Lockyn's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lines]

Thought I'd drop my quick thoughts while going through all the entries for the contest. Used to be a huge metal head so I really enjoyed the nice polyrhythm and suspended chords you got going through this, thought you captured that feel really well. However... jesus christ man your clipping is waaaaay over the top. All your guitar riffs are peaking and fuzzing especially when they layer together... you gotta bring the dB level down man, I had to lower my volume substantially compared to my usual listening level. Hope this helps - looking forward to seeing you in the future hopefully. Cheers.

RokaiYotama responds:

Thank you, I really appreciate the tips. I was trying out a lower tuning and I was just trying to figure out a way to eq it better with the low end stuff I do have. But I'll try and do what I can :)

[Fallout]

Damn man. Had to review this one as I was going through the entries. You killed it for me. Really well done, only thing is I wish some of the piano melody sections were a bit clearer in cutting through the mix, maybe some simple EQ would have helped bring it out. Either way, hope to see you in the next round. :)

SoundSpectre responds:

Thank you man glad you liked it, and thanks for the feedback :) i do remember giving a boost around the 5k mark on the piano though, maybe not enough of a boost or something else perhaps is clashing in this area.

[Counter-Cathexes[Piano]]

I had to give this one a quickie review as I was going through the entries. Man, you've got really nice melodies and progressions going through this piece, but damn I was waiting forever for SOMETHING to really develop from the beautiful groundwork you set. This piece has a lot of potential but right now it's just... there. it's nice, but really nothing else to lead into, you know? I was really hoping for some development, even if you had just done some reverb/delay work as the piece progressed to give it a more atmospheric feel as things went on would have kept me more interested. My 2 bits. Good luck in the contest, hope to see more from you :)

HeAvEn-SmiLE responds:

Hey hello, thank you for the review!

I can't say anything but that you're right, this version is not finished and it deserves to be more developped into its themes, this actually a light version, I've wrote the different changes for the finalized version that will have a lot more content to settle the player into an atmospheric world, this version is like a "raw" version of the theme I'm working, standing more like a concept that anything, so I just used the piano to settle this all!

About the contest: I've told before that I do not really wish to partake in this, because I don't feel ready and accomplished enough to put my self into musics that belong to professional composers like most of the composers here in NG, plus I have a personal thing against contests, nothing drastic, but I just wanted to find a honnest way to show my tracks to the others, and I'm glad to see the different feedbacks!

thank you a lot for your review, it helps me a lot to improve into what I'm doing.

[Save Cottage]

OH MY GOD

I had to review this one. I love your take on this theme. That initial melodic synth with your fx/sampling transitions really caught my attention. Really cool synths and samples in general, gives off a really modern future bass feel, solid mixdown all around, this one really shone as I listened through the submissions. Short and succinctly done. I went easy on the nitpicking but you should really watch out for your EQing and volume level, some instruments were on the harsh side. Thanks for making my day, hope to see you in the next round :) Cheers.

foxypanda69 responds:

wow i think thats about the nicest review ive gotten on newgrounds, thank you very much sir. I will pay more attention to those EQ's i did kinda rush this one (8 hours) :P

[Searching]

Ok, I'm only giving quickish reviews to a couple tracks since this is the first round but man I really wanted to say something. I loved this from about 0:55 onwards. Before that... the listless piano melody kinda took a bit away from the initial atmosphere. It felt like you were trying a bit too hard to settle that mood, do you know what I mean? If the melody itself were a bit more minimal and choicier with the notes, it would have fit better with the mood you were trying to set. Otherwise the rest was done succinctly, very nice work. Good luck in the contest, looking forward to hearing your future work :)

erlendflatin responds:

Yeah I get what you mean about the melody, maybe some better mixing would have made it blend better. It is live-improv over a certain set of notes, I did so to try and reflect the indeterminacy and tension of e.g. a drama movie scene. If I removed the piano all together it would probably be a little too minimal, at least without any visuals to support it. I appreciate your comment, it is always nice to hear other people views on stuff like this, so that I can improve my compositional judgement in the future ;)

[Steps]

You got guts submitting classic 2-step dubstep to this contest, lol. And you damn hit it real nice for me at least. Sick work. this isn't an official contest review as the first round doesn't require reviews, but I really wanted to shoot one by here to say you've got really good framework man. solid mixdown and really really classic feel, almost like old school Skream. I'd just suggest developing your melodic undertones more thoroughly, more presence from those would really help your track maintain authority as someone listens, its something Skream did really well. Listen to his track Midnight Request Line if you are wondering what I mean. good luck in the rest of the contest mate, hope to see you in the next round :)

Athanatos responds:

I do see what you mean, I just listened to that song and I really like it & its very close to my style. I appreciate everything you said. I'll keep everything in mind for my future tracks. Thanks!

[Elektrickz - E.D]

Man, you're killing me here.

I had to review this one real quick, nothing official or anything here, it was just bothering me. You've got some really good synths and decently solid mixing going on (part of that may just be nice sidechain use, glad you did that well), but you really do need something like a lead melody tying everything together. It's solid the way it is, that that 8 bit jitter synth that starts things off almost becomes the thing tying everything together but right now ideas are just scattered. I won't say anything about scoring or the like but you've done really well with this and I wanted to say a few words since I feel like you have potential to make this really nice. Keep it up and good luck in the contest. :)

Aleksander91 responds:

Hey!

Thank you for your review, much appreciated :)
I know it's a mess and I think I will start over to get it right.
I will try adding some melody as you say, maybe that will make it easier to get a picture off the track ;P

Thanks again man,
cheers

[Endless Dreamer]

This is goddamn sexy.

Kreyowitz responds:

Well thanks, mang. It FEELS sexy.

[Lockyn - Aqua (Aztech Remix)]

I love it <3 you already heard my comments over Skype :D Great work!

Kreyowitz responds:

Thanks man, your stuff is ALWAYS inspiring, and i'm looking forward to any FUTURE collabs with you!

[Out Of Twilight]

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

Oh mai goodness.

The little silence in the beginning - do you use FL Studio? ;D

I love the intro feel. You like dem major sevenths, and I like dem too. Great poppy drums, especially that snare! I would have given it slightly more reverb decay though so the snare has a nice longer tail but nice work nevertheless. Love the little bongo drums, very snappy. In general, the section up till :29 ish when it gets quiet is very concisely mixed and sounds great. Bass isn't too heavy and supports it nicely.

I love the chords around :35, really unique feel that reminds me of chrono trigger and such games for some reason! The rolling toms around :40 really help to push it into the next section, but I do think they're a bit loud and don't have enough reverb to fit in the mix as well as they should. The pitch down at :46 is awesome, I love it.

When the drums pick up again after that, the gentle arp really reminds me of Final Fantasy or other fantasy games. Great feel here. I can really imagine that reverse solar eclipse. You have a great structure to the song - when it drops off to that transition section before 1:30, I love those gentle plucks - and nice sudden square pad! I love how that is almost sounds like when the sunset is apparent, and finally disappears!

Great chords as always at 1:47, I like the gentle lead and the chord change up along with that triplet rhythm in the pulsing tom drum in the back behind the beat! That tom is bothering me a bit, it's almost a bit too loud and bouncy. I think if you had lowered the volume of it when your kick comes in on every beat it would have sounded better and not as crowded in the kick freqs.

Nice wrapup with the plucks! In general you've got a really unique and smooth track that transitions nicely between two different themes and I really enjoyed it. Good luck with your future works! I hope you continue this way :)

NGAUC Finals review: 8.5/10

Birdinator99 responds:

Apologies for the late reply! Let's get to it!

I use Mixcraft 6, but that little silence at the beginning was my fault, not the program's :) Forgot to fix it.

I agree about that snare reverb; needs a little more. Glad you liked the first section, though. Snappy!

I wasn't too happy with that tom when I put it in, but I thought that the filter fade at the end would save it, haha. Yeah, more 'verb, maybe.

I'm pleased that the instrumentation is doing something for you! It's always cool to remind people of certain games they've played -- happens more often than I would expect.

The bouncy tom does not play at the same time as the kick drum, however, maybe the tail end of it is overlapping a bit with the kick's frequencies. The kick, I find, is too loud in retrospect. Maybe it's so loud, it sounds like that tom is playing on top of it? Maybe. Could be the side-chaining bass, too. Ah, I'll figure it out.

Thanks for the kind words, although I disagree about the transition (ech). I'm not happy with my stuff structurally yet. More practice is needed, but in the meantime, I've got cool reviews like this to keep me going!

Cheers!