Spadezer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Tested Hero - #VGMC]

The song has a retro PS1 style to it. It brings across dark and unsettling vibes, which is very adequate for a scenario in which the protagonist is on edge and cautious. I think the ambient route is a good choice especially for a game setting since it's something that doesn’t' have a clearly defined end point and would make it easier to loop. Musically, I appreciate that even in an ambient style, it's not a dormant song. Compositionally it's rather busy, which helps put forward the unsettling and creepy vibes this is trying to go for. The choices of synths and percussion samples feel raw and simple, which I think bring across a retro style. However, the mix could benefit from some EQ work since the high frequencies are a bit piercing. It also doesn't help that you have long cutoff style synths happening (or it might be heavy reverb sounds). With the long cutoff synth playing a lot of notes quickly, the pitches collide and make the mix sound busy. It is a good choice if you don't want the notes to have a clear beginning and end, which add to the unsettling nature of the song, but with the state this mix is in currently it comes across as an effect that isn't clean. It won't feel as refined. That's really the only critique I have though. I see that you have some gameplay video linked in the description, and the song works very well with the game/visuals you've got. I'd say this is a pretty good work. It's a little weird, but for not hearing you before I think this shows some decent talent.

[Land and Sea]

I really like the organic orchestral instruments combined with the synths. You blend them really nicely. The synth reminds me of the DKC's Aquatic Ambience music for the underwater level. You have a really good intro. You have a nice soft motif that you've introduced with the synth, and the strings and drums compliment the main theme softly. You also transition to your second section starting at 1:48 nicely. The mixing holds it back a little bit. The bass is boomy and makes the mix feel crowded like the compressor is being pushed. And I can tell the issue lies mostly with the bass you have since when this section transitions around the 2:42 section when the bass is only playing a note and ringing out, the balance sounds nicer. I think the other part that's contributing to the bass's boomy feel is that it only feels kinda like a synth in the sense that it's only low pitches and doesn't emphasis the higher harmonics. I can tell they're there because I can hear the plucking like sound of the bass, but it's not well defined. Drums could be louder so they sound closer to the front. The third section starting at 3:13 Sounds a lot different compared to the rest of the song to the point that it makes me think that you're treating this is song as 3 different songs for the three scenarios of the challenge. This section reminds me of an older Street Fighter game. By itself, this section comes across as high energy and definitely has final boss energy. The sound choice is good, but the mixing holds it back, similar to what's happening in the second section. The mix feels crowded and could benefit by making sure that you're leaving headroom before pushing your compressor. The lead synth you have is a great choice and I like how it soars in the mix, but it could use a little refinement. It sounds a tad dry and under processed. Just a touch of reverb would help it out a lot.

All in all, aside from my critiques I like what you have. I like to see when people are experimenting with uncommon time signatures, and none of yours felt unnatural. Not the easiest thing to do. Honestly your piece as a well-crafted feel to it. The soft intro has a really nice touch, and the 2:42 section compliments it nicely. I think this is a good display of raw talent, but just needs some practice and refinement.

crispybatteryacid responds:

Thanks Spadezer! I'll have to remake this at some point and implement your suggestions. Thanks for the review, means a lot.

[A Final Effort (VGM Challenge)]

I like the simple synths you have. They give it a nice retro vibe, and they're not so simple that they fall into a chiptune trope. The composition works with a boss fight style, but it was difficult for me to tell if I was listening to a long intro or the song was mostly just feeling like it was building to something. Looking through the comments, it seems like what I'm listening to is a piano for most of the song, which I'm not really a fan of. Especially within the context of what you're doing, it comes across as a hard to follow instrument for what you're trying to accomplish. The frequencies of notes that it’s playing in don't resonate well with each other and makes it feel like it's crowding the mix especially in that range, which makes me think you're trying to use it in an octave too low for what you're doing with it. A great example of what I'm talking about is at 2:36. I almost couldn’t tell you're using cello voices since both those and the piano are competing for the same range. The bass frequencies of that piano are also competing with the low frequencies of the drums that you've brought in as well. Other than sound design and mixing issues, I don't really have any big critiques to bring forward. I can see what you were going for with the piano instrument and trying to use that as the motif for the protagonist. I think you still could have used it, but just not as the main focus. It could be an important element of the piece, but if you wanted to treat this song as a story, it would also help to add as melodies above it as the moments and hits between the protagonist and their foe. A fun creative idea would be that impacts that are had in the fight would also impact the protagonist's strength and zeal. As the fight draws out, you could change up the arpeggiation to make it sound more frantic and strained to resemble the protagonist's increasing struggle not just in the fight but to keep himself going.

I like the style, and I think what you have goes with what you were trying to accomplish. It could be more refined, but core execution is decent.

SleepyPoundcake responds:

Oh wow that's a lengthy review. Great!

I'll be taking these words into account when working tracks with a similar sound. I do have things to learn after all. And if I actually do remake this in the future I'll definitely have this review on the background.

Thank you, glad you consider it decent still.

[Epic Battle for Knight Submission + other name]

Honestly, not sure what to think about this one. I'm confused that you have a metronome playing in this when you don't follow it at the end. There's little variation since most instruments are only playing quarter notes which isn't very engaging. I struggle to follow the chord progressions. It does have a bouncy feel to it, which I don't think is the feel you're going for with "Epic Battle for Knight Submission". It's cute, but I feel confused

[Cosmic Ocean Ambience]

Before I say anything, the output file is too quiet.

Really cool ambience. I love the feel, and the drum groove is a nice touch. All of the sound design elements you have are cool spacy sounds, although they do sound kinda boomy, like the compressor is struggling with containing the low frequencies. If you're using FL studio, they synths sound like sytrus presets that have gone out of hand and unchecked. By default they're reverb and long delay heavy which can crowd the mix easily. The bit crush effects are super cool in this context. The volume drops for impact could be better. It's probably not good practice to just lower the main mix, because it feels like either the song is ending or my computer is failing. It feels like when you're changing elevation and your ears need to pop. There's probably some videos you can find on this topic, but I would rather instead of just dropping out the main mix, use high and low pass filters so that there's still volume coming through, but the mix feels constrained and condensed, which helps anticipate the next impact/transition. As far as structure goes, I can kinda tell what you were doing, mostly because of the completely dropping out transitions, but there isn't much of a difference in feel between the sections, except for the 2:36 section. That section is unique enough that it has a different feel from earlier parts of the song. All in all, not bad. It's a neat take and I like what you did.

[defrost]

This has a neat atmosphere. It has a bright and hopeful tone while having a slight uneasiness to it. Kinda like what I would imagine an ice cave level to be like. The composition is a bit simple and doesn't feel like it develops into a whole lot, but it's a neat start. I don't know if I agree with how you used some of your accidentals, but they're nothing offensive I think. You sound design choice feels minimalistic and simple. A couple of sounds stick out, like the strings sound robotic. Not necessarily a fan of how you used the strings at 1:28 because it highlights how little variation your strings have. The 1:45 section is a neat background sound. It could lead into a really cool experimental piece in ambient sound design.

[The Tested Hero: Final Battle]

Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding why I've followed you. I dig the super heavy riffs, and very much appreciate the 1:27 faster section. If it were me, I'd probably use that 1:27-1:56 section as the main motif for the song, but that's more my bias coming through. I can definitely tell your mix is drums and guitars, and that's basically it. Which by themselves are a decently full mix so props on that. I can also tell that you were being quite timid with the strings. I think it's good that they were in the background with how you were using them, but it would be nice to hear some more exciting utilization with the strings. The issue with that though is now you're going into orchestral rock which becomes its own challenge and a beast. My personal issue with rock orchestra bands, or epic orchestral stuff, is that a lot of examples are orchestras first with some guitars mixed in the background, which I think is a disservice to the guitars. Or you go too far on guitars and drums and really it's just a metal band with cheesier orchestra stuff. It's hard to find a balance, but (side topic) I did manage to stumble across this Tiberian Sons piece which instantly became one of my favorite pieces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bebCSJfQ6uU

Although their helldivers piece is closer to what you are doing I think. Good reference track IMO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7KH9YWx6AY

I digress. Compositionally, this song comes across as simple. On one hand, I am a simple man. I don't need very complex riffs to headbang too. On the other hand, there are parts of the song that don't really do much. I really like the energy part even though it's just repeated 16th notes. The weakest part of the song is the 2:00 and 2:54 sections. What would have been really cool is trying to develop the structure that you introduced the song with. Like the start of the song is perfect. Nice attention grabbing theme, and then 0:17 is just a rephrase set to a groove to carry the song forward. Then you have perfectly timed noisy djent riffs for the 0:36 section. I really liked how returned to using a similar refrain in 1:03. And then 1:38 is just cool because it goes hard. A neat idea would be to somehow incorporate that energy with the them you introduced right at the very beginning.

Aside from the critique, this is super dope. Rock on fellow metalhead. This is cool stuff, and there isn't a lot of well mixed metal songs in contests like the NGADM. and this type of stuff is already at a good start

JDawg00100 responds:

Thank you for the detailed critique, I appreciate it :)

[The Great Descent]

This is giving me spiderman and general Marvel vibes. So this has kind of the epic superhero introduction type of story I feel like. The instrumentation creates a large atmosphere and has a general drive throughout the whole piece. The drums didn't seem like they varied much so that stuck out to me. Really outside of the 2:05 section, the song seemed to have a very consistent feel and energy. I really like your use of choir, and as a fellow trumpet player I love hearing the trumpets sore over the mix lol.

CloakedSoup responds:

Thanks for the review! Excited to hear what everyone has to say when the final results come out!

[Autumn Carnival Waltz]

Interesting to hear you do something that's not as freeform. Very strict to a waltz style and in a way feels very rigid compared to your freeform style you've displayed this year lol. As the song develops I feel like there's different styles being wrapped up here. Maybe it's my ignorance in classical music, but if I were to label your structure as like a A, B, C, B structure, the first section (leading up to 0:43) has a late renaissance or Victorian era feel. Very classical and structure, and then the other sections feel more like vaudeville or silent western movie era music. Those sections feel a bit more loose compared to the first one. I'm not sure if that's what the intention was regarding your writing, but noticing that makes me think it would have been really cool if you started bouncing between specific styles or developing the song by using those styles as markers or something.

Solacitude responds:

This one is surely way more tight in structure and tempo than when I use rubato in a more romantic style. This waltz could be danced on! :P

Tempo changes a tiny bit from time to time but I did stick to a pretty rigid approach.
I felt like I had to go for a different style since I did compose with a more free flowing approach the last 2 rounds. The idea that came to mind in the first week was the first section which was a waltz so I kept in mind to compose a waltz all along for the following parts.

I did my best to weave a thread between the different sections with melodies that fit well together from one section to another. I felt like these rising chord progressions were quite nice to convey a positive, uplifting feel throughout the piece and were great to glue it all together as well, like at 0:05 - 0:08, or 0:34 - 0:38, 1:07 - 1:10, 1:15 - 1:18, 1:47 - 1:50, 2:05 - 2:07 and a couple other places.

I think that what gives the looser feel of the sections following the first one, is the use of arpeggios and introduction of tremolo and swing in the second section, then the use of swing, tremolo and added triplets in the last part. It gives a kind of lighter feeling, it sounds loose but without losing the rigidity of the accompaniment sticking to the 3/4 beat.

This piece is sure evolving from one section to another, always adding something new or different throughout, which is the way I almost always compose... I guess it's my style :)
I rarely have identical sections repeating within a same piece even if they sound similar.

I did my best to avoid doing like with Fate, switching style too abruptly since I think it did have a negative impact for many judges. I wouldn't try again to merge 2 ideas together. This one I kept my usual style of making the piece evolve until the end, but while keeping it more "integrated" if it makes sense so there's no element of contrast that might turn off listeners.

I'm not sure I get this "it would have been really cool if you started bouncing between specific styles or developing the song by using those styles as markers or something."
Using specific styles as markers, but feel free to PM me! I would like to hear more about it! :)

Thank you very much for the review!

[0N3_D4Y]

The sound design in the intro is great. As a sucker for large atmospheres, this scratches that itch nicely. And the contrast of the quiet and intimate verse right after the explosive intro is a nice touch. I'm picking up what you're laying down at 1:58. Compositionally I give this high marks. The song structure feels like it follows a trope that I can't quite put my finger on. Like I've heard this before. But it's executed well enough that all it does is convey good story telling. These are the types of songs that makes 5 minutes seem really quick.

I do have some production issues though. The volume seems hot and the general vibe/sound feels a bit dry. So you've probably mixed this with too much emphasis on the high frequencies to the point that the lows don't have enough oomph to help the mix feel warm and inviting (like a fresh baked brownie). The problem is that this type of song with both the large atmosphere and intimate breaks demands that type of warm (bass heavy) and softer mixing.

After a couple of listens. I really like the lyrics. I actually liked that aspect of the song better than the 'loud parts'. After doing a recent attempt at trying my hand at lyrics (soon to be posted to NG Boss Showdown), I think these are pretty decent work. I'm really curious to know what you did to get the computer voice since I really like that style.

icantpronouncethis responds:

Thank you for the critique.
I do need more experience working on "hot" songs.
I have noticed I always struggle with the same issue.
I'll definitely try what you suggest, because I do enjoy coming up with this type of tracks.

I got the voice from a tip in the the video by the producer "Miruku"
I used the flstudio stock plugin speech and created voice using that.
Little Alter Boy to change pitches, and a tiny bit of bitcrusher to mess it up a bit.

P.S. When you meant "lows don't have enough oomph", is it more than just make the bass louder? I'm guessing I need to spent time more in the lower end to help support the high frequency.