Animith's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[rooms are her travesty]

Pretty cool

As a whole, I like this piece. There's a great sense of melancholy that's upheld through most of the piece, but yet with a few touches of major keys and slightly brighter areas. I like the title/the way you describe the piece in the comments as well, it really helps set the scene in a pretty accurate way.

Though that being said, some of your progressions are a little too much for me. Some of them sound totally brilliant, but some sound a little like the same chord was being held for too long under the constantly-morphing melody line. Like, 0:16-0:22 feels like there's a note or two out of place for whichever chord you were leaning towards, but 0:40 to 0:54 sounds totally superb. And it kind of follows that pattern; there's nice long bits of awesomeness sandwiching a few seconds of what seem like slightly awkward harmonies. 0:54-:58 sounds awkward, 1:40-2:10 sounds cool; 2:10-2:16 sounds awkward, 2:40 to the end is really beautiful. I'm almost tempted to say "Disregard this, it's probably just me", because even though there were a few parts I didn't really get musically, the majority of the piece flowed really well and progressed in unexpected, ye awesome ways.

And I think in general the recording could have been turned up a little and some of the notes could have been more sustained than they were. But all in all, the melody was really clear and unique, the progressions-while some were lost on me-were also unique and often pretty awesome, and this piece was well worth listening to a few times over. 10'd, 5'd.

-Review Request Club

Calamaistr responds:

I started the chord in 16-22 early, i do that often in my music :)
54-58 is a good example of the simple melody going into complex melody on 1:10
2:10 to 2:16 is just a kind of alternate transition i like to make when i reach a point asking for one, i hate going for the conventional options. I think its what makes (atleast for my own ears) the music stay fresh, suprising.

I thank you for your elaborate review, ive also listened to your work a bit and you being in the classical scene yourself makes your review the kinder.
So thanks again and check back sometime, i have plenty of piano works similar to this one's style and some orchestral works aswell.

Greets. -Cal

[Vomir]

Catchy

I don't know any French, so I'll just assume the lyrics make sense. The rhythm of the vocals in general are pretty on-point and you manage to keep a really smooth tone and level throughout, which is a big plus.

The beat is nice and smooth, though if I was to critique something I'd say the levels of some parts of the accompaniment were perhaps a little too low; the percussion and the piano (I think?) could do with turning up just a little. But in general, the song develops well. Even though I have no idea what the words are the song is enough for it not to become boring as the accompaniment and the vocals develop enough so as to maintain enough variety.

At 3:00, while the brass slides are AWESOME, I think they overpower the voice a tiny bit. But in general, the brass is a highlight of the entire track; it adds a perfect amount of colour and again, you give it enough variety so that it keeps bringing a few unique sounds to the accompaniment.

The section from 4:15ish to 4:55 feels a little repetitive, but I'm sure that'd be slightly less so if I knew what the lyrics were and could focus on them. 4:55-5:00, the layers of vocals seem SLIGHTLY out of sync with one another, but that's the only point at which I could find a place where the beat isn't seemingly maintained perfectly.

So in general, it's a pretty awesome track. The instrument choices work well, the beat's nice and clear and the accompaniment is well-written, the vocals stay rhythmic and in time, and while I wish the ending perhaps wasn't so abrupt I think in general there's not much at all to fault about this. Nicely done.

-Review Request Club

Loki responds:

Wow thanks for the review :]

Yeah, around the end the singing goes down a bit, apologizes for that >_<

[Joker Tape 1]

Pretty good

To be a pedant for a second, throughout the recording there's this kind of medium-pitched buzzing sound which gets a little distracting, I don't know whether it's just because of the recording itself or whether it was deliberate, but whatever it was, it got a little grating.

The story was fairly imaginative, but perhaps a little too much so. The stories in The Dark Knight, while far-fetched, both simply involved someone taking a knife and cutting the smile in themselves. To think an ill-placed knife in the middle of a carnival show would create the same effect takes one leap of the imagination too many, in my mind. But who knows, maybe they were sharp knives. Or maybe the Joker's just making things up as he goes along, as per the usual.

As far as the actual voice goes, you do a pretty good imitation. The intonation of the voice you got down pretty well, and you definitely had the psychotic demeanour down, but perhaps not the pitchy variation that Ledger's Joker does; going from the kind of maniacal highs to the more ominous low rumbles. And I was half-expecting at least one maniacal laugh in this track, but perhaps that would have been too obvious a thing to put in. I can't quite tell how well the "Why so serious?" line was delivered because the victim's interjections kind of overpowered them a little, but as far as I could tell it was done pretty well, if a little more aggressively than Ledger's; I think you both did the same thing, but that he did it at a much lower level so instead of a more aggressive shout, it was more of an incredibly threatening growl. But in general, I think the impression's pretty good, and with a few more tweaks it'll be pretty damn convincing.

As has been mentioned, the ending is a little abrupt, you could probably think about how to dress the death of the victim up a little more if you do any more tapes. And in the same way, the victim's breathing were the only real indication that things were getting progressively worse for him, ie the Joker getting his knife out/advancing on him, so a few more sound effects wouldn't go amiss there. In general though, it's a nice impression; good work.

-Review Request Club

[The Voices in my Head [Jxl180]]

Pretty good

I like the effect of the echoed vocals, even though they seemed a little random in what they were saying, it fits pretty well with the title; lots of different vaguely incoherent voices at once. And in general, I liked the choice of synths and the levels of the different tracks in general.

However, some of the transitions are a little suspect. The ones at 00:49 and 1:18, for instance, are way too abrupt. If it felt a little more deliberate, it would probably work massively in your favour as it'd add to the generally manic mood of the piece. But at the moment it just feels like you randomly decided to go in another direction without much thought as to why. I think if you're going to do that you should make it a lot more deliberate or build up to it a little more, just so it's more obvious that you're definitely going for the slightly-jerky sound.

The highlight of this would probably be from 1:41 onwards, where the drums and the synth change up a little and turn it into a subtle build-up to the end. By then the random voices even seem to have a bit of a rhythmic order to them and it feels like the instruments have settled in a little more and feel a little less out of place. That being said, I think the fadeout's perhaps a little too long; 12 seconds is a little excessive.

In general I think it's a pretty good piece, but it could use a few tweaks here and there with regards to some of the transitions.

-Review Request Club

jxl180 responds:

I will give it a shot when I have the chance.

Thank you!

[4x4 Tea Party]

Awesome synths.

In general, I love how you've manipulated the beats into something different. It's not your basic drum or synth beats; with the exception of the hi-hit, really, everything's had something specific changed in it to give it that extra variety, which I think does you a real credit.
I was a little skeptical of the bass drum right at the start, but that disappears when the first synth comes in at 0:08. Again, I was starting to think it was getting repetitive until I heard the synth start to morph at 0:25-0:28, which just manages to peak the interest enough for it not to feel overdone. The part at 0:49 was also very nicely done; the way you introduce new synths and sounds is always pretty smooth.

One peeve I had was the hi-hat beat at 0:51/0:55 and going forwards from there. Just the beats where there's the two hits in quicker succession, seems a little excessive and ever-so-slightly out of time. I think either the quantisation of that needs to be looked at again or another drum sound needs to come in to make that beat seem less cluttered.

I think some of the synths could also benefit from being a little bassier, as well. Or just in general having a nice low bass synth coming in at points. You've got the higher frequencies covered to a tee, it just seems like the lower frequencies aren't really accounted for as much as they could be. And while all the synths are really well-put-together, I think the piece kind of started dragging a little in terms of repetitiveness by the third minute or so. Though that being said, I've been content to listen to this on a loop for the time it's taken me to write this, so I guess the length doesn't bug my subconscious at all. :P Nicely done.

-Review Request Club

KieranNG responds:

Thanks!
I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

[Lamp + LB - Interlude]

Nicely done.

I like the start, it's got a quiet, but epic feel to it. I think the feeling of distance you get with the choir sound is pretty cool, but that it needs to be a touch louder in general just so it's a little easier to pick the notes up.
The drums at 0:50 are pretty cool, I like the subtle change of pace there, as well.
The piano in general is easily the best part of the first half; the melody's pretty melancholy, but you get the odd glimpse of major chords which just lift the mood of the piece up a little, in a pretty awesome way.
The change of timing at 1:24 vaguely confused me the first time, as with no reference other than the piano chords it was a little hard to guess when the next notes were coming. I can't tell whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I guess you'll have to judge for yourself. :P
1:38, I think the bass could definitely use being turned up a little louder. When the guitar comes in, the feedback at 1:49-1:52 made me think it would come in a lot stronger than it did, so it felt a little anticlimactic. Though that being said, I think the guitar overpowers the piano a little too much. What both parts are playing is certifiably awesome, I hasten to add, but I think it could be a little more equal, level-wise.
The transition at 2:26, while a little abrupt, is pretty cool and ends the piece in a nice way. My one peeve about the end is the final chord of the chimes, I think it's a little heavy handed for an ending; even if you arpeggiated it a little I think it'd be noticeably better. But in general, this is a pretty awesome piece. Definitely think about collaborating more, eh?

-Review Request Club

Lamplighter responds:

Hey, thanks for the review! I'm just speaking for myself right now, hopefully I can represent Lublub as well.

The reason I had the choir turned down is that, along with the rest of the instruments, there was very little else going on other than whole notes. I didn't want to increase the volume of something that I felt was interesting enough to stand out to the ears. I do see your point, though.

At 1:24, I guess that would be confusing, dropping everything except the bare piano chords. That was where Lublub started the breakdown / buildup for the orchestral rock deal, and I felt it was a good idea to leave a change there to keep people on their feet. I guess there could have been some rhythm instruments playing, but I personally have grown too used to that to change.

Then at 1:38... that's something I never thought about. The bass was at that volume so it could have a good deal of space to crescendo into the guitar part, but now that I look back we could have had it turned up, then done a forte-piano there. Good point. Then when the guitar came in... it does cover up the piano, but by the time that part was written, I assumed the listener would think the piano part was old news. Thus not minding it being overshadowed by the guitar, which was what we were set of featuring there.

I also agree about the chimes, I originally had them arpeggiated, but after experimenting I felt that a chord would give an extra punch at the end and never turned down the velocity. It might sound just as good arp-ed, as you said.

Glad you liked the song, though! I've taken away that in the future, I should pay more attention to balancing out tempo changes, and volumes between instruments. I'll try to keep a closer eye on these things the next time we collab. Thanks for the review!

[O.H.35 - Child of Liberty]

Pretty cool

In general, the instruments/pads/synths are nicely put together, there's not many flaws with the sound choices you made which is good, given the kind of ambient feel most of the synths are needed for here. And in general, the transitions and the introductions of each guitar/synth is really smooth. The sound of the synth at 0:13 I wasn't totally sure about, but it resolved itself a few seconds later.

The first minute is really nice and solid; good layering between the lines, nice deep texture going on. Though I think the section from around 0:30-0:50 could maybe have used a bit more synth just to flesh the sound out a bit, as you had a lot of nice warm pads before that. In much the same way, the transition at 0:57 was cool, but I think you could have maybe made a bit more of it than you did. It's fine as it is, but I think there was room there for a bigger climax.

The levels of the percussion at 1:41 feels a little low and I think you probably need a bit more bass at 1:55 (Though that could just be my headphones giving out on me). LOVE the transition and the guitar at 2:08, there's some nice new harmonies and melody added there to give it a little more variation. And again, the harmony change at 3:14 is cool, but I think the synths could have done more in the half-minute preceding that.

I think in general, just maybe look over your levels a little, because the synths seem to quiet in the aforementioned part, the melody seems a little quiet at 3:37, and when the guitar comes in with the melodies at 2:08 and 5:27, while what's being played is awesome, it feels a little distant? Especially seeming as the synths are still pretty much in the foreground at both those places.

As a whole, it's a pretty cool piece. The guitar playing is spot-on, the synths do everything they're supposed to and compliment eachother in a great way, the percussion never gets too heavy, which is often an irritation you get with some AP submissions. I think some of the levels could use a second look, and that maybe it's a touch too long for what's going on, but in general this is pretty solid. 9'd, 5'd.

OH35 responds:

Hey, thanks for the great review! I agree that in some places it could have used a little more tweaking in the volumes. However we were short on time and needed this finished quickly because it was taking hella LOT of time to make. Perhaps we will consider tweaking with volumes a bit more before the release.

There's a lot of room for improvements that we will surely apply in the future tracks we will make. Your feedback was of great help and is truly appreciated. Thanks again!!

[Hou5Music]

Pretty polished.

I like the percussion. You've got the basic drum elements in there, as well as the more unorthodox claps/clicks that just give it that extra bit of texture and colour, which makes it a little bit more individual and interesting. The mixing is also well done; the drums are pronounced, but not so much so as to completely drown out the synth. The sounds in general are also a really good quality. Which is awesome, because nothing kills a tune more than a bogus drum sound or an overdone synth.

The transitions in general work really well, even the slightly more pronounced ones such as the one at 0:45 where the louder melody lines come in-it's still really smoothly done, and the way you add little bits in throughout also gives the track a really pronounced feel.

I was a little skeptical about the voice part at first, but as it evolved a little more into the beat I saw how it fitted. The panning on the voice as well is a nice subtle touch. The ending as well, while abrupt, fits perfectly with the style of the track.

That being said, I do think that perhaps it was too long for what was going on. Especially the melody lines and the part where the vocals take over, I think they either needed to be noticeably shorter or needed to have a few more synths/chord changes just to uphold the variety a little bit more than it did.

Overall though, it's a pretty good track; nice work.

-Review Request Club

[Piano 16 - Tides of Babylon]

Great movement.

I really like the pace throughout. It's got a really fluid movement to it, which maintains itself pretty easily through the whole piece.
While I'm listening to it I'm vaguely wondering as to whether this would be playable live with just one person, given the many simultaneous lines to it. As you say it sounds more authentic live, I'd be interested to hear a live version of this, just to see how different it would sound.

But anyway: I like the chord changes, especially the ones around the 0:15 mark.
When I first hear the sounds at 0:21 I thought they were a little weird, but it ended up fitting very well shortly afterwards.
While understanding this is a loop, I think this easily could be expanded into a bit more of a fuller song. It gets a little repetitive at parts and the ending seems a little abrupt, but I think in all it's a nice, solid piece.

[(SA) Pirate Adventures]

Nice effort

Nice start, but the chord progression from 0:05-0:07 feels very awkward. And then when it repeats at 0:19, 0:25...etc. Feels like there should be a note or two more in there just to make the change a little less stark.
I like the little bits of brass and then later harp/violin, but I think in general you need to change it up a little more in the accompanying strings from 0-1:20, it gets a tad repetitive. I like the chord progression (except the aforementioned part), and I like the gists of the melody/harmony, but I think it could do with a little more work.