Kazmo's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[DJ-G] HardStyled]

Cooool

I hope you didn't use Fruity Limiter in the Master Channel, that's a no no.

You're better off using Maximus, but don't use any of the presets. It'll take a while to figure out a good combination of settings, but it really boosts the overall mix if used correctly.

1:55 sounds really weird to me. Out of place even. The song is too busy at this point.

At 2:56, the lead moves around too much, and goes into the highs a fair bit, hurting my ears. The kick is also too loud at this point, it's starting to distort.

You also told me you use samples, and I've said before, your better off learning some VSTi's, and just use VEC samples for rhythm/FX/etc. Synth samples are not only unoriginal, but not very useful either.

Overall, the mix is quite poor, there's a fair bit of bass distortion with the kick and bass. That may be caused by Limiter, I can't tell though.

Keep at it man, this song has potential, as B0UNC3 said.

DJ-Galax responds:

Did you read the EDIT3? Next time do that plzkthxbai.

Yes, you've told me to use VSTi's.

I should create a better second lead XD.

1:55: I actually think it sounds good. :(

But thanks for the review! :D

[Monodisc - Northern Lights]

My brain, is turning to mush! WTF

DUDE, HOLY SHIT!

Your rhythm, is seriously turning my brain to some matter of liquid state. I'm liking this feeling.

This sounds sooooo good, I'm just loving the trippy rhythm, and that deep pad/strings. So epic!

Nice build! This is a great ambient/breakbeat track!

Keep up the fantastic work!

tijnn responds:

Thanks so much man for the kind review! XD

You can...

You will...

And you shall...

Be tripping fucking balls to this shit. X D

[{DjZ} The Storm]

Unfinished? Finish it! :P

I dunno what I'm hearing at the beginning, but it sounds like a bit of a phaser/flanger resonance effect, and distracts me a bit from the bass.

When the rhythm comes in, I feel the track slows down a couple bpm, it's quite odd, and then when the rhythm goes away, it speeds up a little bit. I think it's the placement of the first bass note that throws off the groove just a bit. It may also just be the type of bass synth you used.

Btw, I feel the bass is quite mono, you should give it more life by keeping it stereo, the stereo effects that a bass gives also gives some more life to a song, just make sure you EQ accordingly.

The synths are quite nice, nice and full, and not overpowering the mix.

When I heard the vocal chops, I was like 'wut? where did this come from?' I'm not saying it wasn't nice, it was lovely, but it seemed random. I wasn't expecting vocals 3 minutes into a song.

The end feels unfinished, which is why my summary states that.

I'm also curious as to why you moved this from trance to house, when this is definitely a trance song. It has no house elements. The bass stays the same throught, and there's pads and nice smooth rhythms.

On that note, you could probably do without all the reverse rhythm parts for transitions, you overused them a bit in this one.

Overall it's fun and cool, but could still use a bit of work, and perhaps be completed, with some nice vocals in there, and not just chops.

4/5
8/10

Keep at it man.

DjZeaklous responds:

I understand and agree about the BPM seem to change, I was wondering how I could fix that. Should I lower the BPM any way? In the beginning it seems like I should, but once it gets into the main part of the song it seems fine.

I moved it from trance, because the first two reviewers (heartless1298 and Chinoman10) said that it was house, not trance. If we get an official person who judges that, they can tell. Also, other like DJIxON have said that this is progressive club house, not your conventional house.

When it comes to the ending, I will probably lengthen it to 5-6 minutes and maybe add more vocals.

Thanks for the review and rating! I appreciate the time you put into this.

[Sound of Awakening]

Quite Trancy!

The intro caught me!

I love long intros, this is how trance is supposed to be.

I think your hats/clap need to be EQed more, so that they don't have bass/low mids. Maybe add a bit of reverb to them as well to give them a bit of depth.

At 0:28, I heard a VEC fill, and didn't really think it fit well in the song. It also lost some originality when I heard that.

The pads are quite nice.

The VEC fill is a bit overused in my opinion.

The bass is quite nice, I wouldn't mind hearing a bit more sub-bass from it, so that it really fills the mix.

That 2 note pattern lead got a bit loud in some areas, taking over the mix.

2:58 is really nice sounding, all the sounds blending and building!

Then I hear that FiLL AGAIN gahhh lol, sorry, ruined it for me.

At this part after the build, I almost feel there's TOO much sidechain, I would like to hear your background sounds a bit more.

K wtf happened, I can't listen to the song anymore, it just stopped loading at 4:03. Now I can't even listen again, I've reloaded it a bunch of times and now it won't play at all.

From what I have heard though, this sounds quite solid. Try and stay away from fills that are pre-made, they get rid of some originality because they're overused.

The mastering is quite good, and balance is pleasing.

5/5
9/10

Keep up the great work you two!

mjattie responds:

thanks Kazm0. Actually paranoid made the drums, so this is for him ;)

That's stupid that you can't listen after 4:03... Well it's more of a drum outro, not very special. BTW I just love sidechaining and sometimes I can't hold myself XD

[~ElpH~Light]

What Twist?

I don't know about you, but I found everything too loud, there's no variation in volume, usually caused by over-compression.

I'm going to guess you have a Fruity Limiter in your master channel. I'd recommend taking that out of there. Just because Fruity Loops has that in the master channel Default, doesn't mean it's a good thing.

The lead that started fading in at 7 seconds in is quite annoying, and also needs EQing, there's too many lows in the lead conflicting with the other lead and pad.

All your sounds are conflicting, but that's partially thanks to the over-compression of the final mix.

At 0:55, I was expecting a bass of sorts to fill in the sound, but nothing came in. I'm slightly disappointed.

1:22 is really annoying, it's quite repetitive, and although the pitch down is cool, it's still annoying.

I'm not quite sure what you meant by a 'DnB twist at the end', since there isn't any DnB in this song, but there is indeed a twist. The fact that the end of the song is non-related to the rest of the song.

I can't say I enjoyed this, because of the poor mastering, and annoying high lead.

This needs a fair bit of work in the EQ region, as well as mastering, and structure. the first minute is quite good, you just need to work on builds and outros.

4/5
7/10

Keep at it!

Elph responds:

Ugh, thanks for the honest review. I have been very bad at mastering forever. And i guess itll just take a lot of practice to get good at it.

Anyway, thanks for being honest :/

[Snapdragon]

Pretty Neat.

I've been meaning to write a review on this for a while, but I just woke up now, so why not do it now?

Okay, so the intro is really cool, except the guitar synth needs less slide notes, it really messes with the end pitch, and sometimes throws off the groove. The slide at the beginning of the phrases is nice, but I think that's all that's needed.

Nice bass, and I just noticed the piano, wouldn't hurt to bring that out, maybe add some reverb to the piano, sounded pretty plain to me when I heard it.

When the rhythm comes in, it's monotone. There's no stereo feel in the hats and clap, not sure why you decided to do this, but the song loses some life because of that.

Now that I listen more, your song overall lacks highs and bass. It almost sounds like it's rendered at something less than 128kbps, but it's only 5.3MB? I know you said it's 'soft trance', but it still needs a drive of sorts, so that it just effortlessly flows. Right now I feel the leads are working to hard to try and do that, when the kick and rhythm should help too.

Overall, this song is interesting, but could still use some work in mastering and stereo seperation, as well as more variety in the rhythm.

4/5
8/10

[[LK] Paradise [WiP]]

Nice start!

Right from the start I notice this song is really really over-compressed, and really loud.

When the lows rumble, they really take over the whole mix.

Your white noise sweep down at the beginning is really loud.

The piano seems to be clicking, I don't know why, but I hear a click at the beginning of every lower note.

To be honest, the rhythm doesn't suite the song, it sounds like it's being rushed. I don't know if it's a loop, or if it's just so compressed that everything just sort of meshes into everything else.

The clap could be louder, it gets buried by the hats.

But ya, it's too loud man. Turn down the main volume, or something, because my headphones are DYING.

5/5 (I see promise in this!)
7/10 (Right now....gahhhhh lol :P)

Keep working on it!

LK412 responds:

I will fix everything you said!

[The Bongo Wars (Europe)]

Woa man!

This song is quite good!

I like the mood you set from the very beginning, I'd almost call it dance!

The kick is infectious, it's pounding my brains out! (In a good way)

The Bongos are awesome, I think the whistle is a little much sometimes.

Holy crap, the bass, how the fuck, it jus rumbles my ears, it's butchering my Stantons, I love it!!!

I must admit, the whistle is just a tad ear piercing (I know, it's a whistle, it's meant to be) I just think its a bit loud. Or maybe EQ it so it's not AS ear piercing :P

I like this though!

I think this flows more like a dance song, rather than a trance song. It's full of energy, but it doesn't have any of those...quiet moments, you know? It's epic man.

5/5
10/10

Keep at it!!!

Airprogressive responds:

thanks!!!! yeah I know that the whistle can be sometimes a bit anoying because it's loud and shrill, but when I made this song I just wanted to create something noisy & rythmic lol

This track could be also considered as a dance track. Sometimes, it can be difficult to distinguish between dance and trance, and this one is a perfect example of that xD

thanks again x your awesome review!

:)

[Bass Piratez - Pirate Dance]

Last Time I checked...

This is Dance music, not Trance.

This is freaking amazing, but please stick it (as well as your other tunes) in the proper genre category.

Thanks.

[[DJ-G] L'éruption Du Volcan(F)]

Okayyyyy

I'm not a real fan of techno, but I'm going to review this in terms of quality and not of likeness lol.

Right off the bat, that lead is quite harsh in the high register, either decrease the volume, or try and lower the spectrum of it that is a bit ear piercing (high mids, pass, somewhere around there.)

0:25 was a bit sudden, and I feel that the kick shoud be punchier, try EQing it as well as compressing it.

I don't know if the filters on/off of the master is a good idea in this song. It tends to lose a fair bit of drive when you do that for long periods of time (one beat or more).

2:02 is rather interesting, but at the same, it just gets weird and - for me - annoying. It's just the same pattern over and over again with some sort of pitch bend automation on it.

At least you know how to use filters. :D

Overall, I'll just admit that I'm not a real fan of this kind of techno lol.

4/5
7/10

Keep up the good work!

DJ-Galax responds:

Thanks for the in-depth review!

- That ALL OF SUDDEN OMG, is actually what I tried to create.

- The filter on/off might be a little, I don't know, annoying, yeah.

- 2:02 is a little repetitive in my eyes, but... I don't know. It sounded like an awesome idea.

- What is punchy? I don't really know what you mean with punchy. Sounds funny though, punchy. XD

Anyway, thanks!

~DJ Galax