Zafrece's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Piano Loop]

Nice loop indeed, and it sounds to me like a mellow electric harpischord or some type x-x.

[Fluid Horizons [WIP]]

Over all i liked this piece. The drums are a tad low, kick should be at -8db and everything else should fall below it on mixing priority. I feel the choice of leads done didn't really fit with the song, it sounded more like something you would hear off mario paint than a lead for a d&b song. It's a wip so not much more i can say that would be helpful in this stage.

Porkbeef responds:

The leads never matter on what genre it is, but I agree that the drums are low.

Also, this song is supposed to sound kinda like Feint. A Liquid DnB artist.

[The Demon King Rises]

Over all good song, the only problem i have with it at the moment is the horrid midi instruments. Try looking into edirol orchestral or a copy of holly wood strings ( drool ). If you cant get ahold of either of those, try lowering the attack of those strings and adding some reverb. Some times that can salvage bad midi strings if done right.

Abombination responds:

Logic 9 has terrible orchestral instruments Im currently still adding to the song. (Ive sent you a few messages on skype)

[Ventures tune]

Every sound is in the same channel from what i can hear, try separating them into a different channel, and assign them to a separate mixer track aswell. This will stop allot of the sounds fighting for control over the same chan. If you hear a sound all the sudden get way softer than you intended it when another one is starting to play, this very well may be the answer. The whole song seemed rather empty, you had allot of vacant hertz ranges going on at any given time. The following hertz ranges aid with the following things. 30-140 give or take, add body to a song. It gives it a flow if you will and helps blend tones and establish a feel. 140 htz to 400 htz this is your tonal bass or the bass that you generally hear that helps set the key or mode of a song. This is also where songs can tend to get muddy if not eqd correctly. mid range 400-2.5k give or take on taste, this is mostly where lower ranged chords go in to set the key in which something is being played. Upper mid, 2.5k -5.3k- Higher chords can be placed in here to help establish a mode of a said key along with leads. If chords are placed here they usually accompany the drums to emphasis the beat or add to syncopation. 5.2k-18k ( not much use going into 19-20k as those simply mud up the mix for the most part) this range is your high hats, harmonic tones of melodies and the crispness of the song all rest in this range.

All of these ranges need to be used in some given form to make for a balanced sound. You generally had no sub bass or bass in the song, most all your sounds were comprised of mid and highs. You also had no carry over from single notes, allot of times if you are simply going to use a single simple lead as an intro, try putting slight reverb on it to aid in covering the sound caps between notes.

Mixing tips- Your kick should generally always be the loudest part of a mix with in electronic music. A simple rule of thumb ( give or take) is the kick should not exceed -8db, and the bass is the 2nd loudest part of the mix. everything else should not exceed the db of the kicks. ( this is pre master of course) This way it leaves you some room to throw in something like maximus and give it a little master before shipping it out. Param eq 2 is your best friend, on each chan you have a sound set to, make sure to clip off all the useless harmonics of a sound before finishing with it.

Hope this could help in some way, keep at it and ill check back on you later.

[Slumbers Passing]

Not bad, i would have liked to hear some other instruments in the mix, not to mention a little variation between loops. I felt like it went too many measures with out much of a change in anything.

Over all not bad for what it is. Kinda hard to leave a decent review over a single channel so pardon me if it's the usual pages i leave =p.

[fly faster]

Good untill 13 seconds, Then you break key and hit some random notes that seemingly ruins what was done prior.The delay was way too high, it was drowning out most of the song. At 40 you lost all sight of any noticeable melody or chord progression. 56 also seems like random notes were simply placed on the piano roll. The song was over all short, and shifted from one transition to another with little to no warning. You can simply remedy this by making even transitional measures and making sure they are even. Such as 4 intro then 4 mid and so on. I don't recommend this as it makes songs rather bland, but it will at least give a sense of structure to an other wise random piece. Again don't place each sound in the same channel. This causes them to fight for volume controll of that channel, and results in certian sounds getting lower when others enter. ( along with a muddy sounding mix)

I again hate to be harsh, but i feel the ratings below do in now way reflect the quality of this song. They may be friends of yours that feel the need to tell you something is great. However when that happens you learn nothing from the experience and in turn they are hindering your growth. If they are indeed your friends i would expect them to show you some respect and give a helpful review.

flashmakeit responds:

okay!

[wind and horn]

The notes were all over the place. I had a hard time picking out what the tune was supposed to be. The dissonance up till 33 is a huge problem. So many notes were out of key through out the song. The re-verb on that pluck sound was way to high. You also seem to have every sound in the same channel, this is causing other parts of the song to duck out in order to make room for the new sound being introduced. Try separating the sounds into separate channels next time and a little mixing should solve that problem.

I hate to be harsh but this needs allot of work and over all changing.

flashmakeit responds:

I am going to redo this audio and I hope your advice makes this song sound better.

[So Many Nails]

I love the drum line in this one. Good showcase of drums i have to say. However the song as a whole seemed rather empty, you were missing out on most hertz ranges from -lower than 200 ranging from lacking in the 2-5k mid range, also your upper mid was rather empty with no real lead to take the place of that gap. Pads are your best friend when it comes to filling empty space in a song.

Also if i could recommend expanding your vst library with some plug ins such as native instruments massive and others of that nature.

Septyrikon responds:

Yeah, I do tend to work with many of the same sounds, because those are the ones I feel comfortable with, and know how to work with. Eventually, I'll expand into things, which is kinda what I actually tried to do with this one, but again, I only spent somewhere in the vicinity of 90 minutes on this one, so the lack of quality is, at least partially, due to that :D

Thanks for the feedback :D

[Mellow Marshes]

Really repetitive , I infact tried to skip ahead a few times in the start and had to check it it registered. I thought since noting changed in the 1 min in skipped certainly my browser was messed up. Come to find out it was the same segment looped for a solid few mins.

Again it sounds like all your sounds are in the same channel making them all fight for control of it. this will result in sounds moving out of the way if you will when another one comes in. You almost have a saturation of saw waves in this song. It seems pretty harsh through out most of it with that mid saw going all the time. Try running an envelope or cut off filter on some of the harsher sounds at times to give a flow and ease some tension off the ears for a period of time.

I liked allot of your other works much more than this one. Keep it up all the same.

Septyrikon responds:

I'll try and keep that in mind for the future. I agree that it is quite repetetive, but again, that's often how I like my music, although this one might be a bit one the heavy side. Regardless, I appreciate the feedback :D

Currently I'm working on recording actual guitar parts into songs with my rocksmith usb cable thingamajig. so who knows what I'll end up making.

[Plastic Cyborg]

General Eq work needed it sounds like. Allot of conflicting hertz areas are in there. It also sounds like the entire song is piled into a single track. 1:34 that part that comes in was entirely too powerful. It was eating up the entire song, i would guess it was over 0db by itself. Try keeping each chan below -8 db pre master which gives you a little of room to master sections that need it. ( the kick being -8 and the loudest part of the mix)

Pretty good regardless of a few things

Septyrikon responds:

Tbh I rarely go into that much detail with mixing and sound levels. I agree with your point that the part at 1:34 is much too loud, I'm not sure why that slipped by me, I might just go and correct that, but all in all, I go pretty much by ear when it comes to mixing my songs, unless something technical prevents me from doing so. Still, I appreciate your feedback :)