Animith's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Last March (Plz Reveiw)]

-Review Request Club

The percussion in this was definitely the best part of the piece; it really helped set the atmosphere perfectly from the get-go. That being said, I almost wish there was a little more variation in them as it sounds like you've used the same sound throughout and just changed the velocity a little bit, which get to be a bit repetitive in the parts where there's not much else to focus on. But in general they're a great choice and the sound in them were excellent.

The instruments apart from that were also pretty cool; the flute gave this air of desolation while the trombone (I'm guessing?) gave that hint of an aggression that may be coming or may have passed. Wasn't a big fan of the choir pad as a sound, but the notes they were playing sounded pretty awesome. The cut-out of the drums at 1:15-1:20 felt like it needed something more than the choir there just to give it a little more texture, or failing that it needed to last a little longer, just to let the absence of the drums be felt a little more.

You build up the emotion well, but by the end I'm left wanting there to have been more of a swell in the middle or by the end, because it kind of stays at the same melancholic level. Which works, definitely, but definitely leaves a little more room for development if you ever thought about making this a little longer.

It's pretty beautiful, but I think there's definite potential for it to have been even more so.

-Review Request Club

Cimba responds:

Thank you for reveiwing, maybe i'll get around to adding on to this.

[[NN] - Nightmare Reprise]

-Review Request Club

The choices of synths in general are really nicely done, especially the opening synths with the pitch slides and scratches, it's pretty characteristic and that makes the start of the track pretty unique. The drums themselves are nicely done, though perhaps a little sharp when compared to the synth. The beat in itself is nicely crafted.
The additions of the new synths is smooth, and again the synths have a nice characteristic to them, especially the second synth and how it morphs and evolves through the track.
Whatever got added at 00:30 felt a little odd, as if it was too far in the background for it to be appreciated properly.

The melodies/harmonies in general are nicely done, but as has been said this does get quite repetitive at the end. If the demo of this synth won't physically let you go any longer than you have, then I'd suggest varying this a lot more than you have done; change the beat up, change the synths, or just change something. Cut this down to half the size and go somewhere different for 30 seconds. If you aren't being afforded the room by your synths to allow you to evolve this at a slower pace, then you kinda need to fit variety in the smaller space, because this does get very repetitive past the first minute. There's definite potential, but this does need some work just to make it interesting to listen to throughout.

-Review Request Club

[[dB] Conspirators]

-Review Request Club

The opening synth was a little unorthodox, but in the mysterious kind of way that gives a kind of dark feel to the piece.
I think in relation to the synth, the drums are too sharp. I couldn't really tell whether I liked the sounds or not; in parts they seemed to fit well with what was going on, and in other parts they seemed to cut through everything. Though that being said, the kind of cymbal sound you had at 0:20 sounded pretty cool throughout (if perhaps a little too loud in places).

The introduction itself felt a little random in part, but is probably the strongest part of the track. Up to 0:40 is pretty alright, though there were a few parts I didn't quite 'get', so to speak. The kind of 'boom' sound at 00:45 sounded cool, but felt a little out of context; like there hadn't been enough of a bass sound before that to make it feel like a more natural addition.

While the beat's good to start with, but 0:55 it definitely starts feeling way too repetitive, and the synth that comes in at 1:04 adds some variety, but in itself felt out of place, like the one at :45. It feels like there's potential for this track to make more sense, but that it needs more added to it, and definitely needs more of a buildup and more variation to it, especially seeming as it's only 90 seconds long. Again, the ending was cool, but felt out of place. I think you probably need a few more synths in there, work on smoothing out the transitions and additions of sounds a little more, and in general just vary it a little more; make it feel like the tracks moving somewhere, as opposed to just kinda standing in the same space. Don't be afraid to move into some new territory once the beat's been established, because this does have the potential to be good.

-Review Request Club

Decibel responds:

I appreciate your feedback and will get to work as soon as possible!

[Shameless (Kris Sumara remix)]

Great drum work.

The drums are really nicely done, but in the parts where the bass kick is a bit more exposed (like at the very start/very end) the sound's a little dull and muffled. But once the synths and other sounds kicked in, this ceases to be a problem. The beat throughout is nice and solid, and fits pretty perfectly with the other instruments.

The entry of the synth at 00:24 is nice, but it builds up to too great a level so when it starts fading out again the synth beneath it feels a little anticlimactic. And this happens almost every time this synth gets used; you get this great feeling of buildup, and then it only starts fading out once it's overpowered the other synths completely.

That besides, all the transitions are really smooth, the melodies and harmonies work well together, a few highlights being the piano melody, the synth around 1:08, and the synth at 2:28, though that gets a little repetitive after a minute.

The ending is cool in that it loops perfectly back to the start, but I think it probably could have done with getting to that looping point a little sooner instead of having ten seconds of the same thing. In general, a nice and polished track.

[Mechanicum]

Fit for purpose

I think the highlight of this is probably the use of the vocals; while it does get a little repetitive after a while the main sound is pretty unique and the parts where there's two vox lines together work surprisingly well given their out-of-syncness with one another. it's got a good industrial/mechanical feel throughout and the fast pace throughout keeps a sense of interest, even if listening to it passively, as you do with background music generally.

The choice of main synths in general is pretty well done, although some of them could use a second look. There's some kind of synth that sounds like it comes in with the drums at 0:19 which I can't quite hear well enough to hear fully, and the synth that plays at 3:21 and a few other places has a melody that doesn't really fit nicely to what's going on with it.

The ending was good, but I was kind of half-expecting the beat to continue and loop straight back to the beginning, rather than fading out at the end. Although, either thing would work. In general, even though it IS a loop, it's meant to be background music and so the leeway for repetition is pretty huge, that this track could have done with being a little shorter, I think you could have still maintained the track and had all the material you have here still get it's play time if instead of 6 minutes, it was 3 or 4. Though that being said, as far as background music goes this does exactly what it's meant to; give the listener a decent sound to listen to whilst being more engaged in something else. However, in general the piece is pretty solid and the synths work really well together.

-Review Request Club

EvilScorpio responds:

Thanks) I'm glad it's good as BGM)))

[Mortal Kombat (RMX)]

Good, but could use some work.

The intro does seem a little out of place, especially at 0:06-0:12 going into the main section; the hi hat just seems odd and it felt like you were just trying to find any way to get to the main part. It just about works, but it could use a second look just to get that transition a little smoother.
The section after that, however, is good. I like the switches between the two synths, the contrasts between them when they were together worked well, and the levels were such that neither really overpowered the other. I like the really subtle percussion during it as well, because it's nice and quiet, but loud enough to make a difference and be heard in the track.

The introduction of the voices was cool, but it perhaps would have made a little more sense if there was one or two sound effects before in the track, just to link it a little better together. And the lower synth doing a sort of harmony around 1:08 could have been brought out a little more, because what it was playing sounded good. The slowdown at the end is a nice touch, but I think it went on for waaay too long given that it was just the theme on the one synth being done on a loop. If you'd added in another synth for variety or just shortened the length of the slowdown, I think it'd have worked fine. But 20+ sec of the same thing feels a little overdone quite quickly. But in general, this is a pretty good effort.

-Review Request Club

jpgregorio responds:

lol yeah that outro was long,but thanks for the review.

[Space Station Pause Screen]

Looped perfectly.

Given the shortness of this I'm finding myself without much to say, and with even less to criticise. Which is somewhat annoying for me trying to give a review, but is a good thing overall. xD

The main synth has a nice warm sound to it, and has a pretty cool evolution. The echo-y background sounds that come in help add that extra bit of colour and variety so the synth itself doesn't get repetitive. The synth that comes in at around 0:28 is also nice; it feels slightly out of tune, but for some reason that adds to the effect. The drums, once they come in, are introduced nicely and have a good beat to them.

Levels are spot on, good EQ's, the transitions work really well and all the synths are nicely picked. As has been said, the drums could have done with coming in just a little earlier, and/or the loop could have been a little longer to give the melodies a little more time to develop, but all in all this piece does everything the title suggests it to; work well as a potential title screen. Nice loop.

-Review Request Club

[[AL] Submarine attack!]

Cool synths

Intro's a little on the long side, but in general it sets the scene really well. I like the imitation radar sounds and the general; couldn't tell what the voice was saying, but it didn't feel like I was meant to, and they're a nice touch in general, just adding to that submarine environment. The change in pitch of the radar 'blip' was a little unexpected, and by the time it changes into the kind of melody line at 0:25 I think it needs to be brought out into the front a little more, especially as the other synth is pretty much completely in the foreground. The introduction of the drums is really nice, the drum sound in general was spot-on.

The melody at 0:58 is nice, I also like the bass line; how it's subtle, but still pronounced enough to give the melody some support. It adds to that vaguely potentially-ominous feeling pretty well. The synth you bring in at 1:19ish evolves really nicely and is a good sound in general, but I think the highlight of the track is the synth at 1:37; it's got a really nice timbre to it and all the slides/modulation that's in it works well. The way it slides all the way down when everything cuts out works well to smooth the transition.
The bass after the cut-out at 2:02 is a bit too quiet and I think the drums maybe come in a little too loudly, but that besides the track ends well. Good ambience, nice sounds, overall a nicely crafted track.

-Review Request Club

ChampionAnwar responds:

Hey thanks, the voices were distorted so you could only hear their presence. . I never really considered the intro really long, but maybe it's because I've heard it quite a lot :P Also, I'll look into the blip thingy, I kinda like that idea.

Glad you liked the drums, I think I like them now hehehehe.

Maybe I should look at the ending bit. though I do see where you are comming from about the bass :D. . Thanks for the review. . has been taknen into account ^^.

[Aerospacial]

Cool intro.

Was expecting the drums to come in a little stronger than they did because of it, but on it's own it's a pretty unique way to open the piece. The drums themselves sounded a little muffled to start with- while this isn't so much of a problem when the synths start coming in at the start they could have used a bit more brightness to them.

The first synth is cool, it's got a nice evolution to it, but when it starts fading out I would have said it needed something more to it at 0:44, but then the next synth comes in at 0:48 and that's forgotten. But for those 4 seconds in between it feels like it's almost lacking something as the synth starts getting pretty quiet. In the same way with the second synth, it's cool but when it starts fading out again it could use something new, but that something new comes in a second or two later.

The synth at 1:26 is pretty cool, I like how it's more incidental than some of the others and so gives a nice bit of colour. It could just be my headphones, but at 1:37 I kept thinking there could have been a lot more bass. In general the bass could probably have been brought up a lot more (But as I say, that could just be my headphones cutting off the low freqs)

The main synth gets a little repetitive after a while, even with all the little changes to the other sounds and the incidental synths added in. That being said, the entry of the vox at 2:02 is cool. I can't quite tell what it's saying, even when everything else cuts out, though I'm not sure if I'm meant to be able to or not. The cut out down to just to vox is cool in itself, though.

2:28 could have used being a little more melodic as you've just kind of got this half-pitched phased sound for melody, though the synth kind of makes up for that. 2:43-2:45 sounds a little bare, but I like the synth that comes in after that. However, I didn't get the synth at 2:57 at all. It sounded like it clicked and clipped half the time, and in general just sounded really off? You may want to take a second look at that one.

All in all, the transitions were cool, the levels were nicely done and with the exception of the final synth there's nothing major I could say to fault this. Nicely done.

-Review Request Club

KaoticAlchemist responds:

Just... Wow...
This review is a MASSIVE help! I'm glad to have all of the small flaws pointed out so that I may not make the same mistakes again! ^_^
This was my first song I've ever made and I did notice some awkwardness in it, but could never tell why... Lol
I'll definitly keep this in mind when I mix in the future! Thanks a lot for this!

[A Fallen City]

Pretty relaxing.

Love the intro, great piano, wish it had more of a role in the piece. Started off a touch too quietly, but in general what it's playing is nice and dystopic.

The drum comes in way too strong, and throughout the piece is a touch too loud. It needs a little reverb or something on it just to give it a little more dimension and make the end of the drumroll a little more natural, but in general it definitely needs to be turned down or the rest of the parts need to be turned up, because it's a little too dominant for something that plays almost the same thing throughout. In much the same way, the Glock is too strong in relation to the other instruments, and its loudness/brightness kind of detracts from the otherwise despondent atmosphere you've got going on.

That being said, I thought the trumpets were really cool, they had a nice melody and harmony to them. If they and the piano/guitar did a bit more I think the piece would improve a lot in general. The subtle introduction of the strings and the brass was nicely done, and again they're got some really nice harmonies to them. The highest trumpet notes around 2:02 could be brought out a little more because what they're playing sounds cool.

The string harmonies nearer the end are probably the highlight of the piece, especially in the 2:59-3:07 area, but I think the glock does overpower them a little. So again, either that needs to be turned down or the strings turned up. Piano ending the piece is nicely done, though the last arpeggio felt a little muddy. In general, you've got the feel of this nailed down nicely, but I think some of your levels could definitely use a second look.

-Review Request Club