3manonMusic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[BY THE HAND OF DEATH]

As per request, I'll give you a review as well. It's good to be asking for feedback on songs!

Composition: 12.5
Mixing: 10
13/8: 9.5

Additional thoughts: This is definitely the most experimental track on the contest, without any competition (although Jazzdew's "material artifice" also comes pretty close, you might wanna check that out if you love this kind of music). A whole bunch of random noises making a chaotic mess. That's always a "either love it or hate it" situation. In this case I think it's safe to say for me that I love it! The sound design is very well done, it's very progressive and I like the overall vibe of this. Also fair that you t-rated this, because of how ominous this is lol. With a genre like this it is VERY hard to get the mixing done right though, and in this case it unfortunately shows. Some part completely exceed what visual reference Newgrounds has for volume, at those parts my ears also start to hurt. Mixing is really subjective when ur making stuff that is just all-and-all experimenting, because some parts are supposed to sound "ugly" in a good way. The reason I scored so low on the 13/8 you already explained yourself; because of the very fluid bpm the time signature is very hardly noticable, especially at the extratone parts. Nevertheless I loved the ride of tonal kicks, loud sfx and glitchy amen breaks! You can get a long way with the crazy stuff you make!

vekoN responds:

thank you! i understand and appreciate your rating!

yeah as pointed out by you and many others the mixing on this gets quite loud; i'll address this for a release

[Temperamental Collapse]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 12
Mix: 10.5
13/8 implementation: 13

Additional thoughts: well well well. Without a doubt the best 13/8 implementation of the entire contest, the commitment to that one bit is just insane. If I could give bonus points for that I would. The composition is pretty nice as well, but feels stretched at points just for the sake of reaching the time mark. At 2:43 the saw wave reaches a frequency that is just too high to play solo, real sad moment for my poor ears and stuff. The sudden drop-off at 4:58 also feels very forced because of the time goal. Especially because there are like a good 5 seconds of complete silence afterwards. Maybe work on those transitions more next time. After that my favorite part of the whole song is introduced though, so hey I guess it is worth the wait of 5 seconds. The drums are really cool and unique as are your usual compositions, but the kick drum is so overly compressed at times I had no choice but to score a few points lower for the mix. Good luck with the contest!

[13/8]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 9.5
Mix: 11
13/8 implementation: 10.5

Additional thoughts: I really like the bass of this song, that plays a pretty funky melody that gets along with the organ pretty well. The thing about this track though is that I actually only hear 5 instruments, which is really little and makes the song very empty at parts, especially at the beginning when only the drums play, even when the organ kicks in it's still pretty empty. I very much advise you to not shy down on any layering for the next time you are making something. Another problem is the lack of progression; the drums, bass and organ sound almost the same in every part. The song also ends really abrupt, which makes it good for a loop but not for a song if you know what I mean. Good luck with the contest!

vestik responds:

Amazing, thank you for the feedback! I strongly agree with everything you said, I felt like I didn't maybe put as much time into it as I could. I will keep it in mind for next time!

[Don't Get Caught]

{13/8 JUDGING REVIEW}
(please note we are rating score on a scale of 8-13)
Composition: 10.5
Mix: 9.5
13/8 implementation: 10.5

Additional thoughts: This has a pretty nice concept, I can imagine this being played in an indie game if you have to do a stealth mission. In my opinion the best part of the song is 0:34-1:18. The violins played a pretty cool motif that I would have liked to see more of throughout the song. Besides that part the rest of the instruments are pretty weak sounding, sorry about that. There are also quite a lot of parts that sounds really empty, where there is one instrument playing but the instrument is not full enough to solo. I do like the unique drum rhythm. Good luck with the contest!

TrandafirTeodora responds:

Thanks for the review!

[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.