shizeet's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Paroxym-The Warning (Collab)]

Good at parts

There were some parts of this that I enjoyed, and some others not so much. The intro part was pretty sounding, especially the piano part (though the fake lo-fi crashes I could do without). The part following has a neat build-up, or at least until that cliched hip-hop lead comes in. On top of that, the parts with the repeatitive vocal samples were just plain obnoxious - I've heard enough of that kind of in ego-tripping crap. But the part around 2:00 was really ace, though too bad it was really short.

Anyways, this sounds like pretty decent beats, but there are just something things in it (as I've mentioned before) that just don't sit well with me.

Paroxym responds:

I just put the vocals in for fun but yeah I see what you're saying. Yeh the chorus is a tad short but is bangin. Thanks for the review man.

[Smile, Baby]

Nice tune-

It's simple, but definitely unenjoyable, and it certainly has an emotional affect to it. I'm not too convinced of the flanger effect - makes it feels like it wants to be psychedelic rock or something, and generally just kind of distracting from the more personal feel of the piece. The recording sounds pretty clear too, which is always a plus, but sounds kind of lacking in the bass - maybe EQ'ing may help?

MysticShinHanKu responds:

Yeah, I could always re-record it with my much better, high quality mic and mess around a little more, but the solo, while minor, was improv and felt, so I feel that if I redid it, it would have less feel to it since I didn't really know the notes I would play before hand, I was just going along with the music. Thanks for the review ;)

also, it was a phaser. I thought it gave a good dreamy, surrounding feel.

[Arctic Amazon]

Starts out a bit awkwardly, but builds up nicely

The beginning parts sounded kind of awkward with the sudden pauses - it'd probably sound a bit more natural if you added a bit of echo or reverb so the transition into silence is more gradual (also, those windy synth effects could probably be longer and fade in more gradually to get a more windy feel).

Afterwards when the piece starts going, it starts out a bit on the dull side, but when those nice synths come in around 1:00 and start layering all over one another, it's starts to sound real nice and full. At around, 1:47, I think the drums drop out a bit too suddenly, but it's brief enough to not detract too much. Speaking of the drums, they sounded too loud for my tastes, especially during the lighter sections - I'd turn them down a notch or so, or at least make the bass drum a bit less boomy.

Overall, I think it's pretty interesting piece, but there are parts of it that just feel like they haven't been fleshed out quite enough (ie, most of the parts w/o the ethereal synth thing playing a melody/countermelody). Maybe some more padding here and there might help with that. Anyways, keep at it.

SkatingIsGenetic responds:

Thanks for the constructive criticism!

I would love to redo this piece, actually, I wasn't done with it, but I had made this with FL7 demo, and lucky for me...my computer froze, so I lost EVERYTHING except for this, which I had saved a bit earlier.

I wasn't even halfway done but oh well.

Glad you enjoyed it!

^.~

[_FlatliningW/aSmile[Chill]]

Not bad for a first (w/ Logic)

Interesting piece you've got here, especially with the alternating instruments and whatnot. The piece wasn't really interesting melodically and harmonically, but the varied instrumentation helped offset that to a degree. I don't think it necessarily needs vocals, but something to carry a more prevalent melodic line throughout.
The mixing feets kind of off, mainly with the bass and harp being a bit too high in the mix. And honestly, while the filtered drums sound pretty cool, they don't really fit that well with the overall feel of the piece. Maybe you tone those down a bit (ie, be subtler w/ the filters, not DJ-scratch-like). Also, the pad that you use to double the piano at for the melodic parts don't really sound good at the upper ranges in my opinion - I'd consider another choice for the patch. But yeah, these are just aesethic differences (main thing to worry about is the balance).
Anyways, this isn't a bad piece at all really, especially if it's your first one done in Logic (though it's one of the easier DAWs to just dive in and use). Good job.

Muesical-Pope responds:

Hey thanks for the review :)
The mixing is defiantly off. I was changing things up to an hour before I had to turn i t in for the assignment.. and I never really balanced it in time. And i work in the music engineering lab which closed for spring break.. so I haven't been able to go back and do anything with it yet.
And thanks for input about the pad... I had selected a piano+pad set when I first started working with this and... just never changed it. In retrospect I definately agree with you.
I really wanted a more interesting melodic line, so I actually recorded violin to go along with it.. but I was at the time recording with a friend.. and he was getting bored so I only did 2 takes and tried to pick them apart... which ended up sounding... sub par. I am going to get a Mic soon and give recording another go and try to get that together. This piece as it is is especially bland because it was written with a melody or vocals in mind that were just pulled out of it.
I'm new to logic but I really like it. Prior to logic I had only had brief encounters with FL studio.. Cakewalk.. and as of recent I got Protools.
Thanks again for the advice, when I get the chance to revisit and work on this more i'll take it all into consideration :)

[Karco - Temple]

What's nice is

From just the beginning, I was entranced by the piano riff against the arctic winds (in fact, I'd almost prefer that emptier section to linger on a bit longer so that I could've savored it a bit more). But the pads were nice too - really like their organic, flowing nature. The drums were subtle to taste, though it sounds like to me they are the main source of the crackling? Overall, this all coalesces into quite an exquisite sounding piece, though certainly I wish were a bit longer (or just drawn out a bit more).

I took a brief look at the waveform, and it looks like the crackles come where there are flat peaks. I'm guess this is probably due to "soft-clipping," so may trying lowering your levels (especially the drums) some more so that nothing clips at internally. Or maybe you applied a limiter or some sort that cut off some peaks? I donno, but yeah, that's my guess about the crackling anyway.

Anyways, great job on this! I'll be looking forward to stuff from you in the future!

Karco responds:

Heh, look at that, a longer review! :D Thanks.

Augh, having the emptier section linger is a good idea, I should have done that! D: Glad you liked the pads, and the drums were one of the sources of the crackling - the other is the 8-measure FX that plays at the beginning and end of the song.

Hmm, maybe I should have made it a bit longer, while keeping the addicting shortness/ending?

I never thought of that, I should try it later! Thanks for that! :D

Thanks for the review, glad you liked it! :D I don't usually make ambience but considering this song's success, I just might make more sooner or later. ;)

[Empty Graves]

Cool narrative

Really like the vocoder effects - the chords feel pretty on in supporting the imagery from the words. I think you might be able to do a bit more with it, though. Right the vocoder feels a bit too strong throughout (except that bit at the beginning without any vocoding; was it fluke?) - it might be a neat idea to adjust the wet-dry mix dynamically so you can phase into deeper vocoding for the more dramatic parts, and less so others and thus give a stronger sense of contrast.
And if you really want to paint the words even more, try adding even more effects here and there (ie, ring modulation, convolution, distortion, etc), and fade them in and out dynamically as well. Maybe some soft chordal padding here and there would also help in further shaping the piece, and just filling it out a bit more (especially in the bass ranges which the voice/vocoder doesn't provide).
Still, really neat idea in with this colorful narrative. Nice job!

ElectroBeast responds:

The begining was a fluke. I posted it raw just to see what others would think. Saying that, thanks for the pointers in the review. I'll keep them in mind

[.:Something Soothing:.]

Not bad

You have pretty varied progression throughout, though in this case I might've actually settled for abit more consistency than variation. It also kind of sounded like you were relying on the progression a bit too much - for most of the piece I couldn't really pick out a distinct and connected melody (though there's the fragment here and there). The ending part was interesting twist, one that I wish you'd expanded more upon though - if not, it's probably a better idea just to cut it out completely as it kind of sounds like an anomaly within the piece. Drums were ok, though inconsequential - could've done with or without them. Overall, still a pretty interesting piece, though some parts moreso than others.

kchrules responds:

Ok. Thanks and I'll remember that.

[Dist this]

A bit on the minimal side

Liking the sound of the lead. I was at first a bit put off by the lack of accompaniment (since the piece really isn't melodic) save the drums, but grew to enjoy the subtle variations within. The ending part felt a bit off since you suddenly introduced a harmonic line within the lead, but didn't really give it time to sink in before the piece stopped. Overall, still enjoyable though. Nice job.

ChoccyMilk responds:

Thanks for the review man. i agree, that parts not the greatest, i was trying to hard i guess. didnt turn out to good

[Eye of the Tempest]

Dramatic

You manage to keep a pretty dramatic mood throughout, which seems appropriate given the context. Musically, I'd liked to have seen a little bit more development (akin to what you've done to the theme in the ending section) - many of the variations are just transposed sections of the motif in the beginning with slight changes in instrumentation. But it's a solid piece of work, and one I could certainly imagine in a game. Nice job.

Bosa responds:

Thanks for the review and criticism.

What do you propose I should have done in the ending section? I tried to perhaps keep a familiar mood in the song, but I also tried to not be too repetitive, yet I believe I've failed on that subject. So should I have added a new melody or what? Of course, it's too late now, but it's always good to receive feedback from fellow musicians.

[[CE]-[Sands of Claire]]

Feels more pop than classical, but w/e

I do like the overall sound and instrumentation, but the constant ostinato made this kinda feel like a one-trick pony. You add layers and depth on top of chords, but never really develop it - and it ends up kind feeling like (slight) variations on a four-bar progression. What you have right now works pretty good as a sort of chorus part, but I think you probably need to inject some different "lyrical" sections in between to make it feel like a full piece. So yeah, here's sometime to chew on :).

CompletedEmotion responds:

True, it was very repetitive, but ostinati are almost everywhere these days, and have deep roots in music going back to before time. But see, you're right about it sound more like pop music, and that is indeed due to the unchanging style of the song.

Perhaps if I added some vocals?

Expect a redo of this song later on.