midimachine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Tribal Anthem]

getting there

haven't heard much paragon so i won't draw a comparison. i'm sure that's not what you want either. knowing NG you'll get a low score because people will blindly vote low on things that call out people they like without actually trying to look at things from a neutral perspective... so here we go:

i love the smooth, eastern style! the dry 808 snare was a bit iffy at first but layered with the other hits and different synths and stuff it adds a nice amount of body to the backbeat. i like the use of pitchshifting on it too :)

they could be a sample but... did you record those hand drums from 0:43 to 0:54 yourself? they're a really nice sound but i think they peak too loud so maybe fade them in to a lower volume and *very* lightly compress them.

the 4 floor bit at the end was a bit of let down really. i think mainly because of that cheesy acid bassline which, for me at least, kills the atmosphere. i think you should kill that bassline instead.

good show

DJHarlock responds:

Feedback appreciated Greatly

[{ -My Gutter- }]

pretty nice

ominous sounding. i think the snare/clap sound and cymbals are well too loud though.

not paticularly interesting without vocals though I guess that was to be expected. keep it up dude.

[Dj Clayface - A Trance Song?]

hrrmmm

sounds like it took 15 minutes, tbh. not to say that this is fundamentally bad in away. it's actually decent considering the time spent on it, however this is the problem because it's pretty clear that not a whole lot of effort was put in.

all things considered, this is pretty good.

mmmburgers responds:

yeah, i know. This is just something that i threw together and i was proud of it. But i am going to make it longer and put more effort and time into it.

[Moody Rain]

a bit plain

i think it could do with a bit of elaboration and you could go in multiple directions... the bass arrangement could be a good deal more complex. you could even get a nice old breakbeat and run it through some eq and compression and turn it into a bit of a portishead vibe instead of plain ambient music.

ambient music needs to make you think as well as not think... you know what i mean? its nowhere near as easy to do well as heaps of people think but i think you're on the right track with the progression for sure. keep up with stuff like this.

Kassich responds:

yeah your exactly right about ambient music... and maybe someday ill be able to make actual ambient music, but hopefully that will come with time

[Hark!]

clipping :S

this would be fine if you turned down the master volume a good 6 or 7 dB :\

clips like a mofo but underneath the idea and the arrangement is quite sound. has a bit of cheesy early-90s contemporary vibe which is actually very apt.

yeah besides the insane amount of clipping this is fine.

[People wont like this rmx]

jumpstyle yay

very nice bass drum and synth lead! i like how you tuned the bassdrum which is something a lot of jump producers i've heard forget or don't know how to do.

When the bassdrum isn't cuts out and the crashes come in you can really hear the compressor sucking up all the dynamics. I dunno if people like that sound but I'd go for a more subtle compressor. I'd roll off some of the super-highs off of the main leads at like 15 or 16Khz too, they have a bit of a nasty hiss about them.

Pyroific responds:

mmkay,

1. it's nu-style hardstyle, NOT jumpstyle.
2. there is no compression on the kick.
3. i do have much treble on the lead, so i may tone that down.
4. thx for reviewing.

[ParagonX9 - Metropolis [8]

the 32 bit processors broke my heart

This would sound about a billion times more authentic without the stereo ping pong delays and the hard-panned double tracking!

The song itself isn't bad. A whiff of something very familiar, but so is most chiptune stuff.

[Fortissimo]

job well done

the piano sounds good, warm lows but it retains the brightness in the high register which is great... i think you should have sequenced timing "errors" which are more like slight offsets so it sounds more human... you can actually here the piano sound phasing in some parts lol...

good score and a nice sound otherwise. :)

SoulRed12 responds:

Ahaha...yeah, I'm using GB and I'm still learning how to edit the instruments to sound good, etc.

Thanks for the review, I appreciate it. I think next time I'll try recording each part all the way through and se how that sounds...should fix some dynamics discrepancies too, as well as adding some "human"-like errors as you suggested. Thanks again. ^_^

[[Intro]]

so-so

an intro really should build up a mood and an atmosphere a lot better than this. i was left twiddling my thumbs for the first 30 seconds or so.

i think this sort of intro could be appropriate for DJ-ing in theory but in practice both your drum samples and the arrangement of the percussion are dreadfully bland so it wouldnt make for an interesting transition during a set at all.

[Short yet Sweet]

heh

interesting first song... you have a nice theme melody and its not a straight 4/4 beat which is nice for a change. arrangement is pretty bland and the mix isn't great but yeah, first song and stuff.

it does sound like a first attempt mainly cause of the preset sounds and stuff. obviously after you start using the program for a while and get your hands on more third party synths, samples and effects the stuff you make starts sounding a lot better. keep it up dude :)