S3C's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[<PS> Yism'chu]

Now that is a tasty bagel

I can't say i've heard a lot of jewish music, but without the description i'd guess it would come from that culture!

when you said unplayable, well pretty much, considering strings can't pitchbend, lol ;) (I wouldnt have included that)

Otherwise, great, warm string samples! Nice authentic sounding reverb too, was that your doing or a natural part of the samples? (Which library are you using by the way?)

Melodies, harmonies are great. I love the chord progressions, great usage of the harmonic minor scale, its my fav :]

Flute flowed perfectly, I have no critiques in this department. Great blend of articulations, beautiful legato, love the staccato phrasing in the quiet section. The trill back into the main phrase was very well executed too. Melody was very well sequenced and developed, although I wasnt fond of the segment that occured at 2:25-2:229ish and later in the song. The third phrase pretty much felt like a copy and paste of the first section :P, so maybe try to flesh out the melody more by focusing on certain tones and cut some of the fast ornamental licks.

And when I hear something worldy, personally, I would look to hear a more exotic instrument. I know Jewish is a European culture and they use similar if not pretty much the same (except the jaw harp :P) instruments that you would hear in the western world. Well, I probably shouldnt have wrote this paragraph 'cuz I dont have any specific suggestions.

Strings were great, they served as a great harmony backdrop, although they were rhytmically awkward. The contrast between the bass and accented, higher string sections on the offbeat gave off a good dancey vibe. Maybe to increase the rhytmic basis include perhaps some plucked violins to go along with the first and third section.

At 0:49-0:55, I like the chord ideas, but the rhythmic placement seems rushed and overly detached.

1:00-1:30ish, I think the strings would sound nicer here if you had a semi-slow vibrato sample and utilized it here.

Other than that, the soft, plucked string section was great. Good dynamic contrast! Ending was great, I lke the pretty sudden ending, goes with the light-weighted, and brisk theme of the piece.

As far as the mixing, although it may go against typical orchestral settings, I'd bring the flute more up to the front so it has more prominence in the more boisterous string sections by increasing the volume, and slightly lowering the amount of reverb, if you can. There was also one high pitched note that was a bit painful and caused the sound to peak a bit, work some sublte compression and/or filtering on that thing and your mix will be golden.

Keep it up and good luck with the contest! Definetly an interesting listen! and sorry of these suggestions were a lot, i tend to go overboard in reviews -_-

PenguinSam responds:

Wow! If had a "Longest review I have ever recived award" it would go to you!

Now, the program that I am using is called Finale 2006, so I can't do much but chose between two libraries that comes with it, so I can't really help there.

And for the chord structure, I didn't chose it. That's just how it goes in the folk song.

And more flute would be desirable, but too much would cause pain to many ears!

Don't know what else to say, thank you!

<PS>

[~BH~ Crystalline Cloudsca]

This shall live at the hands of the five bomber!

since you say it takes so long for you to render with soundfonts, i'm assuming its because you have the high render option on? Does it make a huge difference whether its selected or not?

The Pros:

+Awesome title, the track goes great along with the provided imagery, sounds very lush, I indeed can picture a scene in the sky with this 1
+Original Sounding trance, SYNTHS ROCK, i dig the leads and pads, the sounds are very innovative, great atmosphere, I love how the kick is more complex than just the 4/4 consecutive hits.
+Long release or decay times on the flutes sound great, good usage of effects in this track
+Nice panning on the hats, the line is fairly interesting
+Melodies are great, very enjoyable
+Bassline is another good element in this track, love the sharp sound
+Nice wind FX and other ambient elements in here, again, really helps invoke high levels of imagery

The Cons:
-No clap/snare?
-A bit too compressed for my tastes, regardless it has a nice loudness that would suit well for professional production
-Lowpass the flute synth, the final note on of one of the melodies (1:18ish) is ear piercing D:
-I personally would scroll through the EQs on the synths and make more room for the instruments, maybe some mid cuts on the pads, give more space so you would potentially be able to throw in an audible clap/snare if you wanted to. Maybe rework some of the delay controls, as that makes the mix feel a bit sloppy IMO

So basically, AWESOME job with the synths. They sound lovely, very bright. Compositional and thematic aspects were great as well, except IMO the lack of a snare type element to fill out the beat. Mix is full, and decently well mixed, I just think it could use a tad more tweaking to make this track true ear candy.

5/5
8/10

Btw, I still use your sytrus tutorial a lot. Shame you never got more recognition for it, man :(

ErikMcClure responds:

- I chose a very thin drumloop for this song, since it fit the atmosphere, but I've really never been able to get snares to sound good :(
- I usually try to avoid brickwalling but in this song it just kind of evolved out of the track, even with absolutely no compression. If you look at the actual wave it's rather scary...
- Oops.
- Might give that a shot later, although i've never claimed to have very good mixing skills :P My songs tend to be very blurry, although in this case i used it to my advantage with the flute. I might have a few target pads that i could cut...

Thank your for writing up the third helpful review I've ever gotten.

[[my minds' eye]]

Zomg Turban Man

Give praise to the three breasted goddess. The combination of organic-ish Indian vibes and electronic bits in this trk is golden :) I downloaded this yesterday and listened to it on the way to school.

The first thing that came to mind after listening to this through was the game "Timesplitters". The game is about a group of people with high tech gadgets and laser guns from the future who go back into time to collect crystals for whatever cliche reason that I cannot remember. I can picture the characters entering a dilapidated Hindi Temple of some sort, getting to the underground sector and figthing off a Hindu cyborg demon (hence the electronic influences) for the prize.

What I enjoyed a lot about this number is how you meshed both sinister and serene emotions into one environment. The textures are superb and airy, love the usage of synths in here, and the subtle intracies that work around the Hindu chant vocal, which is very beautiful and indicative of a Hindu meditating scene itself. Love that evil sounding swell that comes in every eight bars. Well executed build into the second phase of the song, except I would personally prefer maybe a tabla hit crescendo instead of a trancey snare roll. That resonant rhythmic synth theme mirrors the sinister side of the track quite well too, great inclusion in this track :) The chanty vibe and gradual automation was sick.

Beats were right on the money too, the one beat that you start out with (cant remember the name of that type of rhythm) was catchy, and I love how you build upon those themes with the dynamic tabla rhythms. Cymbal samples were great too, they sound quite authentic for what they were, well placed in the back of the track without being too upfront.

The only criticism I can think of is include another Indian based melody (maybe a countermelody to the vocal theme in the third phase of the track) with pitch bend articulations, needs a nasally string sound in here like a Sitar, I think pairing the background pads with maybe some subtle tambura resonance would augment the Hindustani atmosphere. Could be longer as well IMO, but it packs a lot of curry-punch for the two and half minutes it was worth ;)

zomgkerrie responds:

wow!!! what a nice review!! thanks for the time it took you to type all of it! <3 i was kind of going for a "dark beauty" so i'm glad that it came through a little bit. the trouble i had with vocal clips is that a lot of them are singing and chants from the Koran, and it is offensive to their religion for that to be heard anywhere but a mosque. i was having trouble finding anything else that i was sure would not offend anybody. plus i'm cheap and i refuse to pay for samples lol.

i may revisit this track. i have found a way to insert a sitar sound from my keyboard into my music so i may haev to try it!

and interesting thought on the table roll instead of the trance snare roll! it just never crossed my mind!

i'm so glad you liked it and thanks so much for the amazing review!
and curry-punch ftw! lol
<3 Kerrie

[(WF1)Spirits of the forest WIP]

wuzgood

ok, heres finally a review :) i just get lazy you know...

I'll just reiterate my criticisms from MSN yesterday:

-Eventually thrown in some lower, bassier strings or a pad to bring in warmth into the track after this section. Give it some stereo sound to make the track sound fuller, ambient atmosphere.

-I would put the choirs in the back more, roll off the treble EQ to give it some distance

-Later on a rhythmic instrument could be thrown in here, to serve as a percussive basis maybe some higher register plucked strings

-Instruments could be a bit better spaced, maybe some more panning, decrease the amount of 'verb on the strings and see how it ends up...I was thinking possibly alternate panning on the twinkle bell that serves as the metronome

The Good:

-Interesting, mystical foresty sounding vibes are given from the melodic ideas...harmony is quite lush
-Good contrast between the "twinkle" bell and the piano
-Strings flow very nicely, while retaining a more intricate structure, good movement on the different ranges, decent dynamic contrast

good job mayne...well i have nothing other to say that i like the work in progress.

wyldfyre1 responds:

yeah, some of the things you've told me i already had planned. especually woth the reverb on the strings and panning idea. =) Its just a matter of time! Thanks for finally reviewing man!

[A Twisted Surfacing]

Luscious

that was a tasty panning LFO in the start. Placement was great, love how it was way in the back of my headphones swirling around while the drums were in front.

haha, i must say i love how your trance style is hardly like the typical trance format- i mean, you lay down the four to the floor beats, got the electronic sounds flowing throughout, but once you lay down the beats, the synths duel each other with solos like a guitaroff, haha. I love it. its not the typical pattern on pattern buildup.

i shall start with the criticisms. My really only one being your sounds, some of 'em are a bit stale, such as the hi-hats are a very recognizable sound, so perhaps layer them with some different samples. Personally a sliced VEC loop in here would work nicely, a fatten out the hi hat lines a bit. Some of the synths I've heard you use a few times in previous songs. Really all I'm trying to get at here is include some more originality by just tweaking up the sounds a bit and experimenting some. I mean there is nothing wrong with using presets at all, after all their sounds designed by pros and they do sound good, but its always nice to hear a fresh synth and bring your musical style a bit forward some more.

I'd also bring up the snare a bit more with a tad of compression or the soundgoodizer exciter. Maybe put a tad of distortion on the bass to bring it up a bit.

With that aside, the piece was excellent. Even with some of the recognizable sounds, they fit together nicely. Melodies were excellent as usual, love how they remain diverse throughout the whole track, and flow exceptionally well.

Some of the sounds that I really liked was the panflute, I'd give that some chorus to bring it out more, and that one instrument that sounded like bells with a long release was really nice. They blend together to create some cool textures.

Ending with the choir like synth was sweet too man, all around great ambience fused with interesting melodies and trancey beats makes for a solid track here, folks!

Twistedtechnology responds:

thanks and glad you liked it!! yea i probably should start flirting with tweaking the synths a bit. even find a new one here or there. im getting kinda tired having to look at the same selection every time i open the stupid thing up lol. any decent freeware synths you could point me to?

[-=IG=- RnB 4 U -=IG=-]

vintage

wow i must say i enjoyed the simplicity but effectiveness in this track. very well produced, for sure.

Some of the lo-fi rhodes and electric piano sounds were great, decent chordings and riffs all around. I also like the usage of no reverb on 'em. Beat was simple, but yet again effective enough to fit the slow groove, nice usage of rests, like the short snare rim samples, I guess it gives some room for the vocal themes? Bassline was catchy, the oldschoolness of tis track however calls for an instrument like an old upright bass where you can hear the slap of the strings, IMO i would layer a less compressed one on top of the one you have now. The strings were great, I like how the long decay on the reverb gives the track a padlike feel. IMO, those sections should last atleast 8 bars longer.

I'd also have to say the track lacks a bit of warmth, after the first chorus section, maybe keep some cellos playing sustained notes to give off a fuller vibe. Drums could use more variation too, I would also like to see a more consistent groove in the chorus sections, like maybe a consistent shaker rhythm so it gives off a feel that the track is moving forward. Some panned woodwind or brass instruments playing small licks in the verse sections to work around the vocalist would be nice as well.

All in all a real nice track InGenius, could use a little more spice here and there, but its definetly a smooth track to lay down vocals over. Mixing is clean, instrument parts mesh together well to make a fun composition. I'll give you my 5 for what its worth.

InGenius responds:

Thanks. Yeah, I kept the beat simple to let her voice capture all of the attention once we get a chance to get her in the studio for more than a half hour of time and lay down a full track. I did want to do some drum changeups, and will probably use automation to drop out the drums in sections, but I can definitely hear some pattern work on those choruses for sure. I've actually toyed with the idea of recording in the bassline from my Washburn in slap style with a neck and amp mic to get some good sound to layer with this bassline, I might just do that before final mixdown. As for warmth, not sure what I'll do in that area. That might wait for final mixdown as well, maybe a little bit of digital craziness to give it that feeling of vintage compression warmth, dunno. Thanks for the review.

Peace

[Rainforest]

Another gem

I like "Rainforest" a little more than "Savannah" for adding in the excellent rainforest FX, and other cool ambient vibes. But, similarities in your melody ideas and synth themes makes my objective side bring this down to a 9 instead of 10 ;) which is still oustanding, in my book.

Great effects in here man! The rain sample is really lush, those damp, heavy chorusy FX that play in transitions are the salsa on a great South American meal.

Despite similarities, I'm still really digging the melody theme. Another great bassline in here too, great rhythmic line, great trancey sound.

I'm really enjoying the latin/afro percussions, and the samba(?) latin rhythms. catchy, throughout -> sweet shuffling FX in one transition, and I love the triplet fill another transition later in this track around the 2:40 mark.

When I criticized you for the pad on my last review, saying it was too bland, this is the type of pad I would like to hear in breaks! However, that lead, its just hard to swallow this time....Just not my thing, XD

But that clean arpped synth that comes in section later is quite redeeming. Awesome, catchy line.

Again, fantastic work with the drums- great layering with the hi hat and shaker percussion, the high range is banging, clap is low in the mix yet audible to give room for the ethnic bits, mid range is bodacious, the kick does its job without interfering with the bassline, the low end is booming.

Mixing is exceptional once again. Full points on clarity dude.

Downloading your songs, looking forward to seeing new clips from you! :)

ZooSafari responds:

WOOT! Another awesome review ;D

Thank you very much again bro, I really appreciate, few ppl turn their heads to listen to this one, but you did and you appreciated it and thats awesome!

Keep it cool!

Peace

[Savanna]

You are slowly becoming my new favorite artist on

NG!

I've always loved ethnic/worldly influenced songs, and I've been listening to a lot of EDM and other electronically produced music for the past few months. So hearing someone with a style that combines bothworlds is bliss ;)

Great synthwork in this one. I like the sharp arpeggios, the 4 to the floor beat has a great groove with the bassline (which sounds Latin influenced)

When you bring in the bongos/timbales/congos/bombas what other Latin/Afro-Latin percussion or not you brought in there that really got my head going. The beats are super catchy, the rhythms create a fantastic synergy. By the way, would appreciate you telling me how much of thodr instruments I got right, wrong, or missed ;)

The ethnic percussion IMO could benefit from some more dynamic action (not sure how well that would fair in relation to the compression), and the timbales could use more variations in pitch.

The break could use more diversity in it, as the pad was just a basic lowpassed supersaw if I'm not mistaken that you hear in a bunch of trance and dance breaks. I'd layer it with something else, layer an airy synth or another texture on the top.

main melody theme rocks, and is well sequenced over the next sections. Great synth here too, I'm liking the good phat texture thats not too screechy or overly resonant like a lot of similar synths. Great usage of automation right here too. The short shaker rhythms are a fine addition to keep the drums interesting.

The percussion solo section was another great addition, cool transition work.

When you threw back in the melody, I was thinking you could put in another melody to harmonize with it, or augment that section with a pad (if you can find room, maybe sidechain it if need be). Or give a slightly different drum pattern for the listeners to hear.

My final criticism would be that the ending was weak. I understand the minimal drums at the end of trance tracks so that it could mix into another for club mix purposes or what not, but I personally would have preferred a bongo/congo/latin percussion in place of the snare, or atleast inserted at one point, to create a more interesting buildup to the final hit of the crash cymbal.

And lastly, the mixing was freaking perfect. Great job on that, instruments are well defined, loud and powerful, not too much reverb to dilute dynamic qualities. Despite all the percussion bits you have in here that fall in a similar range, each gets their fair share of spotlight.

so all in all, great tune, thanks for sharing. Keep up the outstanding style Zoosafari!

ZooSafari responds:

Hey! Sorry for taking so long to give you my response, Ive been quite busy these days ^^'

Thank you very much for the awesome review, I really appreciate it and I'll try to make a nice response ;)

Well about the percs you mentioned I only used my bongos and a bass drum for those bits hehe...Im not sure if the bombas actually exist XD

About the break I did layer my saw string pad with a cello, I think you can notice it at some parts, it hard to hear but it there ;D

Thanks for the compliments about the melody and the drums solo, I worked real hard on both :D

Theres actually a sidechained pad behind the melody on the second chorus, but I didnt wanted it to be loud so that you can enjoy more the melody, the pad is just a fill.
I like your idea about the end, I could have made it more dynamic, but I was pretty tired of working on this one XD

Thank you very much for the compliments about the mixing, I really worked my ass out with that haha! And thank you very much for the amazingly long review, I loved it ;D

Peace!

[Titanium Bullet]

Titanium Groove

a solid, more 4 to the floor pace DnB groovy song, some awesome ideas in here.

you say you cant think of a good melody in here, in respect to the genre it doesnt really need one. the bassline and subbassline are freaking awesome. The second bassline that you brought in was a great adaption from the first one. Definetly goes with the title IMO, like an FBI agent walks into an underground bar, and shoots a titanium bullet right through the drug dealer's chest, second bassline, the FBI Agent smoothly walks out of the bar while he sets a bomb on the floor and the place goes BOOM.

the sound of the bass is nice and gritty, nice, fuzzy, fat, and well layered. Good job with the synth work for sure. Digging the deep flanger effects, automations were well inserted and executed throughout the track. The rhyhtm of the bass has a great relationship with the resampled break patterns, very groovy. The transition was nice too, the flanger meshes nicely to accentuate the sweet patterns. I like how its much more than a simple kick-drum...kick-drum pattern. Great flow in this track.

I think perhaps the bass or the drums is too abravise, some EQ cuts or lower volumes would be nice to hear so the airy pads can have their room in the mix. The progression on those are worth hearing. Maybe roll off the high trebles on the bass, and use just a tad less compression/exciter on the the drums. I wish I had the technical knowledge so I could specifically point it out :D (I sure could be 'wrong' in a general sense, since its all background jazz anyway)

Maybe more noticeable resonance and cutoff frequency automation in addition to just the transition and break phases of the track, to give the sections a more interesting spice. The actual riff could be more varied to, maybe have some notes slide into each other, or automate the portamento knob. And maybe instead of ending the phrase on Eb, maybe end it on C or Bb every now and then. Anyway no biggie repetition doesnt really bother me in this trk. Repetition in DnB is a good element, but maybe a slight alteration of the theme every 16 bars or so wouldnt hurt.

Another idea that popped into my head while listening to this is a sliced vocal sample of some guy shouting out orders over a walkie talkie or telephone in the intro ;)

Definetly good work for sure! Keep up the GOOD music man. Defintely great chemistry with the rhythmic ideas in here.

Mitrox responds:

Awesome, another constructive review from the S3C. :]

Well true, I could of EQ'd some of the extra muffle out of the bass and not make the drums so loud, but I didn't think of it at the time. True, it would of been cool if a added some vocal sound effects with a commander giving orders to his comrades, but again my imagination wasn't to creative at the time I made this track.

[*Aurora's Wave* [IZK]]

hey dude

hey man sorry i havent replied to your PMs. just been slacking off and shit, and i was planning on reviewing a bunch of people once i finish a bunch of my nearly completed tracks but ill probably procrastinate and that wont be done any time soon.

anyways, a nice DnB here for sure! great textures and samples, what do you use for the pads?

This one has a nice spacey feel, I like the reverb and thin snappy synth. That percussive sound playing consistent notes throughouts reminds of a rudder of sometype of aircraft entering space. The pads and bass are deep, sound a tad cosmic and airy, good job at sequencing them.

Beats were quite enjoyable, like how you shy away from the cliched but catchy amen break rhythms, liking how the kick and snare sound, theyre quite well placed in the mix. I'd give the ride cymbals some verb tho, and possibly layer the snare with one with a bright reverb, just to make the drums sound more spacey.

My only criticism would be that it could use some melodic texture in the mid-range that will round out the track quite well. While the rhythms are quite nice, there's not a really enough intracicies in here to make this a sweet track. there just needs something in here to really glue all the nice elements together.

all and all great stuff, faved and fived

Jenni-Harry4eva3 responds:

Awesome. And no worries mate. We all lead some busy lives. Glad to see that you're doing okay. Thanks. I've been really putting my layering skills to the test, for sure.

Hmm.. true. Amen break does kind of get boring after a while, so I decided coming up with my own beats, rather than using the regular format. Why not, you know? Verb on the ride... I'll do that in the next update. I do plan on expanding this some more. I'll add some of the things that you suggest.

Hm.. melodic textures. That sounds like a good idea. Give it some more feeling and make it more enjoyable. Thank you.

~[IZK]