SkelaNG's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Orchestral Cover - Final Fantasy IX Battle Theme]

I was sent here by the thread @davithetankman posted in the audio forums, so I figured I'd drop a review. Overall, not bad mixing, not bad orchestration, No complaints there, it's a cover so I won't comment on composition. What I -will- comment on is the disturbing lack of an original content bank for you as an artist. You -will not- survive just doing covers. I noticed a 3 song original soundtrack on your youtube page, if that was yours you have some stepping up to do. Expand, learn more, do much more original work, your derivative work should -not- overshadow your own work in such the way it does now, especially in this genre, where composition has become so incredibly important, ESPECIALLY in this time period for this genre, when the orchestra is at your fingertips, the bar is raised, chase it, catch it, raise it higher.

OC-DC responds:

(first of all my english sucks, I hope you will understand what I say below, if not don't hesitate to ask me to explain myself more :) )

First :Thank you for your feedback! I'm happy to receive this kind of comment, I need it to improve myself a lot!
I understand what you mean, but at the moment I'm actually working on original music a lot more than before. It's just that one of my project is to do an original album and to release it only when it's done. So yeah, at the moment there is only covers, but I love to do these. It's a very good exercise for me in many ways (arrangements, mixing, etc) where I don't have to think too much about composition. So don't worry, there will definitively be some original content very soon and an album in the future (can't really tell when at the moment), the covers I do aren't overshadowing my others compositions but it's understandable you felt that way since I don't really post anything original these times.
Thanks again for your feedback!

[Frozen Fields]

You did an okay job with the mix, to the point I didn't have to turn it down to bear it. I'm impressed by your usage of the stereo field to make instruments audible when they share frequency ranges, that art is usually lost on soundtrack/vgame style musicians. I like your song structure, the way it's almost entirely progressive, but you need some more -breaking- parts so it's not simply progression that saves it, something fresh.

ILG924 responds:

I do try and keep a clean stereo field without having everything too wide, and I tried my best to keep it fairly level throughout, so it's good to know you didn't have to change the volume at all.

Since VG music has a variety of genres, I don't really pay attention to song structure. Progressive music is one of my favorite genres, so I'm really only focused on the melodies. My stuff probably has more of a pop structure because of how short my songs are and how I repeat melodies; I'd like to focus on a single idea to mix before I go making long progressive style songs (I've tried a few times before, it never really worked)
By "breaking parts," do you mean a change in tempo? I'll admit I have trouble thinking of different progressions without some kind of lead melody going on, but I try to keep a consistent rhythm for this style of music.

Thanks SkelaNG, I appreciate your reviews

[Ambiotica]

Very nicely done, and quite different from the harsh attacks that I would've put on it, much less "stompy" feel than I envisioned initially. The name of the track was "Room 11" in reference to the time signature, 11/4. I love what you did with it, I hope you like what I'm doing with yours.

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

Nice catch. The smoothness and change in attack is intentional. I wanted to go for a softer feel, as I made this into a semi-loop. That way, it can melt in to the background a bit more I feel, and can take more replays before it starts to annoy a player. I didn't view this track as a standalone piece, which is why I kinda realized it in a more bgm kinda way :)
Oh, yeah! I did read that name before, I just forgot it XD

Great to hear that you like my rendition of your track! I'm sure I'll thoroughly enjoy what you're doing to mine, no matter which direction you take it in ;)

[~Echo~ Dead (Intro)]

Ditch the Monstercat kick because it sounds like utter shit, it's overbearing as hell. Maybe add more layers to that gated pad at 0:34, some multivoice movement so it's more encompassing than wandering. Other than that it's coming along quite well, excited to hear where you go with it.

aliaspharow responds:

... :D

[Catch me rolling]

Stolen, this is Miqu's mashup of Pac's Catch Me Rollin' and a beat by Allrounda Productions.

FnPig responds:

You know what else Is gunna be a mash up? When I MASH your mom UP in her face with diz nuts boy.

[BurgeraX: Target Locked [Drumstep]]

You've got a long way to go where mixing and sound design are concerned. Maybe try starting from specific packs of presets and learn what waveforms and methods create what kinds of sounds. Research music theory, it'll help, especially with dubstep/drumstep and bass oriented genres. You need focus and impact. Keep going man.

EruptionMusic responds:

ok note taken. Thanks for the advice ill look int that

[Ian Kayell - Konnection (The Bond) (Original Mix)]

Keep that percussion where it's at mate, I see too often people over time overcompressing and overgaining their percussion until they end up with a mess just as bad as Monstercat or Spinninrecords. The bassline is beautiful, it's not overpowering and it's not too far back, and you can still focus on all the wonderful soundscape work around it. The only thing I'd suggest as far as future projects is play around with structure a bit more, you have the kind of style that could easily go 7-10 minutes without seeming repetitive. Good job, keep on!

D-Chain responds:

Thanks Skela!
I will try my best to put all the goodies you mentioned into the next project of trancyness.
As far as I know, most people dont really know how to keep their percussion tight and loose while still maintaining the perfect mixing.
I shall now try ending the nonesense im speaking of because I have more things to do.
See you later.

[Boss battle]

Excellent, exciting and it stays interesting. The only thing I'd say is maybe use a different instrument for that lower bassline of yours, something that holds up the rest of the track in a stronger way, but that's personal preference. Good work, keep at it.

ILG924 responds:

I'd have to play around with the bass a little more, that was probably the instrument that I spent the least amount of time on. I think I know what you mean, the lower notes lack a little bit of power. Since this is kind of mimicking an old SNES/PS1 sound, that's to be expected with the VST I was using.
I do agree though, I'll see if I can mix a cooler sounding bass into my next song. I also need to practice writing some more interesting basslines, so a clean sounding bass can only help
Thanks for the review!

[Aurore]

The "finger snap" percussion around 1:30 kinda kills the vibe for me(even thought it feels fine at 3:10 or so, I don't know why), I think you need to work in some more complicated, softer percussion, and maybe sink the vocals into the atmosphere a bit more, keep the space defined as what you had it in the beginning but still develop it, if you know what I mean?
Either way, I'll be watching you for more, keep doing what you do, good luck.

adieuwinter responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I'll see what I can do.

[B7 - Doom Tribute WiP]

The thing I was thinking most listening to this was "this could use some better mixing" and when I noticed that you said you used LandR, I know why. It might be a cheap alternative to hiring a mix engineer or a time alternative mixing on your own, but you're getting what you pay for, and in some cases especially with the free version, it might sound even worse than if you just took a blind stab at mixing it yourself. In any case, performance wise, it's incredible.

Burn7 responds:

You know, you're 100% right about LandR. I DEFINITELY used it as a quick fix for mixing because normally mixing something takes me about 8-10 hours on a 3 to 5 minute song. And since this has a few different dynamic ranges I wanted to see how LandR would handle it. I was pleasantly surprised with what it gave me, even though it is definitely muddled in some ranges. So thank you deeply for your 2 cents, they are definitely counted and add to my overall "things to consider" fund.

When I have the final version completely recorded and I don't have to worry about structuring things anymore then I will spend a good amount of time personally mixing and mastering this track. I actually wasn't going to do a full mix, just minor tweaks and let LandR do the rest. But since you brought attention to it and since it has actually been bubbling on my mind for a little while I can now say that's definitely the plan for the endgame.

This all being said, thank you kindly for your time and review. And I'm glad you liked the song!

Thanks a lot!