Daru925's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Transformation]

Ok,ok you were not lying, i hereby grant you a permit for using Slayer ;)

Though, my favourite part is from 0:37 to 1min, very nice drums.

Troisnyx responds:

Those drums were FPC! *blush* Still, glad you liked them!

[Blue Verb]

It reminds me of "Btoum-Roumada"

[Away with You]

Good one! I liked the dark not so dark ambiance.
I can totally imagine this music in a song, with some dark poetry, nothing too mellow or cheesy.

Also totally random but some bits of melodies reminds me of mike oldfield somehow... :D

ScottJacob responds:

Thanks! Not sure who Mike Oldfield is but you got me curious lol

[Constellations]

Pretty cool track, i like it, especially the drums and evolving pad at the begining, and all the details that kept the song interesting.
-Just my opinion- I would have liked a little more contrast at ~2:20, maybe make the guitar or drums more explosive or crazier for a short period of time.
Then, the overdriven rhode piano? (what's the name, i'm fond of this sound) closed the track very nicely.

[Noicion]

Good track,
I like this bass sound (makes me think of simsynth instruments in good old FruityLoops II days)
The overdiven part has too much low freq for my taste, and conflicts with the drums.

I'm going to listen to some Ed Starink now.

[Tsukikanade (月奏)]

Very nice sounding and inspiring voice and melodies, but the track suffers from overcompression/pumping effects on the technical side.

I'd try to keep the mix maximum volume peaks at at least -6dB or something (it's headroom, and it's different from dynamic range) without using a limiter (yet), or adjusting the master fader, only using individual channel volume adjustments, panning, non destructive EQ moves( cut rumbles/ useless frequencies, enhance details with care, cut instead of boosting) and only use gentle compression as last resort.
The built-in presets often kill the sound when applied to anything else than a kick/bass.

From time to time, listen to your track at very low volumes, like very low (less than 10/100), if you can still hear pretty much every detail, then you're good, and you can immediately notice when one instrument is too loud or bass heavy because they will jump at you screaming^^

After that, tasks like maximizing overall volume become very easy.
So easythat if you work with FL's limiter, you could just turn the gain knob, make sure the waveforms peaks do not go over the green line, put the limit to -0.3 dB and call it a day^^
You maximized volume and kept dynamic range, GG!
Of course, it's not THAT simple, sorry, but a good mix will obviously be easier to master.
I'm still learning all of this as well, but those guidelines helped me.
Have fun!

Troisnyx responds:

Thanks a lot for the pointers! I'll do a bit of experimentation with it -- perchance I could share the FLP with you, if you use FL, and see what you'd recommend?

[Fluid]

I like the straightforward intro, classic but effective.
Pretty cool ambience, i liked those kind of lead with reverbs that became like pads, how they fade away and came back at 1:18. Good job there.
Overall the song is interesting, every element is there, but I think the track could benefit of more work on the volume of the different instruments, to give the whole tune more cohesion. Also watch out for clipping.

The kick gets weakened by the synths, those hihats are a bit too loud and become distractive overtime, and some rythm variations for the drums would be appreciated.
At 59 sec, it's like you just drop a dry sample and voilà.
It didn't blend well with the overall ambiance of space (aka reverb, delays everywhere)

While the reverb were good throughout the track, watch out for those early reverbs at 1:50, they could use some filtering, to avoid the machinegun effects (pleasing to some i guess, distractive to me).
Overall a pretty good track that requires a few tweaks here and there.
Keep at it :)

mikethete responds:

This review shows me a few things, some of which I'm working at and some that I never knew about.

[Forbidden Place]

Hello,
The song is pretty interesting, it has a mysterious ambience, like danger is near or something.
I felt like playing in a dungeon in a zelda game, especially with the repeating sound starting at 0:15.

I suggest you use EQ, to cut or attenuate lower frequency and watch out for not peaking.
Below 40 hz, there is a strong pulsating subbass that you should remove.
While it can't be heard very much, it's energy affects the whole song, and after listening my ears had to rest a little.

Also the flute at the begining clicks, and could be a little softer in my opinion.

bashfrog responds:

Thanks for the feedback!