Jacob's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Purged - Animal's Piece]

Fantastic.

I have one problem with this, and that is your vowel pronunciation. I would recommend elongating (upward and downward) your mouth when singing a bit more, sticking the the main placement of the ee, eh, ah, oh, and oo sounds. I would elaborate further, but it's really difficult to relay over text, so I'll just shut my mouth. Oh, but a little more vibrato would be lovely, too.

Otherwise, though, this piece was amazing. I really, truly felt it. The piano was almost droll during the introduction, but still captivating enough to keep me tuned in for the real start of the piece. One thing that remains constant throughout all of your songs is the beautiful tone of your voice. It's harsh enough to pierce into the listener's ears, but also soft and soothing enough to make us yearn to stay.

On a side note, this is one of the very, very few submissions to the Newgrounds Audio Portal that I could listen all the way through. That doesn't happen often. Even the top 30 tends to become a bore after a fair minute or so. To be honest, I can only remember listening through your songs and Chris O'Neill's. Otherwise, they tend to lose their luster after the first run-through of the main lick.

I can't say I remember any of what I just said, so this review is probably discardable. But, I'll keep it, and leave you by saying that I really do love your music, and James' works as well. I'll always be on the lookout for what you two will come out with next.

[The Angry Drunk]

Not bad!

I'm loving the jazzy grooves in this submission. The prime thing holding the piece back, though, is lack of build-up. It's just too content with hiding in the background, you know? Some bass (and a little backing synth here and there) would have really added to the character of the music. I can see what you were going for at 0:42, but without bass and some synth to enhance the crescendo, it just sort of recedes, and suddenly breaks into a slightly too sketchy solo, which also could have used the aforementioned instruments. The last thing that could have used some work is the ending. The fade-out is just another reason to forget this song. An intro like this song's needs to be followed by increasingly powerful additions, and a solid, heart-pounding outro would have really done that. Instead, though, we get this little faded intro. It was a little disappointing.

Anyhow, this really wasn't a bad piece at all. The riffs were fantastic, the guitar and drums in the solo were epic, and the entire song has a TON of potential. The only real criticism I have is on the production aspect. If properly produced, this song would have me addicted in seconds.

[Deep south Redneck]

I finally remembered to check this!

While looking through my inbox, I stumbled upon the link you sent me and recalled being unable to listen before. Well, I finally did! It's critique time:

Firstly, don't use a strained voice. You could easily get a better - and especially more distinct - version of this sound if you were to pull back your vocal chords. See, you can either over-tighten your vocal chords (as you're doing now), or you can pull back until they're barely touching, an exaggerated version of which is the sound made by The Grudge. This technique will give threshold for clearer diction and a more prominent sound. Of course, you want to keep that incomprehensible, rambling country drawl, but voice acting requires unnatural diction and clarity - so you'll need to overdo it a bit.

Secondly, you need a little more vocal fluctuation - just a smidgen. While, again, you're character is meant to be monotonous, too much monotony will simply make him uninteresting. As I said, voice acting requires you to overdo a lot of things.

Overall, though, it's not terrible. I've certainly heard much worse. I'll give you the 7 and 4.

pyroman544 responds:

Thank you for your honesty. The roughness, in part, comes from my being stingy on a good microphone. I DO need to work on the draw more, but it usually sounds a little better in person.

Thank you