Zechnition's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Temple of Ri]

Aaaa, I wanted these to be done a lot sooner, but at long last it's finally here:
Official VGMC'21 Review~!
======================

Wow, what a feeling. Definitely very connected to the last piece. I love your choice of timbre in sounds, in particular that the samples around the beginning of the piece really feel like they're coming through a labyrinth of tunnels.

Similar to your first song, despite your sound effects being really cool sounding, I can't help but feel like the arrangement is missing a bit of detail. This time I think a good example is your synth sounds, which are a bit too pure. They feel like they're taking up too much space as well and become tiring to the ear. I liked the space that 0:41 gave and would've loved to see more of it around the middle of the piece. However, a change in timbre of this synth might also be something to consider.

In general your mixing in this piece was well done, except for moments like 2:41 which kinda wash over the rest of the sounds which results in some clashing. Sidechain compression or eq in this situation would help preserve the synth's details and make the mix cleaner.

And again, you did a really good job with the prompt. Love it!

ps: feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions (discord or ng) & we can chat more about your song!

PythonBlue responds:

Thanks again for the critiques. While I'm not sure I would describe the sounds I used as being pure, your point about dynamics is valid: I've always struggled with that balance, no thanks to starting out in the synthwave genre where people kept saying music is never loud enough. :P

Thanks again for the opportunity!

[The Lost City of Ri]

Aaaa, I wanted these to be done a lot sooner, but at long last it's finally here:
Official VGMC'21 Review~!
======================

First thoughts: I love the bells/chimes you're using; they give a mysterious feeling to the piece that sounds great. Also, the bass you're using for atmosphere accompanies it perfectly. I know I'm biased, but I just love the harp instrument you use around 1:00. It adds this timbre to the atmosphere that's very raw and grainy, yet a bit adventure-y. I also really liked how you approached the narrative, and I think your arrangement does a great job at capturing it.

One thing I noticed is that the melody from around 1:00 to 2:25 feels like its wandering a bit much. I can't really grab onto any melodies that it plays. I like what you do at 1:59 and 2:30 in order to add structure, however I would've liked more moments that stood out in a similar manner, but perhaps in a different way. Something like having the harp be a harmonic accompaniment to the bells for a bar or two, or having it play the same melody.

Your mixing was really good; all of the instruments feel like they have their own space in the arrangement yet feel cohesive. However, I think you might've been able to play with some subtle effects in addition to some layering to bring out more details in the instruments. The harp for example, despite being a super good fit for the arrangement, feels quite bland. If you look up some references on YouTube of people playing instruments such as the harp, you'll hear a lot of soft but interesting high frequency details that most electronic pieces lack. However, it is totally possible to get very close to this level of quality without paying for high quality sounds. For example, one might add a soft accordion and some FM bells playing at the same time as the harp, but quieter and with a bit more dynamic range to make up the details.

Great job all in all though! I'd say my concerns here are mostly minor ones.

ps: feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions (discord or ng) & we can chat more about your song!

PythonBlue responds:

First of all, thank you for getting back to me with feedback for the challenge. While I was getting concerned over the wait, I still feel it was necessary for me to participate in some ways, as I admit I've had a bit of a creative low lately.

That being said, your critiques for this composition are accepted, especially insofar as the melody getting lost a bit: I fully admit that I struggle to make memorable melodies in the first place, and with how rusty I've become, it seems to show here.

Also funny you mention frequencies for the harp: I did end up using a mutiband compressor for it because some lower frequencies ended up becoming way too loud due normally to the reverb algorithm I had used.

Thanks again for the feedback, and glad to be able to submit to this!

[Undersewers]

Aaaa, I wanted these to be done a lot sooner, but at long last it's finally here:
Official VGMC'21 Review~!
======================

Damn, this atmosphere feels super wide, you've done a great job with the stereo work. I also love that the glitchy texture falls to the background & is more of an undertone. Honestly, I can't pick out a sound that doesn't feel right at home. In particular, the knocking sounds (like at 1:03) were some of my favourite because they really pulled me into the scene. The contrast between the high glitchy trill at 0:21 and the one that's closer to white noise around 0:40 is great too! I also love the high pitched sound on the left side at ~0:33. It's subtle but it adds a pressure to the area that sounds great.

It's a bit unfortunate that there aren't any musical similarities between this track and your first piece Undertown, save thematically. It would've sounded really cool if you did something like slow down or paulstretch the dark string you were using before & give it a short section of the piece. Another possibility would be taking the harp / strumstick melody from before and playing it again, but slower and with more sinister intervals, maybe try to hit some tritones, or even go a little atonal >:)

The biggest thing to work on would be the mastering of the underlying "atmospheric static" in your piece. It feels like your textural effects are covered by a layer of static. If you did some subtle multiband sidechain compression where you bring down some of the clashing frequencies from the atmospheric static when something subtle like 0:22 comes along, I suspect it would help bring out the details of each sample.

However, I really did enjoy this piece so I would rate it a whole two and a half buckets of nuclear waste!

ps: feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions (discord or ng) & we can chat more about your song!

[Undertown]

Aaaa, I wanted these to be done a lot sooner, but at long last it's finally here:
Official VGMC'21 Review~!
======================

As first impressions, I'm loving the hard clicking timbre of the xylophone like at 0:08. The clicks really bring out the reverb, which adds to the cave's feeling. The strumstick / harp at 1:03 too! It's giving me serious adventuring vibes that I just love. Your melodic percussion around ~1:00 also adds some much needed space.

One thing I'm noticing is that your underlying string melody (0:00 to 0:55) feels like its role is halfway between building the atmosphere and trying to keep a strong rhythm going, but it doesn't commit to either. I would love it if you either slowed down that melody & added some soft sound effects (like soft wind blowing, soft synth pads, etc.) to create a powerful atmosphere, or went all in with movement & shortened the release / reverb tail of the dark string notes & added some orchestral percussion such as large drums to emphasize the strong beats.

And as for mixing, I think you used a bit too much reverb in general, as it starts getting muddy as the arrangement gets more complex (even though we *are* in a cave). In addition, the levels of some of your instruments are too quiet / loud at times which introduces some clashing. I'd play around with the EQ for your dark strings to make sure that your other instruments have room to breath & be expressive. 0:24 to 0:40 is a good example of the clashing, which gets remedied a bit when the brass (?) around 0:44 takes advantage of an emptier frequency range. I also really like how the harp melody around ~1:44 interacts, but it's too quiet and gets covered by the rest of the arrangement. As a rule of thumb, you usually want all unique melodies audible. Most of the time if they're too quiet then they'll just make things muddier rather than help create a compelling texture.

As for your narrative, you totally nailed the vibe! I could tell right away that you'd just entered a town (and a dangerous one at that).

All in all, I'd give this song a full glowing rock!

ps: feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions (discord or ng) & we can chat more about your song!

[Cave Siren]

This song does a lot of cool things, but I feel like some of the structural choices take away from the feeling that the song is trying to convey. Not that these choices are bad necessarily, but that they feel kinda half-hazard, one might even say structurally dissonant. One example is the chord progression and melody around 3:33.

In addition, I wish that you could've played with some of your melodies a bit more. Past about 2:00 the melodies tend to be relatively simple and they repeat a lot of times in sections which seem to be focusing on melodies. (playing with velocity of the piano notes & humanizing them a little would do wonders)

As for the sound design, I love how you were able to find a lot of great samples and integrate them really well. It really enhances the experience. However, the instrument design could do with a little more timbre, as they feel a bit dry. The pad at 1:10 is a good example of this. Adding a little automation to the timbre of the wave, or something to remove uniformity from the instrument would be lovely. There are also a few places where some painful frequencies manage to escape, such as 0:53 and 2:50.

In summary: great song, but never stop looking to improve!

Ziondiac responds:

Thanks for the feedback and vote

[AIM - Arctic Aurora]

Love the aesthetic, but would have liked to see you work on the sound design a bit more and structurally play with a few more musical ideas.

[AIM . Glimpse of God]

If this contest was about making a song that perfectly fit an image, I'm sure you'd win. Alas, there are a few things you could work on, such as playing with the dynamics of the droning bass to increase the diversity of the piece. After 3 minutes of the droning bass not changing, my ears started to get used to the texture, and it no longer felt special. One possible thing you could do is to add a section somewhere around the end where the tension of the piece starts increasing.

Would love to hear your work in the film industry one day!

LexRodent responds:

Thanks a lot mate ; That artwork it's so expressive on it's own, I was of afraid not being able to represent it with justice. Glad to know I did.
That's a great suggestion ; Maybe an automation to intensify the effect on the bass could help to keep it fresh all along the track.

Would love to make music for a short film in the future too.

[AIM - Artificial]

After re-listening to this, wow what unique sound design, but you absolutely pull it off. My one suggestion would be to look into tweaking the percussion at parts, as it feels like it's not really contributing to the overall atmosphere; the song might feel the same without it.

[AIM - Space Chaos]

Awesome sound design & rhythmic content! This track does a really good job at building an identity using a relatively small number of tools, and for being absolutely chaotic at times in a great way. I would have liked to see a more creative ending than a fadeout, perhaps by playing with the high energy seen in the rest of the piece, or by playing with some of the great instruments you made.

[AIM - Tranquility]

I have almost only praise for this song; the sound design is incredible, and at times it makes the simplest musical ideas feel fresh and complicated yet easy to listen to many times. However, it's a bit difficult to express what I feel is the main aspect to improve on. From a high level, the structure and melodies are good, but they could be great. I think there is a level of minimalism in the structure and design that is holding the piece back from being its full potential --a kind of very subtle same-y-ness feeling that covers the piece. This feeling might also be a byproduct of dissonance between the sound design and your choice of melodic structures. Hopefully these ramblings helped, and that you might have more insight into the song than me!

Absolutely lovely!