AED4's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chrysalis]

Damn your stuff is intense!

I really don't have anything wrong with this. Everything is perfect, from the sinister vocals to the bass and the drums. From the little darkstep I have heard (I think Current Value's stuff is darkstep?), this easily takes the top spot along your Orbital Decay.

Now we only have to get you to 50 fans... Otherwise you should definitely release an album, I know I would buy it!

See ya in the finals ^^

DEM0NW0LF responds:

I'm glad you mentioned Current Value, because he's the one who got me into the whole electronic music thing. I will release an album eventually, but it's too soon to tell when. Anyway, thanks for your review.

[Omikron]

This is pretty great! I always like when the track has that certain 'liquid' feeling to it

Loving that beginning, so calm and mysterious. The transition at 0:30 was way too sudden though.

The drop is good, lots of different synths filling the whole frequency spectrum! Drums are tight and powerful, but for some reason the kick feels to drown a bit. Maybe use some more sidechaining?

Also there may be a bit too much of different stuff going around at different times, it feels quite chaotic at some points, which prevent me from fully immersing myself to this.

But overall very solid track! I Would've put this under house or dance, but that's me nitpicking :P

ggaero responds:

Thank you and good luck in the final round :D

[Colored Sky]

Congrats for the top score :D

I just love the swing in this track, and how clear and especially how spaced everything is!

That electric guitar O.O it is so bright and powerful. Is it... Is it inferno? No it cant be... Damn you must tell me what you used for it. Or if it is inferno, your mixing skills are awesome! Though your mixing skills are awesome no matter the fact ;)

The NES-like ending was also genius! I would've used a little less reverb though. (quite contradictory with my name... but still). Also the transition at 1:15 could maybe use a longer break, because now it sounds kinda abrupt and rushed.

Keep it up man ^^!

littlelamp100 responds:

thanks :) still can't believe i got the top score :o
also yes it is inferno. i usually use presets lol

EDIT: oh wait now that i look at it again, it's electric 5... i use that because i can't play guitar lol

[Kingdom of Ice]

As someone could guess, this isn't my preferred genre. Doesn't change the fact that this is badass! Reminds me of those JRPG boss battle themes around the 90's.

There's always something changing and leading the track forwards. Especially the choir, it's introduction was sudden but fitting. Really liking the melodies also.

As the guy below me already said, this really solid track, both from composing and mixing standpoints. Everything has it's own space and they stand out in balance. And as mentioned before, the composition is interesting and even immersive!

So what can I say? A piece nearing perfection! Keep up the good work ^^

DanJohansen responds:

Wow I am honored, waking up to reviews like this really makes my day man. And since you don't consider the genre a fav I am even happier to see such positivity, you rock! Thanks for the in depth feedback good sir. :)

[Echoes (NGAUC)]

Beautiful.

That's all I have to say.

Beautiful ;-;

5TanLey responds:

thanks :

[Aria - Never Change]

So this is your first completed track? It's pretty nice actually.

Okay, the drums are the ones that need most improvement. They are really quiet, and they have almost no power behind them. Especially starting from 3:26 the kick is almost inaudible. You need a louder, more compressed kick, and then maybe sidechain it with the melody.

And yeah, it was very repetitive. There was hardly anything really interesting to keep the listener hooked up for the whole four and half minutes. Afterall, It was basically the same melody over and over again. More different sections and instruments would've helped a lot.

My final advice? Make more music, obviously :) You are starting out pretty good, definitely better than most 'first songs' I have heard. I'll definitely be wanting to hear what you've got for the future ^^

(PS. to make those links, you just have to copy the url of the song and paste it)

DelitescentAria responds:

You know what, I'm going to use the comments you just made right now. I'm going to go into more variety, more melodies, more complex. I appreciate the feedback a lot because as it is, my work needs a lot of improvement. Thanks again!

Cheers ^-^

[desert breaks]

Some synths didn't really fit in that well, for example the bass starting at 0:30. I think that it should be more low-end, and have a bit more punch to it. The brass starting at 1:24 also sounds kinda low quality. Some snare choices were also a bit odd to my ear considering rest of the track.

Those sliced vocals were an awesome touch though ^^! They fit really well with the other instruments, especially the acid-ish synth.

Structure-wise it is solid. Some transitions were quite minimalistic, but dont take away from the listening experience.

Maybe the biggest change i would personally have made would've been adding pad there, but i put pad literally everywhere, and its more of a stylistic choice anyways.

for some reason i found your track quite difficult to review. Well i did my best to roast ya.

[Ghost (Instrumental)]

You are making this pretty hard for me :p

Basically the only major thing that needs improvement is mastering and overall sound quality, but taking your DAW into account i'll pass it.

The instrument choices were nice, i don't often see cinematic music with electric guitar being the lead instrument. Then again i don't listen to that much cinematic music.

I will look forward hearing the version with vocals. I'll say in advance that remember to leave enough head room for the vocals. Often i hear songs where the vocals are barely audible. But now i'm muttering in off topic, back to it.

As stated by many others, the harmonies and structure is your strong point. This for example has many individual sections that each tell a story of their own, while maintaining a connection from one to another. At parts it feels a bit cluttered and suffocated though, for example at around 2:40, where the sounds pile up and make it difficult to hear the notes clearly.

And then of course there are aspects dictated by personal taste, but I'm not taking those into account when I'm writing reviews.

This would work really well for a film/animation/tv-show/whatever score, as you seem to have intended?

Also, a year? that's something I call dedication.

MysteriousPresence responds:

Thanks a lot for the review friend ! =)
Ahah so you knew I was using GarageBand ! X)
I honestly don't know any cinematic music with electric guitars as lead instruments, I like being original ! =3
Got it for the vocals, thanks for the advice ! ;)
Yeah I like putting stories behind my tracks ! ^^ In fact I'm more a movie director and a screenwriter than a composer, as you could guess with my saga project (which is Ghost) !
You're right about 2:40, I just abused on the strings' reverb ! X) But I wanted to keep it because this part reflect the hopelessness of the main character (he's called Haria Ghost) who's getting surrounded with hatred but who remains powerful and... I'm not gonna say "heroic" because... You'll see in 20 years ! :P In fact, the "saturation" of instruments represent the helplessness of Ghost, but the melody (Ghost's will) remains above all !
But personal tastes are what builds the world ! Whyyy ? :'3
Well all my tracks are intended to help me making movies by using these soundtracks into my creations, but this one is just a song really ! X) I just putted it into "Cinematic" because it's the song which relate my Ghost's story !
Yeah I've been working this song a lot, in order to make it rhymes with the good number of syllabes, put Ghost's mythology behind it etc... The project creation date is 06/29/15 if you wanna know ! =3
Thanks again for the review, man, you're the best ! <3
(Wow, I used quite a lot of emoticons 0o)

[Blossom (Full Original Mix)]

That noise riser pretty loud and high pitched, it actually hurt my ears when using headphones. Also that synth starting at 0:15 is quite bare, and doesn't fit with rest of the instruments that well. And, eh, Fl-keys just don't make it :P

But the other instruments were pretty good, especially the supersaw (though you ant go wrong with supersaws).

And i assume that Masterlizer's mastering works, because it sounded pretty great.

Melodies are quite catchy, but really typical for house / edm. At first I could've sworn that i had heard the exact same melody before. Also there were some parts where the melodies sounded a bit off-key, especially at 2:41 and 3:00 - 3:33.

What can I say, It's pretty basic house stuff. But it lacks certain creativity and the unique twist that would turn this song into a "Wow!"- able, or so to say.

Wick3dRabbit responds:

Sorry for the riser,i made this with my headphones at 38-40% volume :P In fact,the synth you hear at 0:15 is the bass (lol maybe because the sliding feel) i used in the later parts of my song. And yea i know,FL keys is stupid,but i tweaked it a lot(but it still sounds stupid),so next time i'll use a soundfont instead.

Well,after you sworn with me that you've heard this melody before,i can swear that i got this melody myself,and it wasn't inspired by any other songs(also the melody in my last song was too simple so i tried to think of a better one,but it turned out being so typical and generic.Sorry.)

Continuing the talk about melodies; i can say that the off-key sounding at 2:41 and 3:00 - 3:33 are intended, to make it less repetitive but then again it went wrong(horribly).

Since this is just my 2nd take at this kind of music,i know i don't have the needed skills and experience to make a great song that can make people say "Wow!";but again,i'll try my best to improve my skills in my later songs,and someday i'll definitely make people say "wow!" xD

Sorry for late reply,and thanks for the criticism :)

[Rain Friend]

Woah, you've definitely improved ^^

Firstly, that piano melody is just beautiful. Really makes me think of looking over a grassy field, or a small suburb under a spring rain :) That saxophone is nice and suprising addittion on the second half of the song.

I myself really dig that kick, it fits perfectly with other instruments.

What you could try to improve are the transitions, especially the first drop at 0:58 kinda comes out of nowhere. That said the drop is something otherworldy, I'm loving those mini 'snares' on the background (I dont know what they are called...).

There's great balance between everything, and the mix is clean and sharp, something I constantly find myself struggling with.

Really well made piece. By all means, continue doing this in future ^^!

5TanLey responds:

Nice to see you again :) That drop was meant to be kinda "minimal", but yeah it could be better.

thx for the review and words of motivation, I´ll continue for sure