MaartenC's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[FS: Look I'm Running]

Now that's a swining song you put up there...

Let me say first, sorry for the (kinda) late review, new year's business etc. Speaking of new year, I listened to the English new year's celebration show and there was some real quality work there. To be honest, this could belong there.

I have forgotten the name of that program (I'm quite ashamed of that), but I've heard that getting a feature on that show is more of an honor than to score a #1 hit in the USA, you see what I'm getting at?

This is one of those songs that is calming, yet energetic. I think you should have hired a female singer to sing in this kind of song, if that would be possible :P

The song started good, apart from the fade-in effect, what wasn't that much of a letdown, but just starting off as a regular jazz-like song would have been better, I believe.

After that, all the instruments, which were playing different melodies (piano and others) were all blending in perfectly and kept the listeners attention; the song wasn't boring for one moment.

Later on, when the wind instruments started, this song really got deep, I loved that, but to be honest, the song could have lasted a LOT longer.
You have done something great here and if you decide to make this, or another upload much longer, I'll be sure to add it to my list of best songs (currently 209 songs with over 38 hours of length) and I'm serious here. Almost no NG audio portal upload ever made it there. Not even all of my favorites on my userpage have.

Anyway, I believe the song ended too abrubtly and because it's not a perfect song, I'll give this a 9/10 and so a 5/5, but this has limitless potential. Keep it up and SEND ME YOUR NEXT SONG!

FairSquare responds:

Haha, i think it would be possible to 'hire' a female singer if i really wanted to :p
And yeah, maybe i could've made it longer, but i just ran out of patience with this song for some reason. Don't know why exactly.
Thanks for this review and all the compliments and stuff :D
Oh, and don't worry, i'll send you my next song ;)

[FS: This Time (acoustic)]

Well done...

Good intro, good singing, lame text (sorry :P) and a good ending.

The intro was was really good, but after I heard the intro, I heard the whole song. That's pretty much a shame with acoustic music.

Assuming it's you singing here (you are, I know) you sing like a pro. You should do something with that. I mean it. Not many people can sing well these days.
With songs I think you should broaden your horizon with music. You can find lots of non-pop songs that are great too.
This is coming from a pop (and rap and hip-hop)-hater, though.

Anyway, I don't think at all that you fucked up at the end, it was well done, don't be harsh on yourself.

I'll just give this a 8/10 and so a 4/5 and hope you'll let me review your next audio too!

FairSquare responds:

Not all acoustic music is repetitive like this :p
And thanks for the compliments on my singing, although i don't agree with you on the greatness of it.
Oh and on 02:12 i play a wrong chord, that's what i meant with fucking up :p
Anyway, thanks for the review! :)

[3 Hours to Midnight]

I can't believe I forgot to review this...

... To be honest, this is my absolute #1 favorite song, which is really, REALLY impressive.

The song builds up perfectly; slowly adding more and more instruments and building towards the climax...

And then the climax, one of the best I've ever heard. I had to pause for a while writing this review to listen to it.

Also, after the climax most songs tend to get extremely boring, but you made this song build down just perfectly, till the end, which brings me to the only downside of this song. Suddenly you used an instrument at the end that wasn't used throughout the whole song... I'm used to it now, but the first time I listened, this was quite vague.

This song isn't perfect, but if I have to use decimal nubers, I'd give a 9,9. I'm giving this a 10/10 and this is perfectly deserved and I think this song will be my #1 for a very, very long time.

syphonmax responds:

That instrument was actually used through most of the song :P

[FS: Life Is A Song]

I felt obliged...

...To write this review, this was for me a very... Interesting thing to listen.

Personally I don't like pop songs, or anything with an acoustic guitar, but the song managed to keep my attention, mainly the lyrics.
The lyrics themselves were pretty much too soft for me, when I first listened, but then they started to make sense and the song had my full attention again, well chosen.

Then your part in this:

You can sing very well, let me tell you that. I had to get used to your voice at first, but that can also be because you sing the sing a bit higher than I'm used to (with other songs).
I'm assuming it's you who's playing the guitar and I also think good job at that. I've never played the acoustic guitar in my life (I've played electric baseguitar for a while), but I've always found it very hard to play it; respect for doing that AND singing at the same time. Nowadays this doesn't seem much, but you did it and you did it right.

Sidenote: how well is the quality of your recording mic? It's perhaps a good idea to invest in a better one.

Overall I'd give a 6/10 for the song chosen for the cover and an 8/10 for the cover, so in total that'd make a 7/10 and a 4/5, well done.

(I'm counting the cover heavier, but rounding that up would still make a 7/10 average).

Keep it up!

FairSquare responds:

Yeah, the lyrics are my favourite part of the song too :)
And i actually have a very low voice, it's pretty weird that you experience it as high :p
And the quality of my mic is pretty good actually, this is just a bad recording :(
Thanks for the review! :D