S3C's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Tranquil Cascade]

taken aback

geez man this one's a beauty. The decay effects and descending notes really makes it feel like a cascade of sorts. Love the acoustic guitar choices with the aquatic sounding sine synths, really meshes together for a soothing, water feeling atmosphere. Really enjoyed the drum grooves and the funky bassline. Piano chords and strings add a nice homophonic sound with the sweet background. I think the drums came out to soon, you didn't really build up enough energy for them to cut out just yet IMO. the end was really beautiful. Freaking love the joyful piano melodies mixed with one of the most awesome backgrounds I heard. I wish the parts could just be extended a bit longer, a song as good as this deserves to be 5+, just let the parts flow out. Not only does the great melodic ideas in par with the effects make this a great song, but I really enjoyed the combination of instruments. Definetly a great addition to my NG AP favorites!

ClassicalFreak responds:

Thanks for your awesome, in-depth review. I'll take into consideration your suggestions, and when I decide to revisit the song again, maybe I'll extend the piano section too. Really grateful for this; I'll check out some of your works later. Thanks again.

[Leap Year 39]

hella tight son

that atmosphere is sick a deep warmth while the high end has a nice ethereal filtered choir just a great backrcound. The beat was pretty good, especially like the choppy high hat rhythms really enjoyed the effects on here. Is that a eurotrance arp I hear???? first time i heard it sound good in a song, man your are scaring me, really scaring me.

Only crit. I could give is giving the kick more mids because in the more layered parts it kinda falls beneath the mix. hey excellent track tho.

John-Gaden responds:

yeah the kick getting burried pissed me off but i only had two options

raise it and hurt my speakers

or drop everything else and readjust.

The second would've been the best option but I was lazy. >_>
I might do it anyway later this evening.

Thanks for the review, I'll check out some of your stuff.

[Italo Disco (The Android)]

LMFAO

LMFAO!!!

[Rig - 2 AM]

great!

great ambient piece Rig! Beautiful texture here man, would work great as a backdrop to a videogame when youre in some large, barren area. It so relaxing, and I like the short dissonance parts here and there, awesome flow of notes.

if anything, i'd be too lazy to do it but maybe automating the LFO speed a bit would give the flow of the textures more variety, as the swelling patterns were quite predictable.

i would like to know how you did this? how much 3xosc's did you layer and what the hell effects did you use to get these textures so freakin lush? doesnt sound like your standard reverb and chorus sounds.

totally quixotic man

Rig responds:

LFOs on LFOs? Good idea, I'll try that out next time.

It's just one instance of 3xOsc. The real magic lies in GlaceVerb, an amazing free reverb plugin. I highly recommend it - it's amazing!

[[TBM1] - Writer's Block]

Great guide Bjra

fantastic tutorial man, should help many.

I still have trouble finding inspiration (but not so much) I have the ideas and inspiration, but just dont know how to fully excrete it out into my DAW you know what I mean? its not just knowing how to transcribe the melodies- thats the easier part, but just not getting the atmosphere thick enough or generally just a certain effect that you cant tweak to a specific level, and from just noticing these flaws standing out, its hard to just pump your ideas out.

Anyways great points, especially #1 and #3. I was just thinking about #1 earlier today. Good "voicing" too, i dont think anyone wants to hear monotonous and dull people talking over a mic.

bjraMethod responds:

I know exactly what you mean about having trouble getting a melody.

I think there are a bunch of different aspects to this issue.

first off, whether or not you have a midi keyboard is a problem, and whether or not you actually know how to play it lol.

i think the melodic work flow is an issue too, along with the specific synth sounds your using in the melody, along with knowledge of progressions and keys. I don't understand mostly how chords and progressions work, just kinda used um LOL

as to thickness and atmosphere, these depend on the sound you use, and automation, and the "human touch" along with using warm synths nad good layering are key.

Now I've just thrown out some crazy airy terms lol. Maybe I'll go into greater detail later haha in a fullblown guide lol

Thanks for the review man!

[Organic Cucumber]

Organic Cucumber

I gave your mom my organic cucumber last night ;)

[(WF1)/Tell Astral Feelings]

sounds awesome bro

hey great tune man. probably my favorite from you. Sounds like it came straight out of a Tim Burton movie haha. I can almost see some clay pirates dancing around on a ship haha.

Great piano melody, the bassline was could, but the rhythm was pretty generic and could use more variation eventually. (and I wouldnt mind see those lower notes built into some chords every now and then). I like the marching rhythm on that thin percussive instrument, sounds great in the start. Sounds really great when the piano harmonizes and echoes throughout, would have to say the strings work decently in the background.

Really liked the interlude section, that melody sounded really creepy and the way the notes kind of skip around makes it remind me of a Tim Burton movie. Choir also adds a nice eerie layer. Percussion rhythms are great in that area, I'd say you've improved hear loads. I like what you did with the timpanis/toms. You put that drummer to good work haha. Crashes were sequenced quite well.

like a review said below, some tweaks could be done in here. I would definetly make the crashes louder, maybe switch between two different cymbals and pan them. slightly boost the mid frequencies and then defintely flunctuate the dynamics more...the strings too, sound very weak. Make them louder, apply a chorus effect before the reverb and possibly fill out some of the lower registers to make them thicker and more powerful. The piece is on the edge of being epic it just needs a stronger support structure to carry out those awesome melodical lines.

The timpani rolls in the end was great, and I like how you guys ended the song but I would have brought in the strings earlier to make it variate more from the intro, or instead just kept the thin percussion thingy playing its rhythm.

I'd also throw a nice bassline in the interlude section, a basoon would be sweet at that part (I believe squidfont has a basoon?) IMO.

but seriously WF1/Tell great work here congrats on the top 5!!!! (and the top 30 I mean 20 too lol!!!!)

wyldfyre1 responds:

a niiiice long review. Yeah i agree with alot of it hehe lots of stuff we'll most likely work on in the future for an extended version. There actually ARE 2 different cymbol crashes in this man. Just a lil hard to tell. Anyway, as always thanks for the review!

[love can allways be found]

you were close

2.12 >_> looks like the zero voters were out tongiht...my five raised it only to a 2.63

Umm, the track was kinda generic, and not very well produced. 'tis okay.

The guitar chord progression at the start was pretty bland by itself, fit a bassline to play on the offbeats or in between the chords. The piano melody was okay, but there wasnt generally enough substance to carry the piece around. I would try to work a more complex rhythm theme or something in there, it just felt real lacking. Develop the piano more, if you use the playlist in FL develop one section at time in one pattern, or dedicate 3 or 4 patterns to an alteration of the melody.

the interlude with the bells and strings was pretty boring, as it lacked any of the elements described above and was devoid of interesting harmony. (dont copy and paste the melody into a seperate channel, instead, it would be more interesting if you developed some harmony) The section after that, you definetly had something going. I really liked the lead in the next section, and the layered pattern made the overall mix a bit more full.

Also, drum patterns, pretty much the same throughout, 'cept at the end. Definetly develop more drum patterns. it was basically kick, snare, kick snare...throughout. Why not kick kick snare every now and then. Something simple as a crash every 16 bars can break the repetition. And throw in some fills in between some transitions too, and it never to early to mess with dynamics/note velocities to get a more realistic drum texture.

as far as the sound quality goes, piano could definetly use some reverb and it would sound less cheap, pan some of the synths to get more of defined sound. that'll do for now. i also have heard these sytrus presets and FPC drums over and over again, everyone used them at once, but what i'm getting too is its never too early too start developing your own sounds or just tweaking the synths around a little to give it your own flair. ...so if youre interested, look up "blackhole12 sytrus" tutorial or look up a 3xosc on the web.

sorry if this was too much advice if youre just screwin around for fun, i tend to relay too much information when not necessary. if you didnt understand anything of this feel free to send a shout my way. keep on FL'in it up.

adam2510 responds:

thanks very much man

i'm still a beginner in fl7 but i think that with some work and i will get something better

it is a bit plain and i know that for a fact, most of my music is plain but yes it does need some work

[escape from reality.]

uniqueness

Wow man, I'm really diggin this track. Some great ambient pads and textures and unique progressions. Really like how the drums worked there way in with the experimental FX in the start, it also carries a really nice beat and I like the Phil Collins sounding snare (with less reverb). Damn, and those oldschool synth sounds made me cream myself. Awesome melodies and sounds in here man. Sick ass track. Very enjoyable to the end. Kinda wish it could be longer, use the last section now to introduce a breakdown, and then build up another section like the previous and introduce a bolder, new synth maybe. But nevertheless, good work, one for my favs.

UntitledWhite responds:

hey dude thanks a lot!
glad you enjoyed it!

Maybe if i get off my lazy ass i can work some more on it.

Man this whole newgrounds score thing is really pissing me off, if its not that bad a song, why are people voting so low on it?

Anyways, thanks for your review, and stay tuned for some more of my semi decent (badly rated) songs

Laters!