midimachine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[New Prey]

very cool atmosphere and great use of stereo and space, great punchy drums and cool early industrial rock synths. the lyrics sometimes feel rhythmically awkward, and i would've liked melodic vocals in the chorus to break up the feeling of the track more. as it stands the song feels tonally repetitive but i do appreciate the structural development throughout.

cotnp responds:

Thanks for the feedback :)

[LIVE THIS WAY (internet addiction)]

love the angsty hyperpop vibe of the main sections, great vox processing and pretty decent lyrics. would like the choruses to break up the structure a bit more - the current structure makes the song start to drag and feel repetitive in the 2nd half.

the instrument choices are mostly great but i think a deeper, stuttered bass sound would help the mix punch a bit harder and give a bit more space for the vocals. really impressed by this one overall!

Ackee39 responds:

Youre very right about the bass, I definitely should have chosen something more deep and less noisy haha
Thanks a bunch for the review, ill keep all this in mind when doing smth like this again :>

[Arcade Party - NGAP20 Collab]

not a fan of the dry acoustic drum sounds mixed with trancey supersaw synth, they don't really fit together well. the chord progression is unique but the melody doesn't complement it at all, and also doesn't fit rhythmically into anything either. the counterpoint melody that comes in at 0:32 is also similarly flawed, but i like that there's an attempt at different sections with different instruments. i know you said it took a lot of time to make and i understand that you're still learning, but to my ear this still feels kind of randomly put together. having said that, it's good to hear that you've learned a lot in making this, and i'm looking forward to seeing how you continue to learn, improve, and develop as an artist.

Clbuuu responds:

Hey, thanks for getting back to me!
I know that it's not super positive feedback, but it means a lot to have experienced artists share their actual opinions on my work.

In hindsight, I probably should've put more thought into making the music cohesive
(both in regard to my melodies and instrument choices). I'll make sure to take this advice into account in the future.

[Hopeless Hymn]

really like the feel of the track and the rhythmic complexity. the mix is fairly decent but feels a little narrow and could use more weight behind the kick and snareclap, especially if you want it to sound more like polyphia. the chiptune sounds work with the sorta noodly composition but i would like it a lot more if there was a bit more going on with the sound design - try using different pulse widths on your squarewave leads and maybe some fast arpeggios to lean into the chiptune-ish feel. not sure which synth you used for the leads but it sounds like it's aliasing a lot, which you can avoid by using a synth that has oversampling capability.

OneBigParadox responds:

Thank you so much, I'll make sure to take all of this into account moving forward! Appreciate it a lot!

[Definition Of Insanity]

very nice dark synthwave kinda sounds, i like the orchestral intro and the drum mixing also. the vocal samples are very overbearing, mixed too dry and too loud, and are also played too often and sound out of place. i like that there's a few different harmonic ideas and the overall progression of the track but while they sound good on their own i don't think they fit together musically. the overall mix isn't bad but i think the mastering is a little washed out, so maybe drop everything below the kick and snare a bit more so they really punch through the master limiter.

Ukatz responds:

Thanks, I agree with a vocal, in the future I will try to devote more time to "fitting" into the track

[The Everlasting]

good standard instrument choices for the genre and consistent/coherent composition at least. but it's the same chord progression for the whole song, not much structural progression, melodies aren't very inspiring and don't stand out. the mix/mastering is overly bassy and too heavily compressed, destroying a lot of the dynamic variation in the track and taking the impact away from the drums. fadeout ending seems lazy.

CielOuvert responds:

"good standard instrument choices for the genre and consistent/coherent composition at least."

That's a fair assessment.

"but it's the same chord progression for the whole song"

Which is bad how exactly? Most songs follow the standard 4 chord progression throughout, I mean, the song is called "the everlasting" and its theme envokes something that literally lasts forever.

"not much structural progression"

It's a downtempo electronica song, that's kinda the point.

"melodies aren't very inspiring and don't stand out"

Oh look, his melody is simplistic and uninspired. The piece "Alpha" by Vangelis has a "simplistic" melody at the start and is lauded as a masterpiece in the electronica/new age world.

"the mix/mastering is overly bassy and too heavily compressed, destroying a lot of the dynamic variation in the track and taking the impact away from the drums"

This is a fair critique, but as you're probably aware, I am, along with 99% of everyone else here, and amateur musician. Mixing and mastering is an entire skill of its own. But I do try to get better at this.

"fadeout ending seems lazy."

I'm at a loss at thinking that you find literally billions of songs in the entire world history to be lazy for their use of fadeout. Again, the theme of this song is that it would last forever, a fadeout holds that idea neatly.

Overall there seems to be some heavy bias here. You yourself stated that you're biased towards good mixing, that's fair since that's kinda what most people need to be good at. But seeing as you were the strictest judge in this competition, your "average" is far less that the rest, and in turn resulted in my track not being judged by its own merit but rather by what you personally thought of its theme, the use of melodies and its structure, which is biased and unfair. If my mix and mastering was LEGENDARY, you'd still only rate my piece above average.

And that is my 2 cents on the matter.

[I Only Shine When Standing In Your Reflection]

hell yea. rly glad u got thru in ngadm! love this new cutesy IDM/breakcore kick you've been on the last few tracks. super snappy mix with lots of impact and - tho i think the snare transients are too aggressive, maybe bring the comp ratio down or something. so excited for more quarl tbh

Quarl responds:

I asked all my dnb friends how to go about debricking a mix and they are like "make your drums bigger." Bad influence those bass music kids are. Thanks for the good feels midimachine :)

[Wings II]

love this lush house sound. the sound design is mostly really simple but it's layered together so nicely. mixing is really solid, good separation between instruments and good levelling. the percussion is far too basic, though. it really needs a shaker or highpassed drum loop to fill out the space in the top and push the rhythm forward more. couple clap fills or snare rolls would be nice to accentuate transitions and break up long sections. it's also about 3 minutes too long for what it is, definitely needs a shift in melody/harmony or some other kind of textural build to justify the runtime. i really appreciate the dj-friendly intro and outro, though. make more!

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

Ziondiac responds:

Thanks for the feedback and vote.

[EmeraldX - Feral]

cool folksy chord progressions, loving the VGM-ish uk hardcore vibes. good melodies and instrumentation, love the way it develops and switches up later on. the structure in the first half is very stop-start and should probably stand pat on the kick instead of dropping back to a mini-buildup over and over. most of the melodic modulation is good in the second half but the little leading passages don't have any context for the implied the F major chord - i know you use the chord earlier in the buildup but i think you need to call back to it after the drop to make the melody here really satisfying. maybe run the bass on A when the melody resolves to F, or maybe bring those chords in quietly under the track. also you have plenty of headroom under the master, so i think you can boost the kick just a bit more to get the track really pumping over those leads. mix is solid overall, though. good stuff!

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

EmeraldXMusic responds:

Hi! I really appreciate the detailed feedback and the constructive criticism! Definitely going to keep this in mind for future tracks.

[Silver Lining]

wild stuff! digging the way this ebbs and flows from energetically charged midtempo bass into a weirdly playful halftime dirge, with a great melodic sense throughout. i think the track probably spends too much time in the transitional sections though, and could probably use a bit of a radio edit. the overall mix and master is really tight but it feels like the treble has been boosted a little too much across the board. the main snareclap is especially hissy and brittle, so if you like the overall tonality with the current master EQ (assuming there is one) i would still roll off some of those highs on that, and maybe notch out 5k and pull the 1.5-ish region up to shape the tone a bit more. likewise, the ride cymbal in the last section needs to come down in volume as the treble is a little out of control there, to my ears anyway. really great work here, though!

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

Solize responds:

Thanks for the review! Yeah the mix on this track definitely isn't the best lol, excited to hopefully show my improvements on that front for the next round :)