Shamukh's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Edit (Padlock Rmx, BL Edition)]

Awesome stuff.

Felt like I was listening to Frog Pocket at the end there. I can hear the control that you had while making this, and that makes it all the better.

Great tune. :D

poopr1221 responds:

Thanks for the input! I'm a really big fan of Come On Primates, so it's seriously awesome to be compared to Frog Pocket.

[[AL] Octagon Dance]

:D:D

Hi, sorry it took so long to review this.

the intro is incredible, very well-done. Has sort of an Autechre feel and I love Autechre. Not digging the bass sounds, mainly because of the reverb. In my experience its pretty hard to get away with reverby basses.

At 2:25 I just feel like that's like the "climax" and I feel muuuuch more should be going on (my opinion of course). Listen to Aphex, Squarepusher, and Flashbulb and listen to the effects they use (flangering is an incredible effect for the amen). Not just with the Amen either. I was expecting a grungy hoover-synth or something, and generally more high-end stuff. :x that's the part where you go ALL OUT and fuck theory and cookie-cutter bs, you know? just like, slice chop beatmatch timestretch automating shit you've never thought of record yourself screaming into a mic and compress the fuck out of it etc. I dunno, that's the fun part :D. Not trying to tell you how to build your song or anything, just throwing that out there really.

Lucid Bass II by The Flashbulb has some pretty neat phase/flanger effects right of the bat, listen to that song for some ideas to apply to your amen. :>

Overall this is actually really awesomely arranged. Definitely isn't expected and challenging, which is what IDM artists should strive toward. Great job Anwar! :D

ChampionAnwar responds:

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. Honestly the bass sound had reverb already, I had a like ~3% reverb on the whole thing when mixing it down to give it the 'in the hall performing' sound. . so I guess I'll have to fix that- though I'd have to agree, I've heard very little songs that work with a reverb'd bass.

Honestly, that's the maddest I've ever gone when it comes to IDM drums at that speed (230BPM off the top of my head). I listened to that tune, and this reminds me why Benn Jourdan is so amazing. I mean though I frequent people like Venetian Snares / Squarepusher / Aphex Twin a lot more, his stuff is epiclu awesome indeed ^^. I suppose I'm just not that aggressive when it comes to sequencing drums, but I'm getting there :D! Oh and I actually remember that theory. gooood times gooooooood times hehehehehehehehe. Also- basic slicing is the pure winner in this situation, no need for envoloping (just thought I'd add that) :D!

Oh and also, I'll let you do that recording stuff first. . .I just don't want it to sound like ear rape *Cough* making orange things XD!

Thanks for the awesome advice as always Ron, it's always good to hear your opinions and pointers. It always helps greatly. I'll be tuning in a lot more :D! Oh DbX ^______^

[Arctic Fire [Wip]]

Very good

Not gonna spend my time nitpicking because you clearly know what you're doing. All I can really note is that if feels like there's just a huge dent in the higher frequencies so it feels "lopsided". Punchy snare, but the kick doesn't seem to do it justice. Maybe if the higher frequencies stood out more though it'd be a different story. :)

Great track man.

SteakJohnson responds:

thanks! i suppose the kick needs to be crunchier then

[Chzoul - Walk on Water]

Reverb is sensitive.

Too much reverb on... everything, the supersaw is especially bothering me. Sounds a bit off-time when the drums come in. No real background for harmony to set in. No originality either. You say you spent two minutes on this song and not to be rude, but I definitely believe it. Other than that, with a little bit more thought this can be pretty neat.

Keep practicing and be careful with what effects you use, ESPECIALLY reverb. :)

P.S. Your profile says you're 13, and I just wanna say age isn't an excuse, but it's great to start young. 8D

Chzoul responds:

Thanks for commenting :D

[8bit - Heart]

This is awesome.

If you'd allow me to pigeonhole this, this is great autechre-esque IDM 8bit. Seriously though, this is awesome. Maybe could use some nice TrIaNgLe BaSs if you know what I mean.

IbeSm responds:

Definately man, thanks. Never heard of IDM, which is ironically something I've literally searched for... intelligent dance music.

I'll play around wih this concept :).

[[dannyNergy] It's Correct]

Hot

Perfect minimal house. It's pretty hard to pull this off but you know your shit man.

Aside from that I think you should try mastering it yourself and upload that, just for fun practice. ;)

dannyNergy responds:

Got way to much shit going on at the moment. I'll just let the label do it.

Anyways glad you dig it.

[xKore - Chrono Cross]

It's nice.

I'm a huge fan of plains of time and the chrono cross soundtrack in general. The arrangement of the melodies and harmonies were near perfect that they way you switched them around to me just didn't click; especially that modulated guitar sound. I don't think i was diggin' the 16th arp bass thingy you got going on there, I think it'd work better legato. I was also kind of disappointed that you only remixed a portion of the song. There was more to work with and I would have loved to hear it. Also, to be reallllly nitpicky, the melody's off by like 1 note lol.

As far as the mixing goes, the hugest thing I find wrong with it is that the power of the melody doesn't really match up to the power for the rest of it, so it seems a little off-balance imo. More energetic sounds would probably fit better (but don't use supersaws for the love of god).

Overall this is very nice 8D. Great job man.

xKore responds:

yeah i dont like it either lol.

[Path I walk]

I know what's missing.

And you actually called it. Not enough bass. I'm hearing the subs for sure but subs only cover so much of the low range. You need more action around 100-200hz range. Usually a good bassy pad would work for this, but make sure you don't overdo and muddy up the mid and still let the sub have some room of its own.

Regarding the subs and kick, they clash each other. I'd cut some lows off that kick (the nice subby tail sounds nice but imo it's a bit too much). Another thing is that I feel the drums are a bit... watered down, as in not enough higher frequencies for energy. I'd work on that a little bit; maybe add like a ride cymbal, maybe a hatline? Something in the higher frequency. You're also right about the melody is a bit repetitive but for this kind of music I believe it's fine so you got that down ;)

So, add a bass (not to be confused with sub bass), and brighten up the high end, I think that's what it's missing.

Anyhow this is actually pretty damn awesome xD With a couple of tweaks I can see this as a song I'd listen to frequently (good background music imo). Keep it up. :D
7/10
4/5

RawGreen responds:

This helps allot, thanks. I'll work on it in the morning, I'm actually quite tired right now, I'll pm you when I re-upload.

[Aspiration Rd. 2 {NewYear Mix}]

Probably kind of a harsh review but...

I'm not too fond of this particular progression, I feel it's a bit overdone, but I really do like the melodies you've come up with, it's definitely really catchy. :D Here's my critique, I hope this doesn't come across as offensive:

The levels are ABSOLUTELY unbalanced beyond belief. the leads you used for the melodies are fluctuating in loudness and at some points are overcompressing the track and it sounds really, really sloppy. As far as fullness, things sound fine with the bass, but when you lose that, the track gets lost too. The kickdrum is overcompressed too and the frequency sweeps, while somewhat original, don't work for this song at all. The crash is really harsh also, turn that down some.

Suggestions:
1. Add a bassy pad or something to accompany the low-end--work on adding a clean fullness in general
2. Work on maintaining levels, the supersaw and crash are just too high.
3. Try to be careful where you add your filter effects; they are really common and work nice for many tracks, but you kind of overdid i believe.
4. Try to tone it down on the reverb; reverb is generally used to make things sound a bit more smooth/natural, but overdoing it will just make things sound unclear/muddy and it's an ear-sore.

Happy producin! 3/5, 6/10

b0b3rt responds:

Thanks for the review, I understand what you said.

This was basically supposed to be an exercise in automation so I've got no beef with toning it down =P

[Decisive Metal - FF VI]

Well

It sounds unmixed. the bass isn't bassy enough, and although the drums are well-sequenced, they feel separate from the rest of the track. Too much going on at once. the lead doesn't have enough treble to hold a sufficient amount of energy in the track and the power chords subdues it to hell.

Worst parts are the bass and drums though; and the worst ending to a song you could possibly have. Too bad something quite miraculously fell on your hard drive and broke it (how does that happen?). Well-arranged though and naturally good because the original is great. :)

7/10, 3/5. Butterscoth, yo!

ProjectGodMode responds:

That's pretty much the end of the song was Danny's hard drive death so it is and always will be as you hear it... so tough shit lol.

-Jarrod