Geoplex's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Prodigal]

This is an NGADM 2015 Review.

Everyone’s been praising this as the best song in the competition so far, and I can’t say I disagree. I think there are a lot of other entries that are right up there with it, but this one definitely stands out; and it’s one of the few songs that I keep coming back to in this year’s contest. I’ve had this one in my head a *lot*, actually. Not gonna lie.

The thing I like the most about this song is it feels ambitious. It feels like you didn’t take the easy way out. The composition is awesome. Like, stand-out awesome. The production is good - I think there are some points that stand out as a little weak, but it’s absolutely strong and a cut above most. The lyrics are… actually really good, which I find surprising more often than I should I suppose. They’re great!

I love the percussion. It has impact, which is *definitely* something I look for, coming from a fairly EDM heavy perspective myself. I feel the kick was a little dull, especially in louder sections. but it did the job pretty well, especially in the intro where it was prominent and awesome :P. I feel also that the lack of hats/cymbals in the song actually did it a lot of good, it helped to emphasize a powerful, epic, cinematic feel that drives the song really well.

Speaking in a more general production sense - I think you did a good job; but the vocals might be a little loud and could do with some highpass. I also feel the song didn’t have enough high-end in general, though it wasn’t necessarily damaged by its spectral dullness. The rest of the spectrum is generally good, bass has appropriate presence. The mids are strong, but apart from the vocals I don’t actually think they’re too much. Obviously transparent mastering, which sounds great. The song is pretty loud.

Your instrumentation and composition are the stand-out points in my opinion. It’s catchy, memorable, and enjoyable. As I’ve said, this has been in my head a fair bit lately. Even without the exciting double-time section, this track stands the hell out. You didn’t even have to make that part, and this song still would have been a winner. But you did, and it wins even harder, lol. I like that you kept everything relatively simple. It didn’t get repetitive and as a consequence, it’s hugely memorable. You guys are also clearly great singers, more so than I expected!

I really like this song, and I don’t actually like this kind of music. This is the first song I’ve ever heard in this style that I’ve enjoyed, and I enjoyed it a lot, and I think that definitely says something.

Also, this gave me a Firefly vibe initially. I know it's obvious as to why, but it's still special to me.

9.55/10 (my score in the thread is wrong, sorry. I think it wasn’t changed because doing so wouldn’t have actually change the outcome.)

bassfiddlejones responds:

Geoplex, I always look forward to your reviews. It's a huge compliment that you enjoyed something in a genre for the first time and we're the ones who wrote it! We worked hard on the percussion to get that impactful sound, glad it came through. And thank you for your comment on the lyrics, this was my first time ever writing lyrics for a song, and I think I'll try to keep it up! (and I totally get a Firefly vibe from this too, haha. The first version had a violin in the intro that felt very Firefly but we changed a lot of things)

[~Fore~ Savage]

This is an NGADM 2015 Review.

Ahh, here we are. This feels like the song I’ve been waiting to hear all competition. I don’t say this simply because I’m a sucker for DnB, and I promise I’m not biased, but dude, this is fantastic. Great production, awesome composition, exciting sound design (I love the use of the can opening sfx) and just all around face-melting. This is the kind of thing I’d expect to hear on a large YouTube promotion channel or something like that, honestly. It’s extremely high quality and potent. It’s not without its flaws, but few tracks are. I’d just like to get out the way that I think very, very highly of this track.

The subtleties in the intro are great. I love the heavy chord synth stabs, and the sliding lead. The dirty, gritty, distorted bass you bring in is great as well, and very appropriate for the song. Great buildup as well, the melody here is just awesome; especially when you bring it up an octave. Love the phaser on the percussion at points, the vocal chops, the bitcrushing you automate on them, and the saw plucks in the buildup.

The drop/chorus was way better than I expected it to be. That distorted saw is just perfect, it’s so incredibly aggressive and strong. It fills up what would otherwise be a pretty empty mix, and I love the way it does so. The melodies are still pretty good, though I think the chorus is a little aimless in comparison to the buildup. One other criticism I have relates to the mix at this part, but I’ll probably get into the production side of things a little later in the review simply for the sake of intelligible structure.

I like the switch-up at 2:50. The decision to change the chord structure and drop the heavy distorted saw definitely kept things pretty interesting, and it worked well as an outro; but I feel the song lost a lot of its purpose as a result. The decision was still an interesting one and I enjoyed it, but I definitely enjoyed the first half of the song a lot more.

So, I think your snare is great, but I’m unsure about your kick. Your percussion is definitely pretty clean and I like how punchy it is, but the kick really doesn’t have the power it needs. I can hear it somewhat well, but it needs a click, a high-end transient of some kind. The low end transient it has is great, but it just doesn’t punch through the mix well enough to be satisfying, in my opinion, at least in the chorus. Outside of that it sounds pretty good, it’s nice and short and strong. The fills are great as well, nice and jingley :P I do think they might be a little on the high side of things, though - at least, they definitely sound that way in the intro.

So speaking in a more general sense, I think your mix is pretty good (talking about the chorus mostly), but that the heavy distorted saw’s harmonics are just a little bit too brutal when you really take the lowpass off it, and they end up interfering with the percussion a little. The lead seems relatively fine and audible, but I do feel as though the percussion could definitely be punching through more than it is, and that the saw is probably to blame. This is a pretty minor complaint, though. I just think the low-mids to mids on the saw are a little too harsh.

Mastering-wise you’re fairly solid, but I’m pretty sure I can hear a bit of that master limiter. It’s not too bad, and I could just be going crazy, so who knows. Your song is definitely fairly loud - I can’t download it to check, but I’d guess it’s under -10RMS, so we’re all good. I think you did a pretty solid job production-wise.

I think the first half of this song was better than the second; it felt stronger, had more direction, had more subtle FX and was structurally fantastic. I’d be lying if I didn’t think the whole thing was awesome, though. Great work, I’ll definitely be checking out the rest of your work when I have time :)

[[IV]The Offering]

This is an NGADM 2015 Review.

Man, I loooove your slow, dark, low strings and ominous intro. This track would be right at home in a dark, snowy setting. You have some fantastic FX and subtleties and you use your dynamic space well! The tiny piano chords closer to the start of the song are fantastic! I think the only unfortunate aspect of this track is that it doesn’t really go anywhere, despite clearly holding the potential to do so.

You’ve got this great atmosphere, dark and foreboding, and it fosters a build in tension, a dramatic rise… but it never really comes. I was really expecting (or hoping for) an emotional crescendo or something into a big powerful chorus, with orchestral percussion and big brass, but the song didn’t quite deliver the release it promised. This is alright, in some ways, and your song is definitely still really strong - it just feels a little anti-climactic as a result.

There are still plenty of strong aspects to your song, especially the subtleties (which haven’t stopped blowing me away on every listen, honestly.) This would be pretty awesome as a soundtrack to a game, where the nature of the medium necessitates the relatively stagnant structure. The melodies are also pretty good, I like the cello arps and I love the panning on the strings! This song is so incredibly rich at some parts, and I suppose that’s part of why I was a little disappointed; because it promised so much. The production quality is quite high and the parts you do have sound fantastic on their own.

I suppose it isn’t even the lack of climax that I’m uneasy about, but more that your song isn’t very dynamic from a structural perspective. In a levels sense, it’s incredibly dynamic, but it doesn’t go from soft to loud, if you understand what I mean. At least, not very dramatically, and not very much - it stays in the same place for most of its duration. You do have some percussion later into the second half, but you don’t add much new to this section, and it kind of feels as though it’s there for the sake of it.

One other minor problem is that, although your track sounds awesome; it’s very quiet, at around -25RMS. This is extremely low compared to most songs, and you’ve got a huge amount of space up there you should be using, since your song doesn’t have any overwhelmingly loud parts.

All of that said, this is a lovely dramatic piece and I really enjoyed how well constructed some of it is, especially the subtleties! Seriously, they’re fantastic. Great work!

IglicaV responds:

Thank you so much! I'll take a little break now, to get all those things sorted out, and I hope that I'll fix at least some of those problems that you've listed!

[BVYS N GVRLZ]

This is an NGADM 2015 Review.

So, this is the song everyone has been raving about. I have to say it was quite deserved, this production is really awesome, fantastic saws, great leads, nice and loud and punchy without being squashed, and strong percussion. Loving the uplifting composition, too!

So, I definitely feel that this song’s intro is its strongest part. The first 42 seconds or so, while slightly repetitive in nature, are almost confrontingly awesome. Lots of fantastic subtleties and awesome melodies! The breakdown at 00:42 I think is a little less strong, perhaps; partially because of the distorted vocal chops. I think the high, clean ones work fine, but the distorted ones are a little unpleasant to me. This section feels to me as though it needs some kind of building element or a crescendo before we get into the chorus, because without it, the section doesn’t feel like it has much of a purpose. I do like the transition to the chorus though, and the vocals in this part.

The chorus that comes in at 01:20 is nice, but I feel it’s a bit chaotic, as well; especially with how omnipresent and overwhelming that mid-high saw is. It could do with some sidechaining to the kick or something along those lines, because I feel that it harms the clarity of this part. I like the silent transition into the next part, though. The decision to use the same structure as the intro worked out very well, and it sounds awesome. I love the little blippy square arp that you’ve added, and the alternate melodies are fantastic. I do perhaps feel that this climax is a little cluttered as well though, especially where you’re using a lot of FX.

Your production is great, really top-notch; possibly the best in the round… possibly. Obviously there are some questionable moments for me, clarity-wise; but your mix sounds loud and beautifully full. One other minor complaint I might have is that your lead has very high harmonics and I personally think they’re a little loud - I would be low-passing the lead (very very softly, mind you) a little. But yeah, just about every aspect of the production is great. Very punchy percussion, I really like that snare, and as mentioned your saws are fantastic (fat saw chords can be pretty difficult to get right in my experience, so great work on that.) Great FX work for the most part.

Damn solid track, an obvious contender for the best in the competition so far, in my opinion. Fantastic work!

[~SW~ Annar]

This is an NGADM 2015 Review.

So as usual, you’re bringing awesome panning and production to the table! I think the decision to go with a more melodic approach to this song lead to some interesting results. I’m not very good at critiquing composition, so I probably won’t delve too far into that; but I will summarize here that I feel not all of the melodies worked as effectively as they could have. That said, there are a lot of awesome aspects to this song,

First off, great intro - I especially love the bell sound you’re using; it has a nice transient and that delay is perfect. The detuned saws that come in with the percussion are pretty good too; but I’m unsure about how they interact with the melody. The sound is very low-passed and detuned, and it seems a little inappropriate for a melodic theme. The melody is carried by a pretty nice lead, though, I’m always a fan of long slidey saws; though I think the first melody itself is a little directionless and could be more consistent.

By the way, the part at 00:42 with the panning and chopping is really awesome, god damn. The melody that follows this part is a lot more consistent and works quite well, too, and I think having what sounds like a slightly different lead an octave lower worked in your favor as well; especially mix-wise. Everything feels a little more full and powerful at this point.

So the next section is very similar to the intro, and the higher leads expose the detuned saws a little which I don’t really think works too well. There’s also a little stray note at 01:26 or something along those lines, because I heard a little, loud beep. The noise transition from this section to the guitars is damn awesome, though; and I really like the bells and the panning done on them here (though they sound a little out of time at points, I think?) The guitar itself is an interesting choice stylistically, but I’m not gonna knock it, I like it. It works better with the style of percussion you’re using more effectively than the rest of the song does too, I think.

Speaking of the percussion, I’ve found your entries this contest to be characterized well by their crisp, clean percussion, and this song is no exception. I do think more electronic samples would have been more appropriate, but the acoustic drums you’re using work quite well and make this song fairly unique among the other entries. One downside to their application here is probably how quiet the kick is, though. It has the low thud, but no high end or click; but I suppose with the sheer number of transients at some points in this song it really isn’t an issue.

Anyway, onto the last section at 02:35 - the lead here sounds like the one from 0:47 but an octave higher (at least, the melody is a fair bit higher), and while I still think it worked better an octave lower, this part works fairly well too; especially with all the chop-work you’re doing on the detuned saws. It’s my opinion that the part at 0:47 to around 01:10 is the strongest in the song, by a lot, though. Not only because of the lower lead notes, but also because of the melodies used there; especially the one from 00:53 to 00:58.

This song is pretty well produced. It’s relatively loud at around -11RMS, and while I can hear a tiny bit of ducking (although I could just be going crazy) it’s completely negligible. I think the high-end roll-off could be a little excessive, but I’m unsure, because it doesn’t seem to harm the sound any. (On a re-listen at a higher volume, thank you for the high-end roll-off. It's definitely appropriate :P)

Anyway, I enjoyed this song - i think your other entries were probably a little stronger than this one, but I can see this was a step outside of your comfort zone and an experiment at that, and I think it turned out well. When I get some free time I’ll be going through the rest of your music :P

SkyeWint responds:

Phone response, GO.

The main lead is something I made after dicking around in sytrus for about 10 minutes. It sounds like an accordian at lower velocities when it's not doing portamento between two overlapping notes.

I liked the pad :( listen to the other version with just the pad and drums and you'll see why - it carries most of the emotional content. Also it is literally just chores, not melody so much.

There are indeed many transients in this, and mixing the kick was a pain in the ass as it often is with acoustic. There actually is a decent amount of high end in it, if you focus on it. Not as much as my other songs, but eh. I'm surprised you didn't comment on the complete lack of any bass OTHER than the kick, though.

I was actually somewhat inspired by a lot of Japanese music I've been listening to recently, which does combine acoustic drums with a lot of synth stuff. More just a stylistic difference than anything, I suppose.

The RMS might be lower but this song is pretty damn loud in terms of how it sounds. I think I've said this before, but when I EQ'd it, the average frequency distribution was in line with white noise. So, when I did some limiting, I just cranked the compression up as loud as it would go - the threshold for it was at something like -10dB or another equally ridiculous threshold. Hard limit is almost always at -1 to -1.2db.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say - other than that, I hope you enjoy my other music. :P there's a pretty clear cutoff point at the start of 2013 where my mixing went "oh, this is how it do", so be aware that before then the mixing is kinda bleh.

[Threnody for Innocence]

This is an NGADM 2015 Review.

The idea that even two people together can create such a long and varied track in such a short amount of time is almost frightening to me… in an impressive way, though. What I find most impressive about this song is how seamlessly your movements transition to and from one another. They’re structured in a way that makes sense, and on top of that they’re not jarring or inconsistent with one another - you move between them as though they were never intended to be distinct, and yet they definitely are. I find it amazing that this song moves through so many emotional states, while staying strong and consistent. It goes from dark to light multiple times, but subtly. It's almost as though there's no single point I can call it dark or bright, because often it moves so quickly and sneakily.

This song is so long and subtle that I’m not really sure where to start. Movement 3 is definitely my favorite part, and the building piano crescendo you have leading to it is just lovely. The way it sort of climaxes around 3:05 makes me wish there were something lower in the mix, even if it were just more strings - something to give the section a little more power and impact. It probably isn’t the appropriate place for a climax, though.

Speaking of, and I know this is probably against your intention, but I do feel this song would benefit from some explosive chorus. The long, slow build, the rise of emotional tension throughout the song - it would be nice to release it with something huge. I do understand that this was almost certainly an intentional decision on your part, though; and I can respect that - you’re letting your composition do the work, keeping it simple. On that note, your song is ridiculously dynamic, and so it definitely has no shortage of powerful sections.

When it comes to production, it’s hard to go wrong with piano and strings; and I don’t think you did. The piano especially sounds quite good, though I’m uncertain about the strings you’re using. The sound itself is pretty good, but the ADSR on each note sounds just about identical and consequently they sound a little artificial. Your levels are great, though. My subjective yearning for something in the lower end of the spectrum aside, you’ve got a solid mix.

I like that you ended things with soft, drawn out piano; the way you started it. It was an appropriate conclusion. Excellent work, of course, on this song - while I might not have been able to relate so well emotionally (I’m less inclined to see music that way than some, I think) it’s easy for me to hear that you’ve made a powerful and emotive piece.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Man, this is a wonderful review. Thank you so much for writing it!

And yes. Two weeks is definitely way too short of a time. It took 9 days to get the piano part together, and 2 days for the strings (dem0lecule literally assigned strings to the entire track in just one night, and I edited them the night after that). The problem came during the last 3 days, when we both had to go away for the weekend, and we still didn't have a decent production. So during the last night when I got back, I did my best during a few hours to level and mix the piece. But Indeed, the ADSR is pretty much identical all the way through. Hopefully, we'll get time to remake the track with dem0's intruments at a later point, to bring out the best sound quality we can.

I'm really pleased to hear that you like the transitions, and how smooth they are. I am pretty used to working with different kinds of transitions by now, especially when it comes to piano compositions. But I almost always end up making several of them when all the parts are finished. This track was not made in entirely order, but a little bit here and there, until I could make sense of the structure. And the last days I spent mostly on arranging the parts and adding/changing transitions, also based on suff that dem0lecule sent me.
It helps a lot that I get to play this on my electronic piano and just transfer the MIDI file. Not only does the playing stay very dynamic, but transitions work so much better when you play them IRL, as you kinda just feel how to go about them with tempo and velocity.
We definitely did our best to keep the track consistent too. The strings only have a few points of repetition, but the piano actually has quite a lot hidden in there. And the harmonies and moods that we used make sure that there is some atmospherical consistency too. Of course, the structure helps a lot in this.

You're definitely right about the dark/brightness. I wouldn't necessarily call a different part darker or brigther, except for the 4th movement, which is slightly darker at least in the later half, and actually used a darker string section for a short while. But that is the only point where we really have a relatively strong low, so you may be right about the lack of such. If we could've used dem0's cello, it would've sounded much more powerful in the dark areas, which was the original plan. I had a hard time giving it too much power though, as it interefered with the rest of the mix when I tried :(

Many people have liked the third movement. It's definitely one of my favorites as well. It's based around a string part that dem0lecule sent me very close to the start of the process of composing. I think it stands out a bit from the other sections, and has a pretty clearly defined melody that actually repeats itself a bit within the movement itself.
I do think that there should be a bit of a climax though; more than there is now at least. There actually is one, but I didn't bring it out enough in the mix. With great production, the part between 5:38 and 5:52 would sound great. Other than that, there's the main theme that returns at 7:43. But it's a bit too messy to be powerful in this mix. There are some other points where more power would do good too, but I decided in the end to keep this consistent, as I didn't have time to bring out the places I wanted to as much as possible.

It does make a bit of sense for the third movement to have a bit of a climax, which is also why we made it into one of the more powerful sections. The fourth movement after that goes into a different kind of mood, but for the intention behind the third movement, some more power would do good, and maybe indeed something in the low end. The third movement represents when a person realizes that everything around her/him isn't that simple and defined, but rather, pretty complicated grim, so it definitely makes sense for it to have some explosive chorus :)

While the mix is okay, there is definitely a lot to be yearned for procutionwise. I wouldn't change much in the way of composition or structure though, as I'm very happy with what we've done there. But as this track had a deadline, it currently looks like it does. When we eventually do try to produce this better, we'll make sure to take your suggestions to heart!!!

I'm glad that you noticed that the ending is a replay of the beginning (essentially). It's the only way I could see this piece ending, to be honest. It's fine that you don't relate much emotionally; I feel that the song is comlex enough for people to enjoy it even if they don't live into it as much.

Once again, thanks a lot for the review, and for your judging in general. Great job! :D

[Vanquish the Night]

This is an NGADM 2015 Review.

This is a fantastically varied epic. I love how rich and diverse it is, and how well it all flows. Most of the transitions worked seamlessly, and the few that didn’t weren’t noticeably off. Production is also fairly good, though it isn’t perfect, but I don’t honestly think it hurts the song too much.

So, starting off - lovely intro, really like how you jump into the epic theme of things so suddenly. I like the time changes that you weave in and around the 4/4… it creates this tense pace that I really like, but I don’t think each sections is carried very well by its solo. The first two seem a little melodically messy. The third one is SICK though good lord.

One of the first overwhelmingly positive thoughts I remember having about this song involved the first piano section around 01:30. I love the sound and I love the melody. It’s nothing new but by god does it work. The breakdown that follows this section is lovely as well, providing a nice change in pace. I like the brass in this section a lot, and the transition to the flamenco guitar works fairly well.

The flamenco section itself really stands out from the rest of the song. I feel that you should have let it sit on its own a little more before bringing the electric guitar back in. Without standing on its own for a while it feels a little pointless and sticks out a lot thematically - that said, it definitely re-engaged me from a listening perspective on my first playthrough and I enjoyed it.

Production-wise you’re pretty solid; I can hear everything quite comfortably. Everything feels a little mid-oriented, though - it could be the lack of high end that makes me feel this way. The lows are mostly fine. I think you might be over-using your reverb a bit, because some parts of the song did sound quite muddy to me, especially the second piano section. Despite any of this, your mastering is pretty great - the song is pretty loud and reaches around -10RMS. I think the only major issue is too much reverb and not enough high end, as the song is a little dull (spectrally!)

Seriously impressive track. My review would probably sound more praising if I was better at talking about composition, because that was definitely the strongest part of this song. Fantastic work.

bassfiddlejones responds:

Geoplex, thank you for the review! I wish we could have done more flamenco actually, but the idea is that the acoustic and electric guitars were battling each other, thus the breaks in between (which I liked, but I understand your point). As noted below, mixing had to be rushed a little bit (a lot). Thank you for the kind words Geoplex, and we definitely use your feedback. Glad you liked the piece!

[Past, Meet Present]

This is an NGADM 2015 Review.

Damn solid track here. I think your production in this entry was a bit of a step above the last one, nothing sticks out more than it should - solid mastering, as well. Sick melodies and chord progressions (especially at 3 minutes, ooh) and I really enjoy how frequently you switch it all up and keep the song flowing and interesting! It’s quite engaging.

While the sheer variety of melodies in this song is certainly a strength, i think it works to your detriment a little as well - I found that the song lost direction a little after a while, and it became a little inconsistent. The way that you repeated part of the melody from 00:38 at 03:16 was a great example of what you should have done more of, in my opinion. The variance you added on it in the second repetition worked fantastically for transitioning to an outro as well, and I think more of this kind of thing would create a greater feeling of consistency. That said, you don’t have to do that; I think what you did worked quite well either way.

One other structural thought I had related to the intro - you don’t really have one. The percussion starts up pretty much straight away; and while you do have a nice arpeggio for the first 14 seconds which differentiates the start from most of the song, it doesn’t really feel like an intro. This also reminds me, you don’t have many moments without percussion in your song; which isn’t necessarily bad in itself (especially with how much variance you already have), but it would be nice to have some softer sections. That’s an opinion, though!

I see a few people mentioning the synth you used, but I didn’t find it out of place too much myself at all, honestly.

Real solid track, man; keep at it!

[Xtrullor - Ichor]

Really top notch stuff, dude. This might be the most impressed I've ever been with a song on this site.