Tokolos's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Unwanted (DEMO)]

The Unwanted best /

Yeah, keep working on this, replacing the brass with the real thing would just fill in the soundscape seamlessly. Love the drums.
"..and I'll try to record it with real instruments..."
always a good option if possible.
keep me updated. best track I heard today.
much zefness 5/5

TheUprising1 responds:

Thank you!
I'll hopefully get back to this track soon, not sure if it will make it to the album, but the concept is too good to be wasted. You'll know when I add new stuff to this ;D

-TheUprising

[[S] Heavy Light]

Heavy Light

This reminds me of the many jam sessions I had way back, when we just wanted to make music, no preconcieved pretentious conceptual bs, just fun and all about the moment.
You might want to push your playing style for all it's worth, listen to primus, sonic youth, pavement etc. Don't be too shy with the guitar, it's the main element and it's a little too reserved imo. Just adding a little chorus will fatten it up. It would also be cool to have a slight change in the dynamics in the chorus/break.
The guitar is ever so slightly out of tune, I don't know if this is on purpose or not, but it gives it a raw charm that I think works well with the song. Just work on the tone, even do some more overdubs to reinforce the riff.
Good Work!
5/5

Screch responds:

haha, "raw charm"

really I clinch whenever I head the first notes to this song ... I have to change it but haven't brought myself to start recording yet. Thanks for the wonderful review man

[Orchestral Theme 1]

Orchestral Theme 1

The first 1:30 minutes are mesmerizing , my favourite the percussion and general ambience, driving the sound/story forward. On a tightrope/redemption ahead, and the truth slowly comes to light. Epic incidental score!

I think you could easily add more instuments if you wanted / more brass in the build-ups, and I'm not saying it sounds incomplete at all- it's completely solid ,
but you have left lots of space for more...esp melodic stuff.

For me , the mood you created can be interpreted in lots of ways, filled with suspense, mystery, but also a hint of menace.

This will probably be on my playlist for some time to come.
Great work Gravey.
5/5

Gravey responds:

Thanks bud! Good to hear from you as always. (You need to post new music soon btw!) ;-)

But getting back to this, the way you described this in your review really makes me swell my chest a bit. I'm really happy with how it turned out and to get another artist's approval whom I respect, means quite a bit more than the casual reviewer.

I agree there is space for other things within the piece, but I didn't want it to get bogged down. I wanted to try and keep it simple because the idea for this was to have it be background music for a flash game or video. Not that it was made for one specifically, but I'm trying to force myself to think more like an audio engineer rather than a freelance musician. Thus why it is not the fullest sound.

As always thanks for the review my friend. Always appreciated. :-)

-Gravey-

[Leviathian (WIP)]

Leviathian (WIP)

Great track! I like the slow build up, 01:12 onwards kinda feels like it needs more bass guit/line/riff & pity it ends just as it gets going / perfect for a loop though.
5/5 hope you expand it some more.

what's the tempo/bpm if you dont mind me asking?

SteakJohnson responds:

thanks, its pretty old tho. tempo is im guessin like 105 but I dont remember where the file is. I should definately do a remix soon or somethin.

[Whisper of the Muse]

Whisper of the Muse

Great stuff.
might I suggest fading out with the bass added to the mix?( 01:25 thereabouts )
Would also be awesome to have some guitar on this track, even if it's just for phrasing @ the start of every bar. Can't wait to hear what's next...

LightKeeper responds:

Thanks a lot Tokolos. I'd love to have some guitar tracks in there but I'm a drummer, not a strummer. :) I've tried synthesized guitars before but they don't get the job done unless you pay for quality. As soon as I get my computer functioning regular I'm gonna throw in a fade on that bass. Thanks for recommending that. Thanks for the review. :)

[Pondering music]

Pondering music

Great stuff, good song...what's the tempo/bpm?
Don't really mind the backwards/reverse stuff, but would be cool if some bass and drums came in there.
5/5

LyRikLyNkLyNd responds:

I think this was all just a time capsule

[are we who are you]

" are we who are you "

I like it. It's unique.
make more!
5/5

Lundsfryd responds:

Thanks :) But don't to much of this stuff to come from my hand. I still very much prefer to do things "manually" so to speak.

[::Out Of Mind::]

::Out Of Mind::

beautiful song Gorc. Is it acoustic or classical guit? The lead sounds classical/
let me know when you add violin, if you do.
5/5

gOrc responds:

yeah the pull off/hammer on thingy gave it a little classical touch, but I won't say that the piece is classical. It's an acoustic guitar (you can see the beauty on my user icon). I think I will need more practise for the violin first, but I will definatly use it for my future projects. Thanks for renting it your ears :)

gOrc

[De A]

De A

Man, I love this, esp the first two parts, the clean guitar layers and then when the drums, bass and guitar comes in = just awesome. explosions in the sky awesome.
I think you should expand that part of the song more because it just wants to go on. I like the break at 1:40 , but then at 02.13 you just lost me 'cause it feels like you cut out half the song before going to the outro. This track has a lot of potential to be more imo, but you still get my 5 none the less.

Kirbyfemur responds:

Well thank you very much for you're input. When i made this i had just what I had wrote out, then messed around with what instruments that where used for it. I'll try to expand it a bit, don't know when i'll get to that, but thank you still. =3

[Alien in the Rain]

Alien in the Rain

Very cool, I'm not too fond of the filler at the start, even though it creates a good rainy ambience, it feels like a afterthought.
The song itself is very good, the violin/high synth creates some dissonance 'cause for half of the bar it's not in tune with the other notes, and I like the tension it creates, but maybe you should only let it come in later/fade in at the end instead of fade out at the start, that way the song gets an extra oomf towards the end.
The backbone/foundation of the song is solid. nice drums/instruments. Love the subtle ambient sounds in the background/
Just work on that high synth, less is more as far as dissonance is concerned.
Keep it up! 5/5

Aaroca responds:

Great review, thank-you.
Yeah it could use some work... and i really enjoyed making it.
Unfortunately, I'm really lazy and probably won't get around to it. But we'll see. We'll see...