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midimachine

432 Audio Reviews

252 w/ Responses

got the trancey dnb sound down pretty solidly here. i think the drums and the bass here are a little on the soft side though, you might want to bring the supersaw leads down a little and pump the rhythm a bit harder before hitting the master. the chipmunk vocal chop is really annoying imo, would be better down an octave. the structure drags a bit and the melodies are a little boring, but i like the descending arpeggio at 2:33 as a backing element. would be nice to sweep the panning on the tom tom fill sample. i think the track needs a longer breakdown instead of constantly switching between slight variations on a simple melody. decent sound design and mixing, though!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

first of all, really appreciate that you pulled out all the old simsynth sounds out, dunno what version of FL you're using that still has them built in but hearing START2.syn again has made me weep with nostalgia. dunno why everything is so loud and distorted though, it doesn't sound very good. a bunch of stuff is out of time and a lot of the sounds have clicks and pops at the end. didn't really enjoy this. sounds like you wanted to try out a bunch of random sounds hidden away in FL studio's most ancient packs, and i can respect the shit out of that.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

very nice chord progression! really love the vibe of the intro even though it's a little long. love the energy coming into the drop too. i think overall the mix is a little on the bright side, i think the snareclap and some of those hihats sound a little brittle and probably need a little rolloff on the treble. although that arp sounds great, it bounces about a bit too much to provide the melodic backbone the track needs. the ending feels like you kinda gave up on it little bit, like it doesn't have the same attention to detail in its winding down that the intro has building up. great sound though, make more!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

DJ-Cassell responds:

Thank you for pointing out all of these details that need working on. I always find it easier to write intros than outros so I should look into and focus on outros more. As for the EQ of my mix/master I've been thinking about buying an analyzer plugin such as Izotope Tonal Balance to help me EQ my track better since I can only mix on headphones at the moment. I do have a pair of KRK speakers but I'm having technical difficulties with them. It's an easy but kinda expensive fix though. Anyway, this review is amazing. Thank you!

there are some really nice musical ideas in this, i actually quite like the psytrance kickbass + orchestral combo. all the string parts are too loud and are fighting to be in the same space in the mix. a lot of the melodies meander about aimlessly and have variation for variation's sake, and for me this makes the piece unmemorable and sometimes annoying. i think for game music you want to be more consistent in the melodies but also the structure, and at the moment parts seem to drop in and out randomly without warning a lot. you can implement little sweeps, drum fills, or aother transitional elements like at 0:46 without necessarily leading into a drop or even a new section. solid effort overall.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

derp604 responds:

Thanks for the feedback, this was my second ever finished song so hopefully I improve from this

i love a good boom bap beat and i can get into simplistic, yet creative sampling. this definitely falls flat in that respect, since it's just the same sample retriggered for the entire time, with a kick on 1 & 3 and a snare on 2 & 4. no drum fills, filter sweeps, cutaways, and no extra layers of samples. the sample itself is just one chord and some cymbals so you need something else to make the beat interesting. sorry if you're proud of this, but this seems extremely low-effort to me even for an amateur producer.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

there's a nice synthwavey vibe to this, and there's some unique tones in the synths you're using. overall i think the bass sounds you're using are way too loud compared to the drums and peak out at the wrong frequencies - it's like they want to push in the sub bass area but sit in the low-midrange instead. the mix in last section is very messy and far too loud - turn everything down except the drums here and maybe add a sub layer to that metal-guitar-ish synth to thicken the sound, because it sounds very boxed-in and midrange heavy. would be good if there was more melodic/chord variation in the first 2 minutes, it kind of just sits around the same two notes for the most part and gets very boring.

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

yea it's epic alright. really enjoy the polymetric parts! the stereo imaging is really nice and while the panning true matches orchestra positioning there's still a feeling that everything is in the same space - however i'd narrow the piano a lot since it's jarring to me that one instrument is taking up the same amount of space as the entire orchestra (a little stereo spread would be fine). felt a bit like background music but still had a lot going on - wish the main theme was more prominent and memorable. those long legato string/flute unisons in the mid section are a bit tiring and it'd be nice to break those up with different articulations or a stronger counterpoint. great work overall!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

ooh, cool basses! the melodic flair in this is unique and dripping with thematic potency, love that you're setting a scene purely through composition and instrumentation. the mix is kinda wacky and seems to have a hard time deciding which elements are the most important though. and i appreciate the dynamics and headroom, but i think you want to pump the percussion and basslines a lot harder than you are currently - the synth leads are not nearly as exciting as their volume would have me believe. bit on the long side too, but i dig the atmospheric ending a lot. good job!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

Darkkit10 responds:

Thanks for your opinion

ticks all the synthwave boxes! i really like the ghostly string synth at 1:05 and i think the overall vibe has been nailed here. it's a little bit basic and maybe derivative in terms of the sound design and composition but it's all decent. sounds like some of the digital synths you're using are aliasing quite badly (the lead coming in at 0:11 is the most obvious example) and the mix is too bright overall so i'd consider recording your parts individually and lowpassing them to varying extents. it's good to keep your synths and cymbals quite a lot lower than the kick and snare before you hit a master limiter so they can pop out and still leave lots of breathing room in the overall mix. cool track!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

cotnp responds:

Thank you for the feedback! It's good to know what I should work on some more with mixing my stuff since I am still pretty new to it all

i'm a sucker for sunvox and odd-meter rhythms. apart from the short buzzy lead, which i think is too loud and a little too harsh on the top end, the cute sound palette comes together really nicely. while i do like the progressive structure and slightly spicy chord progression, i found the melodies to all be meandering and not very memorable. if i was playing a game with this soundtrack i would find it annoying to have a dynamically jarring synth lead and melodies that are trying way too hard to steal my attention. the rhythms and chords are already quite complex - keep the melody simple!

important notes on my NGUAC review process: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1476427/18#bbspost26965604_post_text

used to put a lot of music on here and then i stopped but maybe i will start doing that again one day hehe

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