Shamukh's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[Flight]

Wow.

I'm not even going to try critiquing this. Everything flows beautifully. Great transitions. Great buildup, overall just a really great arrangement. I'm not really a trance guy, but this is just awesome. Hell, it even loops! I also don't download much from NG either, but I feel this song is a necessity.

Really great job on this man! 5/5, downloaded, favorited.

[Passage to the Afterlife]

Good start.

Sounds sort of like the beginning for a good ambient track (that said, this isn't trance, this is more or less ambient). ;)

The choir seems a bit dry. For a tune like this I would expect the "voice" to fade in and fade out proportionally, so that there's no real gap of silence in between them. The Bell is also short-lived I think. I would add some massive reverb on that (say a 4 second delay, 1k low cut, aprox. wet at 80%, 15.5kHz high damping and 40-50ish diffusion--maybe a little predelay but not too much). I don't know, those settings came off the top of my head, but that should give it a really chilly feel to add to the "spookiness" of the song. Learn what all those knobs do, too ;). Reverb is one thing you're going to be messing with a lot.

Phasering caught me a bit off guard. It's a good concept but it should really ease in to build tension (which is a major point in tracks like this). Slowly raising the FX level of the phaser as the song progresses is a good way to do this. Try adding a instrument or two also; especially something with higher-frequencies to get a more bright shearing sound while covering the high-end... maybe a couple of effects. Go crazy, but not too much. ;)

Anyway, like I said, I think it needs a bit more variation, but this is definitely grounds for a good beginning of an amazing ambient piece. :D Keep producin', man!

[chinese techno]

Sup

This got me bumpin n grindin. :D

[Mining Melancholy [Psyko Mix]]

Very nice.

Very industrial. I like it. The drum sequencing is well-made too; I like the subtle glitching that happens every once in a while, nice touch. IMO they're put way too far back in the mix. seem that industrial seems to be the main influence in this track, I feel they should be a bit more dominant. The main melody sounds very familiar to me, what game is this from?

Overall well-made. Keep up the good work man. :)

Godknown responds:

Thanks for the tips on making this sound better. I'll be sure to make the drums louder! Also, the melody is from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest. I'm glad it sounds familiar to you. A videogame player, perhaps? Heheh. Thanks for the review, friend. Very helpful!