secantwave's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[My Sorrow]

I felt like this piece never really got momentum started, and I think a big part of that was the relative absence of drums through most of it. It's really important that a piece as energetic as this has some sort of unpitched percussion driving it. I guess this is also because the cool hi-hat pattern that started at 0:37 led me to expect that it was going to build into a dramatically layered drum track, when it actually just faded away.

The lack of drums also made the textures seem kind of thin at points. The section from 1:24 through 1:48 was very little more than a dirty lead playing a single note and a couple of simple drum sounds, and although you made some good rhythmic patterns with them, I don't think that combination works on its own.

The arpeggiations that started coming in at 2:13, I felt, didn't fit in well with the harmonic structure of the piece. I'm no music theorist, but it felt like the way they changed key rapidly contrasted poorly with the droning quality of the rest of the piece.

I thought the intro went on a little long as well. If you had added in some more sounds and perhaps a more complex melody or harmony, it would have made for good ambiance, but as it is it wasn't particularly interesting over the course of a minute. I thought the loud bass pulse at the very beginning was going to build into something bigger, and when it just went away I was somewhat disappointed.

The production and choice of sounds on this piece was quite good. The lead was powerful and dirty, and I would have liked to have heard it mixed in with other sounds. The percussion that you did use fit really well with the melodic sounds, and the piano provided a good contrast with the roughness of other parts. I didn't like the choir-like samples in the beginning and end, but that's purely a matter of personal taste. The eerie screeches that appeared around 2:05 gave the piece a great atmosphere that I thought was lacking from the rest of it.

Overall, I think you're doing well in coming up with cool sonic ideas, but you need to work a bit harder in structuring and composing them, and think about how the intensity of the piece rises and falls.

DJTECKIE responds:

Thanks a lot for the review :) Yeah I'm still a little off with my productions as I'm always doing what I can to improve on my tracks. I'm more into the darker stuff as it is close to halloween :P I'm trying to aim into something new and different than what most artist do. Hopefully soon I'll make a track that everyone will like. It is just a matter of taste tho.
-Teckie-

[What it is to Imagine]

I heard the first few seconds expecting a typical dancy EDM piece, but this became far more interesting quickly. I really liked the pulsating feel created by the basic beat, and how it persisted throughout the entire piece, with weird glitchy excursions popping their heads up out of the drum line.

I particularly enjoyed the speed-up/slow-down/scratch shenanigans that took the lead briefly at 1:15, and even more the metallic percussion sounds that followed them. The glitchy feel of this piece is very understated, but is just present enough to produce a really cool atmosphere.

The only real complaint I have with this piece is that it seemed very unstructured. While there were a bunch of cool ideas, it didn't feel like they were in a logical progression--both the start and the end seemed sort of random, as if this were a segment clipped out of a larger piece. In the grand scheme of things, though, this doesn't weigh down too much on how this piece works so well as a soundscape. What this piece has in spades is good transitions. The entire thing felt fluid, which is so often an issue with music on Newgrounds--it goes through a great variety of sounds seamlessly. Great job!

InvisibleObserver responds:

I spent a lot of time on getting my sound set together, and working with transitions between the sections. The overarching structure as you point out isn't greatly flushed out. I'll be releasing this in the future tuned up with reguards to progression and mix.

Tried my best to tuck the effects a little into the backdrop so not to just be a showcase of fancy-doodad automations.

Insightful review, thankyou.

[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-

[[IV]Novocaine]

The droning, repeated pattern that appears throughout the piece is really good, and the subtle ways it shifts throughout always feel natural in context. I also really liked the slightly fuzzy lead sound that comes in at 2:07.

Interesting choice of title, too. It fits how low-key and slightly off-putting the piece is. In fact, I might have liked it more if there were slightly more dynamic contrast, but it's still quite enjoyable and has an excellent moody atmosphere.