3manonMusic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Power of Connection]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 13
Mix: 13
13/8 implementation: 12.5

Additional thoughts: This is really, really good. From the ambience in the background, to the plucked melodies and strings on the foreground, everything takes it's own place very well in this composition. Although the composition is rather repetitive at times, it doesn't get boring because of the subtle progression and rising of intensity. Also the sudden drop-out at the end was pretty surprising, but fitting nevertheless. The mixing is insanely clean. There's barely any mud in the lows and you can clearly instruments when you want them to shine. The only thing in the mix that I can hear that's just a little off is the tambourine type sound at 1:12. But that really is just nitpicking. When the bass note hits home at 1:49 and 2:07 is so satisfying to listen to. Like I said, your instrumental placement is on point. As for the 13/8, it's really good and you can count it, but I would have liked to see some more indications that it's there instead of just the main pluck. The more melodical parts of the song don't sound made with 13/8 in mind, but they do still add up in a good way. That's about it, really good job on this one and good luck with the results!

TheChuckie responds:

tysm :)

[Struggle]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 13
Mix: 11.5
13/8 implementation: 11

Additional thoughts: Probably the best score in my opinion in terms of compositions I saw in the 13/8 contest. If I could give you bonus points for that, I would. It's just a refreshment to finally see a solo of one instrument amongst all the digital compositions with many electronic layers, so simple but very touching. The key changes and dynamic is on point. What is a bit of a shame however is that the mix is pretty blurred by the reverb, but those problems are to be expected with real recordings I guess. Especially from 0:50 there's quite some mud in the lower notes making it hard to follow every note. For me personally the 13/8 was hard to keep track of, probably with all the dynamic tempo and stuff it was a bit hard to follow. I do hear it though, and that's good enough for me to get the score of the 13/8 as high as it is right now. Keep on with your piano, you are very talented! Good luck with the contest!

Solacitude responds:

Thanks for the kind words about the composition side of it! It's what keeps my morale afloat these days.

For the time signature, I can swear it's 100% 13/8, it's carefully designed and thought throughout to be in this time signature until the last note. I've put a couple things in the forum for what may not sound like 13/8, I'll put it here (There was a typo in the forum post, it's at 47s and not 37s for the unusual syncopation) :

"I play with tempo a bit and add rubato at some places, metronomes won't fit
First there is an anacrusis at the very beginning of 5 1/8th notes before getting into 13/8
30s there are 3 consecutive quarter notes with fermata, it stays 13/8 though.
47s a little syncopation, out of character for the usual rhythm, and a ritardando.
57s to 1:04s it's a total of 13 groups of 3 notes, fitting in 3 separate 13/8 measures that sound like it's not, but trust me, it is ;)
1:30 ritardando"

But sure if my sound quality is such that it's not even possible to distinguish the time signature, sorry for you ears. I understand the 13/8 score!

For the mix, I totally get it! I got feedback from the NGADM and it was pretty deceiving production side due to same reasons you mention here. I did upgrade sound quality a lot yesterday though. I didn't update yet but now that judgement for this contest is passed I may update it to the latest post processing version. The composition will stay the exact same, but with less med frequencies build up. Piano is truly not easy to mix in order to keep a rich sound and tame build up of different frequencies when applying louder dynamic, while avoiding any phasing and resonance issues, but not too much because resonance is part of what makes piano sound alive. I'll get better!

Thanks for the review!

[SECTOR 138]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 11.5
Mix: 10
13/8 implementation: 12

Additional thoughts: The chord progression in this song is really great. It sounds progressive and somber but yet energetic, cool concept at that. The obvious downside of the composition is it's length though, I feel like the concept hasn't been explored thoroughly which is a shame. I would have loved to see some kind of extended version of this with maybe some calm parts, to get into energetic again. The drums are cool and you can tell you're experienced with them, but there comes my issue in the mix; they sound very very limited which makes a whole lot of layers barely hearable. I think especially in this genre it becomes hard to properly mix the drums, but that's why it's important to keep paying attention to that. The 13/8 is nicely implemented. No real remarks on that, the drums and main motif fits well within the time signature. Good luck with the contest!

[Baddest Guy]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 11.5
Mix: 11.5
13/8 implementation: 10

Additional thoughts: To start off with, you definitely nailed the vibe of a comically evil villain. This sounds like the end of that one episode of a cartoon where the bad guy takes a victory (only to be defeated in the next episode obviously). Adding the drums was a really good choice, because before you did that it was quite a lot weaker compositionally wise. The trumpets are also pleasant to listen to, their vibrato solidify the evilness even more. A thing I do struggle with in the composition is how repetitive it can get. It has a linear buildup, in which I mean you just add more layers every few bars, and let the other layers play along with it as well. You could probably have profited from making a completely new section somewhere in the song, although the change at 1:45 is a good start at that I will admit. The mix is also pretty solid, but there's a lot of mud in the low frequencies because of the bass clashing with the drums. Also when the trumpets reach those reaaaally high notes they're getting a bit resonant, which is most of the time something you don't wanna get in your mix. As for 13/8; It's there. I did struggle a little bit with counting it in my head, but it certainly is there. The thing is with these type of competitions is that you wanna make the theme of the con test shine, and in this case it didn't really do that for me. I wasn't like "ohhhh this is cool 13/8 usage". Next time try to focus on it being more spotlighted. Overall a good effort tho, goodluck with the contest!

Ratedkid responds:

Thank you for the review! Glad you liked the song.

[Three-xadecimal Octagonal MP3]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 11.5
Mix: 10.5
13/8 implementation: 9

Additional thoughts: Great ambient vibe you got going on. Very atmospheric and sounds like I'm exploring. The sudden end did caught me off guard, an outtro could have worked wonders with that. It is also a bit repetitive, and the lack of drums doesn't make that better. I think you definitely could have done some cool experimental drums, especially in the time signature. Speaking about the time signature, I kinda don't hear it at all, although in the second part it becomes a bit more apparent. But for the first part I mainly just hear a 3-note motif that easily could have been mistaken for a 4/4 part. It kinda sounds like you put the time signature on 13/8 and after that decided to ignore it and make melodies as you usually do, which was of course not the point of the contest. Also the mixing is pretty stable in the first part, but the second part just has those janky trumpets (that work well compositionally wise, I will add) that sounds like they're really stuck in the mid-frequencies. Other than that I do like the composition, especially when the piano comes in the first part, and just the whole ambient vibe. Good luck with the contest!

NewGameExplorers responds:

Big thanks for the review! Yeah, I should've worked on this a little more. Yet still, I'm glad you liked it. (I hope so.)

[13/8 jazz-dubstep thingy]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 12
Mix: 11
13/8 implementation: 12.5

Additional thoughts: I thought the combination of the saxophone with the goofy chord progression worked really in my opinion, it sounds a lot like you took inspiration from Polyriddim. The syncopation of the big drums is also a crazy choice that worked out well in this context. The sound design is also quite nice. A big issue I have with the mix is that everything is super brick-wall limited. Those drums are incredibly loud and they just shred through whatever effort of having somewhat dynamics in your drops, especially in combination with the bigggg saw bass underneath, they really bury a lot of nice layers that I would have loved to hear better. The 13/8 implementation is just great, because you doubled down on the polyrhythm vibe, and as chaotic as the rhythm is in this piece, I could still clearly count the 13/8 in my head in about every part. To take a time signature and still let it shine through such chaotic stuff? Good job on that one.

[Saved Too]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 11.5
Mix: 11
13/8 implementation: 12

Additional thoughts: The progression in this piece is really nice, there's a lot of new melodies to be found the more I listen to it. The change in mode at 0:40 was a bold choice that worked out quite well in this context, although it did seem a tad random. I feel like you could have done a little more variation on the drums, as some a lot of them sound like a variation of a shaker. I would like to hear some OOMPF in those kicks, y'know? I like the calmer part at 1:02 that suits as a transition to the next part. 13/8 is pretty well implemented here, good job at that. Sounds quite natural. Your mixing gets a little lower because there is a lot of wet signal from the instrumentals and they kinda get buried because of that, which I especially notice with the drums. DON'T PUT REVERB ON KICKS RAHHHHH

DaxCamdaxian responds:

I'LL PUT AS MUCH REVERB ON MY KICKS AS I WANT WAHAHAHA 😈

Thanks for listening to my track!
I appreciate the feedback

[One and Five over Eight]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 10
Mix: 9.5
13/8 implementation: 11.5

Additional thoughts: I like what you tried to bring in to the table with this piece. The noisy distorted guitar and the drums work quite well together. But the fact that there are only 2 elements in this piece is a bit off-putting, especially because the guitar gets quite jarring to listen to. This piece relies heavily on the noise from the distortion, but that is in my opinion not the best thing to put in the spotlight, as it is a really really heavy sound that kind of desensitizes my ears. I do like that you have a ton of variation in the piece, and get new motifs in from time to time. But because the guitar is so incredibly low in it's notes some melodies just get buried completely under the mud. It probably would have been better if you put it up an octave for at least parts, like when the new melody starts at 1:51 or at 2:36. I hope this helped, good luck at the contest!

[A+B : Damp Thicks]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 11
Mix: 10.5
13/8 implementation: 11

Additional thoughts: I like vibe you got going on here. It sounds very much like a jungle indeed. The tuned percussion helps a lot with that, so does the flute. I do have an issue with the sweeping synth, because it resonates a whole lot which can sound quite jarring to the ear (1:08 and 1:49 being the biggest examples). This got your score of mixing down a lot, so does the lack of bass. When I talk about the composition of this it's quite hard to find something cohesive in here. There's not really an intro, buildup, drop, or whatever. It stays quite consistent in that matter, meanwhile if I think about a jungle myself there's a lot of potential for dynamic storytelling in your song. In that regard it missed quite the mark, but I'm still scoring higher because it did match the vibe of the jungle, like aforesaid. The 13/8 is definitely present, but because the composition itself feels quite experimental already, the experimental time signature doesn't get the spotlight, that's why it didn't score as high. Good luck with the results!

[Solenne [NGADM]]

WOAH