midimachine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[can i lose myself]

spicy chord progression! feels like ratatat doing a cover of a c418 song, which is awesome. really enjoyed the composition but i'm not hot on the mix. every element feels dark and smokey, and i'm not sure if it's because you rendered a low bitrate mp3 or if it's because you lowpass filtered everything. that heavy compression on the piano sucks a lot of life out of the track and puts immense pressure in the midrange of the mix, as well as creating these really ugly pops whenever a chord is played. everything is very dry and mostly quite narrow, too. would love to hear a brighter version of this with a little more space and dynamics. great piece of music though!

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

clefergers responds:

Sorry it took so long to get to this, but you nailed it. Almost everything does have an indiviual lowpass filter of some degree because I did want to have a muted atmosphere. I'm gonna be honest, I don't know much about mixing so forgive me if I sound like I don't know what I'm saying. I had no idea where the pops were coming from. I was probably abusing the compression to make the piano audible to a point where I liked but not peaking.

[High on razor blades]

cool bass tone, phasers are underrated on bass guitar imo. your playing is quite solid too, good timing on your rhythm parts. i think the mix lets this down a lot though. all your guitar parts are centered and at the same volume, so they're all constantly fighting for the same space and clashing with each other. the tone on all your guitars is very boxed-in and midrange heavy - i don't know your recording/playing setup so it's hard to offer pointers but an eq to cut all the low end and scoop out the midrange a little would be a good place to start. the best way to get a heavy guitar sound is to multi-track each of your rhythm parts and pan them left and right to fill the space out, and write your rhythm parts around the bass part.

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

[Space Vacuum]

very interesting FM sounds here! i quite like the section at 0:59 where the bass just sits back and drives the beat forward. when the bass is busier it starts to clash with itself so i would turn the release time of that synth down a bunch so it hardly overlaps when you play multiple notes. some of the samples have a click at the end, idk if they're caustic's built in samples but i've never had that issue when i used it, so maybe try making the sample length shorter in beatbox. otherwise there's not a lot really going on and the musical ideas that are here don't really compliment each other well. but i appreciate the unique sounds you used and hope you build on them some more.

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

[Ji4H3 - Nothing will beat us down (Original Mix)[Free Download]]

lots of good ideas in this track. i'm particularly impressed with the way the drops are crafted, i can hear lots of attention to detail on how things build and the timing for when things cut out. there's definitely too much time spent in these buildup sections, and a lot of energy from the main sections fades away immediately. at the very least i think you can keep the kicks and hard bass synth playing over the 8 bars after each current drop, if that makes sense. the main lead tone is very shrill and i would either turn it down or comp that 1k-2k range down harder. and definitely not use it at all in the buildups so it POPS in the drop! lots of potential in this one. make more!

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

[Hold]

nice guitar playing! surprised how well the heavier rock lead tone works in this genre, and i think using a harder drum sound as opposed to brushes helps a lot. that said, i think the drum programming needs a lot more dynamic variation, especially in the ride cymbal which really needs to ebb and flow with its accents. the delay effect is a little messy and i'd only enable it for specific notes like the wail at 1:02; it especially messes with your fast non-quarternary passages in the first solo. would love to hear more than 90 seconds of this, with some clean guitar in the rhythm section as well.

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

[House Down]

yo i love melodic 808 cowbells! lots of atmosphere and mood going on in this. surprised at how tight the lows ended up being for the most part. i can appreciate a minimal instrumentation but i wanted something in the background in the building sections just to help push the momentum of the track some more. i think the cowbell melody gets a bit messy when the beat kicks in at 0:44, sounds like two variations are accidentally playing at the same time. shakers seem a little loud and overall the mix isn't very wide so maybe pan some stuff around and smear the shakers with a short plate reverb. a creative idea and solid foundation for a beat!

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

[ur way]

hits hard! really like the slight saturation on the top kick. loving how the background melodic elements play off the guitar sample. the 808 open hat and dub laser are too loud, but otherwise the mix/master is really solid. just seems very basic in terms of structure so i'd like to hear more cutaways and dropouts, maybe filter sweeps on the guitar sample here and there too. like if you just had the stems for this beat and a MC on it you'd drop stuff out for the important bars. but for a simple beat this still slaps!

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

[Waves]

big chillwave fan here, so there's a lot to appreciate in this track. the sound design is mostly on point for the genre and the melodies are quite pleasant. i had to turn this down a LOT though - the mastering is just bafflingly loud, and every element is constantly fighting for front and center position. pull everything down, pan some instruments around differently, and scoop out some of the midrange frequencies on the bitcrushed leads. the ending also felt kind of pointless and dragged out too long. but in spite of the very major mix issues, i really did enjoy this!

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

[Misham Studio - Apollo Justice Remake]

a faithful remake, but kind of better in some ways! i really prefer the faster tempo in this version, and the smooth, trembling female vocal is just gorgeous for this track. i think the overall mix is a bit too bright and could use a nice soft plate reverb on the kit and the trumpet to blur the high-mids a little. and yea, even though they are meant to be an occasional accent the loud snaps are way too forward and dry. i would also spread them across the stereo image a little more if possible and bring the bass closer to the center - not totally mono - and also quieter. good stuff!

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

[Stratosphere]

i'm a fan of abrasive and aggressive sound design, and this delivers on that big time. took me a little while to find the tonal center, and the clashing bass notes at 0:42 still feel a bit too intense even after a couple listens, but it still feels like a lot of thought went into the sheer harmonic density in this. there's a lot of headroom in the track but it still feels overly compressed, and the rhythm doesn't have much energy despite being very loud and forward - i would put a punchier clean kick over the distorted 808 and pull the snare up, then bring everything else down before hitting the master limiter. could also roll the highs off just a little. but i really enjoyed this. make more!

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