Buoy's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Electrified Snake]

Here's a big review (I focused on helpfulness ^_^)

I want to start the review off by sayign this one might turn out very long. There's a lot of room for improvement here (which is not too bad- most aspects are pretty good.)

So first off- there seems to be a bit syncing issues- you do quantize everything right? That cheesy pluck synth does very much sound out of sync with the drum beat, at least in the start. I'm not sure if you just haven't quantized everything or it's something else, but it definatively is worth taking a look at.

Another issue is the mixing/mastering- small creaks here and there, the bass and kick are crapped out- both of these are signs of a small amount of clipping, or overcompression. I'm guessing you have compressed the master track or something of the like- you want to take down the input gain quite a lot- the track will not be as loud, but much more pleasant. If you have some visual aid that shows the levels in real time on the compressor (usually a linear meter) try finding the balance where it is as loud as possible without clipping or stuff like that. Just use your ear really, it's the most reliable tool you have. If you're still on. :P Apart from that it generally sounds good.

Drums are generally fine- except they sound way basic altogether. Kick is mostly a very weak thump- I suggest you choose another sample, a much more offensive one would fit the hard snare used better. Hats are good as is, might just want to make them a bit louder.

So for the synths- those are also very basic, and they all lose some of their tone with the lot of clipping and peaking (attempted to describe it two paragraphs up) but I can hear most of them are based on saw waves. Some are very harsh- try some low pass filter (with a cutoff around 3kHz) on the one that is introduced around 0:57 for a more pleasant tone.

For the song structure, I don't have much to add. It's all good, and should stay the way it is. One little idea though- how about a break with pads only shot into the middle of the track? It would emphasize the busiest part and make it seem more intense. See it you can work it out ;) As said already though, everything is really as it should be when it comes to song structure/composition.

Still needs a ton of polish (mostly when it comes to mastering/mixing- but trust me, you'll automatically get better at it all the time:) before it's truly great. You sure got a good first version though, good work!

Assios responds:

Thanks for a really good and informative review!

About the synth delay, I used the same pattern as the beat, and for some reason it got out of sync. I'll try to fix it (and improve on the other things you've mentioned too). As you mentioned, the kick is very weak. I looked for another one, but couldn't find one (I guess I'm just too impatient), so I just layered many different "drum beats", which makes it sound quite crappy. I am too impatient when making music in FL.

Thanks again for a really great and helpful review from a professional like you! ;D

[Anger inside]

yayayayyy

Needs to be made longer, so it could fit my usual anger fits better- make it last a few days and it could come close to a soundtrack for my next burst of rage because I spilt a drop of coffee

:/

Vewy well. Does turn out a lot more powerful with that squirky and loud bass. I like it that way. Drums are good, but in the end you seem to overdo it a tad- all these snares are hurting my rotten brain of liquid methanol :(

Great work anyway

DarKsidE555 responds:

noo. :(

[~EnV~Jump (Preview)]

well good

Hard stuff again- always been wondering how you trancenuts make those powerful kicks. Well since those are mentioned I might cover the other drums too- snare's a bit silent, but has a great tone. Can't hear the hi percussion, but one can hear it's there so it's all good :D

Could have the clean lead a bit louder, right now it's more like just mumbling in the background- great melody on that by the way, you really can make it awesome later in the song with a bit work. I love that (insert name for it) detuned lead too, can't really expect anything else than that from like, YOU

As usual, you got something great going. I'm sure this'll be a hit when finished.

Envy responds:

Hard kicks come with compression and layering ^.^

I think my kick is... 5 kicks 2 snares and a ride layered.

When you say clean lead, do you mean the arp? yeah It was louder but it seemed to kind of interrupt everything when it was louder.

The reason the snare is so silent is because there is no snare o.O thats a clap, but meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh too loud gets hurting.

Haha again that arp type thing seems to interrupt everything else so i turned it down, i can always turn it up again. Detuned lead = saw ^.^

[-=LJC=- Grinsomnia]

Yeah

As already said by another reviewer, your drummer definitively needs lessons- no, wait, I need lessons from him, so he can tell me how to play drums backwards (0:10-0:12). I'd like to see a video of that drummer-

I'm getting carried away.

Piano's good. Period, no comments other than that. For improvements, I'd think some synth fx here and there could do good, but if it's strictly a piano/drums only piece, then fine. It does turn out pretty damn boring after a while though. Would be wonderful for like, background music

well good

LJCoffee responds:

Playing the drums backwards isn't really all that hard but you do need a decent flux capacitor in good working order and a temporal compressor/remapper with a relative adjusment knob in order to do it convincingly. I've seen a lot of kits where it's installed by the hats but some people like to position it over by the floor toms. It's really up to you I guess. They can be a bit pricey though and you'll need either an expensive electrical upgrage, a couple of micro-fusion cells or a lightning rod to power it.

:D

I have a WIP of it with more in it. I guess it would be called the extended redux but I'm not sure that it's better at this point. Adding additional synths and FX removes the minimalist quality and then the whole thing falls apart (more than it already does). Once it's done, I'd like to bounce it off of you for advice/opinion before I post a new version. I'll be in touch.

Thanks SBB!

[Neonecropopulace]

oh wait

I can notice 3- no, 5... no, maybe even 7-10 preset (garageband I assume?) loops here. They don't fit together at all- and another thing where there's room for tons of improvement is how painfully recognisable the loops are- it could be a good idea to edit the loops somewhat- see, maybe chop up and rearrange a few of the audio loops, and jiggle around with the notes of the midi loops. Things like that would make the tune sound tons more original. From what I can hear there are some original (aka, like, composed with notes and synths) stuff there too, so I'm not entirely sure.

And- might want to take a new look at the sequencing- it's a bit flooded, nothing stands out much now. Take out a few tracks and focus on making the best ones sound good, it's better to have a structured and simple track than a complex but messy one.

Mixing's a little issue here too- a lot of distortion throughout the loudest and busiest parts. Take down the master volume a little- and have the acid-kind of leads a little lower in the mix too. I really think doing those changes could improve the audio quality of it quite a lot.

Ok hope my crappy review was of any help :D

MadCow responds:

i dont know where to get a better program cuz i have a mac. meh.but i have been messing around with mixing shit up lately, which is why i havent felt like submitting the songs ive been making. im trying to make something really good.

buzzkill serious review. darn you and your constructive criticism.

[Mega Man X2 | Zero's Theme v3]

Hello

With this piece, I really want to go and fuck up some guy named zero whom I have never known. Thanks a lot for that. >.(

Anyway I love them drums- and that is not only comparing them to the first version. I mean really. I just want a more audible kick, that is my only request here in life. Pretty much everything else seems perfect in here. Which means. I'm outta here.

well done k

DarKsidE555 responds:

Sry man and oh shiet, ya lost ur eye! >.U

Kick is a bit more up in the mix now. The reason why it's not "that" much in there is because I don't want to just hammer the kick on the ears of the people who listen to it. It's more or less double kick action all the way trough. Though, I think it's a tad better now.

Thanks for checking mang! You are tehm suckzorz! ;D

[Solus- For Schala]

ok, so

I listened to it again and put it from my 35th to 4th favourite song, I wanted my profile to contain a bit of it

YOU DON'T MIND DO YOU

SolusLunes responds:

NOT AT ALL >:(

[Walter Hunt's 'Sine piece']

mighty ho have I delayed reviewing this for long!

Very nice arrangements, I often find it hard to mix sine waves without the mix getting incredibly muddy- you did a very good job at mixing em though. But ye see, you need to get control of that bass- when it comes in it all distorts a ton, and does of course not keep that clean, nice sound. So put the volume of it down or take the entire mix down until it doesn't clip that much.

Apart from that it's all very nice, you made some interesting sounds out of it, and the composition is great. Good werk

ericdrebin responds:

Thanks for the review. You are indeed right that the bass is too loud and kind of distorts the whole piece. I was trying to get a good drum tone from it, but it overpowered the mix.

[{pbj}waiting For You(wip){pbj}]

arr

So I feel bad for delaying my reviewage of this for so long- but now should do anyway.

Very enjoyable "ska-ish" guitar (as they say) in the beginning- though I do think it would make the mood much better with a cleaner sound. Then you can get into some heavier business later with em drums, at least that's how I figure it'd work.

Either you like panning yer guitars a lot, or most of you indie people like panning one guitar to one side and one guitar to another. I usually find it annoying when stuff's so radically panning to one side or another like that- but the guitars themselves have a nice, dreamy tone. Could like to have that guitar coming in third (well worded sbb) a bit louder, I'm struggling a bit to hear it nicely.

Then there's this lead guitar- it's getting kind of off key, isn't is? It just doesn't feel right around 1:26-1:30. Works a bit better with the track after that though. Feels a bit distant, ain't sure it that's good or bad.

Then of course the vintage sounding drums- not the catchiest pattern I've heard, but it works for this track. Fills up greatly and makes a thick layer of sound below the guitars. Turns out sorta muddy in the busiest parts though, ain't sure how to change that, but a more present and audible kick could possibly help. I'm not sure, it's not like I' ve tried :)

So when all that's introduced it's jamming around for a little until it ends. Good stuff, will hopefully turn out fantastic with some vocals and a bit clearer mix. Good luck with that!

pitbulljones responds:

hey finally get round to responding XD. Yea i didn't expect to have this ska reference, the main thing is try to add some space to the rhythnm guitar so other parts can be hard. literally being more rhytmical. yea im hearing that peak too. too much exuberance on my part. Well i aint a massive fan of panning guitars hard left and right, but when working with guitar only music it does help to separate the sounds somewhat. That thrid guitar you are bang on with, i actually need to bring the whole level down and remix it anyways.

The off key guitar, it's still in, it's in the triad anyways but maybe the wrong notes at the wrong time and as you noticed i claw it back in. I did the lead on the fly though, just went for it i don't evenknow what ive played now haha.

The drums i like to keep as live as possible, if i was gonna gig this i need to know a drummer could do it, yes it needs some fills and variation, but you can't push em too hard unless i have keith moon or reni banging away. yea kick is noted. and i can make it more prsent.

Vocals are on the back burner atm, but they will get done. i promise thee.

thanks for the constructive review it's much appreiciated.

pitters

[Phantom Chaos Zone]

are

When it's 8-bit as this, there's absolutely nothing in the sound itself that's decided by the BPM (synced lfo's and stuff of that sort)- so it is very much 125BPM if I want it to be 125BPM- and I WANT it to be 12BPM >:(

Some notes in the composition would be better off if scratched or changed into something more recognisable. That pointing at parts from about 0:22-0:38. Lots of repeated notes didn't really do too well for it.

Enjoyable, could easily be associated with yer casual Sonic tune (It's not like I've heard a lot of them anyway). Might just need some 8bit drums for the <3 of it, but sure thing I say I'd like drums to pretty much all songs without drums I hear.

as said, 'tis enjoyable

WritersBlock responds:

Cheers, man. Yeah, this is very basic, I just threw it together and posted it. I'll probably do a ton of stuff to it when I get inspired.
Thanks for your review. I MIGHT TRY to change it soon. ;P