neBSounds's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[BRUCE: Audra's Theme]

oh man this scats me out. very eerie. violin sounds so natural. all the music and instrumentation gels together nicely. I like that you used.... shit samples for the saxophone, it gives it a really unearthly character which really enhances that unsettling feeling that the track gives me. Great job on this one mate

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Glad to hear you like it! I used a keyswitch in EWQLSO to be able to tweak the violin sound somewhat, as I wanted it to feel alive, in one way or another. It's also good that the piece works despite the saxophone sound :D I did my best to use it in a way that fits with the rest of the atmosphere. Your latest track is pretty cool! If I get the time, I'll review it later :)
Thanks for listening!

[Thinking of the Boxside Out]

This box is heavy! love the box work here. great box placement and the box is crisp and clear. vocals were a nice touch but i wouldn't low pass filtered them so you sound like your trapped in a box.

seriously though great box.

Quarl responds:

Box.

[Unstable Horizon]

Overall the tunes pretty good there's a lot I like but also a bit I personally don't like.

What I like:
- chord progression is good
- great variety of sounds and synths used, the pads sound great!
- like the way you play the melody in unison with other leads to give them more impact
- the rolling pluck synth sounds great when the filter opens up for the drop
- interesting bass sounds and I love the way you stop the high hats to emphasise one of them.
- I really like the attack rhythm of one of the paddy bass synths. Sounds like you used sidechain compression though I may be wrong.
- Great placement of FX and crashes etc

What I think needs improvement:
- Drums are very bland! They sound way too squashed as a result of over compression. For the type of genre you're going for you need the drums to stand out in the mix. They need to be punchy and more thought needs to be put into EQing each sample you use. Try shape the samples around the instruments in your tune and vice versa. The kick needs tuning, EQing and dynamic control to make it stand out and hit in the right spot. I would also suggest layering it with a kick that has more mid range frenquecies (cutting the low frequecies to ensure theres no conflict in frequencies. The snare is okay, could be EQd better but it hits in the right frequency however again, needs to be punchy. The high hats could do with some EQing and a touch of reverb.

- I didn't like the arrangement. I thought sections ended too quickly and expected more to build from it.
- the melodies were good if not a bit overdone. sometime it felt a bit forced but others may disagree on that point
-I felt the basses lacked sub frequencies which could've been solved by using a simple sine wave

Overall I enjoyed the tune. it was a good chilled track with a lot of interesting stuff going on that I felt mainly lost points due to sloppy mixing and arrangement decisions. You clearly have a good knowledge of synth design based on the techniques used to create some of the textures in the synths. And for your first chilstep tune I can't really complain. good job!

Demonic-Overmind responds:

Thanks a lot for the review,

About the things you like:
- I didn't like its chord progression to be honest, I still think that I forced my ears to accept it.
- thanks for the appreciation on instruments.
- nope, I just copied the piano melody to a paddy synth and played with its cutoff frequency(no sidechaining).

About things that needs improvement:
- yup, I was expecting this, I did over compress some parts of the kick and also snare during the buildup as I thought the sound was getting louder but I guess you need it in a track. For the choice of the samples, I didn't actually knew how the drums should be in chillstep. I thought these samples did sound somewhat similar so used them. EQing the drums is where I lack most, I literally just increased some lower freq for kick, mid-range freq in snare and higher freq for hi-hats. I'll try layering samples with different frequencies in my later tracks.
- I actually didn't wanted to make the melodies and arrangement repetitive, so maybe I overdid it.
- About the sub frequencies, I didn't gave it a thought, I'll try adding a sine wave.

Thanks once again.

[Spastic]

Interesting ideas here, but you can tell it needs more work. interesting rhythms and melodies. drums sound a bit dry IMO. With a bit more thoughtful mixing choices and a better arrangement this tune could be much better! keep it up.

spikel responds:

thank you!

[Fourty]

nice little piece, love the synth work here, lots of interesting stuff going on rhythmicaly, I feel as this tune would work much better if you made it loop! It would go well in a puzzle game.

spikel responds:

Thank you very much! :)

[Where the Heart Is]

stunning work boys! definately suits the theme you're going for.

- the transition into the main section is flawless
- solid mixing and production Mattashi
- piano is played beautifully with a nice touch of reverb
- percussion is loosey goosey babyy
- perfect instrumentation
- great cheerful chord progressions

I can't really fault this one guys, everythings great. you definately should collab again.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Thanks a lot, mate!

It's great to hear that the track is fitting considering the theme. Mattashi got the percussion and intrumentation (and that transition) just right instantly, while the progression was made more on my end :)

We will definitely collab much more in the future, so it's good to hear that people like what our combined style sounds like xD

[Noisia - Hand Gestures (Dj Ninri Remix)]

Solid production mate, love it

nuFF3 responds:

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

[The path between part 1]

some great unsettling ambient music! love that rhythmic synth pattern that you introduce near the end and all the industrial clanging throughout.

Yqarus responds:

Thank you! :)
I'm already working on the second part
and hope that it'll be as good as the rest xD

[Spider's Last Moment]

Synths sound great! very playful and lots of nice stuff going on. I didn't think the strings gelled well with the tune, they sounded a bit harsh and dry. I would've gone with a soft pad or if you really want the strings EQ them a bit better and add some FX. I do love everything at the start, It makes me think of a bunch of spiders running around... flapping their legs about all synchronised, then at 1:00 they all put on roller skates and start dancing haha. Good job but I think it could still do with a bit more work. Some noise FX in the background would make transitions smoother in my opinon

TheLateDogg responds:

Thanks for the awesome review.

[Falling Skies]

It's okay mate but personally I think the mid/high frequencies are a bit to harsh and some of the bass frequencies conflict with each other every now and then causing some muddy rumble, try fix this with a bit of surgical EQing. I do like the progression of the low notes and the synth playing them. personally I like ambient music to tell me a story, or at least put some sort of imagery in my head and I wasn't really getting much from this.

I think the tune could also benefit from a bit of FX and background noise like wind, rain or even vinyl scratching! This can bring in a lot of character and atmosphere to ambient music and is really easy to do, just download some samples or record some of your own!

bdog705 responds:

thanks for the review! and im actually working on a revised version of this right now, hopefully finished sometime later but it actually has almost everyhting you mentioned, scratches in my mind are something i would use for funk or hip hop, i also like for ambient music to have a story and well this one was kinda crappy, but i am remaking it currently :D