EctiBot's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Unstoppable]

AIM Judge Review
------------------------------
First of all, I really liked the intro. Pretty rare to hear a good intro like that nowadays. My problem however is that I felt like the intro never ended. The transition at 0:30 isn't really big enough to make me feel like it's a new part of the track. The track from 0:30 to 1:10 is just repetition. If you are going to repeat the same part that many times, you need to change it up a bit more. What you did with changing the bass note now and them is a step in the right direction, but it still could use some more work.

In general the entire track is a bit samey sounding(repetetive) because of the bass. Honestly, I was tired of listening to that same bass pattern with just one and occasionally two notes after 1 minute. Hearing the same exact bass at the same exact note and with the same exact pattern, really tired out my ears. It's not like it's unusual for music producers to have the bass only play one note for some parts of a track, but having it play for the entire track becomes a bit too much. Pretty much, like I said earlier, it feels like your track is a 3 minutes long intro.

The mixing is spot on. You have especially done a good job with the eq and each synth has it's own place in the mix. goes really well with the art as well. The sound design in this is decent, but it's a bit uninterestinng at times as I feel like I've heard the same exact synths a million times.

Mixing: 5/5
Arrangement: 2/5
Art Relevance: 5/5
Sound Design: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

TIMETRAVL responds:

Hey thanks for the review,
I already knew it was a bit repetative but It's kind of what I've wanted to do, it's hard to describe that feeling :)

Concerning the synth it's an from an emulated Juno 60 (not entirely sure).

[A.I.M - Entering the Beast]

AIM Judge Review
--------------------------------------------
Solid HM piece this :).
Really like the arrangement of the track and it's packed with energy. A lot of the riffs sound really cool and original, and you have a lot of layers going on which makes the track sound full.

I gotta critisize a couple of things though. First of all, like RF already pointed out, the mixing is poor. At the parts were the lead guitar played alone like in the intro especially. The guitar has a lot of unwanted and painful frequencies which you might wanna cut. The kick is not as powerful and bassy as it should be, and tbh I think the kick sample all together sounds pretty cheap.

A general problem I hear that you have in your mix, is that the low end is very muddy. It can be hard to notice that the low-end is the problem, but usually when a mix sdounds muddy the first think you want to do is to have al ook at your low end. Try to analyze each instrument seperately with an equalizer and think about which frequency range you want each instrument to be heard in. As an example, usually you don't need any low end at all in hi-hats. In the same way, you don't need any high-end in a sub. A basic principle when it comes to mixing music is, "if you don't need it, cut it". If there are frequencies that you don't need and/or can't hear in an instrument, cut it. Even though you might not be able to hear a difference between cutting or not when the instrument is playing alone, the difference becomes really clear in the full mix.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that you need to put an EQ on every single instrument and sample and remove the unneeded, unwanted and unaudible frequencies.

Otherwise the track is pretty good. The drum patterns can become a bit uninteresting and generic at times, but they are fairly decent. I'm a bassist myself so I will always wish for a more interesting bassline, but that's 100% personal opinion and isn't really needed.
The energy and action in the piece reflects thesense of danger in the art, though I feel like this piece would have fit more with a picture with a little more action in. Art is pretty subjective though.

Mixing: 2/5
Arrangement: 4/5
Art Relevance: 4/5
Overall: 3.5

Keep up the good work :).

Insomnimatic responds:

Thank you for this review/judging! You actually reviewed one of my guitar only pieces back in 2014 and your review along with others encouraged me to keep writing and posting here on Newgrounds so I wanted to say thank you for that!

Each song I do I notice I am getting better and better with mixing but I still have a ways to go. In this song I did cut out some of the frequencies I did not need but not a lot of the low ends like you mentioned were needed to be cut. The kick is actually from the Superior Dummer 2.0's sets. I can't remember which one exactly it is but I think it was a DW kick from the Heavy Metal package. Not exactly cheap for the sets but maybe cheap in sound? Haha

I like to keep the drum tracks powering through songs to help the guitar out for the most part which I'm finding out isn't always the best method to go with. I need to work on my fillers and make the drum its own instrument instead of a backup for the guitars. I don't play bass too often on its own/ practice as much but I think I will start to do that soon or at least learn what makes a great bass line for this genre. Mostly root notes but I did add a few spots where the bass had its own part.

- DareDevi424

[AIM - Dusk of Eternal Night]

AIM Judge Review
-----------------------------------

The mixing is done decently. Your choice of volume levels are a bit wierd at points, especially the percussion. There are not many issues with the mixing except from some clipping issues, but this due to the fact that there is not any low-end to mess with the mixing. The track in general lack some decent low end. There are no form of bassy sound that really hits your soul if you know what I mean. It's like having a full orchestra, but without the tuba's, euphonium's and cello's. The best sections in an orchestral piece is probably even more important than the lead parts. The reason why orchestral music sound so epic is because the bass parts are done really well and builds up tension. Also a general lack of decent compression which RF already has explained.

That's another thing, building tension. This track lacks dynamiques. Even though you change the melodies and patterns around quite a bit, the song still sounds flat. This is due to the lack of a proper bass section as I mentioned earlier, but it's also because of a lack of good percussion.
I was really missing some drum-play throughout the track, and when you did introduce it at 1:30, I felt like it happend way to suddenly. You went directly from having no drums at all to having a powerful drumroll. I think the drumrolls in this track sounds good by themselves, but the way they way you build up to them could be done better.

The sound design is not too too bad, but the strings and percussion sounds very flat. The strings would have sounded much better if you tweaked it's stereo settings and maybe work a bit more on the reverb.

Most of the melodies were nice, but I think they could juse some more work. They are a bit uninteresting at times. Just experiment
The arrangement otherwise is done very nicely, and you make sure to keep the listeners interest up throughout the track, by varying the melodies.

When it comes to art relevance, I believe that the track does portray the art in some ways, and how you perceive art is up to the individual. Still, I don't think you caught the dark mood of the art as well as you could. This is mostly due to the lack of dynamics and bass sections.

Mixing - 3.5/5
Sound design - 2.5/5
Arrangement . 3.5/5
Art Relevance - 3.5/5

Overall - 3.25
The track had some decent melodies, the mixing wasn't too bad though this is mostly because of the lack of low-end. I believe this track could be really good with some extra work, but as it is now there are too many issues.

Ectisity, Judge

Ps. If you are ever in the need of decent feedback, just check out the Review Request Club. We'll give you decent review without requiring anything back :).

Verdusk responds:

Thanks for the review!

Clipping issues noted. I'll try to work more on transitions next time. (Including build-up) I'll pay more attention to the bass as well. I've actually included cello and viola here, but I'm guessing they are way too subtle (and they're extremely simple too)

I think I forgot to include enough darkness because the view is so beautiful. Also imma check out the review club whenever I finish another song.

[AIM - It's Not You, She's Dead]

A.I.M Judging Review
--------------------------------------------------------
Mixing - 5/5:
The mixing has been done quite well actually. Can be quite difficult to nail the eq'ing in atmospheric darkwave tracks like this, but you've done a great job at it. The general mixing sound very smooth, and I don't really have many complaints about it.

Sound Design - 4.5/5:
The synths are designed really well, and really helps building up the mood you were going for in this track. That sawy pad of goodness at 1:28 sounds amazing.
I do have one critique though. The drums and percussion sounds too flat. Especially the snare at 0:16 lack any type of depth to its sound. Because of this, it really stands out in a fairly atmospheric track. The snare sound you got going is probably perfect for a track like this, but you should work a bit on the reverb settings of it. Not really a major problem though.

Arrangement - 4/5
The arrangement is done in a way that keept my interest up throughout the track.
The part from 1:20 to 1:52 was epic, but I felt like you repeated the same thing over and over again without making any changes. It's true that there should be a lot of repetition in this genre, but when you repeat the same pattern over and over again for 30 seconds, the listener will most likely be tired of it after a while. from 0:16 to 0:52, you repeated the same melody over and over again as well, but here you added some extra layers after 15 seconds which kept the interest up.
Also, throughout the track I felt like the drum progression was a bit lackluster. Pretty much the same old 1-2 pattern over again. You really should vary your drums a bit. Add some fill ins, swithcu p the timing of your snare and clap hits, alter the pitch of your hihat, do whatever as long as you make sure to vary your drums. The one things that more often than not make a track sound samey(boringly repetetive) is the beat. By changing up the beat, you will be able to build up a lot more energy in your songs.

Art Relevance 5/5:
Probably the most important thing in this contest is that the track represents the art it has been inspired by. Your track builds up a dark and sad mood without sacrificing energy. In this way this track represent an intense and action-packed situation at the same time as it is representing a sad and dark mooded world. This is exactly what I see on the art you chose. The entire universe of the image seems to be dark and evil while the fight taking place is actionpacked and suspensefull. You certainly nailed this part.

Total Score - 4.625/5
Overall a really good track that represent the image well and has great mixing. A bit samey at times, but it still able to build intensity in a great way.

Ectisity - AIM Judge

Reptiore responds:

Thanks thanks, I am very self aware of my issues currently, but it was nice to hear some verification and not just being over-critical of myself. While I am looking to improve on those aspects, especially working on expanding on melodies. I am currently working on a computer from 2006-ish that cannot handle so many voices coming in from my pads and sometimes chords. It's quite a shame, but I definitely thank you for the verification, as mentioned.

I think everything that you have said in this review is an overall blessing as it verifies my analysis of myself- above average mixing, good at setting the mood, decent sound design, lackluster melody transitions, repetitive/lazy drumlines. (Which I have no excuse for, I literally just take the cookie-cutter patterns I hear in droll popular house tracks and use them everywhere.)

I wish I had more to say, since you have given me probably the only legitimate review on this website, aside from Real's circa-2015. Alas, I am socially awkward, antisocial, and all around abrasive.

[Knock Up]

The intro really isn't that bad. Maybe add a small and minimalistic over it, and it will sound great!
This is a pretty nice track, and I love thebsynths. really easy on the ears. If I were to comment on I would say that the lead synth 0:40 has some bad and annoying frequencies. Try to find this frequencies by boosting different frequencies until you find thebreally bad ones and cut them.

The mixing is done pretty well. The noise clap and percussion does disappear a bit in the mix, but not too too much..
The song was a bit samey because you repeated the same melodies a lot without any variation.

Overall a good track, but it can be improved.
4/5
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Demonic-Overmind responds:

yep, you got that right, I couldn't fix the problem with that square lead, I guess it was clashing with itself to get that weird sound.
I know I repeated the melody, but it was not too much, I mean, this is how house music is, right?

Thanks for the review.

[May Vibes]

Oooh, this is actually quite good :D.
Really love that bass, sounds epic for something made in sytrus :D.
Still there are a couple of things I need to point out.

First of all the piano. IT actually sounds like quite a decent sample, but I feel like it needs a little high end boost to make it sound a bit clearer. Also, I would personally a bit more reverb on it. You have some reverb going on already, but it's mainly on the low end while I think it would have sound better to focus the reverb more on the hi end parts.
Secondly, the eq needs to be a bit better in general. The piano frequencies are colliding a lot with the mid range on the reeze bass. I would suggest lower some of the mid range frequencies(The parts where the piano shines the most) in the bass in order to let the piano shine. the main eq problem though is the percussion. Try to turn down the hats and crash a tiny bit in the hi end ranges. As it is now, none of the other instruments are able to shine in the hi-end at all, and thus I feel like something like the bass aren't able to fulfill it's potential.

Overall a pretty good track. Love the melodies, and the problems mainly lies with the eq.
4/5
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5TanLey responds:

sytrus is a master tool dude :P

Thanks for THE review that actually says something valuable, I´ll work on my mixing

[Destiny Acceptance 2]

BiPolarBeat has already said many things that I agree with. This song is really good, and you succeed on the difficult parts which is to make good and rememberable melodies.Your mixing could have been done better, as I feel like the lead piano melodies doesn't really shine through the mix the way they should. Probably because thee other synths are colliding with it's space. Try finding which frequency range the lead piano shines the most in and cut or lower these frequencies from the strings with an EQ. Also, the lead piano needs to be a bit louder.
When it comes to dynamics, this song has a lot of potential for it, but it doesn't really use it.
In music like this you need to vary the sound levels to get that energetic and epic feel you get from cinematic pieces. The most important thing when it comes to dynamics is to vary your drums and percussion. You should want to vary the strength and loudness of the drums a lot.
Basically you want to work on your velocity settings for each part. Once you get your hold on FL-Studio, this will be a cinch to do.

Some real potential in this track, and I think it could be quite the epic piece if you polish it a bit :).

4/5
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MysteriousPresence responds:

Thanks a lot Ectisity for this really detailed review, but the problem is I can't use it to improve because as I already said to BiPolarBeat, I don't own FL Studio yet, I'm producing with GarageBand ! :3
But I can learn from your advices about the velocity though, thanks for that, I'll try to improve the volume of the different instruments.
Thanks again for the review, and glad you liked it a bit ! =)
Oh, and by the way, there was absolutely no synths in this music, so it's not synths that are colliding with the piano's space ! :P

[Piano Shuffle]

Amazing piece this! Didn't even notice that it was looping and was listening to it for 10 minutes without getting bored of it :D. Really like that old time classic feel with onlly a few instruments. A trumpet might sound good to add some more meat to the track.
Did you play the piano part live? Cuz it really has a human feel which I love :D.
Great job :D!

5/5
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sebastien01 responds:

Really nice to read that you made it loop for 10 min and still enjoyed it!

I recorded jazzy piano impro on my midi keyboard for 15 minutes with the metronome click on my headpohones and I took the best 1 minute from it.
After this I changed some notes and corrected some mistakes. I never changed more than 5% of the note's location on the timeline so the rythmic is 95% original from the improvisation, I wanted to keep all of the shuffle feeling from the original recording.

Overall this song is somewhere around 70-75% impro and 25-30% composition. There is still a little part (The last 20 seconds) where the left hand's low note makes it impossible to play with 2 hands, but it would be easy to make it playable again for a solo pianist with a few modifications and without changing the flavor of this part. I just liked too much these low notes on this spot :) Maybe I should add a bass for them.

Thank you for the review and the good comments! ;D

[Quicksand]

Before I begin with my review, I want to say that I remember reviewing another track by you called "Nebulae". Tbh I found that track to be uncreative in some ways and amazing in others. Your potential was really apparent in that track and I felt like you just needed to find your own style.
This is definetly it.

The sound design is not only good, it's innovative and really creative. The sounds really go well together and fill each other out. That part at 02:08 when the bells comes in is the definition of smexiness ;D! The progression is genious and has a lot of turning points that keeps the interest up. Youve been able to switch parts around in a very good way without affecting the general feeling of the song.
The part at 02:55 really is the essence of what you are simply great at. Not many would consider suddenly changing to a funk part at that point, but it works perfectly. That slippy-squaresaw sounds amazing :D.
There's a lot of great things I could say about this track, but I believe it all comes down to this being the essence of what your music is all about. It's a blend of dance and techno, and when you start adding funk elements as well you are heading for greatness.

Even though I think this track was really good, I'll still deduct half a point. The reason is the eq.
the giant saw that comes in at
01:27 is stealing a lot of the shine from the bass parts and the slippy square. I would recommend trying to analyze at which frequencies the different synths shine the most, and try to lower or cut that particular frequency from the other synths.
Also it sounds you are letting some unwanted frequencies pass through in your EQ. I recommend cutting some of the lowest frequencies from ALL your synths and samples. How much of the lower frequencies you want to cut depends on the synth, but a general rule is that you cut what you can't hear. As an example, high pitched synths like the one at 02:57 pretty much only shine in the low and hi middle frequencies, so there's a lot of low frequencies that you can cut. if you use fl studio, add a parametric eq on all your active mixer channels(except the master), select one of the presets that says something like "20hz - 18khz" and move the low end cut point(the place where the cutting starts. It will be at 20hz in this case), until you find the point where you start hearing that the synth noise changes. You want to cut all frequencies to the left of this point.
If you don't use fl-studio, pretty much all Daw has a simillar eq plugin that does the exact same thing. Unwanted/uneeded frequencies like this which you think you can't hear, makes the mix sound muddy when all the synths come together, so I really recommend learning and mastering this technique.

Overall a great track, and it's amazing to see someone who has requested a review has grown this much :D! Keep it up ;).

4.5/5
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Drewpy responds:

Wow thanks so much for the review! I'm totally going to work on getting better at eq, thanks for all the tips! It's so cool that someone would take the time to give me all the tips and information that you gave me here. Seriously, thanks a million