--NGAUC Review--

Oh man, if this piece were only fleshed out!

I think this is one of the most unique tracks in this round of the contest. The chord progression is colorful and there are lots of tasty sounds that catch my attention, like the wind chimes. There is some subtle noise in the background at the beginning...I'm not sure what it is, but I actually really like the texture it adds. Kind of like an old record player.

My biggest problem with this, obviously, is the length. At just under a minute and a half, there isn't much development or contrast. This piece almost feels like an extended intro, which is unfortunate considering how enjoyable it is. I wanted it to keep going, to hear where things would go. Outside of that, I have to agree with johnfn regarding the kick. I think it didn't mesh well with the track, and to me it was a bit overly aggressive.

Really cool stuff and I enjoyed it a lot! Just needs to be filled out more.

Score: 7.7/10

== This is an NGAUC Knock-Out Round Review ==

Dang, this piece is definitely bite sized, but what a tasty bite!

I had no idea what to expect when I saw the title “Asian Workshop”, and yet now that I’ve heard this piece, I can’t think of any other way I’d expect an asian workshop to sound! I like how you use some sounds that definitely sound asian, like the vocal sample at :20, the moving parallel fourths (I think that’s what they are, anyways), the pluck noises etc, but nothing sounds like a stereotype or a cliche.

To me, the sidechaining around the kick seems wrong. I also wanted a more organic sounding drumset, like those found in 90’s rap (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZWS6CITutY). Your kit is really electronic, which honestly doesn’t go with the rest of your sounds at all. This is probably the biggest error of the piece (well, outside of the length of the piece), and I can only imagine how awesome this piece would be with a more acoustic kit!

If I’m critiquing your sounds, I have to say also that the one at :32 jars just a little bit. It’s a little too dry and distorted in the mix, I think. Just about everything else in the track fits together very well, especially the single well chosen spoken vocal sample.

Overall, I think that this piece is very creative and compelling, but it’s simply just not long enough to be a solid contender. I love the ideas that you’ve presented here, and if you were to develop them more, I think I could have given you a *much* higher score. I’m definitely convinced you know what you’re doing here, so it’s a bit of a shame! Ah well. “very cool” indeed :)

Overall Score: 8/10

Mini-Scores (see here: http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/news/post/936953):
* Composition: 3+/4
* Arrangement: 2/4
* Mixing: 3/4

Hey there. Some general commentary on your song for NGAUC.

-Hahahahaha, oh man. This made me laugh so hard when I heard this start. I had to take a break before I could actually get down to judging it. This is *such* a weird song.
-Great mixing throughout. That's actually fairly impressive, there's nothing about this that's off at all. Much appreciated, sir.
-Great little dinging sounds in the background and fantastic tasteful percussion.
-Hilarious brassy sounds in it.
-All of the one-shots. All of them.
-Okay, the biggest thing this is missing is a theme. It has the background sounds, but no real coherent musical theme throughout aside from the instrumentation and said background. Other than that, it's a bit short. But those are really the only criticisms I have for this.

Final score: 8.2/10 + download. This is too hilarious and well-done to give anything lower than an 8, despite the shortness and lack of theme.

very cool.
I want you to listen very very closely!
:)