Buoy's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[LO - Rush Hour (NGADM'12)]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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Man that first synth really does not sound good on its own. That alone could be enough for me to skip ahead to the next song if I were to be casually listening to music. So the tune is unfortunately off to a weak start that is somewhat remedied when the rest of the lineup is introduced at 0:15 - the synth feels so much more in the right place when there's a kick around to beat it into submission and put it in sidechains. :) The other synths fill the soundstage surprisingly well during the part that follows.

I enjoyed the more classic electro style part from 0:42 very much, especially the subtle timbre variations in the (unusually bright, but not annoyingly so) bass synth. The part is extremely simple, and consequently very repetitive since it lasts for an entire minute - this of course makes it very danceable, but some surprising or creative antics wouldn't hurt at all. The pretty bell synth is appreciated but is a small contribution. Why do we never get to hear that again, though?

When the synths play solo once again at 1:45 they mask each other somewhat, but the criticism about the intro still applies. Also, the square wave-like synth that gets introduced along with the drums only serves to add mud, since it's playing in the same range as the other synths, with a very similar sound to boot. The highpassed transition into 2:28 is great, the synth toms (or something to that effect) really do the trick. There is also some cool variation at 2:56 as well with the sub bass and the synth playing together, and that finishes the track. Sadly. This is a very plain EDM song with most of the standard elements, but leaves little else to be impressed about or even talk about.

I can pick out two things about this song that are done particularly well: the first is the mixing. Apart from what I mentioned previously, every instrument gets to shine through the mix, and the sound in general is wide, fat and well rounded. The other is drums. As with the synths, they are nothing new or original, but the sounds and the programming of them are good and appropriate for the genre/style.

6 points for sounds and instrumentation.
3 points for composition and melody/harmony.
5 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 5.5

Oakwood responds:

To be honest, I hate the start as well, but I couldn't find a proper build-up within time so I just threw the synth in right away.

The bass synth sounds so bright because I put a lot of emphasis on the highs. This gives the bass a crispy sound and makes it a little fatter. Learned that from Dada Life.
Believe, I wanted to use the bell a lot more too, but because it wasn't part of the basic structure of the song I didn't focus on that.

The squared synths also play in the intro, so I probably accidentally did something with the volume automation clip when the synth kicks in again.

I'm glad you like my mixing, because it's something I've been working on a lot.

Thanks a lot for the review, Buoy! I really appreciate it.

[under siege (ngadm)]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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Because I'm a goddamn psychopath who enjoys it when the authors of songs I review get that awful sinking feeling, le's get straight to the big problems first. I have all the songs from round 1 in a playlist, and every time I get to yours it immediately sounds like a thin mushy soup compared to the last one due to bad mixing and probably bad recording too. The overall loudness is very low, and yet the drums sound like they've been over-compressed and almost distorted. The guitars are weak and lack punch at lower volumes, which can be remedied by turning up the volume - but if I do that I'm assaulted by the snare drum (and occasionally a ride cymbal too). I can't win.

Which is unfortunate, because I'm hearing good ideas and great intentions beneath. The guitar riffs sound like they COULD kick brutal ass. The harmonized guitars sound like they could sound sublimely beautiful - the melodies are all there. The synth sounds sound like they could add a great Dream Theater vibe to the track at times. But they don't. Relatively sloppy playing is also a part of this - I'm hearing audible slip-ups, off timing and notes out of tune (sometimes even off key) in almost every riff and solo.

Amusingly enough, your and Demon-Slayer12's entries are lacking in completely opposite, complementary ways. Your entry is a varied song with good length and many varied ideas, but is cursed with awful mixing and sloppy playing. His entry has great mixing and tight playing, but is far too long and cursed with a stale structure and ideas. Like the Yin and the Yang, or a clouded day and a moonlit night, the two of you complete each other. You should kiss!

4 points for sounds and instrumentation.
8 points for composition and melody/harmony.
6 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 6.0

[Focused Noise (NGADM '12)]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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These guitars, they are solid. If there's anything to be said about the song, it's that. Tight, clear playing, yet with a huge stereo width throughout. The intro riff and the bassline that follows along make for a very good first impression and wow-factor. I'm assuming there IS a bass guitar since there's a prominent low end - it blends perfectly with the guitars to create the impression of one single, monstrously badass guitar. The drums are nice too... at a high enough volume. It should be possible to get a meatier kick and a thicker snare and keep the mix as clear as it currently is. The hihats and cymbals sound fine, but as with the other drums, hardly anything exciting is done with them - it's straight eight notes and occasional sixteenth note fills.

And beneath the delicious layer of thick guitars, the song is lacking in many respects. The composition is the most striking one. The song never takes a break, it keeps going with a fixed gear, the intensity plateaus from the first moment - and at 4:00 it makes for an absolutely exhausting listen. Even before a minute has passed I notice a sense of fatigue. Each section is one short riff, repeated some power of two (2, 4, 8 etc) times, with some minor variation at the end at the most predictable places. This riff is backed by a suitably busy drum part, a bassline that copies the riff (and never does anything else ever), and occasionally another track of a wailing guitar on top.

...that's it. Some keyboard sounds would be a nice addition, some sound effects, some clean guitar, some anything! Something that creates some contrast and lets the brutality of the guitars really shine instead of constantly blasting the ears and boring the mind of the listener for 2 and a half minutes. After which a much needed melodic solo is introduced. And yet, it sounds very much like it's put there in the end as an afterthought. It's just there, between two riffs, being played over a riff copypasted from 0:52. It's a positive addition to the song, but not by much.

6 points for sounds and instrumentation.
6 points for composition and melody/harmony.
6 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 6.0

(hey, at least you get the most metal combination of scores)

Demon-Slayer12 responds:

Thanks for the detailed review! And I can agree on pretty much everything you said. The composition is pretty boring, and the solos were pretty much an afterthought. I wanted to make an epic track, but I epically failed haha. I didn't think I'd even get past the first round anyway, so to actually make it surprised me. At least I got a 666 from you haha, and I'll try harder next time to write something a bit more creative!

[King Bosa]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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This one was somewhat difficult. There was little that immediately grabbed my attention when I first listened to it while also mindlessly browsing. Careful listening opened my ears to some neat details, though. Of course, the comments about the title and description of Bosa's entry apply to this one as well, though I must admit I found this one less amusing. Those things will not change my score for any of your entries.

I'll tackle the mellow first minute first: I did not enjoy the violin solo as I perhaps wanted to - this particular sound is very shrill and tiring to listen to in that range, I don't know if that's inherent to violin or if it's a problem with the soundfont/instrument you're using. I figure it might sound more pleasant one octave down, or with some kind of flute. The oboe (clarinet?) sometimes complements the string melody (I really enjoyed moments such as around 0:18 where the instruments collaborate with their own different leading tones to put together a nice resolution), sometimes not so much (from 0:45 it sounds dissonant and unfocused, like the instruments are just playing along for themselves). The deep strings play along nicely most of the time. The harp, when introduced, sounds rather meagre, and the reverb tail that ends the first section also disappointed me a bit. So overall there's some nice interplay between the instruments but nothing that leaves me massively impressed.

The shrill violin keeps going in the second section as well. This is where some of the more impressive stuff appears: the shift to 7/8 is done very well (I didn't notice it at all during the aforementioned mindless listen), and the staccato strings and bells give it that certain soundtrack feel too. The chord progression that I can't really figure out but that does contain an awesome tritone jump also adds an unique flavor to the piece. I also found it very clever how you changed the role of the staccato strings from being the main focus (1:06) to supporting the sustained chords (1:23) in a way that I can't really describe accurately with words. That whole transition is really my favourite thing about the song, the whole combination of changed instrumentation, mood and tempo is brilliant. In other words, most of the neat stuff is found in the second half.

The piece ends with a couple of solid minor tonic chords. No real surprises there. A straightforward and acceptable ending. ;) The vibrato of the lead violin rings out nicely, the sustained strings ended maybe a bit more abruptly and synchronised than you would expect from a real string section though. The harp that modestly chimes in at the very end is a nice touch too.

The mixing and the instruments used are a bit too flat and bland. The strings and especially the percussion have little punch and presence, leaving parts like the apparent climax at 1:06 far weaker than it has the potential to be. That is my main gripe with this submission.

7 points for sounds and instrumentation.
8 points for composition and melody/harmony.
7 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 8.0

samulis responds:

Yeah, I should have worked off a more powerful ending to the piece.

One of my major inspirations is a CD of "Gypsy" music from Romania... it has such expressive violin parts, using mainly the upper register... since listening, I have always wanted to create a slow piece that uses the violin's high end in all its glory, although I do greatly enjoy the lowest register of the violin.

Now that I listen back, I do feel that it does need a bit more reverb as well as more percussion. I generally master my percussion quieter than most people... probably because I listen to very little modern forms like rock which use very loud percussion and instead see percussion less as the "keepers of the beat" and more as "embellishers of the structure"- such as in the case of the timpani, which finds itself rotating around the piece both fulfilling chording and giving a deep resonance where needed.

As a composer, my style is generally more in tune with dissonance and minor melodies- dark and sour.

Thanks for the review and the comments, I really enjoy getting comments that are focused on the greater form of the music and the flow etc. like this. :)

-Samulis

[King Samulis]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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The title and description has changed my perception of this track considerably: rather than being a standard thematic orchestral/soundtrack piece with triumphant horn-filled parts and dramatic battle-scene parts, I'm now almost viewing it as a parody of the style. It certainly does the job well either way. And you and samulis are so cuuuuuuuuuuute together when you do it like this ^__________^

One of the first thing I've noticed is that the mix is a bit harsh, and this seems almost inevitable considering the instrumentation: a loud, blaring brass section dominates throughout, and the percussion is mostly sharp and metallic. Even the choir sings mostly staccato bursts. It fits the description very well, but some polishing to make it sound more pleasant wouldn't hurt. The sounds used are great - the deep brass is rough and detailed, while the smoother string and trumpet parts carry their melodies beautifully. And the huge reverb is gorgeous.

The first 64 seconds are excellent: the transitions from triumph through dissonant drama to silent suspense are all very well done, and show one of the great strengths of orchestral music, which is the use of a huge dynamic range for emotional impact (though as mentioned earlier, emotional impact is weakened quite a bit with a title and description like the one you have provided). I like the really simple bass motif after 16 seconds, three hard Ds and then two softer D#'s: the unnerving semitone step and the straightforward BAM BAM BAM shows the listener that this King Samulis is the real deal and don't fucking play. The horn intro is nice as well, and fits the narrative, and also just about cliché enough to make me smile.

I have a couple of problems with the part after that: first off, the choir is singing random syllables, which is weird and distracts from the other parts (especially since the choir is pretty dominant at that point. The brass section could be kicked up a notch there to create more a more impactful crescendo before 1:18). Also the percussion is wayy dry - it's not a particularly pretty sound, and some reverb would help mask that and perhaps also help make the mix somewhat less harsh as I mentioned earlier. Everything else seems to be playing in a huge hall or arena, so when the metallic percussion sounds like it's being played in front of your face, it's not as easy to get immersed in the track. Apart from those two points, this part is just as great as the one that preceeds it, with strong melodies and great instrumentation.

1:45 is often a bit sparse: you'd usually need around 3 minutes to really flesh out some musical ideas into a song. I find that's not really the case for this song, as I can count 4-5 distinct parts with different musical ideas (that are still connected by the transitions and the shared instrumentation), and you get most of them across before continuing onwards to the next one. I still wouldn't mind if you extended the first 15 seconds and the part after 1:21 to really show some chops when it comes to more complex melody, harmony, composition and so on. Most of the ideas in this song are still pretty simple and straightforward.

9 points for sounds and instrumentation.
8 points for composition and melody/harmony.
6 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 8.5

[Insurgent [MSB] (NGADM)]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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This tune is packed with clever and engaging melodies and instruments that complement each other nicely, which is something I'm missing from most songs in this very - cough - mainstream style of dubstep. I have to admit I got pretty hooked as soon as the very Daft Punk-esque synth line at 0:13 started. I also notice how you take advantage of the tools the style gives you access to - very few instruments let you do sustained chords and melodic riffs simultaneously as well as a good bright modulated synth pad like the one at 0:45.

The mix is great! It is OBSCENELY loud, but I almost never hear anything that would hint to overcompression (there might be some involuntary sidechaining, but in that case you wouldn't have a hard time convincing me it's intentional anyway). Somehow moments like 3:04 manage to sound airy and open despite looking just as much as a square wave as the rest of the song in a waveform editor. Perhaps the only symptom of this loudness is that the drums don't have as much punch as one could want from a song like this, simply because there's no space left for a smacking transient. There are almost enough other percussive elements in the song to make up for that, though.

As is required in any song of the genre, there are little soundbites and clips and bips and bops in each bar. The effort is audible and the programmed sequences of earcandy are clearly thought through well enough. The song definitely has its share of cliched elements - the chopped up vocals, the bright simple pads with sustained chords and the bitcrushed wobbling synths (2:41 is almost as groan-inducing as a bad pun at this point in history) are all executed well in this song, but the influences are fairly blatant, possibly annoyingly so if I were to be in a bad mood. Thankfully, I am never in a bad mood when reviewing. ;)

In summary, this is definitely a solid song that shows off a lot of talent, experience and skill, with a satisfying structure and plenty of variety that keeps it an entertaining listen throughout. What more can a guy really ask for?

10 points for sounds and instrumentation.
8 points for composition and melody/harmony.
8 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 9.0

[Sonik - Sy's Law (NGADM)]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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This was the track I spent the longest time listening to before getting down to write anything about it, and it even took me a while to figure out why. The nice elements and subtleties are all there, but they're introduced one by one over a freaking long time - it clocks in at 6:15 as the second longest song of this round. This is very obviously a progressive house track, so such a length is expected. You certainly seem to have gotten the general idea of the style down - from 1:00 to 2:00 the main melody slowly becomes bolder and bolder, brighter and brighter, and all sorts of additional percussive and melodic elements get introduced in order to very gradually create a local climax. Then they all promptly dissolve to give room for a more chilled and spaced out part - which eventually turns out to be another buildup. Savvy.

I think anyone reviewing this would mention how incredibly repetitive it is - with the same simple one-bar musical idea being dominant throughout (with some variation, granted). I'm willing to cut this song some slack there due to it being dance music - and due to it being a rather hypnotic piece of music for chilling the hell out. The smooth, pretty synths help a lot with that! Still, it wouldn't hurt to add a couple of melodies that aren't straight 8th note chords, that could get the spotlight once in a while.

And even though drawn out minimalist 6-7 minute tracks like this with extremely long, gradual buildups are common in progressive house, the exciting elements are spread a bit too thin in this track. The ones that are there are good, and everything gets plenty of time and space in the mix to really shine. Unfortunately there's really nothing big and new being introduced after the first two minutes, and towards the latter third of the track the earcandy percussion and synths begin to feel very recycled.

8 points for sounds and instrumentation.
6 points for composition and melody/harmony.
7 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 7.5

[Masq - The Finale]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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I'd figure something to the effect of "The Opening" would be a more appropriate title - as this would be a KICK. ASS. album opener. Actually, you should just go make a neurofunk album or something right now and make this the opener. The part where stuff really starts happening only begins with 36 seconds left of the track, which is a bit odd for a standalone song, but would make for a nice introduction to a more straightforward song. But enough hypothetical talk, I'll take it from the beginning.

The soundscape that begins the piece is pretty nicely molded. For the most part it's a mesh of dissonant, unnerving industrial sounds that leave it up to the listener to imagine some grim fitting landscape to go along with it. It's mostly clear enough to let all the detail come through, but the sub bass pulse is occassionally problematic - it makes the intro a bit muddy, and it sounds like something that would spawn from putting reverb or some kind of modulation effect on it.

The piano is odd - at first I thought you were going for a spooky haunted feel, with the first few dissonant notes that fit the hellish soundscape nicely. And then you bring out some nice jazzy chords and what seems like more traditional percussion. For a while anyway. I love the part, but upon each new listen I change my mind about whether it follows perfectly from the previous part, or if it makes for a jarring contrast. It fades out soon enough into more distorted soundgoop anyway. One detail that I particularly enjoy is the evolving soundscape right before the heavy percussion - where, in preparation for the dryer, more rhythmic and defined stuff, you practically wring out the reverb from the song like one might do with water from a soaked towel. Love that.

As I already mentioned, the really nice stuff that I can really get my ears deep into only starts during the last quarter of the song, but boy is it a treat. The snare and the kick especially might just be some of the nicest I've ever heard. Great play with rhythm and expectations, great dynamics, great contrast between the drums and the soaked-in-reverb synths, great everything. The interplay between various eccentric kinds of percussion and unusual bleeps and bloops is wonderful. So when you just cut off the track with what I figure is the speech of a drowning robot, instead of rounding off the most impressive part and maybe bringing back some more soundscapes or something. The ending and structure in its current state makes it feel incomplete, is what I guess I'm trying to say. The point of the submission seems to be to provide as much ear candy as possible in one song, which is fine but it makes doing something truly impressive a challenge. What I feel I'm hearing is an amazing framework with tons of unused potential.

9 points for sounds and instrumentation.
5 points for composition and melody/harmony.
8 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 7.5

[Recalcitrate [WIP]]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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All right... techno! Or trance! Or whatever it is! It's been a while since I've heard the style! The kick drum and offbeat percussion that kicks off the track are really reminiscent of the early-mid 00's, when this style seemed to be pretty prominent everywhere ever. Especially things like the detuned square lead at 1:24 remind me of our very own ParagonX9. So I start off with a kind of quaint nostalgic feel - and there's nothing wrong with that.

The sounds here are all good and fitting. Especially the ensemble of classic synths that is used here is very nice sounding. Thick, rich analog sounds with fat filter modulation all around. The phased snares (or whatever they are) that bounce around the stereo field contribute greatly to the rhythm too. They're all very straightforward, which makes for an easy listening experience, but I would love to hear some more depth in many of the instruments, either with modulation, layering or something similar to what you've done with one of the leads (see below). The kick fits well (it's somewhat muffled perhaps), but for me, its pattern becomes midly annoying after one and a half minute, which is not a good thing when it's featured for the majority of a relatively long song.

I'm noticing how well it flows between parts (the ever-present and ever-prominent kick really helps with that of course), from one part focusing on an uplifting G minor synth riff to another part focusing on an uplifting G minor synth riff.

Neither the first ethereal lush part and the first really beautiful, sweet melody that carries a bit of emotion are introduced until 2:37 - which really is a bit late, even in a 6 minute song - but when it comes, it really shines. Everything else in that part seems to be there to support it, since you got rid of all the analog synth sounds that might compete with it during it. Good! The combination of vibrato and subtle timbre changes at the end of each note gives it the same organic singing quality as a solo violin or a guitar ringing out with feedback.

Not surprisingly, the tune picks up right where it left off after that. The same main melody continues, but is assigned to a fatter, brighter synth that jumps up an octave or two for intensity to create a very long and very gradual crescendo that plateaus somewhat disappointingly at about 4:45. Then it kinda keeps going, but with less and less intensity. It ends with a neat little synth run, which is decent I guess but somewhat short of a dedicated ending.

9 points for sounds and instrumentation.
8 points for composition and melody/harmony.
8 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 8.5

ErikMcClure responds:

I apologize for the flat ending, the song was still somewhat unfinished. I also wanted to work more atmosphere into the middle part. I find it interesting that you identify all the sounds as analog, because I only use software synthesizers and know nothing of any analog synths. I don't even know what analog synths sound like compared to digital synths.

[Impromptu - Spring]

First off (I'm posting this to everyone): Note that the scores might be a bit lower than what's typical for NG reviews - no one should expect a 10/10 unless their entry was absolutely incredible.

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This often came up after entries from people like Demon-Slayer12 and MainStreamBeats, and I always think... maan. That's quite a change of pace. You can't really keep doing what you did before when listening to this, because then it fades out into background music and only ends up with you browsing the internet in a really melancholic mood. :c So to properly prepare myself, I went and made myself a nice cup of tea (package claimed it was a "soothing blend of chamomile and lavender with the incredible health benefits of natural herbs" or some shit, and really, who am I to dispute that?) and a couple of pieces of dark chocolate, then got a bit sad because I didn't have a bottle of dark red wine to top it off and properly fucking drown my sorrows and cry myself to sleep in the depths of a huge pillow, with only the soundtrack of a lonely, lonely piano as my companion. But I digress.. a lot.

But no, this piece really has class. It does the "melancholic solo piano piece" format justice, as opposed to a lot of submissions around these parts of the internet. It's got proper rubato, with stops and tiny slowdowns that really emphasize the more emotional notes, then speeds up for the more concise part at 1:07, and so it goes on throughout the piece for a... well if you can call a symphony an emotional roller coaster, let's call this an emotional one-of-those-trips-with-swan-boats-th at-go-slowly-downstream-in-a-river (I have a way with catchy terms, don't I??). It's very lovely.

I love the sequence of 4 notes at 1:15 (and a few other places) for two reasons: 1. I've heard the same sequence of notes a couple of places before (most notably the original One Piece opening, of all things) and it always changes the mood a little and strikes me as very beautiful, especially when surrounded by fitting chords. 2. it means that somewhere, somehow, you've gone outside the original key! You can see this by putting the notes into a piano roll side by side with a major scale - you can't possibly fit all those notes into a major scale or any of its modes. And when someone manages to go outside a standard key without it sounding awkward in some way, that's usually a sign of a certain level of skill in composition - just from those four notes. Just a very small thing I had to make a note of.. another weird note I'd like to make is that I often half expected the tune to break out into Jungleland - there are some similarities to the piano playing there.

I also like how you subtly bring in the string section, at first it just supports the piano and emphasizes some of the harmony, then towards the end it takes a bit of the spotlight itself along with the orchestral percussion to create a beautiful crescendo that rounds off the track very nicely. It's mostly that same thing which got me into Rachmaninoff's piano concertos, for the record (though admittedly incredible virtuoso piano also helped there). The upward runs at 3:14 are really stunningly beautiful.

This is one of those songs that are a bit difficult to score - sure, there are tracks with more content per minute, tracks that are more exciting and tracks that definitely have more effort behind them, but as a song with both feet firmly in the "melancholic solo piano piece" genre, it's a real gem.

9 points for sounds and instrumentation.
10 points for composition and melody/harmony.
8 points for theme/originality/other things that might impress.

Overall impression: 9.0