Spadezer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[thru the droplets]

I really like the light and whimsical nature of this. The light synths being interrupted by heavy guitar is a really unique touch, and it works as a foreshadowing for how the song goes as a whole. It has a consistent feel and theme even though it there isn't a consistent genre or instrumentation. The glitchy aspect of the song was handled well while there was some nice development with chord structures and synth/guitar change ups. The mixing is clean and clear, and any critiques I would have would be nitpicky for personal tastes, for example the kick might not be as punchy as I'd like whereas in this case it's more thumpy lol. How you use the chord progressions is masterful. It doesn't repeat a progression more than necessary, and there's good exploration of other progressions without making the song sound completely different.

This is a really solid work

icantpronouncethis responds:

Thank you so much for your critique. I've gotta learn to be more confident with pushing my mix a bit more. I was going for more punchy during some part, but I guess I was holding back a bit. Super glad you enjoyed this track.

[Lordant - Lightweaver]

The intro has a weird but captivating pull. The choice of sound design pleasant while also unnerving but it's not off-putting or abrasive. The song doesn't progress in a way that I'd expect, but, and I understand that my style tends to explore how big a song can go, similar to what you have in the 2:18 section. Even when it is at that climactic big environment it's still a subdued feel. It feels short for being 3 minutes long.

The writing has a pretty but dark feel to it. The instrumentation generally feels soft and at times bright (without being harsh). Similar to what would be used to bring across the feel of ice or space, the brighter (higher pitched) aspects of the voices has a sense of clear light or a pureness, but then the minimalistic voicing and soft attacks brings about a feeling of emptiness or void (without feeling like there's something missing in the mix). I really like your blend of organic voices (strings and female vocals) combined with electronic synths. Your choices here have them working well to combine into a single idea as compared to what some people would do with having them be symbolic for two different and opposing themes.

I'm pretty happy with the mixing. It helps that you don't have a lot of voices happening at the same time, but I have no complaints with the production quality. However, if I were to nitpick, I think at 2:31 that some of your background chord synths might be a tad overpowering.

Lordant responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I honestly didn't even try to stick to a specific mood, so the result might feel a little strange, but I honestly love how it turned out with that contrast. There are a couple things I would like to change in the progression, though, mainly with the climax. In fact, it has a lot of layers, in comparison to the rest of the song :)

[Joy Ride [NGADM Round 3]]

Instantly loved the theme that the intro starts with. The feel has a big band jazz feel combined in a retro game style. Makes me think of Bomberman or some Mario Kart stuff. It also feels more like a background song instead of a standalone song, so I think putting this in the video game genre is fitting. It does feel like some vocals could work on top of this, make it kind of like an anime intro song.

I think the mixing is pretty decent, while it may not be the cleanest. I really enjoy the use of the simple and somewhat retro synths you got here. Combined with the use of some cleaner more modern sounds like the drums make it feel retro without being too simple or dry. The mix is pretty balanced too. I don't think I can point out anything that would improve it or not, and it already sounds like a professional song. So good work in my book! Structurally, this song does not feel repetitive, and it has some really good flow and dynamics, and the whole song is connected with that bassline synth. It's super playful and has a good driving beat. Good work, and probably the best background song I've heard made in an ADM contest!

trixelbit responds:

This is incredibly high praise! Especially the comment about this sounding professsional. I always feel like I'm cosplaying a music producer since it isn't my main thing. So that comment makes me feel like I am a producer and that reaching the quality of my inspirations is attainable.

I do agree the mix isnt perfect. Though the changes there feel like a bunch of small things vs a few large issues.

On another note, I actually originally intended to add vocals to this. I nixed it since it would've been a gamble to redo the mix to fit the recorded vocals under the time pressure. Maybe I'll release that alternate mix.

I'm really glad you enjoyed it and that this achieved the goal of invoking "light hearted racing game" vibes! Thank you for the detailed review!

[Windy]

I don't like how good the composition is

There's too many notes. There's chords everywhere, tons of sustain pedal, there's no way I could recreate without clicking a bunch of MIDI notes in place, and yet it spews of emotion. I feel so inferior needing to comment on this, and you make me sick. I'm assuming you had to record your playing because that would be so much work (in one session) to click in every note, and from what I can tell it sounds flawless. So you know what, I'm going to remove some score out of production out of spite.

I'm joking with my last sentence. For real, it feels wrong to nitpick because there isn't a way I could compete, or in a way relate, with this within a similar style. The only real things I don't like is that I had to turn up my volume compared to other songs since you haven't normalized your song file to what NG can output, and there are sections like 1:48 that the left hand is playing louder than the right had so it makes it more difficult to listen to the melody. The production also sounds like recorded electric piano as compared to something like Francesco Parrino on Youtube. I can't put my finger on what it is, but your song (compared to a recording studio recording) is lacking the richness in the bass. Video I used for reference down below.

Well done, this is a great piece. It's upsetting, but well done lol.

Solacitude responds:

Sorry for that! I'll try to do worst next time :D
I really like your humorous way of putting it hahaha!
It's obviously a little bit full of notes. There was in my mind, an extremely skilled composer in @LucidShadowDreamer I pushed my limits on some aspects, maybe it shows a little bit. I tried to compose something that could give a chance to get to the next round as piano solo against a wide range of either piano composition styles, orchestral music, or electronic. LSD is extremely good in all these categories so I had to level up my game a bit! :) I left a plateau recently in my learning journey so this contest it testing where I'll plateau next, and it makes it 10x more exciting to me!! I'm very glad you appreciated the composition like this! Among everything I ever composed, Windy is my favorite. I'm also extremely happy by the way you consider it, and how it's received!

The flawlessness that you perceive, is made of hundreds of littles flaws.
I would also not be able to compose this by placing notes!
It has to be felt phrases played on the keys.

Thanks for the constructive review! I already made a couple corrections on the mix and it sounds a bit better. I'll update it in the next days. The loudness I went with loudnesspenalty.com but you're right! I should consider NG average loudness instead. I'll take that into consideration, maybe crank up the maximizer or readjust the mics volumes.

I used a Steinway grand library on this one. Maybe the lack of bass gave this effect of electric piano. No library can be equal to real piano recording though, but I try to get it as close to the real thing as possible, the real acoustic piano is always better :) Maybe one day I'll have a Steinway! I'm a long way from there though, gonna have to keep on with libraries.

Thank you very much for the tips and the kind words!

[Not a Lone Battle]

Surprise orchestral piece. Nice to see you branching out. I don't think your instruments sound professional or recorded. I know that I personally haven't dove into this genre to know too well how to work with orchestral VSTs, but my guess is maybe there's more work needed on humanization for the notes. On repeated listens, the issue becomes more apparent particularly in sections such as 0:13. I'm assuming all the notes start at the same time, but because the strings take longer to resonate than the flutes (and English horns???), so it sounds like they start late on their attacks. Because of that, you get sections like 0:23 that to me sound sloppy. The mixing around 0:48 doesn't sound as balanced as I'd like. It's a tad difficult to hear the melody above the backing strings, especially since this is an area that you're less focused on how the instruments attack the note. 8th note triplets have a much quicker attack than whole notes, and you have them all attacking the notes the same. Maybe you're limited by what you're VST can do, but humanization is one of the main reasons I don't work in this genre lol. There's so much work that goes into making it sound natural (unless you pay an extravagant amount of money to get some high quality orchestral vst packs). That being said, excellent sound dynamics on the snare at 0:34.

I do like how you've kept the rhythmic motif throughout the whole song. It definitely has that JRPG feel. You may not have explored it as much as it was a common thread underlying the whole song, but you do craft a bunch of context around it. Your chord progressions are top tier, you have good energy dynamics, and you even step into different keys here and there. Not sure I agree with the minimal instrumentation for the final chords of the song.

It's not often I get to nitpick LSD on something, but even then this is still a pretty enjoyable piece.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thank you for leaving a review! It's been a while; I hope you're doing well :)

My VSTs are definitely getting a bit outdated. As you say, the price tags on the latest stuff are quite... Intimidating. That said, I agree there are things I could've improved in this piece, with the tools already at my disposal! I ended up having very busy weeks (unrelated to music) for this round, unfortunately. I do wish I would've found some time to humanise a bit further. Alas, at the same time, I am very impressed with Solacitude's piece! I am not entirely convinced improving what I've got here would've made enough difference in this case!

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the composition regardless ^___^

P.S. The light instrumentation in the end is a reference to the many victory themes one hears after finishing JRPG battles; hopefully with that context, it makes sense for some of the tension to be resolved!

[Armada]

I like the big/epic style you have here. It fits well with the title that you have here. Overall I think you have a decent work, but nothing really stands out to me. Unfortunately, I'm weaker at giving feedback on orchestral works, but as far as the production quality, I think the instrumentation quality is fine. It feels decently balanced and there's decent use of panning. I don't know if I agree with the idea of using one electronic synth at 1:06 if that's the only spot you use it. It's not that it's a good use of it, but I'm just curious why you would use it once and not as like a stylistic choice to help give a narrative to the piece. For example, a common trope is to use organic instruments as clean and natural and to use electronic instruments as corruption, see Fellow Feeling by Porter Robinson. Another direction you could go is say that it's human forces collaborating or in contention with alien forces, organic instruments symbolizing human and electronic symbolizing alien. Otherwise, the composition, as I said earlier, has a large scale feel too it, but I don't think it has any specific high and low points until the very end. There are some good dynamics which I appreciate, but maybe my mind just isn't latching on too well to what you're doing and I get lost over the longer phrases that you're doing and that's what's causing me to think that each section doesn't progress well.

Overall, it's a very pretty piece that has a big feel. I think it's pretty decent.

[Tropical Surge]

I like the intro. It's an off the beat intro that had me hooked. A slightly quirky and upbeat feel. An initial issue that I notice is that the song feels like it doesn't move very purposefully at spots. It's not that it's repetitive, but it feels more stale, like it's missing some energy or some driving element. I say this lovingly, but the outro feels like a train wreck, and I don't mean that as an insult. It feels like impending doom that's uncomfortable for the listener lol. I don't like that it just ends

Mix wise, it doesn't feel that clean. I can't really put my thumb on it, but there's a lot of mid to high frequencies taking up the full mix. It doesn't sound too over compressed, and the balance is good for the most part. I do like your use of chiptune synths mixed in with modern softer synths. I feel like that's a good combo, even though a couple of sounds might be a little dry, for example, the sub bass at 2:05. Overall this is a pretty nice piece. It just feels like it's missing a few key things.

TheNormalMusic responds:

That's a great review! Even when it has lots of underdevelopments it somehow got high reviews on contest... somehow...

[Toast]

Oh that intro is clean. I'm upset at how good this song sounds. It's also super happy and bouncy which is also pretty enjoyable. I'm less fond of the 1:10 section though. It feels a bit too bright with the mixing compared to how warm the intro is. Fun and unique chord changes 1:41. The snare doesn't cut into the mix as well as it sounds like it should. It sounds too big to be in the background as much as it is. Once 1:52 comes in, your soft atmosphere is just so warm and refreshing.

Really my big critique on this is when the song gets loud. It's not loud and painful, but I think your mix suffers. I mentioned that it feels bright, and it's probably because you saw synths are too hot in the mix and crowd out the melody. The probably could benefit from some more high frequency filtering. I think the percussion could benefit from cutting through the mix more. I like the soft kick, so it doesn't need to do much more. There's appropriate sidechaining there. However, I've already mentioned that the snare could be more front and center. I really can't tell if you're trying to use high hats or cymbals in that section.

For me this is more difficult to score compared to most NGADM songs I've had to review, because most people produce content in a song that's pretty consistent in the song. There might be some uniquely good or uniquely subpar spots here and there, but not like this. As you can tell by my writing, I think there's sections that you nail it, and it's basically perfect. Then there's other spots were you have a full ensemble of sound happening that suffers in mixing particularly. Which I get it, trying to make a big space while being clean is difficult. My advice is to use reference tracks/songs while mastering/mixing. They'll give you an idea of how your song compares to a professional mix and help you keep in check what's supposed to be in the foreground and what belongs in the background. It also helps keep you mix in check if you're getting, what I'll call, producer fatigue (when you've listened to your song so much that you get used to your mix). This one is difficult for me to give a reference track suggestion, but a couple I would suggest would be Ganbatte by Pogo, and The Days by Avicii. They're not as close as I'd like, but they should be similar vibes.

icantpronouncethis responds:

Thank you for the thorough critique.
I've been getting the reference track suggestion so I should start researching about it.
Thank you so much for the examples too.
If you don't mind sharing, How would I go about using a reference track?

[Alteria, The Fallen Dawn NGADM (Round 2)]

This is a super unique song for a contest setting. You kinda remind me of Lich's style, but in a way that sounds both upbeat and crestfallen at the same time. It's a super cool atmosphere, granted I might be influenced by staring at the art a bit while listening to this. Unfortunately for me it's being held back by the mix. It's a tiring listen, and it sounds like there's a number of contributing factors. You've got some compressor abuse going on, which means that synths that our loudest in the mix are forced front and center, and anything that isn't loud is hid behind the main mix. This also means that what you have that's the loudest is the high frequency synths like your melody synth (I think) that starts fading in around 0:38. Now, your balancing is decent with all things considered, but now since you've squished your headroom, that means your melody synth has to carry the main force of the song, which causes an issue since it doesn't really change much and comes across as repetitive. I don't like saying that because I think it fits fine, but it really should be dialed back a hair so that you can develop each section more with what's surrounding it instead of the main synth. Which especially if you're going in with a trance style, you really want to focus on how you develop and move a song with what's in the background compared to what's front and center.

You also don't have your kick cutting through as much as I would like, similar to how a dubstep style kick would. That being said, you have great choice in percussion here. Another issue that you have that's contributing to a tiring listen is that you do have unchecked reverb contributing to the mix. Again, probably exacerbated by the fact that you're abusing your poor compressor in the main mix, but it is easy to have too much reverb which leaves you with a lot of sound contributing to your main mix that might not need to be there as prominently.

All in all, this has some great potential, and with some refinement it can be a really cool song to listen to. As it stands now, it's a little rough, but I really like it.

[Oh Brother [NGADM Round 2]]

Tuesday, September 17, 2024
10:30 PM

Oh boy, this one is a ride. I like the pic that you have compared to what you've got in your song. Definitely makes sense. I really do like the feel of this, and I get the sense that it won't be for everyone. However, I do wish the mix wasn't as tiring. Honestly this has a bit of brilliance I think. I wouldn't expect something that sounds so haphazard to work as well as it does. Almost like you failed at making a song for the Newgrounds worst song contest. You've got a rhythmic motif that you revisit and explore, and the whistle/flute that you break to, like at 0:45, feels like it works. You do have some issues with instrumentation that makes it feel like it's not in the same environment. For examples, the rest of the orchestral elements at 0:54, and the harsh guitar like synth at 1:02. They both sound cheap and dry compared to the rest of what you have.

Okay hold on, you started 4 hours before the deadline and made this??? I'm not even mad. I applaud this

trixelbit responds:

Brother, everything you just put down, I'm picking right back up lmao.

I'm just as surprised as you that segments fit as well as they did, despite not having a central theme guiding all the decisions.

Though the mix definitely feels like a major thorn that sticks out.

With only 4 hours, I just kinda started panicking and throwing anything into the track.
Still feel good that I atleast got something done instead of dropping out.
Felt like a real anime plus ultra moment for me.

I'm glad you see appeal of the song. Though I totally get why this has people divide when listening.

Thanks for listening and providing the thoughtful review!