Kalviter's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[OMOIDMED 011]

Dude you gotta put the lyrics up with bit crushing like that lmao, though it's a great effect (duke nukem with a rap career)

Great beat, if that's you rapping then you sound good and should hide it less!

slowfreq responds:

The rapping is from a collab I did a year ago or so. By Massbleak. If I ever end up transcribing the lyrics I'll post em up

[AIM 2022 - Heaven's Night :// City's Light]

Highlight for me is the drum composition. I like how easily you delineate the sections with related, characterful grooves that really accent the overall shape of the piece!

I think the mixing/production does let you down here a bit (mostly because you could make those drums cut through!). It's always the hardest bit of the process for me as well so I know it's not an idle ask: it just comes with practice and using multiple headphones to test your sound on different devices.

Overall, I like the hints at experimentation here and hope you continue this glitchy, dreamy journey!

TheVodouQueen responds:

TYSM for the kind comments. :) And yeah, this is like my second song arranging and mixing/post-producing in Reaper. I'm still having to rely on YT videos to help me in balancing across instruments and synths, but I am slowly getting better at it and used to the decision-making behind certain sounds and where to cut, filter, and/or enhance at certain hertz brackets and whatnot. Like you said, it just takes time... I've made a few synthwave songs before, but this was my first time digging deep to give it that vintage, kinda scuffed, warm, 80s stereo sound. So yeah, practice makes perfect I suppose. :)

But again, TY for the input! Means a lot to hear. <3 :3

[Expedition]

Is this downtempo? I'm not sure I'd necessarily agree with that tag but it doesn't detract from the piece itself so it doesn't really affect my score.

I like the different sections of the piece, and that they maintain distinct motifs' without being incoherent. I do wish you had changed up the string melodies a bit, taking advantage of the beautiful sounds you can get from slow high strings as well as the slow low ones. However, that being said, the run you did make is very nice and catchy.

I'm not sure whether the kick is a bit too "hardstyle", maybe it could have been differently EQ'd to blend a bit better into the mix. Indeed, in the kick sections, the mix does become too bass heavy, and probably requires a different set of levels on the instruments than in the orchestral section. Only a subtle difference is required, but it will help your melodies sound less drowned out. You could considering a more subtle sidechaining with the kick to help it blend a bit more.

Overall, nice piece, could have used a bit more work though in regards to development and mixing.

DJ-Doty responds:

Thank you very much for your review! Would have to completely agree with you. The exact definition of the word Downtempo is "music having a relatively slower beat" so that's really why I use it. I don't know what genre this is.

Will keep that in mind, thanks! I generally like melody changes during a song but some reason they feel misplaced when I use them in my own tracks. I'm going to research that now because you've brought it to my attention. Maybe even why many people think I'm too repetitive. :)

The kick and bass are probably too hard. I make Big Room and other hard genres of EDM so a good driving bass is usually what I go for in the climax of a track, but it does feel misplaced now that you mention it. I like Alan Walker so I'll look out for that next time when working on another piece like this one.

Thank you for your time, compliments and 3.5/5 rating. Really appreciate it. Have a nice day. :)

[TheFatRat ft. Laura Brehm - Monody (GTB Remix) [NG cut]]

The bass is a lil drowned out at the beginning because of that huge kick, but it still sounds fairly well balanced. Vocals appear nice and central to the mix, which is good.

The track is very much a dance track. It's a pretty good dance track though, def could see this getting banged out in a warehouse in London somewhere. Maybe you could have done a bit more with the vocals, brought them back for a second towards the end of the piece. Also having most of the instruments slowly attack over a bar gets a little bit boring but luckily you did well in slowly phasing that out towards the end. Instrument choice is pretty nice too. Could be arranged to have more dynamic and contrasting sections, but that would take away from the "dance" feel that is has.

Well done, mate. Hopefully you can produce stuff this well for original pieces as well as for remixes.

Dj-Gonzo responds:

Thanks for the review! The kick was a huge issue to deal with here, I think it has 3 automation layers over it, to try to fit the intensity of the chords while giving it enough punch to be noticed. I usually tend to leave behind the kick in other songs, but here I tried to fix it the best I could. Glad you liked it! :D

>GTB

[Mkallux - RainDrops]

That lead needs to come down a lot in terms of volume. You can hear it clipping badly. The bells have a similar problem. The mixing on the piece makes it really difficult to listen to. This is contrasted by a really drowned snare and a kick that doesn't like it was EQ'd or compressed. I think your lead instruments take up way too much of the mix and need to be turned down a lot and EQ'd moderately, while the drums need heavy equalizing and a good compression on them to make them pop. Also think about sidechaining, which you can google if you're unfamiliar with.

Regarding structure and performance, the piece gets boring quickly. You do have quite a few instruments, but they all play the same melody. The bassline is based on two notes, and is also remarkably similar to the leads. Though you build up to drops fairly well, the lack of dynamic change leading up to them takes away from their impact. These elements add up to form a piece that feels incredibly repetitive. In the future, vary your instruments throughout the song rather than throwing them all out at once, and employ a more interesting chord progression. Also, widen your range of percussion if you can, using stuff like interesting hi-hats and hits really helps bring a piece alive.

Don't be discouraged by the low rating, we all started somewhere. Music is a lot harder than anyone thinks it's going to be, and I encourage you to step up to the challenge and practice enough to make some really good stuff. I noticed you said you tried mastering without presets, which is good, and you should use the mistakes here to improve your mastering for the next song. Good luck!

MkalluxMusic responds:

Thanks for your review :).

I actually tried mixing all this myself to see if it was better...

I put a side Channing VST on them... Guess it didn't have an effect...

I even tried keeping the levels balanced...

Maybe next time ill reduce everything that isn't a drum...

[Midsummer requiem]

I get the sense this was inspired by that one Resident Evil song. While atonality and very very heavy rubato in and of themselves are fine, and can contribute nicely to an experimental piece, attempting both in one shot is questionable. A lot of what I have to say is heavily contingent upon "I don't know whether this is intentional or not" so next time try to describe what it is you wanted to do with the piece.

It sounds like you're going for a really strange and unhinged atmosphere, which this piece accomplishes with aplomb. I would say however, that at 1:29, after a long and subtle decrease in volume, the sudden jump in volume could be controlled a bit better. Maybe build to it as opposed to immediately reaching it. Several of your instruments appear to clip as well in this area, so ensure you take a look at mixing at some point in the future. You could also benefit from panning your instruments, as having them all centered really detracts from the pieces atmosphere. The outro as well is a bit sudden in volume and rhythm, it might have made more sense to end at 2:49 or 2:52.

It's not my thing but it's definitely interesting. Just remember that even experimental music doesn't escape the obligation of good mixing. Also, explaining your experiment might give it a bit more meaning to others. Keep going though.

GXFICH responds:

Thank you that was a very helpful reveiw

[Mkallux - Chain Reaction]

The mix needs a lot of work. Your drums, kick and snare in particular, are much louder than your synths, and they completely take over the piece. I think you can easily afford to bring them down and still have them carry decent punch. You also need to EQ all of your instruments, this will help avoid crowding the mix as well. You pan your synths very wide, which gives the piece a bit more of a spacious and nicer feel, but your drums could stand to benefit from a similar treatment, as well as variety in rhythm. The two build ups to each drop are exactly the same and it gets a bit repetitive.

Your choice in synths is pretty nice and varied, nearly all of them contribute to that industrial grinding atmosphere you seem to be going for (except the piano of course). There are two synths I don't really like, that being the chorus lead and the beginning chordal synth, because they don't fit the overall tone as well and the lead in particular sounds very boring and undeveloped.

Not a bad effort overall, though, it's got coherent structure and doesn't stray from it's theme too much. The ending crescendo is questionable but I'll leave that up to you. Keep it up, look up EQ, compression, and sidechaining.

MkalluxMusic responds:

Allright, Thank you, the drums were made louder on perpose, but ill see if lowering them makes better.

And yes I do feel the pad at the begging is eh?

[The One]

Writing this as I listen so I'll give an overall conclusion at the end.

From 00:29 to 00:57 I think the piano melody gets a bit too repetitive. It's a shame given how the melody before (and after) that is so much more interesting rhythmically.

The synths that come in around 02:20 are really nice at broad, out of all the instruments you use here they're probably my favourite.

I like the progression of the drums a lot as the piece builds to 03:07, but again you've got the problem of that repetitive rhythm in the strings and piano until about 03:35. I think that varying the rhythm, even just a little bit, would seriously improve the piece.

Overall though, nice job! It has a nice structure and overall mood. Honestly I wish you used something other than Garageband because I feel like you're at the level where it would benefit you, but that's not an objective fault so I won't criticise it. Maybe in your next work try playing around with drawing out the strings as opposed to using them for stabs.

MysteriousPresence responds:

Hey thanks for the review Kalv' ! =D
Thank you for the kind words ! I really see what you mean by the repetitiveness of the song, I totally see it now with hindsight. I won't do the same mistake again ! ^^
Yes I think I might buy a Windows one day in order to use FL Studio.
Thanks again ! =3

[-=Didd=- DJ MoSlo]

You mentioned using Garageband in the comments. Personally I'd think about transitioning to another DAW but that's not really the main issue at all. If you're interested I'm sure people in the Audio Forum will help you out.

I think you'd benefit from looking up some mixing tutorials. You actually have a pretty good selection of instruments here, it doesn't feel too crowded (though maybe two bass synths is pushing it a little) but they'd sound much better if they were EQ'd and panned properly. I don't know how much power you have to edit this stuff though, because you might be using the loop library that comes with GB.

Also consider a bit more variation throughout the piece. You don't have to come up with a new chord progression or whatever, but maybe subtract instruments from the mix for a phrase before bringing them back in (Taking the bass out for a bit for example).

You do, however, have a good grasp of rhythm, I like how the beginning samples end up fitting into the whole piece. There don't appear to be any issues with dodgy looping or noticeably out of time instruments. I like that sample that comes in every two bars, the weird-sounding thing that I can't seem to describe, but it would be more effective if it wasn't used for the whole piece. It's still good though.

For someone on Garageband this isn't too bad, and you've clearly got some interesting ideas you could put in your future music. Keep going, don't let a seemingly low rating discourage you!

DididdProducions responds:

Thanks! I'm slowly trying to work my way into Logic now. I think I used two or three loops for this, and the rest are edited loops and MIDI. the sound every two bars was part of the beat that I found, so I would have to do some finnicking to edit that. If I need more mixing power, I can actually move this to Logic and mix it in there. I'm going to try and find a way to include my background in classical Violin sometime, maybe for orchestral dubstep? I would like your opinion on that. Also I'm thinking of making an extended mix or VIP where I can implement these changes. Any other suggestions welcome!

I'm most just excited that the review board finally found this song .3.