23i's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rutra - Prelude]

This is amazing and really loud, love it.

RutraOfficiel responds:

thank you very much! :)

[Imaginary Reality (Soundtrack Mix)]

It's a cool thing to revisit old projects and remaster them. Have you tried recreating an old project with a new set of eyes before? It's amazing to compare an old project to a new one of the same song where you redo the sound design.

I really like the synth introduced at 1:05. Sounds very melancholic and dark. It's a very creative way to use dissonance the way you do it at 0:52 and it comes a surprise and takes you on a turn. Reintroduced at 1:21 as well. I think it's brave to make these kind of decisions.

Logickin responds:

Thank for your review!

I do often remaster or re-work my tracks. In fact, I am currently re-working all the chiptune because after I have revisit my old tracks, I found they were a bit awkward, especially keeping sounds in harmony and controlling the length of the tracks. After I have completed some of those, I always shocked how far I have gone after a couple of years of making music.

If you are curious about my "original" version or some legacy tracks, you may consider:
https://soundcloud.com/logickinlambda/imaginary-realm
https://audius.co/LogickinLambda/imaginary-realm-58006

[XTACY]

I like the part where the drop arrived, with the small wubs. Builds in a coherent way up to a the drop. It sounds like the song idea is a stadium anthem and I think you capture it with the smoothly mixed, hectic buildup and heavy saw. Your fills are really nice at 0:54 as well.

[For You]

You've got a somewhat cool song here, it's not primarily my type of music but I'll try to review this one as fairly as possible as I have gotten some experience for EDM through the years of producing.

It's a pretty nice travel sound your main synth arp gives, especially when it starts to travel through the left and right channel. I approve of having alot of things happening at the same time, especially in a song like this. I assume your original thoughts were that you wanted a song for people to dance to. I also like how the main arp synth is kinda off-beat from time to time, giving the song a different type of sound. The EQ levels seem to be kinda off from time to time, giving a feeling of clutch in a bad way.

Some breaking down:
Intro - I hate to bring it to you but I really dislike the default voices you can mixture with. I think the buildup is neat tho. The main arp starts to become just abit too repetive untill it starts to travel through stereo.
Somewhat 1:30 - Melody could be improved in various ways, not making it so typical with one note on each beat. Goes on like this for a while untill it also starts to get abit repetive.
Around 3:15 - Melody ends and arp finds it way back in the song, rather neat transicion but then again, I would love to see some more variation throughout the song.

Main improvement:
EQ levels - Clean up your mix
Melodies - Variation is key to success, doesn't have to be alot of variation, just barely something to illuminate the feeling that the song changes pace.

I'd like to scout you for the Audio portal but you need atleast a couple of more songs before I can safely scout you. Please send me a PM once you upload more songs and I will happily scout you for the AP.

23i

BFeltMusic responds:

Hey, thanks for the review. I'll try to keep in mind the variation and do a bit more to try and clean up the EQ next time around. The default voice thing... Yeah, I tried to find something that fit in somewhat but that's not easily done. Next time, if I use a voice, I might look into one from a free site I know of so that it is actually a human voice.

There are a few other songs in the works and I will definitely let you know when they're done, though it might be a while as I'm currently a graduate student. I only get to work on songs when I have some free time.

[DeseNutz - Other Reality]

Progressive and different.

I haven't heard any songs of this type in the techno genre really, this sounds more like a mashup of trance and progressive house. The progression is nice and smooth really. I do think it is abit too out of the box for my taste so to speak.

My current headphones are shit but I'll try to say something about the mixing:
I'd say the hats are really well mixed, they are there and they are not all over the place. The whole music parts are neat too, nothing overlapping too much and I can't really hear anything pumping. The bass maybe abit too heavy for progressive music like this, eats alot on higher freqs. Maybe change it and make it heavy but not as present in the 1k parts of the mix.

I'd really like a finished verision (or WIP but full song) of this for reviewal, I think you can make a really nice track out of this.

Cheers mate

[Piano In C Minor]

Dissonant

This little piece is beautiful but dissonant like hell, I believe that's why you got the stupid 0 bombers. I do enjoy this piece tho and I think you've created a nice feeling with it.

To the review,

With a new DAW and all, the work is nicely done. I think you can change the levels of the piano abit in order to make it abit more "human". Right now I think it sounds like a machine playing it with all notes on X level. Change that abit and it'll feel more alive.
The arrangement is nice, the pauses feels abit empty tho (the pauses when you strike the keys and it just goes to flat silence) . Sometimes the pauses are random, like around the 22 second mark. If you can get it to flow together better, you can probably get a better production out. I'm not saying remove all pauses but you could overlook some of them. I really like the dissonance and it's beautiful in it's own way.

I imagine a pool of water with a footprint underneath it, printed in dirt but heavily damaged by the weather. The water dissapears and it lightens up, leaving nothing but the dirt left. Suddenly an army appears, soldiers walking towards the horizon with sadness in their eyes. They proceed to think about what they've just been witnessing. They march like zombies and no one is speaking, walking over the dirt with their already broken shoes. It starts to rain as they dissapear in the horizon.

That's my "song-story" of this piece.

I say you did a good job composing it but there are things to improve on.

Cheers mate

PIED3 responds:

Thank you very much for the review, and the interesting story. I agree on everything you've said, and will pay more attention to the sound of the piano next time, and bear in mind what you've said about the pauses. Thanks again, much appreciated.

[HT || Not So Suspenseful WIP]

Get out there and find the trance

that both suits you and your audience. The intro is way too short, if you're making a trance track, you want to either make sure people can remix it by making it shitlong (+6 min) or call it a "radio-edit" (3:30-6:00 min) . These timemarks doesn't really fit, it all depends on where you want to go with your track. I'd say increase the reverb of ALL melodical channels by a small margin.

You need arps in trance too, either you build them yourself or you go on a free ride with a VST preset. They add a pretty nice feeling to the song, especially if it's trance.

So about the trance, your de-tune/volume trick with the main melody is pretty neat when it starts off. I believe you can change the "bassy" second thing that emerges. The sidechain sounds abit off too at around 0:55 maybe it's just to fool your listeners ears. The third chord doesn't sound very good at all (01:08) . I think it's abit dull in the 01:00 part and forth, not much going on. I do like that saw you're using tho.

And for some structures of trance tracks (remove space)
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=17vv8tiq7e0
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=k4wtR2_wS-I
http://www.new grounds.com/audio/listen/451599
http://www.new grounds.com/audio/listen/451932

Some typical trance.
If you need any more help structure-wise, please PM me.

HyperTrough responds:

That was brilliant mate! Thank you sooooo much for the feedback. I've tried fitting in arps which don't seem to be working for unfortunately :(

That nasty chord was an F# diminish. I'm just going off of a neat little sheet I found that helps out a lot with chord progressions. I can send you it if you like. I'll be sure to have listen to those, and take you up on that offer. Expect some messages ;)

Again, thanks! :)

[pow (fuck yeah)]

I really like this piece

because of it's orignality. I think keeping the guitars acoustic is a nice touch to the song and it brings a really nice feeling with the riff of yours. Only thing I'm wondering is did you use a metronome @ 1:20 and forth? I feel like the song speeds up the tempo just abit. May just be my blind ears that tricks me but I keep on listening and it seems like it's still there. Maybe it's just an artistic touch too...

Well done anyhow, I really like this type of music.

Doumaaa responds:

Nope.. I didn't use a metronome, so it's not your blind ears ;). This is one of those songs I just make in like half an hour, they come out of nowhere. I feel a sudden urge to record something so I do. I usually use a metronome on songs, which I put more effort into, but there hasn't been too many of those so far..

thanks for the review

[By Name and Nature]

Pretty,

The sounds and chords in this really brings out a nostalgic. I kinda cried, just a little tho.

I love the percussion in this song but it feels abit off when it's looped, maybe just me but they are annoying me. I fucking LOVE this intro, GOD it's good, I love everytime this loops around again lol. Also, some point outs on the mixing, the sounds crash together relatively good when you got the 1:00 part and forth, I just wished you would lift forward the chords abit better because it's because of them that made me do this review. There is no part where I get tired of repetition wich is reliefing. Your work here has been very good.

I just dissapprove with the ending, everything just stops abruptly, I dislike :/

5/5
9/10

Let me add: The three tone melody throughout the song really helps create a good feeling. I love this intro.

Did I mention I love your intro? Oh I did.

Sorry
(I LOVE YOUR INTRO)

[Moonflare]

The development

It has been a while since the beginning of 2011 and I must admit, you have develpoed alot since the beginning of this year. The structure in this song may not be optimized for a wide audience, however the song as a whole feels so well made. You have nailed the vital parts of making something out of the ordinary, something new and yet not boring to listen to. Good work on the art of making interesting music.

The beginning is sort of soft. Some ambient but yet melodic instruments progressing upwards in a spiral. The small distorted riff feels well placed and really fits in. I got nothing to say on the main riff that approaces afterwards other than great job. The kick is really brutal but in a good way, it's not cutting off any other aspect of the song. The difference between the "cute" bass and the more "bassy" bass is particularly good, you can really feel both of them without having to sacrifice any other vital aspects of the song as a whole.

Sidechaining part, excellent. Only complaint I have is the kick being abit too agressive during it. The good side is that even tho the kick is agressive, it does not cut anything else, impressive work right there.

I really have this thing for delay on melodies (^-^) ....

I do approve the "launching" sounds coming in at around 05:20. This helps bringing a neat feeling that there's something going on and the song has yet to prove it's worth. With the low-fi bass fighting the hi-fi bass afterwards and the song proceeds to walk straight into their face with sidechaining and distorted strings. This is in my opinion the best part of the song and it just gets better as the fake start breaks into a nice little pause whilst loading up for an epic ending.

Did you nail that ending?

Yes, fine sir. I believe you did.

Congratulations on making a great song and mixing it to the limits.