5TanLey's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Everything is Canaan]

hi there sir

composition-wise it's ok-ish, melodies have that positive vibe, which I always like, but it would deserve more variations both in instrumental and rhytm aspect, you know a few super energetic bars like in 0:30 and then a few laidback ones, with longer notes lenght, using some other synth sound

maybe try to add some drum fills every few bars, you know a bit juggle with the drum rhytm, four on the floor all the time isn´t much entertaining

mixing isn't super good, I can hear all the instruments when I concentrate, but they are quite drowned by the main lead e.g. 1:59 that arp thing could really add some groove, provided it would be audible! Maybe try to sidechain harder and cut some very high-end on stuff to create more space for hats and so.. and there isn't much of bass, I believe every dance song should be driven by a kick and bass

I would compress the drums more, if you have no idea, try googling drum bus compression, it can really add some punch

hat 0:30/1:15/2:16 is a bit too loud and should have longer reverb decay imo

Overall it has some potential, but there is still a lot to work on

And I think there is no point of leaving newgrounds, I know that it's kinda rare to get constructive feedback here, but you can still get some new fans and stuff here, I guess the more places you post your songs on, the better

cheers!

Coolasp1e responds:

Hello there sir.

Thanks for the review, I always get told I've got potential, and I think I can work on a LOT of things, really this song is just a test to see what I can do. I do have another song coming up, and probably am going to release it here. I do think this is a nice solid place with a bunch of good people (like you ;3) with not many ass-kissers or haters. I thank you for your time and consideration, you keep up the good work!

[Tracks for Unfinished Games #1 - Rainforest]

The song flows really nicely, transitions from "action" to "calm" are pretty smooth, not forced

There's a nice combination of 8-bit "dirt" sounds, smooth piano riffs and reverbed pads

I really like the ambience feel, this is a proper use of stereo - it moves, it lives - a lot of similar pieces just have all the sounds stacked in the middle, no use of far left/right,

My noob-producer ears can't hear any mixing problems, so good job with that

All together it seems quite professional to me, could be perfect music for some "less pixel" game

scouted ya :)

ABitApe responds:

Thanks man ^^ Really appreciate the feedback :)
Good to hear the transitions and the stereo-width works well as I was a bit worried about those things! It's two things people usually mentioned as things I needed to work on in earlier tracks.

And thanks for the scout :3

[Dreamcast (Chillstep)]

I like this, it has a nice nostalgic chill feel (quite reminds me MitiS), my favorite kind of melody.. it takes me back to those days, where a few pixels created much better atmosphere, than today photo-realistic graphic.. I still play new games to kill time, but I can't be "absorbed" by them like before... maybe games changed, maybe I'm too old or something :)

It was probably meant to be minimalistic, but I would add some hats to the main part, feels a bit empty percusion-wise + the snare could use some reverb tail, sounds a bit raw for me

mix is kinda flawless, maybe that kick has a bit too much of a punch compared to the snare.

but overall, it's my favourite new song

Teckmo-X responds:

I love Mitis! Video games did change. It's sad really because I still play my PS1 more than my Xbox One lolz. I was going to add a little more of that reverb but I felt like it was a bit too much since most of the lead already had reverb additives and the rhythm was also a bit strong and I help like it was good the way it came out but maybe you might have been on to something. I didn't need to mix much since I just EQ'ed the sound to accommodate for the lead value. Either way thank you for the review :P

[ultimate vacuum]

R4R

Yep, this definitely reminds me those videos/GIFs of drugged ravers from 90s

musical aspect (lol):
really not much to say, melody has that sinister feel, overall it is just too repetitive for me
I would definitely add some fx every few bars, you know, some whooosh
And I believe that every track ever should have some part where drums aren't playing

mix aspect:
quite ok except 0:50/1:20 - that hat is so. much. loud. I'm kinda high freq. deaf, but this still destroys my ears. Try comparing this to some similar tracks, you'll see that hats are very low in mix, kick should be the leading percussion, even that clap is a bit too loud

[Voice In The Dreams (Onefin Remix)]

R4R

Sounds like really bad drug trip.. kinda reminds me that nightmare level from Max Payne

That far-left far-right jumps in stero kinda hurt ears

Mix is ok I guess, except 1:42 drums are a bit drowned

the sounds are really interesting, but that's all. It's like some kind of sound design demo, when you buy massive preset packs or something, you know, cymatics futurehorrordubglitchstep pack vol.420, 106% off, buy now.., and next to it would be link to this song :D

I like all kinds of glitches but there have to be some normal chords behind them

Onefin responds:

Hey, just came back here and realized I didn't respond to this.

So this track was made as an experiment of sounds and crud. It wasn't intentionally meant to be any sort of structured thing or whatnot, but it had such good reception on youtube that I decided it might be worth an upload to newgrounds.

Your review has helped confirm my original suspicion that this community wouldn't like it as much. Thanks for that, and I will make sure that next time I write something like this, there will be normal chords behind it rather than whole-tone craziness. Cheers! :D

[Light Rail]

R4R

You should take more time to create melodies/harmonies, e.g. in 1:30 the instruments just doesn´t sound good together, also overall arrangement does´t make much sense to me

It seems to me that it takes too long for the main drums to come

Most of the instruments still sound very simple, even for "8-bit/videogame" standard

2:11 and 1:16 things are too loud imo

I kinda liked the intro and ending

2.5/5

Zechnition responds:

Yes, I see that some of the piano parts just don't fit together, sort of like two separate songs at once. Fixing that along with some more minor changes that you suggested. Thanks! =D

[Chai Tea]

I really like musicality of this piece, it kinda reminds me carefree days of playing good old video games.. melody is so peaceful and flows nicely, all instruments join in harmony, really well done.

Technical side of the track is OK I guess, everything is clear, nothing hurts my ears :)

R4R

Random-storykeeper responds:

Thank you. :)

[Pursuit]

R4R

Musical aspect

i would add more percussion elements, at least some snare, kick-only gets boring very quickly

the song kinda has that pursuit mood, but work more on your melodies - they are not totally bad, but I feel like you could create better harmony when more instruments play together

Technical aspect

that "lead" (starts at 0:26) is way louder than other instruments, these high pitch sounds kinda hurt ears, especially around 1:10

instruments on they own sound OK, pretty 8-bit-ish, but you need to mix them better.

2.5 rated 3 on left panel

Zechnition responds:

Ok, thanks for your review! I'll use it to make my song better.
=D

EDIT:
Redid the drum track and it sounds so much better! =D

[Waiting for War]

R4R

- musical aspect is OKish, beat makes sense and together with that riff creates that "gettin ready" feeling

-teh guitar-thing... imo it could be like octave higher, or could use boost in higher frequencies

- drums sound super "raw", could use more processing for sure, at least reverb on hats or something

-0:10; 0:17,.. thats like that remote car locking sound :) Don´t know it was made intentionally, anyway it doesn´t fit much

3.5 rated 4 on left panel, because it´s monday

IndustryStandard responds:

It's funny you should say the guitar could be an octave higher, because i actually used an octave pedal to add an octave lower. I'll mess around with the idea but i think that might just be a subjective thing.

I kind of like the raw sound on the drums, but i didn't play around with it much so I'll definitely see what i can do with some reverb on there, thanks for the suggestion.

That sound is actually my fingers slipping on the guitar strings, I never noticed it before but it does sound like a car locking haha. I might rerecord the riff, or I'll just leave it in there. maybe just cut it out of the track in the mix file. We'll see

Thanks for the advice!