Animith's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rain on the Lily Pond]

Review Request Club

The lack of sound quality is a crying shame in this. If sounds like the mic was too far away from the actual instrument, because the reverb from it completely overtakes the actual hits of the instrument. It'd be like if you recorded a piano solo and then threw so much reverb on it that you couldn't really hear the melody clearly enough. And it's annoying, only because the melodies you are playing sound really good, save for the fact that the echo off of them is taking the greater precedence in the track. I think a definite thing would be rerecording this, because you've got a good piece, which is let town terrifically by the sound quality.

There's something that comes in around the 2nd minute which has this really high, smooth quality to it which ws really nice. Not sure whether it was just a high marimba or something else, but it really did stick out for me.

Marimbas in general are a total rarity on NG, so it's nice to see it used in such a way here. You've got some really nice varieties of melodies and depths, and you make pretty good uses of the silences inbetween. This could be....and basically IS, a really awesome track. There but for the grace of a better recording; I think that's really all you're lacking.

-Review Request Club

Cimba responds:

I'll let you know if i get this rerecorded, but for future reviewers i am aware of the sound quality so please comment on the musicallity.

[SN | Beautiful Arrhythmia | SN]

Review Request Club

Really nice, calm start. Even when the fast-paced drum comes in, it's quiet and glitchy enough to still maintain that really quiet atmosphere, which is really nicely done. I think by the 1:00 mark the glitches and drums are perhaps going a little too insane...not for the beats, but for drowning out the piano and pads out a little too much.

The beats themselves, despite being incredibly fast, are really nicely done and you completely avoid the machine-gun trap that people tend to get into with this speed of drums. I think it's obvious you put a lot of time and effort into the drums, and it really shows in all the right places; really great to see a drum beat this fast and this complex still work this well, and somehow not manage to make the piece sound heavy or aggressive.

Ach, ye should have just sung it the octave higher xD Singing live always always always beats pitch shifting/autotune, and the pitch shift here serves to make the vocals just sound more artificial than they should...it's when you have to disclaim that you didn't autotune that you KNOW you should have sung it live :P It was a nice idea, though I think the transition into it was maybe too abrupt...like, even if you'd just left the pads in underneath the voice it probably would have sounded better.

Really well crafted piece. Insane drum work, nice glitches...definitely wouldn't mind seeing more of this kind of thing from you.

-Review Request Club

SessileNomad responds:

lol its all i make anymore these days, expect more xD

[It's a Fuckin Loop!?]

Review Request Club

Loops perfectly, which is awesome. I think it's the kind of thing that would work for a relatively short sequence, because after the 4th or 5th loop I did feel like I had to stop it for the repetitiveness, but for a short sequence, such as a little part of a flash or part of a menu screen, this would be really effective.

You could certainly develop this into a full song, or even a slightly longer loop so it can be used for a longer time. I think one problem with this is that through the 22 seconds there's not much variation of the main tune, so it's repeating itself within the loop, giving it less of a shelf life before it gets highly repetitive. I think if you're going to make this longer, you need a few more synths or variation just to give it that extra dimension. But for a loop, this works fine; nicely done.

-Review Request Club

Dj-GST responds:

Yeah, I'll work on some variation and make it longer.

thanks for the review :)

[<MWA> Erroneous Glitch]

Review Request Club

How you made glitches sound ambient is a little beyond me, but it is pretty damn awesome that you accomplished it. You set up a really nice pace by the first minute, and so while the pads are still technically playing the same thing, it doesn't feel repetitive, and while it is quite fast-paced, it still feels laid back.

A lot of the time, we have to say things like "You need to add more instruments or variety to this, because the main instruments sound repetitive otherwise"...and you do that perfectly. In the first minute you've got the drums and the other sounds, when the main melody comes in the second and third minute you've got all these different sounds coming in to support it, never mind all the little glitches and automations...it's a relatively simple melody and chord, and you create something really epic with it.

All the sounds are really nicely crafted/chosen...I think the one that comes in high at 2:58ish is perhaps a little too piercing for something so high up, but that's probably just me. And the ending with the piano/strings is really nicely done, and even the occasional glitch you throw in works really well.

Very nicely crafted piece, top-notch. First 10 I've given in audio for a while.

-Review Request Club

mjattie responds:

:) thanks a lot. It's nice to get good feedback on something I've been working for some time on.

[[AL] Pretending]

Review Request Club

...Yeah, I would have never guessed you played this live. Over-quantising something you played live is always a pretty good way of making it sound that way...I think that unless you really have played it THAT out of time, that you shouldn't quantise live things any more than is needed, because having everything dead-straight on time is a good way to make it sound synthesized. Perhaps more than that is the fact that every note is being played at what seems to be the exact same dynamic, so I'd say that either you need to work on your dynamics a lot more and/or if you're using an electric keyboard, see if it is touch-sensitive as far as how loud it will play the notes, or fiddle with the dynamics of it in reason to give it a more natural sound.

I thought the cymbal at the start (or whatever it was?) with the piano was a little weird, just because generally you don't start songs with a cymbal crash? xD
I liked the drum beat that came in after, though. It was present, but didn't overpower the piano and had some really nice glitchy sounds to it. I was about to say it was lacking a bass but then realised it was my speakers sucking, so now with headphones in I can say I really like the bass/again, present, but not overpowering. And at 1:30ish or so, you also had some quieter piano(?) sounds in the back which were really nice.
I think it's the entrance of the string/wind sounds at 1:40ish where you lost me on the hip-hop idea. But then again, I'm a total noob when it comes to what hiphop is in general, never mind olskool hiphop, so maybe this is what it does sound like xD As a piece in general though, I did like it. Despite the slightly-manufactured sound of the piano, you did have a lot of feeling there and I think this really matched the title of your song. Keep it up.

-Review Request Club

ChampionAnwar responds:

Ever since I found out about quantize, I've pretty much never looked back. I've always quantized stuff perfectly, a lot of the time it just doesn't sound "in time" enough, even though I know it is. Oh and yes, dynamics is something I haven't used in ages, I just get the line tool and make everything the same nowadays, I'll have to go back to actually keeping the velocity at it's original amount, it does make better sound now that I think about it :D! Thanks man!

Regarding dynamics on certain parts, that's something I'm gonna get on right away (first on mah list) hehe. I may just play it again and leave the dynamics and it seems to have just made it sound too processed.

Oh and I'm not really into HipHop music much, so I don't have that much of a clue either, I just asked one of my friends and he was like that's hiphop and I was like cool xP. I'm glad you liked my orchestral section! :D

Thanks for the awesome review maaaaaaan! :D :D

[[dB] Isolation]

Review Request Club

I didn't mind the melody being the same throughout. Through my /severely/ limited knowledge of this kind of genre, I've heard songs which generally have the same melody throughout. To use perhaps the only example I know by name, Sandstorm, by Darude? Used pretty much the exact same 4-bar melody throughout the entire 4-minutes version of that track...but it's what happens to it, and what's behind and around it that makes it not cross the line from memorable into repetitive. While I get they're not exactly the same genre (or they could be, I have no idea), I think this is what this track is lacking' the variation needed to make this melody stick it out for three minutes without sounding repetitive.

I didn't even mind the melody just playing itself out until we got to about the 1:08 mark, where I started feeling like something else needed to be done, like another melody, or just another more prominent countermelody being added in...piano is an incredibly versatile instrument, you can make it seem varied simply by shifting it up an octave, or even reversing the sounds, or giving the melody to another track. Or perhaps the most effective; cut it out completely for portions of the track. Because it gives you a greater opportunity to build BACK into the main theme, not just over it. The bass/drum line you have going from about 1:35ish had me thinking for its entire time that with a bit of work it would have made a kickass buildup. Cause you had no piano, you just had the drum and bass all on their own, and so the entire track is toned down a little. So while you did use it to just slowly wind the track down, I think it could have easily been used to wind it all the way back up again into some big kind of final climax, which is what I was almost expecting. Even if you didn't do any of that, just having a few more synths supporting the piano here and there would help you a lot; it gives the listener something else to focus on if they find the piano too repetitive.

It's got a lot of potential, but I think you liked that melody a little too much and it got a bit overused and overexposed. There is such a deal as too much of a good thing; tone it down a little, maybe take it out totally for a few bars...give your listeners something more to anticipate.

-Review Request Club

Decibel responds:

Amazing Review, I appreciate the honesty and I thank you.
This ideas inspired me, i'll get 2 work on it as soon as possible!

>Deejay<

[I have a potion]

8-bit...on acid.

Pretty much the long and short of this. Like, the kind of thing I'd be expecting to hear in a Mario game where he got splatted by a hammer and had to walk around in a daze, and the walls start swirling or something equally trippy. it's very interesting, and when you review as much audio as we tend to...interesting is always somewhat refreshing.

The first two seconds or so caught me off-guard because there wasn't the discernible beat there and it did kind of feel like a few random chords strung together. But by about 0:03 you started establishing the feel of the beat and the track started gaining a little more structure. A bit of an unorthodox beat, but a cohesive one nonetheless.

The voice could have done with being a little clearer, or just a little louder relative to the lead synths. Because if you hadn't typed out the lyrics in the comments, I would have had close to no idea what was being said. I think you messed with it a little too much and made it a little too ambient and in-the-background so the more buzzing nature of the synths just cut through it completely. But apart from that, I have no complaints about your choice of sounds; they're all pretty easy on the ears to listen to and they all compliment eachother pretty nicely. I heard some pad sounds here and there, kinda wished there was a little more of it, but then again the silences between the kind of semi-lurching lead synth did add to the feel a whole lot.

This is really nicely done. Unorthodox, which is -while not speaking for everyone- definitely the kind of submissions I really don't mind reviewing at all. If no-one was unique then no-one would be interesting, so it's nice to see this kinda steps out from the usual 8-bit. Keep it up, as always.

-Review Request Club

Calamaistr responds:

awesomes. and yea ill someday make the voice clearer.

Hmm, i dont know about being onorthodox but i guess my style isnt very generic.
There are more people who make non-generic music on ng :)

Thanks for finding this worthy of a 8.

Greets -Cal :)

[antiexasperation]

Review Request Club

The start reminds me of the music that was on the game "Insurgo". Maybe just because they're both played on electric guitar, but they both kind of have the same feel...like it's just someone jamming whose made a nice melody to play and felt like recording it. It's nice and lighthearted, and puts you in a good mood for the rest of the song. When the rhythm kicks in a little more, it's kind of even more of the same; feels like you happened to hit record during a righteous jam session and this is a part of what you were playing.

I think for criticisms...the palm muting was a little off, it felt a bit crackly under the amp, and probably could have been a little cleaner/more muted...and the tone in general could have been a little cleaner. I'd be interested to hear the "better version" of the song just to see if this is claned up or not, but here it's a little distracting from the melodies...but at the same time, does give it something of an authentic feel.

There's definite potential here; could use a little improving and maybe the addition of a drum or bassist just to add another dimension...but I kinda like it as it is. It's nice and unassumingly earthy, and I love the track for it. Nicely done.

-Review Request Club

axlisbak responds:

thanks for taking the time out to listen and review, regarding the clean tone, the crappy mp3 player recorder does it no justice compared to the human ear, and the better version is pretty much the exact same as this but way too distorted and has an electric solo layered onto the end, id upload it but its not worth it. thanks again

[Stargenx - PsyRockin]

Review Request Club

..Yeah, definitely for artificial guitar, this is a better-than average sound, and you definitely use it well throughout. It does sound a little computerised at points, but never so much so that it gets irritating.

The song itself is nicely done; the drum beat is simple, but works well with the other instruments and gives it that heavy grounding against the lighter guitars, and the keyboard sounds give it that extra depth. It's structurally pretty solid, though you maybe could have had a little more variety chordally; it seemed to be based on the same three or so chords throughout, and though it's used well between the different guitar and keyboard sounds, it does start to feel a little repetitive by the end. If you just went onto another set of chords or another riff at some point in the son before going back to the main chorus theme, it'd probably be fine.

This is a good track, but there's definite wiggle room there for expansion and improvement. Nicely done in general, though. Shows good potential, and great execution given the sounds you had to work with.

-Review Request Club

Stargenx responds:

Thanks for the review!
Like I said, I wanted to make a basic song with just basic parts.

[[SxHx] Mrng.Aftr (NGcut)]

Review Request Club

I didn't know what the difference was between French house and Chicago house before listening to this...and after having listened to it, was really none the wiser. Maybe it's just me, but both "styles" sounded exactly the same, to the point where I couldn't really tell where the transition took place. If there is a difference between French and Chicagoan house, I think it could have standed to be exaggerated a lot more than it was here, so even n00bs to House music would have some idea of what was going on.

The synths you have are all nicely chosen and nicely implemented, there's a definite high production value in terms of sound quality. What they're playing is also nice; there's some good melodies and automations, but as the piece gets longer these things definitely et more repetitive; maybe it's because I missed the transitions of styles, but the entire thing kind of felt like it started somewhere...and didn't move from that place at all. There was some definite scope to go on more of a journey with this track, and I think it was something of a missed opportunity to do something more, because what you have at the moment is good...just needs a little extra to keep the variety up to that same high level as the production of this is.

-Review Request Club

shesmackshard responds:

As for chicago house, its darker. French is more ambient and happy-esque. The transition is hard to spot for noobs because I didnt change instrumentation. But the bridge is written in chicago.

As for your second part - thats what house IS. reptititve dancing material.