p4c's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[[dB] Fireball]

fun stuff :)

Hi there!

I felt like the first section (up to ~:50) was a good way of starting the track but that it is bathed too much in reverb, along with the rest of the song--everything fades into this congealed mush in the background. I'd try to make your reverb less wet and perhaps reduce the delay on them. To make up for the narrower, shallower mix due to that, try experimenting with panning, EQ'ing, and flanging to wet up your mix while maintaining some level of clarity.

Compositionally, a few things. The synth lines never really change, so even if there are many sections to the track, it doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. Try to introduce variety melodically, rhythmically, etc. Same comment goes for drums.

Another issue is that you essentially bring everything the song will offer near the beginning before :50. it ruins a sense of tension as well.

Finally, the synths sound a bit too basic for my tastes. I suggest you try working with more layering in your synth sounds and perhaps sampled instruments/sounds.

Overall, a solid track, but I cant help but lose my interest in it due to its oversimplicity. I hope I helped!

Decibel responds:

Wazzup :P

Yeah, I love my Reverb, I use revern to make the track sound deep, come to think of it, it does sound drowned out, thanks for pointing that out. I'll try to do some mixing.

You're not saying anything which isn't new for me, I mean My songs are really repetetive, and this one was kinda....Meh, if you know what I mean :P

I appreciate your input a lot, but I don't think I can go anywhere with this =/

Thanks Again!

[deciBel]

[Time Consumer (C&C cover)]

nice!

This was really well done! I specifically liked the use of noise and distortions at parts like 0:55, although perhaps they could be phased in more smoothly--immediately when they played, i felt as if my headphones had just self destructed or something.

I'm no connoisseur of rock music, but in terms of drums, I felt they drove the song strongly, though on a minor note, I thought the crash cymbals were at times overused.

And compositionally, in terms of the mood of this track, I think the song remains intense for the entire 6 minutes and never really calms down significantly at any point, so even though the song is quite varied, after a while it largely starts to mesh together incohesively for me.

But all this might just be me and my tastes in music--take what you please :) Nice cover, and I hope I helped!

TTLIC responds:

Thank you very much for your review. It has made me notice a lot of my flaws. The distortion isn't in the original song, at least not nearly that intense, but I'm glad you liked it, I do need to work on it a bit. And I can see why the crashes would be overused. I need to use more crashes and more velocity changes. And for it never slowing down in mood, that is my fault in covering the song most likely. I'm going to be redoing this cover soonish. Should be a lot better I am hoping. But thank you very very much. Please check the original out and check out more of my stuff? :p

[Icyy]

cool pad

Thanks for your review on my track :)

The pad that you use is nice and dreamy--I like it a lot! I do think, though, that if you faded the different notes in and out it so it flowed very smoothly it might sound even better. Perhaps also play with panning, reverb, flanging, and some layering as well to make the sound more immersive and wide across frequency ranges.

The percussion you bring in is also pretty fresh as well--while they sound glitchy, they also have body and a kind of organic feel to them.

This is a short and pretty underdeveloped song, but I think it's a cool sound--keep at it!

SeeD419 responds:

Yes! Exactly! I feel exactly the same way about it! Thank you very much for your kind and honest review :)

[Cooler Than Me (DJQRemixDraft)]

awesome!

the production is very mint! great job on the track, but i do agree with the reviewers below--the section wtih the vox isn't very cohesive with the rest of this demo. regardless, gj. can't wait for the mastered version--this did seem a little lacking in atmosphere and the upper end is a little flat.

DJ-Qwamii responds:

Thanks. That's why I've stated this problem in the info. :b

[-GM- Saturn]

mmmmm

soooo chill. i like the light sidechaining/pitch bending on the bass and synths. rock on, man.

B-RadGfromOV responds:

Rock on!

[TS - Slip n' Slide]

sounds like it was fun to make :)

this is a pretty simplistic song, but as you said, you're jst making this to have fun, so i'm okay with that! i would say that the you overuse some cliches in trance music, like the increasing speed of the kicks at transition moments and the overuse of crashes and stuff, but for what it is, you did a good job. cheers!

Technosaur responds:

Will be sure to work more at it. Thanks for my first review, too!

[[GF]Dreamer[GF]]

pro quality, man.

this is pretty damn awesome. your attention to detail is great and the hook is just so infectious. really immersive, very well mixed, and its melodramatic, almost videogame-esque personality really shine through with the square/siney lead synths that form the melody and rhythm--you got a fav from me for sure. :)

GroundForce responds:

Cool! Thank you very much! :)

[Saber's Theme [Anya]]

worddd

so i think that you did a really good job with the arrangement. this really gives off an epic feel. the way it progressed was not predictable at first glance--which is actually a rarity 'round these parts--and the piano lull built some tension.

i just think the production is pretty bland, but it's not really your fault. i just think everything sounds too synthetic. the way the violin never plays sharply, the snare sounds so bland, and the piano doesnt play with dynamics enough to convey the emotion it tries to. it sounds like, yeah, a soundtrack to a playstation 1 song, not a scored production or anything, which, if that's what you were going for, then all the more power to ya.

all of this are things that are remedied with... well... getting better samples, not really with your skill as a producer. so i'm willing to overlook that, because this had great imagination and still got its message across. good job!

EmperorCharlemagne responds:

Yeah, my sample sets (all freeware, lol) pretty much constrict me to "PS1-style music", which is fine for the most part (for the MOST part), but you are right in that I sure as heck could use some good stuff, like EastWest etc. But that costs a considerable amount of dough!

I actually considered using all SNES-style sound samples for this, so I could make it clear its fakeness, in a way, but I'm glad that the melody (for you at least) was able to carry its weight despite the less than stellar samples.

Many thanks for the kind words!

[KurdStep (RAC4 Dubstep)]

hmmm

i loved your work with changing around the LFO and acoustic properties of the wobble. the bells and the harpsichord stuff were also a pretty epic touch, and i think you pulled off the usual dubstep feeling fairly decently. my suggestions:

first, i think the chord progression is pretty weak just because its so predictable. i can tell exactly where everythings going... and that makes the song get boring fairly quickly. on top of it, with the glitchy, austere drum and synthwork, it makes the song sound absurdly cheesy.

second, i think the sound of the wobble--not its arrangement--is too high and smooth. i wish the wobble had more bassiness, perhaps that the synth you chose was an entire octave down, and then emphasize its high frequency textures. that would be more powerful to me.

third, as a random suggestion, i wish the vox had a bigger presence in the song than just being an interlude kind of thing--it gave the song some character.

finally, the song could use a little atmosphere and depth. exploit sound effects, reverb, and panning more--it would make the ethos of the song that much more immersive.

good job overall, and i hope i helped out!

Aydin-Jewelz123 responds:

Cool dude, i'll see what i can do!

[Discovery [Dr.S]]

pretty cool stuff!

i loved the modulation going on in that main lead synth(s). it had a really interesting and full texture. the main things i would work on are that first, the low end of the spectrum wasnt nearly as interesting as the synthwork going on, and second, the song doesnt seem to have any particular arc or go anywhere--i feel like within 1.5 minutes ive pretty much heard the whole song. that's my opinion, though. regardless, good job :)

Dr-Slump responds:

Thanks for the review p4c! Yeah, I'll try to work on the low end of the spectrum. I'll see what I can do about that. Now, this songs doesn't really go anywhere because it's an ambient song, so... yeah. That's pretty much it. Nevertheless, your opinion will help me later, when I'll be editing this song in my spare time.