AlvoGTR's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Speech about Youtube]

the voice actor does a good job of sticking to the script and when they deviate, it's only to correct minor grammar mishaps in the script itself. The script is pretty straight forward and draws an accurate parallel between the two platforms compared. The speaker has a decent enough microphone, although I think more gain could have been applied on their end or maybe even your end since it is very, very quiet. Overall, not a bad voice over thing.

nope1025 responds:

Thank, I appreciate your feedback. I'll will work on gain issue you brought up in the future! (I am using just a yeti Blackout) it was definitely on my end why it was so quiet. So I'll work on it as to give a better quality in the future:D

["Apples"]

The script seems messy between the narrator and character - and I can't really find anything interesting about it. Also the voice actor needs work, too - they spoke a little too quickly at times and fell monotonous at other times when there should've been more emotion conveyed. Overall, I'd say it's something but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece.

[Millennial Falcon]

this is some serious flash game music right here. i expected it to be one of those beginner songs that just isnt that great but like fuck it really isnt that bad - the drum step groove is super nostalgic and the sound design isn't half baked - it's just perfect for what it is. the drum and bass part is super above me though - im not about all that pitch bending on the yaah bass but i mean technically it isn't any worse than the first drop except for when you're passing in that arp or whatever at 2:50. everything sounds sanitized in the mix for the most part - there's fx that could be turned down (basically all noise risers/drops etc in the track) but other than that it's an honest to god bop

[Are You Happy Now]

this sounds really good - i like it. perfect video game ost track for something like hacknet or a jrpg or something really lo-fi with not too much going on. the breakdowns are really nice between the energetic sections - the percussion is really great except the hi hat is way too loud for me. it almost pushes down other stuff in the high end really hard it feels like which is a strange thing to notice because usually stuff kind of gels in the high end - definitely feel some power zapped from the lead due to loud hihat. from a composition stand point everything is arranged nicely - the theory is really nice and everything has a nice way of mending together and i never feel like any synth is awkwardly dropped to be replaced by another. the mixing disregarding the high hat is pretty good - everything seems nicely leveled but there's some high end harshness in the break around 2:21 because a frequency probably masked by previous elements in the drop was squelched for the break - leaving the main lead blips to be super peaky circa 3-5k - would recommend looking into getting a hold of a dynamic eq to tame that sharpness all around - in the drop and the break.

really good stuff but definitely has its flaws that detracts from listening comfort (loud/peaky frequencies).

NoStereo responds:

Thanks for the detailed review, I'm not sure I notice anything harsh with the break around the area you detailed. Fair point about the hats though, I do think I might have a tendency to make them a bit loud.

[A Cold Jorney]

this is a really nice composition, everything progressively fades in and out and new elements seamlessly take the spotlight through the entire 2 1/2 minutes. i'd say there are weird things with stuff being very resonant in my left ear - like the string starting at 00:20 and the woodwind type thing at 1:18. other than that, it is a very nicely executed concept and with better leveling in the left and right channels it could be better. not too much to say because there isn't any mud to comment on and things seem to be mixed very well over all. the percussion swell at 1:15 is very nicely done and brings in the part after it in a very triumphant way.

Joeyag responds:

Thanks a lot for your review! What you said about the pan is true, i hadn't heard it in headphones before (mine sucks). All pan is actually from Finale's standart configuration, i didn't do any mixing. I'm thinking about doing one and updating it. Thanks a lot again!

[Peace (VIP)]

So over all this isn't all that bad! Honestly, didn't know garage band had capability to make music like this from how hard i see people meme it. The intro and build up is pretty long - the splash and mettalic layer with it at 1:01 is pretty sharp - would tone stuff like that down in the future. the bass shots sound very good through out the song - at 2:02 or 2:03 I can hear sub dissonance from the bass shot playing some sub and phasing out in an unpleasant way due to being a different note than the sub layer/mid layer. Also, i feel like the sub presence in the track is particularly week. The mixing definitely could use a once over, mainly with the bass shots. and at 4:30-4:31 it sounds like a sidechain trigger is placed before the snare hits, causing an unnatural duck. The theory like the chords, melody and the guitar are all really good but the mixing/mastering doesn't do the composition many favors. Very solid track though all things considered!

KingCamdenTheGreat responds:

Appreciate the suggestions. Glad you like it

[VS. Don Gula, The Icon of Gluttony]

So - starting off - this is a really good game soundtrack! it isn't mastered to be right in your face like a traditional song which is important for this sort of genre so it can sit comfortably in the background without too much audio leveling within the game engine. there isn't an over whelming sub presence which could detract from game SFX and where there is sub it's nice and tight, and not boomy. the mix is super clean from the minimalist nature of the song over all - not everything is happening at 1 time and i find that the longer the song goes on - instead of throwing more and more on top of the track, things change which adds a nice progression over the 10 minutes which is a key element to making a game soundtrack work - both length and progressiveness. while there are elements that add some mud into the mid end (a little grit rise at 4:33 is a good example) i find that it's fine and probably adds to the atmosphere of a boss fight, anyways. the mixing and mastering on this song really makes it feel like it should be a game! good job, the idea is clear and the track continuously moves on, devolving the theme.

[Dimensional Journey]

ok so starting this off, this is an ok track. a lot of stuff could have been done better, some things were done very well. the sub bass pluck and pitch bent pad in the intro (00:19 - 00:30) was super cool, super video game esque. the chip tune esque mid pluck that came in didn't really complement the two sounds before it very well. it sounds like the low end and high end are in two different genres - being caught between EDM and chiptune. at around 00:56 when the beat drops - the main psy lead is very weirdly in my right ear - and very loudly in my right ear. i would never hard pan a synth like that, ever unless you had one just as complementing as the other to hard pan in the left. so at 1:10 you leave the psytrance thing behind and go more into a drum and bass thing. i would say that things like this are very confusing to the average consumer who might have strict genre preferences - and things are on opposite ends of the spectrum such as DnB and psytrance may not be received well in the same track. A better solution for stuff like this is using psytrance as a predrop element/vip drop element that leads you into your main genre - whether that be dnb or dubstep, and this can also go vice versa with dnb leading you into psytrance (i think a lot of traditional hardcore stuff uses the amen break in build ups a lot before going 4 on the floor). the lead that comes in at 1:24 is cool, but nothing special. so far there hasn't been anything that has been able to sort of staple this track for me - so like for example in other songs there are interesting aspects to the leads where as in this one, every synth is sort of dry and whatever it has is very basic - for what it is it is a good stepping stone but you would greatly benefit from venturing into saturation and distortion to spice up your sounds and learn how to mix with harsher FX on the synths. 1:36 to 2:01 is super empty but i mean its alright - it shows a more coherent idea than the drop did. the "blrah" vox is super dry and out of place through the whole track, too. the dead stop at 2:07 kind of breaks this into a new song, so really this seems to have become a multi song medley of sorts - I'd never dead stop a song after a break down like that. weirdly, dead stops like that are best used out of seemingly nowhere in a transition and for very very short amounts of time, usually around a second or so. 2:25-2:50 has a super cool vibe to it - so thats a cool part. the build up into this 170 bpm bit is super cool. i dont like how it drops into nothing but a bass drum though - no energy at all. the synth arp and constant pluck sort of bring in an atmosphere but it doesnt do the drop any justice unfortunately due to how dead it previously sounded with nothing but the noise sweep and the out of place vocal sample which gets progressively more annoying through out the track. around 3:20 the song picks up pretty well actually. the break down at 3:43~ is cool, too. the lead at 3:50 is better than the drop lead used earlier - i can hear some sort of satration/distortion on it. it has a weird super high frequency ring that i'd learn how to deal with but thats neither here nor there - its an improvement. 4:23 drop has a cool psy bass in it with the synth layer - this is by far the coolest thing so far in the entire song. however after that at 4:37 it drops into a more muddy break beat thing that again breaks the cohesiveness of the track. the mix through here isnt great and there's a very muddy mid end rumble. this pretty much covers the track to the end.

Over all - the sample choice could have been better. None of the percussion samples sounded that good. namely the snares. sound design left a lot to be desired - and especially in the beginning there was a big divide in what the song wanted to be that made it sound kind of wack - the low end screamed edm but everything in the mid-high end was wanting to be chip tune esque. the mix in the more minimal parts (like at 2:25 - 3:43) sounded alright - but got very muddy is some parts, like 4:38.

Closing, it's a sort of cool proof of concept - multi genre thing to see what you can do but in the end it is best to pick your favorite genres to work with and dedicate full songs to them and not spend too many tracks doing this mumbo jumbo with 6~ different bpm's.

FlameShooterMusic responds:

Now THIS is what I call a very well done review! Makes me wonder how many times you've actually listened to it and how much time you've spent here writing, so I appreciate your effort. And yes, I've always felt like a lot of stuff could've been done better, especially the snare, the DAMN snare, and the kick is a bit shake-y as well! For the psy lead, I made it using 3xOsc with 2 oscillators working. One is playing a cube wave with panning on the right ear (that's what you've heard) and the other is playing a sine wave with panning on the left ear. You see, the whole point with this piece was to try to experiment with as many musical elements as I can and see what I can actually do, including how many styles/genres I can provide in the future, and I've ended up creating this mish-mash of styles and unusual mix of sounds, that's why I've decided to name it Dimensional Journey in the end! It's a not so nice one, and can make you feel uncertainty & confusion.
I know I could've done better with sampling as well, which is why I've been working on a track using ONLY samples, so there's that.
And honestly I couldn't agree more with everything else you've mentioned. The mix is a bit muddy at some parts because there's a lot going on and a lot of sounds were left dry, also there's no sort of sidechaining whatsoever. The flute thingy is an exception even tho you haven't really mentioned it.
For the tempo thing, I thought it was going to be cool to experiment with it as well. I tried to learn as much as I can considering this is only the 4th track I've ever made, so I definitely still have to learn a lot more.
And another thing you're right about is the fact that I should make my tracks focusing on one genre (or generally one theme). I've already made 3 of those before this one, this was mainly meant to be a huge experiment!
All in all, I'd like to thank you very much for this amazing review. It's probably one of (if not) the best ones I've ever received on one of my works!

EDIT: I forgot to say, this track is about 5 to 6 months old :D

[Panda Eyes - Demons]

oh dude what the fuck haha i love this nutty bass design and somehow the low end curb stomping the mix works out

[Panda Eyes - Master Sword]

well fuck now i know where to go to when i wanna hear a new panda eyes track second

if only i knew how to master my garbage fires, fuck