Free2Play's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Magnetic Substitute]

Wow really good usage of synths and chord progressions building to a nice sort of laid back beat.

I really don't have much to say, it was pretty nice to listen to.

Uh.... how did you make those cool synths? Did you program them yourself?

Uh...... What's your number? Can I make love to you?
I mean its not relevant but I have to put something in the review other than "yeah it was good"

Lethal-Input responds:

Lol thanks. I made all of the synths except the piano, flute-y thing and the violin that I had layered in at some parts. I used Nexus presets for those. I used Slyenth for the plucks and the synth that comes in at 0:07 I used sylenth as well. The rest I used Harmless on FL

[Elektrickz - Tricky Notes]

WHY IS IT ALL GOOD ARTIST TODAY!

Really sweet stuff here, I like your mixing and dynamic composition! You never left me bored during this song, you clearly were trying to make the whole thing exciting. Great change ups.

I also like your mixing with the dreams, what exactly did you do there? It's nice and think, and it compliments that thick bass well.

KEEP MAKING MUSIC!

Aleksander91 responds:

Thank you :D

[Dragon Ball Z - Cha​-​La Head​-​Cha​-​La RMX]

This was a really fun track!

The only complaint I think I can make was I think it needed an nice break or some sort of change up around the 2 minute mark. Something to make the ending where it goes back to the chorus feel more wanted.

It just kind of went on in that respect.

Besides that I thought you did a pretty good job with your synths, mixing, and all that jazz! Good stuff!

djahmusic responds:

Thank U :P

[Subconscious]

Sorry to knock you down a peg bro, but this is not like THE hottest thing I've heard.

I like that you have decent structure and you are utilizing different rhythms and loops well, chords, etc.

But a lot of the rhythms are kind of weird, and especially the samples and soundfonts are super unconvincing and don't play out well. It's especially jarring cause you have so many different qualities of samples and don't mesh them well. Like the chanting vocals is much better than the awful and I mean AWFUL piano samples. There's no velocity or articulation.

Also as this has kept playing you don't vary the beat almost at all.

Also the strings aren't utilized super well, there is a lot more to strings than just stacatto.

Ultimately it's clearly you've learned some stuff but there's a lot lacking in how you mix and use your samples and sounds. You want maybe more reverb or distance for a beat like this using what is supposed to be REAL instruments. It feels like a stock phone ringtone or something like that. It needs more mixing, processing, better samples and soundfonts, all that good stuff.

I want to stress though, that at one point I was just like you. I was not very good, but trust me if you just keep an open mind and learn you can go very far. (just look at my first song on here and then my last).

TheSubfrost responds:

Thanks for the criticism. All of your points are very helpful.

[Up to the Sky]

I am so glad I found you lol. Super cool stuff!

sandordude responds:

Hehe thanks.

[Audio Collage]

Wow dude! You make some interesting sounds! Do you program your synths yourself? Also where did you learn so many cool electronic production techniques? I'm a big fun of the second song and it's really deep kick and feel. Does that come from the sampling or some kind of mixing?

sandordude responds:

Well, I use presets and from time to time I design my own 3xOsc or (really basic - like reeeally basic) Harmor stuff. Thanks a lot! ;D Yeah the second song is one of my most professional ones (but I never manage to finish songs because I have some problem structuring and doing transitions, I really can't get any further and that's where I am currently on a song I'm working on). I learned to EQ the kick with a tutorial... I think it was fruity Limiter... a highpass, lowpass etc., like 3 Bass drum samples each with 3 different frequency intensities. I learned everything looking it up on the internet and it takes A LOT of time to do all this stuff.
Thanks again!

[8-bit Rampage]

So while neat usage of 8-bit stuff and I liked the constant change of pace that kind of made me think I'm watching like a crazy Nintendo cutscene from Ninja Gaiden, something about this song is unpleasant. There's a way to write darker, or atonal songs, but this is just not it to me. It's very lacking in harmonic structure which just makes it sound unpleasant, and since it's only 8-bit sounds its more like listening to an angry robot.

I think if you tried to using like a minor or darker key, and still had some kind of chord structure it would come across with more emotion. This just comes across kind of hard to listen to cause its so cluttered and imprecise.

Keep trying buddy!

Draconis256 responds:

Thanks man! I'll keep that in mind!

[Bass Drum]

Okay, so I really appreciate that you actually took your beat and tried to vary it a bit rather than doing the same thing forever. You clearly did what you liked, but it's also unfortunately clear you don't know the power of fruity loops and knowledge base required.

So besides the one good thing everything is not so hot, you clearly should check out something like warbeats.com or even just youtube stuff about fruity loops (FL studio guru is from the image-line crew). Also, and not to be a whore, you can check out my music! I use FL studio 10 myself and I love their work, its why I stick with Image Line! So yeah, go and learn more and make even cooler music!

Ultimatepalmtree3 responds:

Thank you for the feedback, it's really appreciated and it means a lot.

I accept that I still have a lot to learn about Fruit Loops and I am always trying to improve. I will definitely be looking up things on YouTube or any other useful website so as to improve and I'll be sure to check out some of your tracks also :)

I'm still quite new to Fruit Loops and I love sitting down and just creating things I like, but I will take in your advice and (hopefully!!!) come back with better music in the future.

[XS - BioDome]

Have to admit this was pretty cool. The beginning scared me cause it sounded like it could become a bad sample song from a newbie, but I was happily surprised.

I really like your glitch effects really well used and gives it quite a bit of style!

My biggest issue has to be with some of the samples and sounds. I think with some processing or better samples you could give a lot of flavor to your sound, see like old hip hop songs. Maybe use some unique versions of instruments and samples not just the basics to give it a cool feel, like grainy or vinyl drums samples or piano samples. I think more grit would go more for the style I think you're trying to do. Look around for some tutorials on making more interesting sounds!

Jimmypig responds:

Yes! That's exactly what I want, grain chopped sounding samples like old hip hop, but I really don't know where to start with that. Samples are my weakness.

[Your Treasure?]

So I like your composition because it does have a sort of relaxing or melodic/nighttime feel. If you were going for that then good job.

But, unfortunately I don't know what's going on with your mixing. It could be a stylistic choice but it's all very broken sounding and not in an intentional way. It's so distorted and ugly, which doesn't mesh well with the calming tone. I can't really tell if this was stylistic or if you are just inexperienced (which don't feel bad mixing is super hard to really learn, it's just knowing your tools and having good ears). The ducking from the kick drum and hard to hear additional synths makes me think it was an accident.

In general its never good to wonder if someone's track is accidentally sounding bad, so good job with the composition part but the production skill is lacking or just not well executed.

OiPriPri responds:

Broken sounding being the style choice good friend, I put a lo-fi filter on it and the track was deffzinitly chilzz. Do you think I should remove the lo-fi filter? I thought it gave an 8-bit feel.

I could actually just submit a version without the lo-fi filters. They're super easy to get rid of. :)