EctiBot's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dragon's Lair]

Very good remix, larry :D! I actually just listened to the original, and I really like how you just didn't take the original and changed one or two things about it, but you made it into an entirely new song which gave me a totally different feeling than the original did :D. This was really done masterly. All the instruments blend in perfectly, the song arrangement is spot on and the composition is top notch :).
Great work :D!
-Ectisity

larrynachos responds:

:O Thank you so much, dude! I actually thought I "plagiarized" too much! I'm so glad you think it's great. I'm really proud of this one ^-^

[The Gore Show]

Sounds really good :O! Loved the sounds hope you make a full track out of this :D.

[Whimsical Wonders ~Mastered~]

Damn, you've gotten pretty good :O! I luuuuved the melodies. They are all very creative and gives the song a really nice uplifting feel. You did a great job of choosing synths too in this one They all fit very nicely together and gives the song a light feel.
The arrangement of the song is pretty good as well. It's the typical way I and loads of other producers does it, but you go away from the stereotypic house song at some points which I very much liked :).

And the mixing :D! I can cleary hear that you've improved a lot from the last track I reviewed by you which was "Dancing Sun" I believe. I didn't really hear any huge problems with frequency clashing or clipping at all really. My only complaint as to when it comes to the mixing is the kick drum. I didn't really like the reverb on it. Reverb on kicks is nice and all, but it was a bit too much for my liking.
If I were to nitpick another thing it would be that the lead synths around 1:35 are a bit too love. I suggest either turn the levels a tiny bit up or give them a bit more of the higher frequencies. This isn't really that big of a problem. You can decide for yourself if you think it sounds better or not.

Overall I really liked this track :). You can always get better at mixing no matter how many years you make music, but you've gotten really in such a short amount of time. It took me waaaay longer to get to your leven, and I actually think your mix is better than a lot of my recent stuff XD.
Great track :).
4.5/5

Exilious responds:

Wow! What a review! I really appreciate it. :D

I COMPLETELY agree with you on the kick. Every time I listen to this song (which is never XD) I literally grimace when I hear it. It sounds absolutely terrible. At the time of production, I was increasingly concerned with how the kick sounded. The way it sounds in my headphones is completely different from how it sounds from my laptop speakers.

Therefore, I kept trying to find a kick that sounded great in both speakers. Well, that failed epicly. I failed to realize that my headphones and laptop speakers are two completely different sound outputs. They're NEVER going to sound the same.

And to be honest, I enjoy your music a WHOLE lot more than I do enjoy mine. The only few songs of mine I enjoy are Night of the Living Dead, Overdose, Calm Before the Storm, and Optimismatic - Mastered. The rest I'm not too proud of, but they are signs of my improvement.

Thanks for the kind words Ectisity. They mean more than you think. ^~^

[You Know Nothing]

Brilliant!! Absolutely Brilliant! I LOVED the intro. excellent choice of synths, and I like how you didn't go for a standard chord progression there, but switched out the major chord you normally would expect at the end of the progression with a minor chord. ( I suck at talking about musical stuff, so that probably didn't make any sense XP).
Anyways, I really liked your melody work during the buildup as well :). I've always had a weakness for that kind of lead so I really enjoyed it up. You do a great job of building up to the drop.

The drop was pretty okay, but I felt like it lacked a proper subbass. Either the sub is extremely low, or there's no sub at all. I can't really tell because of the subby kick. Other than that the drop is pretty groovey :).

I did feel like you could have varied the second break a bit more. it sounds exactly the same as the first one at the start. I really liked what you did around 2:48. It helps to vary it a bit :).

The outro was done in a very smart and smooth way. I really liked how you did a transition directly from the drop to the outro melody :).
Overall a pretty solid track. My only complaint is the lack of a sub that is easily noticeable.

4/5 stars

[Review Request club]

Voltus responds:

well just put a subwoofer on your monitoring system and there you have it. there's actually quite a bit of subfrequency in this one. thanks for the review!!!

[Unshackling the Necromancer]

Lol this is just so far beyond me.....
Excellent piece Jay :D!
You do an awesome job with dynamics and variation of sound in this piece :).
I've always been a fan of tracks that kinda tell a story, and I feel like this does just that in an excellent way. You were able to convey the story of the Necromancer perfectly in the transitions, melodies, instruments, dynamics etc. A truly great piece.
Around 1:30 I felt like a lot of the notes clashed with eachother. Kinda sounds like some parts of Grieg's compositions. While it does sound messy, it still really captures the increase of action in the story, and I really don't think there's a need to change it. Depends if you value portraying the story more than making the track enjoyable for most people possible. Personally i value the first more, but that's just me :).

Overall a great track with wonderfull ideas and composition :D.
5 stars.

Jay-Turner responds:

Thanks for your review :) I'm glad you appreciate the dissonance haha. I think for me, the biggest problem with the piece is that it feels 'muddy'. But I'm really glad that you like the musicality of it!

You're right about the importance of the story. I think rather than making the piece, a piece by itself. I really wanted it to convey a feeling, and the feeling for me was not of pleasant melodies. The only motif I truly included is one that can be heard 0:24, I then repeated this at the end of the song on the lute. This is because the melody is meant to convey the emotional significance if something in the past for the Necromancer, something that isn't perhaps as evil and sinister.

I'm happy that you see what I was trying to do anyway :) Thanks.

[Wonder]

Wonderful composition :D! I loved how you play around with dynamics throughout the track. It's just brilliant. I love the way it starts with a humble harp, then the song just builds up. Very good choice of instruments :). As Misty said, some of the instruments can sound synthetic at times, but I didn't notice it the first time I listened through the track so it isn't that big of a problem. The arrangement of the sang is very good. As I said, I really like the way it builds up.
My only complaint is that I feel like the track is too short. If you did a full 3-4 minute version of this, I think it would be brilliant. Right now it feels like the song builds up, but then just suddenly get cut off at the end. I wish there some kind of super umph part coming after that X3. As a dancem usician I would call it a drop, but I don't remember the proper name for it is :3.

Overall this is a very good track with nice instruments, excellent song arrangement, and with some wonderful melodies. As I said my only complaint is that it could have been a bit longer, but it sounds very good as it is.

4.5/5 stars

[Review Request Club]

[Dancing Sun]

I've been meaning to review this for some time actually. Never got around to it, but I'll do it now X3.
To me it seems like you have some real talent with making this kind of music. I love how you play with the melody and how you perfectly use the percussion to make the listener dance.
This track has it's faults though.

The main problem for me with this track was that it didn't really have any proper structure. There was no intro or drop. Everything just sounded like one, long break. When making dance you never want start of with everything you have, if you know what I mean. Try starting the track with ever a soft lead, or with just the chord progression. Then you can either modulate in the lead or just put it in directly if you want. After the intro there should be a break. The break can really consist of anything as long as it fits with the rest of the track. The most important thing with a break is that it sounds soft. It shouldn't be as powerful as the drop. Stronger than the intro, but weaker than the drop. This will help making the drop sound bigger than it actually is, and it's this effect that makes people jump up and dance. Just remember, the drop should always be the most powerful sounding part of a track, if you're not making big room or electro house that is.

Second problem with the song, was the part that started at 1:30. I didn't really get why you put that in. The melody that plays over the piano lead is in a totally different key than the rest of the song. Making a song in too different keys is never a good idea tbh, if you're not going for a real messy style that very few people actually enjoy. I just thought that part sounded horrible. To me it sounds like you might just have to move the entire melody one note up, and it should fix it.

The third problem, is that the song is way to repetetive. The melody is mainly the same throughout the entire track with some minor changes now and then. That's why it's important to have structure in your songs. A problem that I often struggled with when I started making dance, is that I made a melody that I think sounded awesome and thought that was all I needed for my track. It's not rly. I would say that for a full dance track, you would at least need 3 different melodies. 1 for the breaks, one for the intro, and one for the drop. This keeps the interest of the listener up.

The mixing is not bad, but could have been better. The kicks and clap clashes at times. Try turning down some of the low's of the clap, and turn down some of the high's of the kick.
Also, the mastering is a bit loud. Try turning down your levels a bit. the sound won't sound so muddy if you do that. It might also be because you're using maximus or something to boost your volume.

So overall I think you have great potential for dance. I actually think you might be more of a House producer actually, so you might want to try to make house music in the future.
The track has it's faults, but for your first attempt, this is pretty good actually :). My first was ALOT worse XD.
Just keep at it, and you'll get pro at it in no time ;)
-Ectisity

Exilious responds:

Wait. Are you reviewing THIS, or the revision? I revised this song, but whatever. I'll take any criticism I can get.

Ok. Yeah, this song wasn't all that great to be honest with you. XD

I really wish I could've done a better job with it, even in the revision. But, what's done is done.

I REALLY appreciate the big tip you gave me on transitions and intros. I always had a hard time trying to implement a proper transition or intro, but now I don't have to! Thanks for the great piece of advice, it'll definitely come in handy! :D

Yeah, there was variation in the melody. I actually did have one, but I didn't know where to put it, so it ended up not being used. :(

I'm not very good when it comes to mixing. Well, I'm better than I remember, but I always had an issue with my volume control. I know the essentials such as:

-The kick must be the loudest sound in the song.
-The clap must be lower than kick, but still noticeable.
-Hi and Open hats must be kept to a minimum volume, for the high end frequencies can become very annoying.
-Never have the melody too loud, or too low.

But what you said about Maximus is correct. I do use Maximus for my volume. Is that bad? Should I not do that? Oh gosh. That's ALL I've been doing. I use Maximus because it allows me to give my kicks a little more bass. Maybe I should only use it for certain sounds, I guess? I hope I'm right about that.

And I've always wanted to produce a house track. I just never knew where to start. Do you honestly think I'd be good in that genre? I like house music a lot. I just don't where to begin.

All in all, thank for the kind words and amazing CC. I really appreciate everything you said here, and will DEFINITELY take it all to heart.

Thanks a bundle Ectisity! :D

[Swan Lullaby]

Love this :D. Really reminds me of when I was a little kid. It's simillar to the music in the games I would play when I was little :). Really liked your choice of instruments in this one :D. All of them blends perfectly together, and I really liked the transitions. Some of them are a bit abrupt, as johnfn said, but I think it gives this song it's own charm :). I really enjoyed listening to this, and you just continued to surprise throughout which really kept the interest up :D.
Another great piece this :).

-Ectisity

Chemiqals responds:

Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I definitely wanted the transitions to be a little abrupt to give a feeling of mystery and surprise as to what would happen next. The only one I wasn't 100% on was the transition at 2:39. I feel like it works as a sort of book end with the transition that came before it, but I'm sure it could be improved somehow! Anyway, thanks again! =)