SkyeWint's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[FD - Hope From Destruction]

Hi hi. Review time! Two points of critique and one compliment. Also, can't say I was quite expecting this genre from you.

Points of critique:

- Man this feels heavy and reverby. This seems to be very common with orchestral music, but it does notably give the whole track a "boomy" feeling which fills up the L/R space with reverb rather than actual instruments, and causes less clarity in the fast runs, letting their detail almost completely vanish in some cases without specifically listening for them. Most of it is ok obviously, it's fairly stylistic even if I would prefer more clarity - but in particular, the bassy sections boom out and make this actually somewhat tiring to listen to because it saturates the bass for *so long* without much break or variation in the tone. It might be nice to reduce the reverb in the bass and pan the orchestral instruments more to widen the mix without relying so much on reverb overall.

- Secondly! I hate fadeout endi- okay, right it's a loop, fair enough! Thank you for clarifying that in the description, haha! That said, I want to look at the composition of this, because there are a few particular details that I think could make this track so much more engaging to listen to. First of all, somewhat because of all the bassy reverb, the constant steady banging of the low orchestral bass drum really starts getting grating after listening for awhile. Similarly, you have some really neat (albeit repetitive) glitchy percussion before the loop point. Having a bit more of a break without the drum and bringing in different percussion to really enjoy those higher frequency bits of "ear candy" and vary the loop some more would make the loop itself so much better - many loops do still have A and B sections with variation that helps reduce fatigue of listening for [some unspecified amount of time].

Compliment:

- Man, okay, where do I even begin. I might have said a lot for critique but simultaneously this is really really good. I absolutely *adore* the bits of glitch percussion and just want MORE of that kind of stuff. The little string runs at the start of the loop feel wonderful, and I do love the steady hits in the bass drum, I just want a bit of a break sometimes, haha! I look forward to hearing some of your modern stuff, nearly five YEARS (what) after this track was made!

Cheers, friend!

ForgottenDawn responds:

Man, look at this comment section! What is this, the Newgrounds Hall of Fame? You love to see it. Yeah, I agree with pretty much everything you said. It's pretty wild how it's been FIVE years, indeed. I was less experienced overall and without as many mastering tools as I now more or less habitually utilize. None of the fancy names like Ozone or Neutron, for starters.

This piece brings back some memories, back when I could still afford to compose entire soundtracks and mind school at the same time. This was actually one of the last gigs I was specifically directed towards an "all or nothing" sort of vibe, just very bombastic and intense. If there's such a thing as over-delivering, this might as well be a candidate though it's better than packing anything at all, haha.

About the percussion, fun trivia. I remember to have used 8Dio orchestral percussion from, I believe, the Majestica kit, and for some reason those samples were natively muddy. I couldn't really strip away that annoying reverb because it was embedded in the recorded samples. I still liked how the bass drum sounded, so I ended up adding a truckload of extra reverb in an attempt to boost some of its presence in the mix. Youth happy accidents, I suppose.

Either way, it was a fun project and I'm glad you took your good time to listen and dissect this old relic from way-back-when. Cheers!

[Outer Space Sweets]

Hi. I promised a review. Two main pieces of constructive criticism and one positive compliment. Here you go!

Constructive Criticism:

- I actually see two primary issues with this track which I think you could definitely improve. The first is the dynamics. It doesn't One thing keeping this track at roughly the same dynamic the whole way through is the bass. Rather than varying the intensity of the track through dynamics and adding more subtle details, it seems as if you've used a higher density of notes in order to achieve intensity instead. This is functional, but you can absolutely do better! Try varying the volume, or even automating it in order to express your melodic lines better. You can also do this for things like background arpeggios or harmonic lines that you want to be present, but not overpower the primary melodies and hooks that you want the listener to latch onto.

- Related to the previous issue but a tad different is the composition of this track. I mentioned how you're using density to achieve intensity throughout this track. Well, to be more specific, it sounds as if you're essentially throwing everything you can into the climax. But... that isn't necessarily the best strategy. The percussion seems to clearly use a large amount of varied effects. Many of these would be very compelling if they were synchronized with the music better to emphasize specific points, but as it is they all mesh together and none of it sticks out very much aside from there being "more". In the pitched lines, this 'density' manifests as a large amount of harmonic lines all coming together in... really weird harmonies. I think you might have a lot to learn from classical voice leading techniques - not by following them precisely but by recognizing that typically, the bass and highest notes are what really 'frame' your harmony, with the interior notes supporting it. Listen just to a single second such as 0:22, and you'll see how the bass and lower notes clash intensely with the highest notes in the piece, typically perceived as a 'melody' unless they're substantially lower volume. Classical voice leading isn't the only way to do it, but it does work and seems like it would be an excellent foundation for you.

Complimentary Compliment:

- Now, on the other hand! You have pretty recognizeable theming, and while it's not quite as clean as it could be, there are some lovely melodies. I do love your harmonic lines and how you bring back previous ideas later in the track. I think that once some of the harmonic kinks are worked out, you'll be able to write some really fantastic melodic pieces like this. Weaving elements in and out, back and forth through a track is such a nice way to compose, and makes me look forward to your future music production.

Best of luck with your future endeavors!

[Outro]

BUOY YO I MISS YOU we should hang out

Respec for music, it sounds pretty damn chill.

[The Skye In Winter]

D'aw. I appreciate it tremendously!

I'm not going to really put a big review on this, just gonna leave it at the fact that I love the chords, haha!

[Osman - "Power! Rushing Burstman!" (NGADM)]

Heyo, Retroman. Good to see you got a complete song this time! time for your complete review, open wide. :)

Stuff that's great:
- Right away, 8-bit sound is awesome. Super retroman, lol.
- I remember these drums back from Mass Extinction years ago. They're really well-done and quite tasty-sounding.
- 1:22 - 8-BITMUNCHED BREAKBEAT. That's awesome, super happy with that.
- Episodic composition is neat, and I can hear the differences in each section fairly clearly.

Stuff that can be improved:
- As I listen through this, I am struck by how the main lead is really not that good with the release tail. It feels slippery and is hard to really get into any melody it plays.
- Speaking of melodies, while you have some good phrases they aren't really put together into any kind of coherent melody for the piece. Each episode has its own melody which is okay, but very forgettable.
- One other thing contributing to the whole thing is just the emptiness of the mix. It seems like the piece's mix is set up to work around the breakbeat drums, rather than to be a full mix. I'm only counting three instruments aside from drums - bass, and two higher waveforms. For comparison, check out X-ray's "Zizibum" for a really neat and lush 8-bit soundscape.

You know, I think Zizibum is a great comparison for this piece and does a lot of what you're trying to do - but a bit better overall. (aside from the breakbeat stuff, that stuff you have nailed down super hard) Perhaps a good thing to look into for improvement - with a bit more filling out, your 8-bit stuff would be really neat!

8/10

[Circutronics - NGADM]

I promised a review explaining things - time to share. Also, another person who has a similar weirdness and difficulty to review is dem0lecule, if that helps at all.

Stuff that's great:
- Your instrumentation is actually really neat with this and the sound palatte is fascinating to analyze.
- I really like the sound you use for the bass at 0:40.
- The passage at 2:19 is one of the best passages in the piece, and has a really awesome sound with the chords.

Stuff that can be improved:
- I'm actually not really a fan of the chord progression at the start, which is a shame considering how much it's used.
- All of the chord-based melodies end up sounding a bit *too* chaotic imo, they tend to not make much sense even if they are easy to follow.
- Ending is a bit too sudden.
- The drum samples are, eh. Kinda really bad, sadly. They sound like vanilla FL samples without any processing. The kick is particularly bad.

So, this piece. I think the best word I can use to describe it is "awkward" - it has some really neat sounds, I can hear the arrangement in there, I can hear the echoes from previous sections, but it just doesn't fit together in a way that really WORKS. I'm not sure how to really express this in the above two categories, so I'm putting it here. You have everything that you need in the technical details, but there's something about the ideas and the instruments and everything that just don't quite fit together properly.

8.4/10

Spadezer responds:

Hmmm... more woes of the bad percussion samples.

You note the ending, which was hard to conclude the A theme without sounding "awkward."

Again the feedback is much appreciated and at least I got above an 8 lol. Thanks

[Jealousy]

Time for your review, Harambe. Don't die on me, now.

Stuff that's great:
- The break around 2:18 is wonderful, always love some acoustic guitar. And then the phenomenal chorus sound with the vocals!
- Okay, the composition of this is great. While parts are repeated, they're really fitting and enjoyable with the vocals. The vocal hooks fit together really well and are put together with more than enough variation and background detail to sound great!

Stuff that can be improved:
- THAT BASS SOUND. It's so low and has almost no tone to it, just a slightly blobby bass only sound. Try centering it a bit and bringing out the low mids some more.
- Guitar is buried at 0:35 by the chords.
- Overall mix is generally a bit thin - the instruments aside from the vocals could be brought out a little bit more.
-The ending just cuts off mid bass pattern. Not good.
- Oh. There are some string-like sounds in the background that are almost completely inaudible for the entire piece.

So the writing and arrangement of this is almost entirely really good (aside from the ending), the main thing that brings it down from where it could be is the mix and whatever is used for the bass instrument. If it 'popped' a bit more and had a tastier bass, this would have a really, really strong feel to it.

9.2/10

[-Dark Matter-]

Here's your review, Predator. Open wide!

Stuff that's great:
- Oh man, those are some super tasty drums - it takes a LOT to make a basic drumbeat interesting, and your drum samples really make them here.
- As others have mentioned, the groove in this piece is really nice. That main bass sound is super tasty and crunchy as well, really awesome stuff there.

Stuff that can be improved:
- So the weakest part of this piece is honestly the composition - the melodies of the piece are... not good. I apologize for saying this, but several of them honestly sound like random notes played in the right general key, with one or two melody-like phrases in them. This hurts the piece the most by far.
- The delay on the initial voice seems a bit awkward, I think it could be far smoother.
- Honestly, the sounds for your main melodic synths are pretty low quality - especially the one around 1:40.

So basically, this piece hits a couple things really well - bass and percussion. The melodies really bring the piece down a LOT more than the rest of it really deserves.

8.9/10

[Starry Sky]

Time for your review, Techmo. Open wide!

Stuff that's great:
- The Distant patch on sytrus is great, isn't it?
- Your overall atmosphere in this piece is actually really fantastic, I think that with some work on the composition it would end up being quite good.
- The melody in the piece, while simple, is actually really nice - the arpeggios in the melody could be better, but they aren't too bad until they're used to excess in the second half of your melody pattern.
- Massively amused by the use of the "go" sample from FL Studio, hahaha.

Stuff that can be improved:
- The second arpeggio that comes in at the start doesn't work well with the first one at all - this continues throughout the piece.
- Careful with big reverby bass drum hits, they can really mess up a mix. Try using EQ before and after the reverb.
- The mix kinda eats itself around 3 minutes in, and falls apart even more around 3:20. Wall of indistinct noise is not the best route to a good mix.
- Some variation and less raw sound of your snare would be excellent in the snare rolls. Try varying the velocity.
- Repetition. Try using more patterns and tweaking them slightly - there's an option in FL called "make unique" when you click the options for a pattern. It's super helpful and lets you create variation with similar patterns without needing to rewrite the whole thing.

This piece is pretty nice, but suffers from some serious mixing issues and compositional mishaps which bring it down a lot more than it really should be. I think with a bit of work on covering up the current issues in the piece, this would be really excellent.

7.6/10

Teckmo-X responds:

Thank you for the review SkyeWint. I understand what you meant about the added reverb on the drums. It did give a slight switch off of the main track of the song. I did however use the Equalizer on the drums but I guess it came out wrong. Any advice through getting some better drums via PM would be nice. I'm not very familiar with importing VST plug-ins but it could be an experience. Either way thank you for reviewing my song.

[Simple (ft. Michelle Kim)]

Time for your lips, open 'ide!

Stuff that's great:
- The chord synth has a really really nice mellow attack to it, it sounds excellent.
- The vocals are generally excellent, especially Michelle's singing.
- Reeeeeally chill for trance, which is pretty nice.

Stuff that can be improved:
- There are some weird things with the male vocals at parts like "take you there". It seems like part of the male vocals are cut off at the start - "ake you there". Enunciation of the beginnings of words is really important for cleanliness.
- Careful with overloading your mix at 1:35. The additional high hats are fairly buried and the vocals are burying the mellow attack of your chords.
- The background melody isn't particularly interesting, and it's repeated *a lot*. I wish the background melody were used more effectively than being repeated. (On a related note, the chords seem to be repeated throughout the whole thing - some variation would be excellent).

Overall this is a pretty chill piece without that much variation, just a couple breakdowns in the middle and some nice changing up of the vocals towards the end. More variation along with just a bit of tightening up the mix would make this fantastic.

8.6/10