SkyeWint's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[CC ~ Forest of Beginnings]

Review incomiiiiiing!

The Good:
-I like the ideas you have in this. They're very well-done.
-This could definitely fit in a game, very easily.
-Mixing is fine, though that shouldn't have been *too* difficult.

The Not-So-Good:
-I'm sure you know this, but the instrument quality isn't all that good.
-Oh, come on. You just repeat the entire thing twice? That's lazy, man. :( Try putting more effort into the composition so that it doesn't just repeat, but is a full song. Failing that, at least use Audacity or something to re-export it as a loop and label it as such.

Overall: Not much I can really say about this without getting nitpicky. It sounds nice, the instrument quality could be better, the mixing is fine, and there could be more compositional effort. Otherwise, good job.

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

CapnCoconuts responds:

I would label more things as loops if I didn't insist on having teeny tiny intros in some of my pieces or if the Newgrounds player allowed setting a specific chunk of the file to loop.

As for the sample quality, there's not a lot I can do about that without spending lots of money on professional software... money which I don't have. I'd like to have a Mac and Logic Pro and all that, but I simply can't afford it--so I'm stuck with MIDI and whatever SoundFonts I can find.

[Your Superficial]

Whoah that's unique. Here, have a review.

The Good:
-Those are some seriously unique chords you have there, and it stays coherent. How did you do that, how how how how how ;_;
-Mixing is fairly clear in general, though there are some issues which I'll mention later.
-You certainly have a unique way of singing, which isn't that bad.

The Not-So-Good:
-First and foremost, mixing issues. The recording quality isn't overly good, and there's a lot of clipping in the guitar. Try turning it down and playing a bit further away from the microphone. It's also overpowering the vocals most of the time. Better leveling will help this.
-Composition could use a bit of work. Towards the end, multiple layered vocals are playing together, and this makes it very indistinct. Beyond that, the piece doesn't vary very much. Try having more variation and melodic/harmonic work.

Overall: Pretty good, the mixing and leveling issues are the worst.

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

polarpoole responds:

Wow, man, thanks! I always value experimental and uncommon-sounding bands and artists and being called "unique" is seriously the biggest compliment someone could give me.

I tend to make up chords by playing already existing chords on different frets around the fretboard, for example; G on the twelfth fret, which is what I've done in this song a couple times which I guess gives it the "unique" sound you're talking about.

I'm still getting used to my new mic and figuring out how to use it to it's full potential so that's why the mixing is pretty rubbish. I'm doing a lot of tests at the moment and learning how to record properly. It's proving to be rather difficult.

Again, thanks for the generous review, it means a lot :)

[F-Infinity]

Techno Whistle Duet?

The Good:
-Oh man, there's a lot of interesting composition in the whistling, I like it!
-Even considering the mixing issues at 1:20, I LOVE those arpeggio, there's a lot of nice detail.

The Not-So-Good:
-The chords seem to be very repetitive, same goes for the bass and drumline. Would be nice if there were a bit less repetition there.
-Transition at 0:25 is meh. Could be much better.
-I was expecting people to actually be whistling in something called a "whistle duet". :( This is kinda disappointing considering that. Please do end up actually whistling.
-1:10 gets pretty boring, there should probably be something in the background for those ten seconds.
-Mixing issues after 1:20 due to reverb and mixing of the same frequencies with the two whistles. There's also a bit of an issue when it goes into the bassy part of the arpeggio, I believe.
-End of the arpeggios at 1:31 is really really disappointing, I thought they'd go back into the melody or something. Also, beyond that until about 2:03, the background is not enough to keep interest.
-After 2:03, the lack of a background also makes it not enough to keep interest.

Overall: This has some pretty cool bits, I enjoy it a lot more than most random music I listen to on newgrounds. It sounds as if there's some real effort put into the melodies of the 'whistle' duet, which I appreciate. That said, after the arpeggios it sounds as if you got bored and didn't feel like putting nearly as much effort in. A piece of music is almost like a kid, you can't just stop giving them love and attention until they're ready to go out on their own! D:

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

[DP: WtP - Chapter 1]

Ooooh, reading! I just did something like this recently. :D I'm going to focus on the actual reading and not what's being said, if that's alright. I'm not as much a reviewer of stories.

The Good:
-The recording quality is wonderful. I'm somewhat jealous. What kind of noise reduction did you use?

The Not-So-Good:
-At about 0:12, I feel as if there should be a bit more of a break between the introduction and the actual beginning.
-At about 0:42-0:44, it's very indistinct and doesn't quite sound like somebody who's talking under their breath.
-The "booming" voice isn't very booming. While it does make a bit more sense for one person to be narrating it, I would have liked to hear it booming out in a more impressively egotistical voice.
-There's a bit of distortion at 2:48, then the volume decreases. It's a bit inconsistent, and should probably be levelled out.
-Your different voices are all fairly similar, it's pretty obvious that the same person is speaking. I understand that this is difficult to change though, and considering that it's still pretty good.

Overall: Even with the 5:1 ratio of not-so-good to good, this is well-read and has minimal errors. Good job!

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

ecopper12 responds:

Thanks so much! The review was really in-depth and helped LOADS.

I'll definitely fix this up.

Thanks again!

[Max Bingo Fight(TrapStep)]

Oh dear lord this is certainly different.

The Good:
-I like how the synth at the beginning has a slightly confusing rhythm which is pretty interesting. It almost seems like it's a bit faster than the tempo.
-Somewhat original idea, genre-combination is pretty cool.

The Not-So-Good:
-Oh man, the mixing gets REALLY muddy very quickly after 0:13. The high-hats are extremely loose and cause some mud from the long decay time. The kick is also very indistinct.
-Transition at 1:13 seems fairly awkward, it disrupts the flow.
-The wobbles aren't very dubsteppy. There's not enough of a sub-bass due to the loose drums, and they have far too much treble.
-There's a lot of off-key sound at about 1:49 and on in the higher synth. It's clear at about 2:14 - this is out of tune with the rest of the chords.
-This needs a lot of levelling work, some of the instruments stick out far too much while other ones are pushed far to the back.
-Transition at 2:43-3:06 seems really out-of-place. After that is more off-key sound.

Overall: There's a lot of off-key sound, the mixing is very muddy particularly because of the drums, and levelling needs quite a bit of work. While there's a good idea behind it and some cool sounds/synths, they need to be put together a bit better. If you haven't had any experience with music theory, it's generally a good idea to at least know the scales and chords. For mixing, try to keep frequencies away from each other, and remember that loose drums can overflow into other parts of the mix.

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

[Flipping]

Well, this is definitely a strange one...

The Good:
-This is a pretty unique piece, I like its character.
-I love the arpeggios at 1:03 and onward.
-The mixing of this is pretty darn nice. Everything is clear and none of the sounds interfere much with the others.

The Not-So-Good:
-The bass sound at 0:30-0:44 seems pretty soundfonty, it could definitely be better.
-Why is the drumline the exact same pattern the entire way through with only minor additions. This makes the piece notably more repetitive than it'd otherwise be.

Overall: Honestly, I'm not sure what all I can say about this piece. It's not very repetitive, it's not very specially interesting. The interest value kinda flatlines throughout, to be honest. It'll work fine for a game, I think. Beyond this, I can't say much more. I like it.

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

eatmeatleet responds:

thanks for the tips. I agree

[Anthem (wip)]

Alrighty, trance review time! Here goes nothing.

The Good:
-The mixing is typically clean, which is nice. There's no clipping causing any particular problem.
-The instruments are pretty nice, they're very relaxing on the ears.
-The chord progression is another good point about this, it's quite relaxing. I'm going to guess that was the intention, but all the same it's very nice.
-That's a really good buildup to 2:20.

The Not-So-Good:
-Okay, now we're getting into the painful stuff. There is no melodic development whatsoever. It would sound much better if the melody changed even a little bit. One theme can only take you so far, and while the overall sound is fairly good, there needs to be a little bit of variation.
-Buildups consisting of nothing but sidechained white noise such as at 0:29 don't particularly sound very good when they have nothing to back them up.
-The filter sweeps at 0:55 and 1:23 aren't very well-executed. The first doesn't have enough strength behind it, and the second is barely noticeable unless you're specifically analyzing the piece.
-The mix gets fairly stressed and muddy at times such as 2:00-2:18 and 2:20-3:14.

Overall: Good for EDM, issues are mainly a severe lack of variation and some transition issues. I know it's a work-in-progress (otherwise I would have said that the ending SUCKS), and that the final piece is finished, but here's what you requested for a review, so here's what you're getting.

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

TerraNation responds:

thanks for ur input but the song is completed, Universe anthem..

[how you remind me acapell]

Huh. One-shot recording? Well, I know how difficult singing is at this point, so here goes. I'll change from my normal reviewing style for this as well, it'll be a short one.

Confidence: You should probably work on your confidence. Don't be afraid of the microphone or singing too loudly, it keeps your voice from being strong enough.

Background noise: Try to keep yourself from moving while singing, or sing in a room where there aren't many nearby objects you can hit. Regardless of how good the microphone is, if there are other sounds that it's picking up it'll reduce the quality of the overall recording. More on how to avoid this will come later.

Tuning & Rhythm: Should check those. How to solve this without going to what I'll talk about to fix background noise is simply training your voice, rhythm sense, and tuning sense. Using a keyboard or something as a tuning note is helpful as well.

Fixing background noise, tuning, and rhythm - more artificial method: If you have Audacity or a DAW, try recording multiple takes of specific phrases, then clipping out the best ones and arranging them to form the full piece. This can take awhile - when I was recording for one piece, I spent over 3 hours on about 40 seconds' worth of mere whispering. More than that on tuned lyrics, not counting artificial pitch correction.

Beyond simple recording: If this is an acapella, try doing more than just singing the lead! Record multiple takes of harmony as well - chords, harmonic lines, possibly acapella drums too. :) That would add another layer of depth to the piece and make it much more interesting to listen to.

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

hhoulding responds:

Hello, your right it was a one recording thing and was also extremely rushed. It was for a band i was joining, they wanted me to sing a song in that genre. Needless to say i left (way too rushed, they wanted to go to a jam night and we hadn't even met!) Anyway i decided just for laughs to upload it here, i didn't use a microphone, as i have no money at the moment. And i have become more confident over time.This song is quite an old one of mine now. Thanks for you review :)

[Breath of Air [Remastered]

Hi papkeeeeeeeeeee.

The Good:
-Very cute, emotional song. The basic ideas are very good.
-I love the echoing piano in the background, it's very nice.
-There's your normal woodblock sound. Heh.
-The break at about 0:51-0:57 is VERY well-done. Kudos to you. :D

The Not-So-Good:
-There's a bit of a pitter-pattering in the background for the piano. It sounds like a soundfont sound which isn't really that good.
-The overall mixing is still a tad bit muddy in the mids.
-What is with the ending, why would you end it in such an awkward way. Why why why why why. ;_;
-The glockenspiel or chime or whatever doesn't sound very good, still seems like a soundfont.
-Try using a second theme along with your main theme as well.

Overall: Decent composition, decent mixing, generally decent instruments, it's pretty good. I like it. Definitely wouldn't call it a song that should have a score of approximately 3.5. Here's hoping more people will realize that you're actually a very good and talented musician!

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-

papkee responds:

REVIEW OUT OF NOWHERE

Thanks, that clicking is actually a separate instrument, but I guess it's not distinct enough. All the soundfont-ish sounds are actually soundfonts, and I'm not too happy about the ending either.

The original is better in my opinion.

[Cross Dimensions]

Holy what, where did this come from? I'm surprised.

The Good:
-This has some good ideas and an interesting background concept.
-The mixing and recording quality is pretty darn good, I have to give you credit there.

The Not-So-Good:
-While the recording quality is fairly, the actual lyrics aren't particularly well-voiced. They could have been done much better. It sounds as if the people are trying to be serious but are failing horribly rather than attempting to be ironic and comical.
-The sections of rapping aren't really very good. There could be more background to back it up better with more compositional ability. As it is, there's minimal composition shown, which SIGNIFICANTLY reduces the piece's quality in my opinion.
-What are you doing with that last soloing instrument, it's painful. ;_; Please no.
-The choruses don't appear to be very varied, it's mainly the same riff and the same vocal recordings.
-In the lyrics, the swearing is a bit overly excessive. If it's used that much, then the meaning and impact of the words is significantly reduced.

Overall: This is a piece which has good mixing, an original idea, but... the composition, writing, and execution of the idea is very sub-par. Unfortunately, that's a common failing of hip-hop in general. Try to use some more interesting compositional ideas and have a more compositionally skillfull background. There can be different guitar riffs and ideas.

-RRC-
-SkyeWintrest-