Oakwood's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pleasantly Surprised /SN/]

Kewl.

I think you should put this in the Dubstep section even though the song consists of more genres.
Like others have pointed, work on your mixing. The drums, and by that I mean kick, stand out a bit too much. That might have been intentional (it's Dubstep, after all), but now they're really overriding. Also yes, the snare needs reverb. And I know you're saying that it didn't work for your lower snare, but then you should just layer it with a high-end clap, give that some reverb, and make it wet as shit. Holla, there's your (fake) reverb.
Also, About the dubstep part, It clearly consists of two patterns, a filthy one and a calm one. And they differ SOOO much that I'm not even sure they should be put together (now that I'm typing this I suddenly understand the title of the song :P).

Cool song, but needs some work.

4/5, 8/10.

- LiquidOoze

Could you return the favor on my latest Dubstep track? :)

[The Struggle (NGADM)]

No words.

Despite this song being short, it's the awesomeness itself. Therefore this review is gonna be short as well.
The piano and the choirs in the background sound so peaceful, it 's a wonder they fit so well with the main lead, the bass and the kick. The cymbals, by they way, are a bit too loud IMO, if you could tone those down a little bit, that would be kewl.

Great song (or loop, whatever), I hope you'll extend it in the future. :)

5/5, 9/10, faved

- LiquidOoze

JohnnyFrizz responds:

Thank you very much man, I really appreciate the review and I'll definitely keep working on this, I promise ;)

[Cosmic Fluctuation (NGADM '11)]

Oh yeah!

This is an amazing song, man. Very relaxing and laidback, I would almost recommend it for the Ambient section, but it's probably not relaxed enough for that.
I don't have much to complain about, but I have to say that I find the kick a bit weak. Of course, this isn't the kind of track where the kick should stand out, but keeping it down too much isn't the best thing to do either. Increasing the kick's volume a little bit should do the trick already.
Also, the outro with the hats fading in is kinda weird. I suggest you leave those out and just let the pad (or whatever it is) fade out.

Short review, I know, but that's only because this is such a great song.

5/5, 9/10.

- LiquidOoze

Could you return the favor by reviewing my latest song? :)

Birdinator99 responds:

I actually used two kicks in this song, but they're both not EQ'ed too well. Needless to say, I'm working on it for future songs!

I kinda like the outro, but you still have a valid point. Maybe next time, eh?

Glad you liked it; thanks very much! I'll take a look at your song there, too.

[Saving The Sunset]

Niiiiiiice.

As many have pointed out, it's really a shame you can't afford any programs/soundfonts with a more realistic touch to their instruments. This won't affect my review score because critizing on your instruments won 't give you more money. ;P
Soooo, I should tell you that I COMPLETELY lost my sense of rhythm at 1:03. Before that part the tamb hits on every beat, but as soon as the violin kicks in it sounds like it plays at random, and the violin plays in such a strange way that I kinda lost it there. Luckily you restored it at the part 1:20.
That brings me to my next point: the piano at 1:20 sounds kinda dull if you ask me. It needs to be sharper, give it a bit more treble.

Minor flaws apart, this is a great song.

5/5, 8/10

- LiquidOoze

[F-777 - "Life"]

Aww yeah, electro!

It has been a while since I actually listened to a song with such electro elements here ong NG, glad I can hear it again.
Ok so, that bassline is pure sex. However, I think that it needs a bit more chorus. Right now it sounds like on big fat layer, but I think that if you added some more chorus, it would sound a bit fuller. But then again, this might take away the bassline's power, and we don't want that because it's AWESOME!
Also, the highpass at 0:57, I think you went a little too far there. I know that really helps to get a great impact (I use it a lot as well), but now I have the feeling it's a bit too highpassed. I mean, you can barely hear anything at that point xD
Last thingy, the break lasts a bit too long IMO.

Apart from the above this song feels like two angles having sex against my eardrums. :)

5/5, 9/10, faved, downloaded

- LiquidOoze

[FS: When The Time Is Right]

Pretty sweet.

It's a pretty cool song, but I can almost hear it screaming for more body. The song you have now sounds more like an intro than a song as a whole. If I were you, I would add another part as it is now, but with a bigger beat, pads, just some more stuff that could fill things up.
The 8-bit lead is pretty neat, but I noticed it's located a bit too much in the high-freq ranges. Maybe if you toned it down a little bit it would hurt my ears less (I could also lower my volume but I don't want to). Also yes, the low-passing every now and then really adds to the song.

Sweet song, but if you're ever thinking of extending it, make sure to take a look at this review again, ;)

4/5, 8/10

- LiquidOoze

Could you review my latest song in return, plox? :)

[SR - Like You]

Wow, just....wow

I happened to have my headphones on when I opened this page. Once I saw the song was 6 minutes in length, I decided to lay down and close my eyes, and I FELL ASLEEP! I swear, not a single ambient song has ever managed to make me get in such a trance that I fell asleep, but you did. Because of that I also had to listen to this song twice, but I didn't care about that, because it's incredible.
I don't think it's repetitive at all. Yeah okay, you keep hearing the same instruments for 6 minutes on, but still it seems that the song never really stays the same. The bass coming in at 2:10 is epic, and I loved how you changed the melody at 4:07.
The main synth is awesome, but I think that you should've made it fade in at 0:20 instead of giving it its full volume there already. Also what 's with the long silence at the end?

No words, it's epic.

5/5, 9/10

- LiquidOoze

[Evil meets good]

Gah!

Why do so many people submit Classical songs for the NGADM?! I don't have any experience with classical songs so I can barely review them! AAGH!
Anyway, now that I've lost my anger, I can finally tell you that this could easily make Hans Zimmer go into toetus position and cry like a baby, because this song is AWESOME! A bit short, perhaps, but it sounds so effing heroic, why aren't you working for bigger companies yet? I could totally picture this in a movie. :)

5/5, 9/10, faved.

- LiquidOoze

[NGADM r1: f4p;f4c]

O.o

Before I'm gonna review this I should first lay down for a few seconds and think about the facemelting ride I've just been on............. yeah, that should do the trick.

Ok, breakcore, huh? Well I don't nomrally listen to that so I can't give you much critics, but I'll try my best. In fact, I'm just gonna repeat everything IO said.
Yeah, the beat is weak. It sounds like there's no distribution in frequency and everything is in the same frequency range. The breakbeats itself were real harcore, I loved those. Also the part that starts after one minute is amazing, it really functions as a tension builder. The vocals also fitted in really well, even though I couldn't make out much more than 'Geat real, get real!'. The part after that, with the BPM that must've been 260 or something, went a little over the top.

4/5, 8/10.

- LiquidOoze

midimachine responds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITJcpa rImeQ <- has subtitles

bpm in the last part was 240 but was probably a little too much for decent listening, ah well :<

[{dj-N} TransformR]

Aww...

It's a shame how the intro sounds so melodic with the piano and stuff, and then all of a sudden you go bing-bang-boom with your wobbles. :)
So the first thing I noticed is that this song isn't the typical facemelting dubstep you get when you search for it on NG or YT. And that's a good thing, because hearing the same thing over and over again makes you tired after a while. It just sounds more laidback than the usual dubstep. I'm pretty sure the choirs and the piano give it this effect as well.
I loved the reverb you had on the snare. I've come pretty close to recreating such a high-shelfed damping reverb but never got the right sound for it. Seems I should try a little harder next time. :P
Only aspect that could be improved is the ending. At 2:18 the choir kicks in and I thought 'Okay, this is the outro, cool', and then you bring the beat back? It would've been better if you'd just repeat the choir and fade out slowly. Or do what dj-Jo said, whatever.

Great song, dude, great song. I recently submitted my first dubstep track for Madness Day as well and figured I had a chance of winning, but now I've completely lost that feeling. xD

5/5, 9/10, faved. Seems I get laid next week, don't I?

dj-Nate responds:

Thanks man, it takes me a lot of effort to make reviews as long as you do, so I gotta say that I really do appreciate it.