skyood's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[What About My Freestyle?]

I ended up listening to your track because it's categorized "classical." Rap music in the classical category seems to be a trend ... I don't normally review hip hop, so this pretty much just a first impression:

Most of the rap tracks I've heard on NG are strong on the background beat but the actual rapper sounds like a suburban 14 year old kid trying to channel their non-existent inner Eminem. You sir, do not have this problem-- if you are 14 and from a gated community, at least you don't sound like it. Unfortunately, you have the opposite problem. Good "vocals" but the beat underneath isn't very good-- specifically it isn't mixed very well. You almost have to strain to hear the bass and the little spoken sample overpowers the actual rap when it comes in. It should be reversed, with the bass all in my grill and the sample just a decorative touch.

All in all, pretty good, but the poor mixing job sort of kills the end result. Keep it up though.

snp517 responds:

HAHAHA. Oh my god man, I just now realized this mistake. Classical is def not the genre... Hip Hop-Modern is more like it. But yes, you are correct. I need to step my mastering game up for sure. Actually I'm just a middle class white 16-year old with a love for rap though, nice guess hahaha. If there are any mixing tips you could offer me, I'm all ears man. Thanks for the productive criticism bro.

[Saturation]

It is indeed creepy, hit that nail right on the head.

For me, it's in a not-so-sweet spot in terms of how much you have going on (layering? Texture? Instrumentation? Don't know quite what to call it). If it were sparser, it wouldn't be repetitive and the silences/volume changes could contribute to the creepiness if done right. If it were fuller, there could be more variety and more depth in the sense of filling more of the EQ. As it is right now, in my opinion, it's just the wrong amount of thin. Like you found a really awesome keyboard and fiddled with the settings until you came up with this creepy sound, but all the keys are broken except for 4.

On the other hand, you did succeed in it being spooky, and what is there is pretty cool. I just want more of it. Or less.

Eekium responds:

Thanks. next time I try something creepy I can mess around with that a little more.

[Nocturne]

Very good, very polished. I could probably complain about something or other if I really tried (and normally I do for the sake of hoping to help ppl improve) ... but I'm too content with it to do so. Just enjoyed listening to it, and nothing in any way detracted from the enjoyment. Excellent work.

BlazingDragon responds:

Thank you for the kind remarks, skywood. :D I listened to Life, Obstinato and liked what I heard. It's always nice to get a review from another composer.

[Epic Trailer Music - Oney]

Really good stuff. The thing I would change is that I feel like the drums, specifically the kick, is a little too busy. Combined with all the other good stuff you have going on in there, it just gets to be a little too cluttered.

Otherwise, you definitely pulled off that epic feel, and a lot there to hold your interest. If you wanted it to be something you sat down and listened to, it would need to be longer, but I'm sure you know that and intended it for another use (like a short flash, apparently).

Oney responds:

yeah tbh this was rushed for a friends cartoon and the only drums i had access to were fruity loops shitty FPC, thanks!

[Where's the Map?]

I think you managed your goal nicely. What I don't quite like, if this makes any sense, is the minor tonality (it's a minor scale, isn't it? Been a looooong time since my last ear training session ...). I could be wrong about the source, but there's more tension in the melody line than I would randomly prefer. Key words being "prefer." Probably depends a lot on the context, etc. Anyway, like I said I think you hit what you were going for. It's short and simple, but not obviously/annoyingly repetitive for a menu/map type situation. Good job.

Neon-Bard responds:

Thank you very much Skyood! I can see what you mean by the general 'tonality' as you put it. There was a blend of notes, but most were of the minor scale! :) I tend to place more emphasis on the overall melody of the song than any other portion, which could certainly make things seem stressed. I'm not exactly sure why I do this...perhaps it's just an innate thing. :P

Anyhow, thanks again man!

[KKS - Abstract Motion]

I can't give it a full 5 stars, just because it's so short and it would feel wrong (I always vote up a notch from my review stars to try to counteract the zerobombers). :P But it's very good. Enough interest and stuff going on that if you don't look at the progress bar it doesn't feel like a 10 second loop until like the 10th time or whatever. It's just plain solid and good. Can't even think of improvements to point out.

KKSlider60 responds:

i c wat u did thar :3
Look, I don't care about stars/votes/dicks/whatever. I care about the feelings you can get while listening to my music. I want listeners to be immersed in a whole new world, an uplifting sonic experience they'll never forget. And this is just the starting point for my musical vision. :D
Thank you for your time
KKS

[[NAC] Party Tonight]

The idea is definitely a good one. Melody is good, and you definitely nailed the "addictive," hooky fun dance bit. I think there's a lot you could do with the mixing/mastering to make this better. I'm not great at mixing/mastering myself, so I can't really give you much advice on how to make it happen, however. :( But in generalities, the bass could be punchy-er, and the lead line ... I don't know how to describe it. It doesn't stand out from the mix enough for my taste.

Having said all that, I'm not much of an electronica kind of guy, so maybe I'm just plain ol' wrong. But overall I like what you have here. Lots of little touches that add a lot to the whole. Good stuff.

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

You are completely right. My mixing isn't professional level AT ALL, nowhere close. But I did the best that I could.

Also, I'm using laptop speakers to mix my work, because my headphone jack's all screwed up now. So the sound I'm hearing is not necessarily the sound you might be hearing. Thanks for the input, and I'm still working on making that sound crisp and clear, like the juices of a cool red apple.

Thanks
xxxZigZagxxx

[[oove] Requiem]

I'm not a dubstep guy at all, but I'm digging this, which is a victory for you in and of itself. Anyway, since I'm out of my element, I'll only say this one thing ... ok two things.

1. I don't like the (suprise?) ending. It sounds like something an experimenting high schooler does to make his sub-par song "cool." You sir, are too good for gimmicks.

2. How are you not writing music professionally? If you're not, you should be. Yesterday.

broove responds:

I wasn't a dubstep guy either, but now for some strange reason I start to like it more and more.

People's thoughts really divide on the ending, but that's fine, because it sounds right to me.
As of the professional writing... if it happens, it happens. I'm not looking for anything really, I just like to make music, and I'm very glad that people enjoy listening to it.

Thank you for listening and your reviews.

[Joy]

Just plain beautiful. I would absolutely pay for this.

2c of critique: Don't like how at the very end the groove gets broken up by the distorted beat. The song puts you so in a smooth, relaxing, optimistic groove that I'd rather be put gently to sleep, or left hanging, at the end, not jolted awake.

But I loved the vocal, I loved the way it had an internal story, loved it. You re-set the bar for what I personally want to do.

broove responds:

I appreciate your critique and kind words. Hope you achieve that thing you want.

[One Of A Kind]

Good stuff.

3.5 for two reasons: the dirty/fuzzy/static thing going on (0:00 - :28; 1:20 - 2:11, etc) makes me want to shove a sharp stick in my ear in order to remove whatever that is. :P aka I find it annoying and don't know what it adds to the song, other than perhaps some variety. If the later is the case, there must be a less nerve-grating way to mix things up. Second reason is just that it's too repitive as it stands. However, I'm assuming that it's meant to be rapped over, in which case the repetitiveness is actually potentially a good thing to keep the vocal up front.

Overall though, it's solid. Beat makes me pay careful attention that I don't bounce my head considering I'm currently in the library, and all the other little things you have going on in there (other than what I already mentioned) add a lot to it. Keep going your thing.

Dre-17 responds:

Thx Yo. I Didnt Kno AnyOne Posted. But Yea lol I Appreciate Your Post Yo. Check Out Some Of my Other Tracks And Tell me What You Think