Kazmo's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[~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 :/

[[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!

:)

[[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

[The Misunderstood Man...]

Pretty interesting.

The kick that comes in at the beginning seems really...dull? It doesn't quite fit the rest of the song in my opinion.

The synths are rather amazing, I really like the grain lead, it's really coarse, and has loads of texture. :P

The pitch up thing was interesting, but right after, the kick is rather none-existent, may need to fix levels, and compress the kick.

Seems like your leads are really pushing it, in volume, they seem to be limited, do you have a limiter in the master? I feel as though the leads are too loud.

The piano is nice, is that FL Keys?

The song seems to drag on a bit too long, it's quite repetitive, there's not really a lot of variation in progression at all.

Overall, it's not bad, needs a fair bit of work, but I see a lot of potential in this if you just fix the levels, increase the bass/kick, and EQ some more, like the hats/leads.

5/5
8/10

Keep at it! I'll be watching you lol

alertG responds:

o_o'

thanks for the compliments :)
yeah, that begining kick could be changed. I'll look at the kick, im usually afraid of having it too high.. I do have a limiter in the master, so ill pay attention to the leads as well.

haha yes that is FL keys with EQ and delay. and I think that if the intro was improved it would improve the song altogether. I think what makes it seem long is the longer fadeout before 4:00. I might change that a little as well.

Thanks a ton for the suggestions and review!

EDIT 1/10/10: Yeah, I can see where I can improve this in mmany aspects. Its funny how I can really notice these things much easier as i improve. I dont think im going back to this one though. not sure..

[Party All Night[Dj-S]]

Go Sacrafan Go!

2 hours eh? No offence, but it sort of shows lol.

Remember, quality over quantity. The more you work on a song, the more you'll appreciate it in the long run. :]

Onto the review:

Nice piano, although I feel it could be turned up a bit more, so that it doesn't get over powered by some of your effects/kicks.

I feel there's a huge compressor on this song, I may be right, because your bass is not very constant, it fluctuates.

The synth that comes in at 0:50, is a little all over the place, if you know what I mean. It doesn't really carry any sort of melody, it just plays a bunch of straight eights that somewhat fit the notes in the chord progression. :/ I feel it also overpowers the overall mix.

The outro...oh wait, there wasn't one lol :P

I'd work on an outro, as well as an intro (just realized it doesn't really have one of those either :P).

overall:

5/5 (You've improved!!!) :D
8/10 (The song itself needs workz)

Keep at it man, you're getting there!!! :3

Sacrafan responds:

It was sorta a challenge, my friend was like, make the best song you can before i have to go, and i was like, ok... lol.

[Frenetic Energy]

Needs workz

Right at the intro, I felt the lead was really muddy. Perhaps cut down the low frequencies in the lead, and ditch the compressor. May need to experiment to find the right balance.

The off-beat bass that comes in is quite....low, in a bad way, it loses it's power. It just sounds like grain it's so low. Maybe mix it up with some higher octaves to give it more depth, and lower the really low octave volume.

The clap/snare I realized is on beat 1 and 3, which is different, but at the same time jubbles up the feeling, since the majority of rhythms in trance/dance has the clap on beat 2 and 4. In any case, I'd also consider this song to be more of a dance tune than a trance tune.

The transition with the off-beat kick was a bit confusing, since we think of the kick as on the beat. Interesting nonetheless.

The vox is cool, but at some points it becomes hard to understand/hear, since some of the other surround sounds are much higher in volume

A note: Never have a fade-out outro, everrrrr. I understand if you are a little pensive about making an actual outro, but a fade out just doesn't make the song feel complete.

What do you put in the master channel? If it's the default Limiter, ditch that, it's for the best. Also, under program settings (options) turn off CPL, you'll get a more full sound, you may need to fix your levels though.

In the end, I really really see potential in this, and I don't want to see this stay like thissss. If possible, work on the few things I've mentioned, fix levels, etc.

3/5
6/10

Keep at it, I'm sure you'll be able to improve in your technique and begin creating the music you aspire to. :]

ViceOfFire responds:

Thanks heaps for the in depth review dude.

I agree with you, there's a lot wrong with it, it was my second full song (1st musically correct song), and there's a lot that shout be fixed.

That being said though, I couldn't really be bothered to go back and fix things, and I think I deleted the project file too.
Thanks for all the kind tips :D

[[LK] Euphoria]

K my turn :P

Right off the bat, nice piano :3

I also notice this song is rather 'loud' in a sense, that there's no room for space in the song, and it sounds rather crowded. I can almost guess what you have in the master channel...(Limiter? or maybe Maximus? Both?!) I recommend starting to work with those out of there, and perhaps just stick a Soft Limiter so you don't get over-decibels, and make sure the Soft Limiter's Threashold is down (straight line) though, so that it's not compressing anything.

Yay, VEC drum fills for the win... :/ you're better off making your own transitional sounds to be honest. They add character to a song, rather than hearing the same old same old.

Anyways, when the lead comes in, it's not very loud, seems like the bass overpowers the song at that point, so it doesn't have that climactic effect that I think you were going for.

1:22 was sudden, and feels quite empty, and the hat sounds really...dull. You need more sounds in there, ,,maybe a pad in the background. The bass is also not very interesting, maybe make that spot a bass solo, and mess around with the notes within the chord progression so that it's not so repetitive.

2:31 doesn't sound right, it sounds like another intro, and yay machinegun snare roll!!!! >.<

Overall, this song has compression/mastering issues written all over it. I've learned to ditch the Maximus in the master. compression in most cases is not your friend unless it's just for a specific synth/bass. Even so, you need to be careful, so that nothing overpowers anything else.

All in all, I see promise in this. Keep at it, I think you have a lot of potential in this area of music. :P

4/5
7/10

Big Brother is watching you!!! o_o

LK412 responds:

Mastering/Mixing as most people can tell is not my area of expertise.

I try really hard to work on it but its mostly just laziness. I mean, its not like actually make the music its fine tuning which turns me off. I know its necessary but im just REAAALLY lazy. Ill definitley try to improve myself tho.

I know the VEC fills are WAYYYYYYYY over used, but i love them to death, they remind me of the the days when i found out about dance/trance and listened to Dj Splash constantly. i guess thats why i put em in. Ill try to avoid that from now on.

I definitely should have put a pad in there, i really dont know what i was thinking. I wanted to make the bass simple thats why i didnt make it too crazy.

Yea at 2:31, again, i don't know what i was doing. Just trying to fill in random crap. It ruined the structure. ill try to remember that next time.

Thanks for the review. I really appreciate it.

[Segata Sanshiro]

Interesting

If any of you actually listened to the original, you would notice that this one differs in no aspect whatsoever. The original song is actually playing in the background, and all he did was sing on top.

Mind you, you did a great job singing on top of the original, though there is something called a copyright, Warner Music Japan 1998.

I'd recommend taking this down, since it's not even your creation.

It's good that you mentioned the original creators, but using their stuff was the wrong way of going around this. You should have just made something from scratch using similar sounds.

I guess that'd be too difficult though, since those are real instruments and I'm pretty sure you don't have an orchestra at your disposal.

The reason I'm giving a five is because there's only half-effort shown in the piece, since the music isn't even yours. Great job on singing though, I found it quite funny. :P

3/5
5/10

DruoxtheShredder responds:

It's a parody, silly. I'm protected under fair use. Now, if I did an exact copy of it and said I wrote the music, that'd be infringing. But it's not. Not to mention, it's free to download off the segata sanshiro website =D It's the karaoke version O.o

[TN - NeverLand]

Out of Sync Vocals

That's the first thing I noticed when listening, and that shouldn't be overlooked.

That needs fixed, NEEDS fixed.

Another point, don't overuse extended transitions (even when they're samples), the ones that take another bar out of the song just to transition through.

Also, try to avoid using rhythm loops, it adds no originality what-so -ever.

Your snare is tad loud, it kinda hurts.

Honestly though, those vocals need synced, really badly, it's driving me crazy, b/c if the vocals were fixed, I'd give you 9.

I'd give you a full 10 if everything was more balanced, and that nothing hurt the ears for a long duration. The snare(s) at 2:15 hurt. Just letting you know.

Funny enough, the pads were lovely after that.

Nice lead, but it's also rather generic, if you know what I mean. It's a standard saw lead.

Anyways, I don't want to go on and on, so I'll just conclude saying that this piece has potential to be amazing amazing amazing if you work on syncing the vocals, and perhaps EQ/relevel some of the parts.

5/5
8/10

Keep at it.

PS: Quit telling people to check out your tracks in your reviews, it's considered self-publicizing, and people don't really like that.

TerraNation responds:

Well yea iknow the work vocal needed to be fixed, yea some of the loops is kinda high volume, , well idon know actully how else find people to listen.