TheComet's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[NewDtempo]

Pretty interesting track, I get the vibes you're after but I think it takes a little too long to get into the swing of things.

If you've ever looked into Post-Rock at all, you could probably snag some of those ambient guitar vibes and inject some of that into your intro. The guitarwork in here is definitely the star of the track, and it would be great to get that earlier in the track to hook the listener in quick, even as an atmospheric element.

The synths feel a little bit cheesy after the first minute before the guitar rolls in, it's not necessarily the synths themselves, just they need something to make them sound a little less preset-y, if you know what I mean.
I can tell you were after a kind of old school synthesizer vibe there, might just need something like a long release stab under it or something to give the offbeat stabs you add at 1:05 some better context, or try to work with some guitarwork to complement it.

Once the guitar gets going in the track, it's a solid hook, really pulls you into the track. Definitely the strength of the whole thing.

Overall, not bad! I enjoyed the guitar bits of the track once I got past the intro, just those synths need a lil love.

DarioMarotta responds:

Hey there!
Thanks for your appreciation and detailed comment about this track.
About what you say regarding first part, yeah is pretty slow moving before going really somewhere cause of an intentional enigmatic and suspense .
About synths, is based on retro synth wave atmosphere and vibe but I can understand that still might risk to sound not always so much elaborated or "authentic" .
Regarding the guitars, you really make me wonder about actually trying to put some additional sounds, even though this track is born in and destined to a looping live session performance where is really hard to play many different parts at same time:)).
These are suggestions that inspire me for future improvements and maybe an additional studio version of the song .

[Ray Daiko - OMMWHT]

Meme or not, there's some serious production quality here.

I actually went and checked through your other channels to make sure you didn't steal anything lol, color me impressed.

A bit outside the style of stuff I listen to, but I can give you props for the tight, clean mix and well engineered basslines.

Digging that 2:11 chill section, got some good vibes going here. That final breakdown at the end makes for a great drop to finish things off.

Going to have to follow you, see where you go from here :)

Dendra responds:

STEAL? Bro who the hecc steals music. Faithfulness is my mindset. :) I dont make music for the fame. I do it so yall can have some cool tracks to listen to and stuff. You can count on me.

[Chilled 1 (SI-7 Redux)]

***Jan 2019 NAC Judge Review

Taking on a 4s hiphop beat and turning it into a full track? You're nuts and I love it :D

You definitely got creative going off that original beat, while the instrumentation is a little rough, your solution to expanding the original score is fantastic. Definitely has some west coast hiphop vibes to it I can appreciate :)

Kinda hard to review hard on this one given the limited source material you had to work with, I'll give it a solid 4 for creativity

SI-7 responds:

Thanks for the review! I didn't intend for this to channel any hiphop vibes, and don't listen to much hiphop myself, so that's pretty interesting. I totally agree with the instruments though, I do need to work on those.

And yes, of course I'm nuts. Cashews preferably.

[API - Paradise on E (Remixception) [NGAP 2019]]

***Jan 2019 NAC Judge Review

Going to open this one up with: Dude you've got balls taking on a juggernaut of a track for your entry, and I can respect that. :)

This thing is a rock solid homage to the original remix, there's a kind of flow and energy to this track that just grabs a hold of you right away, so many "just right" elements in here.

I love that you introduced that clap and percussion elements into a few sections of this, they go the distance when it comes to giving this a distinctive modern feel over the original track, but you also kept that awesome timpani roll style drop from the original track which really ties both of their drumline ends together nicely.

Synths sound great on this one, super clean, they really fit the original track's vibe but differentiate themselves nicely from it.

Yes, I'm gushing, yes I like this track.

Take my 5 dammit.

Phant0mFox responds:

Thank you for the feedback!

[Evil-Dog - World of Legends (Cover)]

***Jan 2019 NAC Judge Review

Definitely still holds those Dark Fantasy RPG title screen vibes the original had, but you did a good job of getting away from some of the monotony the original slips into by the midpoint.

Kinda sad I didn't get to hear the later drumline section get reworked, but you seem to have a more ambient vision for the remix, and I can respect that.

Kysertron responds:

I could not get the end drumline to work out for me, so that was a sad thing for me. :(
Also, I did take a more ambient approach, although it was a bit difficult with the beginning.

[ParagonX9 - Chaoz Fantasy (Splatterhead Remix)]

*** Jan 2019 NAC Judge Review

Really enjoyed this take on the original, the ambience and general feel of the atmosphere you built around this is fantastic, and you definitely nailed the instrumentation to catch the vibes of the original while sitting in a different genre.

Only complaint I have is your choice of drumline sounds, they feel a little weak against the main score (granted, the original track had the same problem imo)

overall though, I dig it!

SplatterDash responds:

Hey TheComet! Thanks for coming out and being a judge for NAC :)

I honestly wish I did have some other percussion sounds to pull from, but because it's Ableton 9 Lite, everything is limited everywhere lol. I still think I know how I could improve on the sounds I have, though. Thanks for the advice on that!

[can u feel]

Solid intro, clean and simple atmosphere sets the stage nicely, bass build up works with nicely towards the drop.

I'm really digging that drumline, it's got some sweet breakbeat vibes to it and doesn't clash with the bass at all. That ping hit that goes with it is a nice touch, helps break things up.

As far as your bass goes, while I can hear it no problem on my headphones, I have a feeling most sound systems will struggle with it. You may need to layer on a saw or something to pull more audible range freqs into the picture.

You might want to sneak in one more element to mix things up during the bass section, it get a little repetitive near the tail end. Maybe some high shelf element to work with the ping you use to break up the drumline

Overall, this is a pretty solid track, I'm enjoying this quite a bit!

-Sybol

hGea responds:

Ay man means a lot:) Yeah, I'm trying new things right now. The bass is hitting sub frequencies, I was thinking of putting a saw over it but then it started to sound muddy and it was starting to clash with the distorted break I put together. So I left it there:D

And you're right it is a bit repetitive, I had a few variations of basses but I felt like they didn't fit also when I mixed up the drums and it started to get really bad at the end, so I resorted with the easy way out. But thank you, it really helps when others type out what they like/dislike.

1love:)

[SINGULΔR SHΔTTERS]

That synth makes a great hook at the start, instantly caught my attention with that!

First thing I noticed when the drop hit is your kicker is really quiet. Crank that sucker up, with these trap vibes the kicker should be one of the most prominent elements of the song. Turn up the levels, and if you know how to do it with your software, sidechain it against your bass (so the bass levels duck when the kicker hits, let's you keep the power of the kicker and the bass).

Your snare levels are fine, there's just a bit too much of that snare. If you want to roll with a ton of snare hits, you might want to use a couple extra snare samples to keep it from getting grating when there's a lot of hits. Mix them up a bit to flow into the main trap style snare, can take the edge off and still rock lots of snare hits. Alternatively, you could switch out a lot of those snares in the rapid snare sections with other percussion elements.

The rest of the song's elements sound pretty good, not much I can say there other than they work well!

-Sybol

Psilenth responds:

It is side chained i just need to play with it. But i put your comment in the info text of my track so i will definatly be keeping it in mind.

[[madboss] - Rebellion Of The Soul]

That initial buildup is pretty sweet, you really carried the energy through nicely into the drop.

Main synths and chord progression are really spot on as far as score goes, I'm digging it! Only complaint I have is that I think your synths are a little overcompressed, there's some distortion when it's going full tilt that's robbing the track of some of it's clarity.
I think you might be able to swing some EQ work on those synths to clean it up if it's not compression, cut out the frequencies that overlap with other synths (keep your low midrange stuff in that range, cut out the excess, highs in the highs, etc). With everything kept in their own frequency ranges via EQ, it should keep things clean.
Not too much I can really say without seeing it there, it's really a feeling out process but it pays off to learn!

This is purely my own preference, I kinda wish the kicker had a little more click to hit to boost the attack, but that's strictly preference, not an issue with the track itself.

Mixing issues aside, this whole track is fantastic, with a really respectable length. The strings really help pull things together near the end there, and dammit this is catchy and will be stuck in my head for a bit XD

The outro is a great touch might I add, very satisfying closure to the track!

Cheers!

-Sybol

madboss responds:

Wow, well thank you sir for your detailed and very helpful comment! I think the reason why you feel the synths distorted is the Ozone mastering suite I've put to the main out channel. Back in the past I composed many tracks with having an Ozone default mastering template added to the main out channel to boost the sound, but considering the busy instrumentation that caused the frequencies to compete against each other and I think this is why the whole sound got blurry.

Nevertheless I very much appreciate your comments, and the time spent on writing this review, and I'm really happy that you enjoyed the track! Thank you!

[Light Hearted]

You've got some interesting hooks and the foundation for something pretty good, just as it stands the elements feel a little bit disconnected from each other.

You've got a little bit of peaking going on throughout the track, but from the sound of it you can probably easily fix this. If you use a limiter on that synth you have in the intro (and one in the master effects channel if you want to go all out), you can keep it from peaking and giving off that unnerving static noise. Toning back the levels on that synth will help too, it's a bit too loud as it stands right now, really overpowers everything.

On the mixing side of things, tone back that coin pickup sound a small amount, maybe 3dB or so, then it'll fit into the mix nicely I think.

For the song itself, honestly I think you should build around that guitar you're working with in there. Build your score around that one successful element, let it carry your beat and use your other instruments to complement it. Your bass synth could be pretty good for atmosphere or to work into a break section.

There's a bit of promise in here, keep at it!
-Sybol

ORI-TAGGART responds:

Thank you very much for the feedback! It is much appreciated!