Geoplex's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Modern Day Mafia]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

Hey man! I have to say you really stepped it up this round! Your production is a lot better than the previous entry (like, a LOT better, so nice work on that). Your percussion is pretty punchy (though your kick and snare sound a little overpowered at times) and your guitar has some nice body to it, and I really have to praise you for all this :D

I think where this song falls a little flatter is probably related to the composition and instrumentation. The idea of a flute + electric guitar is pretty foreign to me; but there's nothing all that wrong with it given that you're were going for a specific feeling. It's more that that there's very little rhythmic variation in what the flute itself plays. A lot of this is exacerbated by the fact that for a lot of the song, the guitar is playing similar (or the same) notes as the flute. I think you'd be better off playing longer notes on the guitar, and perhaps more varied melodies on the flute, much like you did around 00:54 (this section is probably the strongest in my opinion.)

I also think the saxophone is a little incoherent - it's not the kind of instrument I'm accustomed to hearing in the background. In many ways it feels almost irrelevant and is present merely for flavor. There are definitely some sections where it works, though. I suppose I'm mostly saying that this song could be more coherent than it is - it's very hyperactive but lacks a cohesive structure and a lot of the transitions and introductions of sections feel a little arbitrary to me. One prominent example that springs to mind is the chippy percussion you introduce toward the end. It felt quite out of place for me and while it was cool, it didn't quite make sense or draw me into the track.

That said, this is definitely an improvement from your previous entry, and I think you were a much stronger contender for this round! A lot of my criticisms are arguably subjective, so you're obviously free to take them or not, because if you feel that this kind of theme is exactly what you'd want to hear in a song, then don't let me stop you. Creativity and experimentation are what we're all here for and despite some of my negative comments, this was an enjoyable listen :)

frootza responds:

LOL. It is muted trumpet but I love you guys for mentioning that.Yeah man what can I say though my mixing sucks I study composition at a reasonably high level but sometimes it just isn't enough. I am hoping we can get to recording this and serenity in a studio soon so that things make more sense. If you or any of the judges for that matter are interested in the jazz theory behind the flute guitar trumpet counterpoint I'd be happy to help out. Thanks again dude!

[[IV]Mokosz]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

So this is an awesome song, I'll just put that out there. The good aspects about it (the theme/aesthetic, the production and the composition) are all very good, imo. I like the instrumentation as well, especially that acid/pluck synth and the soft orchestral percussion. This song is also quite evocative visually and it's definitely an enjoyable listen.

So at a cursory glance this song seems extremely good; and it is, but I find it unfortunate that it isn't very compositionally dynamic. It feels like the kind of song that could tell a story, but it stays very consistent throughout. I guess this isn't inherently bad, especially with how awesome it sounds, but it doesn't have much re-listenability. That's not to say that it's repetitive at all, though; and to your credit there are some sections that you make slightly softer. Your mix is also pretty full!

Overall I feel that your production and composition are excellent, but this song felt like sombre menu music in a lot of ways. I can't say that this is inherently bad, but compositional and tonal dynamics are characteristics this song lacks compared to others in the round, and those are what I have to judge it against. Despite my negativity I'd like to say that I really enjoyed this song - I'm currently trying to recreate part of a movie soundtrack and this has got me wanting to go back to that work :P so you can add inspiring to its list of positive characteristics :)

[Clockwork Waltz]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

This is one of the more unique songs in the round in my opinion. I absolutely love the glockenspiel and how god damn creepy this is song is. Those little creaks you have going on in the background are gorgeous, and the whole thing makes me picture a creepy circus or something at night, especially 1:12. The strings at that part are really nice, too! They're extremely evocative of the mood you're clearly going for. I just love this song for its creepy ominous atmosphere. It's god damn spooky.

I think your track is at its strongest in the much quieter, atmospheric sections; because this song really shines in its creepy and sombre state. The crescendo and climax don't show off as effectively your production and I feel that the mix is a bit messy here (past 2 minutes). A lot of the problem here seems to be the attack on your strings (it's a tiny bit delayed) and it makes the percussion seem a tad out of time once things get faster. That said, this is a pretty minor comment; because to be honest I'm finding it difficult to get my hands on any real flaws with this one and for just about the entirety of the song the mix is stunning and crisp (though I'm unsure about the bassoon you introduce at 57 seconds in; seems like it might be a bit loud, but I appreciate how cheeky it is.)

It feels appropriate to mention that this song is very similar to your last entry, but I think it's better. It's a little less cliche (nothing wrong with cliche, though), and a little less intense. It doesn't tell as clear a story but I think that's also potentially a strength; because the song is still very compositionally dynamic, enough so that the audience could easily make up their own story. I think this is an extremely strong and enjoyable entry with few flaws to mention. Fantastic work.

Azhthar responds:

Jay! First review of this round ;) Thanks a lot! I´m really glad you enjoyed the track. Since I intended to make a circus song at the beginning it´s cool that I still preserved some of the circus atmosphere although I changed the direction a little bit. I was going for a bit spooky atmosphere, especially with all the chromatic chord progressions, so I´m also glad to hear that it worked. Although it could have been a bit more spooky in my oppinion :) I will have a look at the drums in the crescendo/climax section. I knew that the mix in this part is a bit messy and I also overloaded it with voices at the end I guess...
Although the style is a bit similar to my last entry (it´s just the music I love to do ;) I didn´t feel that the track itself is quite similar, too, but since Chrononomad already mentioned this, too, I think I have to listen to coments from outside ;) Maybe I´ll try to squeeze them into one album or EP at some point. This time I was going for a bit less storytelling and tried to make something more coherent. Thank you again for your review! It´s extremely motivating.

[Self as Context]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

This is a pretty interesting song. I find the sound design quite interesting, especially the modulated bass you've got going on in the chorus. It's quite unique in my experience, actually, it's got a really weird attack (at least the first few times you use it). The instrumentation is pretty interesting too, and the production is quite solid. Really liking how crisp and appropriate in level the percussion is, that snare is real nice.

I think this song has its strengths in production and sound design, but it has some problems regarding repetition and composition. The main melody is repeated a lot, and consequently it became quite catchy, but it got a little repetitive for me by the end, as did the chord progression. I like how you mix things up in the breakdown at around 1:15 though - the melody and sliding lead there are fantastic, and the second chorus is definitely a step up from the first lead-wise with those extra notes, which is always a good way to do things to keep it all exciting.

One other problem I had that strangely wasn't present in the second chorus is that the first lacks a big transient or impact to properly define the start of it. I actually found the transition quite awkward and surprising (00:25). This issue definitely wasn't present in the second drop, which I found interesting.

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot of negative stuff to say about this song. The saws are nice and bright, the percussion clean and interesting. It's a bit repetitive, but that's most of my gripes. This is a pretty great and well rounded song. Lovely subtle vocals at the end, too! Nicely done :)

[Withering Conflagration]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

So I'd like to lead off with the statement that these lyrics had me quite entertained. I just love how incredibly aggressive and brutal they are (crispy flesh cyclone, I love it :P). The effects that you've got going on them are quite interesting too, I'd be curious to know exactly what you're doing in that respect, actually. It sounds like some kind of layering + distortion/vocoding, possibly some pitch bending. It definitely hurts legibility a lot, but that's not an issue when you have the lyrics written in your description and it sounds pretty sick.

So it seems that you're aware of some of the production issues with this song. I think that in a lot of quieter sections the kick is actually fine, it's got a nice juicy distortion to it. I just think that it lacks much of a transient and doesn't carry much weight or impact (though I've always kind of felt that way about all manner of distorted kicks, and this one is definitely a long way from the worst of them.)

I think in general that the mix suffers a lot from the lack of transients. The snare isn't bad, but it's very high and lacks any impact on the low frequency end of things, and there's so much going on that there doesn't feel like there's much room left for that kind of thing. I understand the pain, especially when you're going for that brutal aesthetic. Finding that balance can be difficult. Clear transients are definitely something to think about, though.

I guess my main gripe in this regard is that your problem stems from the mix, not the mastering. If it was a result of mastering I'd understand it a little better, but you've got a fair amount of dynamic space left in this song (you're around -13RMS, which is pretty quiet.) I think a lot of it stems from the constancy of the vocals and that they're not very inherently dynamic or legible. I really have to say again that I enjoyed them, though, and the aesthetic. Please don't take my nitpicky criticisms as evidence to the contrary of that :P

By the way I love the stutters in the intro, and I really like the FX and as mentioned, vocals. This is a really interesting song and if I were a fan of this kind of brutal aesthetic I'd be so into this, haha. For an 8 hour effort this some very solid stuff, keep at it :)

[~SW~ Thurm ins_wa_]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

Oh dude. Damn. I have to say I'm a real sucker for subtlety, for tiny intricacies, for drilled hats and tiny, funky percussion. I love that it's very electronic, but very dynamic and atmospheric, and damn interesting to listen to. Your production is fantastic and I just love the vibe. I find that kick drum nice and punchy too, but not overwhelming in low frequency content which would probably be damaging to the song aesthetically. I find this strangely specific thing important to praise, for some reason.

Anyway, I really like this one. If I have any gripes it's about the composition and that in many ways, this track is more ambient than anything else, based simply on the fact that it's atmosphere-driven (in my *opinion* anyway :P). Don't get me wrong, I love what you're doing. I love the sound design and pads and how off-guard this track catches me; but I don't find the melodies or chords very engaging or memorable. They're just kind of there. There's nothing bad about them inherently, and I suppose neutrality describes this song very well in a word, but that's kind of what they are - neutral. I'm also a little bit gripey about the long sliding lead sound itself, I feel like it could have more body and maybe more reverb, but that probably wouldn't be in the spirit of the aesthetic.

Despite the fact that I know that the sub is the thing doing a lot of work here, I find it quite impressive that this song is as loud as -9RMS when it sounds so spacious and transient-heavy! I can hear no master compression at all.

Also dude I love that squarey/reverby/arpy ambient thing you've got going on, especially toward the end. You know the one. I hope. I can't describe it, it's too cool for my words.

Definitely a winner, and a great listen :D

SkyeWint responds:

Thought this one might be a bit more up your alley!

The kick has most of the bass cut out of it to leave room for the bass - it works *so* well for punchy kicks and kick rolls. Like, ridiculously well.

The composition, I get - I tend to go more atmosphere-oriented than anything else. I also tend to go for fairly neutral music which works in the background as well as when you focus more on it.

Not sure if I could make the lead have much more reverb without fucking up the mix somewhat. It already screws up a bit closer to the end.

Dem square subs. That's all I have to say on the matter of volume.

Oh, and also that all the plucks in this (even the bass ones) are one instrument. And it's totally a sawsquare.

I'm pretty sure the reverby arpy thing is what does the weird little noises starting at 0:09. It's a 13-note looping arpeggio the whole way through except for when it does its solo at 1:50. We should totally skype, they're not too difficult of sounds to make. :P

[NGADM'15: Limitless]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

Hey there! I can remember listening to a lot of your music back in 2009, and I can happily say you're still working some magic with these melodies. Your general composition is quite nice and I like your implementation of the guitar, and I love the crunchy percussion! There's a lot of distortion in general in this song actually, some of it well implemented and some not so much. Despite some generally positive aspects, I ended up basing fair chunk of your score on your mix/production, regarding which I have a few things to mention.

So there are two main problems - your song has extremely high, screaming harmonics, largely from the distortion (bitcrushing?) on your lead synth. They're so high and piercing and reach well up into the 20khz range. As a relatively young person, my hearing is still good enough to detect a lot of this above 18khz and it hurts a bit. My spectrum analyzer also reveals this part of the spectrum to be ridiculously saturated, and I just think it's a negative thing in general. It really influences how the song sounds - I'd describe it as ringing.

The other thing was regarding your mastering, and possibly compression/distortion. I don't know how you did your mastering, but it's very clear you've pushed the song pretty hard. This isn't inherently bad, but you've got a very full and active mix (lots of transients, lots of notes, etc) and the consequence is that everything becomes quite cluttered and messy. It's actually an issue almost all throughout the song (though less so in breakdowns of course,) and it was definitely the first thing I noticed. (In all honesty this could be a mix issue, and it's just that your mastering exacerbated it. It's always difficult to know.) This was a bigger problem for me than the lead synth thing, but I think that both issues contribute to one another in many ways.

Anyway, despite some negativity, I enjoyed this song. Melodically and composition-wise you absolutely nail that classic video game sound (let's be honest, you always have). Nicely done :P

[Facing the Foe]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

This is a great RPG-sounding piece. I have to praise your melodies, and how you keep things going at a steady, consistent pace, but without repetition. You're creating a theme that repeats itself in many different ways and incarnations but without stagnation. In a lot of ways this is absolutely perfect for a game soundtrack, because you've got this continuous feeling where the song isn't broken up into sections but also isn't repetitive. I'm finding it difficult to get tired of it. That, and it even loops! Good lord. This is so fantastic because were I listening to this while playing a game and not really paying attention to it, it'd be difficult to tell when it looped; where it ended and where it began. This creates the illusion of a very long, very complex song that almost always surprises you no matter how many times you've heard it. I love it. In many ways, it's the conceptual holy grail of looping soundtracks.

The production side of things is pretty good, too. Your mix is pretty well balanced, there are very few instances where anything is too loud or quiet specifically. I think the mix lacks power, partially because of the percussion (I think instead of the rapid militant snares you'd be better off with bringing your deeper, tom-based percussion to the forefront; but that's more of an opinion.) The only instance that stuck out to me in terms of mix/balance was the section from 2:33-2:55. Almost everything, but especially the brass, felt too quiet there. I feel that it was probably intentional to pave the way for the semi-crescendo toward the end, but the change in level is definitely perceptible to me and felt a bit odd.

Anyway, I can't really say this song has any real flaws. I don't like the choirs at 2:45, I think they're used improperly and sound a bit digital, and I didn't think the hats in the intro were thematically appropriate at all, but honestly those are such tiny opinion-based problems that I only mentioned them because there's just about nothing negative to talk about. Most of what I've said already has been pretty subjective or mentioned in johnfn's essay :P

You've got yourselves a nicely self-contained, incredible piece here. Keep at it, dudes.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Well then, time to respond to these, hehhe.
First off, thanks a lot for the effort you guys put into judging; without that, the competition would be nothing.

Weird. I usually have a really easy time responding to reviews, but I find it hard to come up with anything conclusive. I'm honestly pretty surprised by the very positive reception in general. I knew that the melodies are pretty good, because I had a real flow when I made them all. But I'm honestly very glad that people appreciated the fact that the structure isn't repetitive! I very often get comments about me using too little repetition, so it's refreshing to hear that it worked for most people with this track. I guess that as you said, the track has enough of a drive and a solid base for variations to be enough.

I'm also surprised that people seemed to like the loop, in general. I am usually pretty good at looping stuff, but I was uncertain about this one. my only problem with this loop, is that it is a climax. It's great for a standalone track! But if I were to really use this in a game, I'd probably go for a calmer section, which would be the intro and the ountro, where the loop would be pretty much unnoticable. But in the heat of battle, you probably wouldn't pay attention to the loop indeed. Because I've played games that have used music that loops horrible, but while actually playing, I've very rarely noticed it.

It's good to hear that my production is improving slightly, as it used to be extremely horrible. There's still a long way to go, but steady progression is enough for me :)

I agree 100% with all our complaints. Part of the problem with the percussion, is that I simply don't have any good percussion libraries yet, and another one is that I'm horrible at both creating and mixing percussion XD
But if I eventually get my hands on Stormdrum 3 or something like that, I'll make sure to practice my skills.

As for 2:33, all I can say is "yup".
That's the place I personally have the biggest issue with as well :D

The choirs at 2:45 are indeed not very good. But you should hear them in dem0lecules version! It's the best part of the track. He really is a choirgician. We will probably still upload it at some point while this years competition is over for us :p
Same goes for the hats; probably a bad idea XD

Thanks a lot for the review!!

[What Lies Beyond]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

This is a nice song, nice instrumentation, pretty good production, pretty good composition. One thing I really have to get out as quickly and effectively as I can is that, because of the pizzicato, harp and bells, this song is intensely Runescape to me. I don't know if you ever played Runescape but this is bringing back so many memories for me lol. It's great :P It's mostly in the instrumentation because this song is a lot better composed than those old Runescape songs, but yeah - you get the idea.

Part of my rabid association of this song with runescape is probably also because it's very RPG, and I gather that's obviously intentional. It's got a great "starting village" kind of vibe, where the player is somewhere safe and looking at setting off on adventure. I like that you kept the song fairly interesting, not sticking to one rhythm or tone for too long. I feel though that a consequence of this is that your song feels a little aimless, if you will. Were it designed as background music, that would be perfect, though, so I really can't take points off for that :)

I feel there are some things to mention production-wise, namely that everything sits in the mix a little equally - this is also how it reminds me of runescape, lol. I feel that this is the kind of song that would benefit a lot from some subtleties. You've got a lot of potential dynamic range to use, but the levels are all quite similar, you know? This is compounded as a problem by the fact that almost everything in the song is very high frequency, there's very little going on below 100-200hz in most of the piece (there are definitely some exceptions to both these comments, but you get the idea.) This isn't inherently bad and the mixing itself is pretty good, I just feel there's more that can be done in this respect.

Anyway, this was a nice listen and a nostalgic one at that, regardless of how intentional that was :P If you were attempting a classic RPG style, you've nailed it in my opinion.

ChronoNomad responds:

Thanks for dropping another NGADM review on me, Geoplex!

Interestingly enough, while I have indeed heard of Runescape and had friends who played it (some of them quite religiously), I never actually did myself. I've tried out a handful of MMORPG titles over the decades, but very few really managed to hold my attention for long. The one I played the longest was Star Wars Galaxies way back in the day, and that one was put out to pasture permanently several years ago. Nevertheless, the impact of such nostalgia is certainly not lost on me, so I'm glad that this song could serve as such a pleasant reminder. :)

Console RPGs are my bread and butter, man! So that serves as quite the compliment to me, and while there are a lot of inspiration sources for my music, it is without a doubt influenced by the gaming culture that I frequently steep in. I can't really complain too much about any background music comments, especially since you don't actually make it sound like such a bad thing. I think that it's an important nuance for any musical artist to be aware of, that sometimes the music has to take a backseat and is not the driving force. Most of the time, actually. And that's just how our media-driven world is. Music with lyrics is at the fore of Pop culture while instrumental pieces are, more often than not, relegated to the background.

More Runescape ruminations! But yes, it is a fact that very little tends to stand out in this composition. But hey, it's all part of my growth process as a musician. I've got to take every little piece of feedback that I get and use it as I keep moving forward, making new tracks and breaking my own personal boundaries, while hopefully knocking down a few musical ones along the way. It is true that there's very little in the deeper range, and that was a conscious decision on my part. Do I kind of wish that I had added a few more touches? Yep. There really is more that I could have done with this, but at the time it sounded really full. And my last reviewer said that things already sound too crowded at times. Damned if ya do, damned if ya don't...y'know? Heh.

I'm glad that you like the music, and while the nostalgia trip wasn't quite as intentional as it may seem, I'm still glad that I could take you on that journey. As for your last sentence, I will take that as one hell of a compliment. :3 Cheers, mate!

[No Hope in the Horizon]

This is an NGADM 2015 review.

This is a lovely solo piece, I love the dark way it starts and how it moves into a more bittersweet major feel toward the end. The reverb really shines in the higher notes, they're god damn beautiful and probably my favorite part of this song. Others have mentioned pretty much everything else, namely that your rhythm is a bit limited throughout and that the song doesn't really change pace much. This isn't necessarily bad but it does make it a lot less interesting over time, and given that it's already a solo piece I think this becomes a little detrimental, especially given the short length.

That said, really nice listening experience, I enjoyed this a lot. Technically near flawless in its simplicity :P