AED-4's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[XLR Hangar - Tuner Groove]

Interesting to see such a take on the theme, as the name suggests it definitely gives off a feeling that the emphasis is on the customization/tuning of the player’s craft. Actually the “junky” vibe can be quite fitting for the theme. After all it’s all about the infancy of AG Racing, and this brings out the unregulated daredevil side of that.

Listened a bit to the original version and indeed the updated version is miles better, doesn’t sound as booming which would have definitely negatively impacted the production value. In fact, the production quality now is quite high. Mix is very clear, and every sound stands out just right.

Now it seems that the track is essentially looped 2 times within itself, though the order of some sections seems to change a bit, they remain largely the same. I think it would’ve been nice to see some wholly new ideas in the second half, maybe presenting a section without the distorted guitar, or something else. As it stands it does end up a bit repetitive. Besides that, the arrangement is very nice (honestly, I’ve given up on trying to distinguish between composition and arrangement). Instrumentation is spot on, hearing lots of different sections containing lots of well-fitting choices.

Regarding the above (especially if you happen to read my other reviews), I’m glad to announce that in my ears you have nailed the snare sample(s)! Well the drums in general, as they are all around well taken care of both when talking of mixing and composition.

All in all, good stuff. Repetition aside all the aspects fall neatly in place. As with BlueCheeseCult’s submissions, I want to note that I’m in no way acquainted with this genre, so the comments I give tend to be fairly general. Thankfully BlueCheeseCult and BaryIsCool were able to give you helpful feedback ^^

(Also what the **** the guitar is a sytrus sample? How? *sanctuary guardians plays*)

IVELISCHPFULI responds:

Admittedly 1:24 was when I started to kinda lose confidence, like "oh god what do I do now", then 1:44 to 2:23 (before it loops) was "just getting it done" since the deadline was coming up. Glad to know that didn't go unnoticed hah.

The guitar part itself is pretty much behaving like a normal guitar (raw is fed to a mixer channel for distortion/effects). The "raw" is a Sytrus preset, I think under Guitar "Electric", one of the clean ones, but modified slightly. Then on one of the operators, I tie an automation to the volume Decay to simulate palm muting; with it I can also adjust how much of it. I would've used my actual guitar, but I've been having buzzing issues with recording ever since moving into my current house.

For the mixer, I have the raw go into one mixer, then "only" routed to 2 others. Both have the same distortion, volume and stuff, but 100% panned to opposite sides, with one side having a very slightly delay added before everything else for a stereo effect.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/283483005052518400/815851265312817172/FL64_2021-03-01_16-41-15.jpg

Greatly appreciate the feedback and I hope to see you again for whatever next music challenge!

[Plasmic Bloodflow]

Well this is quite a bit more intense that what I’d imagine someone would make for the prompt. Nevertheless, I actually think that this does work well. This is definitely gonna get you pumped for whatever the next racing event is.

Composition/arrangement is pretty well made, though the song does tilt towards being repetitive, but as you will read below, it’s not very severe. One thing that could use some improvement though is are the dynamics. The track is almost constant volume all the way through. It could help to have a section where you dropped the guitar in the background to give some more dynamic range to the composition, and that way let the listener’s ears reast a bit occasionally, though I suppose the intro does alleviate that. Percussions are well mixed and composed too, maybe the snare could be boosted a bit but it’s very minor.

It doesn’t have too much melodic content going its way, and what it has is pretty lowkey in the mix *but* I think that’s actually a strength. It retains the sense of variety with the short melodic sections and what I believe is vocoder effects. And little melodic content means that it will easily fade into the background, and as it already is pretty damn intense, I believe this help to establish an equilibrium.

But I gotta make a remark about those vocoded sections, I cannot understand a single thing what is said :p Though I assume it’s just supposed to be a sound effect and not actually necessarily audible voices. And they do indeed sound cool as-is.

Overall, the production is very solid. Now I gotta admit that I am not well versed in this genre, at all, so I can’t give much advice/critique in regard to that. But I trust my ears and my ears say that this sounds good ^^b

(Also a funny coincidence, my first ever submission was called *plasma*speed and I was inspired by some concept art of, you guessed it, antigravity race craft :p)

JensVide responds:

That is indeed a funny coincidence. Thank you for the feedback!

[Null Gravity]

This has got a reeaally spacious feeling. Fits perfectly with the description you gave!

I am impressed with your usage of reverb. At first my primary thought was “man this is gonna sound so muddy” when I heard the quite heavy-handed usage of reverb. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that this was not the case. On the contrary, the mixing is excellent.

However, I do notice (but don’t hear) an anomaly in the waveform around the middle? The 0db level seems to be positively offset by around +0.5 for around 30 seconds, which I think is because of a new bass synth being introduced around then. Analyzing the waveform shows that this causes noticeable clipping, so I’m inclined to believe that some quality may have been lost.

The sound quality also seems a bit… grainy? But I believe this is a conscious choice by you to enhance the retro synthwavy feel.

What amazes me in this is how well you managed to combine a gritty, almost cyberpunk-ish feel yet make it sound optimistic. And then managing to combine these motifs with the beforementioned, this truly is a multifaceted composition! Perfectly nails the iconic 80’s retro futuristic vibe (dammit, we could’ve had flying cars and aggressive neon lights but all we got was a truck straight outta ps1 game)

Composition and arrangement are very solid. It does tend to get somewhat repetitive though as it’s mostly the same synths and drums playing all the way through, but there’s enough small variation to keep it from getting boring.

Also, that loop was seamless AF. Makes me wish that NG would bring back the old smart player that skipped the silence in beginning of mp3 files.

In an ending note, very, very good stuff. This nails pretty much every criteria given by me in regards to the challenge while doing what it does perfectly, and thus even though this was not a compo I’ll grant you 2 the nominal title(s) of “receiving the highest review score by me in this category”

Hypervolt responds:

Thanks for the review, glad you liked it! This composition was super fun to craft and the "competition" as a whole was a fantastic experience!

[Class-S Debris]

First off, do not worry about this not being an orchestral epic! I chose really one-sided examples, but you could indeed work with any genre and style that you were able to work with :)

This one nails the boss theme alright. Gives me huge turn-of-the-90s arcade SHMUP vibes à la R-Type.

I have a hard time forming an opinion on the melodic content. On the other hand, I feel like the individual melodic elements are a bit dull, but there’s quite a lot of variation in them, which will work to their advantage as I’ll be mentioning below. Also, the melodies have definitely grown on me now on my 5th or so listening time. And that supersaw arpeggio break. Just brilliant.

The arrangement on the drums is also excellent. Love the small rolls and riffs that you have sprinkled all over the track. The drum samples themselves however could use improvement. As BlueCheeseCult pointed out giving them some extra “fat” would help, especially on the snares (sidenote, as of writing this I’ve complained about snares/claps 3 times. I’m beginning to think there’s something wrong with *me* dx)

As usual I would be ranting about the lack of pads but you’ve managed to fill the audio space excellently without them, so I will refrain for now ;p

I think that the fact this track has so consistent dynamics the whole time is a disadvantage, as it means that there’s a danger for the track to start sounding very monotonous to the listener. Adding a section somewhere where you dropped the guitar or everything *but* it could provide lots of variety.

Adding to the last point, another thing to note is that the instrumentation stays very constant, having the pulse lead, drums and guitar being major audible elements most of the time. Though I appreciate the occasional breaks to other synths.

Those two points together ultimately make this quite repetitive, though it is alleviated by the melodic content and drums.

In summary a very solid tune! Also, bonus “points” for making it loop well.

ctr34 responds:

Haha, I ve played R-type as well as Gradius, but I ve never finished R-type XD. Im going to look for pads and similar because Im starting to think that it could make my songs less "static". Also, I ve applied "stage gaining" to make the final product a little bit louder without losing sound quality. Im going to update this song right now. Im going to use your comments for further projects. Thank you so much for the review!

[Red Skies // Destroyer Encounter]

It sounds like the track is experiencing some rather noticeable clipping. Analyzing the waveform in audacity seems to confirm this. Consider lowering the volume if individual mixer tracks so that the master rarely goes above 0db, and then maybe adding some compression on master if needed. (That’s how I do it anyways).

Composition and arrangement are done pretty well, but the track is pretty repetitive, seeing that it’s essentially the same track twice (the bridge being pretty much the same thing as the intro, and there are some subtle differences in the later drop). The melodies are nice and expressive, so listening to them 2 times in a song doesn’t matter too much :p

Gotta admit I have a bit of a hard time to fit this to a boss fight scenario in my mind, sounds a bit too much like straight up EDM. I suppose some more abstractly themed skill SHMUP could use something like this as a boss theme, in the same vein how Geometry Dash levels often uses EDM songs.

Aside from beforementioned clipping the production quality is good. Like melodies the synths sound expressive and well crafted (if not a bit generic), and percussions fit right into the mix.

In conclusion this is a solid tune that I do in fact like quite a bit. Not exactly sure how well it fits into the challenge criteria, but as they say: “Those are more like… guidelines”, so yeah, keep the good work up and your levels below 0db ^^b

(Also how come the voice says “final boss” when the boss in question is the first one ;p)

RedSkiesOfficial responds:

Yeah I'd have to admit that I had quite the troubles mixing this one, or mixing in general, because my songs are always way too loud, because they sound empty in my ears otherwise, but it's especially noticable on this one, since this is pretty much the only (newer) song with clipping. I actually procrastinated quite hard on this one, since I only got the drop the drop done for like a month and the rest was thrown together just a few days before the deadline since I hadn't had any ideas for it, so it's no wonder it's not my best song (by far)

[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 :)

[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 :)

[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 :)