Everratic's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dreamland]

I like the bittersweet chord progression, and the orchestration is pretty good. I especially like the solo cello and choir lines. The transitions and pacing of the song are excellent.

I think the main thing that's missing from this track is a strong, thick bass line. I'm not necessarily referring to bass frequencies - it seems you covered that. To achieve the desired warmth with this type of music, you need a strong underpinning that could just be a single bass note per bar played by multiple instruments.

You might want to reduce the high-mids in the master channel to get a more dreamlike and less in-your-face sound. Here's a picture of what I mean: https://imgur.com/a/qinVPr3

I first listened to this with my phone speakers, and the sound was very distorted. That can be fixed somewhat by using dynamic EQ on certain instruments such as violin and piano or using a plugin such as Gullfoss.

Nice work!

KevinMueller responds:

Thanks for the review :)

Those are some great tips and I'll try to consider them next time.
Thanks a lot!

[Elves under Attack]

Your mixing has improved a lot! The mix feels wide, and it's pretty clean and balanced for the most part.

I dislike how the choir feels buried in the mix at times, but it blends well, isn't distracting, and enhances the piece nonetheless, so I suppose it works. I see Cinewinds is used here but I'm having trouble discerning the woodwinds. I think more woodwinds can be used for countermelodies, ornamentation, and doubling.

The tremolo note at 1:08 lasts too long imo, and it makes the track feel less realistic.

During the climax at 1:15, I think there's room to double the melody and horn notes with woodwinds an octave higher.

at 1:47, I think a flute can be used to soften the high strings and enhance the emotion.

There are many ways I can imagine the woodwind family enhancing this track, but I'm not sure if it would fit what you were aiming for.

This is a lovely piece with solid dynamics and structure.

KevinMueller responds:

Thanks again for your feedback EverErratic! I really appreciate it. :)

You're right, I could improve on my woodwinds. I'll definitely keep the tips you gave me in mind for the next time. :)

[Macrocosmic Malfunction]

I love the use of the choir. There's a lot of interesting sound design. This is a beautiful yet gloomy track.

LD-W responds:

Haha thanks! Surprised I managed to get it out in 3 hours, but there's nothing quite like a mega short deadline to get one to shift into top gear!

The main choir I was running in the track was 8DIO Requiem Professional on the Looped Marcato patch, keyswitching between different phrases. The rest of the voices used was a mixture of different patches in Zero-G Ethera 2.0

Alot of the atmospheric pads was done between my own custom-designed pads in Tone2 Gladiator along with a few source-stacks in 8DIO Supercluster. The small amount of Brass which I added in (which I'm still annoyed that I didn't have the time to adjust it properly) was from 8DIO Century Brass Ensemble LITE, while the very slow strings were from Frozen Plains Arctic Strings.

A hefty number of the spaceship console and engine noises were from multiple sources I've purchased in various soundbanks over the last few years from independent designers (I've gone and made modifications to every single one placed in the track of course though). Some of the other misc. atmosphere effects were from Muze Effects, which is a pretty popular Kontakt Lib when it comes to quite a few Dark Ambient lads you can hear on the Cryo Chamber label.

Everything in the piece was tuned down to 429hz for that extra gloomy tone, as per my style ;)

[AIM - Space Collapsing]

I really like the sound of the percussion and staccatos together. There's a lot of interesting sound design.

I think the frequency spectrum and stereo field can be filled out more.

I think the song lacks a feature to make it memorable. I feel that this is a somewhat surface-level depiction of a "space collapse" scene. The composition has elements that reflect something bad happening, and the synths and spacey effects evoke space vibes, but I think you could go even further to make this sound more spacey and less like battle music.

I like the structure. especially how it starts with synths and the way the orchestra is introduced.

LunyAlex responds:

Thanks for the feedback. It's really appreciated. I'm looking to take things up a notch in the future and I sort of kinda know where my stuff is finicky but self-reads are hard so this is super useful.
Hmmm, I'll PM to bug you for a few details if that's cool.

[Twin Helix]

Wow, listening to this gave me a musical experience like no other. I can't get enough of it. I'm trying to describe how it makes me feel, but I'm nearly speechless. What I can say is that it feels disconnected from the human experience; the music is highly emotional but seems to reflect something more universal than human emotion. I hope that makes some sense.

I adore the strings writing and the unorthodox combination of articulations. What library did you use?

Phonometrologist responds:

Yes music is difficult to put into words, and the process of doing so seems to filter out much of the meaning between individuals. I appreciate your thoughts on the piece. The two violin parts came from 8Dio's Studio Quartet Series: Deep Solo Violin.

[AIM - Mister Moss Man]

Amazing! The use of the plant sample is brilliant. The panning effect is executed very well. I like the rough secondary vocals. The mix and instrumentation is excellent - I can't think of anything I dislike.

[AIM - Orbit]

I really like the idea behind the song and the structure. The solo violin line is spectacular. I like the use of reverb, the arpeggiated synth, and the vocals.

I wish there were more sub-bass frequencies, especially during the big drum hits.

I think the piano in the outro could benefit from a slightly more sustained and less percussive sound.

KevinMueller responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

I agree about the big drum hits. They could use a bit more sub bass. I think I was afraid of cluttering the low end and ending up with a muddy mix.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I guess trying out new things really pays off. :)

[Rising Hero]

This is awesome. I look forward to your ngadm songs :D

Bosa responds:

Thank you! I have been a big fan of your work recently as well.

[AIM - A sky out of reach]

I like the changes you made!

This is delightful to listen to. I think it’s one of the very best in the contest.

There are still some production flaws and the composition and particularly the buildups could be better in some ways, but when there’s so much to enjoy about a song, it masks a plethora of minor flaws.

I hope you continue making full songs in the near future :)

[AIM - Assault on the Bridge [Cinematic Cyberpunk]]

Wow, much of the sound design is sublime. The percussion is mixed perfectly and it's so satisfying to listen to. The synth leads sound very expressive. The song is loud yet smooth - I'm curious what you did to the master EQ, if anything. Would you mind posting a list of the libraries used?

I have a few trivial gripes:

- The kick in the section starting at 1:08 has too much high end imo. I would much rather feel it than hear it.
- I think the very-high-end of the mix could be reduced by a tiny amount because some elements sound slightly too sharp. When I say tiny amount, I'm thinking of such a small change that it would be difficult to notice.
- The piano notes at 3:47 sound misaligned with the strings because of the different attack times.

This is a fantastic entry and one of my favorites :D

EvilRaccoon responds:

Hi EverErratic. I'm glad you enjoyed this! The track is mixed with a combination of plugins. From SoundToys5, fabfilterProQ. waves, etc.

The mastering is just really a bit of balancing and some slight clarity in the sound, I've been learning to not colour it too much on the mastering. But I used Izotope Ozone 8 Advanced, Fabfilter Compressor, ProQ3 and Limiter on it too.

I agree with your comments and you are spot on about the kick in section 1:08. During composing it was more subtle on the high end, and most likely this has changed during the mix. I should have spotted that - I will most likely change this in the future.

The high end should be alright overall. I have checked it against Tonal Balance during the mix, although I'd be interested in what you are using to listen to this. I have uploaded an image of the balance within the acceptable spectrum, and if anything it tells me it's a little low on the high end. https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/7ce83e73d81a23b7fb115adeb9fd7e63

You're right about the piano notes and CSS. I maybe should have considered aligning it, sometimes I leave the piano a little loose, a bit of instability within the scene I was thinking with a bit of realism. But you might be right, it could be too misaligned.

Thank you so much for your comments, this sort of focused feedback is absolutely appreciated, and very helpful for moving forward!!

Edit [Libraries used]
Per request, libraries used in this track:

Strings: Cinematic Studio Strings, Music Sampling Soaring Strings, Spitfire Hans Zimmer Strings, Orchestral Tools Metropolis Ark 1
Brass: Cinesamples CineBrass Pro, Cinesamples Cinebrass Sonore. Audio Imperia Talos Horns and Talos Low Brass. Orchestral Tools JunkieXL Brass. 8Dio Majestica Brass.
Choir: Ethera 1, Jaeger Merethe, 8Dio Lacrimosa, Performance Samples Oceania. Orchestral Tools Metropolis Ark 1.
Piano: Native Instruments Giant and KeepForest Evo Dragon.
Synth Libraries: Music Sampling Boutique Drums Medusa, 8Dio Phenex Bundle, KeepForest CyberPunk,
Drums Lib: Sentinel Titan (Custom Made drum from several libraries). Cinesamples Drums of War, Gravity, JXL Percussion (Custom made), Keep Forest Classic Trailer Toolkit, Action Strikes, KeepForest Cyber Punk,
Effects: Keep Forest CyberPunk, DosComp Whooshes, 8Dio Phenex Bundle, Keepforest Cinematic Downfalls, KeepForest Classic Trailer Toolkit, Zero-G Impact Designer, Keep Forest Devastator, Sentinel Risers (Custom Risers from recordings I made).
Synths: U-He Zebra, U-he Dark Zebra, U-he Diva and Native Instruments Massive.