Buoy's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[-Transformation-]

Holy shit this is compressed so hard oh my goood how is this even possible everything is sidechaining everything else xp the reverb of the kick rests like a huge fog over the entire mix when it plays

Cool melodies though, you've really got a groove going at 1:34 and the little rising melody before that was really nice. I mean it wouldn't have surprised me to see you do music similar to the stuff that some of the EDM guys from this site ended up making eventually, if you had chosen that route instead of becoming a silly orchestral person :)

Step responds:

"Holy shit this is compressed so hard oh my goood how is this even possible everything is sidechaining everything else xp the reverb of the kick rests like a huge fog over the entire mix when it plays"

THAT'S CALLED PRO MASTERING.

No but seriously it's not my fault. FL Studio's default template has a limiter in the master channel and I never really knew what it does so I made all my music with the limiter on there until Blackhole12 told me to stop it (which was when I made Spacewalk, and that was a massive improvement as I'm sure you noticed). Hence all of that compression. Or maybe it IS my fault for being such a retard.

"if you had chosen that route instead of becoming a silly orchestral person :)"

Thank GOODNESS I'm a silly orchestral person and didn't take that route, or else things would've panned out a lot differently.

[The Spirit of Christmas]

You've got the instrumentation down all right. I get what you mean about using the major scale... it doesn't come naturally to me either, all I do is in some variation of a minor scale :v. I'm giving this a kinda high score since it actually accomplishes what it sets out to do which is to establish a christmas feel. Percussion is sensible and stuff and the mixing is pretty good except for the flute being a bit obnoxious maybe. Piano and bells sound awful though

Step responds:

"all I do is in some variation of a minor scale :v."

I KNOW RIGHT. I remember in one of my older songs I said that in one of the sections I did "a switch to a minor key", but looking back it turns out the whole song was in minor anyway.

"flute being a bit obnoxious maybe"

Oh man, reminds me of how much you used to hate my flutes before. Now they're good though. Right? RIGHT? :(

"Piano and bells sound awful though"

This is true.

[-Supernova-]

Scooter-16 is Echo I guess? Anyway, this sounds a lot more like cheery christmas music than a big space explosion. Yeah well I get the idea, which is basically that the song has dynamics. Anyway as you said the melody doesn't make much sense or anything. I honestly don't remember how the songs you made before this sounded at all but this isn't too bad.

it's kinda cute how you describe the song in such detail by the way..

Step responds:

"Scooter-16 is Echo I guess?"

No, Scooter-16 is my alt. I was such a loner back then that the only person I could collaborate with is myself.

Naw just kiddin', of course it's Echo.

"Anyway, this sounds a lot more like cheery christmas music than a big space explosion."

I must've gotten into some weirdass Christmas mood before I made this song then because the next one is most definitely cheery Christmas music.

"Yeah well I get the idea, which is basically that the song has dynamics. Anyway as you said the melody doesn't make much sense or anything. I honestly don't remember how the songs you made before this sounded at all but this isn't too bad."

Yeah, this one's kinda pleasant to the ears, unlike a lot of the old ones. Still doesn't make sense :3.

"it's kinda cute how you describe the song in such detail by the way.."

No it's embarrassing and humiliating. ;_;

[Polargeist Menu Theme]

Nice, it's groovy. I would note the chord progression but it's the same as the other one I guess? So it's fine. I like that you've started doing those more subtle things like chromatic fills, dorian harmony, etc. The lead is just wonderful. The mix has problems (too much drums and reverb) though.

and noooo don't use my depths of phendrana preset :c

Step responds:

Thanks for all these reviews man you rock.

"Nice, it's groovy. I would note the chord progression but it's the same as the other one I guess?"

That's correct! I wanted to add a few elements from the other one to link them together.

"So it's fine. I like that you've started doing those more subtle things like chromatic fills, dorian harmony, etc."

That's probably thanks to camoshark, who's taken away my mentality that a note out of key is a wrong note, which was an old mentality I had picked up due to many years of classical music theory.

"The lead is just wonderful."

It is, is it not :3.

"The mix has problems (too much drums and reverb) though."

Not sure about the drums, I like it how it is, but definitely too much reverb. The mix is one of the places I rushed a little in.

"and noooo don't use my depths of phendrana preset :c"

I DON'T SEE YOUR NAME ON IT.

Thanks for ANOTHER review man!

[On The Road (Radio Mix)]

This easy the in the progreat job sugar to hear simon. Keep do great job sugar simon. Keep do greally put the mix is very good, I like that's some do greatly enjoyed i can't really job sugar to have doing is nice and I like to have day the production values and to par to par to make the the something more good, I like of, but the prefer on values are very this nice and the future. This easy the mix is to make the sounds are from your personal chords, the in the something the from you.

SugarSimon responds:

yes, glad you hear it.

[~SW~ Dimethyltryptamine]

The new parts are lovely. My favorite part of the whole thing is 2:55-3:55 and it's mostly because of the brilliant piano work actually. I'd love to have a midi of the piano that happens during that part so I can study your ideas and steal them. I'm impressed by the sax work because I sure as hell couldn't manage to make something coherent when soloing over this chromatic clusterfuck

SkyeWint responds:

Whooooooooo-

I have to say, I was almost a bit overly critical of having the real instruments in there, but hey it worked!

If by the piano work you mean the chords, it's kinda just odd chords that I strung together and managed to make coherent in some weird way.

The sax work was a COMPLETE AND UTTER PAIN. The stems are actually something like 6-8 minutes long for the sax and about 4 minutes long for the trumpet. As I said, it took ages to splice and rearrange. Also I'm sure you could totally manage to make something coherent enough out of 6-8 minutes of solos as well. ...I really should have sent over a scale when I asked for some solos.

Totally glad you love it though. I'd be glad to send a midi of the piano chords if that's what you meant. (by the way, thanks for letting me steal an idea of yours for one of the solos, cookie for anyone else who can figure out where it was ;3)

[Polargeist]

I like the theme and sounds and all, maybe the genre is more video game really, which is apt considering the sawng's background. Good iciness.

There are a couple of things I don't agree with in the song, for example I think the chorusy lead from 0:55 is rather crass and I'm not a big fan of the more-basic-than-sodium-hydroxide I IV I V progression

Step responds:

I could've SWORN I already responded to this. Oh well, thanks for reviewing man, I was hoping you'd review this :3.

"I like the theme and sounds and all, maybe the genre is more video game really, which is apt considering the sawng's background. Good iciness."

Sweet. To be honest I'm not very bothered with the genre, although I just threw it under Drum'n'Bass since it just so happens to have drums and bass. Decibel says that 155 BPM isn't enough for Drum'n'Bass though.

"There are a couple of things I don't agree with in the song, for example I think the chorusy lead from 0:55 is rather crass"

You know it's pretty hard to use super saws without them sounding crude and cheesy, haha. I was out of ideas, so I just fished for a super saw in Omnisphere. It's so much easier choosing sounds in orchestral :c.

"and I'm not a big fan of the more-basic-than-sodium-hydroxide I IV I V progression"

Whoops! Well, you know me, I compose the melody first and then the chords, so it wasn't entirely intentional. Maybe it's better that way for the purposes of this track; kids will appreciate something like sodium hydroxide more than some potassium permanganate or deliquescent anhydrous iron chloride or something.

Thanks again ^_____^.

[Alt- Larger than Life]

This isn't really that different from the original, it's just a somewhat differently structured arrangement of the same elements. So yeah. Still badadss though.

btw did you do something new with Unwavering Assault? It appeared on my "recently modified projects" again

Step responds:

"This isn't really that different from the original, it's just a somewhat differently structured arrangement of the same elements. So yeah. Still badadss though."

Exactly, just added a few new melodies and things. I had to rush this at school during a lunchbreak because I was like a week and a half away from the show.

"btw did you do something new with Unwavering Assault? It appeared on my "recently modified projects" again"

Yes. I randomly remembered that in the Author's Comments of that I had something like "thanks to SBB for the guitar" and my inner OCD self momentarily took control.

Thanks for reviewing all these songs man, you're awesome.

[Alt- High Flier]

Oh sweet. I love this. Have you heard the 4/4 version of the Mission Impossible theme that is the first result when you search for "Mission impossible theme" on youtube? That track is to the original MI theme like this version is to the original High Flier I think. It has massive amounts of #swag

Removing half a star for the bitch-ass flute that didn't really add anything at all though

Step responds:

When I search that all I get is the usual 5/4 theme that then switches to 4/4 later on. Not sure if that's the one you're referring to.

The flute is silly I know :3. I added it only as a testament to the bassline I used in the original High Flier. I tried using all sorts of other synths and things but I have yet to make badass-sounding non-cheesy lead synths because all the ones I tried either didn't fit at all or sounded like a dairy factory of cheesiness.

#YOLOswag

[Alt- Wonderful Perfection]

seem my comments about the other one :) The vocal sounds good though. Also this version is a bit less suspenseful and mostly just atmospheric which is nice.

and this loops just amazingly

Step responds:

It's better that it's atmospheric now actually, since this is meant to be the version that plays in-between one item in the show and another. The other one was more suspenseful kinda unintentionally, but looking back it works because Wonder Woman's character in the show is almost OCD-like, so it's kinda suspenseful knowing that one slight imperfection will make her mad.

If that makes any sense.