SkyeWint's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Over Nothing]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- Let's look at the mix! To start with, this is actually a pretty full mix. ZacStriga is absolutely accurate with the drums, they could use a bit more presence and "punch" to their impacts. At the moment, they have a LOT of room reverb, and the dry sample should be brought out a bit more so they can fit in with the rest of the music. This would also let you enhance the kick and snare a bit more directly. Essentially, because they have reverb and the rest of the instruments are direct input, the drums sound disconnected from the rest of the music. This is actually why in the mastering process of music like rock, a touch of reverb is often added to the master channel so it sounds like every instrument is being played together live, regardless of whether they initially were. I also want to address that synth. It sounds like it's either set to randomly play at different octaves, or cycle through them steadily. Either way, the high end needs to be brought in a bit as it pierces a little too much and can be a painful listen, especially for people sensitive to higher frequency sound. Reigning in the trebles would also help it fit the rest of the music well. Try playing around with the preset too if you don't want to have it randomly jumping between octaves, there's a near 100% chance that it's a setting you can turn off.

- Let's look at the arrangement of this track too. As a short track, I wouldn't necessarily expect hugely developed ideas, but... this also only really has ONE idea that's cycled between instruments and octaves. I think it would do very well to have a B section with a different chord progression recontextualizing the melody, or a different melody developed for more than a single iteration before going back to the main theme. This would also be an opportune time to change up the feel of the track. I think a breakdown would work very well, even if it's just laying off the groove from the drum and bass, focusing on the chords and a single melody for a short period. This would also fit the genre quite well.

Compliments to the Composer:

- This is a really chill vibe, and my god I *love* the electric organ and cleanly amped guitar. Those are both some of my favorite instruments to have in acoustic rock tracks. Your main theme is actually really good too, and the bass groove feels very satisfying. You have a good foundation and some solid playing (or midi work, that guitar does sound quite sampled to me, albeit a good one). Definitely would enjoy hearing more work from you.

Final score: 8

Petrol4brains responds:

Thanks a ton for offering your unique perspective and advice!

[Monks at the Pillars of Creation]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- You know, I can't say I expected to experience something I would describe as "progressive synthwave", but if anything, this would be it. In that light, however, I think we can actually take one of the conventions of progressive house and work with it. As a reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGdDpMYS7sA This piece is actually more repetitive than yours in a lot of ways. While synthwave doesn't really tend to have lyrics as a point of variation, you instead have multiple concepts that you introduce over time. However, the speed at which you introduce and vary these concepts is slow enough that progressive principles apply - that being development of the SOUND DESIGN. You have some filter sweeps, but they don't progress that steadily, and there isn't too much in the way of atmosphere surrounding your track. It might also help out to introduce some of your later piano concepts in the background earlier so that people will think back to the earlier portion of the piece and have that small dopamine hit from familiarity. That said, a lot of this ties into my second piece of criticism which is about...

- The mix. Your mix is pretty well-balanced (with the exception of the small spikes in your first 'climax' visible on the waveform, and those same drums hitting right at the end of the piece - they stick out a bit too far). However, it's a little quiet and not as full as it could be. Compare to this: https://soundcloud.com/pong-man/gravitation In contrast, this piece has a steady bass that's sidechained to the kick, and quite a bit of higher end reverb enveloping the piece but also sidechained to the kick to make sure it doesn't interrupt the mixing too much. Try exploring reverb and more sound effects in the higher end, and keeping a steadier bass. You can also limit your track to -1.0dB to make sure everything is consistent in volume compared to other music. Two last smaller mixing points: You don't have to sidechain your cymbals to your kicks, it actually reduces their impact quite a bit and makes them sound off. Additionally, the bass starting around 2:40 seems to be panned between the center and right? This is a really weird effect and feels off-putting. Bass tends to be best used in the center with minimal panning as it's somewhat the "foundation" for the track and makes the overall sound feel unbalanced when panned like this.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Hooo, I love those pads and vocals, your bassline is lovely, your piano melodies are lovely... I really really dig the feel of this track and would absolutely love to see its positive aspects brought out more and made into a more engaging and fulfilling work. I'd gladly listen to it on loop for a long time, because even now I was perfectly happy to leave your track on loop while writing all the content of this review!

Final score: 8.7

Pandaguru responds:

Thank you for the detailed review and constructive criticism! Will try to address those concerns in future songs.

[Vita (Exploration EP)]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- So, I'd like to comment on the tonality of this just like CHGangBoy05 did. The tonality of this actually isn't bad and I kinda like it. The blend of major and minor is mildly off-putting but each of the major chord changes DOES land with functional harmony, just very odd passing tones that don't quite work with the second chord in your progression. This could be fixed by changing that chord just a bit. The first bass note descends by a minor third, but if you add a harmony just a half-step above the first bass note as well, everything should work without as much dissonance. THAT SAID, I think there is a function of the current non-functional harmony as a point of contrast. Try using it narratively in the music, perhaps such as changing to the consonant harmony halfway through the piece or even just during the climactic sections. This would also serve the purpose of reducing how repetitive the piece is, since at the moment it essentially is just the one chord progression and one melody without any substantial variation.

- Secondly, let's look at the mixing. It sounds an awful lot like you have a lowpass filter on the actual MASTER and are automating it to open up during the climax sections such as 0:51. This is a very bad idea, as it makes mixing far harder while additionally keeping you from using ambience in the high frequencies or having anything crisp in your quieter sections to contrast with the lower frequency sound. Your snare suffers as a result of this and high hat work will be effectively impossible with this approach. Try automating filters on specific instruments - you can send multiple instruments to the same mixing bus with a filter on it to do this more efficiently while leaving other instruments intact to keep your higher frequencies available for things like cymbals, high hats, ambient white noise or wind, and high-frequency reverb.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Like I said, I honestly really like the contrast between the melody and chord harmonies. It takes a little bit to have that feeling click at first due to how uncommon it is, but this is a technique that can ABSOLUTELY be used to great effect if it is used with clear, deliberate intent. The general mix during the climactic sections isn't too bad either, and this is a perfectly fine effort. I think with more thought put into how you're applying your existing methods, you'll be making some really interesting and engaging music.

Final score: 6

[Deus Vult]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- Quite honestly, there's only really one major issue with this track which I'd want to address, which is... the unrelenting repetition of it. Most of the instruments do maintain new and interesting things, but the chord progression remains exactly the same as a complete loop for each individual half of the music, and the basic string movement remains the same, leaving the overall intensity and dynamics extremely flat. Ultimately what this results in, along with the other instruments' lack of a substantial dynamic range, is a track that's pleasant but very forgettable.

Compliments to the Composer:

- There's not too much more to say. The melodies are nice enough, the mixing isn't bad, the chord swell in the middle is chill. It reminds me a bit of the Age of Empires soundtrack in the second half. Quite honestly, it sounds like a very pleasant background loop to a moderately tense section of a video game.

Final score: 7.8

Omson responds:

Hey thank you for your review! Funny that you mention Age of Empires since this track is part of my 20 track Fanmade Soundtrack for AOE 2 called The Forgotten Hero :D

[Reincarnation]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- Okay, this track HAS to be inspired by Camellia. It even has the same kinds of vocal samples and one "whoop" sample that's exactly the same as in Light It Up. So, to make a point of comparison - Camellia's music, as incredibly bassy and high-energy as it typically is... isn't just characterized by that. Importantly, it's actually characterized very much by the atmosphere and contrast surrounding it. A lot of the time, there are very beautiful and atmospheric textures before and after the bass-heavy sections. Give this a listen for comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-NpbCWGgN0 It's one of his more bass-heavy tracks, and while the bass sections are certainly intense, there are many pads and background chord stabs to provide respite and variation in interesting sound, notably at 2:09 where it calms down quite a bit to play a melody on a soft bitcrushed lead. Additionally, the second drop typically does contain more melodic content in his works to combine earlier ideas with the later ones. I would highly recommend having a watch of this video for another point of comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ9z3P2MGR8

- Okay, outside of that, I would quite honestly recommend reducing the peak volume of the master just a smidge. It seems like you have it set to be rather high, and less clean than it could be. Try reducing all of your instruments down by roughly -10dB before limiting them to -1.1dB so they peak at around -1.0dB at most. That should keep the dB level to the normal average while still maintaining good volume, with the added benefit of cleaning up some of the levels and bringing out smaller details in your bass design that aren't as audible, as long as everything sits together well in the mix.

Compliments to the Composer:

- I do greatly appreciate the style and energy that this track has, even if it's a tad overly loud. With more atmosphere and stylistic development, you could make some wonderful tracks with this darker tone and energy, but clearer contrast to really enjoy the impact of your drops.

Final score: 7.8

[Dark Heart with Love prelude]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- Hooo, okay. So, this song doesn't have a theme outside of the chord progression. And... I don't like it. Primarily, I dislike it because of how it directly opposes conventional "tension -> release" harmonic ordering used in western european music theory. However, the sound design and arrangement DOES follow this convention, leading to some really weird opposing feelings. For example, your 2nd and 3rd chords are normally encountered in the opposite order due to the half-step difference in multiple voices. Normally, those half-step differences ascend rather than descend. This would also work if the fourth chord weren't quite as disconnected by comparison. This happens again with the 5th and 6th chords in your progression. Other things are slightly odd, but not as jarring as those changes. (Keep this "tension -> release" principle in mind in general, by the way. It also affects the drumbeat at 3:27, since the kick is a point of tension whereas the snare is a point of release. Think of the kick as 'pinching' the sound around it due to the sidechaining, whereas the snare is having it burst back open by comparison.)

- The second main point I'd like to make isn't about tension and release, but more general repetition. This entire track is based around the ONE chord progression. While it has dynamic variance, there's no melody outside of the top note in these chords, and the harmonies for that melody remain the same the entire time. Even in a lot of electronic music and pop, there's a secondary chord progression used to provide contrast and distinguish sections. It can also be used for narrative purposes, as this piece is composed in such a fashion (and has the sound effects at the end) implying an intentional story of some kind behind it. Countermelodies, harmonic lines, B sections with different tones, all of these will help tremendously with really crafting a finely tuned narrative arc to relay the emotional experience you intend.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Unironically, for all I've said, I love that you do have a theme and stick with it for so much of the song. Even if it could use some variation, the consistency is nice and the amount of variation you DO have is expressed very well through different sound design. The guitar coming in at 0:27 is extremely nice and provides some really good contrast with the regular strings as TL said before, with the reverse effect altering the texture in interesting ways as well. I really enjoy your percussion, especially the bit of 'ear candy' in the sound first heard at 2:05.

Final score: 7.3

[Namnot--Deturner]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- Alright! Since it's been commented on by a couple people already, let's take a look at the mix. Right away, I can tell one thing - those drums are NOT too quiet. If you actually reference them against almost any other track, especially in similar styles, you'll find that this is a perfectly normal volume. The actual problem is in two parts. First of all... there is FAR too much reverb on just about everything other than the kick, which sounds like it has very little (and it shouldn't have any). The reason this is a problem is that reverb in music is like the blur tool for images. Sharp, clear detail bleeds out into surrounding colors and lines in the art with blur, and sounds and frequencies will bleed out into the surrounding frequencies while becoming flatter themselves by using reverb. It might make things sound "big", but those drawbacks are NOT small! The other main issue with the mixing right now is the lack of bass. However, the lack of bass frequencies aren't in the kick as much as they lack in the bass instrument itself, which could use more bass frequencies (try sidechaining it to the kick to avoid making it muddy.

- Secondly, let's look at the composition here. Your use of melodies and the two shifts in chord progression (especially the short breakdown at 1:55) are quite nice, actually! You can still slightly improve this bit with some substitution chords in your main progression. However, what REALLY needs improvement are your dynamics and... really, the drums desperately need more work here. The dynamics could use more variance because even in the calm sections there tends to be a lot of energy and volume, which gets tiring - even in the breakdown, it's still fairly loud since none of the instruments actually change volume and the bass instrument is still reasonably present, adding a lot of energy to the sound. However, for pretty much the entire track, your drums are a standard four-on-the-floor beat with a snare on the offbeats, keeping the energy level in a high stasis. Even the high hats stay the same the whole time. Much of the EDM genre does keep a consistent drumbeat, but they typically have more fills and some variation in the high hats. One format that works very well for me to keep things varied is to changes things by measure in the following format (one letter per measure): A-B-A-C-A-B-A-D-repeat. This lets you keep relative consistency while adding in some fills, and the fills remain consistent enough that they feel familiar but not boring. You can tweak that format, but it works pretty well as a basis.

Compliments to the Composer:

- This is such a lovely pleasant track. The composition is generally pretty fine, perfectly enjoyable, and the atmosphere is happy and sweet. I absolutely LOVE the guitar in pretty much the entire track, it's the best instrument out of all of them. If anything, I'd love to have some more emphasis on the guitar over other pieces, perhaps even some guitar-based percussion for variation and a bit of extra ear candy.

Final score: 8.1

[shoe strings]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- 5/4, huh? I do appreciate some odd time signatures, though I believe it could definitely be improved here. The timing feels very off-putting in this context by placing emphasis in groups of (2-2-2-2-2) and (3-3-4). But... beyond that, I think there are some general compositional points here - the general tone of this song is extremely flat overall as GDSomeGuy stated. None of the instruments have variation to their dynamics, impact to their notes, or points of tension to resolve. The fact that almost every single part is made of one or two 5/4 loops doesn't help this either. What I would highly recommend is focusing on a few "functions" for each instrument and trying to write a song that way first, before adding in multiple instruments to flesh the idea out. One bass, one chord instrument, one melodic instrument, maybe drums - have an A and B section with different chord progressions and try to write a melodic theme to fit each. This way you can have some basic foundation of variation and development to build off of for future works.

- Sound design issues are pretty simple. All of these are fairly low quality soundfonts. They're certainly possible to build into something, but they really need to be handled carefully since individually they often lack impact. Compression may be your friend in this respect, especially since you can also use it in the form of a limiter to master your track to -1.0dB, making sure it's roughly the same volume as other music tracks. Mastering in this way also makes sure there's enough dynamic range for finer quiet details in your instruments to come through, especially if you have a range of volumes for individual instruments.

Compliments to the Composer:

- I really don't see much in the way of odd time signatures, so the 5/4 was surprising and pretty enjoyable here! You also keep everything harmonically accurate, which is much appreciated - I think without relying so heavily on loops, you can actually write some pretty neat stuff with soundfont instruments. Just look at Newgrounds' very own steampianist for an example of how stereotypically "low quality" instruments can turn into really solid tracks when used effectively.

Final score: 4

[winter swinter]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- Well, the clear first issue I can see is in terms of dynamics. It's visible in the newgrounds player as well - see how your starting section (and even the 'build' starting at 0:39) is so dramatically smaller in volume than the drop at 0:56? This is because, first of all, your drums and synths peak MUCH louder. Dynamic variation is absolutely important, but this does take it a smidge too far. The drop is actually fine dynamics-wise, but the electric piano, strings, and acoustic piano really could use some compression to bring them up. Try making your volume curve more of a steady slope rather than a slight incline and a vertical spike up, with a near-vertical fall off a cliff at the end. The bottom line is that the listener should not have to adjust their volume throughout the piece in order to hear and enjoy the music without potentially damaging their hearing from spikes in volume.

- My other sound design critique has to do with the instrument quality - the electric piano sound is generally fine, but the soundfont piano and especially the strings sound off. The best way of resolving this would likely be to replace the string sample with a synth or higher quality sample, whereas the piano and electric piano would work really nicely if they were blended into the drop itself to make the piece more cohesive. Speaking of which, the drop itself is really treble heavy and the arpeggio synth first clearly used at 0:59 sticks out REALLY hard. If anything should stick out, it should be the melody, by a bit less than the arpeggio synth. Additionally, the mid frequencies should be enhanced a bit more relative to the treble. Remember, human hearing starts dropping off above the high mids, and is most detailed around the mid frequencies - you can use this while mixing!

Compliments to the Composer:

- Those are really the biggest issues here, and the sound design isn't really that bad either, it's actually fairly decent. Your composition outside of the drop is perfectly solid, and inside the drop is pretty good too - the little chord variations are odd but feel really cute, and the arpeggios are really lovely. The ending of the drop is... weird, but I do love the reduction in the trebles (and the bits of static). I can hear that your music has a lot of potential, and you can do quite a bit more if you apply yourself for a bit longer!

Final score: 7

[Extraterrestrial]

Hello! This is a review for the NGUAC competition.

I've gone over one or two general categories of issues specific to your song, and one section of things I think also deserve complimenting. I prefer being very direct with my critique, none of it is meant to offend. Thank you for your understanding!

Constructive Criticism:

- Alrighty, let's look at a couple things here. First things first, it seems like you're having trouble staying in key. You have several chords and an arpeggio starting around 0:34 (and later at 2:47) which is harmonically consistent with itself, but it's completely different harmonically from the psytrance bass plucks, unlike the additional pitched sounds starting at 1:40. I'm not certain exactly what this is due to, but it doesn't quite fit. Let's listen to a classic high bpm psytrance comparison, Laur's track Sound Chimera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou_udndPAO4 Starting at 0:41 for analysis, there is a clear bass note, which stays the same despite the higher pitch singing melody. Afterwards, the bassline stays the same regardless of changing into the classic psytrance plucks. Notably, it changes pitch with differences in melody to a note just a half-step higher. This provides some variation while still keeping everything roughly the same. You clearly can change pitch and tone, but it still needs to keep existing harmony in mind. It sounds like you might have been inspired by Laur, so perhaps doing some deep analysis of their psytrance tracks might be helpful.

- The second point is to do with all of your sound effects. Clearly you love them, as they provide the main variation through your track. I can't blame you, I LOVE some good 'ear candy'. However, that 'candy' can't be the 'main course', and what this track is really missing is some variation outside of the sound effects layered on top. To use Sound Chimera as a point of comparison again, it applies musical variation that would function very well even without the sound effects on top. Notice how the sound effects used at 1:23 provide rhythmic syncopation and variation, and there are small drum fills and cymbals providing additional support to change the tone periodically. Later, the psytrance sections switch into a lower bpm, then return to the higher bpm with a change into triplet timing. All of this maintains interest through the track regardless of whether the tone remains the same, completely WITHOUT the sound effects. Those add even more spice on top of a solid foundation, which is what your track needs the most work on currently. As one last minor addendum, you might find it's easier to add this additional content and fit it into the mix if you reduce the flood of reverb on your other sound effects and moderately reduce the amount of bass frequencies in your bass to give your mix more room for detail.

Compliments to the Composer:

- So, I mentioned how much I love ear candy, and god, even soaked in reverb you have some pretty nutty sound effects. I want to make it really clear that I DON'T want you to remove them by any means, just add more variation underneath. They add so much character and spice that it would be a shame not to appreciate the work put into them (also, it sounds like you've used a couple samples from one of my favorite little "hi-tek" sample packs. Could be wrong there though). I also do love psytrance, and the base you have here is satisfying and solid. I'm impressed the mix is as good as it is with all the reverb saturating it. Give Laur a good listen and see if you can take your tracks higher!

Final score: 7.5