mod15's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Breaking]

Oh, dude, great mix. I'm only 0:40 in so far, and holy yes. Instrument choice, placement, clarity, and composition is all just magical.
I like how it's pretty minimalistic up until about 2:30, when it gets more melodically interesting in my opinion. And it gets more energetic coming into 3:10.

I really dig the arrangement that you did here. The super long build up isn't something I generally like, but you worked it.

Keep rolling out tunes man, you deserved the frontpage spot.

{ Review Request Club }

Voltus responds:

Thank you very much for the praise! Keep the RRC rolling man! ;)

[Coven Girls Remix MF v HZ]

I really enjoyed this one, and I do believe I will be heading over to iTunes.
I don't really have much to say in regards to the technical side of it - I have no advice which would be helpful to you. The mix is wonderful, the everything is wonderful, really.
I'm not really sure if I would have dropped this in the General Rock category, though. The snippet here seems to imply more of an EDM influence than Rock characteristics. Mayhap upon listening to the whole track I'll be shown otherwise.

That's really all I've got to say. Wonderful job.
{ Review Request Club }

hania responds:

SWEET!! And yeah, honestly that is my weakness: figuring out which genre things fit in. Seriously, I'm always wrong. I should pick what I think it is then do the EXACT OPPOSITE. lol. Thanks for the awesome review!! We really appreciate the kind words :D

[Current Project]

For a general rock guitar track, this is pretty decent. I do have to note that the chord progression that starts at 0:59 is pretty much identical to Get Out Alive by Three Days Grace. Which is fine to me, I love that progression.

As for the more technical side, I think that a bit tighter stereo compression may have been helpful to really gel the two guitar tracks together. Also, not damning you or anything, but the left panned guitar and the right panned guitar had some points where they were noticeably out of time from each other. The best way to get that huge guitar sound with dual panning is by having the effects slightly different, but physically playing them as close to identical as you can. That helps to land transients in the same place and create a little more impact. A little more cohesion. With the slightly different audio feeds, it really creates a big sound.

Keep it up, man. I enjoyed the track itself, just get a touch more precision with the playing and gel the tracks together, and you'll be golden. And if you can get bass and drums, as previously mentioned, this would be one hell of a rad track.
{ Review Request Club }

[Vivid Dark, Full of Colours]

We meet again, stalworth stranger!
I cannot believe that this had a score of 0 when I came along. Perhaps people would expect this in the experimental category, or something.

Regardless of that, this is absolutely wonderful. Being able to understand the theory, the ambiance, the emotion of the track is what's truly important. If the others can't do that because it's a bit dissonant, their loss. They wouldn't enjoy Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima or L'escalier du Diable. Keep making wonderful music!

itbegins responds:

You have left me speechless. Thank you.

[Lurking]

Very eerie! I like the ambiance a lot.

Before the "melody" came in, I thought it would make for a nice intro to a prog-metal track, interestingly enough.

The stereotypical alien noise is the only thing that docked that half a star. It's a bit too cliché for the whole creepy-vibe ambient tune, in my opinion.

Otherwise, excellent job nailing the je ne sais quoi that causes a fear reaction solely based on sound. It may also have to do with my sleeptalking roommate, my extreme lack of sleep, and the dark environment, but I believe it's 99% due to the audio.

itbegins responds:

Glad you liked it! Originally it was going to be a 3-5 minute track with beat parts inbetween but the first minute sounded like a nice finisher for the ep. You might like my other track "vivid dark, full of colours", which is a bit more calm, but can creep you out at the same time. I'm really proud of it!
Again, thanks for the kind words!

[Fluxstyle - Nature's Growth]

It just seems... Empty.
I know it's supposed to be more of a chill tune, but there doesn't seem to be much going on at all.
It's one of four things at any given point in time: the drum beat (which stays almost unchanged through the entire thing,) the bassline, which when it's playing is identical throughout, the mid-square sound, which is also identical throughout, or the melody. The melody is interesting, for the 8 bar loop it is.

I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying it's repetitive. I do give props for not just doing literally the same thing throughout, you did change up the instrument combinations to add some varietal interest, but for the most part it was lackluster in that department.

However! I definitely say keep composing. Everyone starts somewhere, and everyone goes somewhere. You've started off on a good foot, especially judging by the other tracks you've got on here that I've listened to. Just remember when you're writing something to chill to: the same thing over and over is less relaxing than it is annoying.

I'd suggest Fred V & Grafix for some Chill DnB for inspiration. Liquid DnB is the most chill I can think of.

Keep it up man!

unknowngoth responds:

Now this is criticism I can appreciate! I see what you mean and I'll be sure to make changes where-ever I can to add variation, and I will be sure to check out Fred V & Grafix!

Anyways, thanks man. I'm glad to see people take the time to really speak their mind :)

[Winds of Uncertainty]

Very pretty composition!
Over all, I really liked the chord progression, and the guitar sounded fantastic! Is that recorded, or was that done through a VSTi specifically for acoustic guitar, or what?

The only slight complaint that I have is that the flute sounded very general-MIDIish. It sounds almost like the MIDI flute sound that comes stock with Microsoft Windows. I would suggest finding either someone to record an actual flute, or to get a decent VSTi for orchestral instruments.

But other than that, this is going to be a great, great intro to a game.
Keep up the great compositional work!

Vote: 5
Rating: 4.5

kuro-rpg responds:

Thank you!

It's actually Pan Flute and I had a heck of a time deciding on which sound font I wanted for my custom edition. For a regular flute, I have something that sounds a bit better. :)