AED4's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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 ^-^

[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

[Rings of Ceren]

Very uplifting, and slightly mysterious piece! This would indeed work perfectly with a setting in space.

There's something what bothers me at 1:51 and onwards. I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but I think it's something with the melody?

What I love in all of your Aerion tracks is how you combine more modern sounds and that certain feeling of old schooliness :) (especially in Give the Command).

I don't hear problems in mixing or mastering, and structurially it's solid. There just isn't much exceptional stuff, it's pretty basic.

(ps. is Aerion made for a specific game or is it just an album with VG music?)

Kid2Will responds:

So here's the thing on Aerion. I want to make music for video games, but I'm not currently working with a team/dev. To showcase my skills I am creating a "fake" video game soundtrack which includes OST, story, and some art. The plan was to create everything but the actual game. So when developers see this, hear this, they would want to play the game. But it wouldn't exist. Hopefully, driving them crazy enough to seek me out for collaboration towards Aerion the game or a new game.

The 2nd half of the songs switches to more of a major feeling. Maybe that's what you're referring to?

[Through the Window]

Instruments fit together very well. The bright lead stands out from the dark bass and drums, while still maintaining a connection. But the most important aspect for me are the drums. I feel that they are the glue of this track.

This is however quite repetitive, as there isn't much change in the main structure through the song. It could use some more effects, and maybe a bit variation in instruments.

I get really steampunkish feeling from this. I picture tall stained towers and long lines of coal miners slouching through never ending thick black mist.

LexRodent responds:

Thanks for the review.
I'll try to find a new synth to give it more variety, an instrument change in the middle could make a big difference, as well as an extra line on the second part's background.
I'm glad you had such a cool imagery from this piece.

[Toy Warrior]

Clever use of chiptune with 'modern' sounds ^^ This could be a brother of Maze of Mayonnaise :P

Very good melodies you have here, the beat is very simple, but that doesn't bother me. A bit more background sounds would make this piece perfect to me :) Ending was also neat.

Also, you have been now scouted!

Zip-Zap-Official responds:

OH MY GOD thank you very much! This means so much to me! <3

[My world (''captain tsubasa 2 half time'') arrange]

Nice calm song you got here ^^

It is very repetitive. but seeing that the original piece is only a minute long, it would be very hard to make a 5 minute song without it being repetitive. Also the piano break comes too suddenly.

I'm not very familiar with rap or anything similar, so I cant give very genre-specific review unfortunately.

Mastering's good, nothing bad to say about that. That bass for example is very smooth.

This would be very good for a menu theme for example.

R4R

enders1 responds:

Yeah, actually the original is only like 30 seconds long, it only a minute on youtube cause its intended to loop .
it's indeed repetitive, the thing is im working on finding a rapper for this song so having that in mind I wanted to keep it simple so the rap gets the spot light and the piano break, it does comes sudenly huh, I was having in mind that is like a end solo but you're right, I might work it out for when I have a singer ready.
thank you.