Buoy's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rolling Thunder]

Pretty good. There's not there melodically except that repeating synth line that gets kinda annoying after the 30th time. That's where I'd recommend you to focus on now - getting some melodic variation and adding some parts that change up the intensity a bit. Either by making a smooth break or a really heavy-ass banger part. The drums are nice and punchy but they're either compressed too much or just compressed kinda shabbily. The airy synth adds a nice layer to it. And you're obviously pretty good with transitions, the filter sweeps sound so delicious man.

Droplifter responds:

Fair enough. It's just supposed to flow rather than be about melodies. I don't have any idea about compression or mastering, literally none, if I turn it off on the drums they sound shit and the master channel is a proper multi-band compressor (not a stock thing) that I think sounds ok. Thanks for the review!

[[dB] Philosopher]

this is ridiculously funky and cute. But I imagine it would do better as either a shorter loop or a tune with a looot more variation both in melody and in the sound of the song.

Decibel responds:

'tis quite cute. I agree with the observations, I just liked the drums goin' on here, the rest is just random haha ;p

[[dB] Lamp]

Cheers.

Decibel responds:

Indeed, thanks.

[Infected Core]

glorious exposition comrade.

SpaceTheory responds:

Thank you stranger.

[Welcome to Eternity]

This is not bad at all for a first song! Still, as you requested, some tips:
The song is a lot longer than it needs to. Some of the repeating parts could be cut down. Makes the song sound less repetitive, fresher, more dynamic, etc.
Some of the sounds are a bit... well fruity. I don't really know how you could fix that. :)
You could try varying the melodies a bit... this is mostly 5 minutes of the same kind of theme
And try adding some different kinds of drums too, not just the deep bass drum
Just keep working on more and more songs and after a lot of time and experience you'll be great!!

Icerapier responds:

Many thanks man! :D

[Sanctuary]

Sir. You have been keeping a very strong pace the last year but something like this was completely unexpected. I have honestly never been impressed more, by anyone on Newgrounds ever, than I was when I first had a listen to the intro of this song. I've been listening to a bunch of classical music lately (due to watching the videos by the Youtube user 'smalin' - you should check him out, he makes visualizations of classical music and it really helps you see the patterns and themes). I get exactly the same feeling of 'genius' when I listen to those as when I listen to your song - and - coupled with the absolutely sublime soundscape you've created (more on that later), I am absolutely astonished. So much in fact, that I feel I have to talk almost formally. Well, let us get down to the specifics.

Excellent atmosphere from second one. The deep bass note keeps the rather mysterious mood, and the harp part is just great man. I love the little crescendo before 0:18 and how it graciously falls down to a slow tempo after that. The windy/rain noises around it are absolutely perfect for the song to give it an atmosphere and sound that suits the harp perfectly. It makes the harp sound more "lonely" than it would sound with the harp alone, YET it fills the frequency spectrum to give the tune a fuller sound from the start. The sound effect at 0:13 makes me anticipate the little crescendo, and then when the crescendo arrives at 0:18âEU¦ Now, stop and realize that while I am writing this, I am scrolling back and forth in the song to make sure what I'm saying is correct- and I get goosebumps EVERY TIME I listen to this little crescendo. EIGHTEEN SECONDS INTO THE SONG. Anyway. I love how you keep it so understated and subtle - the strings are truly massive, you can hear it, yet they just subtly fade out to give room for another part of the harp intro. The fading little sound effect just after that is just what is needed to almost put me into tears from how much I love this thing.

After that three-second musicgasm, the harp does its thing for a while (man I love the rubato/improvisation. I love it) until 0:32 where there's this magical chord progression that I love to much. There's something about the harmonic resolution at 0:38 - coupled with the very subtle tempo variations that add so much to the realism - that makes it sound incredibly talented/masterful/what can I say. Same for 0:41 to a lesser extent. Then there are the subtle little details like the super-faint mandolin at 0:35 (I don't know if I would (or could) have noticed it if I wasn't using the kinda expensive headphone+amp combo I'm using now), which is almost equally impressive because it shows the sheer amount of detail that is put into this piece. There's a belltree (I think that's what it's called) sound that is just a bit too loud and could use a bit more reverb - it sounds like there's an orchestra in front of me but that percussion instrument is in the seat just in front of me if you get what I mean. It's still needed though. 0:45 is another moment that gives me goosebumps - the reverb on the strings sound so very distant, and it's almost like it blows up the perspective: up until that point, the song has been quite intimate and confined to a medium-sized hall with a harp in it. Then the strings come in and all of a sudden the walls vanish and I am sitting in a goddamn valley. Thing is, this is not something you can just do by giving an instrument a big-ass reverb and I know this because I've tried and rarely succeeded. (Still enjoying the faint mandolin). Brief slowdown at 0:50 that leads into the next favorite moment of mine -

0:57! What an excellent, excellent chord. Very dissonant and out of left field, but it fits perfectly with the chord progressions you were doing previously. And the dissonance makes a perfect buildup of suspense to the next 'climax' at 1:00. I remember I was giving you tips for like a little piano line that you could use in a track a few months ago and here you just pulled the same thing off with a full string section like it's nothing.

Step responds:

I was going to copy the review, paste it in here and start my quote and replying. Yeah. In my dreams.

So... first things first. Biggest review I have ever received ever, and possibly the largest review on Newgrounds to date. Honestly this is SO unexpected. Words literally cannot express the sheer magnitude of my thanks. But I guess that sentence will have to do!

So, I'll start quoting a few phrases here and there to see if I can fit a decent response in the character limit!

"something like this was completely unexpected"

It was... the whole song just started from me doodling around and improvising on my synth. Usually when I start songs like that they turn out badly.

"Youtube user 'smalin' - you should check him out"

I saw his videos before. Yeah they're awesome. It must be incredibly coincidental because I have been listening to more classical music lately. My favourite from what I've listened to so far is probably Danse Macabre.

"I love the little crescendo before 0:18"

I should thank camoshark for that. I was the one who thought of the idea of adding the crescendo there but he thought of the idea of the accelerando there and making the harp intro a bit more rubato, which made it all so much better.

"I get goosebumps EVERY TIME I listen to this little crescendo"

Wow. I didn't put much thought in it, so you won't believe how surprised I am it's getting such a good reception!

"this magical chord progression that I love to much"

That's actually a very similar chord progression to the one during the tribal-y part after the first proper main melody/climax in A New World. I was pretty much in writer's block at the time so I had to revisit an older chord progression if I wanted to actually make a coherent melody.

"super-faint mandolin at 0:35"

Wow man, you're noticing sound effects like the fire blaze sound effect (yeah it's actually supposed to be fire blazing rather than wind/rain :P) and that insanely subtle mandolin seemingly with ease. They're so subtle that I often forget I ever added them there, haha.

"There's a belltree (I think that's what it's called) sound that is just a bit too loud"

Yup, it's a belltree. I see what you mean about the loudness - I have a bad habit of making belltrees too loud... Noted!

"0:45 is another moment that gives me goosebumps"

Yeah those high notes with the heavy reverb were thanks to the Metroid album director's feedback, so I guess he deserves credit too. Also, awesome observation about the song sort of opening up. I never actually viewed it that way before :3.

"this is not something you can just do by giving an instrument a big-ass reverb"

Haha well in my case that's exactly what I did. Before they were simply dry harp notes, but I wanted to achieve that "distant" sound so I threw in some Fruity Reeverb and twisted knobs like a madman. I hate it when there's stuff I do which actually turns out well but I have no clue why it does...

"0:57! What an excellent, excellent chord"

Ah, G7 :3. Camoshark also suggested I add that there. You know, most of the excellent chords you're hearing are all thanks to camoshark :P.

"I remember I was giving you tips for like a little piano line"

Yeah, you were like "now do jazz" and I had no idea where to start, even though you showed me a way to start :D.

Right then, moving on to the next review!

[3pm]

Great sounding intro! I love how the lower and higher melodies complement each other so well. Cool chord progression too. I don't like the particular piano sound though, there's a lack of dynamics when almost every note sounds like it's pressed down that hard. It could also use some more instrumentation and a few more parts to make it a more solid piece. But this is great.

newhansen responds:

Thanks men! Your review encouraged me to work on a more realistic piano sound. I think it's one of the hardest things to record :)

[French Poop Yummy]

Holy shit

This is so good. I see you all the time in the audio forum, dunno why I haven't got to hearing your music

jpbear responds:

Because everyone in the world is lazy as Cubans on hammocks.

Glad ya got around to a listening dude, appreciate it :)

[Sex Change feat. Mihai So]

haha

I can't help it but say that the trumpet is way out of place for this song. Man the thing before 1:30 and on is good. Pretty okay recurring melody, though the whole diminished scale thing gets a bit tiring after a while. I like the hi hats. If this is how a sex change feels then well fuck I'm glad I'm not having one. Kicks are fine, a bit trebley perhaps. See if you can get the sub and kick to sit so you have a solid low kick whenever you get some reliable listening gear

Quarl responds:

haha, thanks sir. and yeah, I'm not really sure what a sex change feels like either :p

[[Crysis] Risky Business]

yup

I do indeed agree with the other people that the tempo is off, but it kinda makes a cool polyrhythm effect. At times that sounds good, at other times, not so much. The sounds are nice enough though. The filtered piano gives it its own certain jazzy vibe. A repeated drum beat like that gets pretty boring after a while though. Without any fills or variation it could just as well be a metronome really. Drum variation is really one of the things people tend to forget when making a song. The drum sounds themselves are fine for this tune though imo

JackRocker responds:

Looks like my main issues are getting tempos right and getting some more interesting drums programmed. Thanks for the review dude, I'll keep all this in mind. Probably won't be submitting for a while, I wanna get some basics down first. Gonna be practicing a lot in the upcoming days. Thanks again for the review!