AED-4's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Prototype X9]

Well that was something.

Top-Shelf work, all around. Composition, arrangement, sound design, production, you name it. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m naturally a bit biased towards DnB, but the quality is there to back this track up. The variety the different sections have is phenomenal, yet still staying true to the core idea for the entirety of the duration. Mix is crystal clear and sound design is fantastic, those waterdrop-sounding synths were a nice touch. And don’t get me started on the glitchbeat.

I’ll skip on listing all the positive aspects of the track as to not appear overly sycophant, but frankly I’m having a hard time to come up with points of critique or comment. I suppose it did skip on one challenge “requirement” in that it’s not the most seamless loop there is (having a clear intro and outro). If this were a seamless loop this would be nearing perfection levels at least in regard to the challenge guidelines. And even without that it fills the rest of the “requirements” well.

In conclusion? Absolute. Banger. This really makes me want to dig up C++ and SFML again and conjure up some hellish arcade shooting action. This wasn’t a competition, but I’ll still give you the nominal title of “getting the biggest review score from me in this category”.

[Reflected Violin]

So, lets start with the composition and arrangement, which are both brilliant. Honestly, I was surprised by the complexity when I first listened to it. There’s tons of variety squeezed into just under 2 minutes! And with so little elements (which, as we’ll later see, is also a caveat) on top of that. And the melodies, they are damned excellent. Easily the best aspect of the track.

Love the overall feeling the track gives. The hint of desperation is definitely there, but also a sense of determination. Would work excellently as a boss theme. I do however have bit of a hard time to picture a space setting. I think it could sound a bit more… “spacious”, and that brings me to my next point:

I think this track could benefit hugely from some pads / choirs / etc. going on. As it stands It sounds a bit empty, with only violin, piano, bass and percs going on most of the time. This goes a bit against the grandiose feeling the melodies imply.

Percussion sounds are generally OK, though I think that clap sample doesn’t really fit with the rest of them. A more snappier one with a bit less low end and more hi-mids (Somewhere between 909 clap and your current sample) would do wonders. This became less noticeable with further listening, but I certainly thought that it stood out on the first listening times.

The lead violin could be a bit better mixed, and it in general sounds a bit weird (though I see that you are using edirol, which is not exactly known for being the most top-end library). Also, I think the velocity is modulated per note a bit too drastically. Otherwise Mixing is good all around. Everything stands out well and instrument choices / sound design is very solid, apart from what I have mentioned.

Overall, very solid work! My favourite section was definitely the one starting at 1:03. My complaints about sounding space-themed and lack of pads don’t apply there, and the variety it gives to the track is phenomenal.

Riy0 responds:

Actually, the violin is from Native instruments as listed in credits, "Session Strings 2". It may sound weird from how I mixed it, but it's recorded with professional mics, and uses realistic articulations and dynamics as of real string instruments which is why I chose it. So it's definitely my mix that's wrong, and my attempt at using it is the problem. so please don't blame the VST!

EDIT:
Also, futuristic scenes are complex as it doesn't have a correct scene. For example, this kind of reminded me of more of a cowboy bebop OST than a Dead Space or Star Wars kind of encounter, so I apologize if you were expecting that.

[Your Time Has Come (Final)]

Sorry for a bit delayed feedback! Didn't think that anyone would be making their submissions this fast :p

First of all I'm not sure of the technical limitations that FamiTracker imposes, like how many channels you've allowed to have and how (if you even can) easy it is to make sound effects in it. I do however suppose that it's a NES sound chip emulator of sorts.

Here's some bullet points of semi-formatted thoughts that came to me while listening:

- I would really like it if there were percussions going on for most of the song, and not just at the end. Also I think the track would benefit from a bit more "epic" sounding percussions (for example something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XH9vcsY-xs, but again, I'm not aware of FamiTracker's limitations).

- Definitely my favorite section is the one that starts at around 0:51, the stabby melody gives a great sense of heroicism(?) that I'd expect for the scenario to evoke. Overall most of the melodic components are quite fitting and well made.

- Not a huge fan of the background synth that is most audible from around 1:20 till the end of the song, sounds like it has some rogue frequencies going on. Might also be because of a limitation with FamiTracker's oscillators/resampling? Otherwise the synths sound and work well.

- The loop is maybe a bit too short, but considering that chiptune BGMs and the boss battles in games from that era tend to be shorter than nowadays it's not too bad. The loop point also has juuust a bit too noticeable seam for my tastes (Ignoring silent gap, mp3 does indeed suck like that :/).

- Despite being somewhat simplistic the intro is still very good and effective, and for me at least it gives an excellent sense of anticipation. Can easily picture the boss appearing from beyond the screen

- Composition wise something that I'm not personally that fond of is the section immediately after the intro (the part from ~0:14 to ~0:25) as the bass feels to break the flow of the song a bit. For this especially I believe percussions would have helped quite a bit. On the other hand I would've liked if the arpeggio section at around 0:44 had been expanded a bit.

I'd maybe give this a score of around 3.75 / 5, but I'll round that to 4 / 5. Note that since there aren't really any winners as it's not really a competition I'm giving the score rather arbitrarily :p

Overall solid work, keep it up ^^b

kadepow11 responds:

Thank you for the feedback!!
- Yeah, I probably should've added more percussion

- That is my favorite part too, I messed with so many different pulse lengths and modulations to get that to sound perfect so i'm glad it came out good.

- I'm not too sure what you mean, do you mean the lead?

- I was going for a somewhat short loop, because I wanted it to sound like it really was a song for the NES.

- Simplistic songs are really my specialty.

- Yeah I had trouble finding out what I wanted to put there.

Thank you! I will definitely keep this up!

[Flying Away]

Once again a suberp track. Your style of chill DnB is definitely my favourite out of everything i'v e heard, with that deep legato bass, sweeping pads and light synths working in perfect harmony.

One could say that your tracks are formulaic, and I would kinda agree, but I think that it's amazing how distinctive each of your tracks are in spite of that, and how each one has a completely different feeling to it :)

Keep it up m8

5TanLey responds:

Thanks, I agree I should get out of my liquid dnb comfort zone more often :)

[DJ Ses - No Emotion (Produced By Kenshi Muzik)]

Great stuff man! Hip Hop ain't exactly my first pick when listening to music but I can def appreciate the amazing talent put into this :) Keep it up

[Frozen World]

Drum 'n' Bass + winter theme. You found my weakness D:

I loved the periodical switches to 3/4, brought some nice variation to the track. Mix is crystal clear as always. Melodies are evocative, but still convey the spacey ambient sensation. If I were one of those madmen that go skiing on antarctica I'd put this on infinite loop :p

Excellent as usual, not that I would expect anything else :)

5TanLey responds:

thanks thanks, I think it's 4/4 all the time, just with triplets :)

[Paralysis]

Beautiful piece :) And I feel you, last year nguac was same for me...

I gotta ask, did you make everything with computer or did you play something live? Because everything sounds 100% organic, at least to my ear.

I agree about the length, I would have loved to hear full 3-4 minutes of this track, but imo it also works fine like this, it still has a cohesive structure. The only thing really that I could point out is the ending, which sounds a bit odd.

Keep it up ^^! And good luck with deathmatch and nguac.

[Night Lights]

Chill stuff, I dig :) I would prefer if it had a pad (and maybe some arps :o) going on at some points to introduce a bit more depth and atmosphere, maybe during the second drop to build variety and evolution. But then again I put pads (and arps) everywhere :p

Not much else to say here, Mix is loud and clear, and melodies are nice. Makes me think of driving on a highway away from city lights, at midnight night of course :)

Keep up the good work m8 ^^! Shame that you didn't pass to the knockouts :(

5TanLey responds:

thanks m8,

about knockouts, in All stars category the competition was just too strong, so much of good music there :)

[[TMM43]Phoenix]

What a huge experience ^^! Loved working on this song with ya :)

TMM43 responds:

The pleasure was all mine. I’m looking forward to making more songs with you in the future!

[~:Strobe Redux:~]

Superb remake, way better than the original! I love that new melody introduced at 2:47 ^^ Though the original still has a certain atmosphere :)

My only gripe is that song feels a bit overcompressed at times, with the main lead drowning the other instruments somewhat. Aside from that the mixing is fantastic. And man, those drums are phat AF.

All in all an awesome tune. Still reminds me of Ocean loader ;)