Smitsy's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sly]

I like it! Though the very start sound like the intro to Coldplay - Princess of China. I'm sure it wasn't intentional :)

[Tamara171]

Nice track! Love the intro and the reverse pads (?) stuff you have going on. Drums are great too. Heres some constructive cristism!

+As I said, intro is great. Simplistic but sounds sweet.
+Track develops well throughout! I find a lot of songs in this genre are very repetitve and I get bored quite often (admittedly DnB isnt really my favourite type of music) but this is good. New sound effects and instruments introduced throughout really helped this song!
+The filter sweep FX works really well. I dunno if its a sample or you did it yourself but it fits perfectly. I mean the sounds at 1:38 and 0:00.

I dont really know what to say to improve on since Im not really an avid DnB listener, but I'll try anyway all down to my personal preference:
-The wub effect sounds cool, but maybe it would be worth automating the timbre somewhere throughout the track, just so it sounds like its evolving more. Gets a bit tiring.
-Ending seemed a bit forced? Maybe too sudden. Personally I think it could have done with the song slowly building down before it ended. Again, just my preference
-Add a few more drum loops, perhaps. I think theres some subtle changes but nothing too drastic. The drums sounded good but they could have evolved more.
-I would say its a bit too short. I think you could have added another final part and an outro section.

I hope this helped. This is really nice stuff, it's not really my style of music but I can tell a lot of effort was put into this and it worked out well, nothing too much to worry about. Keep it up!

PrognoiseBIG responds:

Thanks for your real Review Smitsy- I appreciate that in the first place.

Simplistic does the trick in my opinion.
You know when producers want to put in to much for a to short amount of time.
Fun to see that you are not a DnB listener in te first place but you took time for the track.
I know its on request but still cool to see you didn't skip it =).

About the FX. I can make alot of different Sweeps & Fx pri* in Massive but that didn't fit the job in here and used a SweepdownFX with some adjustments to the way i like it the most.

Anyways .

Bass is made myself ( Cause i like that the most ). Sound Design is fun to do =)

You feedback for improvements make alot of sense to me.

The WUB - I Agree with you, it gets a bit tiring when i listen to other tracks the wub evolves more and has more variety needed.

About the ending - Sometimes i dont know what kind of structure i want/need to use.
Normally i did hip hop and then i build the song with the following structure -

4 Barz intro - 16 Barz - 8 Barz (ref ) 16 Barz -8 Barz (ref ) - 16 Barz - 4 Out.

I dont really know if it works the same way with other genres of music.
To keep it short is also the way for me to express myself at very best cause now the listener is not really forced to stay 3-4 minutes.

But what you say makes alot of sense - Build down the track and then rebuild it with alot of creativity =) .

Yes! You helped me alot. Smitsy i want to say Thanks again.
I Will use your feedback to my future tracks - so i expect you back somewere in the future days =) !

Thanks again & Thanks alot.

PGNB.

[Nirvana - School (cover)]

This is a nice cover! As someone else said, at some parts you do sound like Kurt and it works really well in this song. The singing is very good! The guitar playing is alright too. Admittedly I havent really heard the original song so bare that in mind when reading this. Heres some positives and negatives!
+I love the tone of the guitar
+As said above, the singing is great for this cover.
-The vocals could have done with been quieter in the mix, however. Whenever the vocalist is singing the guitar gets completely overpowered in the mix.
-The guitar playing is good, but the solo at 1:25 sounds like it has a few open strings ringing and sounds unclean (However, if that is what the original song is like, ignore this point)
-Drums and bass would have been nice!

So yeah, all in all a good cover, just watch your levels! -Smitsy

Stereocrisis responds:

Thanks Smitsy. I will say this though. I don't ever intend on bringing cover songs into the studio. LOL I know the audio quality isn't what it could be, but it's grunge, so I kind of like how raw it sounds. Just my personal preference. I like that punk/garage rock sound.

[Nice Game Time]

This is pretty good! The drums are very heavy, but it seems to work alright. The song doesnt initially grab me, but after a few plays through it I got to learn the melody/chords making the song sound better. Considering the song is a videogame genre to be played over and over, its pretty good in that respect!
The only thing I'd say to improve on would be adding a few other parts. Dont be afraid to drop out the bass for a bridge/middle 8 section, I think this song could have done with that.
The other thing would be some of the VSTs sound a bit odd. I think thats the Harmor SpacePluck preset as the guitar, could be wrong, but I dont really think it fits. Something more piano-like would have been better in my opinion. I do really like the orchestral parts at 35secs ish though!

But yeah, pretty strong song for a video game. Keep up the good work!

[Approaching Destiny]

I really like this! Like what everyone else has said, the mixing is a bit strange. Im not that great at mixing myself so I cant really tell you why, everything just sounds punchy and not very well balanced. Past that though, the actual composition of this track, aswell as the instruments, is awesome! I love the piano melody at the start, this is a really cool track!

However, since the other reviews have pretty much said the same thing, Ill give you some other feedback which is really just down to my opinion. For one, I think the transistion at 2:10 could be better. The actual transisition part is good, but when the new synth starts fading in it clashes with the pads pretty bad. Maybe you could have changed the chord the pads hold to match the new melody, I'm not sure. I also think it gets a bit too repetetive after a while. The section in the middle was a nice break from the main melody, but other than that its mostly all the same chords and melody, perhaps try changing the chord sequence behind or develop the piano line some more!

One last thing I liked was the panning, it was almost quite 80's with how much you put in there, but on a whole it all seemed to balance out and worked well IMO. Nice song!

[Feels Like Water (Original Mix]

This is awesome! Great mastering job. I love the parts like at 5:42, sounds really good! Good choice in drums and bass, and the section at the start ~0:45 is really good too. The only reason I didnt give 5* was because I felt it could have more automation/changes in the bass through the song because it did get a bit tiring on my ears, the breakdown in the middle helped but I guess its down to personal preference. Keep up the good work!

Sequenced responds:

I feel like if I added anymore changes to to the bassline, it will sound like too much is going on.

[Kart Racing]

Love the composition and the chords you got going! Drums are really cool too! Only thing I would say is to changeThe chords every once and a while. What you have is great but imo you could have expanded on it a bit more ;)

Cacola responds:

Hm, I've never tried doing chord changes before, I'll try that in the future. Thanks!

[Hill Act 1 (Remix)]

I really like the introduction! Maybe a tiny bit long but still pretty good. This is just me, but to me the bassline is a bit meh and kind of gets drowned out, but at the same time it does have an interesting effect so if thats what you were going for then nice work :) Anyway, the review:

+The intro is nice
+The general backing rhythm is pretty strong
+Mastering is pretty good!
+Pretty good drum samples! Maybe a bit quiet in places. I do like it though.
-Im not so sure about the lead synth at the start, to me it doesnt quite fit. Though the one at 2:05 works a lot better in my opinion. Perhaps make it softer and change the saw type. Again, just opinion.
-Some changes or development in the backing rhythm could have been interesting, but it comes down to how closely you want to follow the original so again, just nitpicking.

But anyway, pretty strong track! I like it alot, just personally I would have done some things slightly differently. Keep up the good work though!

TheNegativeIon responds:

Thanks for the review! This really means a lot to me. I never would've gotten something like this on LBP2. But I guess that comes mostly from the limited review space allotted. Nonetheless, thanks again.

[Field Frolic]

I dont normally listen to this kind of music, or create it, so this review may not be entirely accurate. But, I did like it alot for what it is! Kinda has an 'adventure on the sea' vibe which I really like. Anyway, onto the review:

+Great composition, song stays interesting throughout
+Mixing is pretty good, could be a bit louder in some parts though. Also perhaps more instruments panned to the left. But otherwise mixing is pretty much perfect!
+Great drum samples. Fits really well!
-Some of the notes seem too rigid and digital, in my opinion it would sound better slightly looser (mainly at the end).

But yeah, pretty awesome stuff man. Keep it up!

[[C] - Yōma no Umi]

Pretty repetetive but it suits the song! Could definitely see this in a video game or something.

+good composition and instruments
+like the drums
+loops well
-melody could be more interesting

TheyCallMeCaudex responds:

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback! Actually, I think the the thing it's missing is chord progression... or at least that's something that the melody would benefit from.