Kwing's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[To The Clouds]

The wind instruments sound amazing here (especially at 1:02) and I'm really digging the trills. Vocals also sound great - together they produce a really tribal sound. If there's any critique I can make here it's that it sounds like the song is building up to something big, whether it's louder or faster or both. This isn't bad in and of itself, except that the listener never really gets that payoff (and I was REALLY looking forward for the drums to kick in the door, guns blazing and start pounding away.)

Overall outstanding piece, but doesn't really resolve.

etherealwinds responds:

Hey Kwing, thanks for the review!
Now that I've not been listening to the track non-stop while working on the track all last evening, I'd be inclined to agree with you. This obviously isn't a pure orchestral track, but it's the most I've worked with orchestral elements before and having an awareness of exactly how far I should push the climax for it to give you that really satisfying feeling is a skill I shall be actively practising. I was always a bit afraid of the intricacies of orchestral composition but I think it's something I could definitely try my hand at.

Thank you for the solid advice! I'll definitely be going back to this track and building on it even further (if my poor laptop will allow me to open the FL studio project anymore!) :D

[Apocalypse]

I feel like this is as much ambient as it is dubstep, ode to how moody it is and the use of an air raid siren. Much as I like this, a few notes here and there seemed out of place and seemed to interrupt the somber tone of the song. Some of the sounds you used (eg. the drop at 1:54 and drums at 2:48) were either underwhelming or just felt inappropriate within the context of the whole song. The ending is mixed perfectly though, really love the siren and the fade out.

[Emotion Creator]

Metal is my thing but synth isn't. Hopefully those biases cancel out and I'll give a good vote.

First off all, the fake 7/8 riff (count 7 then count 9) does a phenomenal job of building tension. I'm sure you just wrote it as 4/4, but it's pulled off very convincingly to great a galloping feel, while the "real" 4/4 signature keeps things feeling nice and smooth. Guitar solo is also a big plus.

The main negative? Repetition. You seem to know which melody is the most compelling because you reuse it an awful lot. Which is nice and dandy, except that it does too much work in carrying the piece. Some of your other sections just aren't that interesting, but continually going back to the same few measures prevents the song from really progressing.

MisledSatellite responds:

Thank you for the review)

[Unraveling the Mask]

The waltz rhythm is way too heavy, to the point of it really dominating the piece rhythmically. Meanwhile the melody and harmony are both fairly predictable. Compositionally you're following all the rules, but I think that's what ultimately brings this piece down - it's not adventurous at all and sounds more like classical music tropes than classical music.

[Forever Jazz]

This is MIDI music???

There is some seriously incredible composition going on here. So many musicians on this site neglect the instruments you're working with, but you really went above and beyond to include complex solos and have your different instruments synergize really, REALLY well. The drums at 0:56 - 1:17 are INSANE.

As far as criticism, I think you've hit a ceiling with respect to how far MIDI music can take you. The quality isn't bad, but for the level at which you're composing it's a pretty clear straggler. I also noticed some jazz cliches or weird transitions at 0:35, 2:00, and 2:35. Very minor gripes.

AzulJazz responds:

thank you so much friend!!

[ALESDA! - Wake Up]

The melodies and layering are nice, but there's very little in terms of rhythmic complexity here - the whole thing just kind of chugs along from start to finish with no breaks. Yes, there is some ebb and flow in terms of volume, but without any real syncopation this song is missing a certain amount of texture.

Now short of that, this sounds pretty great. Mixing is generally pretty tight, melody is compelling, and the tone is uplifting.

[Dragon Slayer]

Interesting listen. I like the mood, but some of the compositional elements make the tone feel somewhat inconsistent (is this supposed to be in major or minor key??) What I noticed a lot were a lot of weird and unpredictable twists in the melodies, which is great, but would feel more at home if there were some more predictable variants and the riffs you currently have were your B sections instead. What you have now seems like it's a confused half-breed of power metal and progressive, which isn't bad except that some (not all) parts feel a little awkward and your transitions aren't great. The quiet chugging sections also feel kind of pointless - I don't feel like they're really building to the more energetic parts.

Hope this isn't too critical of a review - I actually really liked this piece (2:55 - 3:38 sounded more like a jam session than a song but holy shit it sounds amazing.) There's just a couple hiccups here and there standing in the way of this being outstanding.

350teric responds:

The compositional approach is instinctual rather than reasonable. Therefore at some points it follows some rules and in other it does not. The rules in composition are made subjectively by the author. So, I hope this gives an answers to the mentioned unjustified discrepancies - "hiccups" with the conventional approach. Thank you for the review! :)

[Felix Zophar - Vapor]

I really wasn't a fan of the sounds you picked out for most of this track - a lot of the synth sounded flat-out corny to me and the percussion wasn't doing it for me either. The melodies were generally okay but sometimes sounded kind of awkward and didn't seem to go anywhere.

FelixZophar responds:

Okay... Well, I'm a fan of it. I give it a sticker! A smelly sticker!

[BREAKING THRU]

Wow, I was not expecting to review a pop song in this competition. Interesting. The first thing I noticed was that you didn't compress the audio into oblivion here, which makes some of the subtler elements still audible - this is appreciated. There are a lot of cliches here (trap samples, lyrics, Autotune,) but the reserved tone that comes as a result of mixing (as well as the snapping during some parts) add a bit of original flavor. Production is tight and the vocals sound good, but most of the musical ideas here are bordering on vapid. Also your ending is really awkward and sudden.

xxxZigZagxxx responds:

Thank you for your comments, Kwing! I aim for catchy pop with a slightly melancholic and soulful twist. The autotune I'll need to work on making less obvious. The vocalist wasn't too confident so I plan on rerecording that with another vocalist and keeping the original rap intact. I do adore a lot of pop cliches but with a melancholic twist. But I agree that the ending is awkward and I plan to change that. Again, thank you so much! <3

[Just Another life]

Let me start by saying I absolutely LOVE the musical themes here. That said, I feel like this song suffered death by a thousand cuts in tiny things that just felt off or awkward. The drums felt kind of stiff and redundant and something about the mixing on the guitar sounded muddy to me (same for the drums at 3:03.) Melodically, everything up until the 2:03 mark sounded great, but the transition into the next part seemed graceless to me, and I really wanted the riff at 2:31 to incorporate something different from its first permutation (in general, while the riffs were great I wasn't happy with the level of repetition.) And to top it all off, the studio fade at the end just felt like a REALLY hasty conclusion.

Style and mood-wise, this is the song closest to my own preferences that I've had to judge this round, which is probably why everything I didn't like was so immediately apparent to me. On the plus side, this is EXACTLY the kind of music I want for Kabel's soundtrack, so if you want maybe we can work together in the future!

XxCowMeatxX responds:

Thank you so much for this detailed and thought out review. Even though i have been a musician for a long time i have only recently learned how to mix and record properly. In my eyes i am still pretty bad at it and i think it shows. This is something i try to improve on daily. I am going to take everything you said and work on all those little things.

Thank you for the awesome review! \m/

p.s. I would love to work with you in the future.