Spadezer's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Wolf Village Sonata]

This is an official NGADM 2021 review upon request

I was a bit critical I can tell with your piece, since there was a few things that I found that I didn't like.

First thing I noticed is that the VSTs sound cheap, and this is what I knocked you down for the most. Now this doesn't mean I'm not going to give you a good score without you buying the most expensive VST out there, but there's stuff you can do to make your instruments to sound either 1) more human and better overall like good humanization or 2) go the opposite and make their fakeness part of the appeal (see Donkey Kong Country 2 OST). For the more realistic side, this video should explain what I'm talking about better

https://youtu.be/7lzJ6aIs_kE

I probably could have scored a little better on the compositional and writing side, since you have some pretty recent writing going on closer to the end especially, but it took a while to get to the parts I liked, which is why I scored you lower on the structure side. I do like that you put some effort into developing your song a bit, but it went a tad long, and generally had parts that I think extended their stay a tad too long. However, this could also be some of the humanization issue coming back again. Like at 3:23 I really don't like the staccato cellos and violas. They sounded really flat and somewhat lethargic. A side question, for the rhythm that you have going on at the beginning, are the plucked strings supposed to have an inconsistent rhythm? I believe it's intentional, but you have the Celesta playing a normal rhythm at the same time and makes it sounds sloppy

The production side I was probably a little more harsh than I should be which I apologize, but it doesn't sound very clean. It's really muddy in the low-mid frequencies were a lot of the strings are at, and comes across with frequencies kinda harsh. Not too much to say on that though. With some EQing, and a tad more mixing that would be fine

While I probably didn't enjoy it as much, and I feel like by this point I've only had negative things to say sorry, but as I listen to it over a few more times the writing is definitely thoughtful. I think you had the unfortunate position of being one of the first ones I listened to and I was trying not to give everyone 7s and 8s. The writing is very unique, and fresh. It has a bit of a darker feel to it but aside from what I think are timing issues and some slight structure issues, it was really flowing.

So if I could sum it up to a few details, humanization is the biggest issue, and would solve a lot of the feel that I don't like. This has the potential to being a really fun journey to embark on, but it's a little off putting to my ears to the point I had a hard time settling in. You are on the right track, and even if you don't change the what you've written and just work on what would contribute to the production quality of the piece, this would shape up to be a nicer final draft I think and one you could be proud to show off to other people as well.

TebyTheCat responds:

What a great review, thanks!
That video you linked was really good, even though I don't use reaper it was very informative and I understood stuff about humanization I didn't know much about before

The polyrhythm I did in the beggining was based off a rhythmic cell of Maracatu I found while searching some rhythms online

[Outer Space Sweets]

Official NGADM 2021 review per request

Since this is made in a famitracker there's not a ton to say about the sound design and the production since there is not a lot of room to play around without leaving the retro chip sound genres. Itg goes without saying but this will be more so looking at the compositional layout and song structure. And since you've linked a pic for inspiration some of that interpretation of the art will be considered as well.

The general feeling I get is happy and nostalgic call to a moment which I'd say is an accurate feel for what could be going through the character near the shop, and with the wobbly and poppy sounds you have I get the sense that the character has eaten something like pop rocks and is enjoying the sensations while waiting either for someone or something. As a whole, I notice that the energy of the song is managed mostly by the amount of notes that take up a space. With stuff like famitrackers, I'm not sure if they can handle and synth having volume dynamic but I wonder how much could be managed or changed with the sounds you're using to get the sense of volume dynamics instead of reducing the amounts of instruments you use. I mention all of this because while you have interesting wobbly synths that I don't mind, there are other sounds that feel flat to me. Yes the sounds are primitive in nature, but you have the bass that when listening to that on it's own is not really that interesting, which I think is my biggest issue (sorry I develop thoughts while I'm writing so I might be rambling lol). The same bassline continues from start to finish. I would love to see the bass try to support the story of the song more instead of really being the ground work of the chord structure. On the flip side I'd also like to see other elements help the bassline or chord progression all in the thinking of 1) bringing things together to help promote the idea of what you're working with 2) more parts that are interesting on their own that also echo the main idea of a section further creates an interesting song. I think you also missed supporting what the chord progression is with everything else bass too. I'm not saying chords are always needed to be they're own separate idea, but I get more of the sense that you have either bass or you have counter melodies. Counter melodies can be a very powerful tool too, but to me sounds more disconnected as the song continues. An extreme example of what I mean is at 1:30, and also a case where song energy just translate to amount of frantic notes lol.

Which while speaking of 1:30, I kinda lose what the main melody/idea/motif is supposed to be. I had to listen to it again to make sure I'm listening to things correctly because you have the first introduced idea right from the start in the lead which I assume is the main melody you want to convey (it's also the slower one which generally leads to a more memorable melody idea that one could theoretically sing along with). Then immediately in 0:07 you have a fun counter melody which honestly I feel like gets repeated more than what the main tune of the song is probably supposed to be. Now this might be some of my own personal bias here, but I think what makes good song development is discovering what is the central theme of your song? It could be a rhythm, it could be a series of notes, it could be sounds you used, or what have you. If you like something, use it, and then, more importantly, expand on it. Play around with it. Experiment. Like in this song I'd take the melody you have in the first 5 seconds and start asking any question I can think of. What if I flip the notes, what if I reverse them, what if I make them faster or slower, what if I make the chord progression those notes, what if I layer it on top of itself in different time intervals, how can I can I make the percussion echo the notes? All sorts of ideas that if you play around with you'll likely end up finding fun ways to progress your song. Not all songs are narrative songs, especially like house, trance, ambient stuff, but I use the word story because when you're developing a theme the same elements I feel are involved. And that's where creating music is so rewarding. You get to be the one that takes an idea and discovers all the fun ways (and likely enjoyable ideas) to fruition, and you get to be the one that leads everyone else on that path too. You get to go on this journey of a creative process and at the end of it all can generate stuff like thoughts, ideas, and emotions, and wrap it all up as entertainment that goes further than what just words can accomplish.

I've probably touched on topics you already know (as I glance and see you've already made more songs than me) but repetition can't hurt right? Honestly if I were supposed to give a short review I really only have two issues with this song and it would be summed up song feels disconnected from itself and the bass feels lonely doing it's own thing lol. Again I like the sounds you used that helped give the song its cheerful atmoshpere and I especially like the percussion too. There was a good sense of progression and I can see where there was effort into energy management. All in all it is rightfully a fun song but just feels like it looses it's way a little bit.

Composition - 7
Production - 8
Sound Design - 9
Structure - 8
Uniqueness - 9

Zechnition responds:

Wow, I love this, thanks! I tend to have difficulty finding reasons when making melodic and structural decisions, so your take on design gives me much more to think about in these situations, as well as a few more tools for self analysis.

As for how many songs I've made, take a look at one of the first few and you'll see how naïve I was back then -- I learned about quantization about half a year after I started posting and it absolutely blew my mind :P

[Origin]

NGADM 2021 review upon request:

The intro has a very solid opening. I like the orchestral and house/dance blend and I think you have a very good feel for what you wanted to come across. Leading to the build felt well progressed and nothing too crazy stands out. Pretty pleased with what I got to hear from you. As I went through the first listen, I noticed a couple of things that definitely hold back the song's potential. The first thing I noticed was the balance of the mix especially at the drop. It's not clean, and I mean in the sense that the overall mix sounds a little crowded. The balance is well done because I don't hear things in the foreground that should be in the background, and vice versa, but there isn't room for the background elements because it seems like it's all squished to the front. Which is also interesting because it's not like you're quite reaching loudness war waveforms either in the waveforms I can see. I even questioned how loud my headphones were because it seemed like it should be louder than what it is. My guess is you're using a compressor on the main mix, but either you didn't leave much headroom before using the compressor, or you boosted the gain up after balancing but also into the compressor as well. Even then though you didn't fill up the volume either, you let it peak just shy of where it could have gone (not to say it's necessarily to push the loudness, just surprised you didn't).

The other thing I noticed in the first listen is that by the second half of the song it felt a smidge stagnant. I think the reason why is that what I heard the most is the lead and the chords for the most part, and the energy felt more of the same especially closer to the end. While the lead is a good sound, and I like that you have melodic motif happening, but I think it's only used by the lead in the chorus's and the chords you use are only doing the same chord progression during the whole thing. What I think could help achieve a bit more potential is possibly changing up a few of the chords especially in the second chorus. You could have achieved that maybe by changing which octave the notes from the chords to have a different feel to the chords (I was going to say make them sound bigger but these already feel big and warm), but also changing up the chord progression really helps differentiate the drops/chorus's from the other sections.

Unfortunately as a critic it's much easier to pick on what I think is wrong than what I think is right with the song lol. While it was easy to nitpick those two bigger issues, the song is well made as a whole. Aside from the first issue I mentioned I probably wouldn't have distinguished it as being different that even what's rotating in my main Spotify playlist. This very much fits in the house genre in the way I would think of it, but just a tad bit cookie cutter too at the drops lol. Overall, definitely something I'd be proud to have made as well, and even seeing the number of listens you already have, something that you could show other people and they would enjoy as well.

Composition - 9
Production - 7.5
Sound Design - 8
Structure - 7
Uniqueness - 9

Benji-G responds:

Hey there! Thanks for the feedback! I completely agree with literally everything you said now that it got mentioned, and a lot of these things are things I never noticed until now.
One thing you mentioned is that it sounds squished af, and yeah, it's because of my poor mastering. I was thinking about remastering the track before the deadline because of *HRMM preset HRMM, but I sort of forgot about it and now I regret it very much. I still hope it holds for NGADM though.
Again, thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it! :]

[Operation Fleshhunter]

Too hell-bent to be made from a human ;)
I didn't know I needed guitars with your style but it fits so well

LD-W responds:

I've found working with guitars (in both a lib sense, or plugging one straight into interface and just doing basic riff work) naturally much easier from a compositional sense, although it's more of a challenge design-wise to get a *really good* tone out of it and does require some pretty hefty, usually expensive processing chains to really get it how I want it to. Mostly because I grew up on a metal background and that's something I've been familiar with far longer than my interests in Industrial and Cinematic-type genres. A project like this is pretty easy for me in a more Gordon-ish DOOM sense (without trying to have it sounding like a copycat either), as alot of the effort is in design and mix before anything else!

It's not big news at the moment, but I am working on a Black Metal solo-project over the next year or so (something I've always wanted to do, and I'm now in the confident position to pull it off). I'll reveal more about it soon ;)

[Valley of Bones [AIM 2021]]

YES! Give me that metal!

\m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/

Collab when?

TSRBand responds:

Thanks for tuning in! \m/

[AIM - Stomach of The Beast]

For both submissions you have a really good sense for atmosphere. Delicious pieces to dive into. I with the 808 bass was more layered since it's a little dry on its own.

WakerLink responds:

glad you enjoyed the tracks, and yeah, the 808 bass could be a bit more interesting, still not very good at making synth 808 patches so this bass is a bit basic

[AIM - The Unmatched Power of The Sun]

Orchestral rock definitely fits the art and I really like where you started with this. Solid idea but needs some refinement. Easiest thing to fix, not that it's easy but doesn't require anything than your own ears, is the mix. I love drums and the percussion needs to by punchier. The drums have great tone and sound great, but because they're very short sounds you can get away with cranking up the volume of the percussion (although careful with cymbals, they're not as short). Could even throw a compressor on them to bring up the volume a little bit by controlling their peaks too. I'm not fond of the bass sound starting at 1:25 section. It sounds cheap in comparison to how you've got your other instruments and especially on its own. You could probably get away with it if you layered it with some other bass synths or if you wrote it so that it wasn't just static quarter notes and half notes. Most people would say "you need to buy better plugins man" which fancy sounding plugins will always help the sound sure, but you can also find ways to make you cheap plugins sound good. There's tutorials on youtube that you could probably find to help understand what sounds your plugins and VSTs best fit. It's getting an understanding of what makes your tools work best and where they're weak. To make an analogy, it's understanding how to use your hammer for nails and not your shovel. Sure you can use a shovel for nails, but it's better for other purposes.

Again I love what you've attempted with this. 0:33 has a great beginning idea you could use, but rhythmically outside of the melody there isn't much that's as interesting. The counter melody you brought in at 0:59 is something you could really develop in other instruments/phrases/or what have you. Like for example at 1:56, instead of just bringing in the lead guitar the way you did, I would have reintroduced the counter melody again with more subtle instruments and rephrased it in a different rhythm or something to make is sound different but the listener will still find it familiar.

Again really enjoyed it, and both the song and you have solid potential.

WakerLink responds:

holy crap that's a big one
yeah, the mix could be better here and there, still just learning how to properly mix metal/rock tracks because that's not my usual genre
about the bass at 1:25, the more I listen to it, the higher the desire to replace it with some sort of a reese bass increases, I fully agree with you on this one
however about the melody at 0:33, it was supposed to be just rhythmic flavor and that's it, but I do agree that I probably could have done some rearrangements of already existing melodies in the second part
anyway, thank you so much for such detailed feedback, appreciate it

[AIM 2021: Nobody & Stranger]

Oh this is cool. I would have not picked banjos and used them like this but they work so well. I think they're a little too much (either too loud or they ring out too much) but they still fit really well.

Bitbeak responds:

It's was a little experiment trying to get them to sit right in the mix, but I really loved how they ended up playing on the off beat. Thanks so much for the review, dood!

[To My Love]

Ah yeah this is nice. Lovely

AceMantra responds:

Hey! Thanks for dropping by!