SkyeWint's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Other Side {Dj-Abbic}]

Eerie beginning.

It sets quite a tone to introduce it. It just drags on a bit too much and seems too much like squeaking rubber shoes on school tile floors. I'm honestly not sure when the main song comes in, so I'm going to say at 1:15. There's not much in the background other than reverb at this point, which makes it less good. Then I noticed the actual beginning at 1:31. It sounds pretty good from there on, but the intro is WAY. TOO. LONG. Please shorten it or make it a bit "spicier".

By the time it reaches 2:30, it's just been the same thing for a solid minute. Too long again. At 2:48, it drops out and returns, which is cool. The problem is that it's still the same thing... I'm definitely bored by 3 minutes in, not a good sign for a song. Needs to vary. It mainly fades out, which isn't all that good.

Ok. Big thing that needs to be improved on. Repetitiveness. That pretty much ruined the song for me. While the instruments are cool, the mixing is good, and the overall feel is nice, it's just plain boring when you hear the same thing for two and a half minutes in a row. I suppose if this were designed to be a loop, that would make sense. But... not as it is. That just doesn't quite work. If you make it less repetitive and have quicker transitions, this could be quite the good track.

Good luck!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

DjAbbic responds:

Thanks for the criticism, it really helps improve my tracks.

First off, in my defence, I think there were enough changes throughout the intro to keep it interesting, but I do agree with the repetitiveness of this at the 3 minute mark. I'm going to have to find a fix for that.

Thanks again for an honest and constructive review.

[-Saucy-]

The intro is cool.

It sounds really awesome in the beginning. I like how the drums come in with the synth. While I don't generally like dupstep, this has such an awesome feel to it... How it goes up and down with the wobbles feels quite good. I like the custom wobbles you made as well. However, for a dubstep it lacks something. Sub-bass. Needs a sub-bass, please, for the dubstep bit. Unfortunately though, there's a bit of off-key-ness from 1:14 onwards in the higher synth that's kind of doing the melody. Like how it comes back in at 1:37 to the previous wobble bit. However. My problems...

It's really rambling, there isn't much formatting. I was thinking, when it got to the third part starting at 1:00, "why isn't there a theme?" There needs to be some kind of theme that people can latch onto. The other thing is that there isn't an outro, it just ends. That's disappointing with a track like this.

Hope this is helpful.

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-SWINT-

Obsideo responds:

There is a sub bass during the dubstep parts, but I'm new to sub basses and haven't quite figured out how to bring them into the mix. Thank you for your honesty, I will do better next time.

[In Bm]

Punchy.

First impression: The high synth has a weird wobble effect that feels weird. This seems like a kind of jazz song. I like how there's simply chording that also jazzes out underneath, with the overdrive guitar above. I do notice that at 0:34, the rotary organ (electric chording sound) takes over the track. There's an interesting effect every once in a while on it that I like.

Second impression: That chording by the rotary organ took over for quite a while. When the overdrive guitar comes back in, it sounds quite good. I definitely like it. I also enjoy the little staccato chording by the piano in the background. Then the organ comes back in and takes over! D: Unhappy at this.

Third impression: Oh, that's cool. Nice hits on the chording synth from 2:05 onward. Like how it wraps up, but I still think that this could have some more jazzing out by the chording underneath. I also think it could go into a different key every once in a while. My favorite part about this though. It doesn't have a repetitive tune, but it actually changes and doesn't loop. The chording does, and the beat, but it just has a groove while the guitar is rocking out that I find awesome. The end was disappointing though, fadeout...

Overall impression: Woohoo! Awesome! I think this is really well put together, and again, my main concerns: One beat/key, and there's no more jazzing out of the chording synth. Oh, and the rotary organ takes over the track whenever it comes in. Nice work.

Hope to see more like this, and hope this helps for future tracks!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

The-iMortal responds:

Thanks for the review and for listening at least three times!

[Long Story Told Short]

Oh, pianos.

Good piano in the beginning, I enjoy pianos. The transition from the intro to the main thing from 0:13 to 0:15 seems off, it just ends and starts again. Technically, this is really good. I don't hear anything off theory-wise. The guitar sounds good as well. As said in another review, it's very rhythmic rather than melodic. Wait, it ends at 1:40? That's no fun, there's a whole 20 seconds left! Aside from that, the song is overall quite good. My only real quibble. Have you studied composition? I can't really find a theme/variation setup or ABA, which is what it seems like it wants to be.

Hope this is helpful.

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

ErlendHL responds:

No I haven't studied composition; I just started and let the song tell me how I should continue. So idk what theme/variation setup nor ABA is... :(

[Hope for Her]

Peace.

First impression: Interesting tune with the main synth in the beginning. When the harmonics come in, it's very nice. At 0:50, I noticed the tune had changed. I didn't even notice the shift... Nice work there. Only at 1:36 did it really change though.

Second impression: It's peaceful. I don't see a tune at 1:36 onward though, it's all really harmonics. At 2:25, it goes back to the original theme. At 2:45, I think the single note goes on for a /bit/ too long. The tunes could use some changing at this point...

Third impression: 3:11. I've heard this before! Still mainly harmonics. I kind of skipped through the song at this point before actually listening to it fully, and heard no real changes, so... can't review that much more. lol. The outro is just a fadeout, which I suppose works, but... a tad "meh".

Overall impression: This seems to follow an overall ABABA format, though there could be a bit more variation, so I have less complaints about formatting than I would. I am content with the overall formatting. Now to get more nitpicky. The tunes don't change, and there's not that much to keep me interested past the 2:30 line. This would work for great background music in, say, a game. But not that good as a standalone piece. The mixing is good. What I have to say, is have more tunes, more keys, more changes in rhythm, variances in melody... spice it up a bit and make people listen, don't have them listen simply for the sake of having background music! If you can succeed at having it be background or good for focusing on, then that shows a really good bit of music.

Hope this helps you.

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

[GS vs. TI - North Face]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

That's your intro and bass. No, really. It's growling at me!

First impression: Again. "Grr". I don't like the panning in the beginning, makes my head spin. When it changes, it does so off-beat initially. There's a LOT of distortion on everything in this song so far, at 0:45, and it sounds much the same. When the drop came, that was a pretty darn good drop. It felt good to hear a synth that didn't have as much distortion on it. This is a REALLY "dirty" and "muddy" song. (Muddy like dubstep muddy, of course)

Second impression: At 1:43, the high register with the distortion is far too much. The distortion overall is VERY headache-inducing. I know it's a "dirty" track. But having distortion on everything except one synth is a bit much, don't you think? At 2:22 it changes, thankfully. My headache leaves for now...

Third impression: On until 2:45, it's the same thing. Then it changes, still with the same distortion. There's a different tune and some other different sounds, which makes it a bit more refreshing, even if I'm still thinking "ouch". At 3:15, it goes back, still with distortion. There's not that much more to hear at this point, other than the outro. Which isn't really much of one, it just ends.

Overall impression: I suppose I won't take off for the insane amount of heavy, heavy distortion, much as I'd like to. As for the song, there's not much there if you take off the distortion. It's the same chording throughout, not much in the way of a melody, it's just harmony, chords, and drums. Not quite what I'd call a full song. I think my favorite part would have to be 2:45 to 3:15, as that has more of a tune and changes.

If I could only pick two things about this track to say, they would be, "Needs a melody" and "Needs less distortion". While having distortion can be good, too much is a nightmare to a lot of people. Having a bit more than one clean instrument would be very nice.

Hope this is helpful.

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

[Taters]

Morlocks!

Guessing that's a reference to WoW... Ok, on to the song... I won't do my normal "impression" review, as this is too short.

1) The voice clips are ok, but... they aren't put together all that well or even all that cleverly.
2) The bassline. It needs more work, at the very least. It's the same thing, without much of a change except at 0:40 to 0:43. And that's pretty much the only tune to it...
3) The drums. They're really simple and like the bassline and voice clips, not that all well put together.

Not much to say about this... I don't think there's that much potential with it in the end.

Hope you can put out some better songs in the future!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

[S.S. Anne [Dubstep]]

Ah, I remember that...

First impression: The interesting intro was quite good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But at 0:07, the backwards synth clashed horribly. It would work much better for something horror-like, I think. The drums and percussion effects didn't really work that well either.

Second impression: When the drop came in, I thought "Oh, is this going to be good?" There was a quick bit of going back to the initial synth. After that it went REALLY wacky. I don't think this quite works with the tune, personally. But as far as the actual dubstep bit goes, there needs to be a bit more continuity. I hear the weird backwards synth in the background, still lending the odd feeling. The wobbles though, aren't overly good or very consistent. I guess it could be likened to the captain throwing up. That and/or the ship having engine trouble and being about to sink. Oh yeah. And... no ending!

Overall impression: Needs several things.
1) Better wobbles.
2) More length and an actual ending.
3) More consistency.
4) A bit more format, like, even having the sound in the beginning coming back without the wobbles to end it would be a step in the right direction.
5) I know this is a remix, but try to format the tune a bit better to not just be the same tune with different sounds.

Hope this is helpful to you!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

[Past lives - HABON]

Huh.

First impression: Incredibly good intro. When the synth came in from about... 0:05 to 0:12, that was really good. The drums seemed a bit overkill at first though. At 0:26, where it livens up, that sounded really good. The bass was quite well done there. I like the tune at 0:38, that makes a nice sound. I didn't like how it suddenly cut out at 0:51, it seemed a bit too soon for a dropout of the main tune. I enjoyed how it came back in.

Second impression: There wasn't anything different after it came back in, which was pretty boring. When it changed at 1:16, that was a breath of fresh air. This should not happen - it needs to have a bit more interest before instead of the same thing. When it changed to a different tune at 1:29, it seemed really sudden, but felt extremely good to have something different. I liked the synth at 1:55 coming in. Felt much better to have a different synth with the tune it did.

Third impression: There hasn't been much form, even at 2:20, the dropout didn't bring much change. I couldn't really think of much else to review other than the outro at this point, it's just been the same. So... the outro. ...1/5 on that one. It just ended, as if somebody had sliced the real ending off with a knife.

Overall impression: It's well-mixed, but far too repetitive and similar throughout. Even in the places where it drops out most of the instruments and gives a low feeling, it has the same feel. It just keeps going and going, basically. What I would suggest is having more of a tune towards the beginning, a kind of lead. I'd bring that into the second section, changing the tune there. Then, for the finale, you could bring back the first tune, only with a slight variation. Even better, you could put the second tune (or a variation of it) over the first tune. This would make it more thematic and have more compositional value. As it is, it has the mixing part, but it definitely needs more composition.

Hope this helped!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

habon responds:

Thanks for the review, I will try to had some variations on that song. I totally agree that it is quite simple ;)

[[dj-Jo] Distress, Oppress]

Alright, let's hear this!

Yay! First audio submission that I'm reviewing this week! Fun fun.

First impression: Very beautifully sad strings. I like how it develops and opens up the piece. It made me think almost like an apocalypse. However, it didn't transition well at 0:45, as I think you've heard. The drums come in suddenly and kind of randomly. I think it may have been better if you low passed the drum pattern and brought it in slowly, maybe hinting at it in the beginning with occasional sounds of it.

Second impression: Awesome drum beats, make me think about what can be done with drums. They're a bit random though, and don't seem to have a unifying factor other than the very fast press rolls. I like the "doot doot doot doot doot doot" e-piano sound in the background. It sounds good. It does drop out suddenly at 1:29, that doesn't seem very good. I want to know what effects you used there though, I like them very much.

Third impression: Very interesting synths. It doesn't really fit together well though, seems kind of random, though obviously not. I like the piano that I hear (I think I hear one in there...) doing some bass. It does occur to me that this really doesn't have much form and just... goes. Please make an ending/outro that relates to the beginning in some way, at least. As it is, it just kind of ends. Oh yeah. I also noticed pauses in the wind/white noise sound coming from the drums. Not sure if that was intended or not. It doesn't change my score though, just thought I'd alert you to it in case you didn't want it/in case it may lower somebody else's score and you want to change it.

Overall impression: Good good. Needs more formatting, a bit of fixing up of transitions, but overall, a solid piece. The composition definitely needs more work though, I apologize for not bringing this up initially. I suggest having some kind of lead, unless you want this to be more ambient. I'd also vary the instruments a bit more, or change the chording/main sound of it. It seems very repetitive and "pop-ish" right now. If you formatted it a bit more, made some theme and variation, or some simple ABA (The different sections having different tunes, second A section having a different lead or in a different key or something like that), then it would be MUCH better and more compositionally pleasing.

Good luck, hope this is helpful!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-