Zechnition's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[AIM - Sprawl]

This is the first song from AIM I heard, and I was absolutely blown away! I love the sound design so much it's insane. I wouldn't say it's universally good, but I enjoyed it profusely, and you absolutely achieved what you were going for.

Lots of cool details, and you don't stay in the same place for long. composition is chaotic too, yet it still flows nicely.

In some of the more busy sections there is some minor clashing (like 0:24). I'd love to see you explore what other directions you could take this idea. What would a fast section, or a slow section sound like? What if it gets even more chaotic, or even more crunchy? Try to see how far you can push this idea before it stops sounding good!

isostatic1111 responds:

wow! thanks so much for the kind words and offering some great feedback, i really appreciate it a ton :DDD

[AIM - Red Hell]

holy shit

Amazing stereo usage, amazing sound design, and foley integration is awesome. The arrangement is also sufficiently diverse, yet still has a central theme. A bit more diversity might be positive, but I'm unsure. Melodies are not the focus, but there are some really nice ones that pop up here and there (3:57, 2:56, or 0:11, with 3:57 being the main motif imo). The piece is not too repetitive at all.

Other random notes:
- The scream in the background feels like it attenuates a little abruptly (1:15 & other hits -> 2:15-2:17)
- I suspect the mix is done better than my headphones can appreciate, but I could be wrong. I'd love to hear what this sounds like in an auditorium, or with a better soundsystem
- Outro is really nice, I love how it contrasts the rest of the piece

My main suggestion is just to get those melodies to pop out a bit more, so they can serve as more powerful emotional tools! Maybe even different melodies for different levels of intensity.

Love it!

[AIM - The Empty Universe]

Lots of space to improve, but I personally found it quite engaging! More complicated percussion, small flourishes, and bringing the drums a bit more into the background would be nice additions.

I like your use of empty space too, like at 2:39. It would have actually been nice if you did that more in this piece.

Love the sound design at 3:33! (except for the snare ; - ; )

[AIM - Where Even the Monsters Cry]

Sound design & percussion is really really nice! Great stereo usage too.

Some things to note:

- A lot of the song repeats too much. 0:30 to 1:00 for example. I notice that it's usually not exactly repeating, but it's hard to tell, which makes it difficult to stay engaging. Try throwing in a bar or two every once in a while of a new rhythm/pattern, or some nice empty space to contrast!

- Your transitions are underwhelmingly jarring. At 1:28 you have a massive amount of tension, and then you just throw it away (;-;) I'd like to see you have a **final burst of energy** that signifies the ending, instead of just immediately transitioning into the next section. Transitions have the special opportunity to be the coolest part of the song!

- The piece's structure is too simple. I wish you had faster & slower sections, changes in rhythm, and all sorts of those cool things!

[Dawn]

Lots of good ideas, but you didn't quite enact them well enough. One example is the delay on the chords at 1:24, which sound a little jarring. Your composition often puts a focus on the sound design, which tends to be lacking & rough. I think your connection to the art is quite strong however! The best part of this song is the atmosphere, with little background flourishes like at 0:45 and 0:15, which adds to the dreamy feeling!

[AIM - Fusion Energy]

Love your sound design! However, the weird stereo artifact that persists throughout the song (left channel is ~8 samples ahead) sounds really bad with headphones. I removed it in audacity and it sounds beautiful!

Mikaiah responds:

Thank you! I'll try to keep that in mind next time! x3

[Crossroad: Final Boundary]

Unofficial VGMC'21 Interim Review
(months late is better than never!)
======================

Your sound design is very cool, conveying a bit of a bittersweet feeling, yet in a peaceful way. This does a good job at conveying a unique kind of negative feeling. Not exactly as devastating as I'd imagine, but there are certain points that fit quite well. Despite the fact that I liked it, I don't think it fits very well as battle music. (fair)

I notice you try to achieve a faster paced section with the percussion at 1:34, but the speed of the percussion clashes with the atmosphere and results in a calming & somber mood. I'd love it if you increased the apparent speed of the song in this section by making use of more quick dynamics or faster (and possibly) syncopated melodies.

Another thing I notice is that your individual sections are pretty repetitive and tend to put a focus on beat 1. I'd love to see a bigger focus on counter melodies like 4:34. Supporting those counter melodies with percussion and a faster bass line could help in that regard.

As for sound design in more detail, I love 5:24, 5:04, and 1:20. You do a good job at filling the entire stereo and frequency spectrums.

And finally a few small nitpicks: Your kicks are a bit too loud compared to the rest of the mix, you have some clashing around 3:28, and the mid-high end from 0:36 to 1:04 is is a bit painful.

All in all, it was a cool mysterious & somber track. Love it!

[Destroyer]

Unofficial VGMC'21 Interim Review
(months late is better than never!)
======================

My first thought is that this piece does a good job conveying the mood through it's composition. I can definitely see it fitting as the background music during a battle.

One of my biggest complaints is that your instruments sound a bit bland. I'd like it if you added a bit more processing or subtle layering to make them more sparkly and to make the texture feel more alive. The sound of the instrument after processing doesn't necessarily have to be realistic, it just has to sound interesting! I also notice there are a few moments where you have a single sustained note right at the front of the mix. When you do this, it puts a large focus on the timbre of that instrument (& how it's accompaniment supports it), so it pays to spend a bit of extra time making sure those notes sound good. 0:59 is one of my favourite moments because it creates a very cool sounding texture.

Mixing orchestras is extremely hard, though I can tell you did a really good job already! I'm not qualified to give detailed advice about this, but I'm pretty sure the section starting at 0:24 has some clashing in the mid-low end that eq may be able to fix.

I'd also love to see you have focus on dynamics more at times, to make the piece feel extra dramatic. In your intro for example, you could have a slower attack & even change the order at which your instruments are introduced or automate an eq, to create a more varied and impactful swell.

As for my tinier nitpicks:

2:04 is also quite loud without any warning. I'd love it if you gave a more clear indication to the listener that the song was approaching a peak of intensity. The cymbals from 2:16 onwards follow a pattern after the first one, which makes those a bit more predictable & easy to follow. However, the contrast in loudness continues to be a bit distracting. I feel similarly about the cymbals around 0:32.

1:51 has some harsh clashing. It almost fits given the moment, but I think I might remove the first note of the melody from the synth, and put a focus on texture rather than harmony for this moment. (though the bass + mid end complements the cymbal here quite well)

In the end, the piece sounds of professional quality, fits its purpose, and has a few interesting surprises mixed in. Don't get the wrong idea from all this criticism, your piece was really good!

[Skeuomorph]

I know you sent me a wip of this before it was finished, but I still think it turned out super well !

My favourite section is 0:27, where the slow ambient part starts developing and the melodies work really well with the harmony.

As the piece develops towards 1:25 some of the melodies feel a bit stale and possibly out of key, and the rhythm gets a bit bland. I'd love to see you play with dynamics a bit more in the future, dynamics referring to the contrast between high intensity & low intensity sections. However it's really nice when the bass kicks in again at 2:03.

Your sound design in this piece really stood out as being awesome, however I think some eq touchups on the high & mid end could help make your synths extra sparkley & cut away the boring sounding frequencies! (which were pretty minimal tbh)

glotch responds:

thanks, it's been a while since i got such a detailed review :)

i'll use some of these tips in the future especially since you've now brought to the forefront some stuff i've had at the back of my mind for awhile (namely dynamic stuff and learning how to eq good)

thanks for the feedback and it was a pleasure working with you in this compo!

[The Drum Machine Is Possesed]

a little painful, but very cool nonetheless!

Quarl responds:

Let me guess, Audio Technica?