secantwave's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rainfall]

The thing that I liked most about this song was the atmospheric production. It felt very much like a lullaby, with the samples of rain, the heavy reverb on the piano and other instruments, and various assorted synths speckled throughout.

I liked the subtle use of vocoder-like vocals throughout the song, especially when they became more prominent at 1:03. However, I found the fast-singing section that followed that to be a bit disappointing--given that the piece as a whole is quite serene and ZipZipper's vocal style is very gentle and smooth, the rap-like cadence was sort of jarring.

Another aspect that kind of stood out to me in a negative way was the orchestral samples before the last section. It's difficult for me to say exactly why, but I felt like they contrasted too much with the sound set you had built up in the rest of the piece--in addition to the sudden change of tempo throwing me off.

In general, this song felt kind of lifeless. While there were a few nice chords in here (especially the last one--that was a great turnaround), I just didn't find the main progressions to be that interesting. And while the vocals are well-sung, they didn't sound very motivated. However, take this last bit of criticism with a grain of salt--I tend to prefer instrumental music in general. Certainly, this piece has some great, moody production throughout.

ZipZipper responds:

You probably just made the most relevant review I've ever had on here. Great job!

[I Owe You The Same]

I like the chord progression underlying this song, and I liked the very crisp way you played and recorded it, along with the subtle percussion. However, I felt like the ideas didn't come together very cohesively (a problem I have as well.) I like the brief solo, but it was so short that it felt incomplete, and I liked the "doo-wah-oos" at the end even more, but having them come out of nowhere and end the song was very disorienting--I think that combination could have carried the piece by itself. On the other hand, the rapped verses and the narrated bits didn't thrill me so much. I found your singing to be above the cat-strangulation level of quality, and I would have liked to hear more of it.

Still, there are some very good ideas in this piece, and the sound production was outstanding, especially given the conditions you describe.

Ceevro responds:

Honestly, I think that my issue with the do-wah section at the end was that it took me so long to nail it down that it started to sound annoying to me...even though a friend of mine who is a professional recording artist/producer told me that I should be "slutting it out through the whole damn song." I even prepared a second version with way more do-wah-ing...but I decided to keep the original on the basis that it started to annoy me (hours of hearing the same loop will do that to you...a lesson in stepping back from your own creation).

...And is it just me, or has no one noticed that the solo was 'Crazy Train?' I thought if I continued it, I'd get called out for lazy composition, instead of a quick Ozzy tribute!

Excellent review! I promise to sing more in the future!

[Future]

I really loved the basic chord progression, especially the way you introduced it at the very beginning, and the way the simple chords interacted with the arpeggiated versions that came in second. I also liked how the first basic layer of wubs in 12/8 interacted with the arpeggios in simple 4/4.

You took a great wall-of-sound approach for the main bulk of the song, but I feel like it could have used some more development--perhaps a clear melodic line, or the introduction of a different chord progression.

The sounds you're using here are really excellent, without exception, and they're building on a good foundation. I think if you came back to this piece when you're not working on a 2-week time limit, you could make something remarkable.

Pandasticality responds:

thank you for your wonderful feedback, im glad you liked it, yeah i agree on the 2-week time limit thing, i could have had more time to work on it but this is what i came up with in that short time.
- Pandasticality

[Rising to the Challenge]

Oh man, am I a sucker for 80s synth sounds. I like how, even though you were using the same basic set of extremely 80s leads throughout, you managed to develop the track quite thoroughly. In particular, I liked how you shook up the basic drum pattern at 2:41, giving it a more driving feel.

However, despite this, the track did feel a bit monotonous. I felt like, although it did have a clear progression, it didn't entirely merit its length. Even the fun synth sounds you used here got a bit tiring over the 3:40 length of the piece, especially since they were blaring at full volume for almost the whole thing. And even for a fun uptempo piece like this one, some more subtlety would be helpful.

I don't want to sound too down on this, though. I really like that you speckled a lot of different themes throughout without deviating too much from the central progression, rather than relying too much on one. They were all very high-energy. Good job overall!

Spadezer responds:

Thank you for the detailed review. I agree I probably should have varied some of the volume level more than just using the break in the middle. Although I didn't really use a lot of different themes. I really wanted to challenge the listener with what I'm doing here. For example, the arpeggiated high pitch synth at 00:25 actually changes after the last arpeggio at 00:37. Also if you pay attention to the melodies, just about all of them get reused. I either change the synth, change the key of the piece, or simple move a few notes around.

Thanks for the 4 stars
-Spadezer-

[(F) _Gravity Bloom_]

This is an absolutely gorgeous piece. Takes its time to develop, certainly, but it flows completely smoothly, and it's got a vague, hazy tone that I love in ambient music. You've managed to balance the focus on sound and the focus on notes very well. And when the higher melodies come in late in the piece, they've got a wavering, glitchy sound that is just brilliant. I would offer a longer review, but I can't think of any way to criticize this.

Fubaka responds:

Thanks for commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed this track.

[Release Essay WIP]

This piece is really awesome! The drum sounds in particular are amazing throughout (I would agree with Reinteck that they deserve a higher position in the mix), and I think you nailed the industrial, mechanical tone.

It kind of takes a while to settle into a coherent groove at the beginning (although maybe this was what you were going for--the beginning is certainly also the most "industrial"-sounding part). The backwards piano (I think?) loop underpinning the whole thing makes a great foundation on which to build the rest of the song.

If you're going to build on this from here, I would suggest adding in different backwards piano (I think?) loops later in the piece, perhaps in different keys, and making the different sections of the piece more distinct, as it kind of blurs together in the middle.

Still, rad sounds throughout on all of the instruments, and amazing job conveying the dark tone.

DexiAntoniu responds:

Yes, the beginning I'm most satisfied with, lol.
I definitely agree with the points you have given! And I am of major gratitude for this review, I'm very very glad you liked it.

[4 Steps From Nowhere]

This piece seems a little bit unfocused, but it's still quite good--you're putting a lot of interesting ideas together in ways that would not occur to me, quite successfully.
I actually appreciated this piece most in the less epic/cinematic portions. Especially the beginning, the ambient strings, understated electronic percussion, crackly noise, and strangely wailing female vocal made a sublime combination, and I was almost a little bit disappointed when the more dramatic drumming and horns came in. However, they ended up contributing effectively to the piece as well.
After a while, though, I found the many different phases of the piece to be somewhat confusing, and they didn't always transition very well. The sudden jump from a major to a minor key at 1:10, the equally sudden replacement of those lovely crackly drums with a choir at 1:59, and the emergence of the acoustic guitar at 2:32 only to be replaced with a drum set at 3:05 were all somewhat disorienting. I definitely appreciated that you put a lot of different styles and sections in this piece, but I think that it would be more effective with smoother transitions and/or longer time allocated to them.
Something else that I really appreciated was the subtle and tasteful use of electronic sounds in parts, including the beginning drums and the appearance of a fuzzy bass synth at 2:25. This helps add diversity to the sound. The piece also certainly succeeded in being stirring and epic throughout, conveying a lot of different moods.
It may seem like I'm being excessively negative in this four-star review, so I want to clarify that a piece with too many different styles squeezed into it is far, far better than a piece that just picks one theme and sticks to it. I think that the multi-phase approach is a great one, but it would be better if the piece were longer, so that the different phases had room to develop and smoothly transition into each other.
Very good job, overall.

WhiteNoiseWave responds:

Thanks for your Reviews, we found your criticisms very constructive and we will take them into consideration as we more forward.

Thanks,
White Noise Wave Team.

[Motivated]

This is a pretty nice piece in parts, but I felt that there were a few areas where it could be improved.

One of the things that stuck out to me especially was that the underlying rhythms didn't have much variety. The simple 1-2-1-2 drumbeat in particular got a little boring after a while. While I certainly appreciated the parts where you attempted to diversify it (1:58, for example) it would have given the piece a lot more energy (and perhaps motivation?) if you had made the beat more complex.

I also felt that the sounds that you used would have benefited from some additional diversity. You had the same sound providing the melody throughout the piece, the super-reverby piano sound. This might have been more effective for just a small portion of the melody, or as a supporting instrument, but when it's the lead for the entire piece, I feel that it wears out its welcome pretty quickly--for the same reason that I wouldn't exactly want to eat an entire cake made of frosting.

Another side effect of using a similar set of sounds throughout the piece was that there wasn't much sense of contrast, or tension and release. The piece just sort of seemed to drift along at the same level of intensity throughout, and by either shaking up the sounds you used or including a more subdued section you could improve on this. As it is, it gets a bit boring after a while.

I don't want to sound like I'm trashing the entire piece, because there were some aspects that I quite liked. The sound you used for the bassline, and the rhythm you applied to it, were both highlights that I think have a lot of potential. In fact, most of the sounds you used were very well chosen (I'm not as much a fan of the super-reverby piano, but that's mostly just personal preference--I tend to favor a dryer production style.) I also quite liked the tune of the coda at the end, and I would have liked to hear you expand on it.

Anyway, to summarize, you've got a good array of sounds in this piece, and you're doing interesting things with your choice of bassline. But I feel that for this track to really shine, you need to incorporate a more diverse variety of sound, particularly shaking up the lead instrument, and you need to elaborate on the drumming a little bit. Of course, I would also say that, if this piece succeeds in motivating you, you've already accomplished what you set out to do--this is just what I'd do to make it more motivational to me.

CeeeX responds:

A huge chunk of text that I loved to read; it's constructive stating what the good and bad parts were.

Too bad you didn't like the kickdrums that was repetative, but that wasn't my main focus to the whole song.
It was the melody you had to focus on or else it'd be a mess to make variety to each instruments!

But I'll keep your advice in mind though, who knows I might change it later!

Thanks for the feedback!

[I like eggs]

This is a very nice track. I particularly like the very muted tone on the piano that gradually sharpens as the piece goes on (although at the very beginning, it seemed to be clipping or distorting a bit--it could be just me, but you might want to look into that).
Overall, the track has a very dark, intense feel, and another important element supporting this is the super-punchy drums, especially the snare that kicks in at 1:11. When this snare starts appearing in more diverse forms like the buzz roll at 1:53 or the weird echoey variant at 1:58, it sounds really awesome.
Mixing piano with dark synthesized backgrounds like you do here can easily go wrong, but you seem to have handled it quite well: the instruments blend with each other perfectly.
As for what could be improved, there's not much I can come up with off the top of my head; I would agree that the fade out is a bit strange, especially since you end the piece for real in the middle of it. More supporting instruments, or even an additional melodic one, would serve the piece well, and help make that dark atmosphere richer.
In short: nice use of piano, excellent drum patterns & tone, cool atmosphere, and no major complaints. Great job!

But why eggs?

Blackmajiick responds:

What, you don't like eggs?

Fixed the ending :)

[Psalm 32]

This is a very well-composed piece, and I particularly liked the chord progression you used. I can see from your interesting commentary that you put a lot of thought into this aspect of the piece, and it paid off: the progression doesn't repeat to the point that it becomes predictable or boring (something that I have seen in a lot of Newgrounds artists) and it evokes a lot of different moods, sometimes stirring, sometimes more wistful. The voicings you used for some of the chords, especially at the beginning, were also quite interesting and helped keep my attention.

I liked that the piece had a clear structure to it. When working with a solo instrument, it's tricky to vary the tone of the piece to create a consistently engaging experience, but you managed to keep the piece engaging by starting out very understated and bringing the intensity up and down in a way that stood out.

Another aspect of the piece I thought worked well was the ambient noise supporting the piano at the beginning. Backing an acoustic instrument with a synth pad like that doesn't always work very well, but you kept it very tasteful by making it very faint, acting not as an outright harmonic support, but more of just an ambient drone.

In fact, one way in which I think you could have improved was by either continuing the drone, bringing it back later in the piece, or perhaps getting rid of it entirely--the thing is, it appears at the very beginning of the piece and then just disappears, which is kind of disorienting. Either removing the drone or making it more present would, I think, help the flow of the piece. (I'm a bit biased here, because I love minimalist music and drones, so I would just spread the synth over the whole thing--but that's just one way of doing it.)

The one other thing that I thought was a little bit inconsistent (and it's a very minor thing) was the presence of swung notes at 2:23 and 3:54. While I appreciated the rhythmic variation they brought to the piece, it was again a bit disorienting because no other rhythms of that type showed up. So, again, either adding in more swing or varying the rhythm in different ways would make the piece feel more consistent.

Really, though, I'm dwelling on small details here. Overall, the piece has a beautiful chord progression, contains an engaging set of variations on that progression, and combines a complex variety of moods. Great job!

Phonometrologist responds:

Thank you for spending the time in writing your well thought-out review.
I find it interesting on your remarks about the "swung notes," because it is true what you said. As I was writing, I was particularly concerned about the lack of variation in the rhythm. Often times when one is listening to music, a stream of consciousness starts to enter into the mind that will detract the individual away from the music. And so that is where a composer seeks to maintain some kind of balance to keep the listener engaged some how.
For example, Beethoven has his usual method where the classical musician can always rely on a sudden outburst of a forte-fortissimo passage that he has written into the score to wake up the crowd.
So, I used the varied rhythm to distinguish between the two themes to grab attention to it, but also like you said, to give the listener an impression of not knowing where the piece is going--even if it is only for a moment.

The other thing that you mentioned, which I agree with you on, is the use of the pad. However, I wrote the piece before I had in mind to use the synth. If I tried bringing it back somewhere or even tried maintaining a drone, I thought it probably would have muddied it too much. The beginning is the only place where the bass notes and chords don't change constantly as the rest of the piece does. Just didn't think there was enough time in between notes to fit a slow moving synth pad underneath, and It wouldn't sound as good if I increased its attack. And I certainly didn't want to get rid of it lol...It was my Goldmund impression regarding the synth, so it was kind of a learning tool for me.
Thanks again.