Spadezer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hyperventilation]

WHEEEEEEZE

Jacob responds:

*heavy breathing*

[Hey Look, You Dropped Your "Give Up" Card [JAMUARY DAY 16]]

5 stars just for the percussion. This was the right type of zany

Quarl responds:

Yay, thank you! I will cherish this 5 star as if it were a dragon ball.

[Machinations]

This is super funky. Love the retro feel and pretty decent mixing going on, and I like that it didn't stick to just to one style

ItsBurner responds:

Glad you liked it, thank you very much for your comment =]

~Burner

[Chasin' The Jester]

This is an official NGADM 2021 final round review

First of all, my congrats to you for surviving up to the finals at this point. Since being around for a few years in this contest it's been neat to see all the new people come through and make their mark in this contest as well.

For first impressions, I think the intro was a little weak, but once you got to the beach rock I was very thrilled for the unexpected change. The drums comes across as an amateur sound since they might be a tad quiet in the mix, but the mix in general seems a little muddled. Uh 2:06 is pretty sweet. I personally like hearing the complex rhythms when it comes to the metal/rock genre. Similar to something like the Algorithm or Plini. Unfortunately the more energetic sections I don't find as interesting.

For a closer look at the composition, and to also feed off of the point I just made, the louder sections are just guitars doing eighth notes with the kick drum following, and in general follow a pretty straight rhythm. I'm not saying you needed to go crazy, but it just came across as too simple. All that being said here's what I do like. Drums are written well in the fills, the beach rock simply makes me smile, and you don't only stay with common or more simple rhythms resulting in some cool rhythms I really enjoy. I like your melodies and your chord choices are not unexpected/distracting. 2:20 is such a cool section IMO.

For the mix, like I said earlier it comes across as a tad bassy/muddy. Everything has pretty good tone for what's intended to be there. I may have said that the drums had a bit more of an amateur sound, but it works for what you have here. Actually I think they're a good volume but might be overshadowed by the distorted guitars. I'm also a big fan of the rock organ.

Overall, I really liked what I heard and I think this is a well written song. It gets a little plain at times, but you balance it out with other sections that I really enjoy. I think it's a really fun theme that you play with and it travels and progresses nicely. Again, congrats on making it to the final round.

MaldivirDragonwitch responds:

Your criticism is all on-point. I literally could just copy my response to SplatterDash's review: I noticed so many wrong choices that were made hastily that I will definitely not be making again. This was a serious learning experience, as was my plan all along! :)
Either way, glad you liked the parts you did. Thank you very much for the extensive review!

[Funk'um]

Official 2021 NGADM round 2 review

First thing that I notice and I like is that there’s spots that feel really big and warm, like 0:54. I’m a fan of the funk style and I think you’ve pulled off a nice feel. It’s not overcomplicated, but there’s a lot of fun elements like the walking bass lines you have, a lot of fun details scattered into the mix that help make it unique and full. I don’t think your themes are overused or too repetitive either, but they are a good earworm. When I stopped listening to it I was still singing the bassline over in my head.

A lot of what I think is making this work is your choice of instruments. They’re a nice blend between I’ll dare say cheesy hip hop samples mixed in with jazzy funk retro game synths. It creates something that feels nostalgic but doesn’t feel dated. The bass you picked for your basslines are perfect, I love hearing the orchestra hit samples like at 0:41, your chord synths are juicy, and you have some cheesy sounding brass lead like at 1:58 that simply works. The only thing I don’t like generally throughout the whole song though,and this might be a personal preference thing, is that most of the instruments have a type of distortion or bitcrush happening that makes the song a little less clean that I’d like. Like I said it is personal preference because they way you have it now reminds me of RC Revenge pro for the OG playstation, and if you “cleaned it up” it might lose some of that nostalgia factor.

As I’ve said before, this song doesn’t feel overplayed or repetitive, and some of it comes from the fact that you know when to break away from it or change things up so that each time it comes back it feels different and fresh. There’s some implied dynamics happening, meaning that while the song doesn’t seem to get quieter in spots, there’s a definite contrast in energy and perceived volume. I don’t know if you have a limiter that you’ve got the main mix trying to crowd a bit, but I think what you have works for the most part.

Overall, I love listening to this. Each time I replayed it listening over certain parts I was bobbing along with a smile. There’s a lot of fun details but the heart of the song is just a fun nostalgic groove. It’s like something that’s been around for a while and comes up as a warm memory.

RoachBoarder responds:

Oh wow!! Thank you so much!!

[Swing and a Miss]

I would love for you to compose my drum solos

Albe responds:

Hahahahah thanks! I just tried to replicate patterns and fills that I've listened in other places and I think that's one of the parts that took longer than the rest. Thank you for listening man!! ^^

[Villavslutning]

Best listened to with frog ambiance <3

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

You might be right about that ;)
Thank you for listening!

[Quartz Isles]

I think there’s a few things you have going for you, but it’s a tad rough around the edges. I especially like what you have going on at the end

Generally feels like it has a pretty long intro. I don’t know if that was your intention but it’s not until you have your harp that comes in at 1:33 that I feel like the intro has ended. Not quite half of your song, but that’s already a minute out of a 4 minute work that felt like it was a lead up. Other things I notice with your composition, the title says it’s a march but it doesn’t feel like what I would have normally considered a march. It feels a lot more ambient than what I would expect. I think melodically (outside of the arpeggiation that you introduce at the 1:33) it’s all very slow. I guess it could be something that was intended to be suspenseful, but I didn’t get the sense of a melody as compared to chords changing at certain intervals. If I were doing this, I’d probably go in a few different directions depending on what your intention was. If it was supposed to be more structured I would have had some melodic theme to latch on to and developed that more. If it was a more ambient approach I would probably take out the bass drum and cymbal and have a lot more focus on dynamics and sound shaping. Making things have more tonal characteristics.

As I touched on dynamics a little, I think with how you have the song now you’re missing some important humanization in your more organic/acoustic instruments. Since it’s in a slower style you want things to sway or swell more to give more movement to each note. I can hear some of it with some strings at 1:42, but the harp is playing constant volumes which isn’t realistic, and the flute especially at 2:11 could have benefited from some dynamic changes in each note and some vibrato. Other than that though the balancing is okay for the most part I think. You might have too many mid frequency instruments happening but either changing up how you’re layering your parts or paying close attention to your EQ would help that.

I don’t think this is bad. I know I’ve pointed out probably more of what I don’t like compared to what I do like, but I wouldn’t call this a bad attempt. Maybe unrefined, but this is only your first year of making music (at the time I’m writing this) so I know you’ll be making more progress as you go.

GlaceonDash responds:

Humanization was one of the things I thought about doing, but then decided not to out of sheer laziness. I can agree that this is a bit rough around the edges. Otherwise, thanks for the review!

[For You]

Official NGADM 2021 (and NGUAC) review upon request

As I start my listen, before getting to the main part of the song, when the vocal comes in at 0:48 I can tell it's over compressed. With the way the vocal comes in, it feels like my ears are getting closed off similar to what happens when you yawn. At this point there's only 3 things happening I know the compressor shouldn't be working hard and ducking other sounds down just to make way for the vocal sample, and the waveforms I can see aren't even maxing out the player here. It's causing other big issues in spots like the impact at 1:28 and with the break at 3:20. Because the impact is heavy on the sub frequencies lower than what I can hear, the whole mix has to quiet down just because you're peaking the compressor. The 3:20 area sounds like it should be a nice break from the main energy from the main content, but with how loud and present the chords are my ears still feel like they're getting hit with a lot of sound. Before you do any mastering or compressing if your song is peaking past 0dB or even -3dB your mix does not have enough room to breath. Your song will sound a lot more organic and have a much cleaner sound when you start mastering it at that point and will make it more interesting I think. Really this is the biggest issues I have with the song as a whole. With the way it is now it might sound good on a phone speaker, but with my headphones I feel like the song is trying to play with big room air in a room the size of a closet. This issue took your score down a bit for me since I think this is an oversight that dampens the sound of the track to a large degree.

Moving past that though the song has a lot of good work in it. It sounds really professional and progresses and develops in a way that's expected. It has a pretty decent groove and I definitely don't mind it playing in the background. You have professional sounding samples and chop it up in pleasing ways, and you have nice fills with drums too (which I'm assuming are splice samples). For the most part I like your composition. I appreciate that your builds are not cliché by taking every sample and increasing it in pitch and quantity, you leave good room for your vocals to take up, and when the main groove hits it has a good flow and groove. Unfortunately I have two nitpicks. After the first build the main drop feels a little mediocre. It could be because your build is too intense for the main drop, but also the writing for the main section isn't all too interesting. The chords and the bass I think I have issue with. Referencing songs like Control by Matrix and Futurebound, Droptek by Ruptuer, and Out there by CloudNone, each main section of a groove doesn't seem to have the chords the most forefront. If they do they aren't a static and repeating quarter note. The other nitpick I have is that the overall energy and themes used for the song are a bit similar. In a way it stems from a similar issue from the first nitpick, but the song also feels a tad generic which is why I say it progresses and develops as expected. I'm not saying it necessarily makes a bad song, but with critical listening it come across as less interesting and not unique. It's the art of balancing on the thread of is it predictable in a way that the listener can make sense of what's coming up and also bringing something surprising and unexpected. Telling a good joke runs on a similar principle (first time I've made a comedy comparison). You build up the listener's expectations and then you add a fun and interesting twist.

Overall a solid good song with a crowded mix. If the overcompressed issue wasn't there I'd probably listen to it on my playlists

ProjectSoary responds:

Thanks for the detailed review! I think I stacked like 3-4 different compressors, dynamic EQ on the vox + SS Fresh Air and a de-esser. I'm sure most of that shredded those vox. Wish I had this review a day before the end of round one. But, I'll definitely make sure I pay attention to these details/issues in my future mixes. Thanks again for listening and reviewing!

[EARTHSHAKER (BACK EP)]

I feel like the sidechain is compressing my soul

triplebarrel responds:

Pfft, looking back at this track it's almost like the sidechain *is* an instrument. Thanks for the 4.5!