Onefin's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Shadow Steps]

Holy moly. I can't say that after They Taught Us To Dream I didn't expect something like this, but dang. That's tight.

Dude I don't even know where to start writing this review. I could talk about how your rhythmic style makes the climaxes very satisfying and intriguing to listen to. I could talk about how your drums work a very nice balance between being loud enough to keep the drive and being soft enough to not be distracting. I could talk about how your sound design always keeps things fresh the whole time as to never leave me bored.

I could also talk about how your command in transitions helps keep the drive going throughout the track for a seamless sonic experience that never lets up on the tension. I could also talk about how you effectively created a contrast between the melodic flowing sections and the rhythmic breakbeat drops which helps distinguish them.

But I could also talk about how each of the sections sounds a bit more or less of the same thing sound design wise, which leads to the dulling of the effect. I could also talk about how the mix doesn't quite have the amount of highs I would have liked. I could also talk about how I was looking for some contrast to the mood at some point in this track but never got something without the tension. But all that is nitpicking, really. This is some top notch work.

Of course, your competitor Lethalix pulled out some of his best, too. Good luck! I'm interested in the results for this one.

DEM0NW0LF responds:

That's a lot of kind words

Thanks :)

[Deadshot Desperado]

Hey ConnorGrail I was like sort of excited about you vs Koraii until he pulled out ; ^ ;

But man this sounds amazing anyway! You do lots of really small musical tidbits which keep this track extremely interesting to listen to. Every instant there's something new to hear, and before long you shift to another idea in a really interesting and cohesive way.

Overall composition is really well done! Melodies are pretty top notch stuff here (dat solo at 0:48) and you pull off a key change exceptionally well too (1:03). Sounds generally work incredibly well for the parts you gave them as well.

If I had to criticize anything I'd say the vocals at 1:10 come in rather suddenly, probably because of their volume? or frequencies? I'm not sure.

In all this has got to be one of the more interesting entries I've heard thus far. And you say your new opponent has to top this in 4 days?

ConnorGrail responds:

Thanks! What can I say, these all over the place tracks are my ultimate anti-boredom vaccine. Well to me at least. Glad you enjoyed

[Ravenholt]

Hey, Lethalix. Dropping by to give you a review, full NGADM style.

Let's just get the obvious stuff out of the way - the production is extremely good in this track. I would have expected no less from you, anyway. Everything sounds incredibly clear - it's mixing prowess I can only dream to achieve someday. I especially like the drum design you pulled off here. It is drumstep, isn't it?

You mixed things up sufficiently well to not stay repetitive, which is good. Your two drops are very similar but different enough to definitely not be the same. The middle section has some noticeable distinctions from the sections around it, which is nice. One big thing which struck me as improvable in this aspect was how the chord progression stays the same the entire time with no variation. After the first minute this progression has already worn out, but you keep pushing it. I would have liked to hear other sections with different chord progressions to really sell the non-repetitive effort.

Your sense of flow and transition is pretty good. Because you used sections very similar to each other throughout, I imagine it wasn't too difficult to make something cohesive (I mean, in comparison to my stuff, which goes literally everywhere). You did transitions well and never broke that flow. The intense sections feel satisfying to reach and stay that way throughout.

A couple other minor criticisms: The piano sounded really robotic for the brief time I heard it, and the toms aren't very impressively designed, either. Also the outro kinda cuts, which is a pretty big no-no.

Overall, I can tell this is a pretty polished track! The mixing leaves nothing to be desired, and sound design is generally top notch! Just work on introducing more melodic ideas beyond what you establish from the beginning. Good luck against Demon-Wolf!

KamillasRainbow responds:

First off, thanks for the review!

Gotta be honest, i never even once thought of having multiple chord pregressions in one track. Thanks for reminding me that is a possibility. I agree with the part about the toms and piano but i don't think i can do much about that. The ending was supposed be different but i must have done something that changed it. Didn't even notice but i'm glad you did. Thanks again!

[NGADM '17 - "Aurelius"]

Hey Jimmypig

You present some solid ideas in this track. The vocal chops are the main focus here, and they're very well polished from a sound design perspective. You introduce dubstep wubs but keep everything relatively on the chill side. You have a really nice use of backing instruments including piano, guitar, and a pluck thing.

Your drum design sounds good too. The snare pops right out of the mix, which is always a tough spot for me in my tracks. The drums also coordinate really well with the melodies underneath it.

Possibly my biggest gripe with the track is that despite bringing up solid ideas, it never brings up more. The track gets awfully stale after about 1 and a half minutes of listening, and my ears want something new to hear. Perhaps a vibrato square lead, some interesting glittery arps, a key or time change, etc. At the moment, though, each moment of the track sounds much the same.

Also your outro is literally a string note :P

Jimmypig responds:

I only have today! busy all weekend :p But I agree totally with all of your points, and I've tried to add a bit more 'flavour' to the track, so if you wanna check it out it'll be on the forum in a minute.

Thanks for the review! :)

[Rushing into Deepness]

Ey adjeye was waiting patiently for yours

You always manage to make some really good tension in your tracks. The piece flows really well and manages to carry the energy from section to section until the very end. I really love this moment at 1:50 where you descend with a broken diminished chord in the lower register. Eight seconds later the energy is gone but quickly being reborn - it's a transition that you've managed to get working better than most people who try a similar idea.

Drum work is really solid, although occasionally the volume of the drums drown out everything else around it. 2:32 is a prime example of this. It is a drum and bass song, though, so if it's just personal preference it makes perfect sense.

The melody synth in the outro here (4:17) has some really nice nuances to it. I really like how these three notes at ~4:20 turned out, with the first one being the strongest and the third one being all distorted. The rest of the melody has similar things which I really enjoyed.

Also you pulled a fast one at 0:11, using a three four bar to offset the initial riff to begin on the second beat rather than the first. I found that really interestingly pulled off.

There are moments like 1:07 where the drums just suddenly cut out without much warning. It works well, but my ears would have been more prepared for it if there was any warning - maybe a sound going into it, or a fill of some sort.

Overall, pretty solid work. I know you mulled over this one for a while, and the fruits of your effort are pretty clear. Good luck! :)

Adjeye responds:

I do like hard drums in my DnB, I don't want them to disapear to the background. But it was maybe a little bit overdone, so I lowered it a tad at some places where it was kind of drowning other elements.

At 1:07 I thought I faded the drums out pretty well into the breakdown there tho, maybe I should've spiced it up a little there.

You notice a lot of small details I put in this one :) which I like, thank you for your review. It is a lot more understandable than the review you left on Caliginous Newcomer :$ at last NGADM haha

[Last Will]

Congratulations, you win the first submission of the contest review.

Some general comments: After listening through, I can say I didn't get particularly bored at any point. From just how the beginning sounded I never would have guessed the turn the song would take (but i read the genre so i anticipated it :P). And it takes that turn pretty quickly, making things very interesting in the first half.

I really like the dynamic contrast you achieved in this track. There are very loud sections and very soft sections in here, which is really nice on your part.

Your mixing is good but there are definitely things to complain about. The kick is appropriate in context, but at 0:32 when it is first introduced into the mix as the prominent component it doesn't fit very well. I would recommend automating the EQ here.

Fade-out endings are a no-no. You're not gonna beat Finn with a fade-out ending, so don't even think about skipping the outro writing process.

Overall, it's stunning what you made in 2 days. Props.

NahuPyrope responds:

Thanks SO much for your advice!!!, it means a lot!, I'm gonna take out the fade out then! xD

[REALITY GLITCH AUTOMATON]

Number of times the name of this track has been misspelled as "Really Glitchy Automation":
9001

johnfn responds:

:((

[Deceived by Demise]

GG, Satera. I'll have to work harder next time to avoid getting trumped by orchestral producers again.

EvilRaccoon responds:

Thanks 1f1n1ty. ;) I'm looking forward to it! It was a great challenge and just really enjoyable to be involved again with everyone. I'd certainly encourage anyone to take part in it in the future. The feedback alone was very well worth it.

[_sequence/03/!%tranquility#_]

Hey! Thanks again for the great review. I guess I'll drop by and get another one :)

First off, holy crap that name.

So right off the bat we have lots of sine waves. And that doesn't really change much throughout the whole song, yet you still made creative sounds out of just that. You did a good job giving different personalities to different tones. This is made especially well with a purposeful use of distortion.

Composition is super cool here. Really nice use of harmonies to produce a tranquil atmosphere with a hint of darkness and distortion.

I hear lots of reverb, which is good. I was just hoping for more delay. Recently I've really started to come to appreciate how ridiculously good delay can be, with the whole textural stereo range thing.

The drum beat at 1:15 is super well done. It's got sufficient range, volume, brightness, and impact.

Biggest gripe is probably the repetition. You're aware of this already, as evidenced by the description. It sounds like it would be good for BGM, as it's just diverse enough, but as a standalone track, the sound becomes dull pretty quickly.

The outro is pretty good, except over time you take out this one harmonic that's present at 3:21, and by 3:26 it's completely gone. I would have personally preferred it if that harmonic remained in the sound all the way, which would allow the track to end more ambiguously - better suited, in my opinion, to this particular sound.

Overall, really nice work! Could definitely see that you tried variation as much as possible.

Azhthar responds:

Wow! Thanks a lot for this detailed review. Np for my review ;) It´s actually some sine waves there but not too much. The thing is I recorded a synth here which has a very soft tone in general (The Vermona Perfourmer). Even Saws sound very soft if you filter the high frequs. So it´s actually a wild mix of lots of different oscillators. I used delay acutally on nearly every track. I used a tape delay and kept it relatively subtle on most tracks. You here it mainly on the mallet like sounds and the bass. Also the marracas (shakers) have a lot of tape delay. The cool thing here is that it gave that drumcomputer shaker sound some contrasting sound after it hits. So it sounds like a shaker shaken back and forth. Hmmm... I think after 3:26 it´s just the reverb tail of this pad like string sound. So I didn´t take any tone out by purpose but I get what you mean ;) So again: Thanks a lot for the nice feedback!

[Untitled 75 (PxTone)]

R4R

Bruh this sounds pretty good! I can imagine this playing in a small hub world for a nice, 16-bit video game.

+ PxTone? I've never heard of this one :O
+ The chords are super interesting, and the melody is super cool! Really awesome compositional work.
+ PERFECT LOOP :D
+ Really good work keeping the flow of the song going throughout. Never did anything feel abrupt or off-putting.

- I would have liked brighter drums, but I can understand if that isn't entirely possible.
- The melodies are pretty drawn out. They're cool, yes, but they aren't exactly easily remembered.
- The whole thing sounds rather mono. I would have enjoyed to hear some playing around with panning and stereo and such.

Random-storykeeper responds:

Ah, thanks! I'm surprised you haven't heard of PxTone (?); it's a pretty well known, free-to-use program.

Yeah, I suppose in this, I tried to focus more on changing it up a lot rather than making a memorable melody. Well I guess that means it's harder to get it stuck in your head, thus making it less likely to become annoying? :P lol I know what you mean.

I'm surprised you hear the piece as mono, as I did have quite a bit of panning involved in the piece (take for example, the opening square waves), but I guess it doesn't quite come through in the export? I didn't really play around with stereo panning though, so I may give that a shot.

Also not really sure what you mean about "brighter" drums (higher pitch, shorter?). But thanks overall for your feedback. :)