SI-7's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Fallout]

The sound design is okay. A good few of your sounds are a bit boring, and could be far more interesting. Also, I don't quite think that the base starting at 1:00 meshes the best with the rest of the song, but that may well just be me.

The structure and flow of the song is pretty nice. The intro and outro are wonderful, and the transitions are fantastic. The one part that stands out like a sore thumb to me, however, is 1:28-2:07. Even though the transitions are good, that part doesn't feel like it flows with the rest of the song.

I feel as though the percussion could benefit from some sidechaining, particularly the snare around :56. Otherwise, the percussion seems very nice.

You should be proud of the composition, even accounting for the middle segment, it's by far your strongest point in this song. You also didn't do that badly with sound design, even with using an unfamiliar synth.

Very nice to see another song from you, it's been a while. Welcome back.

SirHadoken responds:

Heya man, sorry I'm a month late to the response here. I read this and processed it and just altogether forgot to acknowledge it.

I definitely agree with the sounds being boring; I don't really know how to do sound design. I've been trying to figure it out for ages but plugins and sound manipulation don't make sense to me no matter what I try. I actually intended to get rid of that bass and forgot it was there.

I actually figured people would think negatively of the transitions because of how abrupt they are; I'm glad to hear quite exactly the opposite. The transitions were the only part of the composition that I wasn't too proud of, Composition feels to me like it's pretty much the only strong suits I have when it comes to music, and I either have to learn how to deal with it or learn how to change it.

Thanks again for the detailed review, it's always greatly appreciated. <3

[Nycto: Bullet]

The melody is nice, but it definitely needs some variation over the course of the piece. It doesn't need to necessarily be a large amount of variation, just a note or two different every few repeats. But listening to the exact same melody played by different synthesizers for nearly three and a half minutes is kind of dull.

The bassline has the same issue as the melody, I noticed it has some variation, but it's basically the same throughout the song.

I feel like the toms at 0:06 and 1:42 would fit in a bit better with a slight fade-in automation track. Otherwise your percussion is quite varied and well chosen.

The mix is good, the toms being my only real complaint. The mastering also sounds pretty clean.

TLDR summary: Melody/bassline need some variation, toms could fit in a bit better, everything else is good.

[Arise and Fight]

Absolutely love this, it sounds almost like something out of Dragon Age. Would you mind sharing where you got those gorgeous vocals in the intro?

AceMantra responds:

Thank you for your kind words. I've never heard any of the music from Dragon Age but I'll take your word for it. ;)
The vocals used in the intro is called "Ethera 2.0" by Zero-G.

Cheers!

[Electronic Enthusiasm]

The percussion from 0:24 to 1:10 is a bit too loud to begin with, and could probably use an automation track to fade it in. The hihat needs to be brought down some so it's not painful to listen to. Your mixing and composition is pretty good for starting out, but you definitely have some mastering problems to fix.

Post-change edit: Mastering problems have been fixed.

LuMa-Clutchet responds:

Ok thanks for the feedback I Just changed it. tell me if you think its better now

[Battle Theme Updated]

Composition seems pretty solid, besides the sudden transitions, and mastering is mostly fine. I do think the sound design could use a fair bit of work though, as everything you're using seems a bit rough around the edges.

MajorMusic responds:

The rough around the edges stuff is probably just a result of using a free DAW.

[Attatched]

Sounds great, and definitely has the potential for vocals. I'm not sure this is techno though.

[Terror Nullius]

I also miss your old attempts to create trailer music, because they led to something as amazing as this.

zybor responds:

Thanks friend

[Blessed is the flame]

I didn't like the second half of this that much, as much of it sounded like mostly the same things repeating. The first half of this absolutely blew me away though.

[Void-CC: BASSTUNE]

The composition seems pretty decent, as does the sound design. That said, you do need to raise the volume quite a bit.

[LInE]

Simple and repetitive track. It could definitely use some automation tracks to make it's elements more interesting. The percussion choice during the middle of the song needs to be a bit quieter, as it currently is hurtful to the ears. The end part where the sound cuts out periodically is the best part of this song, although I feel it could be better if it didn't cut out completely, just mostly.