Free2Play's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Telephantism (Demo)]

This is really really bad. The mixing is incredibly muddy where I can barely tell how many instruments are playing there's just noise. All the instruments are incredibly fake and are not only not convincing but just sound bad. That soloy guitar sounds more like an 8-bit Nintendo synth.

The only upside to me is that it is apparent that you are trying some composition, but that being said its not really amazing. Its very random and never seems to return to the same thing or have any stucture.

I'd just recommend checking out other heavy metal artists on here and see how good you can get.

Keep making music man!

Chris354 responds:

About the mixing being muddy - that can change once the vocals are added.

As for the Instruments - I have to work with what I got, and unfortunately you managed to point out a fallacy that is hard to fix on a tight budget - lack of equipment. On the solos themselves - I can mess with the velocity a little bit as well as the type, but don't know if I can get a good mix without that synth coming through.

As for the structure - again, falls back to the vocals being missing. Also - some of the structure is well hidden - might cause you to think there's not, but there is lots more to it than you think - probably a bad mixing issue between the solos and the rhythm areas. Again, will look into that when the vocals are added. Also - check the drum rounds, they can give a clue as to what is going on structure wise. The third chorus is to setup the outro of the song...

Thanks for the heads up on the mixing issue.

[Afterthought (Completed WIP)]

Wow dude I really did not expect you to do this so well!

I was going to criticize the use of Half-life 2 sounds since its not the most original idea, but once the chorus came in it hit me that this song would work perfectly in Half-Life 2. It has just the right amount of build, chorus, and falling to work perfectly in an action sequence in Half Life 2.

I will say the sounds a re used a little much, the beginning is great but the the song really needed a bit of a break at some point.

Besides that I really like your finished song.

MrBigglesworthMusic responds:

Thanks! I kinda chucked the half life samples for shits and giggles and ended up liking them, and I can't really do much else with the bassline, it's a manipulated arpreggio from my minibrute. In hindsight recording the patch a little more would've been smart, but I never thought it'd be a full song sooo, yeah

[ReBirth -Rec43]

There's nothign wrong with using stock sounds, but this is the defaultiest of the default sounds used in about the way I'd expect anyone to use them. So I guess the sound just wasn't interesting me since I had really heard it all before lol.

I do like some of the synths as well but I know those are just like sytrus or some vst's preset for 303 and acid.

The mixing is alright though like that guy said. Though I think somewhere in the mid-highs its a little loud.

I guess my biggest problem with this song is that it doesn't sound very unique at all to me. If it had a really kickin' composition then it'd be fine, but that was pretty standard as well.

Keep making music man!

SlaughterClub responds:

i know what you mean this took 5mins to make program & record live. i only could be bothered to program one acid pattern one beat them the rest was presets on rebirth tb338 just made for fun real quick .. thanks for stopping by tho peace ;-0

[Capital]

Something about this makes me like this more than most of the less experienced songs I've heard, I think it's that it sounds pretty unique and decently well written.

But I have to say a lot of problems in the song stem from the mixing and mastering, the bass kick has a tail that's too long and the low frequencies are too high on it so it creates a lot of ducking everytime it hits.

Also the arpy synth thing that pops up in the middle of the song and continues to the end really should've panned to the left or right at some point because it takes up too much space in the middle when the chorus comes back in.

I also wasn't a fan of that clicking noise? Like I don't know what that is, is that a cymbal hi-hat thing? Either way I think you could've done without it or replaced it with like a bongo or congo drum or something.

Anyways I do like this song and I voted it a 4, it actually has a pretty cool sound but your production skills gotta go up to make people go like "woah holy crap balls I want to hear this all the time".

Keep making music good madam or sir!

Qvarcos responds:

Thanks for the helpful review, I do my best, I'll reupload the song with the panning. Thanks for mentioning it :) I'm having a hard time mastering by the way. Someone should really help me with that.

[Paralyzed]

Hey you're living my dream! You got your music used in a stellar game on Newgrounds!

Seriously great song though, I actually used to listen to you then when I played Genesis I was like "is that BaMSuKkA?" Sure enough it was. Can't forget that amazing ambient guitar sound.

SensoryDecay responds:

I really appreciate it man. I'll try to stay out of your dreams and into my own from now on =P

[Life without God]

I really want to rate this a full on 5, but there's something missing. Its really phenomenal what you've got so far but it needs a little more.

Maybe it needs even the most subtle hint of instruments other than you vocals and the strings. Like a soloing trumpet, or percussion, or something somber to go with the solemn theme? This sounds like the absolute bones of a song, not really the whole shebang.

But what you've got so far I really like! I would love to hear a more fleshed out version!

Keep making music good sir/madam! Although I assume sir from the voice!

NGXmusical responds:

Thanks man.ya the voice is by me.I've put up a new version based on you comment.Not sure if it works but here it is

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/582085

[[WIP] Afterthought]

Good job man! Since dubstep is so popular I was honestly expecting this WIP to be just crappy badly mixed nonsense.

I really like your variation on the drums and how often you change up the bass at least a little. It all works out to make a catchy 1min beat!

This definitely sounds like it could be a chorus to a song IMO, so the rest of the song should be more tame or soloed out for a full like 3-4 minute song and loop back to the chorus 2 or 3 times. Just my opinion.

Keep making music man!

MrBigglesworthMusic responds:

Thanks man, and yeah this part is the chorus, right now I'm working on the structure

[Labyrinths]

Your track worked great for Remnants, and I really think it shows a good sense of interesting ambience and atmosphere!

Keep making music man!

eatmeatleet responds:

yess I will ! tnx <3

[Ker Blam]

This is pretty sweet, but I will say something about the mixing and mastering. It feels a little hollow in the middle I think. I mean if you were high, I can't blame you too much. But just a thought lol.

Xtrullor responds:

The wonky mixing is caused by doing it with headphones from the ground up and later moving to actual speaker monitors. Goddamn Sennheisers, lying me about the mids all the time.

[.through the rabbit hole.]

As far as an ambient track goes this is pretty sweet. I like how it gives off a particular mystical but creepy feel. I especially like how you did what most ambient artists don't and actually change up the chords and stuff half way through the song. That can really make a song go from eh to sweet, because 3 minutes of the same thing gets dull.

Keep making music dude!

MeatAnalogue responds:

Thanks I'm glad you like it! Yeah, as much as the game has a prominent theme of repetition, I didn't want the repetition in the music to get to the point where the music becomes unenjoyable. All of the songs in the soundtrack follow this basic structure of one half of the song establishing one idea, and then the next half doing something else - which is meant as a call to the character's emotional transformation.

The way I see it working in-game is that as the song goes on, the player will slowly let it sit in the background of their attention, and then when the change happens it calls to them again.

And I'll definitely keep making tunes as long as people keep listening to them :)