SkyeWint's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Supplication]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-I love the jazzy feel of this, the piano chords are really done well, so are the bass slides.
-You can definitely hear the emotion, which is very good.
-The overall composition of this is great - its main quality. Also what kept your piece up last round, so good.
-Oh my god that instrument at 0:55. It is so pretty, I want it. xD

The Not-So-Good:
-I have a feeling you're going to hear this a lot. The vocals could really use some work. While yeah, I know, you don't have a good mic - you might want to bring them forward in the mix a bit. Another part of it is confidence. Sometimes it seems like you're afraid to sing the notes.
-Another thing you'll probably be hearing a lot. The song is a bit too long for the overall amount of content in it. Remember, the song shouldn't just be made to support the lyrics, there has to be enough behind it to fill the song with melodies and harmonies, rather than just chords and harmonies to bring out the singing.
-As a pianist, I am really really unhappy that the piano does (just about) nothing but chords on every quarter note. :< This is disappointing - I'd have liked the piano to actually do something more. Eventually it does a bit more, but it's mainly simply doing chords.
-The mixing seems to fall apart towards the end. This is almost impressive in a backwards way - it's not easy to have the mix fall apart with so few instruments. However, I think I know some reasons why. The reverb on the singing is part of it, you might want to try equalizing the singing before AND after you add the reverb, so that you can cut out most of the harmful frequencies before and then clean it up a bit afterwards - another part could easily be the low end of the piano. Remember to EQ out the really low frequencies you don't need on recordings - they can cause problems, ESPECIALLY with reverb. The default FL Studio pianos have some of this as well, in the low and the very highest frequencies.

Overall: This is really nice, I like the jazz influences, I like the sound of your voice (even if it isn't used as well as it could be), and I lurv that high ocarina-like instrument at 0:55. However, considering the problems with it, I'm going to have to give it a 6.8/10.

[Sinking Island]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-I LOVE the percussion you introduce at the beginning.
-I really like the sliding swoopy synth at about 1:17.
-Mixing is alright by me.
-The chord progression is different from what I normally hear. It sounds pretty nice.
-The main synth sounds pretty nice, I like how it bounces all over the place - except at the beginning where it makes the whole song sound like it's vibrating.

The Not-So-Good:
-There's a weird sound toward the beginning that makes me feel like the song overall is "vibrating". And no, I'm not going to just put that down to a progressive mixing choice. It shows up later but isn't as much of a problem.
-You might want to change the drums a little bit more than you did. They're fairly repetitive.
-Transition at about 1:44 is a tad iffy. Could have been improved quite a bit.
-You may have wanted a bass in the song. If you did have one, I can't hear it.
-Chord change at around 2:35 is fairly ew. It would have been better if you changed the melody rather than just moving the chord sequence to a different base key.
-This is fairly repetitive overall. It doesn't change in feel or really much at all for most of the song - 1:45-1:50 is the only break, and it's pretty short.

Overall: This is a pretty nice song. I have to say, I like it a lot - though there are a lot of 'samey' sounds throught it and it doesn't change much. I think you should really work more on variation in your music. This is deserving of a 6.6/10 from me.

OpenLight responds:

I agree with the variation...

The problem is, last round I was told that I needed more consistency and there needed to be catchy repeated melodies. I tried that, though I don't like repeating stuff in my songs ever, and I agree with your review in the respect that it had some repetitive parts. Of course, I'm not saying that the recommendation that I should have more consistency was a bad recommendation, but it was something that it would take me a while to master with my composition style.

The sound at the beginning is the delay on the melody synth. For whatever reason, it gave me the same feel. I thought it might give it a more ethereal feel to the piece, but it wasn't intentional. I decided to keep it because the delay worked a lot better in the end and because of the whole "potentially-ethereal" feel I felt it could give.

I'm really glad you liked this song, and I honestly wish I hadn't decided to try the consistency thing on this song, but regardless, thanks for the review!

[Nice to Meet You Here]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-I like how you manipulated the tempo and playing of the harp at the beginning. It honestly sounds really nice, particularly since you added little chords, making it sound almost realistic.
-I love bird sounds. ^___^ So naturally I really liked it when you brought them in. It sounded very much like a little forest area.
-It sounds like you really took into consideration the ideas I had about mixing. The frequencies didn't bump into each other and they meshed together well. Part of it is probably having less instruments, but all the same.

The Not-So-Good:
-The piano sounded like it was playing through the radio, not overly good.
-There doesn't seem to be a set 'theme' of this except in the middle.
-The strings toward the end aren't that well-done.
-The composition of this really needed a lot more work. Not much in there.

Overall: This sounds really nice, I like a lot of things in it, but there's just not that much content, and I can definitely hear the lack of time put into this. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to give it a 5/10. At least you submitted though, so you get some nice reviews! :D

CheckeredZebra responds:

Woo reviews! Thanks for noticing, I tried out your tips and they worked pretty well.

And yes, sadly the main theme sound was lost because I couldn't finish the dang thing and have the actual ideas repeat as I wanted them to. Ohwell! Someday (perhaps soon) I'll finish it up.

The strings were "Oh look it's 11:55 you should probably submit this now" quality. Yep.
Glad you liked the birdsong, and I'm happy I was able to turn SOMETHING in. Hehehe.

[Midnight Lights {7x}]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-I have to say, those saxophone solos are really nice.
-You use the filters fairly well, very classic DnB style.
-Those bell-like chords sound really nice.

The Not-So-Good:
-That high hat is immediately noticable and fairly annoying - too many high frequencies.
-When the bass wobbles hit in, I wasn't overly impressed. The wobbles seemed fairly awkward and not overly good.
-Unfortunately, nice as the saxophone was, it didn't work with the other instruments as well as it could have.
-Needs some more bass. The bass wobbles were more in the middle frequencies than the low ones. Could have used some thicker bass. That would have sounded a lot better.
-Fairly repetitive, it doesn't really change too much except for the first saxophone solo.
-Ew, that outro sounds pretty bad. I'd have liked it if you added in one last note on the sax so that it could ring out rather than having a delayed noise sweep.

Overall: I like it, but it seems fairly empty and uninspired to me. Not enough saxophone - not melded as well as it could have. The bass wobbles brought it down quite a bit as well. It's alright. Just not extremely good. I'll give it a 7/10.

EbonHawk7X responds:

Thank you for the helpful reviews during this competition, your critique is always appreciated and helps me to realize what needs to be improved. I feel this review was no exception and I can't contest any of the points that you have made, so I will accept them and implement the ideas in future works. Thanks for judging and taking the time to write this!

[Her Wish]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-Oh my fluffy chords. Your strings are really nice and full in this song. They're incredibly spaced-out, and really fill the mix thoroughly.
-Mixing is a lot better than in the last one. I can't really hear any distortion.
-I actually like the chord change at 1:20 a lot.
-Harmonies are really nice, and overall it sounds very nice.

The Not-So-Good:
-Sadly, even with the fullness, there's a bit of static and mixing issues. Might want to lower the mid frequencies just a tad, or put a compressor on without any makeup gain - that actually can help a LOT with fixing up the mixing of a track.
-There's really not much of any melodic structure in this. Mainly chords. It gets extremely boring throughout it without the melody.
-The choirs coming in at 1:06 is jarring to me, it's very sudden without any buildup right before it.

Overall: It sounds nice, really really fluffy and sweet, but it needs some kind of theme and melody in it - as it is, it gets boring VERY quickly. I'll give it a 6.7/10.

[Get up n' Fight (NGADM)]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-I like the intro at first.
-It's pretty upbeat.
-I can't hear any large issues with the mixing.
-The piano section toward the end has got to be my favorite part of the entire song, mainly because of the break it provides from the other harsh leads.

The Not-So-Good:
-When the electric guitar-like sound comes in. Ouch. >.< That is a very painful sound to me. Unfortunately, since you use it throughout most of the song, that's VERY bad.
-The saw synth you also use is fairly painful as well.
-Much of the second half is copypasted from the first half with small differences, similar to your round 1 song only it's not COMPLETELY copypasted.
-The ending seems really awkward, especially with the sudden sound in the last second of the music.

Overall: I'm fairly disappointed in this. You fixed up the composition some, which is good - but instead, you used REALLY harsh synths that just hurt my ears and basically got really painful and annoying throughout the three and a half minute song that you made. Bit hard to appreciate the better composition when my ears are bleeding... I'm going to have to give this a 6/10 mainly because of that.

[-*}CaSH{*- Etude]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-Ooooooooh, jazzy. Niiice. It doesn't have dissonant harmonies like some of your other songs, but also definitely doesn't have typical chords and harmonies.
-Sounds like you wrote this in... mainly 5/4? With a few other measures?

The Not-So-Good:
-Yes, the sample quality isn't overly good. However, I am going to forgive this more than I normally would due to the circumstances.
-Some of the rhythms seem very off around 0:29-0:41. The drums really help keep it together.
-The song is a tad too short to have enough content to be really good, though it stays interesting for the minute and eleven seconds that it is. ...not that that's difficult with the type of jazz you make.
-The outro is bleh. I'm sure you know this.

Overall: There's not much I can comment on in this song. It's overall really well-composed. I'm sorry about your hard drive as well. :< Hopefully you can get it back, neh? I'll give this song a 7/10. If you didn't have your hard drive stolen, I'd have given it a 5/10.

[Descent (MSB)]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-You seem to really like 'talking' instruments. They do sound very cool.
-The instrument you're using to make chords before the rise sounds like the same one you used in your round 1 song. I like it. You might want to change things up though in future songs.
-2:08 random hit. lol
-The ending is one of the better ones this round, I like it a lot more than the one in your round 1 song.

The Not-So-Good:
-The initial electronic hits in the first 4 seconds seem off-key. Could be because they're percussive, but it does throw me for a minute.
-The first bass sounds at 0:20 don't sound very good to me.
-At about 1:35, the rise there sounds very off-key.
-There's a constant chord that doesn't go away from about 2:11 onwards which gets annoying because it just doesn't stop.
-Might want to change up your drumbeat a bit. Going away from mainstream beats every once in awhile is a good thing.
-The bass toward the end is pretty annoying.

Overall: This is indeed a 'decent' piece of house work with a lot of dubsteppy elements from your other song. I've noticed that you're using a lot of the same instruments for similar things. You might want to try experimenting a bit more and trying different things with the resources available to you. Try using the 'talking' synth for chords, maybe, or make something with a smoother synth. I'll give this a 8.5/10.

[-conclusion-]

Here is your personal review for round 2 of the NGADM! Keep in mind, this review will be harsher than the round 1 review! I will be poking at songs more in each consecutive round, because it will naturally be more difficult to advance.

The Good:
-This is a nice blend of trance and orchestral, it works overall.
-For what I believe is the first time I've heard from you, you actually went back to the initial theme at the end. This is a good thing!
-More melodic development in this song! Good.
-Mixing's good.

The Not-So-Good:
-First of all, there's not really anything 'new' in this track. Yeah, it's a trance/orchestral hybrid, and that's cool, it's not something done all the time. ...only thing is - you do it all the time and the way this was done wasn't overly original in concept, and especially not in execution.
-The middle section kind of falls apart in feel. It has a good change from the cheesy chord progression of the first section. Unfortunately, it's also a fairly repetitive section. I noticed that it's essentially repeating the same 8-measure chunk, adding something else each time. Most people would call this not-repetitive because it changes slightly each time. However, I think it would have been much better if you added multiple things at once or took out something as well, rather than just adding a ride cymbal and slightly changing the tune - this sounds like it was done to simply lengthen the piece rather than really add anything that made the piece better.
-The transition at 3:13 is a little bit awkward. Even with the slight change in chords immediately beforehand, the transition is a bit too quick. It would have been better if you just changed one thing - made the chords flow into the next section rather than going back to what they would have been... except not actually doing that.
-Ending sounded extremely rushed - the only warning was my glance at the length of the piece and how long it had been playing. A bit more buildup would have been much appreciated.

Overall: This is a well-mixed, bouncy, fairly generic "Waterflame" track. You didn't really branch out to too much, and to tell the truth, a lot of it sounded rushed - though the ending shows it the most clearly. You may want to consider spending a bit more time on transitions and particularly the repetition of your music - remember, having the same 8 measures repeat 5 times in a row is *not* a good thing. I will give this a 7/10 - I think your round 1 song was slightly better if only due to the more interesting distractions from the holes in composition.

Waterflame responds:

Thank you for the well written review! this helps me so much! and i totally see what you mean. having no school experience of music at all, i have to learn everything myself. and i feel like im fumbling in the dark at times. this is exactly the pointers i need, and ill take your advice seriously!