Lockyn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Serenity]

(Apologies for the very late review. Broken computer + moving into new apartment = QQ)

My oh my.

The subtle pad fade in and the guitar plucks. Love the whistle and guitar work meshing together. Immediately I get a very worldly, soaring, majestic feel from the sound. I almost thought the whistle was a flute at first! (I play the flute.) Mix is balanced, a bit on the quiet side which is good in this case. The drums introduced around 0:42 didn't cut through the bass end on your guitar that well, especially with that new mid string pad in the way. I do understand you meant to use the drums just to keep the rhythm in check and give the track a bit more of a push in terms of energy, but I do think the drums could use a volume boost and more precise eqing.

I like the change up in the chord progression around 1:43, I'm glad you didn't keep using the same from before. It helps to keep the feel of the majestic parts when they come back in around 2:04. In general, your track has a solid structure, great melodic variation and instrumental variation, and solid atmospheric feel. You did a great job, especially with this genre/style.

The reason I didn't give you a five was mainly because I feel that you could have done a lot more with the second chorus. It has a very similar feel to the first one with some slight changes in the mid string pad and the melodies, and I think if you had maybe even added some cool abrupt stops in the second iteration of the chord progression it would have given it such a nice change. What I mean is, after the chord progression goes through once and it starts again, each bar will play the drums and the synths through for three beats of the bar and the last one will stop on a drum, leaving the melody to push into the next bar on the fourth beat. I don't know if you exactly get it from here, but some thought into variation would have made this a five for me.

Great work, and keep it up. Cheers :)

NGAUC Finals review: 8/10

bassfiddlejones responds:

Thank you for the review! I appreciate the critique.

[The Cosmic Prelude]

(Apologies for the very late review. Broken computer + moving into new apartment = QQ)

Ohoho.

First thing I notice is the mix. Nice and balanced, volume is normalized properly. Great job keeping your stereo image in check, nothing blaring in one ear or anything like that. The intro bass has a nice phaser panning effect to it. :06, love that almost muted sounding pad synth. Strings echoing this pad sound was a nice touch on the high end, the bit of delay helped to bring it out despite not being too loud.

Chord progression wise, it is very reminiscent of many other things I have heard, in a good way, because honestly it is this type and style of sound that represents what you are trying to create. "Majestic" is probably the best way to describe the track throughout.

0: 46, 1:35 ish, there is are sudden chord changes and I was so glad it did. I know this type of piece is not meant for a lot of variation in that aspect because that is what keeps its slow, grandeur feel, but I honestly I feel like you could have put a bit of your own flair into it. Of course, you want to keep this atmosphere there, but I honestly did take off most of the points because I feel there could have been a more original touch to this somehow.

For what this piece is and the feeling you created while I was listening, it did quite well. I do hope you revisit this and approach it from a more original angle while trying to keep that majestic feel. Cheers and good luck with your future works :)

NGAUC Finals review: 6.5/10

Bardash responds:

Life got rather busy so I am sorry for this late response. Thank you for you comments. They are greatly appreciated.

[Systematic Indecision]

OHOHOHOHO. yesssssssssss.

I like this a lot.

Love the intro ambiance with that voice sample. Honestly I think the sample could have been a bit shorter, but considering the genre and the style it's supposed to be listened, it's perfectly fine. Nice vocal panning with the sample right before the beat drop at :44.

At the drop, the droning bass is at a perfect supporting volume and the drums are solid. The little stops you have in your drum pattern are nice, but I would have liked a compressed open hihat/splash to fill the holes so it doesn't stop the flow of the drums and provide a little variation in pattern.

Love the phaser effects in the background throughout this part. The siren jitter synth at 1:10 - amazing. Great effect that contributes to the insane energy of dnb. Transition into the quiet part with the gentle plucks was smooth, the 1:32 jitter synth with the gentle plucks was such a jarring contrast it sent chills down my spine. Great placement there.

1:42, back to the beat and more drum variations! awesome. The little stops on this part were better because you used the kick as the stop sound. The phaser sounds continue, really nice touch, and the fading high pitched sound helps to fill out the high parts, nice effect. Reverb on the reverse cymbal around 2:52 was perfect. Little vocal echoes are subtle and nice.

Bass swell around 3:14 was sick. I noticed you used this offtune hit sound, almost like something vibrating - that is amazing. I love the placement. You used it earlier around the first quiet part, after the first drop and in the transition to the second. Great variation and sample usage.

Around 4:12 to 4:21, I like the gently changing stringlike synths in the back, they are a great complement to the chaotic elements surrounding it. Transition back to the original drum patterns with the offbeat light snares was a nice tone down to the end. Sick ending with the jitter synth abruptly cut off.

All in all dude, you blew me away. This track is downright amazing work. I just have little nitpicks for you that I listed, but your mixdown was spot on and your track is so unique, especially for dnb. You've got a great thing going - you earned a follower and a favorite. Good luck in the competition! Cheers.

9/10
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NGAUC Knock-out Round Review

Waidmann responds:

thank you friend.

[Everlasting Rain]

Ooh.

I like that effect on the intro guitar pluck, although it makes it feel just slightly behind the beat. It kinda detracts from the flow of the track until the transition into the electric guitar around :31, so I'd take a look at the timing of your delay and how loud it is. I like the variation in your chord progression, it changes a lot and you do well with the transitions.

Your drum patterns are really varied which I like a lot. The little ride cymbal roll around 1:16 was a nice little touch! The quiet section afterwards with the guitar solo is a sick transition into my favorite section - around 1:45. Love the triplet/syncopated part here with the guitar chords, it gives it a much more driving, intense feel. However, I wish you had used stronger ride cymbals and more syncopated kick patterns (remember metal drum set double kicks!), would have made this section stand out a lot more in a good way.

Transition back into the first chorus around 2:18, sounds similar except for an additional layered lead guitar which is the usual fair but I enjoyed it nevertheless. Good simple ending wrapped it up nicely.

Reasons why I didn't give it a 5: Mixing and timings. Some of the synths, like the guitar pluck with delay in the beginning, just didn't fit with your beat. They were slightly behind or ahead and dragged the flow of the track down and it really detracted from my initial listen through of your track. Mixing wise, your track is very one dimensional right now. It would really help to use a stereo enhancer or splitter plugin on your guitar chords and split them to both left and right, offsetting the timing on one side by a couple milliseconds - fills the track up with the sound, giving the track a bigger, more whole feel. Your drums were a bit too soft in general - up the volume and give them a little reverb. Mixing needs time and patience - it really is what makes a track sound professional.

Keep it up. I enjoyed it! Cheers.

6.5/10
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NGAUC Knock-out Round Review

rainheart666787 responds:

Thanks for the honest review! I have read this a few times and do agree with everything here. Mixing is not my forte but I am taking some mixing lessons online to help me in the future. Thank you again, its feedback like this that makes me strive to be better.

[Spring Surge]

Well then.

This is quite the happy piece. Starts off with a fairly simple chord progression; I like your synths, they mesh with your style of music quite well. I like that quiet arpeggiator in the background, although I would have liked it much more if it were louder, I feel like it's a bit buried in your mix right now.

At :50 when the snare kicks in after the fairly common drum pattern transition, the layered lead pluck has a nice gentle melody that complements your happy chords quite well. The transition into the next lead sound after is a bit subtle - I like the lead here much more, and I feel like it should have been a bit louder. It seems like it's the same volume as the rest of the instruments you're using.

At 1:30, when you have the bridge into the next half of the song, I really feel a bit of variation in the bass would have greatly improved this section. Perhaps just some note changes, or rhythm change - overall though, nice build up into the section especially with the layered plucks before 1:50!

Here I like the single chord pattern along with the changing plucks (I feel like there's a music term for this arrangement...), great work with the variation. The transition into the faster drum patterns at 2:49 ish was pretty subtle, nice job. The instruments don't have too much variation from before, still the same chord pattern and similar rhythms and melodies until the climactic section at 3:10.

Here, I honestly enjoyed this part the most besides the glissando ending. The drums you used weren't the best, or perhaps you didn't spend to much time on them - but I feel like they could be brought out more in general. You usually want your percussion a little louder than the rest of your synths. Nice touch bringing back the original form of the melody with all the layered synths.

The glissando ending... took me by surprise. I liked it a lot honestly. Probably my favorite part of the track. The little stutter roll with all the sounds right before as the pace of the track increased was great.

Now the main reasons I didn't give this a 4 or a 5 were two things: originality and mixing. The chord progression pretty much stayed the same throughout, and it is a pretty commonly used progression... you did manage to keep me interested throughout the track so you did well with it anyways. The melodies seemed a bit incoherent sometimes, kinda like they were doodling around... I have this same problem with melodies. Sometimes I'm not sure when to wrap them up and call it a day, so I understand. If you go too far with a melody it gets hard to remember and feels awkward. Mixing wise, I really wish you had panned some samples and sounds left or right or at least gave it a bit of stereo treatment. Everything seemed pretty much dead center, which is fine for this style since there's no heavy synths or drums to fill up headroom, but I feel this track would be MASSIVELY improved with just some careful stereo manipulation, moving certain sounds across the stereo spectrum. It gives a track life; makes it feel more real and whole.

All in all, you made my day happier. A bit too happy, in fact. Keep at it and good luck! Cheers.

6.5/10
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NGAUC Knock-out Round Review

LunacyEcho responds:

Thanks for the massive review, Lockyn! I've admired your work for a while and it's an honor to have you review my stuff.

=> quiet arpeggios =>

I kind of wanted to keep those quieter so that the main melody wouldn't me overpowered.

=> overpowered main melody at 1:12 =>

Derp derp.

=> 1:30 bass =>

Sigh... I don't like coming up with basslines. :D I guess I put more stock into the sound of the bass rather than the melody it plays.

=> subtle transition =>

Great! Two of the things I've been trying to work on improving lately are transitions and structure. Good to see this one worked in your eyes. (ears?)

=> drums =>

The electronic drum set (as opposed to the more acoustic drum set playing for the first 3:07) wasn't really focused on too much. I was working on this up until around fifteen minutes before the deadline, and the ending drums were some of the things I was working on last. :D

=> glissando ending =>

You know, that thing has been getting way more positive feedback than I expected. I enjoyed making the stutter roll too. It's one of my favorite musical flourishes.

=> originality =>

The i-iv-i-v progression is REALLY common, as I'm sure you know. I used it because I wasn't trying for originality of chord progression - it's a catchy progression and its wide usage is probably a testament to that. I think the mood of the track fit the i-iv-i-v progression a lot better than it would some more original progression that I could've thought up. (although I don't blame you for docking points - after listening to a ton of music, it must get annoying :P )

=> mixing =>

ahhhhhhhhhhhh that was the thing i was going to do but then forgot because i ran out of time nooooo

Normally, the last things I do are automations and stereo treatment, since it's hard to change the structure and feel of the song once I add those. I didn't have time to add instrument panning. :( Then again, that might be for the best, since I've been doing that lately and it has not been going well.

Thank you so much for the giant review! I really enjoyed it.

[Primal Time]

Wow. I admire your bravery - submitting TRAP to this contest!? You fool!!!

In all honesty, I liked it a lot. The intro has a really nice atmosphere to it - sets the mood for the track title. (I recognize that wind downlifter vengeance sample btw. ;D) The chord arppegiator helped fill out the space, as it felt quite roomy until the bass was introduced, which is nicely done. Hihat roll patterns very reminiscent of most recent trap releases, so nothing new there. I really like the gentle almost vocal sounding echo note every four beats, it's a nice touch. The distorted blip is a really nice synth!

Nice siren riser and saw riser into the drop at around :30! Now here, the perc is nicely varied - I like the wind chime sounds in the back and the stick clicks all really nice touches. When the hihats come back in with a octave lowered blip, that part is where I feel the energy from the words "primal time" really kick in. The rising synth after seems a bit out of place because of a certain reason I'll point out later when I explain why I rated this 3/5.

The voice cuts into the synth back-and-forth section is one of my favorites of this track. The droning bass helps to keep the energy high. Then till the end, an interesting ending - you built up towards it! Nice.

Now for the reason I didn't give this a 4 or a 5, and this is pretty much solely the reason why. It's not your arrangement or your melodies or your mixdown - you have a pretty good feel of that I think. It's the INTENSITY of your sounds and drums, ESPECIALLY for a genre like trap. I'm not sure if you were going for trap when you made this, or perhaps you haven't heard of it yet, but your drums and synths all point toward that genre. The problem is, they're just not intense enough. Trap is categorized by high energy drums with almost overly compressed hits and short tails. The hihats sound almost like knives slicing into your eardrums. The sine bass used along with the kicks are usually quite strong and help to fill out the headroom of the track, because trap uses high pitched synths and varied short melodies like you did to fill the melody part and they aren't very substantial by themselves. I'm not saying to make everything loud - you need to make everything crisper, cleaner, and more POP BOOM POW, if that makes sense. I'm not saying to throw a Maximus on everything, because that's not how it's done. Have you heard of Aero Chord? He's a great example of how to get intensity without sacrificing mixdowns/proper headroom. Listen to his track Surface. You'll understand what I mean.

You may not have been going for this kind of sound at all in the first place, in which case I apologize. But honestly, you have to consider that the reason trap stays popular despite it's relatively basic/repetitive synthing and drums, the intensity of all the sounds drives the energy behind the track. If you are going for this sound, please consider this in your future works.

All in all, I enjoyed it. Keep it up man. I hope my comments helped, and if not, I hope they gave you another perspective at least. Cheers!

6/10
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NGAUC Knock-out Round Review

JoshuaHughes responds:

Thanks for making probably the most detailed review I've gotten so far! The whole time I was making this, I was thinking of Kor-Rune's NGADM submissions, and I was like "What the fuck am I even doing." Not only did I have no experience whatsoever in the genre, but it's not even a good contest genre in the first place. I felt it was so necessary to make, though. Not because I felt like the contest needed a trap track, but because I needed to make one for myself to explore some new techniques and my current abilities. Probably won't be a regular thing, but I'm very happy that you and LSD like it!

I think you have confirmed one of my fears when mixing, which is the fear of overcompression. This is probably my loudest track I've submitted so far, but I'm always nervous of those RMS values. This one had around -6 to -8 dbs, but I'm thinking I should maybe go up to -4 to really get a more full sound. Also, I'm absolutely trash on the low ends. It's something I've been working hard on remedying, but man do I feel like I'm missing an obvious key to the puzzle. I'll get it sometime.

"I recognize that wind downlifter vengeance sample btw. ;D"

Busted!

[Recharge {Dj-Abbic}]

Holy hot damn. We've got a kicker here.

Nice and succinct intro. Classic, good, tried-and-true layering of basses and synths, love your syncopation up till :30. The almost toybox playful high plucks at :31 contrast so nicely with the hard basses you had right before, and I love that pulsing bass you layer here. The build up here with the snare, usual fair but works out well. Simple melodies push your driving bassline on, and I really like that you kept the melody fairly simple throughout - it can be easy to get lost trying to give it too much variety.

Around 1:00, the square riser is really nicely done. I feel like I hear hihats at this part but they're not really brought out? I'm not exactly sure but if you did put hihats I feel like they should have been either EQ'd better in the mix or compressed to be brought out more, it would have been a nice variation in the kick-snare four on the floor pattern (electro/complextro can get repetitive in this manner so it's always nice to have variation when we can, it's a problem I have in my own production).

At 2:07, the quiet part starts again, and jeez, this might sound nitpicky, but I feel the drum pattern you used here with the claps and hihat just didn't fit your piece. You've got a high energy, fast moving bassline with heavy hitting drums, and that little clap rhythm killed my mood for a bit honestly. If you had a light bass drum to go along with the pattern to make a short almost dnb like pattern it would have filled out nicer with the rest of the piece but this is just my 2 cents on this.

At 2:29, when it picks up again, I really like that extra measure you left after the repeat drop for the bass to swell - that was a sick move. Then holy hot damn the bass hits. I love your bass work here. Nicely mixed, tight and controlled - I never felt overwhelmed but it was varied enough to have that complextro feel, so great work here. The little screech pitch bend in the bass was awesome.

Here's one thing I should mention: I recognize your kick and snare samples *wink wink*. You know what I'm talking about. You used them really well though, and they were nicely placed in your mixdown. I'd try finding more variety as you grow as a producer though, people out there recognize familiar samples, and many think they're "amateur" or "unprofessional" to use even though that has nothing to do with it. Just a friendly suggestion! If you need help finding samples to use or synthing your own, shoot me a PM.

All in all dude, you killed it. Love the track and I hope you continue this way. You earned yourself a follow and a favorite! Cheers.

5/5
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NGAUC Knock-out Round Review

DjAbbic responds:

I really wanted to respond to these earlier but they were so awesomely detailed I could barely find the time :p.

I'm glad you liked the intro. At the beginning I was thinking of making that syncopation a main part of the track, but I thought it wouldn't be enough to qualify as a 'drop' so I made it a part of the intro instead.

You're right about the hihats. I did try to bring them out, but I think (and this is probably due to my sample choice) that they didn't fit into the mix too well when they were brought out, so I left them as part of the background. It's great that you pointed this out though, because next time I'll know that if something doesn't fit into the mix, it's probably the sample itself that needs to be changed, not the EQ'ing.

Now that you mention it, I also feel like that drum pattern at the break doesn't fit too well, although I think that would've been impossible for me to notice by myself :P. I'm not too experienced with DnB either so I guess I'd just have to consider this a fault.

Glad you liked the complextro. It's always the hardest part to make if you want it to flow properly. The screech pitch bend bass is my favourite part of it too :D.

As for the samples, I'm quite surprised you were able to recognise them (as far as the snare goes anyway). I put some compression and distortion on the kick drum, and I put some EQ and reverb on the LAYERED snare samples so I'm quite impressed that you were able to recognise them :p. I occasionally go on free sample hunting sprees though, so hopefully this problem won't be there in the future :).

Thanks heaps for such a detailed review. Like I said earlier, I was wanting to respond to this sooner but a worthy reply would take a lot longer than the time I had previously :p.

Glad you enjoyed this!

[Slow Me]

Holy-

Dude, this is sick. The chords were what pulled me in immediately - the uniqueness compared to many of the tracks produced nowadays really sets this apart. I'm getting a big New Wave/Slow Funk revival feel to this, and hot damn I love it. The one thing that bothers me is the reverb delay is a bit much, it stretches into the other chords and gives it a little bit too much dissonance for my liking.

When the sax comes in at :26, really nice meshing of the sounds here. Honestly, I can't even tell that it's synthed, and in this case it might even be better because you want a smooth sustained alto sound to continue that chill, slow feel, and the real alto might have some unwanted blips. Great job keeping the melody simple, it's easy to overcomplicate it.

At 1:18, when the ride cymbal comes in along with the slow arppegiator, love the more energetic feel here. You've got a really really classic structure in this piece and it fits so well! Nice touch with the sidechain on the main pad, it helped to keep the mix in check. At 1:44, that transition is really nicely done - love that high pluck, keeps things interesting and it had a really nice triplet roll intro!

After that, you did a nice job calming down the track to give the listener some rest from the main section, and I'm glad you started changing up the drum patterns here because I was starting to get some fatigue. I would have liked a variation to the alto melody around 2:50 when it picks up a little, perhaps with a different instrument, but I do like the little chord instrument with the alternate melody around 3:05! Nice calm part here, but it would have helped to add a little fade tail to each lead note to help give the fading feel at this part.

From there, not many other complaints. Solid mixdown and great synths. Nice slow ending. I really enjoyed this and I hope you continue this way!

4.5/5
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NGAUC Knock-out Round Review

Birdinator99 responds:

I know what you mean about the chords, man. Once I stumbled upon them, I knew that with the right instrument, they would sound really good!

Unique is a word I've heard describing my tracks before; glad to keep that going.

In retrospect, this song is too wet for its own good, something that's more obvious when played back on larger speaker setups, something I didn't have much access to at the time, unfortunately.

Haha, that alto. I guess it helps when it's surrounded by synths and organs, but really it's not a great sound in solo.

At 1:18, that's the hi hat, bro! The sidechaining was an impulse decision, and I'm glad it payed off. That triplet roll was something I had in my head for a long time. It was exciting to finally record it.

I wanted to bring the alto back at some point, which is why it's playing the chords starting at 3:55. It fades a little on each note, but yeah it could use more.

You bet I'll continue this way! Thanks for judging!

[Flip Flop]

I honestly think this is the best track you've created out of everything you've made so far. The ideas are out of this world... I still can't get over how jarringly smooth that arpeggiator fade transition into the house beat and the syncopated piano chords. I've listened to this before but I never got around to reviewing it... but holy hot damn this is a masterpiece. Well balanced and well mixed throughout the track, although I feel like slightly compressing the right hand on your piano and adding a delayed reverb would be really nice and would fill out the piano/drums parts in the intro and the middle. Those synth rolls in the drops that fade in after 8 bars or so... so good.

Please please please revisit this sometime. PLEASE!

Voltus responds:

Thanks for the Review! I'm really jazzed you like it that much. The whole Reverb and delay thing is just something which I only recently discovered how much of an impact even just small adjustments can make. I'm not one to revisit something like this piece because I'm quite glad how it turned out even though it has some minor flaws. But maybe it'll happen.

Cheers!

[Massacre (Original Mix)]

Your intros always blow me away man. Sorry I've been hard to reach recently - I've been real busy, but I can see that you've been pretty busy yourself ;) Really nice track here, keep it up! I love your twist on this genre.

MadhouseDUDE responds:

Thanks man!!