Onefin's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[NGADM] Undertow]

Wait, is your album art a picture of this song in your DAW?

House music! I clicked the link expecting to get something great, and boy, I wasn't let down! The sound design and originality in this track are amazing! Especially your drums, which sound awesome!

Man, the originality. You kinda fused ambient with house, which I really love. You've done that mix exceptionally well, far better than I would have done, anyway.

Some of the sounds you used here gives me some World of Goo vibes... like the lead at around 1:10. Don't worry, that's a good thing! ;)

Now, things I didn't like so much. I felt that a lot of this track kinda sounded the same. There were really no new (at least, distinguishably new) sounds introduced from 1:00 to 2:30, and your song started to get kinda boring. Now, you did eventually introduce some strings at 2:30, but the 1 1/2 minute stretch from 1:00 to 2:30 had a rough time keeping me interested. But hey, that's not a big deal, because regardless it's very pleasing to listen to. And it's not like my songs don't make the same mistakes. :)

Also, I have to agree with ChronoNomad about the ending. If there was one thing I would change over the remaining period of round 1 time, it would be that ending.

Overall, amazing track! 5/5, 9/10, awesome. Good luck with NGADM! ;D

1f1n1ty

Jimmypig responds:

Thank you very much! I just updated the song to add a few quality of sound changes, nothing over the top, I tried to add something different to the later parts but it sounded too much to my ear by then. I let the last note ring out properly though :)

Oh and yes it is my project file as the picture haha

[Type Random]

Alright, so I'm not a extremely good artist or anything, and I didn't make NGADM either, but I'm gonna leave this review to try and help an aspiring musician just like me.

The biggest thing I have to tell you is that your track just needs more stuff going on. I'm counting exactly three synths in this track. The first part of your tracks has the first two synths alternating, and the back half is just the third synth. Over all this, drums. But that's all you have. There's a lot you can try out and put on top of all these sounds. Try making a bassline or a sub bass. Try making arps. Try making plucky chords. Try layering two synths on top of each other by having them play the same thing at the same time. Overall a song with just one thing playing at a time sounds kinda empty, y'know? You can add more breadth to your track with more sounds.

Another way to make your song more interesting is by panning. You can take advantage of two speakers to make some sounds stand out without actually having to raise faders, and it just makes your song sound wider, overall. You may already be doing this, I can't tell at the moment.

Next, transitions. The transition from 0:17 to 0:21, in my opinion, is pretty sudden. To me, it almost sounds like you started a completely new track, since only the drums reappear, the chord synth is completely different. I would do something that can connect the ideas a little bit more.

Overall I think your song just needs more breadth. It sound kinda empty. Tip: Try listening to some of your favorite songs. Listen closely for all the elements that go into the sound you hear. Try to imitate that breadth. With some more experience you'll get better! Just don't give up!

Also, sorry if this review sounded harsh (it was kinda all criticism, whoops). My purpose in reviewing this track is to possibly help you get better, not to nitpick and tell you all your faults to your face or something. I don't know.

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

Thanks for your lengthy response! As for more stuff going on, maybe you're right, but this is actually designed to be an instrumental track for an R&B singer, so the vocals would fill it up. However, I do think that it could use a little flavour. A lot of my other songs are much busier than this one.

I don't pan at all. I keep forgetting that you can actually use it. But yeah, I will try it a bit more, perhaps even using stereo enhancement.

The transition from 0:17-0:21 is supposed to be pretty sudden I wouldn't change that, because it's like a drop, so I wanted it to be random and out of nowhere. And when the track is lengthened, it would make sense in the grand scheme of the song, because the same drop repeats. Maybe even a vocal sample would be inserted there as a kind of "trigger" to the chorus.

But yeah. The emptiness is partially because no vocals, but also because I probably need to include more elements. I actually tried imitating the style of a song already: LIZ - All Them Boys. But that song is a lot more ornate and beautiful.

So yeah. I will take this into account and perhaps release a version with a recorded vocal, or even an acapella that I think fits, and then lengthen it into a stereotypical pop song and see what you think then. Apart from that, thanks for bothering to review. If you want busier songs, definitely have a look at most of my other stuff. It's generally a lot more busy and weird.

Cheers!

[Tyven: Wandering]

Wow! This is pretty good! I love the intense energy this song has, but I'm not a fan of the ending... oh well, everything else was great!

Good luck at NGADM!

[Nexus V3]

Niiiiiice, man! I like it!

Best of luck making NGADM! Your submission is pretty good!

[Evienne (demo)]

Man, 37 plays? This needs more than that! Even my tracks get at least 100 plays after a while. This? Is probably better!

Best of luck making NGADM, this is great stuff! :D

ElysianSky responds:

aww thanks so much ^_^ good luck to you too!!!

[Vaccination]

This actually... isn't bad! Not bad at all! Although it does get uninteresting at points, for what it is, it's nice! If you make NGADM, though, you're gonna have to scrap the reptition...

Best of luck making NGADM!

[Crime of Spring (WIP)]

What the - Zero downloads?!? Usually a song with over 100 plays has AT LEAST one download.

Man, your crud in past NGADMs was really awesome! This is no exception! I'm gonna have a hard time competing against you guys if I make NGADM, which I probably won't.

Good luck!

KabukiTunes responds:

Keep your head up, bro! NGADM is always a surprise, you never know what could happen!

And I actually deactivated downloads on this one, since it's a WIP. I'd like to release the song fully, and THAT one will have downloads enabled

Thank you, and best of luck!

[~Water Spider~]

I'm gonna write you a review! Yay my first review on Newgrounds!

GOOD STUFF
- Chords sound is cool
- Drum sounds are nice

NOT GOOD STUFF
- Your drums are WAY too loud. I can barely hear anything below your drums.
- This song is more repetitive than your average track. Emerald Brine had nice stuff in it, but this is just the same idea repeated way too many times with minimal sound additions.
- Your ending cuts off the reverb tail of your sounds. Before you render from FL, first see how long it takes for the sounds to properly fade out, and be sure to include that tail in your render.

Score: 6/10

[Release (Original Mix)]

Awesome. No other way to describe it. 5/5, 10/10, Downloaded, Faved.