JeffHeim's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Justice day]

tres bien!

very well done, I loved the orchestration and rhythm. Great contrast between the middle and beginning/ending. I felt like the balance was off here and there, and the transitions between the slow and fast parts were a bit odd. perhaps you could add some percussion to help solve this problem? I can definitely hear some cymbal crashes and booming percussion in this piece. Great work!

p.s. the french dude says:

"Magnificent

Bravo

Sincerely, this is very well done :D
I love it. the sound is very soft and the rhythm is ... (don't know that word)

It's great! Nothing to say I think :D"

robomanus responds:

I decided not to use percussion. Why? Because maybe I would like to perform it with my orchestra, where I haven't got cymbals and percussion. But I have some Timpani :) So maybe I will try to add them. Thx for review :D

[Miklos Power - World Song]

soothing

I was very impressed with the quality of the voices...which VST's do you use for the vocals?

[Toccata]

excellent work!

It's a real pleasure to hear live works on NG for a change. Wonderful! Who were the players? They sounded quite professional! The recording quality sounds great, too. Judging by the natural ambience, this was recorded in a large hall...where in Opole, Poland was this recorded? And are those voices near the end?

As for the piece itself, the thematic material was clearly introduced and developed very well throughout the piece. I liked the temporary switch to 6/8 time in the middle; mixed things up a bit. I listened to its entirety and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to hearing more from you!

robomanus responds:

The players are my friends from Music School, where I'm learning too :) The recording was made in concert hall in Music School in Opole. The voices in the end are my friends, but they are singing, no playing :D That was my idea, because I don't have choir, but I want it, I command my friends to sing. The strings were playing and singing at the same time, so the effect is: choir with strings. But there is no choir :D I will use this trick in my other pieces, 'cause I think it's something new. Thanks for comment and share this to your friends. It will be very helpful. :D

[Piano Study No. 2]

Very cool

reminds me of John Adams' Phrygian Gates. Very minimalistic. I disagree with most of what has been said in the reviews for this piece...I think NG should give 20th century music more of a chance. Sometimes dissonance can give music much more meaning any any tonal piece could. Some people say Schoenberg's music was some of the most passionate music ever written, only problem is he used so much passion in his dissonances, it sounded monotonous and completely unpassionate. My only suggestion for this pieces is I wish it built more from beginning to end. I really liked the pause around 1:11, but I think it could have been even longer to surprise the audience. More on that pause: it could have happened later in the piece I thought...there's so much tension, and the effect you get from that pause is a sudden release of that tension...this should happen close to the end in my opinion. Other than that, very interesting. I often think of gradual growing of tension/volume in minimalistic pieces like these. Try thinking of some different ways in which you could achieve this.

[Bearded Journey]

nice chords, but repetitive

I liked some of the choices you made, but I found the piece to be repetitive. you could avoid this problem by either making it much shorter, or adding a second theme to divide this piece up, making it more interesting. I noticed that it builds throughout the entire piece, but you could definitely make it build more in a shorter amount of time. Other than that, I thought it was mastered pretty well, the sound quality is not bad. nice work!

[Ice Tea and Summer Daze]

alright not bad, some things to address:

when I was in 8th grade I remember doing some similar music like this on piano for fun. This piece is very simple and I can hear some motivic material, including dialogue between the left hand and right hand, trills, and a recurrence of that melody. I thought the parallel 5ths were interesting, but I'm not sure what your intentions were in writing this piece. It lacks structure and development. The dynamics are monotonous and the melody/chords imply a piece of music of the baroque or classical period but it doesn't follow any of the rules. I would recommend reading up on some music theory/voice leading textbooks. I enjoyed the piece, but it's very important to be aware of which rhealm of classical music you're entering.

lvl5drummer responds:

okay thank you. i just walked outside on a sunny saturday morning and heard this in my head. i quickly wrote it down and continued to write the piece. i appreciate the reviews!

<lvl5>

[[LC] -Red Virus]

Nice work!

I can definitely tell a lot of effort has been put forth in making this sound game-worthy. The percussion and instrumental vst's work very well together and it's a great first step to providing professional-sounding music.

However, there are a few more things that this piece could bring to the table. First of all, the music is quite repetitive- I think this piece could either be much shorter, or bring in some more ideas to keep the music fresh to the listener. For example, the beginning material is very beautiful, but that's the only time I hear it. Also at :45 I hear some popping which means the volume was set too high, but that's a quick fix.

All in all, this wasn't short of a masterpiece, but mix things up a bit and you'll be right up at the top. Good start!

4/5, 9/10

[KIRBY cailloups]

Beautiful!

The arpeggiated chords you use are so nice and delicate and fit perfectly with the strings in the background. I must ask- how did you sync up the piano with the fake sounds in the background? It doesn't sound like you used a metronome, there's some rubato here and there. Wonderful performance and composition!

Stalagmite responds:

trial and error matey. i constantly record until it sounds in time... and as it is live it doesnt take time to get right. also, i am sure if you popped a metronome over the top this song would almost instantly go out of beat anyway... i play at the pace that feels right in the moment. and i guess i remembered it with all of the other layers too. I worked had on it. thanks for the awesome ten! :D:D:D you rock Basbalfan55

[[\Spring/]]

This piece is just crying for lyrics!

Sounds a lot like a pop song to me, I love the piano sounds (I can't tell if they're real or not, but I guess that means they're real). The drum sounds are phenominal and you have mastered them, panning and everything. Volume is perfect, the melody is beautiful, the chord choices and their inversions are all appropriate. I have no complaints or suggestions. Everything sounds great at all levels! The rain at the end fits perfectly- is there any way for the rain to fade away? That's actually my one suggestion...oh yeah one more- get a girl to sing over this :D

paradoxphenomena responds:

Yes fading it away is possible, I'll be sure to do that if and when I go back to edit the song. As for the lyrics, it sounds like a great idea if I can find someone. Thanks for the great review.

[The Fate of Jace and Jillian]

Original...

I'd have to see the claymation to understand how this piece works. In my opinion the grindy electronic sounds in the background are too loud and distract from the somewhat limited orchestral experience, but I like the originality- I've never heard anything like this on NG. Well done!

brettamatowski responds:

I appreciate your review and respect your choice of score. Just to justify myself, the "grindy electronic sounds" was what I was going for. The claymation is more along the lines of a morbid story of two siblings being eaten by monsters that live under their home. Tim Burton, as you may know of, is a huge inspiration to me with his animations and Danny Elfman's music is wonderful in all of Burton's films. I'm sorry if it doesn't necessarily fit under the category of classical, but it was the only genre remotely close than the others. I must say thanks though. I generously respect any criticism. Thanks for your review.