midimachine's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[.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!

[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

[Dust Sweeper]

the drums are so boooomy and don't have enough dynamic variation
vocals are kinda dark and don't sit high enough in the mix imo
i really like the composition though - this could be a dream theater demo maybe? :v

LunacyEcho responds:

=> drums =>

Haha, johnfn said the same thing! Problem is, I'm using a Logic preset here, and I still haven't found a way to adjust the reverb (or other similar settings) on the drumset, but I'll be sure to keep looking.

=> vocals =>

Aw man, if you think the vocals would sound better if they were more high-pitched, do I have a remake of this song for you: https://instaud.io/15I7

=> composition =>

Ooh, Dream Theater was definitely one of the biggest influences of this track. Great to see it's reminiscent of them!

Thanks for the comment, midi, and good luck in the competition! :)

[Endowment]

i really wanna like this one more but the drum mixing and sound selection in the electronic sections is kinda weak and sucks a lot of the life out of the energetic drum composition. there's also a lot of noodling and dead space - i keep losing interest mid way through each of these sections because the sound design isn't really all that exciting and the main themes aren't compelling enough to make up for it

the orchestral parts are really good and are well mixed within themselves (they feel very disconnected from the other sections mix-wise imo), honestly i think you could've produced a much stronger work without the divergence into pendulum worship electronic sections.

the way that snare roll sample cuts out without zero crossing is horrendous though, step it up yo :P

EctiBot responds:

I think I've never agreed with a review as much as I did with this one XD. I was planning on fixing the small issues like sample cuts, coherence throughout the track, but I had to travel and didn't bring my pc. I was originally uploading this to get feedback on what I should improve, but it ended up being my final submission.

[After the Rain]

damn that first key change was doooooope - breakdown came in a bit early imo but the 2nd drop is so niiiiice. really good vox, watch those plosives tho! i like the kick and snare sounds, the hihat is nice too but i really need moooooore percs. like other than the cool glitchy noises n stuff. shakers, rides, toms etc. - i appreciate the space it gives to let the hyperanimated synth filters breathe but there are sections and transitions which seem like they should be climactic but feel kinda empty!

eventually it got a little too noodly and i lost interest ~2:30 lol
that's not to say that the rest was bad, it just kinda felt like more of the same? like there wasn't really a climactic energy going into that last section for me, second key change feels kinda abrupt and i wasn't really diggin the last few solos. this piece likes to switch gears a lot, so there are probably a couple of 16 bar sections after the breakdown you could take right out to make the structure tighter and make the changes more *meaningful*. it probably wouldn't even matter which parts you took out tbh.

ending lead is really nice! that lead + epiano for chords + highpassed vox like from 2:51 (in the right key tho) = perfect ending for this track imo.

anyway the mix is hella tight apart from the vocal plosives and the melodies and chord progressions are really great on their own and i'm only really disappointed by the kinda lacking drum work and unfocused structure in the 2nd half. gooooood shit!

johnfn responds:

ty for the kool review midi

i thought someone was going to complain about those plosives. uh i dont have a good excuse i left them in because they make a neat sort of rhythmic tick on my laptop speakers with the drums lol

i basically agree with most of your complaints we just ran out of time lol o well