p4c's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Spor - Aztec (Neural Remix)]

nice! but...

i dont know if i can rate you very highly on this one.. just because its so similar to the original. though the piano drop in this sample is pretty nice, i think you really need to differentiate this piece more than the original. mix up the main synth line a lot more, tear it to shreds! otherwise it just sounds like you took out their original dnb beat and replaced it with another dnb beat. also, it probably has to do with teh way you extracted the main synth line, but the mix in this sounds pretty tinny--pump up bass frequencies, and the levels of your kick, and perhaps layer the main synth with something to make it beefier. my 2 cents :)

NeuralFusion responds:

ta mate. this is just a pre anywho. i'll variate, the mainsynth is mimicked. cheers for the review. (also i made this on FL demo with laptop headphones and 1 gb of ram) :) So kinda hard for the low freqs.

[-[PK]- Thunder]

ok so

i think this is a decent, workable basis for a song, but it needs a lot of work--it doesnt have a very full or refined sound as of now.

things you definitely should add/change:

-a bassline would be good to give some meat to the entire song.
-stronger percussion/drums. it's pretty weak right now--try using a different bass drum sample that has more punch to it, a more complex hi hat line than what you have, somethign different than that standard clap, and some other percussion. the cymbals are really synthetic and dont mesh well with the rest of the percussion. i think you can benefit a lot just from listening to a lot of different songs that have been released, or are pretty good on NG, to see what I mean (idk, even look at my work. im starting to get to that level of quality, i think).

things to consider:

-have more variation. the lead synth never really goes anywhere, and the song never really escalates into anything beyond what shows up within the first minute.
-sound effects, both on the instruments you have, and completely separate effects to build an atmosphere. everything on this track as of now is really dry--no reverb, no real distortion, etc. that leads everything to come off as being pretty superficial--try to build some spatial depth in your songs :)

i can say more, but I think that should be a little help for now. rock on :)

pyrotek45 responds:

heh, i completely agree. i made this in what...like ten minutes,i just wanted to know where to go from here so thanks for the review, means a lot!

oh yeah i checked some of your songs , there good!

~pyrotek45

[Stoppin your mind (WIP HOUZE)]

shit man!

this goes fuckin hard! if you could clean up that dirty synth [i.e. fix the clipping] and lay off the stoppin my mind shit, structure it a bit more cleanly and lengthen this shit it would go crazyyy!!!! dayumnnn keep at it.

Kalapsia responds:

but i like stoppin my mind : (

[Wake Up by Enteroar]

nice :)

so i think that this is a decently made song though stylistically its not exactly my tastes. here are my main beefs, and i hope it helps :)

i like the lead synth with portamento and stuff, though i think the saw that chimes in along with it detracts from the dreamy feel of that luscious lfo'ing background synth. the melody that the lead synth takes, though, doesnt really seem that definitive or compelling though--its jst wandering around with the bassline, but i wish it didn't just follow the bassline like that. i think it might just be that i kind of dislike that progression because its so overused in like every trance song ever, but yeah. i do like the synths you use though, and i think this is a compelling base for a sweet song. nice!

Enteroar responds:

I agree with everything you said. This an older song so yea..haha.

[NP - Wind Through Winter Trees]

nicely done.

i can't give you a lot of specific criticism since i am not well versed in music theory or anything, but i can tell you that you did a great job with this. the melody stays off the key the piece is played on which does a great job to make it sound a lot more dreamy and unsettling, and when the sonmg cadences to another key at 1:47, that was just jarring and beautiful. i really like this, and great job with teh composition.
--
if you wish, check out my latest; i havent been back for a while. cheers.

ProudAardvark responds:

Hey p4, thanks! I'll check out your new stuff tonight.

[<MWA> Subtle]

sweet

nice job! haven't been to ng to see the work here in a while, and im glad to come back and find quality ;) i love the melody with the drone in the back, rocking back and forth but flowing nonetheless... sounds very thoughtful and nostalgic. i like.

some constructive criticism:

the synth line is cheesy and out of place. i'd choose somethign either more subdued or organic.

the beat does a good job with the piano. you've got the feel of this contest in the bag :D though you might want to make it a bit calmer and simpler--the hats cutting in and out and it's almost tumultuous feel work initially, but get tiring after a bit.

hope i helped!
--
if you wish, check out my latest; i havent been back for a while. cheers.

mjattie responds:

hey, p4c...

About the synth: I guess you're right. I might change the freq automation in a volume automation and the synth patch in a string patch :)

(You don't wanna know how many times I've randomized the volume of the drums xD, so they're a bit tiring...)

I'll check your song out, either tonight, or tomorrow: I don't have a decent sound system here, so I'll misjudge it....

[Water Waltz]

hahahahah

i was listening to this jst kind of drifting off and not paying close attention to teh actual playing, but then i noticed those wrong notes as well after reading sipher's post. idk, i dont really care when im listening to it though. it's imperfect, but in a way, i like it better that way. i jst love the beat and how the song jst keeps drifting with slight sonic and melodic changes... it's enchanting. great job.

--
check out my latest; i havent been back for a while. cheers.

ericdrebin responds:

Thanks for the kind words, p4c. It is imperfect, maybe because when I rode on the ferries I was always subconsciously afraid that they would crash and i would drown or something... I dunno. I got rid of the augmented fourths after Sipher posted, and i didn't like the song without them...

[Journey To Paradise (EP2 Demo)]

nice concept

this was a pretty decent song. ill jst comment as i listen.

first off, the mix is getting absolutely destroyed by the bass drum. its killing off all the other instruments once it comes in, so take that down a notch. the other effect of that is that it seems pretty much like there's no bass instrument. i think you were intending for the chord stabs to do that. but its jst not there anymore. its jst the bass drum, so that makes the song come off as a little superficial.

the lead chords are really soothing. you chose an excellent sound for that, and the chimes complement them more or less perfectly. good job, its a memorable and simple chord sequence that works really well.

other pet peeves: the speeding up snare roll in the build up at the start is trite. it works, but id try something different ;) the song doesnt evolve in the 30 seconds when the beat came in. play around with your lead chords. also, try to play with more percussion to make the beat deeper. finally, as a suggestion, in the build up with the chords, maybe you can try to exaggerate the chords more than you did in terms of sustain/release to make a really full sound with a strong, soft bass pad (some derivative of sine would work probably). that would plunge the listener into warm depth right off the bat.

apart from that, i think that overall this is a decent composition. its not very interesting at this point, but thats probably because its a 1 minute sample, so keep at it. good luck!

DigitalPulse responds:

I'm a bassdrum whore xD. I love putting my bassdrum over everything else, but maybe I did overdo it, maybe not. :P

As for everything else you said (I am not going to reply on it all lol) I started this song from scratch 3 hours before the deadline, so I sort of didn't add much depths, or automate every single thing (including release!) I normally take a good 10 hours adding FXs and automating, but I just didn't have the time :( lol

Thanks for the review,

Digital Pulse

[{DjF}Hotel Room Service (WIP)]

word

hahaha nice! some mixing suggestions first--1) its good to keep the vocals a little more centered. it seemed to spaced out a lot of the time. 2) maybe raise the level on the vocals a bit more too, because it seemed to compete a little too much with the background. otherwise, good job on the mix.

i thought you did an overall good job with this remix. its a really simplistic melody, so it comes off as a good anthem, though too uninteresting to have any real lasting value. it would do well in a club setting though. as a suggestion...

1) find some more interesting transitions between sections than silences and reversed cymbals. thats fine once or twice, but it gets boring after a while.

2) try adding more auxiliary percussion like another hat line, bells, shakers, tambourines, whatever. it would add some depth to teh song, and fill out the high end of the spectrum a bit (right now it feels very bass heavy).

3) try sidechaining the bass with the pattern that you currently have against the bass drum. i know sidechaining is trite and all, but it seems like it would work well in this situation.

gj overall though, its a solid submission.

Dj-Final responds:

Oi! thanks for the response. ive been trying to figure out what this was missing and its definitely transition. along with more percussion. which will be definitely be added in the final version. Lol i had a hard time adding the MP3 to FL8 Studio for some reason. it didnt seem to work as well as FL7. But i got over it. and converted it to Wav. to get the Acapella in. i actually did it when i was drunk as hell so yea i realized that the vox were off a tad. but thats changed since this version. id upload it but fuck it. i'll upload the final version and thats that. this is a WIP.. thanks for the suggestions tho. definintely taking them into consideration when finishing this project. Cheers man.
-DjF

[Chateaubriand Demo (EP #2)]

this was good but could have been a lot better

i think you have a really good concept here. but, it's mixed oddly and so it comes off as a little bit... off.

the drums shouldnt be sidechained out on this one. have a strong beat, because the ducking on everything else is driving the personality of the song, and the beat and rhythm behind it shouldnt just be ducking out. your bass drum is completely unhearable, and it would have been so fuckin tight if your bass drum, snare, and hats/crackling were hard and punchy.

second, it needs more variety even for just a 1 min run through of the meat of the song. try modulating into different keys so the song explores more.

third, sometimes it feels like the ducking is a little bit off beat. i think it's okay, but i dont think its really necessary if that was an intentional effect.

i could probably go into more detail but since its jst a short demo, work on it more for later. oh, and as a heads up, ur jst supposed to give a 1 min or so demo for the EP, so this is a bit long. but whatever lolz.

Scribbler responds:

I see what you're saying in terms of odd mixing. There are three parts to this track and each part was recorded over the space of about two month, which I think shows. Normally, it's not a bad thing to spend so much time on a track but the fact that I was trying something new and experimental definitely shows here, and not necessarily in a good way either.

I agree with you on the part of the bass drum, snare, and hats becoming hard and punching but the whole idea of sidechaining is completely subjective, I think. While some people like it, others absolutely despise it and I believe that in this track particularly, it creates a sort of hypnotic feel that works to ameliorate the track.

The variety is a good point as well and the off-beat ducking is due to the bass drum being slightly off-beat. I linked the compressor to the kick so that every time it played, it would cancel out all other noises and incidentally, I played that by hand so that explains the human error invovled in the process.

Thanks for the review.