EctiBot's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Mountains Speak]

Really grooving to this one :). I especially like the melody lines you have in this one. They all fit perfectly together and really adds to that image of being far up in the mountains :). The instruments were all really well picked. I especially liked the bells :). They are some of the most soothing things I've heard in a long time :D.

You also did a great job with looping the track. I just noticed that I've probably listened to this track like ten times already XD. Not everyone are able to make good loops, but this is definetly one :).
The overall arrangement is perct and spot on. Don't have anything to comment there :)

This is something I could imagine hearing in a video game actually or in a short film. You did a great job with the imaginery, and the first thing I thought about when hearing this track before reading the title was staring up at the sky from the mountains.

I actually really like the simplicity of this track. It's what makes it so incredibly soothing and calming for me :). Great work :D. Keep it up ;).
-Ectisity

sockhopper123 responds:

It's not often someone I admire comments on my pieces ^^ your feedback is very much appreciated~ and trust me you're not the only one that has listened to this loop many times over :D I'll defenitely improve it further and expand it~ hope to hear from you again soon

[In Between]

Outstanding piece this :).
I really liked the melodies you had going on. They really gave me this medieval/baroque feel :).
This sounds very authentic and really makes me dream of medieval movies I've watched :D.
The composition alltogether is definetly flawless. You did a really good job with the reverb :D.
Other people has mentioned that this song needs more dynamics, but I disagree. If you're going for that baroque feel there isn't really a lot of dynamics in that kind of music, at least not more than there already is in this track.

My only critisism of this track is that I feel like it's a bit too simple. I really wish that you had added in another instrument to play something like a chord layer. To be specific I wish there was a harp in this, but that's just me I guess.

Overall I really liked this track and it really gave me an authentic medieval feel :). Not perfect, but very close to perfection :D.
Great work :). Keep it up ;).
-Ectisity

LexRodent responds:

Thanks for your words dude, you made my day. :)
After some tests I decided to add just subtle dynamics to give it a "natural feel", and this was the result, I considered to add some chords before (harp or clavichord were my options) but I couldn't come up with anything good. I'll keep that in mind if I do another piece this style.
I'm glad you liked it that much.

[Dragon's Lair]

Very good remix, larry :D! I actually just listened to the original, and I really like how you just didn't take the original and changed one or two things about it, but you made it into an entirely new song which gave me a totally different feeling than the original did :D. This was really done masterly. All the instruments blend in perfectly, the song arrangement is spot on and the composition is top notch :).
Great work :D!
-Ectisity

larrynachos responds:

:O Thank you so much, dude! I actually thought I "plagiarized" too much! I'm so glad you think it's great. I'm really proud of this one ^-^

[The Gore Show]

Sounds really good :O! Loved the sounds hope you make a full track out of this :D.

[Whimsical Wonders ~Mastered~]

Damn, you've gotten pretty good :O! I luuuuved the melodies. They are all very creative and gives the song a really nice uplifting feel. You did a great job of choosing synths too in this one They all fit very nicely together and gives the song a light feel.
The arrangement of the song is pretty good as well. It's the typical way I and loads of other producers does it, but you go away from the stereotypic house song at some points which I very much liked :).

And the mixing :D! I can cleary hear that you've improved a lot from the last track I reviewed by you which was "Dancing Sun" I believe. I didn't really hear any huge problems with frequency clashing or clipping at all really. My only complaint as to when it comes to the mixing is the kick drum. I didn't really like the reverb on it. Reverb on kicks is nice and all, but it was a bit too much for my liking.
If I were to nitpick another thing it would be that the lead synths around 1:35 are a bit too love. I suggest either turn the levels a tiny bit up or give them a bit more of the higher frequencies. This isn't really that big of a problem. You can decide for yourself if you think it sounds better or not.

Overall I really liked this track :). You can always get better at mixing no matter how many years you make music, but you've gotten really in such a short amount of time. It took me waaaay longer to get to your leven, and I actually think your mix is better than a lot of my recent stuff XD.
Great track :).
4.5/5

Exilious responds:

Wow! What a review! I really appreciate it. :D

I COMPLETELY agree with you on the kick. Every time I listen to this song (which is never XD) I literally grimace when I hear it. It sounds absolutely terrible. At the time of production, I was increasingly concerned with how the kick sounded. The way it sounds in my headphones is completely different from how it sounds from my laptop speakers.

Therefore, I kept trying to find a kick that sounded great in both speakers. Well, that failed epicly. I failed to realize that my headphones and laptop speakers are two completely different sound outputs. They're NEVER going to sound the same.

And to be honest, I enjoy your music a WHOLE lot more than I do enjoy mine. The only few songs of mine I enjoy are Night of the Living Dead, Overdose, Calm Before the Storm, and Optimismatic - Mastered. The rest I'm not too proud of, but they are signs of my improvement.

Thanks for the kind words Ectisity. They mean more than you think. ^~^

[You Know Nothing]

Brilliant!! Absolutely Brilliant! I LOVED the intro. excellent choice of synths, and I like how you didn't go for a standard chord progression there, but switched out the major chord you normally would expect at the end of the progression with a minor chord. ( I suck at talking about musical stuff, so that probably didn't make any sense XP).
Anyways, I really liked your melody work during the buildup as well :). I've always had a weakness for that kind of lead so I really enjoyed it up. You do a great job of building up to the drop.

The drop was pretty okay, but I felt like it lacked a proper subbass. Either the sub is extremely low, or there's no sub at all. I can't really tell because of the subby kick. Other than that the drop is pretty groovey :).

I did feel like you could have varied the second break a bit more. it sounds exactly the same as the first one at the start. I really liked what you did around 2:48. It helps to vary it a bit :).

The outro was done in a very smart and smooth way. I really liked how you did a transition directly from the drop to the outro melody :).
Overall a pretty solid track. My only complaint is the lack of a sub that is easily noticeable.

4/5 stars

[Review Request club]

Voltus responds:

well just put a subwoofer on your monitoring system and there you have it. there's actually quite a bit of subfrequency in this one. thanks for the review!!!

[Unshackling the Necromancer]

Lol this is just so far beyond me.....
Excellent piece Jay :D!
You do an awesome job with dynamics and variation of sound in this piece :).
I've always been a fan of tracks that kinda tell a story, and I feel like this does just that in an excellent way. You were able to convey the story of the Necromancer perfectly in the transitions, melodies, instruments, dynamics etc. A truly great piece.
Around 1:30 I felt like a lot of the notes clashed with eachother. Kinda sounds like some parts of Grieg's compositions. While it does sound messy, it still really captures the increase of action in the story, and I really don't think there's a need to change it. Depends if you value portraying the story more than making the track enjoyable for most people possible. Personally i value the first more, but that's just me :).

Overall a great track with wonderfull ideas and composition :D.
5 stars.

Jay-Turner responds:

Thanks for your review :) I'm glad you appreciate the dissonance haha. I think for me, the biggest problem with the piece is that it feels 'muddy'. But I'm really glad that you like the musicality of it!

You're right about the importance of the story. I think rather than making the piece, a piece by itself. I really wanted it to convey a feeling, and the feeling for me was not of pleasant melodies. The only motif I truly included is one that can be heard 0:24, I then repeated this at the end of the song on the lute. This is because the melody is meant to convey the emotional significance if something in the past for the Necromancer, something that isn't perhaps as evil and sinister.

I'm happy that you see what I was trying to do anyway :) Thanks.

[Wonder]

Wonderful composition :D! I loved how you play around with dynamics throughout the track. It's just brilliant. I love the way it starts with a humble harp, then the song just builds up. Very good choice of instruments :). As Misty said, some of the instruments can sound synthetic at times, but I didn't notice it the first time I listened through the track so it isn't that big of a problem. The arrangement of the sang is very good. As I said, I really like the way it builds up.
My only complaint is that I feel like the track is too short. If you did a full 3-4 minute version of this, I think it would be brilliant. Right now it feels like the song builds up, but then just suddenly get cut off at the end. I wish there some kind of super umph part coming after that X3. As a dancem usician I would call it a drop, but I don't remember the proper name for it is :3.

Overall this is a very good track with nice instruments, excellent song arrangement, and with some wonderful melodies. As I said my only complaint is that it could have been a bit longer, but it sounds very good as it is.

4.5/5 stars

[Review Request Club]

[The Little Child]

Havnen't gotten to listen tomuch of your stuff since I followed you, but I quite like this one :). The instrumental was pretty good with good ambient sounds and it has this amazing adventure-ish feeling to it :). I really like the sounding of the piano :).
The lyrics are very deep and very well written. I really like them. The vocals themselves are ok, but I feel like they could have been mixed better into the track. They kinda get drowned in the mix so I can't really hear them as well as I wish I could. You could at least turn up the volume a bit, but it could also use some better eq'ing and mastering as well.

Good track overall, but the vocals weren't up to the task really. The instrumental was very good, but as you didn't make the instrumental I can't really give you points for it I'm afraid.
3 stars. Keep up the good work ;).
-Ectisity

[Party Cycle]

Really interesting sound here. I quite like it. It has this attractive deep and sad feel of it while still being quite catchy :). The leveling of the bass is quite weak in my opinion though. I also felt like this track could use some more variation. After listening to it for 2 minutes I got a bit tired of it. It sounds the same througout the track. Though you do a great job of varying up the melodies, the general sound of it is really monotone. Maybe take out or replace the bass for some parts to keep up the interest?
I don't really have any complaints about the mixing so I guess you've already fixed it?

Overall a great track that could use some tweaking here and there. I loved how you did the intro, and especially the outro, but I feel like it could use something more in the middle.

3.5 stars
-Ectisity

Everratic responds:

Thank you for the review!
By leveling of the bass, do you mean it should have been louder? I can hear it fine and I wouldn't want it to ruin the mix by raising the volume too much.

I agree that the track could have used more variation in its structure. As soon as I finished the song, that was my first regret :(

I'll work on that next time.