GershBeats's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Same Flat Beat]

Love it. I think a little more mastering attention could be put towards the mid frequencies. You've given a fair but of attention to the low freqs, but the mid and low-mid sound crushed and unclean.

It's got a great overall sound and the glitching is certainly cool, I wish it had a more distinct melody but I really do like it quite a bit!

[Sunrise (piano version)]

This accomplished exactly what it was going for! Love it. Great piano sound (how do you get the piano sounding so good? ahhhh)

You've got a great ear for melody I think. My usual complaint about a lot of artists is that they're afraid of incorporating big jumps between notes, but you do it like its second nature. Love the off-key note at 1:45, little things like that will keep people's attention the whole way through.

Just one complaint - WHERE ARE THE HUGE D'N'B DRUMS HUH WHERE IS THE DROP OR THE DUBSTEP jk 5/5

CeeeX responds:

My best points - compositions
My weak points - mixing

That's what I get allot and know that myself ;P

Glad you loved this composition, I got the piano from Alicia Keys (the vst, you should check it out, it has really clear and crisp sound quality, but it lacks the warmth of a piano)

[Elite Four Battle theme!]

Very good from a compositional perspective!!! I love that little piano refrain.

The mastering quite wacky though. The drums almost cease to exist when too much is going on, I would EQ-subtract the bass outta the strings or at least sidechain em to the bassy drums.

The outro doesn't work for me personally, that fade is too abrupt and I personally think a song like this would benefit from a big final end note with a final drum+string blast or something like that, not a wimpy little fade-to-silence.

With good mastering this would be 5/5! For now 2.

CeeeX responds:

It's pretty hard to mix and master when you combine an organic orchestra sound together with electric kicks, but I'll work on that in time, because I have to admit that mix & mastering is probably one of my weakest points, which should actually be more important than the composition itself!

The reason why I faded the music out like that is because this is a concept of a gaming soundtrack that's going to be looped over and over.

Thanks for your great feedback though!

[Darkness Within]

Some sounds should be a little louder I think, the kick is at a good volume but it is much louder than anything else.

The kick fights with the dubstep-bass-noise-thing (is there even a proper name for that instrument?), maybe consider sidechaining?

Overall quite cool, but fairly generic and it could use more energy!

[Deserted building]

A little dissonant here and there. You may want to just carefully go over every note of the track and make sure it's not off-key with its accompaniment. I think those string-plucks are getting dampened by the mixing.

My biggest complaint is that this doesn't quite suit the mood it suggests, I would have chosen a minor rather than a major scale.

CeeeX responds:

Noted, thanks!

[Wolf's rain]

I'm not familiar with the anime, but this is really cool! The flute goes with the ambiance perfectly and creates exactly the mood I'd imagine you're going for. I can imagine so heroic travelers settling down for the night in the first minute, when the piano kicks up I can see them starting off the next morning.

Actually that piano entry is really, really good. I got shivers up my spine hahaha

Great job!

CeeeX responds:

You even did get shivers up your spine?

Dang, you can't make up a better compliment than that, thanks!

[Mining Capital of Az'ahil]

This is terrific! I'm sure I've never listened to anything in the "World" genre that actually engaged me, but this is fantastic. Such a perfect blend of sounds. Maybe if anything, raising the volume on certain instruments and having them take the lead every so often would lend to this? Regardless, can't imagine rating this anything less than 5. Great work!

Neon-Bard responds:

Wow, thanks GershBeats! I'm really glad that you think that the sounds blend well together. I'll definitely look at increasing different volumes and introducing some fresh melodies with the many different instruments in this track! :D

[[Knox]Litkon 12]

DAT INTRO SYNTH. SO CATCHY. Curious what VST/soundfont you got it from? Also I love this overall, here's my criticism:

1) Maybe don't ever fade the intro synth out entirely. I think it would do a really good job backing the dubby part, fade it a lower volume, and keep it running as a hint?

2) Whole track could be louder! The kick is great, very clear and cuts through the other sounds, but it's a little louder than any other instrument. The dubby-saw-thing, background synth, hats, snare could be a little louder!

3) Dat ending! So abrupt!

4) Too short! Argh I want moaaaaar lolololol

Good stuff ;D

Knoxius responds:

Thanks for the review :D For the arpeggios, I used WASP XT with some delay on it.

I'll see if I can get that synth in there some more. Btw, I am currently working on extending it a bit! Should be done some time in the next week. Or month. At least by 2014!...maybe.