Sir Dread, the Terror Knight (night terrors reviews)

[big crouton]

You might have made a borderline clippy mix that will clip on some systems and not on others, or at certain volumes, but not others. I've made some mixes that sound fine on speakers, but will noticeably clip on certain headphones, if they're loud enough. As far as I know, you're actually overdriving the speakers, (you know, the way they used to get guitar distortion,) which basically sounds like garbage, most of the time.

But I'm listening to it on the same headphones at the same levels as I did earlier in the week. Nothing has changed, except that now I don't hear the clipping anymore, whereas before it was present at any volume.

[Lord of Oats]

In that case, I have absolutely no idea. Maybe you went clip-deaf. In that case, my songs ought to be way more enjoyable for you now. I'll do my best to hunt for clipping in your song when I review it, but I don't remember noticing any in any of my listens so far.

[Billy's Little Trip]

You might have made a borderline clippy mix that will clip on some systems and not on others, or at certain volumes, but not others. I've made some mixes that sound fine on speakers, but will noticeably clip on certain headphones, if they're loud enough. As far as I know, you're actually overdriving the speakers, (you know, the way they used to get guitar distortion,) which basically sounds like garbage, most of the time.

But I'm listening to it on the same headphones at the same levels as I did earlier in the week. Nothing has changed, except that now I don't hear the clipping anymore, whereas before it was present at any volume.

Ive noticed that changing formats, or whatever its called, it fixes some mild clipping. Like changing from a wav to a MP3. Maybe its the reformatting program I use for making MP3s.

[big crouton]

Acid cadillac: As I remember from last week and this week, you come up with some pretty sweet bass lines. This song could really do with a full band though. It feels fine in the verses, but could really do with a big band coming in the choruses and then horns taking over the instrumentals. I don't know if the quality of the vocals is intentional or if it's just a lack of decent gear, but they do sound pretty terrible. It's not the singing itself, cause that's pretty good, but the sound of the vocals is really offputting. Did you perchance use some pretty extreme noise reduction? That's kind of what it sounds like. Anyways, I do dig this song, and that solo at the end is pretty sweet. It's cool with the bass doubling it. I also dig your use of occasional delays on the vocals. It works. As I said before though, this could really do with a full band coming in on the choruses. And you need horns. It's true.

Adam Adamant: I see you ditched Ron Paul on this song. Too bad. He's a great politician. Your voice kind of annoys me in the same way that the guy from Blur's voice annoys me. Part of me likes it, and the other part is really turned off by it. I like the different instruments you have going on in the instrumental breaks. Particularly whatever is going on in the right ear. Good length. I didn't particularly care for the song, but because of it's brevity I did not get sick of it either. You did really good in the fast vocal parts, though it was kind of hard to understand you over the distorted cymbals in the first 'rap'. I love the second 'rap' though. It is made even more effective by cutting down to the bass and kick drum. Good choice.

Bax: Wonderful lyrical content. I sort of dig this song. I think the riffs are pretty good. I quite like the lyrics in the chorus about eating your heart cause I love you and eating your eyes so you'll see. All those lines were pretty cool. At 2:45 I was sure it was going to end (except for the fact that I already knew the song was 5:00 long) so I was disapointed that you kept going, but the changeup is okay too. Not a bad choice, though it could use something over it to keep it more interesting. Some kind of spooky organ leads or something to that effect. Wow, this is definitely too long to go on with the same repetitive riff with nothing to add interest. You could have faded out by about 4:10 or so. I'm going to go ahead and call your ending piss poor. Sorry, but it was.

Big Crouton: Well, according to everyone else your mix apparently isn't as terrible as I think it is. It's not the levels or anything, it's just that you've sucked the balls out of everything and placed everything in the upper frequencies. I know there's lots of room up there, but you need balance. Of course, a 2 hour mix/master job in headphones when you're dead tired will usually end up being pretty rough, so I excuse you for that.

Carpetburn: cool riff. I don't suppose it's too often that we get stuff in 5/4 here. This is an effective use of that time signature though. I'm really digging this. I feel like it could use some pads or something to add to the atmosphere in the verses. Your leads in the left ear remind me quite a bit of early Pain of Salvation, both in style and tone, and I'm digging that, though I've never understood their choice to consistently go for such a plastic sounding acoustic tone. This is pretty cool man. I haven't been around for long, but this is definitely the best usage of time signatures I've heard around here.

Dynamic Rhythm Device: Production aside, I actually like this song. I like the percussion (which I assume is a brushed snare, though I don't really know what I'm talking about) when that comes in. The snaps are cool too. Nice acoustic solo. I don't know what happened at 2:07, but it either needed to be more obvious or just taken out. I'm not liking the electric solo as much as the acoustic one, but it's not bad. It just sounds and feels amateur. In summation, as much as the production really bothers me, this is a good song. The vocals could be better, but they fit the feel of the song. The fade out could have been longer too.

Irony Man: I had a review for you that cosisted of lots of 'hahaha's and sarcastically mentioned that I sure was glad that you submitted it, but it screwed up the page, so I've reduced it to this run-on sentence that you have just finished reading.

Jeff: Good song. Good groove, good chord changes, and hooray for taking shots at Fox News. Man, that was short. I really could've listened to it for at least twice as long. And so I shall. Second impressions: I don't have a lot specific to say about it, but I really like the arrangement. The various instruments work really cool together, and as always, you have provided thoroughly enjoyable background vocals. Seriously, I don't know why I'm the guy typically put in charge of producing DSPC albums, cause aside from the recording gear and software at my disposal, I can do nothing like what you can with songs.

Jimmy Jet and his Tv Set. Cool riff. I really like your voice too. I dig the whispering 'there's terror in the night'. I don't seem to have much to say about this, but it's really good. Pretty catchy. I can see this chorus getting stuck in my head.

Klownhole: I expected something more exciting based on the awesome feedback at the start. However, I find this to be rather unenjoyable. I'm digging the riffs for the most part, but your vocals often seem unrelated, and just downright annoying at times. That said, I do think you have a pretty cool shouting/singing thing going on, I just don't like it in this song. Secondly, why did you leave in the 'one take, all done, perfect, pringle' thing at the end? Did you want to excuse a crappy song by saying 'hey look guys, I only took one take to do this, so cut me some slack' or what? That sort of thing should almost never be left in a song. It's like if they left a scene in a movie where someone screwed up and everyone in the scene started laughing. It's ridiculous and detracts from the song/movie/anything.

Lockheed Symphony: damn, this is painful. I don't want to listen. Please stop. This is terrible. This is the worst thing I've heard on songfight that had instruments. Come to think of it, it's probably just the worst thing I've heard. This makes me more uncomfortable than the part in Saw III where they're sawing through Jigsaws skull. That said, when I occasionally caught what you were saying, it was mildly amusing.

Lopez & The Destroyers: Cool groove. I'm really digging this. I do not however dig computer vocals unless you are MC Hawking. This music is really cool though. I'm digging it. The vocals add nothing though. The instrumental sections are really cool though. I really like what you're doing with them. Pretty creative. Ooh, break down. Sweet man. Seriously, I love this music in a kind of cheesy hokey way. I can't help but bob my head along with a big stupid grin on my face.

Lord of Oats: Cool percussion. This is good, though I don't care for your vocals. The atmostpheric guitars are really cool though, and they contribute well to the spooky vibe this has going on. Whoah, I did not see that coming at all at 2:30ish. That was really cool with the buzzing and effects. I don't know what to think about the solo. It has some good parts, and some amateur bad parts. It seems to me that you are not particularly skilled as a lead guitarist, but you do very well with what you've got. That is neither here nor there though, and probably wasn't worth mentioning. I don't understand your choice to cut the song off half way through the fade out.

Well, it's time for a Futurama/lunch break. I'll finish these later.

Max the Cat: Well, this has the potential to be pure terrible. I trust that you will make the right decision and turn this into something good. 45 seconds in, you have not yet made the right choice. 1:00 in, and still no good. However, your mosquito sounds are pretty good. Heyo! I remember this one now. I've listened to this before. Haha! I love the high ridiculous voice. Well, I've not got much to say about this. It was kind of terrible, but the music was rather comical in contrast to the spoken word intro. I must admit that a big ol' smile crept across my face once the music came in.

MC Eric B: Well, another 5/4. I guess 5/4 is officially the spooky time signature. Um, this is pretty rough. You have a piano riff in 5/4 and your drums are 4/4, and nothing is really together. The vocals don't have much in the way of flow. The one good thing I can say about this is I liked the effect you had on the vocals when you were saying 'die die die'. Other than that, this song went unenjoyed by me.

Mexican Chimpanzees: Well, this is a bit odd. The music is nice and spooky. Welcome to your Nightmares was pretty cool. Followed up with some coolish music. I don't know what to say about this. It wasn't really bad, but not particularly good either. The music was cool, and I guess the song achieved what it was going for. I just didn't think it was anything special.

Mime: Nice piano. The music is pretty good in this, and your vocals aren't out of time or anything, but they're somewhat awkward. They just don't really work. This is really repetitive and too long. It could have done with being half as long. It also would have helped if your lyrics were more inteligible. I found it hard to hear what you were saying most of the time, so this song essentially sounded like the same piano riff over and over for 4 minutes with some guy mumbling over top in rhythm.

No Horse Town: I really didn't like anything about this song until about 38 seconds, at which point I am finding it more enjoyable. I dig it. Holy disonance. Everything falls apart at 1:15. Sorry dude, this just sounds like noise to me. I actually did enjoy that part between 38 seconds and 1:15 though.

Older Brothers: whoah, this is cool. I wish you had carried on with the weird thing you had going on at the beginning. That was really cool. Reverse Vocals=bad. Alright, I'm digging this part around 1:10. Alright, you brought back the beginning thing. This solo is kind of cool around 2:45. Interesting effects. This whole song has some kind of trippy production. Sometimes it's cool, and other times I find it annoying. Alright, that cool thing from the beginning is back. Seriously, I really like that part, and I'm glad you brought it back a couple times through the song.

Rone Rivendale: There's something cool about the bass line type thing you have, but more than it is cool, it is terrible. Actually, that's an overstatement. I'd say it's more cool than terrible. This song is annoying though. Everytime I hear the bass line I like it more. It's a bit dissonant, but pretty cool. The chorus is terrible though, and I think that's a statement I can stand behind. The part where you call out to your mommy is ridiculous. Sorry for a mostly negative review (you're not the only one to receive one from me) but this just wasn't good, and I'm getting sick of these songs at this point.

Ross Durand: Cool guitar riff. Man, this is cool. This is a refreshing change from what most of this fight has been like. It's those night terrors again is a really cool line, and I love it's delivery the second time. The solo seems a bit aimless, but it wasn't bad, and it was short enough, so that was good. I love the dynamics of this song. Good builds and good variety. This was really enjoyable. I like the way you pick the strings behind the nut near the end. It sounds good and it works. This was a good song. Well done.

Sockpuppet. Oh god, please tune the ukulele. I know those things are hard as hell to tune, because you usually have to choose between having the open strings in tune or having it in tune when you press the frets, but regardless of how much I understand the issues with that, it's really pissing me off. This is a fun song though. I love the xylophone type thing. This is pretty hokey, but if it weren't for the terribly tuned ukulele, I would quite enjoy this. Nice harmonies, though a bit sketchy pitch wise occasionally. They sound good though. This is definitely not what I expected given your song last week, but it's cool, and I can respect diversity.

Steve Durand: I sincerely hope that you were making a reference to 'bump in the night' the old nikolodean show. I'm not sure that's what it was called, but I remember that line from the shows intro. Cool choir. I like the variety of instruments in this song. The horn lines are cool throughout, particularly in their little solo section. That was cool. I don't really like this song, but I certainly can't say much bad about it. It's just not really my thing.

Suburban Bear Quartet: Were it not for the production, I think the music might be pretty cool at the beginning. I really can't get into screaming/growling/cookie monster vocals. This is another song that is coming across as noise to me. I don't know if I'm going to make it through 5 minutes of this. I'm seriously getting angry just listening to it. This frustration is building up in me, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to finish this song. I'm doing my best though, although at this point I don't see much point in finishing it as you are obviously not going to get a constructive review from me. Sorry dude. I just can't stand this. 3 minutes in and I'm out.

Thanks for the Frisbee: I think you should have just single tracked your vocals. They're really off each other in a couple of the lines. Mostly when you go high. Not a bad song though. It's always hard to get excited by a g&g song (hey, look at that, I used a trendy songfight term). However, this is quite a nice song. I quite like the chorus with the part about gypsies and jews. Yeah, I definitely dig the chorus as it's coming for the second time. I think I might have been confused about the gypsies and jews, unless you've changed the lyrics from chorus to chorus. This is a bit long for a song with not much change to it. It's not a bad song, just too long.

Weakest Suit: The sound quality is pure terrible, but that aside, I'll keep listening. That oh-oh-oh-oh is taken straight from kung fu fighting, except it's sung in a different style. It's just the same notes and oh's. Actually, this whole song sounds like it was lifted from various sources. Just about every section sounds like something I've heard before. The kung fu fighting is the only one I can actually place though. So, maybe you've just created something that sounds classic. The 'go to sleep baby' section could have done with less repetitions. It's a good section, and I can understand why you repeated it so many times, but it could have been a bit shorter.

White Hat: Damn, this is smooth. I frickin' love that guitar. Your voice kind of reminds me of Harry Connick Jr. I can't get over this guitar. It's so great. I don't even care how repetitive it is, because it is awesome. I agree with whoever said the concertina could be done without. Yeah, this is a bit repetitive, and I think that with your talent you could have come up with another section that would fit well and change things up a bit to keep interest. However, this was great, and will quite likely be receiving my vote. Either you or Ross will be getting my vote.

I had a summary here saying how terrible this fight was, but looking back on it and listening to several of the songs again, it really wasn't bad at all. There were plenty o' good songs to go around. Some were masked by terrible production, but all things considered, there was a fair chunk of good material in this fight. If anyone is interested (I think Ross might be) Ross got my vote.

[Æpplês&vØdkã]

Favorite:
Max the Cat

Enjoyed: Steve Durand
Ross Durand
Jeff Travis Henderson

Enjoyed due to ridiculousness: Big Crouton
Enjoyed due to annoyingness: Mime

Convincing early Nirvana impression: Lord of Oats

Doesn't seem to understand the concept of irony: Iron(y) Man

[Mime]

Enjoyed due to annoyingness: Mime

So even if I lose the fight, I'll still have won on a personal level, just for this. Thanks man. Actually means a lot to me.

I'll try to have a better vocal quality in the upcoming fights though, so no worries.

[DELETED]

DELETED

[Æpplês&vØdkã]

Enjoyed due to annoyingness: Mime

So even if I lose the fight, I'll still have won on a personal level, just for this. Thanks man. Actually means a lot to me.

I'll try to have a better vocal quality in the upcoming fights though, so no worries.

The choking thing makes me laugh quite a bit.

[Mime]

The choking thing makes me laugh quite a bit.

There's actually a story behind that. In high school, my friend and I were discussing what sounds a body makes when it is decapitated, and we decided it would be like the throat choking and gurgling on its own blood. Those sounds = the choking intro.

It was a weird inside joke between us. We hardly talked after that. We'd just high-five and make those sounds to each other any time we saw each other in the halls.

[Lord of Oats]

Return of the Return of the Audio Reviews

Intro
Acid Cadillac
Adam Adamant
Bax
Big Crouton
Carpetburn
Dynamic Rhythm Device
Iron(y) Man
Jeff Travis Henderson
Jimmy Jet and His TV Set
Klownhole
Lockheed Symphony
Lopez & The Destroyers
Lord of Oats
Max the Cat
MC Eric B
Mexian Chimpanzees
Mime
No Horse Town
Older Brothers
Rone Rivendale
Ross Durand
Sockpuppet
Steve Durand
Suburban Bear Quadrant
Thanks For The Frisbee
The Weakest Suit
The White Hat
Outro

Stream All and Stuff

[fluffy]

Those would be easier to listen to if you were to mix your vocals way above the music, or use some sort of ducking setup (poor man's duck: mix the music track at like -12dB and the vocal track at 0dB, and then use a compressor to bring the music up to 0dB), or EQ things to notch your voice's range out from the song.

I want to listen to what you have to say about my song but it's so hard to hear you.

[fluffy]

Oh, and yeah, the line about "the brain is running like clockwork in a mechanical Turk" was specifically about the Turk having no actual clockwork in it.

Also, the version of the song up at http://sockpuppet.us/ has been remastered. Not sure if I'll post the tracks for remixing though, unless you had a specific thing in mind that you wanted to do.

[Billy's Little Trip]

*looks up slightly to the right thinking* Oh good, I love the audio reviews. Why hasn't anyone ever done audio re-moooz? *cuts to a scene of a cow mooing into a microphone* *cuts back to me thinking, then snapping out of it, grinning* I love cows, they're so majestic.

This has been a song scrubs moment.

[Paco Del Stinko]

Who's got the audio/visual reviews?

[fluffy]

Don't tempt me to start "reviewing" songs by playing them in Vib Ribbon again. (Does anyone still have a copy of the old Space Cadet review thread?)

[Æpplês&vØdkã]

Return of the Return of the Audio Reviews
Lockheed Symphony
[/url]

Just so you know, that was me. I just usually change band names.

[Mime]

Mime

Hahahahahah. Now I see why people look forward to your audio interviews. All I can say is: ...my bad. Hah. I don't refer to the gimmick in Maki and don't use the voice and the beat is better (in my opinion). So hopefully that will at least give you some interest to keep listening for the next few fights.

As far as using my gimmick. That'll really just depend on the topic and what I have to say. Hopefully I won't kill it in other songs.

[rone rivendale]

Congrats Crouton. I voted for ya! ^_^

BTW, Eric.. you didn't deserve a duck.

P.S. Woohoo! 4 votes! comeback accomplished.

[big crouton]

Wow, thanks guys. I really wasn't expecting to win with that one, as I found my views of the song lining up largely with Lord of Oats, but I gratefully accept the victory. Powermetal prevails.

By the way, Lord of Oats, I thought I'd respond to a couple things you mentioned in your audio review, which I quite enjoyed and appreciated. Regarding the lyrics, they are intentionally cheesy/terrible. This is not to say that I can write good serious lyrics, but they are the way they are for a reason, and that reason is because Dragonforce has terrible lyrics kind of like that. Lyrically I took inspiration from both Dragonforce and Journey's 'Don't stop Believing'. That's where the 'we'll win the night if we only believe' line comes from. It is also inspired by a series of videos called 'Gemberling' which kind of make fun of the whole concept of the power of belief. Regarding the 'unmetalness' of the song, this is kind of what power metal is about. 16th notes abound and mixed major and minor is par for the course. Regarding the comment about not wanting to hear Dragonforce if it sounds like this, you should definitely not check them out, because I did my darndest to write a dragonforce song. With those few things cleared up (in more words than I intended to use) thank you for the review.

By the way, if anyone other than me is interested, I made a couple adjustments to my mix and 'remastered' it so that it actually has some body and bass content. I pretty much just did it to please my ears, because, if I may be blunt, my mix was pretty terrible. So, if anyone wants it (because I know there's loads of diehard powermetal fans here) here's the link.

[Ross]

Regarding the lyrics, they are intentionally cheesy/terrible. This is not to say that I can write good serious lyrics, but they are the way they are for a reason, and that reason is because Dragonforce has terrible lyrics kind of like that.

I guess I'm old school, but I assumed you had Yngwie write your words on this one.

[Lord of Oats]

I AM A VIKING

[furrypedro]

Fair play - shout out to Mr Reist too, no pain no gain!

"if nothing else we'll kick some ass!"

Never thought I'd see the day when Rone gets more votes than Frisbee.