anthonyragus's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Faster]

This is pretty good! For what you wanted to convey, it's a solid track with interesting sections. I have some comments, although I'm super picky about how much variation in songs I enjoy, so you'll need to determine if my ideas make sense to you.
- I enjoyed the string pads but was left wanting a bit more movement in them.
- The descending square wave synth is a great addition, but it sounds a bit too loud in the mix to me, and its ongoing presence without variation till 1:54 felt kind of exhausting. But I super dig what you did with the square wave at 1:54; more variations will keep the listeners interest.
- That eight note hi-hat panned right feels a bit off balance, stereo-wise. I know you had another hi-hat panned left sync'd to the kick. I think what makes it feel imbalanced is the two hi-hats serve completely different functions, so they don't compliment each other.
- The 16th hi-hats seem to be battling the synths for the highest frequency space (I think 8Khz and higher). Sometimes lowpass filtering synths helps with this, but you can also use the hats signal to sidechain compress the synths' high range with a dynamic EQ or a spectral compressor. There are some amazing free plugins out there now.
- 3:46 and onward was my favorite part. Super textural! Just wish for more variation here too, because I hear the 4-bar loop.
- Small nitpick, well, more of a stylistic choice, but I think this mix, especially since it's on the faster side of tempo, would favor a shorter kick, perhaps even the same kick squeezed shorter (faster playback rate but same pitch).

JinZ responds:

Thanks for your feedback

[Her Eyes on You]

Fantastic arrangement chord progression! Nice open feeling with the perfect fifth interval (Eb and Bb notes) carrying on throughout the chord changes. That drum kit sounds great with that short reverb, especially that (brass?) snare. Great work!

Bosa responds:

thank you sm! yeah, i love the key of Eb for acoustic guitar — it sounds very warm when playing!

[Celestial Judgement]

Nice sound and interesting arrangement, especially the stereo octaves in the arpeggiator at the end. I was hoping to hear some vibrato on the longer notes, but it's a stylistic choice. (Not sure if your plugin allows this, but you could put vibrato on the whole lead patch and delay the vibrato so it only triggers on the longest notes.) Great work

YoriYakuza responds:

Great note. Vibrato has now been added. Hopefully it's enough and able to be heard. Thank you.

[jaew - springwise]

Super harmonious melding of textures and styles. I dig that spectral (kind of sounds like desnoising) effect when everything else cuts off at 4:30. Fantastic transitions overall

AUTOSTEREOGRAM responds:

thank you!! i love that spectral artifacty sound, iirc i used a maxforlive device called InstaDist there, which was designed to emulate low bit denoising and compression

[self sabotage]

It's awesome to hear breakcore with this level of variation and tonal shifts. 1:10 was especially fascinating to experience, reminded me of a Virtual Self moment. Fantastic work here

Softboy7 responds:

Thank you so much! Hearing stuff like this makes me really really happy because I put a lot of thought into these tracks and you noticed it!
Thanks a lot <3

[LordAndiso - Salvation [F/C Dysfunktion]]

Heck yeah, this breakbeat slaps severely. I dig all the foley elements you used. What's the one at 0:21, 0:55, etc.? It reminds me of a soda can opening.

LordAndiso responds:

Thank you :) Sorry to reply late, but the foley element is BOFB_03_Percussion_Fill_150bpm
from Splice sample library

[Foreign Place]

Great sound; I like the space you've created. Nice little chromatic moment in the chorus. I dig the verby synth recorder too.

Ajtastic responds:

Thanks man, I appreciate it!

[WAVE]

Hey dude, this track is thoughtful and well put together; no additonal chords needed, hehe. I don't hear the lead vibrato, but maybe that's the reverb. But crushing is under appreciated; it gets wild once you start combining it with other effects. Some more automation in the lead and other prominent elements would add more life and expression. I was also hoping to hear more variation in the vocal slices; you can make a cool melody by changing pitch and rhythm. I super dig the mechanical-ish sound design; more please!

LazerwingMusic responds:

Thanks for the positivity! If you love bitcrush then you'll definitely enjoy the next few tracks ill release :)

[Solenya & EthoShark - Cavern]

Great track, I dig the chillstep aesthetic, the bitcrushed melody. and the surprise the outro. It sounds like it functions as a transition to the next track, but I think it's fantastic regardless. The only bit with which my ears aren't completely on board is the occasional bass buzz (that super high pass filtered bass synth). Adding a low pass filter to round out those highs will help blend that track with the overall mix. There's a sweet spot in the LPF frequency, where that bass sound can still cut through, but not sound too buzzy. If you find you're missing high-frequency content, you could boost the hats to compensate. Just spitballing ideas here. Great work.

EthoShark responds:

Thanks! I appreciate your feedback

[dekiru - water temple]

"Link exits the temple and finds himself in a 70s mall constructed in the future...."

dekiruGD responds:

I wasn't even thinking about Zelda when I made this lol. I made a song called "Forest Temple" a while back. And I was like, "lemme just continue the temple thing". But, it's a funny thing to think about.