Aydin-Jewelz123's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Free MDK Styled Project]

Dude!!! The sounds in this are nuts! Please, where does one get this pack?! :D

Onto the piece itself:

Nice groove going on. Mix down is quite soft and pleasing to the ears. Your 8bitness is gorgeous! Not overdoing it either like some do. It sits in that pleasant space between 8bit and dance. Melodies are catchy. Drums are tight, nice wobbles here and there, nice sounds overall and man, just a nice job! Shame it isn't longer!

TrickshotMusic responds:

Yet again my man, the YouTube link is in the discription, just download the flp(if you use fl studio) I may include a Shelton link with stems but idk

But the sounds are from the MDK Limitless Volume 1 & 2 and some midi are included :) 25 dollars each isn’t a bad price

[Astringent Fulmination]

Your name is damn familiar but where from I don't know. Anyway, onto the track:

Interesting piece, your strings at 2:35 are nice, add a certain ambience to it. The FL Studio guitar, is used quite well. Lots of variation in the melodies and piece. Supporting drums are okay.

Onto the stuff you could improve: It's a bit over compressed / too loud / limited into oblivion dude. Makes it a bit hard to stay in touch with the piece, especially your lows. There's a bit too much echo going on with your bass, like a low rumble, that's overpowering the piece, and it's sort of coming in and out like a wave. Also your hi hats are too sharp it feels. But again, this could just be fixed by dialing down the master volume knob and letting the track breathe.

BALDORF responds:

Thanks! Very appreciative of the full analysis!
Some of the mixing issues are probably because I'm wearing headphones. I have noticed it sounds much different/worse through speakers myself. But I am also fairly new to this stuff and know more or less nothing about proper mixing. Glad you enjoyed it regardless of the rough edges!
May have seen my name on the pages these past couple months, been uploading daily to get all my tunes on here.

[TYoT : Ov Hope and Despair]

First Impressions: Right off the bat, I'm expecting something epic. The way you've gone in with that riff, definitely gets the movement going. Some jungle business going on. Like some dude pelting it down a jungle. Next level tribal business. Would fit well in a movie chase of sorts!

Composition: Experimental for sure, quite progressive, your drums and percussion are damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nice!!! A smidge overpowering but man when you drop them at 1:32, it works very well. Interesting style for sure dude. Synths and other sounds work well together too. Quite overpowering though but I reckon that's what you've gone for. Would again, fit well in a Netflix film or something like that. Really quite interesting / different vibes.

Mixing: No idea. It sounds fine tbh but those overpowering bits create a sense of dread too. It could be cleaner, you could have elements have their own space a bit more, but then you'd lose the feel of the track. Plus it sounds like you've bitcrushed or done something deliberate there to create that sense, especially around the 1:20 mark. Hmm.

Good stuff bro!

Overall dude, for the genre etc and the story that this piece generates, 5/5!

Anchorwind responds:

First, Thanks for an actual review. Second, thanks for a genuine laugh.

This checks all the boxes: "your drums and percussion are damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nice!!! "
"Interesting style"
"sounds work well together"
"overpowering though but I reckon that's what you've gone for."
"Would again, fit well in a Netflix film or something"
"Mixing: No idea." <-- lol
"create a sense of dread too" <--probably the most commonly used word I get.
"but then you'd lose the feel of the track." <--this person gets it
"and the story that this piece generates," <--this person really gets it

So it's overpowering, dreadful, not the best mixed, but has solid percussion, has great track feel and tells a good story? Welcome to Anchorwind :D Enjoy your stay.

[Chip]

Nice one dude, good effort all round! Got two pointers that might help for future tracks:

EQ:
- Remove the low end from your piano, from your snare and whatever else shouldn't occupy it. Opens up space for your bass and allows your track to be louder actually by giving space to your bass for it to come through. Giving space to stuff is what it's all about!

Composition:
- Get a progression going dude. Like, a direction for the piece. Breakdowns, drops, build ups etc. For example here, you could use your piano and have it flair off in it's own little world, playing some of the melodies on it's own, drop out the strings, drop out the drums etc. then build it all back in. So it has peaks and dips. Then you could alter the melodies and structure the piece to have different sections etc.

FarTooFrail responds:

Thanks for the respones and the advice, finding a direction for the song is something I struggle with but I hope to improve over time. Glad you like :D

[Marie - Life Parade]

Boom! Right off the bat you've set the tone for everything dude. For life, for love, for friends, for Odin :D

First Impressions: Nice mixdown, clean sounds, very groovy! Grooving along nicely to the track! Fantastic singing, very soft piece and sounds cool dude. All the best with your album.

Composition: Spot on! Not much to suggest here dude. Your piano is flairing nicely, your guitar is strumming along well and your chord progressions are sound. Drums have a good groove to them. Breakdowns and build ups are nice. Singing is just wow! So yeah, composition 5/5

Mixing: The lyrics / words aren't coming through clear enough dude. Can't really follow what's being said. Your snare and drums at 1:26 feel a bit off, like too sharp? Something feels slightly off about them. Guitar is perfect. Piano is nice, some James Bond vibes! Bass is fine. Just your drums are the one the one that stand out a bit to me dude and the vocals.

So for me, just the mixing needs work. Other than that dude, spot on for your genre and your style! :)

camamassa21 responds:

Hey thanks for the very thoughtful review. Much appreciated!

[XenoXenon - Perish]

Very nice and ambient start to the piece dude. Going to try and breakdown my review into 3 categories and feedback on those, rather than blabbering some random stuff.

First impressions:
Very calming and deep feel. Especially in the intro. Kicks in nicely around 1:00, to carry the song into a new section. The strings at 1:20 reinforce this massively, very very nice. Definitely a sort of lifting story of sorts. Like entering another realm or dimension. Would fit really well into a cyberpunk / futuresque animation of sorts, mixed with elements from Avatar, with the whole deeper consciousness vs technology vibe. Loving the piano at 2:22, even after the breakdown, you've sustained the prescence and aura of the track. Like it hasn't reverted back to the start, it's a continuation and solid foundation for the follow up section. Nice little wind riser at 2:55 and follow up drop. Great piece dude, very cinematic feel to the whole thing!

Composition:
Great, can't really fault it. Nice ambience overall and chords, melodies etc. are on point. Perhaps a little more stereo-imaging, chucking elements left and right more. It feels like everything is quite centered whereas stuff like your piano delay, bits of reverb, some of your arp melodies at times, could go off center to enhance the grandeur, especially in the bigger sections of the piece. So you'll go from mostly center, to full stereo. You actually do a bit towards the end, right around 4:30. More of that!

Mixing:
Sounded clean on the whole. Some of your highs could punch through a smidge more, for your lead for example at 1:40. Just like a smidge more maybe. Also your kick could come through a tiny smidge more. Not 100% sure. It sounds decent. Stereo imaging again might be all the track could use tbh!

Great stuff! :)

XenoXenon responds:

Thank you so much dude, it means a lot ;)

[Ragtime Me To Hell]

Oh yeahhhhh! That piano is spot on xD

Dude, if that's a real piano awesome playing. If it's not then awesome job creating a real piano!

Lol, I love the descent into madness. Very accurate and interesting sounds. As if the atmosphere of madness is clouding out the touch with reality.

Then snap, back to the bar.

You've fit the description perfectly dude so 5/5 :)

wobwobrob responds:

It is real piano playing! Although I did correct a couple bum notes :P
Thanks so much :)

[Cosmic Warp]

Has a mortal kombat vibe to it! Especially at 48 with the switch up. Niceee

Some pointers for improvement:
- Volume Automation, use these to fade in and fade out synths as you see fit.
- Panning Automation, chuck things to the sides, or from one side to the other. Cymbals, percussion, even synths.
- Clean the lows with EQ. So cutoff anything that isnt useful bass by using a Parametric EQ and choose the setting from templates 20hz cut or something lik that, then slide it up so it cuts from like 300hz or so for anything that you dont feel contributes to the bass. This will create more space for your lowends.
- Risers. Basically the opposite of a cymbal. Can be synth based like a swoop of even just a reverse cymbal. You had a small one around 2:38, basically more of those can help a dramatic build up.

Hope this feedback was useful, keep up the good work!

DanTheCoolGuy responds:

Wow thanks for the tip! I'll try to improve on these points

[Wasteland]

Nice ambience right off the bat. Good use of spacing / panning, has quite a very retrowave esque feel to it.

Ever played Timesplitters 2? This would fit perfectly dude. You should consider sending this to the devs of the new Timesplitters. Dudes are modders for UE4 afaik, might be interested in it!

Awesome work dude. Do you make stuff for games?

VincentKeegan responds:

Thanks Aydin!

Currently I haven't made anything for any particular project, although the thought has crossed my mind!

[Panda Eyes - Neve's Theme]

Good stuff dude!