JBKings's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Isolated]

Very cool. My only comment is that the left/right panning/delay that's bouncing around is, to my ears, too much. The rate at which the sound wobbles back and forth around the space is a bit distracting, particularly on headphones. Really like it, though!

djSmashin responds:

Hey thanks for the review! The panning is neutral on every sound in this loop lol. Only delay I used is on the crashes. But I tweaked some things, maybe it sounds better now!

[Run!- MB]

Sounds really good! Nice job.

There are only a few things that jumped out at me:
1) The drums that you have rapidly panning back and forth towards the beginning call too much attention to themselves. I think either lowering the level of that particular channel or making the panning less drastic would help. Or maybe try a multi-tap reverb instead? Hard to say.

2) Some of the high frequency content of the lead synth starting at 1:23 is too loud. It's a bit piercing to my ears, especially compared to the rest of the instruments. I'd suggest trying to isolate which frequencies are responsible for that piercing sound and apply a filter/EQ to mitigate it.

And a minor quip -- this is categorized as Classical. I'm assuming that was a mistake?

AKACCMIOF responds:

Thanks man! With the drums, I think the problem is that they occupy the low mid freqs too mch, I mastered on speakers where this wasn't such a problem. To be fixed imminently, thanks for the point out.

Same for the bitcrushed lead. Need to take that down. Thanks!

Yes, schoolboy error (though this side of the portal seems to have some very helpful reviewers ;))

[Massacre]

So, I like the beginning of the loop (to about the 1 minute mark), but when the non-8-bit instruments drop out, it's too radical of a change (i.e. the transition isn't smooth enough), not to mention both of the instruments you have at 1:00 sound the same and occupy more or less the same space, frequency-wise, and are panned so closely together that they sort of meld, which I'm not sure you want. If that was the intended effect, then I'll defer to your judgment.

I was also initially confused by you calling it 8-bit, since the 8-bit isn't apparent until nearly half-way through this song, which is only 2 minutes long. Which leads me to what's probably my main issue with the piece, which is that while there's a decent framework for a piece here, it doesn't really go anywhere and, at least to me, it seems like it should. Granted, if that's going to happen, it'll have to be longer, most likely, to make sure it still loops nicely.

In summary, I think you've got something here -- it just needs to be fleshed out and polished a little more.

TBC-x1x2x3 responds:

First of all, thanks for the review. It realy means alot to me. I've listened to it again and I agree on most of the things you say. The 8bit part from around 1:00 doesn't realy match the rest of the instruments.

A little declaration on your feedback:
The intro is a very low tuned 8bit sample. The reason the 2 instruments are panned the same, is because I used the same instrument samples for the 2 sounds.

I'm working on a new version atm. It's less 8bit, more industrial soundish.

[Lone X - Soldier]

Sounds pretty good, but the bass takes up a little too much of the stage, if you know what I mean. I wouldn't change its level, necessarily, but you might try lowering its stereo width or dimming down some of its high-frequency content. Could probably do with just a smidge less reverb on the piano, too. I really like the unique mix of instruments, though. Very cool!

Lone-X responds:

Thanks for the critique!

Peace and love,
Lone X

[Cards]

I really like this song. The vocals come through nicely for the most part, and the overall quality of the mix is great. I personally don't care for the gating on the vocals, but I understand if you want to keep it for stylistic reasons.

[The Music Box]

I would say the first order of business is to play with some of the settings on whichever synth you're using at the start, or perhaps apply some EQ to lower the amount of treble. It's a bit piercing. Just because it's a chiptune doesn't mean you have to work with such raw, unaltered sine waves. Try listening to some music from the NES era and see if you can get something closer to those sounds. More people will probably listen and give you feedback once you've addressed that, so keep it up!

Stickfigureguy responds:

Thanks for the suggestions! I will work on it right away

[Voize]

I like it. The transition to the piano around 1:11 seems a little out of place -- I think in this case the transition is actually TOO smooth; it would probably sound better with a more sudden drop. I was also expecting more of a steady build back to the original material after that -- the sections of music seem a bit too distinct from the piano entrance back to the return of the drum/bass. You can also probably afford to spend a little more time with the drum/bass stuff at the end given how much time you took for the piano interlude, etc. Overall, excellent sounds!

[Thunder Drip]

Really like it! There are parts that remind me of the Super Meat Boy soundtrack. The string hits do get a little repetitive towards the end, though. Otherwise, great stuff. What did you use to make this, if I might ask?

[Jump around v.1.2]

Excellent track. I do wish there was a little more variety with the drum track, though. Maybe drop it for a bit just before one of the big entrances and then bring it back?

[Island Joy]

I like it, but I feel like the "island" vibe that you're going for gets lost in the louder, more drum/bass heavy sections. Also, is there any way you can adjust the velocities of the notes being played by the marimba/whatever pitched percussion instrument you're using in the beginning? It sounds a bit mechanical -- varying the note velocities might help make it seem more natural and interesting.