anthonyragus's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Crill]

Heck yeah, nice little form, great rhythm and breakdown, captivating harmony. Is that a clipper on the drum submix? I'm perceiving something crunchy, less of a "mmm tasty" way and more of a "did I just chip my tooth" feeling. Great work, would disturb again

KrinnValKhristi responds:

I am not sure what you mean by clipper, but none of my tracks are "clipping" so to speak as I use proper gain staging. Usually -12 db.

I am using a compression master track on this one where I have the send and return setup for infinite ratio for the drums.

But the original signal does have a volume envelope on it, and the bass guitar also has a sidechain setup assigned to the kick of the drums to give more presence to the kick.

This piece was definitely made to be more sinister and aggressive.

Thanks for checking it out!

[Sad Clay Doll]

Interesting harmonic journey. Is that bitonality I hear at 3:11? This is almost a tracker version of fast jungle, like breakcore. I'm interested in hearing what you'll write next.

colorsCrimsonTears responds:

Thx for the review, but I don't really make music anymore.
Not saying I never will again, but it got to a point where I stopped enjoying to post music here.

[New Guac]

This is such a blast; great form and instrumentation, compelling harmony and rhythm. The mix is good, but I would have loved to hear louder melody and much louder bass. Super fun to listen. I selfishly demand more music from you.

ChroPh0re responds:

Lol, those were the two things I realized needed fixing after completing the song with 3 minutes to spare for the contest xD demand away! I've got a huge amount of music coming down the pipeline slowly but surely, including a new album

[Moonlight | AlphaStorm]

This is so cool, super emotional but not overwhelming. The cyclical chord progression and tremolo melody give me strong post rock vibes. Nice intermittent doubling on the melody, too. I can't wait to hear what you write next.

AlphaStormMusic responds:

Yeah dude! The tremolo guitar part with the delay before the amp is ripped STRAIGHT from Post-rock! It's one of my favorite sounds, just because it's a nice ambient touch!

Thank you very much for the kind words!
Best and take care!
~Zach (AlphaStorm)

[Disintegrating]

This sounds and captivates exactly how you intended. That looping pad is indeed ethereal, complimented by simple yet interesting bassline and drum layers. I would usually suggest more variation or some stylistic something, but somehow not this time. There's something trance-inducing in the blatant repitition, and I like this exactly how it is. Fantastic work

AeriuIka responds:

Thank you for the compliments :)

[KOROSAN - Archangel]

weeeee, minor pentatonic! Great combination of stuttering / short-term repititon and long-term variation. I love the way color bass unitlizes LFOs. Great second buildup and contrast in tone. I think you kept the portamento notes in the non portamento-instruments, like the piano and mallet percussion. This is a stylistic choice, but, regarding after the second drop, I think you can continue with the melody longer and get way crazier with it. At least, that's what my ears told me you could be hinting. Super cool track

KOROSANMUSIC responds:

ayy tysm!! yup you're right, but i made this song in like January 2022 so yea its a bit old haha. thx for the kind words tho!

[X3ll3n - Wonder (NGUAC 2022 Knockout Round)]

I must say, this is, indeed, happy. I don't know if this is stylistically appropriate, but I was waiting for a barage of 16th hats, phat wide bass harmonics, and shimmering pads to take me to spaz town. I love the main melody synth stack and selective portamento. Great work

X3LL3N responds:

Thanks !
I will rework it with an artist named Feel SY in order to improve it :)

I'm gonna stream my Final Round entry today, I'm going out of my comfort zone with it !

[Village Fest - NGADM Round 2]

My fellow tinnitus carrier, this is so magical and immersive. Beautiful melody and countermelodies, and everyone else really. Instruments fit so well and realistically; so much automation even with the reset CC lanes, the panning and non-quantization, the tonicizations (especially at the end), it's all wonderful. The strings play such beautiful support roles and introduce themselves so gracefully. Fun oboe is fun!

Glock definitely is tricky, especially close mic'd. In most situations, I think a lot of perc volume can be lowered while still being present. Or you could complicate things like me and slap a 1KHz high pass filter and high-ratio compressor on the glock. Bend those transients to your will!

I can't wait to listen to your next piece. Superb work

Santi-Montali responds:

Thank you very much for your kind review! Sadly the glocken library I used reacted very weirdly and had more transients in lower velocity and register. I also didn't notice how loud it was until I listened to the track once again after a couple minutes of uploading it. This usually happens to me haha I can't deal with deadlines. I'm happy you liked it and will surely be uploading more stuff soon :)

[Garance's Theme]

What a lovely tune with a catchy melody, great dynamic range, great flute / picc ornamentation. lots of CC / automation, so much perc!, and a great form. For under two days of time, this is especially fantastic. I like the moments you dip the tempo; I think you can never have too much tempo automation in classical mockups. I was suprised to see Tuba in the instrumentation, as that giant horn usually fills up the room (at least the low frequencies). I think the bass instruments in general could receive a bump up in volume, increasing their presence without infringing on the melody, which already has a healthy doubling. Anyway, I had a lot of fun listening to your piece, amazing work.

Everratic responds:

Thank you for the review! I'm glad you appreciate all the details :D

The tuba just plays quiet staccatissimo to enhance the bass line, so it's not very powerful. Also, I used many dynamic EQs so any resonances from the Tuba were suppressed.

Balancing the lows and mids is quite difficult. I listened to the mix with multiple headphones and speakers, and I feel that I got just the right balance so that the mix feels warm on bass-neutral outputs and not overpowering on bass-heavy outputs. But I'm not a professional mixer so maybe the bass can indeed be louder.