Aydin-Jewelz123's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[25 Below]

Listening on my crappy 10 quid headphones so cant say too much about the mixdown..

Track starts off with a good feel vibe but almost videogamey, especially around 40 second mark.

Compositionwise it's nice dude and I like that end bit where the notes go slightly off / into another key? Dunno if I'm explaining it nice but yeah, its attention grabbing and fits the gamey theme you got going on.

For the drop, you could introduce a saw bass to sit under the other parts? Also your reverb is overpowering right around 55 and 1:06, if you cut back the low end on the reverb using the hicut / lowcut settings within the reverb (assuming you used fruity reeverb?) then it will open space for your bass to sit, especially in the drop.

Keep up the good work

Xyanp responds:

Yo thanks for feedback! Actually I used the effector's phaser+filter deviation around 55 and 1:06, in 55's case, I had it suddenly cut off after building up but then not changing the melody synth or building the volume back up. In post, however I didn't like how it sounded so I had it semi-gradually decline back to normal levels. In the case of 1:06, I have the filter and phaser sorta go up and down a bit, although maybe I got a bit reckless with how far.

[Well I'll just leave]

Nice sounds dude. A lot of ambience to the build up! That piano at 48 tops it off beautifully. Good luck in the contest ;)

DarkHorseOrchestra responds:

Thank you Jewelz! Appreciate your time and comment! The other submissions are wonderful, gonna need all the luck I can get haha

[Capsized]

Wow dude! SO GOOD!! xD

You do / done any live performances?

This is spot on dude.

Which of the instruments are you on? How many people are making these tracks?

Very cool man.

The singing at 2:55!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Epic dude. Wow.

JacksonTime responds:

Thanks man. I'm actually playing all the instruments and singing all the parts.

[Lemons - Malevolence (N3TW0RK Remix)]

What CPU you got dude? Have a look at "Tools > Macros > Switch Smart Disable For All Plugins"

That should buy you some space hopefully. Onto the track.

Nice composition and some juicy melodies. The drums fit well. I'd say you could connect the two chunks a bit better if you reverb slightly more / extend the decay on it, so we don't get dead silence at any point. Could even chuck a reverse sample in there, of your piano. Reversed piano usually sounds quite dope.

The drop is quite nice, very up in the clouds style. Feel good vibes for sure.

For the mixing, you should cut back a bit on the reverb of your snares, up the volume of your claps a bit around 25 seconds, your piano is quite heavy on the low end, cut some of the lower frequencies on it (placing the EQ after your reverb), then it'll open some space for your drums, which need some space. Along with a bass. Rather at the moment, your lows are dominated by reverb where they could have a punchy kick or a smooth bassline, especially for the drops, where you're opting for a high pace dnb esque style. I have to turn up my speakers to hear your bass, so possibly up the volume for it next time. Your snare too, down the bottom end of the reverb on that, on the drop bits, then it'll fit much more airy within the track.

Kick the volume up on your piano at the start too, so I don't have to turn up my speakers, I mean the very first 8 bars or so. Also, with the piano, you could play around with different volumes for the notes, just to give it a slightly more human touch to it. Even move some of the notes off rhythm at times if you're so inclined. Makes it feel that bit more human.

But yeah, in terms of the mixdown, the reverb needs tweaking the most.

Peace

N3tW0rkMusic responds:

Cheers, this review was super helpful to me. I will try to fix it up as soon as I can

[Theme for Bad News]

Awesome. Sat here singing along to your track xD

Very fitting for a movie or tv show spot.

You played this on guitar?

Good stuff dude. Should definitely get some vocals on it when you're finished. Quite a moving piece. My lyrics went something like "singing to myself... wooooowooowooo" xD

Need to hear the final version!

You gonna mix it down or leave it with this live style vibe?

Bitbeak responds:

Really stoked you enjoyed it! All the instrumentation is me (the kick track was done on a drum machine though :0), mostly guitar and mandolin with an improvised snare

It’s gonna stay more or less the way it is until I finish the animation it’s going in, but I do recycle a lot of my instrumentals into vocal-centric tracks further down the line so who knows :)

[Soulox - Gated Paradox]

Very old school vibes here. Kinda has a Tekken thing going on. Sounding good. No idea what the description means - you need to do a video to show this stuff off though dude!! Definitely sounds cool and different.

The track itself reminds me a lot of Fifa Street 2 and Tekken from the PS2 days, with a very UK-esque drum sequence and bass. Alryt geeza, wats gud m8!!!

The ragga vocals top it off nicely xD

Could definitely see people jamming to this on a Boiler Room set.

2:09!!!!! :D

Sounds like a live MC is about to jump in all over it. One of them fast Skibadee style blokes.

Cool stuff dude. This needs a video with it, either your equipment you made it with, or some vinyl player playing it. Very cool indeed.

Vj responds:

Thanks for taking the time to give me a review, I appreciate it. I have a video of the software here https://youtu.be/nLRl2Q0aTI8
I was going to film the equipment but I feel like the software does most of the work synthesizing it all together.

[Ephemerality]

Starts off with a very soft piano, a nice touch of synth dabbles in around 10 seconds. I like the pitch mingling with that. Blends nicely with the piano too and has it's own prescence. Gives the track a definite etherial vibe to go with the melodies.

That itchy percussion was nice.

Damn! Your filters are giving it a very cool sound space. Yeah dude, wow! You nailed the drop too and that percussion, when it does make an appearance is very nice.

Sounds very unique dude.

The track builds up a groove later on, around the 2 minutes, and that piano is damn gorgeous, with a slight Hans Zimmer influence after the 2 min 10 mark? :D

Yes. This is very cool and your melodies are ridiculously good dude. That piano at 2:52 into a violin. Good stuff.

The ending is quite upbeat though. It almost sounds like you're crafting a story with this track? The last bit sounds like something was resolved. Definitely feels like a journey.

My criticism if I must would be to focus a bit more on the mixing. Some parts are gorgeous but unfortunately are slightly hidden behind the rest of the synths, especially due to the reverb. Like your percussion is noticeably there and present, but your piano ducks behind a touch too much to hear the melodies themselves, especially in the drop around 1:30-2 min, the strings and beat make it so everything feels a bit in the background, which is cool given the genre but my gosh those melodies should make an appearance in the foreground at times too. It would seriously blow my mind! Whereas at the moment I'm having to turn up my speakers a fair bit to hear those lovely piano bits and also that synth around 2 min. Maybe tweaking the reverb would solve the problem, I dunno. You could sidechain the reverb so it ducks behind when the melody plays, then kicks in when the melody stops, so it still carries the airy space but lets us hear the melody more. Nothing major, just a small dip might be just what it needs.

Also, the highs aren't really coming through, at times they do with the percussion but you could definitely bring some more brightness to the track by adding slight emphasis on the highs when it comes to the synth. With the percussion and syncopated drum parts it already is, just some synths bits & piano could use it, for that extra sweetness.

But yeah dude, great job! Keep me posted :D

Thomaisho responds:

Wow.. thank you for this amount of feedback! I’m really glad you enjoyed the song ^_^

I will definitely take your advice and suggestions, and do my best to update this track progressively moving forward. I’ll sweeten up the track and attempt to mix it more comfortably and efficiently (although my DAW is mobile on my IPad so I don’t exactly have all of the freedoms that the more complex DAWS offer..)

I’m really am so happy though that you would take the time out of your day to “review” my track like this, I would say. Thank you 😊

[BeatDrop]

Heavy stuff. The distortion kicks the track off with a real buzz then you go all melodic on it. Nice. The drop kicks in quite nicely. Any plans for an extended version?

Reminds me a lot of that tune from Skins - Crystal Castles. Just a happier version.

Itsyaboi3456 responds:

Thanks bro!

[Ásum - Enigmatic [Dubstep]]

Yo... after reading that description, I need to see this wobbler in action!

Track is starting off nicely, ambient with good energy. Nice panning and use of the sound space.

A little guitar intro just kicked in, has some nice melodies going on.

Now the breakdown, yeah I like that shuffling thing, ohhh and it keeps going which is damn sexy. You properly took that all the way.

Ok now the build, got some nice left right business, some distorter in the background too, very matured and self appreciating build up. Doesn't skip, takes its time to build. Nice.

Then the drop, we got a nice ambient bit but it's still building. What's around the corner? Waiting to see. Very nice use of ambience dude. You've fit in so many sounds into the space and they all have their own bit. My headphones sound like I have 8 ears on or something. Nuts! How did you do that!

Overall pretty decent dude, constantly feels like it's building to something, like the energy is sustained pretty much all the way and the effects are very elongated which is damn interesting to see!

It's like your drops are part of the build up and the energy floats between the sections. Makes the track smoooooth.

Good stuff :D

Would love to hear what you do with a heavy drop at the end of an extended build up! Your atmospheric skills are on point and some fantastic sound space.

DarkInRed responds:

Very thanks!

[The Brightest Star]

Awesome description dude. Lets see where this goes!

Nice ambient as heck intro, getting some Interstellar vibes, while they're still on earth, with some stormy clouds in the distance, bleak but hopeful. Then the piano kicks in nicely around 0:28. Damn!!! The techno vibe off the synth at 0:38 is definitely fitting the theme nicely.

It feels very atmospheric for sure. Heavily emotional business. I like the build up, very ambient.

The switchup at 1:13 is decent. Going into a happy land now, like some 8bit gameboy business. The drop is juicy as heck too! Dang. Nice. Very funky.

Yeah, decent, I like it. The drop is good, my favourite was the build up, the drop is very happy in comparison but that's all good too. Some next LSD trip business then we're back into sad territory around 2:40. Your build ups and ambient sections are killer dude! Very sweet on the ears.

The drop is decent too actually. Could throw some arps in there, change up the wobble & beat patterns some, the gated effect is tiring on the ears a bit.

Wow, see your 3:58 breakdown, those ambient bits are AMAZING. Nice use of bitcrusher too at the end.

Good stuff dude, well done!

SPECTORMUSIC responds:

Thank so much!!!!!!