Step's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Junkman Jam]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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Whoa. I'm not exactly sure what to think of this! Undeniably catchy guitar riffs, a fairly slow/laid-back pace with fitting percussion, and then the craziest announcer voice that you could possibly imagine. If there's one thing that this track has, it's character. The voice acting is pretty damn good and does a great job of conveying the insane but oddly confident and enthusiastic junkyard owner, and man, the the tone of this track is so gritty. The guitar sounds almost like it's struggling to stay in pitch and the voice sounds like it's being spoken through a cheap megaphone echoing throughout a deserted junkyard. This kind of rough and gritty approach gives the track huge amounts of nerve and personality, making sure to leave a mark in anyone's head.

Like I said to Braiton, however, I think your production needs work. I was pretty torn about this because I kept asking myself - would a clearer mix hurt the junky, gritty nature of this track? Ultimately, however, I feel like the fact that the mix isn't clearer is simply hurting the listening experience. It is certainly possible to keep that rough tone in your track while doing things like making the drums more upfront and punchy, balancing the mix out so there's less mids and more bass, and making it such that you can actually understand most of the lyrics! I would suggest listening to the soundtrack of the old PS2 game Metal Arms, mainly this one - http://goo.gl/1Z2Jgd - to get an idea of how to nail the balance between both a rough tone and a clear mix. Also, on a composition-related complaint, The riff you introduce at 0:39 is GREAT but you really rely on it too much, and in a track where the only other elements are vocals that are impossible to understand and subdued/distant drums, you needed to add more variety to that guitar outside the (pretty sweet, I might add) solos.

I don't think you can quite get away with making something so obscure and unique without having better production to justify it, but there's no denying that this track has bucketloads of personality. Good job.

SCORE: 7.8/10

BrainLight responds:

Thank you for reviewing. I'm very glad you liked it dispite the mixing issues. In the end, I'd rather have someone like the music more than they like the mix so this was a great compliment.

But it was damn hard to not muddy up the track while trying to bring up those drums. Recordings were not the best.

[I Owe You The Same]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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Oh man, this is a funny one! In a way it's in the same light as SonicWombat's submission. It has a pretty modest, home-made sound made out of just a guitar and your voice, the most humble instrumentation ever. However, suffice to say, yours has a little more cheek to its lyrics than his does! Speaking of which, the lyrics are well-written, and you sing them very nicely. You have a laid-back and confident singing style which, like secantwave, I wish I heard more of. I admit I didn't care much for the rap sections, which were fine but not quite as impressive as the singing. The vocal melody, while naturally not very complex, does its job well at providing a catchy hook to ingrain into the listener's head, and the clean guitar solo was a pleasure to listen to. The kicker at the end with Tim's mum also made me giggle a little, so there's that!

The production, in some ways, is decent. I like how gritty the sung voice sounds. Not sure if it's simply your recording quality, or any kind of distortion effects you put on the voice, but it works! In terms of execution, your guitar-playing is tight. Some minor timing issues, but that actually adds to the charm so I'm not too bothered. Unfortunately, in other ways the production isn't quite there yet. The rap sections were extremely unclear, the clacks at 1:14 have too much high end and stand out unnaturally, and the mix overall is thin and subdued. I read what you said in the thread, but I'm afraid I still disagree - reworking the mix and master to make the track more full-bodied instead of it being so thin and subdued will do the track wonders. Right now, the track could at least do with some compression and reworking the EQ, as long as the dynamics are retained of course.

Recap: was hoping for a better mix and more developed sung sections. Otherwise, this track is charming and a blast to listen to. It's been a pleasure having you on the contest!

SCORE: 8.1/10

Ceevro responds:

Hey, no worries! I was honestly shocked to get through the auditions! Seems that you liked my tune a bit more than the other judges. I know I've got issues with EQ...it's always going to be a challenge to compete acoustically with mixes done entirely on a computer, which is to say that I need to study my mixing more.

As for singing...well...that's just what came to me when I was writing, for this particular song.

However, that's all good. I have some clear things to work on for next year!

[Lunar Event]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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The most obvious adjective to describe this track would be "original". As if sampling sounds from household objects wasn't enough, you had to go the extra mile and actually make your sounds in Wolfram Mathematica. I find the fact that you used the very same program I use to help me with my mathematics studies to make MUSIC both hilarious and ingenious, especially after googling to make sure you weren't just joking and then, to my surprise, finding that "the Wolfram Language supports state-of-the-art sound generation". I don't know how you did it, but I am all but fascinated. With beeps, boops, glitches, occasional atmospheric elements and sound effects from around your house, you've managed to create an extremely interesting and original track with a commendable atmosphere and intriguing blend of sounds.

Even with such a minimalistic approach, there are some pretty awesome little sonic tidbits in here, such as 0:31's distorted pad sound, or 1:44's silky sine/triangle lead. On top of that, you have an extremely clean mix, showing mastery over the skill of blending different sounds and patterns together while keeping everything clear. It's great stuff, but ultimately I agree with johnfn that the experimental nature of this submission does cut down on its enjoyability. The melodies almost sound like MIDI values randomly generated from a computer - they don't make much sense, so to speak. The thing is, I don't know whether making more expressive/sensible melodies would ruin the originality and innovation of this track. The track is doomed by its very nature. It's a track that communicates an idea without aiming to impress, and while I for one adore your approach, in a contest where you're being compared with other pieces of music that are far more musical, and ultimately impressive, I couldn't give you an amazing score.

This was certainly a tough nut to crack, but in the end I thoroughly enjoyed the listen and it'll remain in my head for quite a while now!

SCORE: 7.7/10

[Rising to the Challenge]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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Oh man, this track! It has so much charm that it really is hard not to like it. The retro VGM boss music vibe is so addictive, and represented charmingly by an instrument arrangement that sounds like it came from the 80's, what with the sawtooth lead chords and tonnes of cheesy tom fills. There's nothing that sounds out of place. Everything just works. As if your memorable arrangement wasn't enough, you even have some pretty brilliant composition, starting from the motif you first introduced on its own at 0:12. It's such an earworm, and you use it in various parts of the track to tie a bow over everything very neatly. You have other classic nods to video game music such as the arpeggios at 0:37, the gliassando at 2:35 and the understated ending that makes this actually work to an extent if it were to be looped. These are all really nice touches!

Despite how fun this is to listen to, I can't deny that it gets extremely tiring to listen to after a while. It's fine at the start and I couldn't help but smile while hearing you introducing your elements and setting the mood, but after around 2 minutes the insistently energetic pace and blaring high synths really do take a toll. Even taking a look at your waveform shows that you're not giving the mix much room to breathe and that you've got some pretty heavy compression going on. If I were you I'd add some more dynamic contrasts like the one at 2:17, and also make the mix more balanced so it isn't focused on sounding loud, and instead sounds a bit more manageable to listen to in long stretches.

That should be about it. Great job, loved it, but work on that mix!

SCORE: 8.5/10

Spadezer responds:

Thanks very much for the encouraging review. I wish I could have had more time to add in some dynamic changes before you judged, but I could still do it and send you a link to the more finished product. Hopefully this doesn't stop me from continuing on to the next round.

I'm glad you loved it that much though. I feel silly for not picking up on the dynamic mixing but I can take an 8.5

-Spadezer-

[[IV]Novocaine]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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As you're not new to the NGADM, I've heard a fair bit of your work, and I've concluded that if there's one thing you're great at, it's creating textures composed of layers of different instrument tracks. Every piece of yours has this wonderful blend of different sounds that complement each other like peas in a pod. This track in particular has a seamless blend of orchestral and electronic, with even a distorted electric guitar sound showing up a little over 2 minutes into the track! Add accompaniment from percussion and sci-fi drones to that concoction, and you've got a very enjoyable texture. Might I add that your percussion is brilliant? It's rhythmically superb and sounds great (especially those tom rolls!). I would watch out though since it did get somewhat repetitive.

My issue with this track was already mentioned in the review section. This is very low-key stuff that doesn't have much movement at all. It retains a consistent dynamic from the beginning and since nothing groundbreaking is going on in terms of melodies (I mean, your motifs are pretty good, just not particularly complex or varied), this can unfortunately lead to the track getting dull. I found myself bored listening to this after you finished setting the mood and introducing the new layers of instrumentation, since from that point it didn't really go anywhere or provide anything memorable. Also, what's up with that ending? It just... stops! I mean, for a track of this style, I wasn't expecting you to end it with a bang or anything, but your ending simply came off as abrupt and premature.

All things considered, this is a very professional-sounding track and has some really well-executed ideas. Good job.

SCORE: 8/10

IglicaV responds:

Good to see you again! To be honest, I'm aware of all those issues you mentioned. I still need to get some experience in this kind of music, and I promise that I will work hard to get better! Thank you for your review, it was great to participate again!

See you next year :D

[Focus]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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I'm going to say straight off that I think you should be very proud of this. I consider it one of your best works, namely composition-wise. Troisnyx put it best - your composition is simply STUNNING. The chord changes (4:13's got to be my favourite), the voicing, the progression, the melodies... I cannot stress enough how breathtaking this composition is. Another great thing about this track is how you use the instruments you've got. Your samples are bad, there's no denying that, but you use your instruments extremely well. The articulations such as the many grace notes, brass trills such as the one at 1:03, rises like 1:47 and drops like the ones at 2:35 increase the authenticity of this track. Your arrangement is on point, and both your foreground melodies and background accompaniment are written wonderfully.

But man, this is an absolute tragedy. Your mixing and sound quality just... isn't there. I can totally relate to how hard you try to make something great with your low-quality samples, because it's so apparent in the way you arrange the instruments, but in the end the sound quality is hurting this piece more than it should. A lot of instruments are considerably dry. 3:55's pause lacking a reverb tail is simply a testament to this. Some of the sounds you use are simply obnoxious and unpleasant, such as the synth that starts fading in at 1:15. The mix itself is a bit cluttered and could do with some better levelling, as sometimes background elements overshadow foreground elements, and other times background elements aren't clear enough. There's a lot of frequency clashing in the mids when the rhodes organ plays its chords too.

I feel like your production value and sound quality are putting down this track quite a lot, but I also feel like the composition in this is too good to leave unnoticed, so here's a high score from me. Great work.

SCORE: 8.3/10

Nimble responds:

To clarify 3:55 is a volume cut-out; There wouldn't be a reverb tail there regardless of it, but I do recognize the song definitely needs some reverb.

I definitely tried EQing and mixing the piece, much to my dismay i'm still not very good at it; only way to get better at it is to attempt to do it well. It's definitely something I'll have to focus on if I want to get ANY better because honestly the composition portion is already there - what fails me is how to mix and master; I just haven't put in the time to study and analyze what and how to mix well as much as I have when it comes to studying music theory, and I can accept that going into the future as I will put in the effort to study the other half. I'm glad you're impressed with the composition, but you're right about production - I can't keep ignoring it for any longer. Thank you for the review Step, I really appreciate it. :)

[The Abyss]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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What an absolutely terrifying and incredibly captivating track. Every single chord is spine-tingling and chill-inducing. Like in your audition, you've masterfully created a professional-tier atmosphere that drives the track forward, and man it is simply bursting with tension! My favourite thing about this track would be how masterfully you control the rise and release of tension, to the point that the track sounds like a ticking time bomb during the softer sections and an absolute terror during the more powerful sections. The brass chords that start around a minute are a wonderful touch, and again I need to commend your control on the tension in this track. You keep the velocity of that brass at just the right level to deliver that momentary fright without going overboard, and then when the brass reaches close to max velocity towards the end it becomes all the more meaningful.

I can go on for ages about how brilliant your mood/atmosphere is, but I'd better move on! Like in your audition, you have solid composition here to back up your atmosphere. The chords are exquisite, the woodwind plays a great call-and-response game, and 1:47's mimicking of the intro was a great way to bring back the familiar motif and give the track compositional meaning over just being orchestral ambience. Production doesn't leave much to desire either. The mix is clear, and the samples you use are just fantastic (I especially love the subtle portamento on the strings). My only issue is that this feels like it's begging for more musical development. You spend a hefty amount of time setting the tone of the piece and building up tension, so when 1:47 kicks in I'm expecting some super fleshed-out melodic section, and what I got instead was a section that still sounded fairly satisfying but not as effective as it could have been.

Whatever the case, I'm extremely impressed by your music, and while I don't think this tops your audition, this is still breathtaking. Keep up the brilliant work.

SCORE: 9.1/10

DamienFleisch responds:

Thank you for another really in depth review! I hear what you are saying about the climax of the piece. I had spent some time trying to make it more fulfilling, but at the same time I also kind of liked that it wasn't quite satisfying. What I was feeling as I was writing it and trying to build it was that there is a weight to the barren-ness that grew on me. With a little more time spent on it, I think it can become much more than it is. And being knocked out of the comp now, perhaps that will become next on my to-do list.

[Dance of the Poltergeist]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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ZipZipper makes a good point. Why didn't I pair you and ZipZipper/steampianist in the same group? Your style and theirs are so similar! To begin with, I don't have much to critique in the composition department. You've got quite a likeable main motif and sweet alternate/counter melodies, all supported by a backbone of very suitable accompaniment and chords. The rise in tempo at the end was very fun to listen to, and changed the mood very proficiently from haunting and eerily enticing to tense, before the unexpected yet intriguing switch to the major key at the end. I'm also quite a fan of your transition to the faster section. It's not easy to transition to different time signatures or tempos, but you seem to have nailed it here.

So yeah, nothing particularly wrong about the composition. When it comes to the production, on the other hand, I was extremely disappointed. The sounds you used are terrible. I'm not sure if you wanted to make a chiptune-like track but these are less chiptune sounds and more raw synths being bitcrushed, which gives them an unpleasantly harsh tone and makes the track very tiring to listen to. During the faster section and the part right before it with the heavier drums, the mix was very harsh, cluttered and stressed, with little dynamic range. I mean, I have nothing against bitcrushing and creating harsh sounds, but there's a difference between using them tastefully and using them so badly that the track just sounds downright unpleasant and messy.

I had to dock a lot of points for the production. Your compositional ideas are great, but you need better sounds and mixing thereof to really do them justice.

SCORE: 7.1/10

Azhthar responds:

Hi Step! Thx a lot for this nice and detailed review. Glad you liked my composition. Yep, it´s right ha I have a tendence to these grotesque stuff. I realized already some while ago that the producion quality in this track wasn´t very good and it anoyed me already ;) I should stick to stuff I´m more familiar with and i was wuite stupid to try a chiptune in that competition. At least I hope that some people got a smile listening to this because there should be much more electric polka in this world. Maybe I should have stuck to my firs submission but since in my group were two of the top three tracks I guess that wouldn´t have changed very much. But it´s nice that steamy and jip passed this round so at leas there will remain some circussy stuff in this comp ;)

[Tree of Life]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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Wow, man, this is beautiful. I am absolutely elated you managed to finish this before the deadline, and work on it enough to make sure it doesn't sound rushed. Your meticulous attention to compositional detail, your absolutely brilliant atmosphere crafting and, of course, your (and Merry's) mastery of singing makes this, in my opinion, one of the strongest pieces of the round. I can't stress how much I enjoyed the melodies and harmonies in this track. They have a particularly organic and earthen kind of vibe, which of course pertains to the title of the track very well! Regarding the singing, it's simply spectacular. The only issue I have with the singing is that at the start of some new melodic phrases the timing of both your singing could've been tighter, such as at 2:59. Nothing that a little audio slicing/positioning can't fix!

The instrumentation is well-chosen and well-arranged. You are the master of harp, in particular. The harp especially sounds great during 1:52 where you briefly switch to a more upbeat, staccato kind of section. The mix is suitably warm and smooth, which helps the atmosphere tons, although it could have been a bit clearer. Unfortunately there's quite a bit of muddiness and clashing of frequencies, especially when your voice is playing since it's so full-bodied. A clearer mix would mean being able to hear Merry's voice more easily, and appreciate the plethora of little compositional intricacies you threw in throughout the track, such as the melodic accompaniment played by the high strings a minute into the track.

While there are some execution flops, I'm blown away. This is well-deserving of its perfect 10/10 review score by far. Sorry for being the asshole who ruined it though!

SCORE: 9.2/10

etherealwinds responds:

<3 you're the best. <3

[Gary Goat - Bazaar]

This is an NGADM Round 1 Review.

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First and foremost, credit is due to you for making the only track this round which has a clear ethnic flavour to it. You really went full-out on the arabic influences, not only throwing in a variety of ethnic instruments, but even using the phrygian dominant scale, a scale used often in arabic music, to seemingly nullify any possible accusations of an inauthentic track! The lengths you took are appreciable, and create a unique and fairly memorable listening experience with an intriguing blend of instruments and styles. Some particular things which I enjoy in this track would be the deep sub bass, the drums in general and the rise in intensity at the end when you speed things up. There's some good stuff in here!

That being said, I do have quite a few gripes with this track. For starters, the melodies sound somewhat uninspired. They may seem attractive at the start but after a while they just sound like they're running up and down the scale with little expression. It also got considerably repetitive after a while, since the novelty of an arabic/electronic hybrid wears off you make a conscious effort to maintain interest. The woodwind instrument that comes in a few seconds into the track sounds pretty wonky due to excessive vibrato, and also could do with more reverb. Most of the melodic instruments in fact, while well-chosen, don't sound too great, although that flute stuck out particularly to me. You know, in case it helps, here's a track with a somewhat similar kind of concept to yours which you could perhaps use for inspiration! http://goo.gl/PgVkzg

Right, as a recap - great idea, solid drums, good instrument arrangement, unfortunately a little uninspired/repetitive. Good work overall; a fun listen!

SCORE: 7.4/10