JensVide's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Underwater Bitz [Pixel Day 2021]]

Good composition! Some elements, like some synths and some drums are just too loud and overwhelming, I think. Other than that, the song takes me on a journey from start to finish, and it seems to describe many facets of this world. Good work!

Teckmo-X responds:

Thanks! Yeah I went back and noticed that it had a bit more kick and overpowering on the first quarter of the song. I'll go back and fix it as soon as possible.

[Further Suns Inc. [VGM]]

Nice song, captures the atmosphere well!

One thing I think would make the track a little better is too pan the drums that come in at 02:20 to center, to give the drums more impact and make the track feel more stable at that point.

Lastly, I think you created a good looping point.

Good work!

[Twilight Jungle]

I like it a lot. It captures the setting perfectly. Only criticism from me is that the panning synth at 0:22 and panning piano at 0:55 gets just a bit too loud. Adding sound effects was a great decision. It really adds to the atmosphere.

OliRO responds:

Thank you for the review!
I noticed too that they sound too loud on my headphones, but somehow they sound more okay on my monitors. I'll have to work harder to make it sound good on everything.

Cheers!

[Galaxy knag]

I love atmospheric drum and bass, dude. This is really a song I could just listen to for hours, great work.

Composition is simple but works great. Nothing wrong with it, what can I say, haha.

Could something be added? Yeah. As much as I personally can zone out to this, it may get just a bit repetitive. For example, maybe some chill sax leads or chill guitar leads could make it a bit more interesting to listen too on multiple loops.

Only thing I noticed is that the snare is perhaps a bit loud. It does take away from the spaced out mood a bit, I feel.

Overall, fantastic. I love it.

[XLR Hangar - Tuner Groove]

I think the composition is great. You always have something at the front of the mix, and that makes it consistently interesting to listen to. I think the vibe of the track fits what you described very well.

There are some things I think could be improved. First off, that bass guitar is way too loud. It muddies out the rest of the track and sucks a lot of energy out, I feel.

Secondly, I feel the same way about the hi-hat. The hi-hat is pretty piercing, so it can be just a bit quieter. This allows the other high-end parts to shine through just a little bit more.

Finally, I feel that the rythm guitar could have more impact if it wasn't panned off to one side. It's a pretty important part of the groove, right? So therefore we might want it to sit in the center of the track. Even better(in my opinion), is another thing you could do to make it feel even fatter and more real. You can clone that guitar track, and pan the clone over to the other side. Then, move the cloned track forward on the timeline juuuust a little bit, so it always plays a bit after the first guitar track. This emulates the typical "double tracked guitar" sound that's so common in heavy metal, and makes it sound really fat.

So yeah, that's pretty much it for critique. Turn down the bass and hi-hat a bit, and put the guitar in center or double track it. Those are just suggestions though.

I liked the song, and it definitely made me imagine a hangar full of scrap metal and smelling of gasoline. Good work!

IVELI-ALPACA responds:

This is some great feedback! I'm actually tweaking this with what you said. The hi hat and bass I can probably tweak and fix; I have a hard time determining if I have too much or not enough bass. The guitar I have to get creative with, since it's using midi/piano roll playback. But in the midst of typing this reply I found a way.

And putting a bit of what baryiscool said about a bit more high end, I'll upload a "fixed" version soon. I greatly appreciate this in-depth feedback.

(old mix in song description)

[XLR competition: Cyber Hanger]

I respect you for putting your music out there, but I think there's a lot that could be improved here.

The drum beat is pretty non-musical and doesn't really have a groove. The kick pattern at the beginning works well as an intro, but the full drum beat doesn't really have a direction. I can't tell if that drum beat is supposed to be a house-like build-up, because the snare/clap seems to be on the first and third beats, or if that drum beat is supposed to be what I should groove too.

Basically, when you're making drums, you're making art but also informing the listener about how they should feel the music. This is why the standard four-on-the-floor beat works so well. A four-on-the-floor beat is simple and easy to listen to, since it clearly tells the listener where the strong beats are and how they should feel the groove. I'm not saying drums have to be simple, but they just have to make sense, in most contexts, anyway. There is of course times when you deliberately don't want drums to make sense, but reading your description I think you wanted to make something with a somewhat normal groove.

Anyway, the song feels like it's building up to something, but that something never comes. At 1:35, or at least 1:55, is when I feel the song tells me that the meat of the track is coming, but it never does. It comes to an interlude, and then starts over.

Basically, this track lacks a "hook". There's no part of the track that's especially interesting, no part that is the "point" of the track. Therefore the song feels pretty uninteresting to listen to. Now, a "hook" doesn't have to be a lead melody. It can be a groove, just the sound of a certain instrument, or the overall "feel" of a song, but I don't find anything like that here. Therefore, I don't know what you as the creator wants me to listen to in this song. I find the song hard to understand.

Tying into my previous point, the chord progression and supporting melodies of this song feel all over the place, and therefore weak. It feels like you had many little ideas that didn't come together quite right.

Assuming the part that comes in a 00:12 is supposed to be the bassline, it does not feel strong on its own and it does not support the synth on top of it. The main synth seems to be implying a minor chord progression, but then the bassline plays an arpeggio in a major scale. Arpeggios usually don't work very well on bass, for the most part. Bass is often a supporting instrument that should support the other instruments. Therefore, simple bass lines that plays the root notes of the overlying chords are always a safe bet. Of course, this can get boring, so musicians usually spice up their bass lines, but you have to know what you're doing. You have to know that you're in the right key and playing notes that make sense. I don't think you have that knowledge quite yet, so my advice to you for improving your music would be to keep it simple for now.

SUMMARY:
I think you have much to learn regarding composition, and I think this track was a little too ambitious for you, for now. Especially the drums and bass line could use some refining. My advice for you to improve is to learn about the basics of drums, bass, harmony, and melody. Then make some very simple short song. Make sure that *every part makes sense* both on its own, and in context. That way, you will learn what works, doesn't work, and why. I hope you keep making music.

[Abyss of Mackerel Scad]

Copying from the thread:
I had not read the challenge description for your specific challenge, but you managed to make me think of some ominous otherworld regardless. Good work on nailing the feel. I think the composition works fine as it is. Only thing that could be improved is that I feel like everything is a bit too loud in relation to the main arpeggio. The bass, lead melodies, and auxillary parts could have been adjusted a bit more to make space. The bass, drums and auxillary parts could for example have been quieter. That way the lead melodies wouldn't have needed to be so loud to be heard, and the song could have felt more balanced and pleasant to listen to. Overall I enjoyed listening to the song, and as I said you nailed the atmosphere. Good work! FYI if you do make changes to the song, you can replace the mp3 on your song page but still keep the views, ratings and comments.

DawMii responds:

Thanks a lot! Going to rework the parts you've pointed out!

[Dubstep in F# minor (WIP)]

Bro I love that you have both half time and not-half-time(?) sections in this! Sounds so dynamic. Please finish this, it's awesome.

entropicvoxels responds:

thanks! i wasn't planning to finish this, but seeing as how so many people like it i probably will finish it

[club penguin Operation: Blackout (EV remix)]

Cool! I like that you used so many different synth sounds. That's probably time consuming, but it really makes it more interesting.
I feel that the synths might be just a little loud in relation to the drums during the drop, and maybe the track could have more energy if the synths were just a liiittle quieter.
Very well done!

entropicvoxels responds:

thanks for the feedback! i understand what you mean about the drums in the drop, particularly the snare drum is too quiet and doesn't have the punchiness it feels like it should have. the hi hats are also not very audible when they are the main thing giving the song some groove.