Kwing's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Preheat]

I like the sounds and different tracks here, but they sound kind of awkward together. I can't tell if it's the timing or what, but it sounds like a bunch of good instruments were stuck together with Scotch tape. The part at 2:10 feels especially awkward, probably because one of the samples is cutting the other off.

[dontwannagohome]

I'm really not sure what to say about this one. I like beatboxing but there just isn't much variety here. When you have all the tools of your software at your disposal, I really don't recommend improvising to go up against people that are using their full creative arsenal, and that's definitely going to hurt you. Aside from the different sounds not being terribly diverse, your mic quality just isn't up to snuff. A few mixing techniques could have fixed these but it sounds like your hardware might be the real limiting factor.

[Jeffbeard - The Other Thing]

I'm not sure what to say about this. It's mostly the same note droning for two minutes with little variation, and it's hard to describe that sound as anything other than annoying.

[Home]

Aside from a vaguely sad and relaxing tone, I didn't get much out of this. Just clicking at random points in the song I can mostly expect to hear the same thing no matter where I click.

[Charmer's Concoction (Bass Remix)]

Holy crap this is long.

If there's anything I can say about this song, it's that it's fast-paced and suspenseful. Listening to it gave me an intense urge to play Cubefield, though both driving games and chase sequences (maybe a parkour montage?) would suit this track very well.

All things considered this is repetitive, but the droning style of this track doesn't really demand variation - more like it sets a mood and sticks with it, similar to most video game music.

[Relax - JasLand]

With this only being a minute and a half, I feel like the only thing worth talking about is the drop, since it acts as the centerpiece for this track. From the beginning I felt as though the keys were a little loud considering the melodic tone seemed a little somber to begin with. Then the drop really isn't much louder than the buildup, which doesn't make it feel very impactful. Not much else to talk about - after the drop the music just sort of runs its course and stops.

[The Seven Heavens - HalfEvil333.com]

Boom bap is my weakness, and you really hit the mark here. Not sure why you listed this as video game music - this sounds like straight up hip hop to me. What I like about this there's no smoke-and-mirrors soundscape to make this sound overly complex, yet the orchestral, hip-hop, and techno elements all fuse together and contribute something truly unique to the greater whole.

Two nitpicks - one, it felt like the track started dragging its feet by last minute or so, mainly recycling old ideas. Two, some of the sadder orchestral parts, while interesting, felt kind of inappropriate given the epic/cinematic feel of the rest of the song, and you didn't really do anything to make that transition sound or feel logical.

HalfEvil333DB responds:

Thank you for the feedback. The end was really hard for me on this song, I couldn't figure out why. I changed it a few times until it felt more balanced. And yeah I agree I will most likely change the listing to hip hop. Thanks again, I am glad you liked it.

[Be Dancin' (Extended Cut)]

I'm not sure if it's that there are too many layers here or that they're mixed improperly, but even though it sounds like there's a harmony for certain parts here, it's kind of hard to decipher what's going on in it. The only thing that's consistently audible from start to finish is the drum, which is pretty consistent and not all that interesting. I finished listening to this and didn't feel like there was much anticipation to hold my interest aside from the first minute or so.

[Fyoriosity - Musicboxmaniacs (G4CE'sz Remix)]

Hopefully review this isn't too biased (I really don't like trap.) I found this pretty underwhelming. The synth had some unsettling/discordant melodies that I liked a lot, but the beat itself stayed upbeat enough that it didn't seem like this track had a very decisive mood. I might have preferred if the tone had gone full horrorcore for the sake of being more distinct. More importantly, the individual parts were nice, but repeated a little too much, especially the really long stretch of just drums from 1:13 - 1:36.

[Fortuna]

It doesn't sound bad, per se, but a lot of this just doesn't make sense. Like you have some sort of buildup going on at the one minute mark and then at 1:12 it just kind of stops without any kind of payoff. Same with 2:26. Like I'm all for dynamics, but the transition just feels weird.

Some of the synth later in the song sounds like it would be right at home in a puzzle game, which is neat (Breach 2 by FreeAsANerd has a very similar sound.)

Fynzyme responds:

Thanks for the feedback, I see what you mean and I admit I'm not great with dynamics, especially breakdowns.