Breed's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

["Desert Journey"]

. . .

Flash-MX pretty much said exactly what I wanted to say, but another little scale to try out is the "arabic" scale that fl studio claims in its arpegiiator....i dont use that function but in semitones it goes

1-2-1-2-1-5

yea...it jumps a p4...its strange, but it works. I use it in 3 of my pieces if you want an example of using it in context--they are called "Desert Spirit", "Poly Insanity", and "The Jungle Tribe" (im not trying to whore just trying to provide context)

But yea emotionally the melody doesnt fit for a desert or eastern feel. You may also be interested in Cartanic music which is Indian style eastern music. They use 72 different melakartas raagas which are each scales. Very cool stuff cartanic music theory. All based on connecting to the different charkras in our bodies to evoke certain emotions and spirits.

BTW I still enjoyed the cinematic feel to this. Definitely reminds me of James Hoerner music.

Cheers!

BrokenDeck responds:

Flash-MX mentioned a North American desert... it might fit there? lol Anyways thanks for the in-depth review. I really appreciate this guys!

:D

[Thrill Ride]

. . .

Compositionally I'm not one to judge very well, but I did enjoy it, only I felt it could have used a bit more harmony. Some kind of accompaniment would be nice (like a background progression of some sort, or a sidechain bassline. They are parts that are polyphonic and homophonic, but it's subtle. The drums are very interesting, I love em, but I feel like they could come in in parts, and have more variance. It's mostly just that one loop the whole time.

As for mixing it sounds pretty spot on. Personally I would nudge that backbeat snare up a bit. The timbres of all the synths are nice, but I would try to have some more contrasting richer/rougher sounds to the siney smooth ones.

Overall it's a solid track. I enjoyed it.

Jakesnke17 responds:

Well, heh, I'll be one to admit. I didn't really have a great idea for this one...it's kinda schizophrenic. Just starting out on a digital audio workstation, and figuring out just what the hell to do, FL Studio is a puzzle in itself. lol

Well, glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the review. :)

[My Next Move Defines Me]

. . .

I feel like the song is lacking some low end presence, and the vocals are too far back in the mix. Perhaps some light chorus and fundamental boosting on the vocals(as well as overall signal boost by 6-10dB or so), and just some mid/low end emphasis on the rhythm guitar, with more high end emphasis on the lead to give them more separation. Melodically the track is pretty spot on, enjoying the progresions and the leads go together well harmonically, but the mixing needs help.

Cheers!
- LD -

[Bluebell Fields]

. . .

This reminds me a lot of the scoring from the disney movie "Up." Very interesting, wish I had more to say compositionally, but hey I guess that's why im going to college haha.

Cheers!

TheBenjerman responds:

Sweet! I just got compared to an oscar-winning score! ^_^

And yup! That's what college is for! You can critique my contrapuntal technique in a year or two if you want. :P

Thanks!

[DurpDurp (Mans0n)]

. . .

I told you it would get 1k+ downloads you noob

Mans0n responds:

guess you were right lulz

[:O :O :O]

. . .

A couple of things I noticed on my dubstep journey that I believe would improve the track have to do with the percussion. Mixing wise dubstep has a lot of relations to reggae. For instance, having the backbeat claps closer up in the mix gives the attack of the basslines a stronger feeling without losing the smoothness of the filter/dB sweeps. Another popular reggae aspect that gives a dubstep tune great flow is to change back and forth between a tight release and long release backbeat within the same measure(snare first then clap, or simply a dry snare vs a reverbed one second).

Also when you are doing a more straight forward/less syncopated style percussion (like this kick/snare 1/2 format) it sounds especially wicked to compensate syncopation with the melody. 3/4 baseline against a 4/4 drumline for instance will give a great reggaeton feeling making it especially bouncy sounding. And I know your goal was for a stomper type, straight forward machine fx sound, but machines aren't necessarily straight up timed events. They slow down and speed up as well.

But within your other comments you are right, dubstep is a sound designers genre, and the you have a definite uniqueness to your bassline timbres. And your vocal processing is interesting as well.

Anyways it's a solid track, but I tend to criticize everything....

Cheers!

[Xkur Top Secrut Preview!!!!!!!]

.........

How many dubstep songs have you made? And you're already pumping out timbrel braingasms??? I'm jealous. I spent weeks messing with like 20 different effect combos....teach me???

[Stride (Mans0n)]

. . ...

YOUR MOM GOES TO COLLEG

Mans0n responds:

lmao wat

[Rucklo - Endless Handbag Remix]

. . .

Gotta love that style of percussion! Not sure If I'm of fan of the timbre of that really simple sounding organ like instrument...the lower lines work, but the higher ones just sound like a little too much of a simple sound to me. The scratching and vocals are definitely legit. Also I'm hearing lots of rough gritty mushy lower end on the mix. I'm sure the vinyl sounding noise is intentional but I don't think thats the culprit. Was some of this recorded live? Were you going for a particular type of sound with the mix? Sometimes it's tough to tell if people are intentionally going for a more retro sound or not.

Anyways overall fun little piece since that percussion is so awesome.

Cheers!

- LD -

Rucklo responds:

i think i cleaned up the low-end reasonably, there should only be the sub and the bassdrum down there... thinking of it, i might have forgotten to EQ it properly... but whatever, i have no time to fix that now anyway.
as for what's recorded... the scratching is, everything else is MIDI-controlled, written by hand. of course i've edited so that it shouldnt be TOO tight, as that'd take the vintage sound out in three sec.
frankly, there's not enough vintage-sound in this tune - as the original seem to consist of whatever samples... to make it alot better i should have made loops of all instruments and handled them accordingly. but again, i've no time, so it all stays purley programmed.
as for the recorded scratching, more or less all of it is original scratching, but i have cleaned up some where i've made small misses in the cut and whatnot. it always takes forever to cut the scratching up so i can pan it around (doing that manually so i get it tight), but yeeeh...

Glad you like the tune though, in case you haven't you definitley should check out the original!

[DepecheMode-Remix]

Sorry for such a delayed review response!

Usually my reviews are pure mix criticism so I hope you don't mind.

The first thing I noticed on here was the little white noise sound then the applauding. Personally I think applause can be used well in a track like this, but not in that form. My suggestion would be to remove that to accentuate the more ambient like intro which will in turn make the more energetic/rhythmic sections seem even more so. The synth that comes in right around 17 seconds I think would also come in better slowly with a filter. I like the kick up until the full percussion comes in at 51 seconds. I think in order to really achieve that full mix feeling to a song in this genre you should get a punchier/more bass driven kick to power the song at that point since the bassline sits closer to the low mids rather then the high/mid lows. The high synth that sounds like a voice by the end at 31-35 seconds is really cool but I think you should add some reverb or a more longer decay. The vocals at 2:42 just plain don't work IMHO. Your reverse sounds don't match up that well with the downbeats(just off by a little), and I think they are a bit too loud too. Reverse sounds fit nicely when a little lower in the mix.

Anyways so my main points are a stronger kick for the main sections, less applause, double check your relative velocities, and make sure vox are in tune to song.

Thing's I liked about the tune would be the synth that sounds like a synth at first and turns into a voice at the high end of it, the melody(who wouldnt like depeche mode though), and the general structure of it.

4/5

Cheers!

DjMontana responds:

Hey logicalDefiance...

Well thnx already for a Long Review..
Im Telling you right now my Energy For posting my Tracks here is deminishing..
Im Not getting results here on NG .. there are too pfew people who really want to
exchange their traits with me.
Also people like this blizzaine type below are just not making it worth posting it here after all those hours off work.

As for people like yourself.. i always am ready to hear these kind off good critisism..
Youre right in the sound tough.. my Fruityloops is not attuned.. and the volocity is always a problem is this program.
i will check this again in time and mabey remake it with some better sounds..

Now i am Really late with reacting on your review as well.

Thnx for youre time

Greets DJMontana