offi-DtrGuo-cial's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dubstep music]

Sounds like speedcore to me. Mixed in wish some good old-fashioned noise.

Although I do suggest if you're really trying to make a bass with a piano to go to the lower pitches for notes, then you can turn up the distortion to get that sweet clipped sound.

Heptagon responds:

why waste time to write a useful comment when I wont even apply it

[The End]

An emotional and expressive piece! In terms of mixing, the bell/xylo seems a bear a little too much on the high end, but other than that the composition and arrangement is pretty pristine!

[Siege]

Nice work! If you could just make it a little big louder, I'm sure we can appreciate the composition even more!

iChrono21 responds:

i kinda don't know what it was missing and pretty much spent days figuring it out then i just gave up eventually lol, but it was worth a shot! thanks for the feedback!

[Vulcan]

Catchy!

[Tetrodotoxin]

This style reminds me of the Japanese hardcore/gabber styles with all those synths and the melodic atmosphere, I love it! I think that you can go very well with this mixture of flowing, frenetic melodies and hard raving kicks.

But the kick drum. By itself, it probably would sound great and unique, but I can't really hear it well in the mix. For a genre where the kick should stand out in the drop, the kick seems still to play in the background, not quite cutting through the mix. I've heard comments that the bass on the kick seems too soft, but I believe that the kick is probably not present enough across the spectrum.

A couple of ways to fix this is to manage the spectrum (EQ) of each of your elements, such as boosting narrowly the parts of the kick that sound the strongest while cutting those areas slightly for other instruments. Maybe even side-chain a little bit to help the transient cut through (although this may interfere with the flow of the melody). In addition, I would also recommend tweaking the kick itself.

If the kick you used was one of those more bassy oldschool kicks, then just boosting the right frequencies would do, but to me, this sounds like one of the more trebly kicks, something that, in other tracks, should skreech and growl and pound with energy. If you're going for such a punchy, powerful kick, don't be afraid to go all the way! Put some distortion, saturation, multiband, some EQ in between each of these. Allow for the volume to slam that limiter. Export that kick so that when you turn the volume down, the kick doesn't sound so strong. The key to getting the punchy kicks used today is to distort as much as possible—or just a lot.

I've also noticed that the song doesn't sound so full at times; dynamics keep shifting from strong to weak. Perhaps that's your style and you like dynamic range, and if that's the case then go for it. But from my experience, a lot of hard dance tracks today sound very full and powerful—the elements combine well to sound just as powerful as the kick. That isn't to say put a saturator the master, but in particular saturate and highlight your lead elements in the mix, such as the saw lead melodies. The best place to improve dynamic quality and headroom is during the mastering process—after all that mixing is done.

In all, this track has a lot of potential in it. Taken individually, the melodies and harmonies have that power to captivate and compel a lot of listeners—it's just the placement of the elements that needs tweaking.

Finally, to answer your question in the description, this song sounds a lot like slow gabber or hardcore, not terror/speed. Terrorcore would be approaching 240 BPM or higher, speedcore much faster than that.

DeveloperJy responds:

Thanks for the feedback, just changed some stuff.

[Sustenance]

Yo what's with the block wave

But other than that, the mix sounds pretty grooving! A fitting melody for a video game/ambient setting. I would suggest not oversaturating/overcompressing the track though, since ambient mixes are not intended to sound "loud."

tackypoop111 responds:

yea, looking back on this a year later I'm cringing hard. I'm very new to both producing and music theory so I'm basically new to music as a whole. There's so much i did wrong in this piece but it's all a learning experience.

[Absolute Terror Field (Frenchcore)]

Absolutely terrific in its spirit!

[The Space Race]

SPEEDCORE! I love the uptempo genres of hard dance, so I felt thrilled listening to the distorted kick drums and wild beats.

Plus the atmosphere of this track really stands out from most mainstream speedcore/hardcore, as most of these tracks focus on abrasion or dark themes, while this track sound more jovial and energetic. The production felt filled with energy, embedding themes yet to be explored by other mainstream hardcore and speedcore artists. For instance, there is an extensive use of arps, leads, and bases much like a typical electro track, whereas most hardcore artists use heavy sampling of dark atmospheres accompanied by well-saturated hoovers.

For the genre specifics, a lot of hard dance (hardstyle/hardcore) producers here share your concerns. A lot of such tracks end up in Electronic - Dance, the misc genre.

A few gripes I had included the feeling that this track wasn't purely speedcore. Many sections of the track have these four-on-the-floor 140 bpm kick layouts as well as some breaks, and only a few times could I really hear the 250+ bpm pattern that terror and speedcore are known for. Many sections feel to house-y, and many listeners don't want house to interfere in the track.

Usually, the distorted kick is only used in the hardcore/speedcore "drop," the namesake part of the track. Usually that's where your kick will belong, and elsewhere will be accompanied by normal drums as well as previews of the kicks/kick pattern but not the actual thing.

As I was listening, I felt that the kick drum was fighting for space to shine in your mix. Sometimes it was obscured by the other elements, and even when I could hear it clearly it didn't feel as strong as typical hardcore/speedcore kicks. Hard-dance kicks usually take center stage in the mix, while in other genres a lead or bass would be in the foreground. You should try to apply mixing techniques like maximization and spectral management to clearly distinguish the kick in the mix, as that's what listeners primarily want to hear.

In addition, the kick felt a little... simple. Now this is entirely subjective as this might be how you want your kick to sound, but nowadays people are growing out of just taking a drum sample and distorting it with not much else. They want different kicks, unique kicks, wild kicks. Try messing around with the EQ (by a lot) when making your kick, as well as adding extra distortion like Fast Diet and Blood Overdrive. By chaining EQ and distortion effects, you can create a unique and breathtaking kick that will captivate your listeners.

[-Loss & Remembrance- [OST]]

For something developed in such a quick time, this is an absolutely vivid and vibrant piece, filled with emotion! The melody, the harmony, the effects made with the percussion give a lushful, tranquil feeling.

I do think that the piano could use a tad bit more reverb. Everything else sounds strong and fitting, like this is being played at a big concert hall, but the piano seems... off. The piano keys don't seem to decay right, they don't give quite the same effect as the other sounds do. But other than that, it's an awesome mix!

DeveloperJy responds:

Now that you mention it, the piano does sound pretty stiff and cut-off. Thanks for the feedback.

[-Red Rocket-]

Great work on this track! I find the harmony and texture very cohesive, with all the elements going really well together! The drums are well balanced with the rest of the piece, bringing the synthesizers out a lot more. It also gives a polyphonic feeling because the track appears to use multiple lead synths, not one.
By the way, where did you get the vocal? I heard some sort of processed vocal sample in the track but I don't know if Harmless has a formant or something that can create the vocal effect.

DeveloperJy responds:

Thanks! The vocals are from the Voice Synthesizer in FL Studio btw.