TheMightyApple's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dirty Dubstep]

Fart at the end = 5 stars

[Dubstep - Ragnar0k]

Hi there! :) I review/criticize tracks on the audio portal in three categories:
- Composition (Melody, chord progression, intervals, etc.)
- Mixing (Technical part, volume, frequency balance, etc.)
- Feeling (Basically what I feel while listening)
Remember, this is all my personal opinion ;) I listen with a Sennheiser 650 HD headphone.
I apologize in advanced for my English :D

Dubstep - RagnarOk
Composition:
You played around with the song progression and breaks in a very creative way. I has a nice intro that leads into a well ending. I see a potential here. Also: I like the way you use very different sounding synths / sounds. It makes it diverse to listen to.

Mixing:
Although I see a lot of potential, this track is a long way from „perfect’ and in my opinion that’s because of the mixing. There is one main thing you may consider working on: The power of the beat.
Your mid / high synths (all the wobbling and glitching) are very big and open and are the „lead” of the song. But still I have the feeling they don’t have a very solid ground to stand on. They don’t jump out as they supposed to. The solid ground in this case is your beat and bass. The kick lacks the punchy feeling and your snare doesn’t have much mid freq whereby it doesn’t pierce through. Maybe look op some mixing tutorials on punchy dubstep kicks / snares. Your track could have a lot more power and that would be really cool!

Feeling:
It has a very glitchy vibe which I really like. It brings me to a very space like mechanical world with transformers and aliens. Something like that :)

Main thing: Work on your mixing! You will get better over time, I guarantee it ;) Keep on making more! :D

trunotfals responds:

Wow thanks for this awesome review I LOVE IT. I picked up some mixing techniques that have made my tracks a lot better from what they used to be but I know I have a lot to learn! I'm always looking to improve my mixes and I guess now im going to work on this one even more after this review! I'm very new to mixing haha. Thank you So much. Check out this songs original mix to see the improvement if you'd like!

[Space Station 9]

Hi there! :) I review/criticize tracks on the audio portal in three categories:
- Composition (Melody, chord progression, intervals, etc.)
- Mixing (Technical part, volume, frequency balance, etc.)
- Feeling (Basically what I feel while listening)
Remember, this is all my personal opinion ;) I listen with a Sennheiser 650 HD headphone.
I apologize in advanced for my English :D

Composition
I like it! The timing is a bit weird but it all fits together. Nice progression switch at 0:46. It's gives a really sleepy feeling ^^

Mixing:
Overall it fits together. You leveled your sounds out quit well; nothing is to loud and you can hear every sound in the mix. Still I have two main things to mention in your mix:
1. Try to balance out your frequency spectrum. Your mid frequencies (400 Hz - 800 Hz) maybe are slightly too loud. Try to cut some sounds with a EQ around 600 Hz, maybe it will smooth your track even more.
2. The first part is really dreamy with a lot of sustain, and that's what makes it magical. But the beat/bass that comes in is really dry, and in my opinion it takes away the dreamy feeling. Try to play around with reverb on the snare / hi hat. Maybe a little should be enough to make your track more open :)

Feeling:
As mentioned earlier, I get a magical / dreamy feeling. It could fit right in a easy phased game or something.

Keep up the good work! :)

Veenomn responds:

Thank you for the review. It means a lot :) I will hopefully improve in the points you made.

[Don't Give Up On Me]

Hi there! :) I review/criticize tracks on the audio portal in three categories:
- Composition (Melody, chord progression, intervals, etc.)
- Mixing (Technical part, volume, frequency balance, etc.)
- Feeling (Basically what I feel while listening)
Remember, this is all my personal opinion ;) I listen with a Sennheiser 650 HD headphone.
I apologize in advanced for my English :D

Composition:
Nothing really special, but still works for a kind of happy / restful feeling. Nice melody lines, nothing is to crowed or crosses each other in the composition.

Mixing:
In my opinion, the main synth that comes at 0:29 is way to overwhelming. It's everywhere, leaving no space for reverb, the melody lines or anything that needs to punch through. The synths has a lot of white noise (maybe lowpass filter a bit?) is really loud compared to the other sounds in the track. Tip: Level it down and maybe sidechain it to the kick more heavily. I think your trying to accomplish the "big" feeling, but maybe's this is a bit to much. Also, I think the rest of the sounds (drum + melody lines) will come out better if you fix this.

Feeling:
Overwhelming in a good way. I think of a very colorful ride through space. It's a bit final fantasy like with electronic elements in it :)

Overall:
I can hear the potential, but the mix makes it hard for me to listen to. Look up some masterclass mixing tutorials and make your mix more balanced out, and I would love to hear this track again :)

kylermannn responds:

Thanks for the review! You're definitely right about pretty much everything. I feel like mixing and mastering has been what's holding me back for a while now since I suck at it so much haha.

[Hectic restraint]

Hi there! :) I review/criticize tracks on the audio portal in three categories:
- Composition (Melody, chord progression, intervals, etc.)
- Mixing (Technical part, volume, frequency balance, etc.)
- Feeling (Basically what I feel while listening)
Remember, this is all my personal opinion ;) I listen with a Sennheiser 650 HD headphone.
I apologize in advanced for my English :D

Composition:
A quite simple chord progressions, still very effective! The various melody lines makes it interesting to listen to. Maybe you can play around a bit with a little alteration in your chord progression in your future tracks, slight changes can do a lot. Watch some videos about composition. But I have to say, for your first project this is kinda good :)

Mixing:
This track could be a lot more pumping. The bass is kind of muddy and and the kick could have a bit more power. The melody lines are awesome and powerful, but in my opinion they don't have a solid surface to stand on (drums + bass). Tutorial on bass / Kick mixing; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niy3INBAm3c. It isn't really your kind of music, but the method is the same. I would start here :)

Feeling:
Awesome. Energetic, it would nice for a fast phased game.

Overall:
Keep on making music. I'm pretty impressed since it's your first piece of music. You have potential :)

BlastBeats responds:

Thanks a lot for this extremely detailed (so very helpful) review. I've been listening some electronic music now since two weeks (which is quite a shame) or so, and I see that my work needs some improvement (for which there always is space). Your words have fulfilled the task to be good resources in my journey to make music be so energetic as possible (fancy english). Stay awesome man ;)

[Cha Loch Ness]

Hi there! :) I review/criticize tracks on the audio portal in three categories:
- Composition (Melody, chord progression, intervals, etc.)
- Mixing (Technical part, volume, frequency balance, etc.)
- Feeling (Basically what I feel while listening)
Remember, this is all my personal opinion ;) I listen with a Sennheiser 650 HD headphone.
I apologize in advanced for my English :D

Composition:
I love it. It’s simple and very diverse. The melody lines are all chopped and with different sounds, it’s sound awesome. Nothing to mention really ^^

Mixing:
Your track sounds really fat, and in this case that’s a good thing. The kick & bass are well mixed together and you can hear every sound cause it’s balanced out really well. The only thing I can mention that it could have been a bit more dirtier. Little bit more overdrive on certain sound, but that’s my kind of taste really :)

Feeling:
Awesooome. It immediately grooves and everybody starts nodding they’re head on the ritme. This is really promising, but only a bit short. If you could make this a full length song, it would go directly in my playlists. I really love your style, finish it up ;)

Also, very detailed author comment. It gives the final touch <3
Rating: 4,5 stars

phosphorusprocedure responds:

Thanks for the review! I might do an extended version later. Time will tell.

[Funky Jam]

Hallo nogmaals. Ik schrijf de review in het Nederlands, net wat makkelijker :) Ik review op dezelfde manier als eerst; in drie categorieën.

Compositie:
Simpel maar effectief. Je kan horen dat je al een langere tijden de toetsen partijen bespeeld. De solo lijntjes klinken ook lekker, alleen zou dit iets meer kunnen variëren vind ik zelf. Misschien zou je ook is kunnen kijken naar wat meer jazzy akkoorden liggingen. Bijv. C7-9-13 liggingen (in noten: C - E - G - Bb - D - F). Ik zou daarvoor iets meer gaan opzoeken, dit is een heel apart deel in de muziek theorie. Het zou je track nog meer groovy / lounchy maken :)

Mixing:
Het eerste wat we moet opvalt is dat de toetsen heel erg aan de voorgrond liggen. Dit is logisch, want hier gebeurt ook het meest :) Alleen moet je uitkijken dat de drums en bass niet naar achter vallen in de mix. De toetsen kunnen grooven / soleren op een goede basis, en dat zijn de drums en de bass. Je kan ook geen huis bouwen zonder goede fundering om maar zo te zeggen :) Ik zou ze iets harder zetten een beetje EQen op de freq waar ze het meeste power hebben. Je hebt lekker gebruikt gemaakt van de reverb!

Feeling:
Dit klinkt misschien raar, maar dit geeft mij niet echt de feeling van „een jam”. Wat ik hiermee bedoel is dat ik heel erg kan horen dat het met een DAW is gemaakt. Een instrumentale jamsessie in een kroeg is gespeeld door mensen, en mensen spelen op hun gevoel. Dus de drum hangt bijvoorbeeld iets meer naar achter, de bass doet af en toe een loopje, de toetsenist varieert een beetje in z’n spel, iedereen speelt af en toe harder en zachter.. enzovoort. Een daarentegen DAW doet gewoon precies wat er gevraagd word :) Wat ik probeer te zeggen is dat de sounds een beetje statisch klinken. Misschien moet je proberen te experimenteren met midi grooves / velocity. Het zou de track nog maar kunnen laten grooven :)

Ik hoop dat je hier wat aan hebt!
Rating: 3,5 stars

Voluto responds:

Hartstikke bedankt voor jouw kritische review!

Zeer bruikbare tips. Vooral de jazz akkoorden moet ik naar kijken. Ik ben namelijk klassiek geschoold en ben dus niet thuis in die wereld, maar ik ga het zeker uitzoeken! Ook mastering en mixing moet ik nog onder de knie krijgen.

Ik ben inderdaad ook op zoek naar manieren om de tracks natuurlijker te laten klinken. Wellicht kan jouw tip over de midi velocity daarbij helpen :D

Nogmaals dank!

Voluto

[Red Rawr]

Hi there! :) I review/criticize tracks on the audio portal in three categories:
- Composition (Melody, chord progression, intervals, etc.)
- Mixing (Technical part, volume, frequency balance, etc.)
- Feeling (Basically what I feel while listening)
Remember, this is all my personal opinion ;) I listen with a Sennheiser 650 HD headphone.
I apologize in advanced for my English :D

Track: Red Rawr

Composition:
The chord progression is kind of simple, but with the melody lines (and sounds) you made it pretty weird. Still, maybe you can play around with the chord progression a little bit. Some small variation would nice. Also: I fucking dig the intro sound. The same goes for the drum / percussion. Very glitchy.

Mixing:
You got a lot of sounds in your track, and those are the hardest tracks to mix. I have to say: You did a pretty nice job. Especially the beat is really well done. All the sounds of the beat pierce really well through the other sounds. Even its when its repeating the kick or snare, it doesn’t get annoying at all at any frequency. The only thing I could say is that the lead synth could have a little more reverb. The beat should stay a little dry and glitchy. But the main lead could be big and open!

Feeling:
It creeps me out in a good way. This would be nice for a fast phased game / platformer.

Overall opinion: I like it :)
Rating: 4 stars

Axel7 responds:

wow!! thank you very much! I'm sorry for the late reply because I barely visit the website but this is really useful!!!