Animith's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Short Circuit]

Review Request Club

Good intro, you start off with a pretty fast pace and introduce a fair few synths early, which is always a good sign; you could have maybe had a slower buildup, but its fine as it is. You've got a really nice bass sound, which is always good; nothing more annoying than a good track wrecked by a lack of low frequencies.

The drum's pretty muted, but still serves its purpose pretty well, and you can hear it well enough to work out the beat from it. The light automation on the synth at 0:53 was cool, cooler still was the drop at 0:59; a little unexpected, but cool all the same. However, I think the section it goes into was perhaps a little unrelated to what came before it. Not that the section in itself was at all bad, quite the contrary; it had a nice atmosphere to it, I just think it drew a few too many contrasts with what came before.

The cohesion there I think could have been a little tighter than it was. And again, the cutout back into the old section at 1:31 was a little abrupt; the pace changes a little too frequently, although the way you keep variety up is in principle nicely done; you've got a lot of different melodies and beats to work with, though at points it did feel like you just cookie-cuttered them side by side to try and keep the variety up without thinking about how they would flow together. You've got the foundations of a good song and the fact you've got the variety in is always good; better to have too much variety than too little, as the former is far more fixable. Just try and make the transitions a little smoother and the sections a little more cohesive with eachother and you'll be fine.

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Somnocyde responds:

Damn! that was Definitely the most helpful Review I've ever gotten. I'll admit, the EQ was way off, but I've corrected that in my more recent projects. Also, I'll definitely keep transitions in mind from now on. Thanks so much! <>,..,<>RAWR

[[AL] Break it down]

Review Request Club

Nice opening; you have the softness of the pads, but the more agressive synth and drum coming out straight through that texture, so while it's got a pretty warm start, just seconds in you've already got the anticipation of the heaviness of the lead synth and drums. The synth that comes in at 0:33 is nice and colours the lead synth well. Favourite thing about this track sound-wise, though, would be the glitches on the drums. Good glitched drums=love, and they work really well here as they kind of develop a little throughout the track.

The break (fitting, given the title) near the start was also well done; abrupt, but worked well for it. There were a few cymbals in it that could have done with being a bit louder, but that's neither here nor there. You still had the glitched kick of the drums which was good in keeping the pace. At points it felt like it was toeing the line of machine-gun effect, which was worrying, but less so when you realise it never actually crossed it. It did sound very cool at parts, though; almost like the revving of some massive infernal engine or something.

In all, you've got a nice set of melodies and synths here, definitely keeps it feeling fressh throughout, which is ALWAYS a MAJOR plus when it comes to NG techno tracks xD
Good set of transitions and changing drum beat throughout...what's not to like? The only improvement would be to maybe travel even further away from the original idea, giving it even more variety than it has already, and letting your mind go free even more so than you did here.

-Review Request Club

ChampionAnwar responds:

Thanks for the 10 man! All the comments and criticisms. I'll work the little things you suggested. Oh and Glitchcore is my style of music, I live for that stuff seeing as 99% of what I listen to is Venetian Snares xD. Your advice will go into my re-work, no doubt. Thanks Animth :D :D

[Coop83 V.S Mans0n]

Review Request Club

I like the little breaks of silence you have in a few places; it's an interesting form of transitions, but it works really well. If anything, you could probably get away with having a few more.

The drums are also quite unique; you've got the basic sounds there, but they're all slightly manipulated to give them that rough feeling around the edges; the cymbals are a little glitched up, the toms almost seem pitched...and that lasts up to the second silence transition at 0:57, where they kind of 'straighten out' again, for want of a better phrase. And oddly enough, that slight change in drum sound is enough to keep both sections sounding different, even though the melody of both sides is quite similar.

The main melody stays essentially the same throughout, but you've got a lot of automation on it to give it that variety, as well as slightly changing up the beat below it which keeps it sounding fresh. it'd be interesting to see what this would sound like with the intended vocals on it (Just bug Coop lots :P), whether this would act purely as an accompaniment or whether the synth melody would play more of a part in it. Even without the vocals, this pretty much stands up by itself, which is a very good sign, and obviously shows all Coop needs to do is...record something xD And this as a completed track would be fine. Really nicely done, over all.

-Review Request Club

Mans0n responds:

Thanks for the feedback :) your reviews are always awesome.

[The End [Rezurrection]]

Review Request Club

Highly progressive for a house track, nicely done.
Cool introduction; quite muted and downplayed, but the buildup is enough that I found myself at 0:40 without thinking it was repetitive. Which is a feat in itself, given that it sounds like just one synth playing throughout. It also feels like as it gets louder, more facets of the synth are coming out, as if you're automating it the entire way through, or adding little undertones of other synths, not to take prominence over the main synth but simply to colour it a little more and keep it varied.
The drum has a really nice bass to it, and probably comes in right at the necessary time to. It's got a relatively simple beat, but works well and makes the break at 1:59 back to the synth sound unique, even though the same synth has been playing throughout. By 2:17 though, it feels like a different synth. THe emphasis is in a different place, or at least sounds like it, which is really cool. You've got a nice bassy sound as well as little flecks of the higher frequencies so this one mass of ambient synth sound works really well on its own, a it's supported by a lot of other undertones which work really well.

As it is, I think it's a pretty cool track. If you had time I'd say think about extending this even further; see how far you can progress this one idea, or maybe even change it into a new idea for another section. You've got a good buildup here, can you go even further?

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ReziUze responds:

Thanks for the review! There's no automation with the synth except for cutoff, volume and sidechaining (if you count that), I guess it just felt like there was more to it, but it was just one synth :).

The only reason I didn't continue it further was because I didn't want it to be too repetitive, also I ran out of ideas like I always do :D

[Ocean...]

Review Request Club

Nice soft opening; the synth has got enough dynamic variety in itself to be able to stay on its own for as long as it does, because you've got those little subtle changes in volume and pitch. Undertones in general I think reign supreme in this, because everything is done in a very subtle way so that no transition overpowers what came before it, creating a very relaxed atmosphere. The second sound to come in is really subtle, but does really well to keep variety up as the four notes it has causes the one-note lead synth to sound like it's in different positions of a chord.

The more pad-like synth just reinforces that in a really nice, warm way, keeping up the atmosphere nicely. Deifinitely have an ocean-like serenity throughout the track, just because nothing cuts through anything else and everything just soothes without being boring. The build on this is very downplayed, but still prominent enough to make you forget that the same synth has been playing the exact same note for 90 seconds. The 'break' at 1:38 to the first and last synth to come in was nice, but yet didn't take away from the texture enough to seem abrupt, which is cool. At 2:03 I think you could have used another synth in there, even if it was just the same pad synth an octave lower, just to carry it through a little more.

Generally, you tick every box of the ambient genre. If you did want to improve, you could have maybe had a little more variety (as you did have one synth playing throughout; if you'd taken that out and left the pads you'd have had an even quieter atmosphere than you did here). Or even extending it further so you have more room to experiment with sounds. You've tackled a 2 minute ambient track. Now do a 4 minute one. :P But seriously, nice work. Your track made me forget my room is 4000 degrees right now, and that deserves major kudos!

-Review Request Club

EvilScorpio responds:

Thank you very much for so detailed review))) And sorry for late answer, I wer in a hospital for two months... =( I'm glad you like it, and I'll try to make my next ambient track even more better. =) Thanks again! ^__^

[Penalty (FL-Core) {Dj-Abbic}]

Review Request Club

I don't know much about house and even less about FL presets, so this will mostly be personal opinion over how it links to either of those things, because...opinions require no intelligence ;D Anyway:

Nass drum beat. Got a lot of different sounds going on there and a few nice sounding automations to make the beat sound interesting and more than your usual bass/snare/clap ensemble. Really like the kind of sweeping-sound drum you had, it was very characteristic but didn't cut through the texture at all, so it just added a nice bit of colour.
The first synth was nice and prominent, but the end of it felt a little out of tune, in places? Like, it hit the note it was meant to, but then started sliding down into obscurity a little before looping again. Maybe that's just me, but it did seem a little odd.

The transition at 0:45 was a little abrupt, with just the lead synth changing and nothing else. Not that the change in lead wasn't a good idea, it's just that you just flicked one switch off and the other on, instead of building up more into the transition.

The subtle change in drum beat at 1:03 was nice, as was the re-entry of the first synth at 1:15. Could have used some cohesion between the two synths in the 30 seconds between the transition and then, but it's not that big of a deal.
By 90 second in it does, however, start to feel quite repetitive as you've just had those two synths throughout and they're quite small loops to be using. At the very end you start automating them a little more, and I think if you'd started that earlier on it probably would have saved you, because while the synths would be playing the same thing, they'd sound different due to the automation, giving that needed variety.

Generally, it's a pretty cool piece. Given you did this all with presets, it's pretty nicely done because everything pretty much fits together. Work on the first transition a little more and maybe add in a third synth for some more variety, and I think this would have been fine.

-Review Request Club

DjAbbic responds:

Heh, thanks for the review. When I hit the 0:45 seconds part, it was getting pretty late, and I got lazy, so I just made some excuse to finish the song :S. Not a good effort but I like the beat at the start.

[[SxHx] Prfkt.Tempo (REFIX)]

Review Request Club

I remember listening to the first version of this. If memory serves, it was pretty much all there, though in my head it dragged a little by the second minute and could have used a few tweaks here and there. Anyway, let's see how this one fares in comparison:

The pulse waves are very psychadelic; I see you've kind of gained mixed reactions below. I think it's one of those things where if you like it or know it goes with the style, then you're fine with it going through most of the track. But if you DON'T like it, then it can get overbearing and head-spinning almost instantly. I don't listen to this genre, but using your previous track as a template I'm guesing it's pretty fitting of hardstyle to have that heavy pulsing beat. Definitely sets up the mood instantly, to say the least.

I like how you've again used the stereo to bounce the vocals around a little while the main tune plays through. The drum break at 0:58 was really nicely done, and proved a really good transition into a sort of new section; not a lot had changed, but the melody changing is enough to keep it sounding fresh and interesting enough. You've got a nice distribution between the lead synth, the vocals, and the points at which they overlap slightly. THere's possibly two things I like about this the most; one is the subtle changes you bring after each major transition to the melody, which means it doesn't drag as it would have done if you'd kept that melody the same. The second is the transitions themselves; the one at 2:05ish is possibly even better than the one at 0:58 because you had that nice effect on the drum beat as well.
Also coming in close third would be the production values of this. While a lot of the synths have obviously had a lot of work done to them, the quality still remains very high.

I think the ending was a little empty, but I've heard peopke use the term "dj-friendly" for outros that just use the basic beat of the track, so I'll...assume that's what it is! I'll stop rambling now. Tl;dr, good production values, nice changes in melody, in all a pretty solid track. Keep 'em coming.

-Review Request Club

shesmackshard responds:

I appreciate the time put into it! the production was definitely the focus here, especially in this second mix.

excellent review, this is how reviews need to be (based on production). IMO anyways. thanks again

[_Dancing With Demons_]

Review Request Club

Really nice ambient introduction; it's quite simplistic, but at the same time has that touch of a heavy edge to it, as if it's illustrating the demons just walking into the club, so the beat hasn't quite hit home yet...but they're still demons, and so it's not exactly upbeat and airy-fairy. Heavy ambience; works well. Nice transition between the bassy ambience to the higher-pitched synth and the light drum at 0:35, great automation there to pitch shift it down; the entire transition section from 0:20-0:50 or so is really well done; everything comes in and out quite smoothly.

When the main "melody" came in at 0:50 though, it was a lot lighter than I think it could have been, especially for the title you have. It says in the AC that you turned down the bass, and I can kinda hear that...or rather, not. I'd almost suggest thinking about turning the bass up again, though maybe it's just my crappy headphones not being able to pick them up enough. Also, while the high-pitched synth works well, I don't think it's good enough to work as a lead melody, and so maybe think about adding one in; perhaps something bassy and kind of ominous, just to tie that darker feel back into the track.

There's some nice transitions and harmonic changes, but I think dynamically everything kinda stays generally the same throughout, and that could be something to look at; give it more of a sense of build and suspense, instead of having this buildup into the same section, but in a slightly different key...I think having a different melody would help here, as you could change it up between sections and create a kind of verse/chorus effect.

In general, it's an alright track, but could do with being a lot heavier than it was, given your source of inspiration and given how the introduction sets the track up. The ending, as well, while alright, I think was a tad overdrawn and perhaps needed a little more variety in it just to change it up from being just one long fadeout. You've got some good ideas here, they just need polishing up a bit more.

-Review Request Club

Birdinator99 responds:

Ah, yes, the bass; I hate it so much lol. It sounds so different on every speaker type it's really hard to get it right.

Great comments -- thanks for the good ideas!

[Modern Warfare]

Review Request Club

You've got a nice introduction, but I don't think it relates very well to the section after, to the point where I think you'd probably be better off without it, as the entrance of the snares is quite emphatic in itself, and doesn't need that introduction. You'd start off with more of a bang without it.

That being said, you've got a really nice first section, but everything feels quite distant? I think some of the instruments could have been brought out of the texture more to give more of an intensity to it, because you've set quite a ferocious pace, but everything is kind of lurking in the background, so it sort of feels like a scout has just started to see the enemy lines, as opposed to the armies lining up for battle, for example. Just bring something out a little more to sharpen that texture.

As a heroic theme, I think this does work, because you've got some nice warm strings and a lot of texture going on there, I really like the section between 1:00 and 2:00ish where the drums get a lot bassier again and it's just the low strings and wind instruments, there it feels quite serene, but emphatic at the same time; as if there is peace, but it's hard won at that. And the re-entrance of the strings at 2:18 does feel very emotional. Definitely works as a hero theme.

...as far as the 'action' part goes, apart from what I've already said, I think you need a few more rhythmic aspects in this to give it a more intense action-y edge. So this could be...more drums, or have your snare drum be more prominent than it is, or string parts which aren't just long sustained notes...one NG example I can think of is "Entering the Stronghold", which has a lot of rhythmic aspects and definitely has an action-like theme to it; lots of percussion and pretty rhythmic strings. On top of that, you could have more of a buildup; make the listener think that something big is about to happen, and then have some kind of louder section nearer the end to signify the action itself.

The outro I thought was a bit weird; again, sort of unrelated to the rest of the song, as the intro was, but ironically you did have the beginnings of a nice drum beat there; if that extended into perhaps a heavier section, I think this could definitely work as a piece, with this being the more heroic themes and the next section being more action oriented.

In general, you've got some nice sounds and a lot of atmosphere, definitely hit the heroic mark, missed a little on the action front...but what you have thus far has a great amount of feeling to it, so you're definitely in the right direction. Take a second look at the intro and outro and I think this would be more than fine as a track.

-Review Request Club

popraz responds:

Thank you very much ! I'm actually trying to integrate the heroic theme, with some variations, into a more complex suite of themes, so, it's nice to know it works. The action part, I must admit, is not my strong side, still trying to figure it out. I realise the biggest fault of this song is its lack of cohesion, so the next one will be a bit more homogenous. Again, thank you for reviewing, I really appreciate it.

[Deep in the <3 of Us (instr)]

Review Request Club

Bass, definitely a highlight of the piece. The volume and depth of it is really kickass, and kind of fills the need for texture all by itself, so when the guitar comes in, even though it's quite thready in sound, it's got a nice deep bass to lean into, and so while the instruments themselves are few in number, it doesn't feel empty, so by the end of the first minute you've got a really kind of dark, moody atmospheric feel to the track, which is kind of awesome.

The way the transitions aren't all that uniform is also really cool, because the instrumentation of the piece kind of makes it work; any thicker a texture and it probably would have seemed just messy, but here you've just got a nice element of surprise and anticipation because you can't quiiite tell when things are going to change up a little more. A really nice part is where the drums start getting heavier at 1:40, and for about 3 seconds you have a pretty defined rhythmic aspect before everything goes back up in the air a little. I love how the drums pull everything in a little more together in the parts where the toms come into play a bit more. Seriously, this is some really nice work, I'd be surprised if this didn't end up in a flash at some point.

In all...I can't really fault this. You've got a great atmosphere, a pretty haphazard structure which fits that atmosphere perfectly, and a nice set of sounds to pull the whole thing off. I love the way you've got the click sound filling in for the percussion in the lighter sections, as well as the static throughout. It's a great track, just nicely roughened around the edges. Really good work.

-Review Request Club

MarkArandjus responds:

Hey thanks for your review, I'm glad it's getting good feedback. The song was actually nearly lost when my computer crashed, luckly I showed it to a friend so he could mail it back to me when I got my new hard drive.

Thanks again!
-Mark