SkyeWint's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Maqui]

Thought I might as well review this.

Hey, I reviewed both of your other songs on this account, why not this one?

First impression: Awesome beat. That made me get hooked on the song almost immediately. The guitar is amazing as well, it has such a feel with the delay on it. I like the layering in the first minute, barely detectable under the guitar, but slowly rising...

Second impression: At 1:25, I LOVE the chording there. I was a bit disappointed at the same guitar at first, then heard the transition with the one high note in the guitar, and that honestly made me feel really good. Awesome, man! Though, the organ randomly coming in at 2:01 felt wrong. You really had a groove going right before though, which was awesome. I like how the beat is similar to the beat before, but slightly different.

Third impression: At 2:58, I was bored. It just kept going, and there wasn't much change in it. While it still has a groove, it's been having the exact same chording throughout the whole thing, and is just kind of meh. The ending was FAR too sudden, something I noticed in your other songs as well. You seem to have a liking for just playing a single note on the guitar and reverbing it out. While this can work a few times, it gets boring to hear the same thing over and over. Try having a bit more of an ending that isn't so sudden and brick-wall-ish.

Overall impression: Good good. Worth a listen. Sounds kind of like your other songs in style, though that's to be expected, I guess. Try varying it up a little bit though. I know you can make a song out of each idea, but try varying the ideas and putting in some more structure in your songs, having at the very least an A-B-A or even better, theme and variation (I think this would more fit how you make music).

Hope this helps in the future, good luck!

-SWINT-

RunningShadows responds:

Thanks, it does seem like we have the habit of repeating ourselves

[RunRoze (July NAC)]

Ok, let's see.

First impression: I recognize that tune. I feel like I recognize the variation on it as well. Sounds like somebody plunking away on a piano. I like the intro overall, aside from the distortion at 0:35. I also don't like the fact that the piano tune has been used before. There's also a LOT of distortion on the laugh at 0:43 that makes me not like it. The drum samples are interesting, is that a phaser on them? The distortion really hurts my head, along with all the odd distorted electronic sounds that really don't fit in with what this apparently was made for.

Second impression: Where in the world is the song? Until about 1:36, this more sounded like a random jumble of noises that got higher and louder until my head split. The sounds are FAR too distorted and hard to hear. It literally hurts my head and makes me not like it. Even at that point, I only heard a bass. This definitely fits under "miscellaneous", as it doesn't have a place anywhere else I can think. It just seems like a random jumble of noise, honestly... There's just too much distortion, not anything that would make me call it a song. For what it's for, I suppose it works. But it doesn't fit any of the three concepts that it supposedly fit under, only parts of it do.

Overall impression: While it /occasionally/ works, it is not a very coherent "song" to me. The only part that really has music is the beginning. While it's cool, it is not what I consider music. Honestly, sometimes I liked it. But most of the time it made my head hurt, my stomach feel like a block of lead, and I hated the sound of it. While I don't think there's much that can be improved on this, that's because there isn't really much of anything to improve on. I do give you the points you have for the effort you did on it, I can tell that this wasn't just completely random, as much as it sounded like that most of the time.

Hope this helps.

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

MrMusicalLion responds:

'I can tell that this wasn't just completely random, as much as it sounded like that most of the time'

That, to me, tells me all that I need to know. It tells me that you was not even listening to the music properly. Let me detail to you the story behind the music.

SECTION 1.
The Ring around the Roses tune sets the scene. This evokes memories of childhood. If you listen carefully you hear several distant laughs - and then if you listen really carefully you begin to hear Zombies singing the tune. Then the Children begin to sing. The Zombies get louder, they get closer to the children and then the children fall down, when they go to get back up the Zombies are all around them and they are totally utterly screwed. It is not certain how many of them manage to escape; nonetheless the most intelligent and powerful Zombie turns to the remaining children, laughs mercilessly and then says 'RUN.'

SECTION 2
So the music begins, the drum beat starts and what you hear in the bass is the sound of the Heartbeat and also the sound of the children beginning to run. They get faster and faster, and then the zombies catch them, and kill them.

SECTION 3
The children begin to turn into Zombies.. that's what the lyrics are describing. At the end you hear mysterious eerie sounds of swings/creatures etc.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, or rather, in this case - The Ears. The points that you say have too much distortion, are totally and utterly fine. 00:35 and 00:43, lol, distortion? Barely any. You want to hear true distortion, go listen to a few gritty dubstep tracks, that's distortion for you.

Good day Sire
EDIT: I hope you enjoy the fact that my piece came 2nd on the July NAC :)

[.:Metal Mob:.]

There's not much here, but...

I'll review what I can.

It's metal. Not bad, until the strings come in. They phase a lot and don't fit well with the rest. They also repeat, which is kind of boring. They start not to phase after the initial part. I think the instruments are good, but it needs polishing up.

I REALLY don't know where this is going, it seems mainly to just wander and go around and around like you were lost as to what you were wanting this song to be and searching in about eight directions at once. The ending was disappointing too, it just cut off. I think this needs a lot of work, but each idea has potential, just need to order them properly and make the drums have a bit more order than someone just soloing. In fact, ALL the instruments seem like they're just soloing in the same key, and not staying together.

Good luck fitting this together!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

GronmonSE responds:

You have some valid points. Since the song is incomplete (1/4th done I would presume), there's a lot of room for improvement. That's why it seems directionless at the moment.

We'll see what we can do with the final product if we ever finish it :)

Thanks!

[[dj-Jo] "Tough"]

Hmm.

First impression: What in the world is going on with the time signature and the beat? There's a lot of weird things going on, but once it hits 0:17 it smooths out. It has an interesting beat. The leads are pretty cool, admittedly, but it's just one tune that repeats with more instruments until 0:48, where a single note that repeats comes in. Glad it changes after 1:03. That transition was cool.

Second impression: The new tunes are interesting, I have to admit. The little delays and chopping up of the notes makes it really cool. I like how you take out almost everything every once in a while and bring in instruments individually again. While if overused, it can be boring, this works reasonably well in this song. I think the transition starting at 2:13 is FAR too long, and doesn't come back in well, considering the rest of the song. It's almost inaudible.

Third impression: Nothing new has been brought to the table other than a simple ebb and flow of intensity. The snare roll at 2:35 that just goes on and on is REALLY boring and monotonous, it takes over the rest of the track and makes me go "Ugh, enough!" I like how you use the hits to double the tune, but... at this point, it's just too *yawn* boring and continuous for me. There hasn't been much change in the song other than, as I said, an ebb and flow. The ending is VERY disappointing. It just stops. No transition at all, just stops like a knife sliced through it.

Overall impression: Needs a bit of work, but pretty good overall. Solid, I suppose. Still needs more of a "skeleton" of composition before you pile effects on there. Hope what I noticed helps in future compositions, or if you decide to remake this!

Good luck!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

dj-Jo responds:

Well, I can see your points in the long transitions and the long snare rolls thingy

To be honest I sorta got lazy at the ending part of the song :o

And thanks for the constructive criticism :) that always helps
Looks like I need to develop a sense of structure

[Lost Spirit]

Three reviews for one? Really?

How interesting. Hope they're quality reviews. :P Now, as for this song...

First impression: Wonderful piano melody and percussion in the beginning. The synths building up sounds incredible as well. Sending the piano to low-pass (I think that's it), really works. The way it was set up tells me that this is going to be an awesome.

Second impression: You have not disappointed. I'd very much like to know how you did the sound effect at 1:05-1:06. That brought the song into the next section wonderfully. Unfortunately, at 1:27, it starts to get boring. I'm glad you went back to the original melody at 1:50. Unfortunately, I've heard it before, and it hasn't changed much...

Third impression: Like the higher octave harmony from 2:12 on. Then, all I could think at 2:33 is "music smash". That was awesome. I'm glad a new melody was brought in as well, made it much better. Unfortunately, at 3:16, I got bored. Nothing new had been brought to the table, and even though there was another music smash, which was still awesome, I'd heard it all before and there was nothing particularly new or interesting. The outro was really good, albiet a bit sudden.

Overall impression: A really good song, definitely worth a listen. Somebody obviously tried hard. It shows. I can't really think of what more could be done with this song at the moment, but I do hope that you can incorporate some of the ideas I stated into future songs, as that would make it a lot better.

Good luck!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

(Oh yeah. If you're going to review my music, may I suggest the best ones to review, the ones I'd like reviews on the most? I'd prefer reviews on Mountain Reserve, Shadows in the Gem Forest, and Cavern of Memory)

TheBellmaker responds:

Thanks for the incredible review! You don't see many these days, and it is greatly appreciated.

For the parts that bore you, this was part of experimentation. Usually, I write songs that never go back on themselves, and I just wanted to see what it sounds like. I'll try to fix the repetitiveness problem.

For the sound effect, I used the Nexus plugin: Beauty combi and did a 16th note arpeggio, ascending in the key of Em, going E, F#, G, B, and repeating an octave higher for the first two beast. the second half, key of D, going A, F#, E, D, and repeating an octave lower, ending on E at the fifth beat.

[luigi's mansion theme redeux]

Hmm...

First impression: VERY high strings, they annoy me, unfortunately. The percussion is nice. The cello sounds pretty darn good. Not quite realistic, but good.

Second impression: At 0:40, it opens up more. The percussion at this point sounds odd with the tune and strings, albiet them being synth strings. At 1:10, it goes into another section. The high strings phase with the cello. A LOT. It was also extremely high-pitched, which made my head hurt. High-pitched synth strings = Headache.

Overall impression: This needs a lot of work. I'd bring better strings into it, and have a bit less phasing, as well as changing the percussion and effects to suit it more. That is, if you're going to keep the strings the same. Otherwise, I'd make it more upbeat and have full-on synths and pads to carry the melody and bass. As it is, it's two different songs trying to mix together, and it doesn't succeed all that well... Hope this critique helps, I personally think that if this were redone, it would have a lot more merit.

Good luck.

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

Horsenwelles responds:

have you heard the original track?

[Uplifting Trance - Faliya]

Definitely a cool beginning.

First impression: Awesome start, but it needs to go into music a bit sooner than 0:24, I was expecting it at 0:16. Not a big issue, but... I like the way it builds up for the first minute. At 0:56, the melody there sounded extremely uplifting and nice.

Second impression: Kick roll to 1:16, cool. New melody too. It has good melodies there. This is really uplifting. To the pad at 1:56, there was a cool transition. Didn't work perfectly, but it wasn't bad.

Third impression: The pad mentioned in the second impression has a wonderful melody. I love the variation so far, especially the wobble in the background. I can tell you put a TON of effort into this. It is not repetitive, as new elements come in almost the instant I get bored with a bit. I LOVE the kick drum roll that fades in and out to go to the next section.

Fourth impression: Sweet riffs, man. (Or woman. Whichever gender you are.) It goes back to one of the melodies you heard towards the beginning at 3:45, a VERY good touch, which imbues it with a more compositionally sound element. It fades out very nicely as well, with a touch back to the very beginning. I don't like the fadeout though. This could be improved easily with a quick reverse cymbal roll.

Overall impression: One hell of a good song. I love it! There are no errors that stop me from enjoying it, and it has a nicely done happy atmosphere. Definitely lifted me up. Please make more like this!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

neolinked responds:

Thank you for the great review! It means a lot :)

[Whistle Blow - Silv3Ster]

Reviewing according to impressions throughout...

First impression: Cool sound in the beginning that stays for a little while. I enjoyed it, especially the pad buildup. What came after the pad buildup made me think "what?" It sounded like something extremely epic, then went to a sound that almost sounds like farts (no offense). At 0:40, the openup sounded quite nice, and led to an extremely high tempo synth. The short break surprised me, but by the time it registered, it was back to the main song.

Second impression: Starting at 1:08, it seems repetitive. I've heard this a lot already... please give me something different. Then you did. At 1:30, it opened up, and got to be a SONG. Quite good, thank you for doing it. It definitely opened up.

Third impression: At about 1:54, I hear the same tune repeating, and it didn't have any variation. VERY nice breakdown at 2:16. I'd love to find out how you did that sound, as it was very good. At 2:27, it goes to what I'll call the (B) section, the second part of the song. It gets faster from there on, and keeps with the techno feel.

Fourth impression: At 2:50, it continues with the song and the occasionally trippy beat roll. I wonder how you did the voice... The whole thing is creepy overall, I have to admit.

Fifth impression: 4:10 onward, it seemed to be the same and just end as it had in the beginning. Not an overly good outro, not a bad one. However, the actual ending made me think "what?" and disappointed me somewhat.

Overall impression: Good good. It deserves to be more highly rated, most definitely. There's one problem though. There's a feeling that there's either something missing, or too much piled on that makes it lack an element. I can't quite put my finger on it though, which is unfortunate. Again, the ending disappointed me, and I have to say, though I liked the metallic clang kick sound in the beginning at first, it got annoying quite quickly. I understand that this is hardstyle-ish, but... It's a bit too pounding and rough for me. I prefer songs that have more light finesse other than banging a lot and having rough sound. This is my personal preference, of course, but the judging of a track IS subjective. I try to be objective, but I can't succeed all the time. Hope this helps, I don't think there's much more that can be done for this track.

Good luck in the future!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

Dj-GST responds:

Haha good review man, been a while since I've gotten a detailed one :P

First impression: Haha that "fart" sound is an acid sync that I made in Sytrus.

Second impression: Yeah, I just put that in to start the track out for the most part.

Third impression: There is actually variation, it's in the background more than anything, the acid sync comes in and the vocals are cut, and the pad goes at a different octave.

At 2:16, I did that effect by tweaking the LFO for one of the effects automations for that acapella vocal, causing it to have that wobble effect. It's similar to the way people make Dubstep basslines.

Fourth impression: The acapella sample is from a "World Vocals" sample pack that I found. It's basically just a Pakistani dude singing. All I did was apply the effects (reverb, delay, Fruity Squeeze), and extend it.

Fifth impression: There's slight variation, but yeah, it's basically the same. I basically just did the standard outro.

Overall impression: Not Hardstyle. Not Hardstyle at all. The reason that I wasn't going to post this on here is for the main reason that NGer's keep mistaking my work as Hardstyle.

Yeah, it's not for everybody. Since this is a genre of Hardcore, one of it's main features is the rough, stomping sound.

Thanks for the great review man!

-3S-

[Snowy Landscape]

Ah, 8-bit... Fun fun.

It's a short little loop, and there isn't a lot to it, so I won't be able to review it as good as I could a longer song, my apologies.

The 8-bit-ness of it works. I just can't help but think that there could be a bit more development in it. It has the same chording throughout, and is just really, really... boring. I know that it's more background music. But there could definitely be more.

What there is, though, is done well, and sounds nice. It's a good, short little loop. Just could be a /bit/ longer. lol.

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

DahDoctow responds:

i completely agree, and in future 8bit songs i make i shall add some more variety and some different things going on so the listener doesn't get bored

thanks for your review

[Echo Of Neglect]

Quite good.

Reviewing in a series of impressions.

First impression: Nice chording, it brings out the title. At about 0:36, I started to get bored, as it was basically the same thing with a slightly different tune. Since it's not that upbeat, it needs a bit "more" to bring out what it is if you have the same chording.

Second impression: Starting at 0:53, there's still the same thing. Nice effects, and I like the light percussion in the background. It hasn't changed much.

Third impression: Starting at 1:38, I enjoyed the new, fresh change brought on by the different chording and tune. It definitely fits the mood. Very sad, and calming.

Fourth impression: Starting at 2:26, I thought the guitar came in at an odd time. But, I did like the guitar, it isn't badly mixed. I think it fits. The development and buildup from here is quite good, and makes me "feel". <-- This is a hard thing to do for me, as most music made during this time period makes me feel nothing. This makes me feel empty.

Fifth impression: Starting at 3:16, that synth buildup gave me a shiver. So sad, so peaceful. It made me almost think of an empty wasteland with nothing living in it. I do NOT like how the main synth vanishes at 3:45. That hurt a lot, just having it vanish. The outro left a lot to be desired.

Overall impression: Very, very good. I've heard some of your music before, and I have to say, you are a very good musician. But this song does seem to be lacking something. I think there's not really much depth to it, it seems empty. Fitting for the picture of it having an echo of neglect, but you don't need to take it so far as to make the song seem to be neglected, or experiencing the echo of it as well... This could be much better, try working with it a little more and see what comes out!

-Review Request Club-
-SWINT-

Birdinator99 responds:

Yea, the more I listen to it, the more I realize it really is quite empty.

I'm really glad you got at least some emotional reaction from this -- it's always a positive thing for me.

I'm sorry that you found it boring at parts. This is definitely not an intention of my music-making in general.

The outro may have come suddenly because of my carelessness with the solo (going up too high, and ending on a string of fast notes). A better choice there could've made the difference at that point in the piece.

Compared to my other works, you're quite right; it's emptier, and not as, well, "full", I suppose. Not too much else I can add to that.

Thank you for the kind words, and I hope you continue to enjoy music for a very long time, whether it's mine or not.