Azhthar's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Threesome]

Now this doesn´t sound like a happy flower-threesome ;) The stutter synth at the beginning sounds awesome. Actually most of the sounds you use are great. Only the drums sound a bit thin at some points. You really achieve a nice dark atmosphere here which is great! The beat sounds a tiny, little bit off at some points (especially when it starts). Like it´s not 100% synchronized or something. The track itself is a bit repitative, since you mostly repeat that one phrase but you compensate this by a great arrangement. Also I see that you made this for a soundtrack and I think it´s okay to be repitative if you do background music, so it doesn´t get to dominant. Mixing and mastering sounds good to me but I´m not an expert here ;) So... Nice piece but I would work a bit on the beat. Maybe a sidechain would help to fatten it up?
Hmmm... I have a problem loading your songs. This one only loaded very slowly and your other one doesn´t open at all. I tried other tracks in the portal and they are fine. Then I tried yours again and have still the same problem...

AlexTL13 responds:

yeah! the un-synchronized thing is a motif in the soundtrack.

Thank you for pointing out the drums and sidechain tip, I'll definitely be paying attention to that. hopefully by the next update of the song I will smooth out those issues.

Hmm, maybe it's the format of the file? what format do you upload tracks? If it's different from mp3 let me know, by private message or something so i can replace the file to one with a format that could load faster.

:D

[Zombie Outbreak]

Definitely like your toms work here. The beat is quite nice in general. From the mixing I feel the drums are quite loud compared to the other instruments. The sounds you use are quite nice and the harmonies can be quite catchy. The main issue I have with this track is that it´s really repitative. You should try to develop it a bit more. Also the ending could use some work...

Stereocrisis responds:

I know, I was stuck for an ending I'll admit it. lol

Thank you for your review @Azhthar.

[Warfare]

I really like the dark feeling within this one. Also I love your sounds (especially the pads are quite awesome) and that bell at the beginning draws you directly into this piece. The trap beat is also quite catchy.
The main problem I see within this track is that some of the melodies sound a bit random in some points. Most of the time they are fine, like the groovy line with the arabic feeling which starts at 30 secs.
The melody line which starts at 1:50 is a good example for what I meant above. There are some tones which in it which sound a bit off. I get that you wanted to put in some disharmonic stuff for the dark feeling but if you use dissonances randomely they sometimes sound a bit wrong: In normal tonality dissonances always lead somewhere and are always resolved in certain ways (simple case: dominant leads to tonica). If you introduce some tonal system (like a scale or something), it is hard for the listener to mix this with random dissonances because you just expect something else to come, which doesn´t. Does this make sense? It is different if you do complete atonal stuff because then the listener doesn´t have a reference in his ear and looses the connection. I hope I do not sound to theoretic here and probably I wouldn´t talk about this to long if you wouldn´t have posted in the R4R thread.
Mixing and mastering are definitely good and probably better than all of my mixing, so I don´t have any tips here ;)
The transition at 1:30 sounds a bit strange, like there is a very short moment just empty silence or something. Maybe us a bit more reverb here for the tailing? Actually I have a similar problem at a track I´m working at the moment. Stupid transitions...
The ending is cool. Reminds me a bit of dark circus music or something ;)
As I said: It´s a cool track and I really love the dark feeling in this one.

Und am Ende hab ich dann gemerkt, dass ich auch auf Deutsch hätte schreiben können. Wär wahrscheinlich schneller gegangen ;) Ich hoffe ich klang nicht zu negativ hier, weil der Track echt cool ist. Ich hatte nur zusammengeschrieben was mir aufgefallen, weil Du nach nem Review gefragt hattest...

SoTJake responds:

Hey, danke für deinen Review. Der Review kam überhaupt nicht negativ rüber, ich musste nur ein bisschen von meiner Musiktheorie reaktivieren ;)
Ja, der Part ab 1:50 war ein Experiment, ich hab da eigentlich nicht so viel hintergedacht, aber dafür sind ja Reviews da, um einen auf die Theorie dahinter aufmerksam zu machen.

Freut mich, dass dir der Track gefallen hat, ich werde mir deine Ratschläge zu Herzen nehmen :)

[Is This What You Want?]

Awesome! One of your best tracks I´ve heard so far. Your mixing and mastering also really improved a lot. I don´t know if it´s by purpose and you used a bit of distortion but I have the feeling that sometimes it´s clippinga bit but actually that serves the grungy feeling of this song. Good luck ;) It´s the first submission I heard for the knock out round and I´m already feeling bad about the stuff I did for my track so far... Anyway, four days left for me ;)

Ceevro responds:

Thanks man! No, there's no clipping in this one - that was one of the first things Step taught me. Position the mic right, get clean recording. What you're probably hearing is the vibrato peddle I threw on with the distortion. I set the vibrato really deep.

[Emulsion de nos songes sur la Voie lactée]

It´s like Francois de Roubaix on chiptune mixed with Muse. I like it...

spirius responds:

Hello Azhthar, I'm glad if you like it!

[Oak - Funkerbot (RD2015)]

That´s quite awesome actually! And funky of course ;) Would have used some different brass samples or just some synth brass. Great track anyway!

Oakwood responds:

I indeed didn't use that many brass samples, even though I had a looooot of them. I didn't really know how to use any more of them so I only used about 5. Thanks for the kind words!

[Light Tunnel]

Hey it´s not that bad like TBA said! The melodies are actually quite uplifting and the mixing is not top notch but definitely not that bad (at least better than me one year ago ;) I wouldn´t call the chord progression sad, actually... The beat is also fine. You don´t use the most top notch sounds here, but if you just started producing music, you don´t have, too. You´ll find your sound with the time. There are a few bad notes around 2:20 and the end of the track is a bit abrupt. Some velocity editing in the piano could also greatly improve the music. Turn the velocity a bit higher on the strong counting times (like you have 4/4, so it´s basically every quarter with focus on the 1). Then turn a bit randomization on the rest of velocities and the piano will sound much more natural even with a cheap sound. Anyway... Hope this helps.

yunqatsi responds:

OH dude i love you (no homo) :D You reassure me i thought i was doing shit ^^ Thank you ! I agree with everything you say. I'm gonna do some real sound design when i get a good synth. Thank for all your advices: the velocity, the aprubt ending,... I will take care of this ! it helps a lot :D

[The Last Captain]

Nice sounds you have going on here. I wouldn´t flag this experimental, though. It´s well produced and quite mastered very clear. The build-up at the beginning is quite cool actually and the bridge at 2:50 is awesome. Sometimes I miss a bit of melody which you just throw in once and a while. This gives this track a bit of background feeling. I would not use the cello sound. Compared to the rest of the nice sounds you used it sounds too much like a standard midi font. Sometimes I miss a bit of reverb like the pad which come in around 5:20 misses a bit of tailing. Otherwise you managed through all the subtle changes in Intruments and rhythmic variations that this relatively simple chord progression does not get boring through the whole 6 mins. Great job here! Nevertheless, if you do again such a long track try to throw in some modulation here and there.

TheSubfrost responds:

Thanks! The detail of your review helps me learn a lot. Also, I just flagged it experimental because there's no clear genre (that I can think of) that this song fits.

[Fantasiamaailma]

This is a bit different than what I expected from your earlier posts in the discussion thread but in a good way ;) It´s beautiful and there is so much going on in this piece, damn. You could really follow a fairytale in your head while listening to this. Furthermore, it´s flawlessly produced (the whole 6 mins...). Maybe I wouldn´t have looped because then the piece would settle a bit after the end.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

We're glad to hear you like it even if it is different from what you at first imagined :D
It's also nice to see that this track gives birth to imagery and a story of some kind!
Thank dem0lecule for most of the production! I only affected it by suggesting changes here and there, but he is really the master behind all that :)
Well, this is menu music, so it kinda has to loop. But for the reason you menioned, we decided to make the pause before the loop several seconds long. The loop also has symbolic meaning :3

Thank you a lot for listening, and for leaving your thoughts!!!

[Killing Me Softly]

I really wanted to leave a review on this one for quite a while but I never found the time :( It´s amazing how you put so many different moods into the arrangement of a single pop song! I did some string quartett arrangements for pop songs a while ago but I definitely wasn´t this creative like you here.
When I heard this track at the beginning I think the master was a bit dull but I guess you remixed it a bit because I think it´s much better, now.
Okay here are some impressions I had during the different parts:

Beginning: Calm with a feeling of minimalism (especially in the strings)

Arround 1:30: More in a happy climax. Very cinematic (Still with a bit of minimalism)

Arround 2:40: Some chanson elements in the organ give this a bit a feeling like in a coffee in Paris.

Arround 3:00: Very dark, climax, horror, cinematic.

Arround 3:40: Clockwerk Orange!

Arround 4:10: Happy Ending climax with some SF elements.

Arround 5:00: Sad ambient ending.

I really have now idea which story would fit this track but it´s great. You did some amzing work with the chord substitutions here creating different atmospheres. The only thing is that maybe the melody could be a bit more present in some parts. Other than this: Great!

Phonometrologist responds:

Although I don't consider this too amazing, I do appreciate your sentiments dearly.
I think you're spot on with your descriptive sections of the piece, and I should just put those in the comments about the piece. The beginning is, I suppose, an ambient, minimalistic approach in cinematic sounds. Your description at 2:40 is quite interesting to me because I thought I was the only one that thought the organ sounded more like an accordion in that exact setting that you have put forth. It certainly wasn't intentional but with the combination of the chords and instruments, it's just what happened. Sometimes we are credited to be highly creative when these things are merely mistakes at first. The 3:40 section is very interesting to me that you thought of Clockwork Orange as I haven't thought of it. But I certainly hear what you mean now.
I'd be highly impressed if anybody thought of a story to go along with this piece, because I certainly haven't myself... not really a story-telling kind of piece than it is a descriptive exercise.
In regards to the melody, I only kept it in its true state in the 1:30 section. It's heard a little bit around 4:10, but in places like the beginning, the oboe merely follows the melodic contour of the original melody where it doesn't play the repeating rhythmic ones. The piano melody at the ending is my own derived from playing along with the original melody in the beginning.
Overall, your review has allowed me to reflect a bit more on this piece... I'm glad you enjoyed it and took the time in letting me know.