Kwing's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Makuta - Collision]

... Dude what? The majority of the instruments here are in different keys, and not in that intentional bitonal way. The individual parts actually sound quite nice, but I'm at a complete loss as to how you could combine them into this and overlook how horribly they clash.

MakutaMiner responds:

Until recently I had no understanding of music theory. Now, I have good plugins and synths, and most importantly, have a base understanding of music theory. My newer songs (currently uploading them) are waaaaaaayyy better...

[Sea Drift]

Not a whole lot going on here, but as a background piece it's not bad. I could imagine this in a game where you're exploring a town or otherwise not in combat. A few points off by virtue of this not being very complex.

KnockVoltage responds:

Thanks for the feedback

[The Visions in 140]

I wasn't a big fan of this. There's really no progression at all. A couple phrases here and there are kind of catchy, but it's more like you can just bob your head to a groove for 20 seconds before the song randomly goes somewhere else.

Katnip18 responds:

True, it's an unconventional track. Wasn't meant for dance/radio but it was more experimental with a dim electronic sound. Appreciate the feedback though.

[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.

[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.

[FC - Doomsday Protocol]

I liked this a lot. The sound is really bold and punchy and pulls you in almost instantly. The samples are also well-selected in my opinion. The only thing I didn't like was that the quiet parts felt kind of boring, like they were built around the drops rather than actually building up toward them. Though seeing as that really isn't the focus of this track anyway, it's not as though it takes away that much from the final product.

FractureClutter responds:

Thanks, glad you like it!
I wanted to give this song like some actual melody, not just buildup1>drop1>buildup2>drop2. Still a lot of things to improve in my stlyle tho

[Pixel Planet]

This works as a soundscape more than as a piece of music. Nothing about this is super attention-grabbing, but this would be very effective as a piece of background music due to how quiet and inoffensive it is.

Equinaga responds:

Hey! Thanks for your reply! When I was making this, I was reading up on ambient video game type music so that is honestly the type of comment i was looking for.

[Trip to Egypt]

The main loop you're playing with didn't feel great to begin with - I tired of it within about 20 seconds, but reusing it for most of the track was a pretty big mistake. The little variations you tacked on top of it weren't very effective either.

DustifiedGD responds:

I'm sorry, but you basically described every single house song on earth. A repeated melody with different variations and two different drops. Now I agree that the second drop could have been longer but still, I don't think that you listened to the whole track and maybe before you go ahead and rate two stars and criticize me for making a regular house track you should at least consider what house songs are like in general. Remember that for next time you leave a review on a song.

[Big City]

It hurts to dock your score because I'm really digging the sound (huge fan of both the solo and the chugging guitar,) but there are some problems with this.

Most of the issues have to do with the vocalist. He's not bad, per se, but he's slightly off beat sometimes, and the delivery doesn't fit - it's too quiet and passive for how aggressive the guitars are, and really only sounds good during the downtempo bridge at the 3:00 mark. Short of that, the riffs did get vaguely repetitive and I remember one or two instances where it seemed like a perfect opportunity to squeeze in different melodies but you didn't.

dude2312 responds:

Hey, man. No worries, I definitely appreciate any feedback. I play all instruments on all of my songs. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

Thank you for checking me out!

[Into Darkness]

I'm generally a fan of discordant sounding things, but they have to make a bit more sense, and it doesn't feel like this does. The melodies you're playing with feel kind of unimaginative and at times awkward.

Synfang responds:

Okay. I'll try to work on that. Thanks for the feedback!