SkyeWint's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[EverythingYouWish - Battle]

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:

- Hey there, this track makes a couple of fairly common mistakes for amateur musicians, which I'd like to go over to hopefully help out with. First of all, it absolutely abuses reverb. Notably, the high base volume of the instruments and particularly bass, combined with a flood of reverb, results in a really 'blown out' sound that has a wall of sound but... not much detail to it. Think of reverb like a blur tool for image editing. Blur can make colors feel 'bigger' and have them take up more room, but a lot of the time you still need clear and sharp lines to contrast with the blurred colors. Similarly, reverb makes instruments feel 'bigger', but that isn't always a good thing and it can mask errors in composition and sound design. Clear, sharp sounds also should punch through reverb and guide the listener to know what they should focus on. This is typically used for bass (since reverb on bass often causes mixing troubles as well) and lead/melodic instruments, as their melodies need to be clear and recognizeable.

- The second major issue going on with this track is aimlessness. You typically have a decent chord progression going on with the strings in the background, so that would be a great first step to use western classical voice leading techniques and make a decent melody to start you off on a solid foundation. Essentially, the lowest note (the bass) and the highest note (the 'soprano', typically) are the most recognizeable notes in your chord. The middle notes flesh it out and provide a bit of extra context, but aren't what listeners are drawn to. Once you have a chord progression like you do in those background strings, you can write a melody by choosing a chord tone for every single beat where a chord starts. In between those beats, you can add a passing tone to go from one note to another, or an ornament of a note one step above or below the next chord tone. Using the same scale of 7 repeating notes will also help keep your instruments harmonizing as you compose.

Compliments to the Composer:

- This track really does have a solid pumping feeling to it as you go through the 'battle', and it differentiates between sections as well, which is excellent. It's also quite good that you seem aware of having consistent melodies, though don't forget to vary them up as well! Give some good game soundtracks a listen and try to remake them in midi to see how their melodies and harmonies are constructed.

Final score: 3

EverythingYouWish responds:

Thank you for your thoughtful review! I will keep this criticism in mind the next times I compose.

[JLZ - The World]

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:

- Righty-ho! I'd like to start by pointing out that the vocals can be QUITE a bit better. They aren't actively bad by any means, but the vocal tone is quite... off. Notably, your vocals sound strained, and a tad nasally. What this generally means is that you need to work a bit more on enunciating the lyrics more clearly, and projecting your voice from the back of your throat and top of your neck, rather than the top of your throat close to the nasal cavity. If you feel vibration in your nasal cavity while singing, it's not the best. This kind of thing substantially impacts tonality, even when you use a radio style EQ or bandpass on the vocals. Practicing your vocal range will also decrease the strained feeling, especially as you let your vocal range explore beyond the comfortable middle zone.

- The second point I'd like to make is about the repetition in this track. Progressive House is inherently repetitive, and you do definitely develop your sound decently, but there are a couple of things keeping the repetition from being unengaging in progressive house music. You have one of them down really well, actually - the drop is very satisfying, though the second drop does deserve a few more bits of variation. However, overall this track lacks atmosphere and ambience, especially at the beginning. As a clear point of comparison, try giving this a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGdDpMYS7sA Notice all of the sound effects at the start set up an expansive atmosphere for the plucks and eventually drums to flesh it out and provide the more intense pulse for the drop. Even though it's repetitive, the texture of this atmosphere keeps it very engaging.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Now, all that said - this track is *nice*. It develops, it uses bits of 'ear candy' to provide variance during the drop, solid mixing and decent sound design... and quite frankly, that drop bangs pretty hard with the bass, even if it can get a bit overly repetitive at times. I said the second drop could use some variation, and that's true, but that by no means keeps it from being very engaging either since the rhythmic bass is VERY satisfying.

Final score: 8.5

EppuJoloZ responds:

Thanks for the detailed feedback, especially on the vocal side! Right off the bat, my singing skills are quite below average and vocals have always been my weakest "insrtument", and since I don't have any vocalists other than myself, yeah it's a sticky situation :D But I have to appreciate the amount of detail you put in there, and gave some really good tips on there! I'll make use of those in the future for sure.

The thing I care about the most though is the mixing and the sound itself, and I'm super happy that the mix was solid and sound design was good! The structure is repetitive, but that's progressive house for ya ;D

Out of all the NGUAC feedbacks that I have recieved, this one has to be the most detailed one ever, and I gotta give huge props to you about that! Thanks again

[Shrigma Type Beat]

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:

- Huh. So, this sits on the same musical tone for awhile. It's not bad, but this track really does need a B section as well, or at least SOME kind of development. The vibe is very nice, it's very chill, and I absolutely love it... but at the point it's reached about 2 minutes with very little variation, there's only so far the excuse of "It's vibing" really works. Slow development is fine, but look at lo-fi "study beats" and similar. For a direct reference, take a listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeRl46FfjKE Notice how it starts out very chill and relaxes on the chords and ambience for a bit before bringing the lo-fi drums in to develop the sound. This brings in elements and removes them, with a complete shift to piano at 2:23 or so, as that's essentially the point where the vibe has run out. This was about the point where I started getting tired of the vibe in your track as well, but whereas Fade Away changes and then concludes the track, yours continues for nearly another minute and a half. Either it needs to end once it's run its course, or it needs a B section to maintain interest and vary up the vibe a bit.

- Secondly, another point that I'd like to mention about Fade Away relative to this track is that Fade Away has a lot more SPACE to the sound. In your track, there isn't as much in the way of a firm bass foundation or wide ambience. The bass can be subtle, but having it there grounds the track and really establishes the harmony you're using. On the other hand, the atmosphere widens the space in your track - try using panning, atmospheric sound effects like wind or a harbor or beach without many people. Simple things like that to take up the higher treble register will widen your music up and make it far more of something that melts around the listener.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Gripes aside, this has such a tasteful groove, I really love listening to it and would happily just chill with it on in the background for quite awhile, especially if it has a bit of contrast in a B section. Here's another reference that you might find to be good to aim for, and it's even four minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr0xGPaWkdg I think you can definitely reach the point of making music like this, and really lean into the chill. Definitely want to hear more from you!

Final score: shrigma

...I mean, 8.1

[Outlook]

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 start by looking at the reptitive nature of this track. Progressive House music is inherently repetitive, but it's not quite as simple as just that. For example, your piano is the same set of chords, which works for progressive house... but progressive house achieves variation by progressing the sound design. Here's a reference for comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGdDpMYS7sA Notice that, even though the initial pluck is playing the same chords, it has subtle variation and doesn't stick out that harshly. It also starts developing over time, the main theme of 5-note bursts also varies through filter sweeps and small amounts of phasing. Progressive EDM isn't just about keeping things the same, but is about slow development of sound design and slow changes in melody and feel over time while keeping a steady groove and beat for listeners.

- The second point which I'd like to bring up is the extreme lack of bass in this track. Using Answers as a reference once again, you might notice how the bass comes in with the vocals to provide some development, and is modulating throughout the main climaxes of the music. Bass design and presence is important in House music in general, let alone Progressive House. This actually saps your musical climaxes of *so* much presence, leading them to be very underwhelming, especially after the lovely little slapping impact you have right at the start. There's not very much release of tension in a satisfying climax.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Okay, criticisms aside, I LOVE your chord progression here, ESPECIALLY with the plucky addition around 0:30. Honestly, those plucks would have added so much interest and variation throughout almost the entire track, they're extremely engaging and interesting especially with the somewhat jazzy harmonies and dissonances that they add. I can tell just from that and the harmonies in the second build that you have a solid grasp of chord structure, and I would STRONGLY encourage you to keep exploring this space especially during the drops with some extra bass. That would be a very, very compelling piece of music.

Final score: 7.2

[Hope (Remastered)]

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:

- A lot of these instruments don't quite work too well together. You start out with a very chill atmosphere, but your lead synth is almost a type of synth brass, along with some good old... is that FL Slayer? Regardless, these instruments are a tad cheesy and don't quite fit with the rest of them. The kick drum also has some issues with its initial click, but it isn't quite as bad. What I would highly recommend is listening through some of your favorite DnB tracks and focusing on the instrument composition, see what types of instruments are applied in what places.

- This track really could use a bit more variation in terms of melodies and drumline. Specifically, it could use more countermelodies and varied small melodic/drum fills than just snare rolls. A good set of high hats playing 16th notes would also keep the energy up through your drops. I do want to clarify as well, that doesn't mean more variation in terms of the chord changes you have during the drop - those actually don't quite fit as well, since there isn't a progression used to transition between them. Rather, the music snaps into another key with a new melody. Try recontextualizing your existing melody with different chords, and adding in a countermelody or two to contrast with it!

Compliments to the Composer:

- I REALLY love the atmosphere in the breaks. The calm reverb percussion during those sections feels very lovely as well, and it gives me a good vibe. If anything, I think these are the strongest points to the tracks rather than the DnB sections - the intro especially hooked me at the start, and if you can continue that type of gripping experience, you'll be able to nab listeners quite a bit in the future as well! Oh, also. For some reason your profile picture makes me think of a meercat with a blue laser pointer. There's no relevance to that, but I hope you find it entertaining.

Final score: 6

[Tron's Day off [UGH 2021 Remix]]

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 very first clear thing I can say is this... really needs some extra variation. The chords, the bass, the melody... they all stay the same throughout - you can layer them on top of each other and achieve some degree of variation that way, but it does only go so far, even over the course of two minutes. As a loop, it might actually be very useful to try varying the music by adding a B section with a different chord structure. Even varying it by just a single chord or by changing up the rhythm would really expand the piece and give it a new feeling - with the added bonus of essentially requiring a new melody or at least recontextualizing it.

- This... has a bit too much reverb as well. It's a common problem, but good to remember that reverb isn't the only way you can spatialize music - try giving some ping-pong delays a shot, auto-panning, stereo separation on your pads, etc. Reverb is lovely but really needs to be used sparingly, as it also makes your mix muddy. You seem to have a sense of this given your kick drum isn't slathered in reverb as well, but it's not a bad idea to try lightening up on it a bit more and seeing what other techniques you can use.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Quite frankly, within the similar framework you set up and with the instruments you have, this is actually rather well-mixed and has some good variation even if it needs a bit more of a major shift to fit really well. Maintaining this type of variation within your larger sections is a really good policy to have, and the fact that you recognize how to set up a dynamic curve is really respectable as well. I happily chilled out with this on loop while writing everything up for you!

Final score: 7

DJ-AfterBurnz responds:

Thank you for the review! I'm very humbled and grateful for your time and advice. I should implement some of these mentioned techniques and feedback into future pieces. :)

[Seed of Darkness (VIP)]

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:

- I am, in fact, going to complain on volume. But, rather than just complaining about it, let's talk about why it's a problem rather than just saying "it doesn't sound good". The initial and relatively obvious issue is that having music too loud can actually permanently damage your ears, which... is obviously bad. But secondly, you're exporting to mp3 or some other compressed audio format to share with other people most of the time. Uncompressed audio files can handle volume above 0dB, but mp3 typically cuts off data at that point, resulting in added distortion and importantly loss of clarity. Even in harsh noise music like this, you typically want to be in control of that noise rather than letting it distort in potentially the wrong way through lossy compression. Particularly high and low frequencies are also distorted or reduced from this effect, even in the highest quality mp3 files. Oh, and most platforms will reduce the volume so it peaks at -1.0dB and if you aren't mastering with that in mind, you'll find your track ends up quieter than intended anyway.

- So, let's say you're going to master something to be really loud and harsh, like this. That's fine. However, an important point to maintain awareness of is the concept of contrast and variation. You even do have variation in this track, giving contrast between sections. However, if everything is harsh noise all the time, the listener won't have as much of a frame of reference to really appreciate it. This is actually the basis behind breakdowns in music, to give the listener a moment of rest and allow them to process the sound they just experienced before pulling them back into the more intense section. As it is, you have very intense sections to the music, but extremely minimal space for listeners to take a moment and understand and process.

Compliments to the Composer:

- I'm really surprised that your drums are so clear through all the noise here, and a lot of your bass modulation is pretty good. It can get painful to listen to, but I appreciate the effort you took to create the sounds here. Like I said, you also clearly have variation, which is a good step above a lot of music I see people first making!

Final score: 1

DistortedVortex responds:

thanks for the criticism while yes i did exported to mp3 i do also have the WAV Export and i can understand the harsh noise criticism but with it being too loud that's mainly just how i master and i wouldn't say it's too loud for me however i like listening to my music loud.

[Universal Expanse]

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 have a lot of instruments here and change the vibe of your track throughout, but there's one thing that just... stands out, and PUNCHES out. The drums - they maintain the one singular filtered beat the ENTIRE time, without any filter sweeps, fills, spatialization, or anything. They feel crunched but also very punchy, and draw a LOT of attention from the other instruments, even though you have so many interesting things going on. I think it would be very helpful to tone the drums down a bit and make them less filtered and treble-heavy if you want the other instruments to shine... or alternatively, add in some variation. I like using an ABAC format for my drumbeats, where each letter is one measure. That adds in variation at regular intervals while also keeping it consistent.

- Outside of specifically the drums, the main melody could use a bit more variation as well. Notably, it could use a bit of development, or recontextualization with different harmony in the second half, not just variation in which instruments are accompanying it. A countermelody would also do wonders to explore more harmonies and generally keep the track engaging.

Compliments to the Composer:

- This melody is actually very nice and calm, and the sound palette is super pleasant and interesting. You mentioned a "guitar clarinet" (...or, now that I think of it, probably a guitar AND clarinet...) and vocals. Man, this palette is tasty. Even the percussion, while overbearing and a bit overly repetitive, has a really good tone to it! Mainly it just needs to be applied more carefully, then you'll have a really really satisfying chill DnB track. I like it.

Final score: 8.1

[Laniakea Voyager]

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:

- One of the biggest points I think you could improve on is your chord progression and by extension, your melodies. The base chord structure you're using doesn't... quite fit. So, something that would likely help is actually studying some music theory. In general, music based on western music theory follows the principle of Tension and Release. The goal is to build tension up to points of release (typically V-I chord changes at the end of a hypermeasure). Right now, your chord progression doesn't really do this - it just has tension that isn't resolved or really even built up in a way that seems deliberate or coordinated with your sound design, resulting in a sound more like confusion and aimlessness. One way to help this outside of studying music theory in general is to pull up some music you particularly like and trying to recreate the chord progressions in midi yourself, to see what notes they include and which ones you can remove in order to keep the progression from feeling too empty.

- Oh, man. The sound design in this feels really nice, and I think it can be improved. This track reminds me a LOT of one of my favorite music artists, Camellia. The unique percussion you're using also adds to this, and reminds me of this track specifically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5oDIYG1Ee0 I think you might have some good inspiration for how to use your bass modulation and choose gentler synthesizers for pads and melodies by listening to some of his work. In this specific case, notice how much the melodic instruments are relatively gentle and percussive compared to the bass modulation, which forms the backbone of the track and is used for rhythmic development.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Quite frankly, the fact that this track reminds me of Camellia to begin with is a compliment in itself. I do really love your bass modulation, and I think you can use it a lot more effectively by chopping and resampling it through your track. There's so much atmosphere in this track that I love too. If you continue along this path, you'll be in a wonderful place to make some VERY engaging music.

Final score: 7.3

DawMii responds:

Thank you so much!!

[VERY EXCITE]

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:

- Wha... where's the bass? What happened to the bass, haha! I checked it out, it seems like you have a low shelf hitting right in the low mids and below. Everything else is plenty loud (even a bit too loud) but it seems like if you have a bass guitar, it's completely missing. I would highly recommend either including a bass guitar, or alternatively having some kind of synth bass added in. If you want to keep your treble focus, another possible alternative would simply be letting your kick and tom drums really THUMP properly. I would guess this might have been a problem while mixing, but most of the mixing would actually be solved by limiting the track properly. Simple way to do that is reducing ALL INSTRUMENTS by -10dB, then following that up with a limiter set to a threshold of -1.1dB. That should help balance your frequency levels out, and could easily result in your mix sounding more full and clean. Oh. Also, be careful with the amount of reverb on that high treble guitar! It can get very fatiguing.

- Honestly, the mix is by far the biggest "?" in this whole piece. However, that doesn't mean I'm quite done! Another thing that this track is really missing is a breakdown for the listener to just... chill. Even intense music has at least some momentary breaks where it chills out, before going back into it. Here, have an example of a track that vibes really similarly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZThbdtFEo0 Notice how the introduction is calm and builds into the main melodic riff of the track. Also, that in the B section around 0:32, the really high treble is reduced, as a relatively chill section before it builds back up at 0:52. There's also the short breakdown at 2:56 after the solo section, giving a moment's rest before it builds up again.

Compliments to the Composer:

- Man, I love your riffs, especially the one right at the start. I love this track. I want to feel the bass so I can really feel it through my body more than just my ears, y'know? It reminds me so much of the theme I linked, which is a track I really like. I love the intense but positive vibe to this so much. As you clean up your mix and develop your composition more, you're gonna have some really really tasteful music on your hands. Nice job!

Final score: 7.8

Daveisgr81 responds:

Thanks for such thoughtful and detailed feedback, I really appreciate it (and the amount of time it must have taken for you to have done all of these reviews!).

I'm working on the limiter issue. As you can hear, there are issues with the mix and many of these were magnified when I added my original limiter (needed to spend more time on the mix). I'll try your course of action - watch this space! There's bass in there too, but it's mixed right down because it's significantly lower quality.