offi-DtrGuo-cial's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Traction]

Pretty decent start to what could be a great track. Not sure what happened to the waveform halfway through, but to other listeners I can tell there is more than just silence. The drums are well selected for a heavy beat, and the rhythm and melody feels groovy too! I heard a buildup halfway through but when the beat dropped I didn't hear much of a dubstep bass—perhaps you're working to fill that in?

[Club Penguin Coffee Shop Lo-Fi]

Nice job on the remix! A very mellow theme that captures the ambience of the location and any coffeehouse like it. If you could make it a little louder, I think even more people could appreciate it since it would take better advantage of our systems' dynamic range!

[Charlie's Here Lo-Fi (Club Penguin Pizza Parlour Theme)]

This really captures the jazzy theme of the original. It sounds like something that would be played on a jukebox over there. Nice work on both the track and the nostalgia!

[Android City 101]

Wow, this track really captures the grit of cyberpunk! The punch and power of the kick and the way you sidechain it gets me grooving like no other synthwave track has, and the leads and the rhythm feel so hypnotic too. I like how you did a momentary pause during the second climax; it's little unexpected things like this that keep listeners tuned in. While I definitely noticed the lead I feel like the low end is a little lacking in terms of bass, but other than that this track is stellar!

[Positive Memories]

Very emotional and expressive track. After reading the description I can definitely feel the feelings that went into every sounds and melody. The instruments feel very mellow and relaxing and form a great accompaniment with the bass and percussion, and the change in tempo near the end was great! The high end of the percussion sounds a little harsh though; maybe tone it down in a future mix?

Quarl responds:

I tend to go high amplification on the drums, might be hearing loss. Sounds alright in my sennheiser HD 650s and my Fender Passport Event system. I noticed the high freqs on my phone though, sorry about that. I need to remember to master for everything :(

EDIT: was just listening to this with my wireless JBL charge 3. Something really killed the mix somewhere for these monitors.

I need to invent some kind of unified sound standard that all companies must adhere to from now on. Diversity in equipment is such a hassle.

[theboi12901 - Interstellar]

In terms of sound design, your track is pretty on point when it comes to emulating Xtrullor! I can definitely vibe with the syncopated rhythm of the drums followed by sidechained leads, and the basses sound as out-of-this-world as Xtrullor's own! Some of the sounds feel overwhelming and could be cleaned up, and during the drop one of the basses feels muted and lower in volume compared to the others, so perhaps some further processing through things like compression/saturation could help?

But then again, if you want this track to be in your style then feel free to take it in a direction that you want it! After all, the best styles are the ones no other artist can offer.

theboi12901 responds:

Thanks! Also, I did notice that one bass was quieter than the others, but I noticed after uploading so I couldn't change it XC

[FILTH]

Very dark and gritty! I like the use of the downsampled effect throughout the song, something that doesn't get used as often as the distortion that makes up most other industrial tracks. The atmosphere builds up throughout the track and I feel an almost-permanent suspense throughout. The last section, the transposition to g minor, does have a small clash with the keys, which are still playing in f# minor. Just a small nitpick, but other than that it fits the atmosphere and the aesthetic well!

ABNOCTO responds:

Thank you!

[Aero Tritium]

This track has a very experimental feel to it. I like how smooth the distorted kick drum sounds and how well it lets the more aggressive/harsher midrange elements like the lead and percussion cut through. I did feel like some of the transitions were a little off the mark: assuming this track is 4/4, some of the transitions felt like they were syncopated, happening in the middle of the beat, rather than at the beginning or the end of the beat. Perhaps you could watch out for timing of elements through things like track structure or downbeats next time?

[W O W 2]

This sounds great as an experimental track, but without a clear beat or tempo it's not something I would typically dance to. It does have sections of calm and excitement, and on it's own it might be considered a full song. Interesting concept that I hope could be integrated into an intro or bridge segment of a more conventional dance track.

BitGDM responds:

I didn’t know that there was a “experimental” choice so I just picked “Dance”. But now it is “ experimental”.

[The Son of Flynn]

The vibe of this beat feel very retrospective. The instruments feel so mellow, especially the sound of the bass as it's sidechained to the beats. The synth melody sounds so great; did you design the lead yourself?

Sairk responds:

The lead was not exactly made by me, in fact I used some that already came with the synthesizer, I just made some adjustments to make them sound different.

And regarding the bass and drums, I tried to make them sound loud, but in doing so, the audio sounded saturated, so I left them while they were playing on the track (a bad decision, maybe x'D).