5TanLey's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[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!

[Restless Jester Wants To Pester]

So a few my letters

Composition is nice, the song changes constantly, it is quite fun to listen

Unsoulved endings are unsolved, I dont like them, but whatever :)

IMHO fighting music sounds bit more dramatic than this, I imagined exploring a landscape or a city at some parts more that a heat of battle

dat 1:42 sub lol.. sounds like some medieval hip-hop/trap/whatever in that part, but I like it.

Technical quality/mixing more or less flawless, all instruments sound pretty clear

4.5, rated 5

ZipZipper responds:

I'm glad you disagree but still like it lol

[[Tsets] - In Deep Water]

I like intro and outro, pretty calm, nice to listen, but the part between them is like... meh

Chords that start at 0:44 sound just weird + they play over and over again = my ears do not approve

Some of the hats are too loud

Also some parts of beat, e.g. 1:17 are like... too random? Call it experimental, but I call it random. It doesnt make any sense to me.

2:57 - thats some weird cut... feels like it stopped in middle of progression

I like that muted piano sound, vocals and pluck, these have that "deep water" feeling

Dunno... I never was into experimental stuff

TsetsukenMusic responds:

Thank you for the review!

I actually really like that sound but I can see the repetition being somewhat of a problem, could add a little more dynamic into it.
Oh the dnb like beat on 1:17? Are talking about the hats being random or the transition to a different type of beat? Could be something for me to look into.

2:57 that is actually done by rapidly slowing the tempo down low and pulling it back up to produce the rounded echo effect at the end. Might be why you felt it stopped in progression. I think in order to fix that I could extend that progression and build it back down.

Most of what I used was from Sylenth1, it's really good I love it.

Even though you say you aren't into experimental the review is still greatly appreciated! Something I like isn't always what someone else likes, but something such as hats being loud and whatnot that's something I can use to make this that much better!

Thank you!