Animith's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Interplanetary Medium]

Review Request Club

You've got a nice melody and chord progression, though I think the lead synth for the first 26 seconds is a little muffled, and could have done with being sharper just to give it more focus. The synth at 0:28 has a really nice sound to it...again, a little muffled at times, but generally adds a nice depth to the track.

The incidental synths you have at around the 1 minute mark are nicely done; generally you've got a good set of transitions throughout and enough texture to carry the main melody. One weakness I'd say would be your drums, because they don't vary all that much throughout. The other synths however work well together and the melody changes a fair bit.

The break at 1:59 is nice, and excluding the muffled synth you've got a nice airy atmosphere set up with the other synths which makes for a nice change of pace. However, by 2:25 I think it's a little too up-in-the-air, and could use more of a beat or a more prominent lead just to tie it back to the beat just a little bit, and at 2:26 another synth comes in with a different chord and it clashes a little to start with.

The ending in general is alright, but I think you would have been better transitioning back into the heavier section we saw before 1:59, just so you don't have 80 seconds of ambience; heavy is good, ambient is good, but you need to strike the balance between them and transition between them well. As it stands for the 2nd and 3rd minute you've just got this ambience which doesn't really head anywhere and eventually peters out, I think the track would have benefitted a lot from a transition back into a heavier section.

Good melody, interesting choice of chords, the one main transition you have is nicely done...has definite potential, just that first lead synth needs another look and maybe the consideration of another transition and you'll be fine. Keep it up.

-Review Request Club

jxl180 responds:

Thanks for the review! I appreciate your helpful comments!

Jxl180

[<EagleGuard> Never give up!]

Review Request Club

Nice introduction, the harp adds a great sense of pace to the relatively slow-feeling strings without weighing them down too much. You've got something of a heaviness from the drums, but a more hopeful feel from the harp, strings and brass, so you've got that aspirational kind of feel that the title would suggest, but I think it maybe could have done with having a slightly heavier counterpoint to work on, to illustrate what it is that someone needs to not give up on; what conflict that happens either before or after this event to require such an uplifting theme.

Although you've been relatively minimalistic in what each of your instruments does, the arrangement of them leaves them to not sound repetitive, which is always a good thing. The guitar, while unexpected, works very well and acts nicely as a break between the more orchestral instruments and the piano/harp ending. The piano could have maybe done with a little more sustain, but it's not that much of a problem. The harp itself is probably the highlight of the piece as it ties everything together nicely and with the snare gives the string that much needed pace; I think without the harp, especially, this piece could have dragged a whole lot, but it didn't here because you worked with the different instruments well and created something pretty damn cool. Keep it up, definitely.

-Review Request Club

EagleGuard responds:

Thanks for taking your time to write that review, much appreciated :)

About the counterpoint, I'll think about it. I'll try to think about it next time I write a new piece.

About the sustain, oh well, I thought it was fine the way it was. Everyone has their own opinion though, perhaps it would be slightly better with a bit more sustain, but I'm lazy xD

Yeah, you're right, the harp is probably what keeps the song alive, it was also the first thing I added xD

Thanks for the review, will try to keep it up! ;)

[Power of DnB(final version)]

Review Request Club

Nice intro, the fact you've already got a break by 0:07 is a pretty cool sign, and leads into the main first section well. You've got a goot bass and drum beat established, and then you start speeding it up to a crazy pace and I was almost worried that it was going to stay that frantic throughout until the main theme came out. Nice to see this is still in it, because I keep remembering the melody from the previous version's you've done. The drums again have picked up a really interesting beat which compliments the lead synth well.

I can't quite remember the structure of the previous two versions, but the transitions here really pop out; you go straight from the main theme to a slightly more muted buildup at 1:01, before going back into the main theme. That kind of thing works perfectly, because those little breaks give you some variety between the repetitions of the theme, but are long enough in themselves to not seem rushed, even though the pace of this is still very high.

By 2:00 I have no real complaints; love the contrasting section again with the strings and guitar; the drums are still present, but quite in the background, keeping the pace but by no means being a point of focus. That also allows you to smoothly bring it back out of the texture as the main synth comes back in, giving it the heavy characteristic again.

The new section at 3:00 is possibly my favourite part, because it still has the hints of the chords from before, but the feel is totally different, so the variety is definitely a massive plus throughout, no more so than in that last minute and gives you yet another thing to mix with the main melodies. Loved the reversed sound at the end, love even more so that you didn't have the robotic voice that we heard in the previous versions; this track shows you the power of DnB without that voice needing to tell you that, and so it's good that you took it out. I think I'd have to agree with you in saying this is the best version out of the three. Kudos for sticking with it and getting it to this level.

-Review Request Club

jpgregorio responds:

wow thanks, paying attention to peoples' reviews sure pays of. lol.
i think i made the right choice with that effect at the end. xD

[p4c-Existentialism]

Review Request Club

Really aggressive drum beat to start, works really well and hits you head on, which is really cool; nothing more annoying than a good track with a weak beat to it. It's so agressive that even though by 0:40 not much else has happened, it doesn't feel repetitive. I also hear you've got a bit of lighter percussion at places, which is cool.

The bass, equally as aggressive and present, so already you've hit two out of the three boxes you need. And then right after, the synths come in. You've got a lot of mini-transitions between the new synths which all work really well. production values of the first 100 seconds are really nice. The break at 1:47 was a little too piercing for what came before, but that might just be me.
The buildup at 1:58 is really cool; it's simple, but very effective. The anticipation hits pretty much right away, and because it's quite a slow buildup it allows you to put in all these new synths and the like, as well as bringing in the pretty heavy drum beat very very slowly. When first saw the length of the track, I was worried it'd end up being quite repetitive, but thus far you've kept it very interesting.

I like how the drums have a kind of mini climax, but then it keeps building up a little further past that before kind of disappating into the air before the main theme comes back in again. The melody itself, though simple, is interesting enough to carry itself through the entire track, which is interesting. From about 3:45-4:45 you kind of have the same thing playing throughout, but because it's very well structured to start with, it doesn't drag at all, which is very nice to see in a track of this length. And the outro is again, quite heavy, but fittingly so, giving you a pretty powerful ending.

In general, you've got good production values and transitions, the buildups work well...I think it could still not be harmed by a little condensing, but as it is it works well, even when you had to compress it to get it onto Newgrounds in one piece. Nice solid work, overall.

-Review Request Club

p4c responds:

thanks! the line of the lead synth sounds fairly simple, but it actually relies on chords that have built in discordance - notes right next to each other, sevenths, the like. so it gives a simple sound while making a pretty memorable line. all the iterations of it throughout the entire song follow the same pattern but are transposed up and down. the most clever bit, i think, is that the pattern of the lead is the same in the build up and the climax of the second chorus of the song, but because the bassline and triplet support follows different chord progressions, it gives the same melody a different feel--and thus keeps you interested :)

i try to push for making the most tension i could, and i like to use relatively subdued lines that nonetheless make fairly strong emotional resonance. im glad to see it worked out for you :)

[Prelude #1 - Lost Serenade]

Review Request Club

Ahh, I remember your serenade piece, that was pretty cool. Let's see if this one lives up to its predecessor :P

For an improvised piece the pace is very steady and the flow very smooth; there's not a moment's hesistation, it sounds like you're just performing a prewritten piece, so kudos for that. The sound quality also seems a lot cleaner than your last track, but still has that nice reverberant atmosphere which places it in a very moody kind of setting; again the kind of thing you wouldn't mind seeing in a flash on here, or even performed in some kind of venue.

It's got a relatively simple harmonic structure (circle of 5ths, ftw) but you use it well; the melody keeps changing over the bassline and you make it sound interesting to listen to for such a simple piece, yet again. Simple, but effective. If you had a change to extend this past a simple prelude, you could of course have the opportunity to develop the harmonic progression, or indeed, keep it the same and just develop the melody a lot more; you've got the harmony down, so you could just play over the top of that til kingdom come if you had the inclination.

The playing itself also seems a little cleaner than last time; some of the bass notes at 0:28-0:32 seemed a little quieter/muffled than the ones surrounding it, but it's not all that noticeable and a marked improvement on the other track. What can I say, you sound cool on a guitar. Keep them coming!

-Review Request Club

Darkmaster603 responds:

I'm working on extending this as a movement in my moonlight suite, so it will get more interesting ;)

The order the parts went in was imrovised, I actually had some stuff I knew I wanted to do. Plus, it's a chord progression I've been playing and using for a long time. I don't know why, but until recently I just wanted to limit myself to short pieces.

Thanks for the review, all the feedback is appreciated

[Anesthesia (Sonic Numbing)]

Review Request Club

Liked the introduction; the staccato strings have a lot of character to them and the harmonies work well together. I think you maybe could have extended it even more, given the range you can get from a string quartet. That being said, I liked the entrance of the violin and how it added to the note clusters, again I think it could have had an even more complex line instead of following the emphasis of the lower strings, but that's neither here nor there. Highlight would probably the the pizzicato near the end just because it's very crisp and adds a nice bit of texture.

In general, I think this could do with a little more harmonic variety, as you do use the same kind of motif throughout; the piece is only a minute long, though, so I'm tempted to give the benefit of the doubt on that because it does work well as a relatively minimalist piece. You say in the AC that this was an attempt to mix different genres; what mix of genres would this be? :P

Generally though, it's a nice short piece, the sounds work well together (Can't really go wrong with string quartet), and you've got a good set of harmonies. Has to potential to be extended into a much vaster piece, at some point.

-Review Request Club

WizMystery responds:

Well that's a good question, it's more like a mix of composer styles or time periods, but I consider certain syles to be their own genre so its easy to identify things. This isn't the typical string quartet piece, I'm not quite sure on what genres to pinpoint as this is probably a subconscious mix of influences.

[Stargenx - Epic Jam]

Review Request Club

Nice drum sounds; they kind of have a mix between kind of background support and the toms and such in the foreground that act more as a point of focus to give more colour to the track. There was a point at which I thought the cymbals were a little overkilled, but didn't get the timestamp of it.

The synths as well were pretty cool; you were kind of lacking a main melody synth (As a few other people have said), but what you have already works relatively well, and you have a few changes in structure which allow you to bring different synths in and so it isn't as repetitive as it could have been. It was, however, a little repetitive, but so would most songs be without a clear melody to focus on. The arpeggiated synth was a good start, but after 30 seconds or do starts dragging itself.

I like the transition at 0:47ish; while abrupt, it pretty much worked well. The one at 1:05 though, I think does the opposite. It sort of sounds like one synth that was meant to play there cut out when you were exporting it and just doesn't quite fit. So maybe that section could do with a little extension so the transition out of it doesn't feel quite as forced.

In general, you've got the makings of a good track, you just need to maybe take another look at the transitions, maybe even extending it so you have more room to put some variety in, and definitely think about adding in a melody. All in all though, it's yet another cool work from you, so nicely done.

-Review Request Club

Stargenx responds:

Thanks for the review! I've already addressed most of the issues right now. Thanks for reviewing when you did! XD You just reminded me to start working on it again.

[Death by Grime (rap demo)]

Review Request Club

Intro definitely could use a bit more punch to it, it just sounds like you're saying "uh" over and over for no real reason instead of introducing the song. Either make the beat a little heavier or put a little more punch into the vocals, 'cause the start does you a little disservice.

The vocal level is fine and sinks into the texture nicely, but the rhythm goes off on a few places, especially at the 0:40-0:45 mark. Something about either the lyrics or the delivery is throwing you off a little because the pace does get kind of interrupted at times, so I think a look at one or maybe both could be useful just to keep that pace more even.

Generally, that's the party line of most of the track; you've got some good lyrics, from what I can make out, but sometimes the syllable count is enough to throw the pace off which is way too noticeable and brings the sound down a lot, so working on the vocal rhythm would definitely be a point of improvement. Apart from that, you've got a nice solid backing and pretty good structure, you just need to work on the vox rhythm to make it sound a little tighter. Keep it up, though.

-Review Request Club

Sawdust responds:

Thanks, man! I seriously appreciate it.

[[herd] First Hip-Hop song [WIP]

Review Request Club

One thing I'd say from the AC...if you need a vocalist, go find one! :P There's a whole lot of people on NG who probably wouldn't mind helping you out as long as you give them credit for it. It's a lot easier to visualise a song with vox in it...when they're actually there! xD But anyway, onto the track:

The beat's nice and solid; the bass could have done with being a little louder, maybe a lot louder (because what it'splaying is nice), but it's not that big of a deal. Generally the first 49 seconds for me go without complaint...it's the entry of the violin sound that gives me a few gripes for the 15 seconds or so it's playing; the harmonies it does kind of clash at points and generally it seems to do more harm than good. Either look at making the harmony more consonant, or maybe just making the violin a little quieter, because its entry is a little abrupt, dynamically.

I like the breaks you have between all the instruments, back down to the cello and piano, adding the drum beat in again...although the material you have is relatively little, you generally use it pretty well to pretty much avoid the repetition you would have had with everything playing throughout.

The second time the violin comes in, I've warmed to it a little, but it still seems a little out of place, though I can't really work out why. One thing that did confuse me to start with was the entrance of the electric guitar because you had that and the violin playing together and it sounded a little messy. However, once the violin leaves the guitar sounds pretty cool, I like the how the violin kind of comes back in through it; I think there, as a point of transition, it really does work well. Has a few kinds in the melody, but there worked well as a structural device.

The ending was a little overdrawn with the fadeout, I think, but in general this was pretty unrepetitive for a song that's meant to have vocals in it. So...get some vocals in it, if you can. xD Look at the levels of the bass, 'cause it generally has a sweet line that you can't quite hear, look at the levels of the violin and maybe making that melody a little smoother, but in all it's a pretty solid track for a first go. Nicely done.

-Review Request Club

Herdunculus responds:

Thanks so much for your review! Nice information and all that. Great advice. I will be sure to fix up this song in the future!

[I-Saved-The-World: FL Core]

Review Request Club

Nice introduction with the voices! I like how there were different parts of the vocals seemingly within each side of the stereo; or at least the 'oh, yeah' seemed to come from the left in these crappy headphones. The synths as well had a nice sense of buildup at the start, and the kind that's subtle enough that you don't actively hear it, but prominent enough that you get to 40 second of having heard the same thing and realise you haven't found it repetitive, so nicely done there.

The vocal slicing in general by 1:00 onwards is really cool, and adds a bit more of a rhythmic aspect in as well, with the start of the sample becoming a kind of stuttered 'are' sound. The pitchbends at 1:52 were a really nice touch, and by 2:02 you've messed with the original melody to make it sound pretty new-sounding, even though it's gone through pretty much the entire track. The same with the vocals, you've done a lot of effects to it as well as none at all, which makes it sound far more varied than it should, given what small source materials you have.

In general, you had a nice variety with the vocals and the synths. One place to work on would be the drums, as they were quiet quiet and didn't really play half the role they could have done in the track. All in all though, it's quite a solid piece of music.

-Review Request Club

I-Saved-The-World responds:

Thanks for the review :) It was really hard for me to make the drums work, since it was so limited. i should have spent more time on them. I spent most of my time on the synths. xD