SkyeWint's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Transcendence]

Whoah. Okay, when I started listening to this, the intro totally blew me away - I was not expecting it. I gotta review this one.

The Good:
-As you probably already figured out, that intro is absolutely amazing.
-Come to think of it, most of this is amazing - the quick synth stabs on the 3 of most measures sound really cool.
-The side chaining is well-placed.
-I absolutely love the percussion in this one, it's just *so* well-done, pattern-wise and effect-wise. Reverb coming in at 2:10-2:30
-This still has your glitchy style while going a bit more upbeat, as you said.
-There's a really nice amount of variation, and it shifts between themes at a pace that I really like.
-Transitions are good in this one.
-The outro sounds much better in this song than in some of your other songs - I think you're catching onto the idea that an outro is essentially just another transition. The only difference is it transitions to silence (or the beginning again if you're making a loop) rather than the next section.
-I have no complaints on the mixing - no clipping I can hear and everything is clear-sounding.

The Not-So-Good: Sadly, yes, it still has some not-so-good parts. :< Of course, that's natural. This has relatively few of them though compared to some of your older work, so honestly. REALLY nice job on this one.
-First of all, while there's a lot of variation, there could still be a bit more of a tune. As it is, there's some really amazing harmony with really slow chord melodies (for the most part).
-Second, the outro could still use a tiny bit of work. It's loads better and definitely works, but it's a little bit too sudden of a cutoff. There's not much you really need to do to fix this, fortunately - I think just having the bass do a drop, and *maybe* a kick come in right when the rest of it cuts off would be fine. You know, just a subtle little tail off the end rather than having EVERYTHING cut out there.
-Similar to the end, there's a second of silence at 0:40 which seems a bit awkward - might want to have something at really low volume be playing so it's not COMPLETE silence.

Overall: This is really great. I am seriously impressed. This is one of the best songs I've ever heard period - not just from you, but overall. I'm going to give this 5 stars in the review (which I rarely do) because it's that close to being the best song I've heard.

-Swint

RunningShadows responds:

Hey man,
Wow. In the top songs you've ever heard? I didn't think it was that great, but I am truly honored! I know you rarely give out 5 stars, so I am really glad you liked it so much.

I am glad you see the good I do. Balancing is one of the things I am proudest of in this one. It took soooo many hours. To the point where the song gets annoying because you've heard it so much.

I also really appreciate all of your criticisms. I agree. MELODY is my WEAKNESS. I can understand your other complaints as well. Thanks for being my toughest critic :). Your input really has helped me grow as an artist. I will check some of your stuff out soon to make up for your many helpful reviews.

Thanks,
Pugilator

[The Mare and The Tortoise]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-Vocal work is really good, particularly the vocal percussion panning back and forth! That sounds very good.
-Mixing is nice, though there's not very many instruments, so I doubt that was too difficult.
-Wasn't quite as repetitive or boring as most pop, so points for that.

The Not-So-Good:
-Unfortunately, as most pop has this problem... it's VERY repetitive. The vocal work makes up for it for the most part, but still. Needs more variation, even as pop.
-The outro could have been done quite a bit better.

Overall: Sadly, the repetition brings this down quite a bit, but I did like this, particularly for pop. I'll give it a 7.2 because it's clean, there's more creative percussion than what most people do, and hey, I liked it.

midimachine responds:

Hey man thanks for your time and helpful review! I agree that the outro kinda just trails off... I definitely missed an opportunity there. UMMMMM the thing about mixing less instruments that's easy is just the instrumentation part - like I still put just as much thought and effort into a mix with 5 instruments as opposed to 50 and when I do write a piece with a fuckton of instruments I try to get all the balancing done in the writing part, hehe. Thanks again!

[This is where it ends]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-This is actually really catchy. The organ and bassy synth with the drums sounds pretty nice, as does the second section with the strings and organ.
-Mixing is fine.

The Not-So-Good:
-Yeah, you already know, it's not finished. I'll leave this point at that and say nothing more about it.
-At around 0:22-0:25, the organ seems a bit random and the tune could have been improved.
-I suppose I will be forced to say one last thing about it not being finished - even if it's not finished, there could have been a slightly better ending. Something to close it off, at least.

Overall: As much as I like it and wish I could have given you a better score, the most I can give is a 3/10. Sorry. :<

FairSquare responds:

It's okay. This piece of music deserves no more :p
And perhaps you're right about giving it an ending, but i just became frustrated with this track and decided it didn't even deserve an 'ending' (because even if i gave it an ending, the track wouldn't be finished or anything, so it wouldn't feel like a real ending).
Thanks for the review!

[timeslip]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-That is a nice guitar, that's a nice bass, and that's a nice drumkit.
-I'm putting the saxophone separate because it's awesome. That has a really natural sound.
-The composition is pretty cool, some jazzy influences and other awesome ideas in it.
-Mixing is pretty good.

The Not-So-Good:
-The drumkit, while sounding natural, also doesn't sound overly good with the snare hits at 0:23-0:34 (and similar places), as if it were recorded in a room with pretty crappy acoustics. Another problem with the drumkit is that the kick is really hard to hear initially, it's so far in the background that it's almost invisible. Eventually it does get better, fortunately.
-There's no change in feel, it could use a bit more variation in the type of ideas.

Overall: I really enjoyed this. It has a very nice, calm, groovy feel. Also, the instruments are played pretty darn well, I feel like you actually played them yourself. If you did, then you're talented at playing instruments. If you didn't, then you're talented at making instruments realistic. I'll give this an 8/10, one of my top 6 scores this round (two were tied for 8, so).

acmeDyne responds:

I definitlely would like to redo the whole drum part, compositionally and mixing-wise.
Honestly, it was thrown on haphazardly in the last minutes before the deadline.
Thanks for reviewing!

[What's Ahead (NGADM 1)]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-Okay, your composition is wonderful, and you have an obvious talent for that.
-I love the organ and the carefully crafted background behind it, it truly does fit the atmosphere for your 'story'.
-The flute and pizzicato sound wonderful.

The Not-So-Good: "I bet they'll say "Percussion! Reverb!" =P"
-Well, since you apparently want it... Percussion! Reverb! :D Honestly though, you're half right about that. I'll go for the percussion first - There's really a lack of it in the song. While it's not REALLY needed, it definitely would have been nice to have more. The snare I hear starting at 0:38 would have been wonderful if it had been brought out with a few more rolls and flourishes, and a big bass drum thumping away would have been nice too, though alternatively you could have had a kick sounding more like a heartbeat to increase tension.
-Now, "Reverb!" No, just kidding. The reverb is actually fine IMO. However, instead, I'm poking at the other EXTREMELY problematic thing - the mixing. Your composition on this is awesome, but I can't hear it! D: Honestly, I have to REALLY strain to hear anything. Remember, many instruments together will have clashing frequencies. Try using a spectrometer and a parametric EQ to lower the frequencies that are loudest in all of them. The spectrometer can help with finding these frequencies. Also, you can use a compressor to take out really high annoying frequencies, though for orchestral music DON'T USE MAKE-UP GAIN.

Overall: I don't have much to say about this, actually (even though I typed a ridiculous amount there). There are only two problems I can really comment about, though if the mixing were fixed I'd undoubtedly have more. Unfortunately, the extremely poor mixing kills the great composition, and so I'm going to have to give this a 4/10.

CheckeredZebra responds:

That's fair enough! Everything I've done here is basically self taught, including the software itself. I've read step's review and now know what to at least LOOK for. I've always had trouble with volume, heheh.

Thanks for this, it was pretty helpful, and paired with the other review here I can definitely -attempt- to solve some of these issues. That's a lot to step up on in only two weeks, though. =P

EDIT: Also, all those rolls are done manually. Literally as SOON AS I SUBMITTED I found exactly what I wanted. Ohwell, until next time. xD

[Zebra Tangerine {7x}]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-Oh my god that intro. So good. So very very good. Seriously, it's amazing. The pads compliment the guitar *so well*. And the pads themselves are godly.
-Your guitar playing is definitely not bad, particularly for someone being new. Of course, that's just the opinion of someone who doesn't play the guitar, but still.

The Not-So-Good:
-First, the buildup could have been so much more. Since you were going for the rock track, the buildup could have lasted a bit longer and started meshing together with the main part in a cleaner way.
-The drums are pretty nasty. The high hat is too loud, and meanwhile, the snare and kick are too quiet, too far back in the mix. The toms are awesome though.
-The outro is a bit too quick, definitely sounds like you ran out of time. Were you designing that pad in the intro?
-No tune in the more upbeat section, it's really just plain harmony.

Overall: That intro was amazing, and if you made an entire ambient track off it, I'd probably rate that pretty highly. As-is, the middle REALLY killed it. So I'm going to have to give it a 6.8/10. Also, Zebra Tangerines sounds like an awesome name for a music artist or band.

EbonHawk7X responds:

Yeah, I felt pretty bad about turning it into a rock/orchestra cookie cutter track but I was in a bit of a creative rut, and with my time running out it was as good as I could do. The pads only required very minor tweaking from a nice preset I found in Alchemy, most of the time put into the song was just listening to the nice sounding intro and recording the guitar, haha. I really do appreciate this great review, thank you!

[Clicky]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-...this song is adorable and very relaxing. I have to say, I really liked the atmosphere you made.
-All the clicky sound effects that I have to assume are the song's namesake sound really cool.
-There are a lot of ambient melodies that fit in with the background chords and melody. They're very nice and as I said, relaxing.
-No problem with the mixing.
-The velocity changes are really cool.

The Not-So-Good:
-No variation in the background melody, or really the melodies going along with it. Actually, there's almost no variation at all in the feel of the song or the different melodies. They could probably be arranged in almost any order and I wouldn't have noticed much of a difference.

Overall: To tell the truth, the only issue I really had with the song at all was the repetition of it. However, that is a *huge* problem. As short as the song is, it could normally get away with it, and I can see that if you had more time you could produce something extraordinarily amazing. But I'm sorry, in the competition, it falls short of Camoshark's song. I'll give it a 6.5/10, mainly for the extremely nice calming atmosphere it gives off.

TheBenjerman responds:

Thanks for the official review good sir!

[Chemicals [NGADM]]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-Okay, first of all, nice phasers or flangers or whatever the heck on the drum for the intro, definitely fits with "Chemicals". Speaking of which, that drumkit is nice, clean, and fits well.
-Your guitars are really well-done, you obviously have talent.
-That is some really nice voice work, particularly since you only had 2 weeks.
-Overall, the feel of the song is amazing and constantly changes. Managing to keep me interested for the full 6 and a half minutes is quite a feat.
-Ooh, nice usage of a different division of beats at 1:00, it really, REALLY threw me for a loop when I first tried to count it before I figured out "oh, you actually stayed in 4/4".
-Vocal chopping at 2:28. Or whatever the heck you call it, I can't remember. It sounds great.

The Not-So-Good:
-Pretty much the biggest thing I noticed was the kick causing mixing at around 3:30 onward. Might want to bring down the lower frequencies a bit or cut out any reverb you have on the kick. This REALLY kills things at 5:18-5:30 when you have the kick rolls.
-A few transitions are a bit awkward, like the one at 1:28-1:36. Really threw me for a loop there.
-...you have this amazing song and then use a fadeout for an outro. WHY. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS. D:

Overall: Oh my god I am seriously impressed. This is definitely the best submission in this round, a lot of people seemed to not have tried very hard, but your effort clearly shows in this. Incredible job. For your effort I'll give you a 9.5/10, the best score this round. Honestly, somebody's going to have to pull a miracle out to beat that.

Kor-Rune responds:

Thanks for the detailed review! I want to enter in every contest to get awesome feedback like this. Goodness!

Yup, it's a flanger for a little bit. part is ugly so flangerdrums. I use Addictive Drums, with a tweaked kit. it rox
Nice catch on the beat division! I just stack two simple meters when I can't think of a cool drum beat.

Thanks for helpin me fix my kick compression problem. I didn't know to take out some lower frequencies, but now that I think about it, it would work. Thankyouthankyou

Also, that's my least favorite transition too LOL. sometimes I think I'm dream theater and can do that but I can't. I tried to compensate with a really quiet pick slide that doesn't have a lot of presence but is still in the mix for some reason.

I'm absolutely flattered you can cl this the best submission in this round. Thank you for your great review, useful criticism, and kind words.

[Focused Noise (NGADM '12)]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-Your guitar playing is pretty nice.
-Holy crap the compression is insane, and there's no clipping. Nice!

The Not-So-Good: Sorry for having more to say on this, the song certainly isn't badly made. There's just more I can talk about here!
-Just about all of your transitions are awkward and off-beat, I'm sorry to say. They're quite sudden and jarring.
-You are thrashing that guitar so hard that it's about to die. And you don't really stop at all throughout the whole song.
-This desperately needs a change in feel and idea. The whole thing could be condensed into about 2-3 minutes and sound just as good.
-No instruments other than guitars and drums? I am disappointed at this.

Overall: It's well-made, but not too well-done overall. You've essentially taken the guitar and whacked it for 4 minutes with a flail and mace, then added distortion and called it done. At least, that's kinda what it sounds like. Would be great if it had variation. Overall, I'm giving this a 6.5/10.

Demon-Slayer12 responds:

You're right man, these aren't my most original riffs I must say. And I probably should made it about 2 min, although I don't find 4 min long anymore. I listen to a lot of progressive music, where songs are never less than 5 min haha, and I love listening to 20 min songs. But, I agree, this is my most polished recording, but least interesting. But how can you not snap your neck headbanging to riff at 2:08? I honestly think that this song would be an awesome metal song with vocals. You have to be a metalhead to really appreciate what I do. I can't stand electronic music, so the only other instruments I would add other than guitar or bass (there was a bass track on there), are string synths or choir ahs. I do like some keyboards if it fits with the music, however I'm not great at playing keyboards haha. I know the transitions are a bit weird, but I did that on purpose. I've listened to many songs and thought there was weird stuff, but after listening a few times it made more sense, but that being more progressive music obviously haha. Thanks for taking the time to do a thorough review, cheers!

[Isis]

Here is your personal review for your round 1 submission! Remember that the score might be a little lower than I would normally give, I'm being a tad harsher than I'd normally be for the NGADM.

The Good:
-Ooh, that's a really cool atmosphere you have. The echoes on the more percussive bell-like instrument as well as the panning help this a ton.
-The strings are also quite nice.
-Your mixing is well-done.
-The harmonies in your music are all quite creative.

The Not-So-Good:
-Your percussion never changes! >:(
-Unfortunately, the entire feel of your song is about the same as your percussion. It *never* changes. RampantMusik's song at least had SOME variation in the feel.
-You only really have quarter notes in your song aside from the background chords. As easy as it makes this song to nod my head to, you should actually have a few other kinds of notes. Otherwise it does make the song a lot more boring overall.

Overall: This song is actually really, really nice. It is not composed as well as RampantMusik's, but the feel of it is so much more appealing overall, even if it never changes. I am going to give this a 7.7 because I think it very slightly edges out RampantMusik's. However, this is VERY slight, and you really should work on giving a bit more variation in your music.

BenTibbetts responds:

Hi SkyeWintrest, thank you for taking the time to listen and review this track for NGDAM!