4AM's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[*Crystalline Ambience* [IZK]]

Points off!

Arg, you need to take a little time with your mixdown!

What could have been a very cool track was ruined by the digital clipping caused by maxing our your mix and having it get flattened at the peaks. You need to compress your audio so that it doesn't turn into a giant square wave (this is how distortion works - therefore your whole track sounds distorted!)

Compress it or turn down the volume a little, leave a mix some space to breathe. You can only make it so loud before you need to depend on your listeners to turn it up (this is a big problem in commercial music these days - there is no dynamic range. Everyone wants to produce the "loudest" album)

Until then, this made my ears bleed a little. Sorry.

Jenni-Harry4eva3 responds:

Hmm... true true...It's not that I just go ahead and make it the loudest as possible. I do try, really I do. But, I will take your word for it, as I have found that this was too loud, myself. Even my ears bled, but I haven't had time for mixing down properly... I rush sometimes =/. But, I will do this right now. I see that it has been of great concern. Thank you for telling me this. I'll get right to it.

~[IZK]

[Dee-N-Bee]

It needs bass!

This is astounding, but I really didn't hear much of a bassline in there anywhere. Still, worth the high votes! Very nicely done.

[Bass-Off]

Submit under miscelaneous

Drum n Bass isn't just tracks with drums and bass in them, Drum & Bass is an actual genre of music (also known as Jungle).

Traveosa responds:

Ha...I'm sorry...I didn't even see miscellaneous. And I had no clue that that was an actual genre. Thanks for telling me :)

[Halloween FX]

It felt unballanced to me

The overall theory was good, but the EQ was a bit high for my tastes, coupled with the relatively high pitches chosen for the lead synths and it was a bit piercing. Also, it did sound a bit like you where trying to make something overly dramatic, but as you where just playing around, that's allowed.

[Starfaller -R]

Lovin the bassline

I'm not a big fan of the kick drum, but the bassline is awesome, the mix is nice, and the track is strong overall. Nice work!

[N.sndwch-Build up the Stage]

I have very mixed feelings about this...

...but I voted it high because it has potential.

The good:
1. Vocals. Not many people put an MC into their production. Not original, but rare enough to be a treat. (No, it doesn't belong in Hip-Hop because it has someone rapping! Other reviewers who know nothing of musical genre can sod off!)
2. The bassline. My GOD that oldskool organ rumble; and the lowest note bottoms out _right_ at the sweet spot. Sometimes a saw wave with some vibrato is all you need! I almost threw up when i heard it...out of my dick! LOL but seriously, it adds a real big track feel while keeping it in your face and personal - this used to be referred to as "the panic", and you almost never get that rush with modern dance music.

The problems:
1. It's Drum N Bass: Where are the drums? This needs a punchy drum line, or if that will interfere with the vocals too much, a crisp drum line. What you have is muddy and it doesn't really lend any "catchiness" to the track - I keep waiting for the massive hook and it never happens. It sounds as if the bassline is drowning everything else out due to compression later in the chain.
2. The lead line sounds a bit like it's from SimCity2000. I don't know why, it just feels like that. That being said, i think that type of melody line could work here, but it may need to be re-imagined, instrumentally speaking, before it fits well.

Work on this, work on more, I expect to see good things from you! (and with a catchy name like Nick Sandwich, you can't afford to not be good :-)

NickSandwich responds:

Hola, 4AM!
Thanks for the awesome review. This is probably the best, most descriptive one I've got to date! You should seriously consider looking into a career doing reviews. I think you could pull it off.
I totally 100% agree with everything you say, except I kinda like the SimCity2000 lead =p. That's probably the nerd in me coming out, though.
As for the drums, I know. The bass drum is barely audible... Mixing is hard lol

[[[[SKEPSIS]]]]

This is sick!

My only recommendation would be to drop out the top of the bassline for a few bars and give us a little time with just the sub-bass and the drums, maybe pull the quicker rhythms up a little. That provides you witha platform to "jump back in" without doing a full breakdown, and it keeps things interesting for the listener.

Overall, thought, this kicks ass! Keep it up!

[Musik]

Awesome Smoothed-Out track!

I wasn't sure if I was going to give this high marks because I wasn't a big fan of the basic drums, but man, when you got into the eclectic stuff, this took off for me!

Work on the clarity of the plain drums (the samples sounded a little flat n boxy), and think about putting a low sine wave bassline in, or maybe even a stand-up bass.

The drum programming is top notch, laid out very well. Overall: Awesome!

Fringo responds:

Thanks, I'll mess around with the drums and I'll see if I can make it sound a litle better.