midimachine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A Storm Over Lavender Lane]

coooooooooool
i like that it's "classical" on NG but not "cinematic"
yeah that glissando is a bit nonsense haha, everything else is well sequenced though. maybe a few timing and velocity "errors" in the fast runs would make it just a little bit more human sounding? nothing drastic though. i think the piano could do with a teeeny bit of EQ just to roll off some of the low end from the piano... sometimes the hammer-ey sound kinda punches me in the gut through the subwoofer haha

another thing is that i didn't really like the reverb you used, would've preferred something a little less cavernous... shorter decay time with a teeny tiny predelay would be really nice. the quiet middle section (~1:09) is really playful but i feel like the reverb sucks some of the life out of it. like, if it was played in a packed concert hall i just think the reverb would more subtle in the audience.

ANYWAY it was really really good and i loved how playful and lively the whole thing was. nice one!

headphoamz responds:

Hey thank ya! Yeah, I thought it was definitely more Classical than Cinematic. I know what you mean about the reverb, too - I just enjoy that long, drawn-out piano sound, I guess. :) Thanks for writing such a detailed review here, makes me happy. :P

[Claudius]

love the development in this. i think there should've been more of an introduction to that intro section - i feel like big, epic orchestrations like that lose their sense of scale when they're presented on their own. so in that sense the long build of the second half was more enjoyable for me

lots of nice textures threaded together here. really liked the way the harp kinda pulls away with that pause at ~ 1:02 and again at ~1:11, the way the oboe slides into the arrangement after that last pause is wonderful. that final cadence was pretty great! don't like that the render cuts off without letting the timpani finish ringing out, though :v

v solid work.

[Follow Me]

i don't like how the piano feels in this, like it just goes BANG and cuts out immediately. doesn't feel right to me in this song.
and for me that first riff is kinda annoying to listen to even once, so the repetition isn't really the issue haha
otherwise, i enjoyed the second half of the track and those distorted backing synths in particular are really nice.

[VL - Nothing Goes My Way]

not epic symphonic tiesto dream trance, this sux
worst review ever, i am sorry.

no okay here are some actual thoughts:
kick could do with some more oomph i think.
the pitch bends on that one ping-pong delay'd synth are wacky but they sound really cool
too much intro, or maybe it's just that it's all DJ-friendly and stuff. anyway i feel like the intro lingers too long, but if it was a really soft and sensual intro of the same length you could build it up so the big sections come in more dramatically. at the moment it feels like it just runs out of steam

also the main melody is very noodly and not very memorable
but the middle section is grrrrrrrreat. awkward transition back into the 4x4 beat though. make trancey breaks 4 lyf.

fuckin, opinions n shit :v

overall it was really nicely layered and stuff and mixed pretty damn well except for the kick, but i'm starting to have second thoughts about that actually. that clapsnare is really slick.

[{RGH} - Rose Gardens]

intro sounds very dry
OH these are like general midi samples.
i like how the arrangement picks up at ~ 1:20. the really bassy bass is too bassy, though - it's causing some some intermodulation with the kickdrum and it's nasty!
next section that builds up at ~ 2:00 is cool, i like the way the drums fade in. the synth choice is very new wave haha. the arpeggios at the end are pretty sweet, that repeated minor chord on the sine-y sorta patch is a touch loud though.
yeah, the fadeout is a bit of a cop-out, innit? generally the song is lacking direction and cohesiveness and yeaaah i get that it's stream of consciousness BUT i feel like you'd be better off making a couple of songs based around the various motifs in this; instead of having one forgettable listen you can make two or three really memorable ones.

RyeGuyHead responds:

I just got my hands on some Native Instruments plug-ins, so my sound quality should be looking up soon...

[Souless]

the way the guitar volume drops off at 0:12 is really unnatural, gotta let the palm and the reverb do the work there
other stuff is played pretty naturally but sounds "sampled" (not a deal breaker), there's a little triplet/3-3-2 bit at the end of each measure of that main riff though and it sounds percussive instead of strummed, like someone playing a guitar sound on a keyboard.
for the snare rolls, have you got a multisampled drumkit? the snare has that machine-gun effect in the fills, just needs some different samples of the same drum for the softer hits.
didn't really notice much else with the sequencing. pretty solid!

the other thing is that the lead guitar could probably sound more... forward i guess? it's drowning in reverb and it's pushing the solos and licks behind everything else a little bit when they should be right up front. it's giving them this cold, muffled texture as well, not sure if you wanted that. there's too much reverb in general for my taste, but i guess it's well implemented and fits the song.

this is cool power metal-ey battle music sorta stuff! once it starts it doesn't really shift gears for long, i think you could fit an extended bridge solo without drums and another repeat at the end with a big shred for the finish. NGADM-worthy!

Sielumetsien responds:

Yes sir you were totally right, the instruments were samples and tracked on modplug (I'm still struggling on instrument editing). The snares were also sampled, I only tracked them on small amount of random volumes so they sound really artificial. I couldn't load many VSTs at the same time so I had to record them to WAV.

[Fear]

daaamn. liking the big sub drops and that spooky grime synth.
the rhyming vocals come in too strong but they sound sick.
drop was a little disappointing but that highpass bass is pretty cool. o, i turned the volume up and now i'm less disappointed haha. i like how it switches up to a 4x4 feel, but the extra kicks give it more energy and the transition doesn't feel abrupt or out of place.
the next part at 3:00 is siiiiick.

overall the mix could use some more polish and the drums should punch through more. maybe get a big group sidechain going with a short release just so you get that CLICK of the kick and SNAP of the snare nice and strong. a bit more stereo movement (bit of panning, widening somewhere) would be sweet too. reviewed on headphones (but good ones, trust!)

where's that vocal part from man? is that recorded or sampled from something? i wanna scout you but i just want to be sure first (nothin' personal!). good work!