EctiBot's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Supermaus]

Excellent Voltus. Just excellent :D. This is definetly the kind of music I groove to :D. Loved the drums, loved the arrangement, and loved the sounds you used. Some might mean that this is a bit repeative, but this is how dance music is supposed to be IMO. I felt that there was a slight lack of a sine bass layer just to give the song that extra bass feel, and to reward the people with bass speakers and headphones ;). That's my taste though.
Wonderful tune :).
5 stars

Voltus responds:

thanks a lot, I never went all in on that sound so I'm glad you like it!

[October]

Really interesting sound you got going here. I never thought that it was possible to make a sound that sounds like a month, but that synth you got going during the intro and throughout the song just sounds like October really X3. Can't explain it.
I really liked the way you arranged the song. Loved the trumpet/sax :D.
What you did at 1:50 was just pure genius IMO. didn't expect that at all, but the transition was silky smooth. The rest is just excellent really. Really like the synths you used. It really is a beautiful piece this.
My only one complaint is that the drumbeat from 0:40 to 1:50 could have been a bit more varied. It would really give the song more life :). You should especially try doing some variations with the hats.

Overall a great and beautiful piece :).
4.5 stars

{Review Request Club}

poinl responds:

Thanks! I have been working on my percussion in my current projects because of your comment.

[No Other Way (Mix Test)]

Must say that I usually aint too fond of heavy metal, but this friggin epic man O_O!!!
Loved it, awesome riffs, awesome arrangement and it has an awesome sounding to it as well :D.
Great job!!!
5 stars.

l0vemetal responds:

Thanks for the support, man! Make sure to check back for some more material I'm sure you'll dig.

[Castlevania - Crystal Castle]

Interesting tune this :). I really liked the arrangement of it :D. I felt that the overall sound of it was a bit too muddy for me, but it still sounds good. I wish that you had used a square instead of a sine way as the main lead. Would probably lighten the track up a bit.
Still overall a good rearrangement of this tune :).
Keep up the good work ;).
3.5 stars

BenoitAdam responds:

Hey thanks Ectisity ! Yeah I think you're right, it's a bit too muddy but I'm not enough used about MIDI, I try to mix the more I can but I'm not 100% satisfied. Wow you can tell it's a SIN or a SQUARE just by hearing ? I'm impress. I don't have any idea if it's a SIN or a SQUARE, I just used a tuned I found great... :)
Thanks :)

[Republic of Nowhere]

Interesting song this :). Sounds like something I would hear in old Zelda games.
I really liked the melody throughout the song. You did a great with varying it to keep up the interest.
The quality of the orchestra is not the best IMO, but this isn't your fault.
The choice of instruments was very good though. I really liked how the main melody sounded.
I wish you would have added a "Part B" in this song as well to vary it a bit. A different part would really make this sound like a full song rather than just a video game track.

Overall a good track. You caught the Zelda feeling perfectly, and with some adjustments this could be great.
4 stars.

{Review Request Club}

LexRodent responds:

Thanks for the feedback man, Zelda video games music is one of my favorites and part of my inspiration. Having a part B is a great idea I'll keep that in mind and see if I can "nail" it.

[The Mountains Speak]

Really grooving to this one :). I especially like the melody lines you have in this one. They all fit perfectly together and really adds to that image of being far up in the mountains :). The instruments were all really well picked. I especially liked the bells :). They are some of the most soothing things I've heard in a long time :D.

You also did a great job with looping the track. I just noticed that I've probably listened to this track like ten times already XD. Not everyone are able to make good loops, but this is definetly one :).
The overall arrangement is perct and spot on. Don't have anything to comment there :)

This is something I could imagine hearing in a video game actually or in a short film. You did a great job with the imaginery, and the first thing I thought about when hearing this track before reading the title was staring up at the sky from the mountains.

I actually really like the simplicity of this track. It's what makes it so incredibly soothing and calming for me :). Great work :D. Keep it up ;).
-Ectisity

sockhopper123 responds:

It's not often someone I admire comments on my pieces ^^ your feedback is very much appreciated~ and trust me you're not the only one that has listened to this loop many times over :D I'll defenitely improve it further and expand it~ hope to hear from you again soon

[In Between]

Outstanding piece this :).
I really liked the melodies you had going on. They really gave me this medieval/baroque feel :).
This sounds very authentic and really makes me dream of medieval movies I've watched :D.
The composition alltogether is definetly flawless. You did a really good job with the reverb :D.
Other people has mentioned that this song needs more dynamics, but I disagree. If you're going for that baroque feel there isn't really a lot of dynamics in that kind of music, at least not more than there already is in this track.

My only critisism of this track is that I feel like it's a bit too simple. I really wish that you had added in another instrument to play something like a chord layer. To be specific I wish there was a harp in this, but that's just me I guess.

Overall I really liked this track and it really gave me an authentic medieval feel :). Not perfect, but very close to perfection :D.
Great work :). Keep it up ;).
-Ectisity

LexRodent responds:

Thanks for your words dude, you made my day. :)
After some tests I decided to add just subtle dynamics to give it a "natural feel", and this was the result, I considered to add some chords before (harp or clavichord were my options) but I couldn't come up with anything good. I'll keep that in mind if I do another piece this style.
I'm glad you liked it that much.

[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 ^-^

[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. ^~^