Nav's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[{Serenity}]

Ambient...

Hm. First I noticed that the opening piano wasn't a very good sample. Its sorta muddy in the mids, which can get bad later, especially with the amount of reverb on it. I'd advise using an E-Piano instead, or a Rhodes type of thing.

Next, I noticed that the hats are a bit grating for a song that I'd want to fall asleep to. Try some reverb, and EQ out some of the fuzz.

I like that lower square, but the upper sawtooth kinda gives me a headache. It goes too high, and the progression wasn't catchy enough to merit doing that.

However, I like some of the ideas here, and it does mesh well in the end. Its just too short, and kinda repetitive. I guess we both have the same problems when it comes to producing...

Anyways, it was actually a pretty cool blend by the end. I enjoyed it. 8/10, 5/5

dj-skeetskeet-69 responds:

yeah i've been using the same piano for like
half a year? probably more
i need to look into some soundfonts or something =P
thanks for reviewing!

[entranced [preview]]

OMFG GRATS CHIMMEH!

Wewt you got top 5!!! Grats, enjoy your gigantic stream of reviews :P

10/10 because I luff u

CLKIN responds:

wee! \(^^)/
<3

[Happy B-day, Nav!!]

OMFG!!!

WOW THIS SONG IS AMAZING

IT LOOPS LIKE PERFECT

IT ROX <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

loogiesquared responds:

OMFG! YOU'RE HERE! U R T3H AWESOME AND STUFFZ!!!!

~OMFGBBQ Loogie

[ParagonX9 - Chaoz Impact]

Cool

Nice job here. I like it.

However, as always, its too short. The intro didn't do much to build up suspense, because there was very little intro there. It just goes right into the action. That makes it feel somewhat unfinished. Try to stretch out the intros a bit, it makes them a lot better.

The main part was definitely cool. Nice thick reese (bass)! Was there a sub down there or not? I wasn't feeling the reese so much in the lower end, but I was definitely feeling the drums down there, which is nice.

Great punchy kick and snare. Very nice sounding and phat. However, the shakers and hats were a bit splashy... Try gating or shortening them so they're tighter.

The leads were unnecessary and made the track feel a little corny, a little uncertain of where it's trying to go and of what it is. In most dnb tracks, lead-ish synths are left for the intro, but I guess you did a decent job of incorporating them, even though the drums and bass are supposed to be the main elements, not drums, bass, and synths.

Anyways, the track is really too short to develop very far. You need to start making longer music! XD Then you will get many more favorable reviews. Seriously.

9/10, 5/5

[Scribbler - The Broken Keys]

Reviewing

I saw the demo on the audio front page, and I decided to take a look at this one.

A rough note in the intro on the upper keys. I feel as though they should be slightly louder. Make a note of Mic placement (however I doubt this is recorded). Change to the arpeggiated chords is a bit sudden, but ones it gets there, it feels nice. However, it could use a bit of reverb to really thicken up the mix. It feels somewhat flat and empty.

You should look into NickPerrin's suggestion. It would make a world of difference, this feels flat. The progression is nice, though!

Keep it up!

[Milk{Sytrus!}]

Damn... Drums.

Cool sounding, definitely. Synths were basic, to tell you the truth, you should've done something rhythmic, because that is where some of Sytrus' strengths lie. It can do amazing gated synths too.

However, you should've made the drums in sytrus. It ain't that hard. Bandpass some noise for the snare, do the same for the hat, use a fast pitch decrease for the kick, etc. Its easy. I'd do it if I owned Sytrus, but sadly I only own FL 8 Producer edition.

Nice song, though.

Mrmilkcarton responds:

Everyone needs to read this review because its the truth. Everything is really simple which means Sytrus is much more capable of greater things. Even if the synthes are simple it shows how good it can sound and how much better it can sound.

I figured drums were possible but didn't want to venture into that area of knowledge.

Thanks for the review Nav.

[Forever Gamer]

Now, let me review as an artist

Hi, this is Nav, one of the other audio artists on this site.

I've got some weird issue here that you probably wont know how to fix, but should have picked up on. Its just that all the instruments and drums here are completely UNNATURAL, and yet the vocals have a natural reverb on them. It sorta conflicts in my head. Of course, the vocals sound great and are well written, but it just feels a bit weird, having synthesized instruments meld with natural vocals, without some sort of vocoding or bitcrushing. I'm not complaining, though... NG loves it, as most like rock or pop music. I simply think that you could've done so much with the vocals... whatever.

It was a nice song. Melodies were catchy and nice, only issue is that some of the synths seem quite bathed in reverb. Might wanna turn that down a notch, as it sharply contrasts stereo-wise to the relatively dry percussion and SID chippy stuff.

Nice transition into mario at the end, and I love the random chippy noises that don't seem to follow the song. Again, I think the mario vox in the intro would be cool if you downsampled them so they were all crushed-ey, it'd sound more authentic... or at least reduced to maybe 11025 or less.

Whatever, those are just semantic suggestions, the song rocks! I might want to do a remix? Maybe? Maybe not. It could never pan out. But, hit me up with my contact info.

Thanks!
-Nav

SkyMarshall responds:

Hey Nav :)
I see what you're saying about the reverb/kick/vocal-bit - but it was all intentional on this one. Well, it has to be ofcourse, since nothing is left to chance when you're carefully producing a track. It just became this way, simply because it sounded great and filled out the way I wanted to. Later on however, like now, I do hear things I would like to ADD - but nothing I would like to change. Well actually, there is one thing I would go back and change if I ever get to it. And that is the percussion ... but it works, but it buggs me a little.

The NordLead is actually not bathed in reverb, it is just playing with the frequencies, the cut-off, attack, sustain, release and beat-synced delay. I did it that way to make it mesh nicely and sound fat. I love my damn NordLead. Again, the volumes and way they sound stereo is also something Im happy with.

I DID actually crush the Mario, and played a lot around with that - but no - I ended up using slightly modified original samples insted. It wasnt an attemt at making a complete 8-bit track if you know what I mean - I just wanted some influence in there to make it more nostalgic.

And thanks for the great review man. Appreciate it a lot =)
Constructive criticism is always the best.
And for your remix ... just message if it ever happens :)

- Eirik
SkyMarshall Arts

[-DXR- Under Tone]

Cool!

See, I generally don't leave reviews by request, but sometimes I just gotta, as it means something to me.

I've been telling Druid from the beginning, "man, you have great melodic ideas! You just gotta learn to 'produce' and 'arrange' them!" Then you come along F-777, with the arrangement and production values. Him + You = great.

And this is pretty cool. Does remind me of Druid's work! My only real issue is that lowpass filter. The thing I love about professional trance songs is the "sparkle," and it loses it. I'd recommend a notch filter instead, I've done that before, and it works well. The tempo change isn't the best (if it IS a tempo change), but it does its job well.

Nice track pretty much, with a couple o' issues. 9/10, 5/5

Digital-Xcstasy responds:

yeah Nav, thanks for the Reveiw man! good looking out friend =D

thanks man! me ad 7 do make a good team =D that dude will be my homie for a long ass time man, thanks for the comment about my Melodic ideas! =D we kinda do fit in hand in hand aye? thanks for you past help you gave meto better my self as a producer!

[Wizex - Can you hear me now?]

Review!

I can tell you're still a rookie, but since I was given this review, I thought it might be wise to return the favor. By "this review," I'm talking about a lengthy review on an early submission of mine. I'll try to help you out as much as I can.

First off, this is definitely FL Studio, definitely preset synths. Here's what I'd try to do if I were you. First of all, think of a basic structure in measures, or bars. Try to keep your song to that structure. That will help you think around it, and get phrases to work.

Next thing you want to do might be the drums. For a basic drum, try one of the kick drums in the "Dance" section. You might also want to try the Fruity Kick plugin, and mess with the settings. That will give you the steady dance beat you are looking for! Don't be afraid to mess around, experimenting is the best way to learn these programs! :D

Next, lets look at the synths. They are complex, synths, I'm sure you didn't design them yourself. I bet they are Sytrus presets. That's not a bad thing per-se. Its just that many people will recognize them! Try to make your own! Mess with Sytrus. If it starts to make some sense, then make some basic synths. Otherwise, try messing with that "3xOsc" plugin you see! It seems basic at first, but it is a good road to learning other plugins. Do you know how to assign tracks to the mixer? If not, then go to my page and check the FL Studio tutorial. That will teach you. Otherwise, let me address the final part of this song.

The mixing. That is simply getting the levels all right so its fine. You see the "Master" insert on the mixer? That should have a volume light on there. If it goes over "+0", then you need to fix the mixing. That can be done by lowering the volume levels of tracks! Its really just that easy :) Lower the levels until it sounds alright. Your song will be a bit quieter, but that's not a serious issue!

Since you obviously have ideas, and understand melodies, keep at it! Keep trying and working! http://kvraudio.com/ is a good site for finding plugins once you get more advanced (don't ask me how to install them).

Here are a few tips about Newgrounds: You are going to get 0ed or low voted. A lot! I know from experience, it happens to everyone! All you can do is simply not trust the scores. Trust on what people tell you! People actually read your reviews and I'm sure you do too. Remember that people also look for responses, so its good to respond to each and every review you get! Keep that in mind when you improve so that you get lots of reviews!

Anyways, it was definitely a good track for a rookie! Keep at it! :)

Wizex responds:

Thank you, this really gets me even more pumped up to make more!
i'll be checking your tutorial :]

Greets, glenn