midimachine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[At The Speed Of Light (Deathmix) Rough version]

there's a lot of stuff going on here but i don't feel like the electronic elements sit very nicely over the orchestral parts at all - it's like there are two different tracks of very different quality playing on top of one another. the kick drums get completely lost under everything, the drum sounds are all really thin and play really samey rhythms except for the little trap-ish section towards the start. the eurobeat style synths are cool in isolation but feel very messy on top of the strings.

the orchestral parts are really good imo, very lush mix of strings and choirs. the celesta sits really nicely on top of the piano in those little refrains, these are by far the best sounding parts of the track imo. the mixing is a little dense and stereo-centered, it'd be a great idea to pan out your string sections and choirs to fill out the stereo field - you can use this to give the instruments more separation and make things sound "bigger" without making them too loud.

while i understand that you've put a lot of time and effort into doing a note-perfect transcription of the original, as a listening experience it offers nothing that the original doesn't already. it would've been really cool to hear you double down on the orchestral aspects, which is definitely where your strengths lie. keep it up!

death2go responds:

thanks for the review! ive been told about it should be an orchestral thing a bit by my friends, while i may replace this one to be orchestral i might make an alternate version thats more orchestral. and i wasnt trying to add too much new stuff due to it being amazing to start with, but perhaps i might be able to look at it differently considering i havent messed with it in a couple months.

Thanks for your review man, i really appreciate it!

[Closer]

everything sounds beautiful and crisp until all these dull squarewave leads and arps start fading into the drop. if you want to keep those more "chiptune" kinda sounds i think just lowering the pulsewidth on those square synths to match the main melody tone would help brighten them up a lot without altering the feel you're going for.

the piano sound is also a bit thumpy and unnatural. adjusting the timing so that notes aren't all perfectly in time and move the note velocities around so the important beats in the melody are accented will help this. none of the melodies in this track are very memorable but they're also not really "bad" - they just kinda plod along and don't touch on any of the big emotional ideas that the chord progression hints at. the melody synth is also not what i'd personally use for something so bittersweet sounding - a little vibrato might help it to sound more emotive?

the guitar playing through the drop sucks a lot of the tension out of the first wave of that chord stack, just cut it off with that last finger snap. once the beat comes in it sounds like the transients of the reversed kicks overlap those of the regular kicks? sounds kinda messy! i like how the 2nd half of each chorus has this little refrain leading into it. i'd like the little percussive part on the melody here to be the dominant though.

middle section is cool, i like the soft vinyl crackle and piano EQ after the house section but the piano feels muddy as it plays over the rest of the buildup so i'd either cut it or alter the EQ on it coming into this section. little disappointing that this last chorus doesn't feel any different to the first except for some minor changes in the refrain - would be good to cut all the pads and the melody out under that snare @ 2:51 and then slam them all back in when the chord stack drops back in, just to maximise the tension coming into that final run through of the melody.

the ending felt very awkward and honestly sounds unfinished, at least drop one last kick and crash down if you want to end suddenly like that. it really feels like it wants to drop straight into that middle vocal section again and then end on that.

very solid production and mixing overall. it's mainly sound design and structural issues that hold this back for me, as well as not really finding the melodies particularly interesting personally. i definitely see a lot of potential in this and i'm looking forward to hearing what you can bring to the table in the future!

N1NJA-Official responds:

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it!

[.A New Hope.]

I gave It A

zero because ur lame and its 2006 hgaha get REKT son
(for more quality in-jokes pls visit the chips compo discord ft ur boi johnfn and midimachines)

johnfn responds:

i said VOTE FAIR

i mean its literally in caps

what more do you want

[My Firefly]

rly good, but why couldn't the mix be as big and punchy as the last section the whole way through?! D:

johnfn responds:

actually an intentional choice! i tried it, but it was too tiring to listen to a lot, so i eased up to decrease fatigue.

[Far Away (Never Enough)]

i like this a lot and i'm sad to see your tenure in the NGADM come to a close! this track has more going on than its simple future bass/pop facade lets on. i think the mix feels a little too dense overall, the pads and vocals are heavy on the low-mids and this is especially noticeable just before the last drop @ ~3:05 when the snares come in and the vocal harmonies compound (i loooove this section regardless btw).

otherwise, this is a really well executed future pop track with a fantastic hook and solid production. please keep sharing!

steelside responds:

I'm still in the competition man!

[Monstrous]

makes me want to make breakcore again \m/

DEM0NW0LF responds:

do it omg

[Refract]

oh man, this is really good and i'm glad you could make it back!

once again demonstrating both rhythmic and melodic flair but this time not overdoing it imo (i think not having lyrics to sing along to helps? pop music philosophy is weird man!)

one minor sound design thing i have to mention is the snare that accompanies the crunchy secondary kick (e.g. 0:10, 0:54) - it's just too airy, light and WET with reverb so i don't think it complements the kick at all. actually i think there are a lot of reverbs in this that need gating underneath the kick/chord combo, there's this strong and stilted energy coming out through the chorus and the reverb bleed kinda smooths it out too much - you wanna save that reverb for parts that *need* their spaces filled (e.g. like you did at 1:54)

the power metal chiptune section is hilarious, and i like how you cap it off with cutesy dnb/dubstep feels after - although the big distorted electroclash chords feel kinda messy in that section imo. the ending reminds me of one of the tracks from drukqs, it's really cute and poignant actually hehe

anyway, this is some really good work from you. although it's not quite as immediately engaging or memorable as your first round piece it's still a *banger* :v

garlagan responds:

fuk yea midi thanks for the amazing feedback!
drukqs is amazing btw!

[Osman - "The Mountain And The Sky"]

damn, i think i would've made something like this for this round if i didn't hate music right now :v

i think the drums are a little primitive in terms of their mixing - a little dry on the programming side too. the piano sound is a bit muddy, a bit like FL keys but a little better (still weighs the mix down a little imo). the sub bass is generally a little too savage (i.e. loud), especially in the middle breakdown section. i think the rest of the instruments could do with a bit more stereo imaging too (other than the reverb). overall the mix is fairly servicable, though.

where this shines is in the emotion and atmosphere, which i think is perfectly conveyed through the sound design and "orchestration" - the main melody is really lovely too. it's probably better that there isn't really that sharp of a contrast in that respect. certainly could be tightened up structurally as it doesn't quite earn its near-6 minute runtime, but i think carving out the breakdowns and buildups a bit more would definitely emphasize the emotional payoff of the drops.

anyway this resonated with me on both an aesthetic and emotional level, and not many things on NG do that for me!

[Discord Server On Saturn]

this is real cooooool, big shpongle vibes in that intro

i think overall this is too heavily mastered for what it wants to be (i.e. smooth illbient jams). i like that there's still a lot of dynamics in this but some of the synths are popping out too much imo (e.g. gated synth @0:53 once the filter opens up later, saw chords @ 2:31). also not really digging the acoustic drum sounds, and while they sit too low in the mix to have any real impact (not a gooooood thing imo) the actual sounds themselves don't really fit the vibe. especially that snare w/ the big round electro kick, it's kinda weird! something snappier with stronger transients would probably fit a bit better imo.

the mixing is mostly pretty good. apart from the aforementioned saw chord the latter section is really great - especially digging the flurrying little arps dancing in the background and the syncopated bells (*maybe* LP filter those before they hit the reverb because they come out a little bit hissy on the reverb tail). and i mean apart from the drums from 0:45 to 1:45 the sound design here is pretty damn sick!

i like how the piece takes you on a journey, seems to be a bit of a theme in your work haha
i think some stronger use of leitmotifs throughout would be good to give things a better thematic cohesiveness - the transitions are fairly smooth though so idk if this is just me wanting something that doesn't really need to be there? the sections do feel kinda disparate to me, though.

wowwwww i wrote a lot more about this than i thought i would. i think that means i like it! :v

Onefin responds:

thanks for dropping by midi

i... don't master anything i make :P mostly cuz I don't know how

drum design is one of my weak spots, and i'm a freaking percussionist. i wish i actually knew crap about mixing good drum sounds but i generally don't which is why i end up using loops sometimes

i tried to make leitmotifs but a piece like this doesn't really support strong melodies whoops :P

[Kids]

SPITFISH is a good free de-esser
this is a good free song
ggwp

McGorilla42 responds:

Thanks for that recommendation, midi! I decided to ask my parents to buy me the Waves Gold Bundle for my birthday while it was on special because I am an impoverished musician who can't afford his own plugins and it includes a de-esser! :)

gg no re