slappmedoo's Reviews

[Madness Abrogation]

This has come a long way

since the hamster dance.

[Come To Australia]

Okay

You had me at "Electric Scissorbees"

[Icharus I: "Cookies"]

Yeah, definitely makes me think Salad Fingers

Okay, critique:

The intro's a bit slow, especially since there's very little going on animation-wise other than panning and zooming. Some more dynamic ambiance would be nice. Maybe birds flying away, clouds moving, or hell, just trees blowing in the wind. The art isn't half bad; the biting animation was particularly smooth. That font's kinda hard to read because it's shaking so much.

The girl scout reminded me of Gir in some far off way.

Considering it's your first, this isn't awful. It's a better effort than a lot of users put into their first flash. Keep making 'em. They can only improve, right? 5/10 2/5

[-Dusk-]

Cool visuals, simple controls, and yes, it's very similar to Braid. Some parts could get a little frustrating when the character sticks to the wall unexpectedly and jumps out wildly, but overall a very smooth, relaxing game.

Also, for those of you wondering, the song is Jami Sieber - Returning.

[Mom's Revenge]

This

Just seems like an ad for Boppy. Its visuals are gravy, but there's not much substance here. Fun facts though.

[Island Clock]

Hot damn!

I told the hell outta time with that baby!

[Infenro - SCB]

It's official: you have a signature sound. I have a feeling that if I had heard this song without knowing who authored it, I'd still be able to identify it as one of yours. I'm not implying that you're being repetitive. On the contrary, I think you're being consistent. I love hearing such healthy saws; they remind me of good ol' trance songs.

I gotta say, that buildup starting at 00:20 was badass, and the tape stop made for a cool fakeout. The only nit-picky thing I have to say is about the drop. I didn't really feel the impact of the drop, mostly because the buildup and melody felt completely separate. Basically, the buildup rocked and the melody was great, but the actual transition between the two didn't seem to happen. I suppose I was expecting more of an impact.

Again, wicked use of the melody. Your remix has a much more full sound than the original, and I'm digging your additions hard. You peppered in the glitch effects perfectly throughout the entire song. I'm actually having a little trouble telling the difference between the glitched beat and oneshot sound effects. This is a good thing because it means they fit together seamlessly. Outstanding job there.

Usually, when someone is using samples in their song, I tend to groan a little because it's overdone so often. "Yyyyyeah, clap yo hands!!! Drop dat bass!!!" Generally speaking, I find stuff like that unoriginal. In this case, however, I didn't have that feeling at all. The samples are straightforward and chill, just like the rest of the song. Really, really nice choices there. Just one quick note about the sample at 2:41. First, that made me smile. Second, there's essentially a second and a half of dead space without any transition between that sample and the reprise. I'd suggest at least a brief drum fill, tiny buildup, or hell, even a little scratching. It just needs the tiniest something to fill that void. Other than that, solid return.

The only other things that I felt needs a little improvement are the snares. The ride is solid; if I listen for it, I can hear it, but otherwise it's hiding in the background. The same is true for the kick. It can be just a little weak at points, but that's better than having it overpowering your sound. The first snare you use is great, and the glitches do a great job of showing it off. The one at 1:20 is a little thin for me. I don't think it needs more volume. I think it needs a touch more depth. The same is true for the snare at 2:30, but I think that one needs a LOT more depth. When I say depth, I mean two things. First, I think that they would both benefit from some lower sound built into them. Maybe layer a lower snare over top of them and play with the volume balances between the two? Second, I think that the 1:20 snare could benefit from a teensy bit more width. Don't go nuts with reverb or anything, but I do think it needs a little more length to it. To me, it sounds like holding up a sheet of notebook paper and flicking it. I do wanna clarify about the snare suggestions: these are just a matter of personal choice. I would have used a heavier snare in those sections, but I tend to favor a heavy sound. My songs also tend to clip like a fat bitch named Wendy.

I think I've said this in almost every review so far, but I'd call this your strongest sound yet. I've definitely said this before, but this song demonstrates a great deal of control and finesse. Outstanding work! 4.5/5 5/5

Free2Play responds:

Thanks man! I really liked what you had to say, and I especially feel like you recognized a lot of things I intentionally was trying to do (especially the thing about the voice samples, I can't stand most of them but I went out to find the un-cheesiest ones and usually try to give it some context somehow). You're definitely right about the drop, this is pretty much the first time I've done as heavy of a drop as this and it really needed a bit layered over it when it dropped to give it like a WHAM type of thing. I really didn't do that though I just tried to add alot to the buildup (ps I really think the second buildup sucks, and that's mostly due to my computer trippin' absolute balls on that part and me not being able to properly listen to it). The absolute stop on the 2nd buildup was actual a personal thing, but really I did want to add a bit of delay or something very quiet to fake out rather than silence (again though I didn't do it mostly due to my computer not handling that area very well and I couldn't tell how well that part fit with the previous buildup).

I can totally understand your personal preference with my percussion, and really it wasn't fine tuned enough (although I fine tuned the crap out of this). But I'm a big fan of Nujabes and DJ Shadow, and I always like how they kept their chopped beats pretty organic and sometimes even left the record decay in their which I think is a neat deal. The drop was layered over an 808 drum (I was trying to hit a bit of hip hop in this song) but the second beat wasn't layered, and it probably should have at least on the snare it is pretty flimsy.

Thank you so much for your reviews, they help so much in their detail!!! The next project I'm working on is a Phoenix Wright suite of music, and I'm gonna try to submit it to OCRemix.

[Infenro - Dark Alleyway]

Much improved

I love when people actually finish their WIPs because it gives you a nice baseline for comparison.

This was already a fairly eerie piece when you started, but the ambient radio chatter and news clips add a nice dimension to it. Kinda reminds me of Silent Hill. The 911 recording was a bit overbearing, but I liked the rest of them otherwise.

Also, listening to the WIP and this one, it sounds like you tweaked the mastering on the percs a bit. They sound a little tighter and hit a little harder. Very well done.

Speaking of the percs, I'm not normally a big fan of glitch effects, but I actually thought it was a nice twist. The important thing is that it sounded like you were in control of the glitch (instead of just blindly adding it).

Control is another thing I'm definitely seeing improve. When you listen to Feed Me, Excision, xKore, and so on, I think a fundamental aspect of each of their songs is that every single sound, effect, and mastering tweak has a purpose. Nothing is thrown in there for the hell of it, and this keeps everything nice and tight. Your songs are starting to track that style. I'm hearing fewer and fewer things that make me go, "Hm, wonder why he left that in there." You've got a knack for melodies and the ability to translate them.

Andream222 was right: Sexy as hell! 5/5 9/10

Free2Play responds:

Yet again I'm incredibly thankful for your review (you probably have inspired me to really look at small details and fix my own glaring issues). Ironically enough the glitch effects actually were in control it was really me slicing the beat on my own which gave it alot more effect since it stayed almost the same the whole time. There were actually no seperate glitch effects added, which I really want to try most of the time it does give you a level of control and experimentation. I did tweak quite a bit of the mixing and mastering, the drums I believe were compressed just a bit more (or maybe less I can't remember) and the actually multi-band compressor on the master got alot of attention so that I could make it all sound like I wanted to.

Thanks so much for your reviews, they've been unfathomably helpful!

P.S. I actually just beat Silent Hill 2, it's one of my favorite games of all time.

[Dark Alleyway [WIP]]

Not a bad effort

With songs like this, the beat is definitely an integral part of the mood of the song. Having said that, I think that the kick could be a touch punchier and sharper. It's a bit dull and fuzzy right now. Also (and you can completely ignore this if you'd like), I don't think that sprinkling in a few extra cymbals would be a bad thing. Maybe a closed hat or two Of course, keep the volume nice and low on them, but it might give the beat a little more "color." Lastly, there's something a little weird about that snare. On the one hand, it seems to be lacking that guttural depth that beats like this tend to have. On the other, it's not cutting through the sound as sharply as one would want. I can hear both of these things trying to happen, but they're just not coming across strongly enough.

On that note, a great way to keep ditties like this interesting is by using one-shot sound effects and ambiance. I don't really have any specific suggestions for what to add, but there are assloads of sound packs available for free with gun sounds, subs, one-shots, electric effects, and so on. I think that might be what you're looking for to get away from that "patterned" sound. Don't go overboard with them, but peppering the song with little FX can really improve it.

Stupid suggestion: my mind keeps wanting to hear an occasional piano. High chords with a delay effect on them, in fact. I don't know how this would sound in practice, but it might be worth playing with.

If memory serves, this is a new direction for you. Me gusta. Keep pounding away at it. 6/10 3/5

Free2Play responds:

I think I didn't respond to this one because I was all emo about the criticism or maybe, but I grew some balls later and took your advice. It's pretty much a process I do anytime you have to give some major criticisms lol, but I seriously appreciate them so DO NOT HOLD BACK. I actually took just about every bit of your advice here so um.... THANKS!