Decibel's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Phlegmatic Undergroan]

Umm, don't really know what to say :S

I don't know whether to call it a wonderfully made, suspensful ambient track or a discordant mess. Nah, It's wonderful don't worry :P

It starts off well, with an instant build-up to something. I can imagine this in some sort of Criminal Minds episode where the killer is entering the house and moving closer and closer to the victim, when at last he kills the victim.

Something which it also portrays is endlessness, like a sort of abyss, especially that growling sound at 01:22, that was quite a nice touch I must say :)

I really like the chords that hit at abou 01:59, They really sound cool.

For an ambient track, it gradually seems to get 'busier'. I know layering is essential in a genre like this but you can't overdo it.

Technical-wise, it's a pretty well mixed track - It's in that limbo between clean and atmospheric, above average mix over here, nice job.
What could use a little work though is the volume levels, some of them are out of whack, I'm listening to this on a modified system so I have problems on my end but I think it's the track itself that has a problem, certain sounds need leveling, rather than being layered on top of eachother.

I have to stop now because this soung is scaring the shit out of me :P

Nice job, 9/10 and 5/5

-decibel

WizMystery responds:

Yeah I was really happy when I worked out the sound at 1:22, reminded me of the Inception bwong (I love that soundtrack so much).

What I have in the project is an accumulation of 5 tracks that were several other things mixed together, meaning there's not much I can do about the volume levels. But I'll experiment with what I can do to see if I can get something better.

Thanks for the review!

[Ignite This!]

A little too loud :/

Before I say anything else, Turn down the master volume of the track, it's slightly too loud and I can hear faint instances of clipping on the piano, which is never a good sign in any genre, so first task - lower master volume,

The track itself is quite suspenseful in itself, it's probably the piano's melody though. Just out of curiosity, what key did you use?
Anyway, nope no problems with the theme or atmosphere or anything like that.

Another problem I encountered was the drums, It's probably just my opinion or maybe I'm slightly biased but I disliked them, both the rythm and the drum samples themselves weren't to my taste. Especially that hi-hat :P I'd suggest decreasing the high-band of it's mixer track just slightly so it doesn't stay 'on top' of the mix, metaphorically speaking.

The last beef I had with this is that little plucky sound every hear and there, it wasn't too my liking, it's over-compressed, if not compressed at all.

It's actually a very nice track overall, It just had those tidbits in the mix that need working on. I know I might have come out as arrogant or anything, But I'm just trying to help :)

Nice Job nonetheless ;)

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

Thank you for your review! Thanks for taking out the time!

Ah yes. I googled "clipping" and it's basically distortion right? Thanks for the very good insight. I will try to turn the master volume down and see if the clipping stops. I like that you liked the suspense. The piano's melody was very central to the piece.

To be honest, I used FL Keys for this :P. I just put a bunch of effects on it to my liking, to make it sound that much more epic. Almost everybody has said that my drum samples were weak. I'll try to improve on that :)

And the plucking sound. Yes, I agree, it can be jarring. Thanks for pointing out those parts of the mix that are slightly weak, but complementing the whole.

Thanks for your positive and honest criticism. I will take it to heart and come back next time with more knowledge.

Benjamin "Silly Boy"

[EF - WIP (GS vs TI remix)]

Can't say I'm impressed, at all.

It actually is a good song, but the majority of it is sampled from the original, and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure If I can hear anything original in this track, since it's sampled, from the plucks to the basses.

I wouldn't classify this as a remake either, it just needs that little original touch that would make it sound that much better.

The only thing I can't recognize from the original is the 4-step beat, it gave it that little Skrillex feel, which every producer wants to make nowadays :P

Every now and then you introduced a new set of bars with a set of layered crashes, those were probably the worst thing I ever had to endure in my life, It's like you layered the entire Vengeance Crash folder, lower the volume and maybe add some reverb and delay.

What I'd also do to fix this is maybe add a break to it, it would sound really cool if it built up to something and then stop all of a sudden, leaving the listener hearing the bare minimum, and everything slowly starts filtering from a lowpass, kinda like the break in deadmau5 - Hey Baby [Instrumental]. Then add a breakbeat and bob's your uncle, Techno! :P

Anyway, I understand that you're a newcomer here but sampling from the entire song is frowned upon, and you'd get banned if this was your first submission.

It's good, it's just missing that original flare.

5/10
4/5
-decibel

GirlStep responds:

Oddly enough I had the original FLP file and edited the wubs, added the breakdown, and TIMarbury added the glitch effects, etc. The only thing I didn't touch was the main synth.

And the 4-on-the-floor beat was in the original...

[Melting Ice]

Old School Much?

Okay, I sort of agree with sontuk but he didn't need to be that harsh, I gave you a 5 for the time and effort, but I'm sorry - this needs so much work it's unbearable.

The first bassline that comes in was a tragedy, it sounded terribly off key, I'd suggest moving some of the notes around, maybe you can build a decent arpeggio.
What'd be cool too is if you'd build a crescendo ; Which means it starts off very quietly and starts getting louder, and spans for about 16 bars.

The waltz-y rythm that kicks in after the bassline isn't bad either, it's just terribly off key, as is the rest of the song, Please, for the love of god, work on that :P

The main melody sounded very NES Lake Level, I liked it, and as a single melody it would sound very good.

So anyway, not a complicated track, very care-free sounding, but it could use a change of instruments, some drums, maybe some pads and strings here and there.

So yeah, 5/10 and 3/5

Work on it :)

DahDoctow responds:

Alright, I'll get on that! Thanks

[Facing Your Trials!]

Can someone say, 10 Years ago? :P

Yes, it has a good basis for a classical track, but it lacks the composure and realism that the professional classical composers on here have. It's the MIDI though, that's what's ruining it.

The intro was very nice, it eased into the song and built into a solid track. The only problem I encountered with this though is that you have an instance in the song where a flute is soloing, yes I understand it's a solo but you could have layered some strings and added some brass chords around it to show some realism, despite the mediocre instrument patches.

The melodies themselves were quite good, from what I could hear at least, because you have quite a muddy mix, which I will comment on later..

The whole flow of the song was also quite good, one thing led to another very well. The transitions were good enough too..

Drums were.. Frankly I don't know what exactly to say about the drums. They're barely noticable. They lack the compression and stereo enhancing that a solid classical track would have. If you ever open up the project file/session file/whatever Be sure to EQ and compress the drums first, TAKE ACTION YOUNG ONE! :P

I'd suggest downloading a demo of Ableton or FL Studio and replacing everything with soundfonts, sure it's not the real thing but it's much better compared to the PS1 Quality instruments that can be found here, as XsakuX said.

Anyway, Overall a little gem, which needs a whole lot of shining.

I hope you've taken what I've said into account :)

7/10
5/5
-decibel

CheckeredZebra responds:

Haha, I can see what you mean about the flute somehow soloing over an entire orchestra >.>;

I have issues with making percussion sounds/parts, and I cannot really edit said sounds. </3 But hopefully that will change sometime soon. they were in fact the last thing I added, as I hate doing drums because I don't really "feel" percussion parts. Dx Just something I need to work on.

Anyhow, this was a very helpful review, made me think about the realism aspect of it, haha. Thank you :D

[Sea of Destiny]

Yarrr ;D

Like the guys from the RRC said, It sounds extremely piratey, And If I do say so myself, Pirates are the bomb. But all jokes aside, it's a good track, better than the bare average of the classical music here, I'm not saying it's the best, but with a few fixes here and there, it could sound much better than it already does.

K, Intro. Frankly I think it starts off way too abruptly, I would have added maybe an instance of strings, slowly increasing in volume, and then I'd insert your intro, but hey, that's just me. You are the producer after all.

The melodies were alright, nothing too memorable but not a discordant trainwreck, so I'm 50/50 on the melodies. My favourite melody though was the flute which started at about 0:17.

Strings, well, you can't have a classical track without strings, but on the other hand you can't have strings without a backbone. In my opinion, it needed something more, some bass staccatos to back it up, maybe a cello melody in the sidelines to tie the track together, it's those little things that make a solid track.

Drums were alright, but you overused the bassdrum a little too much :P I'd remove half the hits you had in the actual bass drum rythm, and then maybe layer it with a snare for more emphasis.

The instruments themselves weren't perfect though, far from it. You actually need to fix them up because you have a slightly muddy mix goin' on here.

The first thing I would do is compress the brass you have in the background, and maybe increase the high-end by just a little bit, because when listening to this on my laptop speakers, I could barely notice it.

I understand that the strings took the leading role in the song but you can't leave beautiful melodies and instruments like the ones you applied (such as the piano, if I'm hearing correctly) move along with so little presence.

Overall, quite a beautiful uplifting track, but it's missing those little tidbits that would make it awesome! :D

Well Done :)

9/10
5/5

-decibel

I'm keeping an eye on you dude ;)

TheBellmaker responds:

Thanks for the review!

Intros were never my strong spot -__- but I've been improving in this area in my proceeding songs. This song was more a quickie for me.

In this piece, I was trying to make sure at all time that I had a "main melody" and that everything else was subordinated to it. Thus, this led to other melodies, like the piano, being overwhelmed by the others. I shall take your criticism on this matter into consideration, as you do have a very valid point here.

WHERE ARE THOSE TIDBITS?!?!?!?!!?

haha one day I'll find them.

[~SW~ Keeper of the Dead]

Otherwordly..

Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of ambient music, it's probably my least favourite genre in the audio portal, but I know a good track when I hear it, and this is one of them. If you could just give some final trimming, it'd be top notch!

It starts off wonderfully, I love the little whispering sounds in the background, I can imagine this in som sort of Harry Potter movie, or some dark film with gray skies and thoughts of dismay.

The wind, though a nice touch, was too loud for the track itself, I'd lower the volume, then compress it, then add a filter, just to keep everything clean, but other than that, Nice job anyway.

The pizzicato strings gave it that creepy videogame effects, for some reason I found them 'playful' more than anything else, it boggles me why this is though.
The pizzicatos themselves sounded brilliant, the little taste you added makes me want more.

The bells in the background were a nice touch, they were the icing on the cake, production-wise. I think it's the main aspect of the song that makes it creepy. Well, that, along with the strings.

After the pizzicato strings, you can hear some sort of glockenspiel or bell, it's also a little too loud for my tastes, I'd lower the volume to that also.

The strings were probably my favourite part of the song, they were also the one thing in the song that needed to be slightly louder at times, rather than quieter, hehe.

Now, mixing. As I said before there were some assets that need compression and filtering, those would be the two main mixing problems because other than that I couldn't find anything wrong with the general mix, it wasn't muddy at all, apart from the extra 2 seconds of reverb every now and then (Yes, I'm that fussy)

Anyway, it's a nice, atmposhperic track, which has the chops to be in some playstation game or children's movie, If you had to do some final touches, it'd be a hell of a track, and I'm sure you can perfect this.

I Have mixed feelings on this track, I don't know whether I should call it perfect, or just the beginning of a masterpiece, If I were you I'd extend it though.

So Yes, You get an 8 and a 5 :P

-decibel

SkyeWint responds:

Alright then, I'll make the strings a bit louder. I agree, they're a bit quiet sometimes.

As for the bell synth, they were actually the bells in the background, only brought out more. I think I might bring them down a bit, but not the first three loud notes of theirs. That's honestly my favorite bit of the song. lol.

Thank you for the review!

[To Those Who Listen]

Please Tell Me You're Kidding

Why do you insist on making an awesome song? Couldn't you have just let the overly-ambitious young musician win? :P

Anyway, this is really amazing, it's trippy at the beginning and starts to get all glitchy-baroque towards the end. It's just crazy :D My favourite sound would be the 1 beat instance of Music box you threw in every now and then.

Spectacular job IO :)

InvisibleObserver responds:

But I am an overly ambitious young musician?

Thanks for leaving some comments foo-stick-Mo-Jenkins.

[Suddenly, Sentience [RD2011]]

pft.

Won't ever make dubstep my ass, this is gorgeous.

The bass could have used more presence though.

[Bionic Millenia (RD2011)]

Awesome!

This, this is just beautiful, good job, I love the chord progression you got going on that bass synth. And the choice of percussion was sublime. What I'd work on is the bass synth itself, it needs some brushing up to be ompletely honest, some EQing, some Filtering, etc.

Other than that, this is one of my fave tracks for robot day, I'd definitely give this some points, Also, I love that Square Pluck Perc <3

Nice Job :)

djInTheDark responds:

Thanks for the tips, glad you liked it!