chiptami's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Arcade Madness]

+really like how this song isn't just carried by just one simple melody and that's it (although the end was a bit repetitive i'll let that slide)
+like what you did there at 1;25. pretty smooth transition even though you only did simple tweaks to the melody
+hmm sort of has those classic edm vibes (like you know that "i'm blue da ba dee da bo da" song or whatever)
-kick needs more hi-ends. like a little bit more but not too much. you can probs change the sample or stack a kick with a good hi-end and remove its lows.
-when you stack the kicks together like in ;37, make sure you do it so that only one kick will play at a time, so the releases won't stack up on each other and mess up the mix. this basically applies to any sound if you want to do that effect. (some exceptions being songs that need the sound to be messy like speedcore ig?)
-white noise needs to have its lows cutoff. feels very weird ngl especially when paired up with the stacked kicks during the buildup
-i feel like the frequencies are clashing in the drop? idk if you purposely added really distorted synths (think you did) there but i think the mixing does need working on (just eq the sounds in a way that they'll all blend with each other)

yea the pluses are what i liked about your song and the minuses are stuff i think you should touch up on. overall, it's not bad although i'm not a fan of songs like this in general but hey nice try anyways. keep up that grind!

DJAggtur11 responds:

Thanks

[Neon Streaks]

ooo now that you mention it it does sound like it came out of a racing game, with those somewhat dissonant sounding chords that play throught the song, and the fast-paced drums which reallyyy just compliment the track as a whole. the beginning does feel a bit off tho with that clicky-reeverby sound. (the spike at ;11 i mean) now i know you were probably aiming for repetition and simplicity in the making of this song, but maybe a B section melody on those chords wouldn't hurt to add in a song like this. nice vibes tho!

quantumdylan responds:

Hey thanks! Yeah, it's such a simple song mostly owing to me not being terribly sober at the time haha, still trying to figure out how to work with this new box too. Never been very good at changing patterns and stuff live.

Thanks so much ❤️

[Epic Megalovania]

ayy pretty epic what you did, nice use of those fl default sounds tho. (even though i can't really identify which ones which i'm pretty sure the drums are fl defaults) definitely love the overall mix especially ;20 and 1;46. those were the parts where i think this take of megalovania shined most brightly.

however, i do see some wasted potential there at 2;07 and 2;29 due to the suspense it was building, only to end in a somewhat lackluster fashion. and honestly the part around 3;40 doesn't seem cohesive enough.. like it was just there to be there i guess?

a little nitpick tho, but you could probs add some more of those good details and maybe undertale letimotifs here and there to take this rendition to the next level, because this feels a bit empty so to speak. great job with your first published orchestral song tho!

VeryInactive01 responds:

First of all thank You for the support I really do appreciate that, I just wanted to keep the last parts simple so they could just fade out the whole song (if you get what i mean), maybe i should've added some more brass but I didn't. I'm still looking forward to do more Epic songs so stay up to date, I'll definitely make use of your tips!

[I've Ran Out Of Ideas For Names]

lol just name the song the first thing you think of. (thats what i do) but if it's ideas you want, i'd suggest improvising on your keyboard for melodies and shit? (or any instrument for that matter hell the piano roll in fl studio 12 is fine also) and just take those bunch of small melodies and mash it up into one project

that being said, i really do be getting cave story vibes from this. the "sudden key change" isn't all that since that is only used in a small part at the beginning and the melodies are just the same but in different modes. in other words it would've been the same without the key change. maybe make different melodies for both modes and modulate through them? (in your own way i suppose) i'm expecting a continuation from all this, using the letimotif from the beginning as its base. (thus you saying it will all "make sense soon") the extra synth at ;48 is a bit too loud tho, maybe you can lower it down a bit

anyways, hope you can get some fresh new ideas running, keep grinding ig!

dg125 responds:

haha. sorry bout the loud synth at :48. and about the piano roll...

i use the piano roll.

i dont have a midi keyboard.

organya has tainted me for the worse, or better, depending on if you like the piano roll or not.

[Flute De Fete]

hmmm, flute jazz? ayy this song aint too bad. but i do have a few nitpicks with this song tho. now i know you were probably limited in resources but hear me out. for starters, the drums don't feel all too cohesive. one part they're clean and soft drums, and then the suddenly they all become dirty and loud, and go back to clean and soft again. (now i know its probably meant to give some sort of tension? idk feels unnatural either way) it gets worse when you get to the fills (:34) which feels like they've been pasted there blatantly, you could've at least let the fills resolve peacefully along with the new section of drums on top of them. as for the flute part, i'm not an impressive flute player nor will I ever be, but that flute hella sicc tho. great job with flute jazz tho really liked it!

R0botSqu1d responds:

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you liked it overall, I wanted to make it kinda go from soft to really intense but I completely agree it could've been executed a little better on the drums. I've been playing flute for about 7-8 months now and really thought some jazz flute would sound neat so I'm glad you liked it! I'll probably try to do a few more jazz flute or just flute songs in general as it's a really fun instrument to play.

[FREQUENCIES]

i mean, you don't necessarily need to lower down the volume of the whole song. the problem with this is that something causes this to be over 0db, causing it to clip. an easy solution would be to apply a limiter to it, not lower the volume as a whole. there is also the solution where you can troubleshoot each sound and adjust them accordingly. now because of the clipping, your mix has gotten slightly distorted and muddy.

now notice i said slight. your song only clips slightly in a section, and its not even that bad. doing the dirty work and applying a limiter to it, guess what, its still distorted and muddy. i think the culprit here is your mixing. if you were to isolate all the sounds in the lower region, you would find out that most of the space is taken up by the main synths and plucks, which clash with the kicks and bass placed into the song. you can probably fix this by eq-ing the lows of the main synth and try finding ways so the pluck won't reside at the lower region. (either increase octave or find a new one) that being said, there is an empty space in the mid and high region. you probs should add more sounds to make it fuller after trying to troubleshoot the problem. sort of ironic that your song is called FREQUENCIES and the problem here is, well, frequencies.

as for the subjective part which is my overall feeling, i like this. even though it's a bit too simple especially the drums, i really like the melody and how that wubby synth sounds. gives me that cool jazzy vibe. it's like i'm having a chill time just exploring somewhere in a game or something. i also like the ending part (2:53) which gives me some earthbound vibes, especially with that grainy effect added. but maybe you could've did more by changing things up a bit and add like, another synth playing on top of the main synth but a bit faster. (idk how to explain this lol just a counter melody?) honestly without the mixing problems, this is enjoyable.

p.s. i dont wanna be the guy, but i dont think "drum-n-bass" and "slow" at the same tags are supposed to coexist with one another (unless liquid dnb idk). the drumbeat is more hiphop-ish so to speak. okay i'll stop talking about genres

xHapy responds:

This is really good feedback, thank you. Since I haven't deleted the file for the song I should just change the lower frequencies of the synth and plucks and I will try replacing the file when I get a final copy, and I have always had problems with my songs being too dull or repetitive and I am still learning how to make songs more interesting and not just a loop over and over. Also I am still working on how the different genres work, I get confused with them haha. Thanks though, I really appreciate it.

[Random ambience thing]

wow, citing your resources pattern by pattern. that's wonderful. for something made using fl studio's free trial, i'm kind of amazed. but hey its not the tools, its the builder (most of the time ig)

that being out of the way, really ominous synthwave song you got there. to me, this all seems alright. like the vibe, like where this is all going, and all that. it did got a bit messy at the :59 part where that synth stab comes in. i just feel like the mix gets a bit muddy when the synth stab plays (maybe that reeverb is a bit too much? idk feels like it is). and that riser seems a little too loud, also the crash that follows which gets the most loudest. lower that down a little i guess? really like the way the riser is elongated too, gives that nice suspense.

oh yea there's like a huge nothing at the end of your song, really gives the most suspense as i really don't know where it goes from there. it's so, unpredictable y'know. jokes aside, i like what you did with this. (would've wanted it a bit longer honestly but hey its cool)

Farah2017 responds:

Thanks for the constructive feedback! I also noticed a lot of what you pointed out, such as the loud riser and too much reverb, I kind of went overboard with everything towards the end. It's only been a month since I started seriously making music, so I'm open to any feedback that I receive, so I deeply appreciate it.

[PotatoChip]

huh, if you actually did made all the samples in this song (minus the presets which i dont really mind), then great job for that. really intrigued towards the amount of genres you tried traversing to.

but the melody and the overall feel? the melody is honestly really dissonant and somewhat repetitive (listening to your other works, you probs intended it or just made it as such to show your sound design skills), but i really liked the parts where the melody changes (like 1:42, 2:53 and the rest of the end at 3:57) and its not just that loop i hear at the beginning.

but hey if you're aiming for that, then nice. add some hella fast paced drums and you could probably get something one would hear in an average madness animation. (dont get me wrong songs like this are great) that being said, its great to know you had fun making this!

Neboo responds:

Wow! This is a very detailed review, thanks!

In retrospect, I should have looped less and gone for a more non-repetitive approach, but I was really testing out the genre.

and the reason I mentioned the samples thing is because I never really do melodies and more stick to just bass/synth design, so I was really happy with how this turned out and wanted to clarify that

Glad you liked it!

[Onward To Victory!]

hmm there's something that feels sorta off whenever the drum fills kick in, feels like the mix gets muddy whenever the fills arrive, but hey this honestly seems alright for a battle theme

Jxudo responds:

Thanks for the feedback!

[nightvorb]

damn, honestly feels like one of those spacey fever dreams or just getting high in general. this feels all so surreal, i really dig your style even though it doesn't really fall in line with the melodic stuff and all that. checking your other music, i'm interested to see where this is going. keep producing ideas in the meantime ig?

skenskys responds:

my music is pretty mediocre outside of gems like these
i am still learning stuff lol
anyway, glad you liked it dude (or dudette) :)