Azhthar's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mad, Mad, Mad]

Uhmm... This is quite awesome! Structure, fills, backing voices, everythings on the point! The break at 2:05 is just great... Production is also pretty much perfect... Are you playing this with a band? Most of the instruments sound well live played (except maybe some of the brass and strings). If you now say you played all the instruments and sang all the backing vocals by yourself I´ll have to bow before you ;) Great arrangement, great track! You really need a life big band ;) Good luck here!

FinnMK responds:

You're so kind! I sang. played and recorded and all the parts myself, and everything you hear is live - there are no strings, in fact, and all the brass is layered trombone and trumpet.
Having a real life big band would be amazing. Maybe someday!

[Stingray]

I like the pad in the intro. Nice sounds there! The melodies (especially the theme at the beginning) sometimes have a nearly celtic/irish folk feeling. Don´t know idf this is coincidence or intended but I like it. Also I really like your progressions. The track is well structured and there is a lot of variation going so you never lost my attention here. Mixing and mastering sound good in general. The only thing I have here is, that the stereo image could be widened a bit to give the sounds a bit more room and transparence. Also I think sometimes you could add some details here and there sometimes to fill the musical room a bit. For example: Take the part starting 1:20. You have your drums here, some kind of pulsing in the lower mids and your lead. I think it would add a lot if you would use some chord pads and some bass to fill out the high mids and the bass. Other things I have are just small details. I think the snare could you use during the main theme (and some of the percussion in general) could use some more punch. Maybe layer them with some other snare samples? Add some distortion? If you would work a bit on your drop (more tention in the risers and a small buildup in the drums...) and fill out the part afterwards a bit, as I mentioned before, I guess you could make an awesome track out of this already nice piece! I hope this was helpful in some way, although I come from a completely different musical corner ;)

Drewpy responds:

Thanks man! It's always great to hear what you can do to improve a track, and that's what you told me here. I appreciate it a lot :)

[AIM The Legend of Uncle Dave]

This is pretty damn awesome! Feels like been overblown by guitars... And your playing is so damn tight. Feels like an irish jig mixed with some spanish gypsy rumba and this is awesome. Great job here! Good luck!

Daveisgr81 responds:

Thanks for the kind words! Really appreciate it!... and if you haven't cast a vote for fan favourite consider me! (and everyone else, obviously!)

[AIM - Unstoppable]

That´s cool! I love retro synthwave and you pretty much hit the spot here. The only thing is that the middle part with the choir feels a bit off. The beat and the synth melody in rest of the track are awesome. If you like this kind of stuff I suggest to look for Oscillotron or VHS Glitch, because they are the most awesome producers of 80´s style synthwave I found so far.

TIMETRAVL responds:

I already know them, and a lot more synthwave producers:D
Also thank you for your feedback :)

[A.I.M. - Voices of the Sea]

That´s one cool chilly ambient track! I love the slow groovy bassline and percussion with the shaker popping in later. The violin (or is it a viola?) could be a bit more close and intimitating. But I always get complains, when I do these things, so it´s probably just a matter of taste :) Great job from Darren with the background vocals. Maybe the percussion could vary a bit at the end, they feel a bit naked here. Maybe a layer of a slow pad which fades out? Great track! Good luck for the two of you.

ForgottenDawn responds:

Hey, thanks for your review! Glad you enjoyed the mixing.
It's actually a cello, and I can confirm it's definitely not easy to get the tone you want and placement in the mix. Thanks for your suggestions!

[Force of Life]

Hey! I was afraid that you wouldn´t be able to submit something because you left. Hope Japan is good! Your piano playing here is stunning! The piece is a bit melancholic but also very positive on the other hand... So I guess the piece fits dem0lecules art quite well in an abstract way (i didn´t know he does graphics, too). Like the beginning of life or a new born or so. And again I just can say your piano playing is awesome!

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to submit anything as well! But I decided to sacrifice one night of sleep, and get it done just in time. I'm lucky that the improvisation dem0lecule's art inspired me to play before going on the trip turned out to be fairly nice, and easy to work with.
I agree about the dichotomous feel between the melancholic and positive. I've been told that many of my compositions have that sort of ambiguous quality to them, and I would have to agree with such a sentiment as well ;D

I know! He's actually a really talented artist in many ways :O

Thanks! Piano playing is definitely my strongest suit when it comes to music, so I like to lean on it quite much at times, especially when I have to make something in a hurry :3

Thanks for listening and for reviewing! I'll check your stuff out when I get back home :)

[Neat's new demos!]

Hmm... It´s a bit hard to review three track snippets but I give it a try. From what you can hear in the demos you seem to be quite good in what you´re doing. The production of the tracks is good so far. I guess for EDM the stereo image could be a bit wider. It´s mastered a bit too loud for my taste so a bit less limiting would be good if you don´t want everybody turning the volume down immediately. Composition wise there is not much going on in the tracks so far, so I can´t really give input here. I think you wanted to vote for your next track to produce here so I would prefer the second. In the third one the pads and lead are a bit noisy and unpleasent sometimes...

GGMiXsiMusic responds:

Thanks for review and voting! Currently the only ones voted are first and second (once), so i'm getting close to a solution.

Also these drops are not going to sound EXACTLY as they sound now, when the tracks are finished, but they will be based on them. The third one is really noisy, i wanted to decrease the reverb effect, so it fixes it. We'll see how it will be going.

By the next month, the winner must be decided, at that point, i'm uploading it.

[FD - The Snowman]

If I look outside I have the feeling it is more a mudman than a snowman this year ;) Let´s see if we´ll have any snow at all this winter. Anyway... This is a really sweet simple piano piece and although I didn´t see any snowman outside this year I could imagine one standing lonely outside and slowely getting covered by snowflakes. The motiv you introduce at the beginning is really nice. I know reviews should be always a bit critically but I really don´t have much to complain here :) The only thing I thought (and that´s just a matter of taste) is that all the notes of your main motiv are on the quarter notes. I think it could have been nice to syncopate some of the notes giving them a layed back feeling or something. Maybe the syncopation could be varied in the repeated parts but that´s just an idea... Anyway...
I wish you a nice christmas and some relaxed holidays!

ForgottenDawn responds:

Hey, thanks for your insight! Yeah, it is a simple piece after all, but I'll take your kind suggestion for future tracks ;)
Have a merry Xmas and a happy new year!

[.:{Crystals}:.]

That´s a beautiful piece with a lot of atmosphere you have here! Definitely hear your inspirations in this one ;) I really like the bassy pad you used here. Very atmospheric... The end nearly reminds me of breathing. Like some sound elments are like the breathing out and the others like the breathing in. Sounds weird I know but I don´t find better words here :) I really like the sound of the harp, which makes a lot of the ethereal ambience. The only thing which I think could be improved is the humanization of the harp (I always complain about humanizing in my reviews ;). It already goes into the right direction and doesn´t really sound like it is just simply sequenced or arpeggiated anymore, but you definitely hear it especially during the high arpeggios. What I usually do when I finish my tracks (if I have the time) is to shift all the notes I sequenced and didn´t play live a tiny little bit (around 5-8 milliseconds are enough I guess). It is important not to do it similar in repeating patterns. Then I edit the velocities. It´s important to give a small accent on the heavy notes within one bar (like the 1 and 3 in 4/4 or 2 and 4 if it´s a backbeat) because this is something a musician instinctively would do if he or she plays it live. All the other notes have a slightly lower verlocity but all differ from each other. If you do percussion stuff it´s also nice to use ghost notes, like doing constant semiquavers but some with such a low velocity that you nearly don´t hear them anymore. Sometimes I add a little randomization on the velocity at the end. This is a faster way to get some humanization but I wouldn´t recommend to overuse it because sometimes it just spoils the track with a sudden burst do to too high velocities or something. Anyway... I realized the review got long. Probably you already know most of these things already, considering the quality of your tracks but since I always complain about humanization.... Also: Merry Christmas! ;)

larrynachos responds:

Hoh gosh, that's a lot of feedback! I'll definitely work on humanization. Thanks, and Merry Christmas!