Onefin's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[~SW~ Reflection]

Oh, perfect! You showed in up in R4R. I really want a Walkaround R4R :D

As far as I know, this is what you consider your best piece right now. Correct me if I'm wrong. There's are some really good reasons for you to believe that, and although I don't share the same opinion, it would be shameful of me to deny the excellence present here. So let's get started.

I'm always impressed with how you can create cohesive tracks without an extremely graph-able structure. What does that mean? My tracks tend to follow some sort of verse-chorus-verse etc structure, sort of like there's always this down section here and then I build up and there's a distinct drop here and then it goes back down and then builds back up to another drop and then goes back down again. But you create cohesive sections that don't smoothly fall into any of these categories of verses and choruses, rather it mostly just feels like freelance wherever you want the track to go. And yet the intensity still flows smoothly. One of the things I'm most looking forward to seeing in our collab is how you'll execute this flow in our thing :)

Also, after mistmurk mentioned basslines, I'm beginning to notice more and more how good they are. My basslines tend to be super generic, so I'm giving you props here, too.

Great percussion free-styling at 3:30

I do feel like the track is missing something in terms of chordal variation - you mentioned in the description that every chord has its base in a major 7th chord. While I like the intentional decision at first, over 7 minutes of the same type of chord over and over struggles to stay harmonically intriguing, even if you switch up the upper harmonics enough.

Have you ever tried parallel harmonizing a lead in a solo? I do it pretty often and it's a great way to thicken a thinner lead sound like the one you primarily use in this piece. This moment in 1:56 would be a great place to add in that harmony. Preferably in thirds. Or maybe sixths.

Also, the outro felt a bit unsettled in a way. Don't know why, don't know how to describe it. :/

And... I guess that'll be my review :) Fantastic work on this track, although 2 is still my favorite thing from you <3

SkyeWint responds:

Hey dude!

Glad it's a good'un! The organization is definitely one thing I've worked on, looking forward to playing around with it in our track too!

Basslines are honestly something that I just gradually did over time, not sure how those ideas developed aside from them needing to be somewhat melodic.

I'm glad you like the percussion style at 3:30! I was really proud of what I ended up doing there.

Nothing to disagree with in terms of chordal variation. Only thing I'd say is... well, at least it still has far more variation in harmonics to twist the mood than most music. ;_;

Parallel harmony: Yes, I've actually done this a fair amount. Not quite as much in this, but there's a moment of it at 6:15 where I tried to use it effectively.

Not sure what to say about the outro there either - it's pretty similar to how I ended Float. They're pretty similarish songs overall, too.

[~SW~ Thoughtspark]

This is a long one! Woah

And this is a masterpiece! Right off the bat, the really cool sounds draw me in. As the intrigue begins to settle and the melody to sink in, I begin to become comfortable - I'm in it for the long ride this time. You always keep the piece interesting by doing something cool, whether it be a cool bass drum riff, an unexpected harmony, a tempo change, or something else entirely. You always keep the sound dynamic, with continuous automation and evolution of the texture. With so many ideas, it would be really challenging to keep the piece cohesive, but the ride felt good when it was over - every piece felt like part of the same thing. The drums really helped to keep the whole thing together, and it was especially helpful that the drums were mixed so well. The entire song's production value is top notch, in fact - exactly what I'd expect from a legend like you. Props!

I can only have hoped a few things - perhaps a bit more variation in the actual synths used would contribute to a small nagging repetitiveness that hits me, especially when this track comes to be over 7 minutes. Also, I have to agree with TL that at 5:24, the drums feel a bit spam-my. The ending was really nicely ambiguous, but I feel it dragged on a bit too long.

But man, isn't this masterpiece just riddled with beauty? I can't think of much to criticize, or even praise because there's just so much going on here. Too much intricacy and complexity for my puny brain to handle, in the composition, the mix, the structure, the everything. Really, really nice work - have I followed you yet? Why haven't I?

I rarely give tracks a full 5 stars, but man, you deserved it this time. This is beautiful! <3

SkyeWint responds:

1f1n1ty! Hey! I haven't seen you around on my tracks before, so you might not be following me I guess. Welcome aboard if you decided to! I don't post a ton of tracks at this point, but I try to keep them as the good (or at least the fairly decent) ones.

First of all, I'm glad that everything fit so well together. That's always one of my big things with mixing/transitions and general instrumentation. I want things to feel part of the same piece, no matter how many permutations there are.

Part of me agrees with having more synth variation over the piece. Honestly, I would have loved to do that. There's only one big problem glaring in the face of that (well, one small one too - actually figuring out what the hell else to add): Mixing. Keeping everything balanced would be quite a bit more difficult when another instrument is added to the mix, mussing up its hair and all.That part is far, far easier said than done. :(

5:24 - yes, the drums do get a bit spammier there. I know that at the time, I was trying to think of how to "up the ante" or at least match the previous similar section, and that was the best drum sequence I could come up with.

Ending - yeah, agreed. It did go on a little bit long there, haha. I probably could/should have cut it by about 30 seconds.

>so much going on here
...this is what happens when you spend nearly 3 full days' worth of effort on a single piece of music. If you want to pick out all the little details though, I do highly encourage listening to it on loop for a little bit. :3 I always try to add in tiny little variations and sound candies throughout a piece for the people who really like it and focus on it rather than listening to it mainly as background.

[Hidden gem]

R4R

Hey, remember me? We tried a collab a while ago but I tried to do too much :P

Dude, that name definitely doesn't lie - this is a hidden gem! There's so much maturity in this sound; you've done a ton of things that I really love!

Let's start from the beginning, shall we? Right off the bat we have some exceptional sound design - the arp sounds really sweet, and the vocal-based pluck lead introduced later is solid as well. Those bird tweets are well mixed and add to the overall atmosphere that the track attempts to achieve. But I also have a gripe about that piano - I have a sort of pet peeve against piano riffs written as if it were played by a synth. What you've written for the piano here are very much robotic block chords, with nothing else - a part that would have been better suited for something else, perhaps a pad.

Also it sounds like you could have began the piece a bit more mellow and progressed to this point. But that's just my subjective interpretation - doesn't mean what you did is bad. :)

Around 0:48 is when a bit of over-repetition begins to become noticeable. It's nothing major - you do keep it flowing by introducing new sounds and slightly different riffs - but overall the chord progression feels rather stale and worn out at this point and the piece really feels like it needs some more considerable compositional change.

But you know what? All of that just becomes pointless nitpicking when the drop hits. You do a very good job introducing a higher volume in the drop, creating a contrast between this emotional catharsis and the mellower events surrounding. The chords are well mixed and hit all the right frequencies. Drum design is phenomenal - every hit is exactly the volume my ears request, and the toms are especially clear and powerful. The drop overall stands apart as a very varied section as compared to the other parts of the piece.

Then we have 1:27, where you actually use a pad and a piano in tandem rather than in the beginning, where there was just a piano hitting some robotic chords. A much more desirable sound, for sure.

These chord sounds that begin to get introduced at 1:40 sound awesome as well.

And somehow you manage to fit two drops in a mere 2 and a half minutes. I just wish the second drop was more different than the first, but for how close time-wise they are together, it works.

Last gripe is that you didn't write an outro. Would have been a perfect place to bring out that humanized piano.

Overall, fantastic little gem. Lots of great sound design all over and solid transitional elements contributing to a cohesive piece. Small gripes with humanization and repetition occur, but they're nothing extremely distracting. 5/5, 9/10. Really good work! ;)

8-bitheroes responds:

Hey. Yeah I remember :) thanks for the review, very in depth and you raise some good points!

[5hapeshift3r]

Hey, Noisy! It's approaching the end of the year so I thought I'd drop by. Did I ever congratulate you on your placement in NGUAC?

Let's start with the title - if "Shapeshifter" is too mainstream, then why is replacing the s with 5 and e with 3 make you any less of a generic person? Also, that lead is definitely not shifting shape. It's only becoming a slightly different version of itself - a lead. That's like one of these ice cream scoops turning into... a slightly different ice cream scoop. Would be better if it turned into a straw or a cherry or something.

Also I must ask something about your Noisysundae Visualizer 2.0. At the beginning it displays the key and tempo, but what if that changes mid-song? Or have you never considered that (if not, you should definitely consider trying it)?

I'm really enjoying this piano at 1:30 - proof that you don't have to sacrifice intimacy to achieve a good sound in a fast-pased, powerful mix. That's a sign of a mature artist!

The open hihat sounds so separated from the other drums. Although it's nothing major, it comes as a bit distracting sometimes.

Welp nice talk I guess

Noisysundae responds:

Thanks for that. Perhaps it's because I didn't make a post about the NGAUC at that time. I was too busy dealing with the senior project.

At least using 5 and 3 makes it less mainstream (even if it's just a bit XD). I agree that it isn't much of shapeshifter, though. Just some different effects on top of it. I went trough some other name like 5pacediv3r, Chronocru5h3r, etc., and randomly picked one. Why picking a right title is so hard. ;w;

I admit it. I didn't think about BPM/key change. Since Youtube had a new ending screen feature to replace annotations, I already had a plan to update the visualizer before the new year, so I'm going to make it support changing tempo and key too. Thanks for the mention!

It's always a nice talk for me since you spent your precious time to write a review. Anyway, there's always that one dramatic or romantic melody in all sundaes regardless of the mood 'cause I'm not a funny guy IRL. :P

[OST: The Colossus - Attack On Titan Fanmade Orchestra]

R4R

Please note that this review may be a bit heavy on the critical side. I apologize if it may seem condescending or full of dislike. I only intend the best <3

+ Good design for a soundtrack: achieved a good sound without being distracting
+ Heroic instrumentation done well
- Attack on some instruments seems a bit much: could have used a punchier sound
- Lack of percussion gives the song no drive at all. Perhaps some snare or concert bass could have been used to assist the sound.
- Too much dominant 7th
- Overall sound lacks dynamic contrast: everything is a singular mp sort of sound, which doesn't stand as very epic

Kazamy responds:

Don't worry, all reviews, positives or not, are welcome. You can be honest. After all, I never studied music composition, it's just a hobby. Let me know those negative points was helpful. Thanks for your time!

[Horizons]

It's been a while since I did R4R but now I have something for others to review so here we go

YAYS:
- Atmosphere and sound design in the into was pristine
- Drum and bass was done well - good intensity for the genre
- You kept my interest well, as never when I listened did the piece get boring
- Outro was conclusive and worked effectively

NAYS:
- If the melody stuff had some harmony it would be super cool!
- Guitar sounds dry, especially when surrounded by a bunch of wet reverb-y stuff. And I realize that the guitar actually has a lot of delay, but there are sections where the other sounds cover up that delay and then it sounds dry.
- Because the bass is so gritty, you rely on the bells to provide the bass note rather than the actual bass - this restricts your melodic content to always include that bass note on the downbeat, so I would have tried using some sort of sub sound in a similar frequency to the low bell note so that you can play around more with the melody

Overall: A solid track with good atmosphere, well-done drums and bass, and a cohesive, interesting structure - could have used more variation and melodic candy, but as it stands the track is superb!

5TanLey responds:

the guitar has delay only during that middle break, I had to cut fx in the drops a bit because it started to sound like a big muddy wall of reverb and delay

thanks for the advice and quality review :)

[Time's Sublime]

Hey! You've been used by Thomartin, as I'm sure you're aware ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PTAlp79TlE

MrKoolTrix responds:

Yup, I was aware of that. :) He made a cool level with this track! :D

[Hidden Glade]

R4R

I see waterflame on the inspiration list, and I can definitely hear how that manifested in this piece. The bassline is very distinctly Waterflame, and a number of the sounds seem to directly parallel Waterflame's older work.

Perhaps you could have also drawn out a groovier drum beat? Right now your beat consists of a rather buried kick drum hitting on all four downbeats, a bunch of cymbolic stuff, and no snare/upbeat sound present. Perhaps you could have done something more two-step?

Another overarching complaint I have with this is the harmonies - they don't always seem to agree, with the occasional harmony sticking out as being jarring. I'd have to look deeper into the composition in order to figure out what those harmonies are, but right now some notes just don't sound right, particularly in this flute melody at 0:07 and some other riffs.

Overall, this sounds like a good start! I wouldn't call it a hidden glade, though, or cinematic, for that matter. This piece sounds darker than a hidden glade, something I'd consider beautiful and majestic. Also, your VGM tag is about what I'd classify this as, genre-wise.

Zechnition responds:

I'm going to try making a better drum beat and make it less bland. Also that melody at 0:07 doesn't sound too bad but does sound a little off I'll try and fix it. Thanks for your review! =D

[Winter Palace]

Look, I'm stating the obvious! I'm giving a REVIEW!

Bentendo64 responds:

could you please review something about the song, if your going to give a review?

[Tracks for Unfinished Games #1 - Rainforest]

You got skipped in R4R for writing an actually pretty legit review, so I'm serving some justice today :)

So let me start by saying that I'm really enjoying this sound right now! The soundscape is gloriously achieved, the sounds are gloriously made, and the riffs are gloriously written! You say this piece is called "Rainforest", but I feel like it would more appropriately fit something spacier - a rainforest is just too dense of a space to be portrayed by a track like this, imo. Along those lines, though, I could totally imagine some heavy rain pouring behind this track!

You mixed piano and chiptune elements very well! The piano sounds very intimate and close, but the chips sound very distant with their panning effects and spacey reverb. While that's not bad at all, I feel like you may have been a bit extreme with that contrast - maybe EQing the piano a bit differently or using a softer attack on the chip sounds would close the gap just enough to create a complementary contrast rather than a contradictory one.

I would say the biggest issue here is progression - I can't exactly follow where the energy is going in this piece. After the drums fade away at 0:58, all the energy just seems to disappear, and then it's soundscapes for a long while until the piano comes back in. And then the intensity comes back in during the outro and just fades away into the end of the piece. I feel like you could have developed the flow a bit more and made it more cohesive - here's a clear emotional peak, and here's a clear emotional breakdown.

Overall, though, this is a really nice piece! Sad to hear that the game this was for didn't make it :(

ABitApe responds:

Really appreciate the review man! Love it when people give some in-depth opinions on my songs! ^^

Haha, the reason behind it being name Rainforest is as many of the smaller melodies on the higher synths are based on actual bird-songs and that was what I was going with the track at the start. But yeah, maybe should've named it something different as the feeling isn't completely right.

And yeah, you might be right about the contrast! Will tinker with that for upcoming songs and see if I can make it fit a bit better.

Oh right, the progression! I know the progression is a bit weird in this one and I've gotten very different opionions on it. But I agree with you, it kinda builds up to nothing, you get some long ambience and then it builds up to nothing again. It was a bit of an experiment on my side, but I totally agree with you. Need to work on my structure.

And again, thanks for the review, really appreciate it!
I also took the chance to check out your song Veva while I wrote this response. It's freakin' dope! Will listen to more of your stuff when I get the time again :)