EctiBot's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Electron Storm WIP]

Interesting piece this. Since youve made such a nice list of what you want to know, I'll just go through it one by one.

First of all, I think the sample that stood the most out for me was around 0:42 where there are people screaming. Really helps add to the mood of the song.

Second, the progression that starts around 1:10 was a bit too repetetive for my liking, you do really well to try to mix it up by adding melodies and changing the octaves here and there, but the most important thing to make a section in a song like this not sound too samey, is to switch up the drums. You had the same drumline for a very long time, and that makes me care less about what you do with the melodies and concentrate more on the drums. Try changing the drums up here and there. I'll leave it up to you what to do, but the drumbeat is something that really needs to be well thought through in a song like this.

Third, I don't really haveany problem with the volume of the samples, though I do think that the voice could be put down a couple of decibles. One thing I think you should do though is to eq the voice a bit, and cut out a couple of the bad frequencies. The mic you use is decent, but it stil generates bad frequencies that needs to be removed. These frequencies are generally the very highest and the very lowest parts, but there might be some frequencies in the middle that needs to be cut.
Eq'ing of synths and vocals are important, and I would advice you too use at least a couple of hours learning how to eq vocals.

Fourth, the overall composition does NOT make sense actually, but I don't mean that in a bad. It's the same way I look at some types of dubstep. It doesn't make sense, but I kinda like it because it makes no sense. I wouldn't think too much about making music that makes sense, but rather make music that YOU enjoy.

The intro is interesting, but I do miss osme percussion and sound effects to build the suspense. Think it would really good if you could find a sample of those drums they use in those classical music bands and use it to make a cool, improvised drum roll :). As for the ending, it was pretty stale. What comes after 2:10 is not really enjoyable to listen to because you pulled out the chords too early. I would have left the chords in until the end, and then done 4 or 8 bars without them, and then a crash or a downlifter at the end. Only how I do it though.

Fifth, your use of filters is pretty interesting, though try not making your filter automations "constant". By that I mean that don't make the cutoff increase with the same amount throughout the automation, but add a curve on it so that the cutoff increases slowly at the beginning and quickly at the end. This makes your automation sound much cooler, and it really helps with the dynamics of the track,

Sixth, My keywords to you are eq'ing, scales and drum variation. The reason why I mention scales is because I feel like you could have experimented much more with this song if you play around with the notes in the scale you are using. A quick youtube search will usually give you a much better idea of how to do this than me explaining it, but you could always send me a pm if there is anything you wonder about.

Overall an interesting track with good ideas, but can be done better.

-Ecticity
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[Pixel Reindeers]

Interesting track Spit. You have some really good ideas for melodies in this. It's a bit messy at times, but that kinda adds to it's charm. The eq has become better since your last track I reviewed, but I still think that the kick and snare conflicts with the synth. The synths them selves conflict with eachother as well at times. Try listening to the different parts in your song one at the time and mute everything except the kick. Then you gradually unmute channels one at a time. This way you can more easily hear which synth is causing eq problems and which channel is making your mix messy. It's been a great tool for me.

Overall a very interesting song with good ideas.

-Ecticity
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[[Tsets] - Piano Bliss]

This is going to be one of the few songs I'm actually going to favourite. Not because it's perfect, but because the ideas are pure genius. The sounding of the piano could have been better. Personally I would have used stereo separation to open it up a bit, but basically my problem with is is that it sounds a bit too stale.
Other than that I think your song is amazing. You are one of the people I've seen on here, including myself, that are able to utilise tempo modulation in a good way :D.

The ending is a bit weak, and could have been better planned, but overall it's a great song that deserves 5 stars.

TsetsukenMusic responds:

You know what, that's actually not too bad of an idea to use a little stereo separation to make it feel more dynamic, i'll play with it and see if I can make it work a little better.
I had a review the other day saying that there seems like there is something missing, something that is "key" to making this from stale to becoming a really beautiful piece. I'm still working on that.

I love playing with the tempo! it's actually something still very new to my style and I think it adds an amazing dynamic having the modulation, so that's HUGE to me that you view it that way :D. I will say this, that your review has been one of the best ones that I have received on any of my songs!

I've been unsure what to put for the ending, it does kind of just "die" at the end and I agree. Something that's being added to the list of stuff to play with :P. It might take a bit to find something that can be somewhat "frisson inducing" that fits the end and I feel like this is something that I need to work on overall (throughout all my songs). It's hard to see (at least for me) parts that truly need to be worked on until someone points it out and that's why I love posting here :).

I extremely appreciate your review and thank you!! :3

[Pálinka - Bell (Original mix)]

very VERY interesting idea you got going for this track. You got pretty much all the basics down when it comes to chillstep.
Only thing I miss though is a pause at 1:36. That pause is so ridiculously important for both chillstep and dubstep. What I usually do is that I add a short break(usually one or two bars long) with a percussion fill in or just a vocal sample that fits my track. You know the thing that skrillex does before every drop to emphasize on the drop. Silence right before a drop is the best way to make the drop hit harder.
And one more thing, just to be picky, the crash you have at the end, try cutting some low end from it in the eq and giving it a weak delay so it kinda fades out instead of the ending being so abrupt.

Overall a very strong song with great ideas that can be used to make an even greater track.

-Ecticity
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[Darkstep]

I make mostly chillstep, so this is a genre I'm not that familliar with. Instead of repeating what SleepyCoaster already have said I will just say that I agree with every critisism he has.
I do want to add though, that you definetly should continue doing this type of music. This is actually pretty incredible. Wild and crazy like dubstep should be. Just try to mix up your sections a bit, or else the listener will be bored before listening to the entire song.

-Ecticity
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[Galloping]

Great as always, poinL
Such and incredibly soft and soothing song. Really is the definition of a chillax New Wave track. Only thing I actually can comment on is the 8bit clap/ snare that comes in at 2:20. Personally I don't really enjoy when percussion is panned more to one side than the other without having something that panned the same amount to the other side, to make up the balance. For example having a clap panned slightly to the right side, and a snare panned slightly to the right. In that way I feel like they work together to create the balance that all minds actually love. Just my opinion though, I know several people who thinks stuff like that sounds great.

Overall, a very good track with pretty much no apparent flaws.

-Ecticity
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poinl responds:

I was trying to use the white noise panned to left to balance it out, but it does seem a little off. Perhaps I should have panned it by a lesser degree. On the note of the snare/clap, I've actually tried that out recently and it's really cool!

[Again]

You made a request to the Review Request Club a month ago. Sorry for the late review X3:

The main melody is amazing. I love it! I also like the lead synth you use.

There's a couple of things to pick on from the resto f your song though. First of all, the first 12 seconds of the song is very stale and boring. By adding in some reverby sound effects or just add some high notes to your piano chords. Personally, I would also add "transition notes" between the chords. Like instead of going directly from one chord to another, you add a chord in between to make the transition smoother. Also, I didn't really enjoy the sounding of the piano you use. Too much low end in the eq.

This leads into the other problem in your track, the eq. After listening through your song, I get the impression that you either have done no eq'ing at all, or have just used it to boost certain frequencies for certain instruments. I would really advice you to learn and master the art of eq'ing. It's probably the most important thing too learn if you want to increase the quality of your music.
Cut some low end from the piano, and cut some of the highest frequencies of the sine lead as a beginning. The trick is that you don't want the lead to sound worse than it did before the eq, but you want to remove the frequncies that makes the synth sound bad as a start.

The bassline and piano doesn't go well together btw. I don't know if there is some detune on the bass or not, but the bass sounds false in comparison to the piano chords at some points.
Also, a tip for the piano chords, I don't think those are the best chords to bring out the full potential of the melody. The first chord sounds right, but the other 3 are pretty off in comparison to the chords. Try experimenting with different chords.

Overall a song with some really good ideas, but I feel like it could have been done better. Hope you don't think too much of the rating. I do the RRC to help out people , and I feel like the best way to do that is by being as strict as possible.

-Ecticity
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Awe2K responds:

Thanks for the review, will do my best to make next songs a bit better :)

Edit: it is actually not my best song, one of my first

[Those Memories]

Impressive! I'm a bass player myself, so this kind of music really gets me going :D. Excellent composition, love the effects you add on, and the bassline is pretty cool :D. Only thing I want to pick on is that I feel like the drums are a bit weak compared to the rest of the tracks. I'm having trouble hearing the high parts of the hats that make them so intriguing. and also, the ending was very abrupt, and I wished that you would have made a proper ending or made the song longer.

Overall, a great piece of composition.

-Ecticity
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[Logical Thinking]

Very well done on this one :D. All the melodies and choirdlines were incredbly soothing and fitted perfectly together. The arrangement is well thought through, and the mixing and eq'ing is decent.

One thing I want to pick on though, is that the sounding of the track is kinda dull. No reverb, no delay, no chorus, no sound effects. Personally I would definetly have put a weak delay on the Sine lead and some reverb on the piano. Also, I don't know if you've tried messing around with stereo separation that much , but it's a great tool for opening up your tracks more.
The percussion part could also need some work, as you only use a kick for the most part of the song. Try mixing some claps and hats in there as well.

Overall, a well made song. You got all the difficult parts like the composition and the arrangement down, but you should work on those small details that take your music to the next level.

-Ectisity
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Im4Hero responds:

Thank you for the well though and helpful review! I'll make sure that your advices will be used in my next song. ^_^

[Epic Comeback]

The synths you use and the mixing is pretty poor, but I sense a lot of promise in your composing skills. Just keep it up, learn a thing or two about mixing, and you'll become really good one day. Belive me :)
3 stars and scouted.

-Ectisity
{Review Request Club}

keslarium responds:

thx so much dude I know that i dont have access to the best synths, and I'm still figuring out all of the cool stuff in the program I use, but I will get Better.