Buoy's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[+After the Fallout+]

WELL KEWL

I HAVE RETURNT TO RETURNT A REVIEW I GUESS

For being a post-apocalyptic tune, I felt most of the instrument lack a lot of reverb- just to make it more dark and otherworldly etc... IT IS AFTER AN APOCALYPSE AFTER ALL >:(

The piano has a perfect sound- maybe a bit light, maybe mudding it up on purpose could actually be an idea to create the right atmosphere. It sounds perfectly dreamy with that chord progression and delay though... that chord progression is very masterfully done.

Strings sound VERY soundfonty... don't you have any better samples? I mean, they're good, but they sound like... thin :( Maybe some chorus/multilayering etc could do the trick to make it sound fuller and more realistic? Mebby?

Sax is pretty good for being a soundfont. It's still noticable, mostly in how it keeps the same tone all the time. Ever considered asking that radioactiverhino do some sax for you? I bet it would make the tune rock your socks off ;) Of course you don't have to do it if you don't want to be bare-feet for the rest of your life.

I likey. You did capture a feeling 'ere, but it's still got some places to polish.

kbai

WritersBlock responds:

Thanks for the return review. ;D

Yeah, I guess I was fairly reserved on using effects, but I think some otherworldly atmosphere might set the story a bit better. Yeah, strings are soundfonts, how did you know? I like the tone they give out, but maybe a bit of reverb, or something will thicken it out. If I feel this is worth a second crack I probably will ask RR about it, in fact I've discussed a little jazz collab with him prior to your comments, but still, live sax = awesome.
Thanks, you do good job review. I luv you long time. =D

[Mind of a Child--_--]

boy that is nice

Vewy vewy nice! I love the drums, they're all damn punchy and nice (and holy shit haha, it's like you've got a frigging arsenal of different drum samples there :O ). That grainy, short-decay ditty was probably what made the track so nice. And of course, I love that sweet sweet reese.

I WOULD be rambling a bit more about how I love every single thing here, but I won't, as I think it's pretty fucking perfect already.

Plz don't respond :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(

PERVOK responds:

lol k

WAIT WHAT

[.:Failure of the Heart WIP:.]

ayejh

The piano sounds really thin, like it's been drained for everything that is lo end and mid, plus it's ear piercing with headphones on a high volume :( ...I suggest add hell of a lot of low end to it, to make it sound fuller. The melody of the piano is great though.

Kicks of very nicely- but I'm not sure whether I like that kick or not. It sounds a lot like a tom (which isn't good seeing you actually used toms a lot in the piece). I'd love a tighter kick and a more present snare- one that stands out much more than your current snare. The main hat is alright- no complaints at least. Now those pitched hats were goddamn cool! I doubt it really fits in this piece, it being centred around realistic instruments and all, but experimenting is good. And it would work pretty damn well with some other experimental fx or synths.

That juicy, trancy saw synth there is good- adds a good amount of emotion. With some evolving of that melody could possibly play a great role in an eventual climax. Cheeeeeeeesy sound though- makes the tune sound less original. Though there aren't really many synths that add the same emotion that a supersaw gives :)

And yeah it's pretty plain right now. There's not much I want you to change in the current track (except for maybe drums), but you've definitively gotta build on it. Which I bet you will, considering it's a WIP.

GronmonSE responds:

Point taken on the piano.

I'll work on fixing the drums as soon as I learn how to use the drum pads, otherwise I'll just have to make individual layers >.<;

The synth...I've forgotten to download new ones :P But hey, served its purpose ^ ^

The track feels rather empty to me, I'll see what else I can add to it if I ever finish the song.

Those high pitched hats came off sounding awful to me once I exported the track (the frequencies seem to high), they were an attempt at glitch, but then I just stopped glitching the rest :P Glad you liked them though.

Thanks for the review :D

[Watery Heights]

well gud

You have some peaks spread through the whole tune (first one being at 0:05), that you might want to fix. That's it for clarity and mastering etc, it all sounds pretty damn good from there on. Except for the drums, the sounds are really delicate actually, especially that filtered yummy thing you introduced at 0:50.

As I said the drums aren't too delicate- the kick sounds way basic. The hat is like at 8th notes- I believe it would sound more interesting with a more varied rhythm- which I guess you'd find out easily yourself. A louder snare or clap could REALLY increase the song.

It's good, but pretty basic. I think you could work on it just a bit more.

Red-Slash responds:

in truth i like simple trance was never known to have complicated drums and i only have slight changes to the formula however your right i guess i could have gone a lil off the wagon and mixed it up a bit.

[(::Atomic Blue::) GWC]

what

Ok so I hear them loops as always- garageband has a terrible loop library, and anyone who has used and experimented with garageband will know pretty much all of the generic loops. You didn't use too much of the audio loops but I sure as hell recognise the midi loops, don't deny that you used a lot of them. You might have edited a lot of them, but the song is still oh so based around those overly recycled loops. They're not even in harmony- it just sounds terribly off, much like a false singer.

Stop with the loops completely already. Try reproducing some of the melodies yourself at least, if not getting on with what you'd normally do when you've been using a music program this long- composing your ideas as melodies in the sequencer. If you have a midi keyboard, use it, and if you don't, I highly suggest you get yourself one.

As for other stuff- it could need a bit higher volume altogether, drag up the master track/volume (it doesn't ever seem to reach the 0db mark), some more reverb all over the synths would do good. Maybe even a little reverb on the master track (do it subtle if you're gonna do that though). Overall this is nothing new, original or interesting at all in any way. Mostly the same loops (though edited in a minimally original way) going as the main instruments and a bit of additional synths etc that don't do much.

FatKidWitAJetPak responds:

WTF???? I MADE ALL THESE LOOPS MY SELF SBB. WHY DO YOU ACCUSE ME OF THAT??????

Jeez, you haven't used Garageband in a while have you?

ALSO, I make all the songs by myself, all original, nobody helps me with them.

I would expect better from you man... obviously you are mistaken.

AND, I made most of the instruments and synths my self except for ONE beat! Just because you think your music is perfect in every way, doesn't mean you cn go around accusing other artists of crap.

Now, if you think this song is bad, then I am O.K. with that. I just don't understand why you think that all my stuff is stolen.

[.restless.]

ayee

I don't think the fan noise does justice for anything else than making it sound like it's recorded with a crappy mic :)

There's a lovely little pad in the background, really adds a massive atmosphere. Beautiful sound too. Sadly it's overshadowed a bit too much by the noise. Drums sound great, well done on doing that with your mouth! It really sounds pretty realistic.

Nothing much more to comment on it, it's a very short and rather anonymous song. Good work though!

VegetarianMeat responds:

Yeah, the fan noise was more of an experiment. It probably would've sounded better if I didn't record it with my cheap 10$ mic :P Thanks for the review :D

[Karco - Contrast]

whoooooo....

Well fucking hell, those hats coming in at 00:15 sound like they want to eat me!! >:(

also hey, I remember a part of this this from that CTSG2 thing. Anyway:

THIS IS A VERY LOVELY SONG. I've listened to it for a few days, and it's been a real pleasure. I might just be mad, but I imagine it might have helped me some days, gets me going and stuff, but it might aswell have given me less time than I should have... I've been listening to this rather than working on tons of real life projects. Now that it's weekend I'll have to relax a bit, so how about I download your newest song instead >:(??

Well so it starts out with some sweet sweet sine of joy- a very nice way to start some epic trance, seen it a few times, this one time it's done very successfully. You keep using it a whole lot through the song... 'tis good, but makes it sound very much more repetitive. It works great with the bass (which couldaf been turned up a lot in my opinion).

So, drums. As I said the hats sound like they want to eat me- it's a good thing, makes the whole song sound more aggressive and energetic. I see in some parts you use the snare and kick together... you basically changed a 1-2-1-2 pattern to an 1-1-1-1 pattern ;D it's usable though, since you vary the rhythms. Drums all sound aggressive and hits hard, vewy well done. And after the kick+snare hits, it might either be the aftermath of the snare or something, or it is an incredibly weak hihat- either way, I'd like to hear that open hat between the kick and snare hits louder, I had to concentrate a lot to actually notice it.

In the end of the third minute I think... like, what kind of synth is that? The delay sound very awkward. And it sounds like there's some weird filter envelope on it. Hmmmmmmmph... Owell it's all pretty nice.

lol phased drum rush ;P

Great song once again.

much <3 from an SBB

Karco responds:

Yep, it was part of CTSG2, I continued off of it and made this song. :D

Ha, funny - it actually DOESN'T work great with the bass. I had to put a ton of extra work in so that they wouldn't crackle in the intro, when it was just the sine and the bass. Glad you liked it, though, I've always wanted to do something like that in a song. :D

Actually, I use the snare and kick together throughout the whole song, once I introduce the snare at 0:58. I definitely was going for the aggressive/angry feeling with all of my drums, so it's good that you apparently think it worked. ;D And that tiny hihat in between the kick/snare is actually part of a loop that I used for the ride. I got lazy and never took it out, even though I had planned to since I realized how annoying it was. :\

I didn't introduce any synths at the end of the third minute, though I introduced one at the end of the second minute, if that's what you're talking about. That would be the lead that made an appearance in the later part of the song, though cut extremely short, to 64th notes, so I could get an awesome ticking effect. Looks like you didn't like it. :\

Ha, it's the only thing I could think of to give that buildup the tension it deserved. Looks like you liked it. :D

Thanks for the review, glad you like it that much (referring to that first real paragraph there)! :D

[Karco - Temple]

aye

I lolt a bit at the previous review- is A++ even a word...?!? >:(

Well anyway. Some nice piano ditty with wind in the beginning- quite a nice beginning I must say. Wind sounds great, I personally prefer windyness without much low frequencies... like, when it sounds more like blue noise (look it up in case you need to). Incredibly nice build- grainy pad starts to hurt brainz at times, ever tried de-essing it after the reverb? It might make it more pleasant listening. Various subtle pads are in the background, not too audible but enough by far to make the atmosphere of a huge landscape.

and yeah.

I like the guitar.

...

:D

So yeah, it doesn't evolve much and essentially isn't much groundbreaking or outstanding, but it's... like, sweet. Great use of the different instruments in here, I'd like to hear much more of the guitar though. I'm sure you could make hell of an awesome thang with it- experiment on different octaves etc, make me happy :)

Relatively short review for relatively short song... but everything would be covered in a nice, good "SHWEETH!!!"!

MAEK MOAR AMBIENTS PLEASE. GREAT WORK MY GOOD SIRE.

;)

Karco responds:

Who said A++ was a word? It's supposed to be a grade! ;D That being said, though, it's not really a grade. XD

Nope, don't know what blue noise is, though I'm busy right now and I'll have to look it up later. I don't have any de-essers, care to PM me a few links? D:

I liked the guitar too. I originally had this annoying high-pitched sine resembling some sort of morse code thing, but it didn't fit at all, so I deleted it. Then I wondered, what could take its place in the progression? I threw some guitar in, and it worked great. :D

Different octaves, you say? I'll give it a shot. :)

And as soon as the inspiration strikes me, like it did with this song, I'll make even more. >:)

Thanks for the review, glad you liked it! :D

[[a] Random Abyss]

hey

I'm sorry for not reviewing it sooner, but now that the full version is out, I'll review this one instead ;)

Starts out with a sine-ish pad that really gives a good promise- most songs with this intro turn out incredibly catchy and fucking awesome in the end. It doesn't really kick off when it's supposed to though, the intensity change at 0:27 is barely noticeable, at 0:40 it's not much either. Might want to make the kick MUCH more louder and offensive- have the transient louder (or make one, doesn't seem like there IS much of a transient :o) and generally take it higher in the mix. It sounds a lot like a tom in the background now D:

Synths generally sound pretty good, but I have a feeling a few of em are very weak- like that supersaw ditty- I'd love to hear it much louder too. The entire mix is getting muddy from the busiest part and to the end ('bout 2:30 and out), not really anything you can do much about and I'm not sure how it couldaf been done better. But it's not perfectly perfect, or something. ^_^

Song structure is a bit weird- it almost linearly evolves in intensity. Some repetition could do good (not in the parts themselves- actually, I felt the parts themselves were a bit too long. But having some kind of chorus and verse to build around, that would certainly make it more catchy- but you decide, I assume you're not gonna make a drastic change like that:) Melodies are all original and great sounding.

Good stuff. But a bit anonymous- it doesn't really stand out much. Pretty damn good song though, great work! And sorry for not reviewing sooner.

alertG responds:

Yeah. I purposely made the bass weak at first, but i agree that it should be brought sooner. I'll change that. Also, i am working on a main melody to it, I kinda agree that it would sound better with a main chorus.

thanks so much for your advice!

EDIT: Changed some stuff. See description

[.inside2.]

OHAI

I loved the first one- and since as you say this was made with Reason can I please has the project file :3? If you could like PM it to me or something I'd absolutely love you. I've wanted to remix it ever since I heard the original.

I'm not quite sure if I liked that sample&hold effect on the bass synth- kinda muds up the whole thing. Might just want it to have a nice cleaner sound as it had before. Drums sound great here, a bit overpowering maybe. Like the lead- or really, the Juicer II, I noticed you used quite a few presets. It's good anyway.

Vewy well!!

VegetarianMeat responds:

Yup, presets are fun to use :P (I'm a Reason noob anyways). Thanks for the review. I sent the project file :)