the piece is really good. The choral pads/voices create a ethereal quality. The reversed sections are a good element, perhaps peaking a little bit too much on the loudness side of things though for my tastes which does remove a little of the peaceful nature of the trk.
( I like the sound of them, even when they break into a little distortion, but think they might be a little high in the overall mix).
The whole trk could pehaps be brought down a couple of notches volume-wise so that it's a little less brash. Other than that it's a really nice piece conjouring up visions of black and white footage of old churches and ghostly apparitions:)

5'd

tijnn responds:

Hehe thanks alot Kingbastard! ;)
And thanks for the constructive criticism. personally i dó like the higher notes a little higher, but that's just to increase my mood, and ze euphoric feelings. ;)

-DXM