midimachine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Felix Feels Funky]

holy reverb batman. there's nowhere near enough space in the mix for a reverb that big most of the time. it'd be cool if you automated the reverb decay to be shorter in the more busy sections, would make the busy parts feel tighter and the sparse parts more spacious.

the filtered breakbeats are cool, reminds me of the ratchet and clank soundtracks.

were you saying "9-bit" to be funny or something? :v

Gario responds:

9-bit is another name for fakebit, or emulated chiptune with other elements in it. Tends to be what I write in, most of the time.

Thanks for the review - those with advice tend to be the best. :)

[Monochromaticity]

i think this was one of my favourites in the thingy that you made this for. it could certainly benefit from a busier arrangement (maybe just a couple extra strings/woodwinds?), but i like how cold everything sounds... makes the few bright parts really stand out.

alternativesolution responds:

Great! :D I'm really glad you like it. It does sound cold, doesn't it? I find its emptiness somewhat despairing, but close to nonchalant, as well. It's weird. I actually added the piano much later, and I'm glad I did... Thanks so much for the feedback!

[Anthem (wip)]

classic trance sound! intro is probably a touch long, would probably work better as a second buildup imo. can't really fault the mix much, a bit more definition in the bassline once the kick drops in would probably give the track more energy. melody isn't super inspired yet, but it's a wip and all that.

TerraNation responds:

intro isent complete yet :) i still fighting with kick EQ, bass freq, melody progress.

[Chemicals [NGADM]]

fresh as, man
really lush mix! sounds like between the buried and me having an orgy with the mars volta or something haha... maybe needs more understated reverb and less compressed-sounding drums - they're still really nice and dynamic though so maybe its not the compression that's bugging me... i think the snares just kinda SLAP too much for my liking. the kicks definitely need more light and shade, bit less click in the soft parts, nahmeen? anyway those are my only gripes, this is properly fantastic and i wish you the best of luck in the competition!

Kor-Rune responds:

Thanks for the review! Yeah, I was pretty unsatisfied with the kick sound for the soft parts, and that I didn't take the time to nudge some of the key hits off time to humanize it up a little bit. I think you're right about the snare sound too, it's stiff and not as loose. I like my ghost notes to be wishy washy.

Also yeah, the compression doesn't work great with the robotic perfect timing drum hands, but deadlines and mixing, lol. Luckily I can still move it around to my liking, recording real drums has to be a -bitch-.

Thanks again for the review and constructive thoughts! It helps a lot man.

[Smooth Moves Lounge]

Love the DPCM. Would be extra sick with some sub bass bumbling around on the triangle channel.

sofaspartan responds:

Thanks midimachine for the comment! :)

[Delon Mezign (Chiptune)]

Sublime. Please keep making more!

madfiddler responds:

Thankyou sir - will do. Working on an album atm, prolly finished in 20 years when chip isn't cool again ;)

[- Platform]

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck yeaaaaaaaaah

gimme a hug you big lug! this is way too cute, and thanks for the shout out; this track is a completely different beast, though.

Or4nges responds:

Fuuuuuck yeaaaaaah! Without you this song wouldn't have ever happened though, so a shout out was the least I could do :)

Now that I think about it i'm sorry I didn't pm you about this xD

[The Library]

classy!

got the game music feel down quite well, reminds me of the dark chronicle soundtrack a lot and the garageband samples really add to the charm imo. when the instrumentation gets more full towards the end i really start digging it; you should definitely think of elaborating on this piece.

Emsilbea responds:

Thanks for the feedback, and I'm flattered - I actually don't use loops or samples from garageband, just the instruments provided and my imagination, but thanks! I do loop my own things though, so I get where you're coming from. I'm elaborating as we speak, and uploading my other stuff to NG. Cheers!

[- LD - Doomsday Brigade]

dum review

what i didn't like:

-squelchy synth thing sounded well contrived - like you threw it on as an afterthought after thinking "HMM what would make this more armageddon-ey?"

- panning on the drums is waaaay too hard imo; if they weren't so loud and weren't the prominent rhythmic aspect it wouldn't be so uncomfortable. i mean yeah the drums might be all the way over the left and right in an orchestra but in a concert hall you have all that reflection spilling across and the mix doesn't have that. it feels like there's a big gap right in the center of the entire stereo image for most of the duration actually, but i think the drums are the most noticeably off-kilter.

everything else was great. thoughtfully composed, if a touch generic. panning aside i thought the instrument balance was pretty fantastic, the quiet little phasey space noises in the break were a really classy touch! GL in this round :)

Breed responds:

Listening on headphones makes the panning issue more apparent. I am definitely going to bring them in a bit and make the doubled signal on the right a bit louder to even that out. GENERIC? How many people do you know to use the major subtonic chord in a minor key instead of diminished leading tone??? JKJK I know its dancing arpeggios and epic brass...pretty stock ideas, but its just sooooo fun to write. Thanks for the review!

Cheers!