DjUntold's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[The World Below Us [SFPL]]

Very Cool.

This song left me absolutely speechless.
Wow. Absolutely great work.
I'd like to see the FL file, and possibly work on a remix if you're up for it?
God damn dude, this is beautiful.
Absolutely heavenly melodic and harmonic work, drums were great, bass was great, everything was perfect.
-Aaron.

SFaPiL2 responds:

I wouldn't mind passing you the flp at all, but I'm not too sure whether you'd open it properly. I used a Nexus Vst preset.

I must be honest with you though... the beat was a preset that I played around with. I'm not too good with beats, so I decided to do this just to finish the job (I can't manage to make proper "omph" drums).

[Last Life (battle loop)]

Room for improvement.

This song was intense and conveyed the feeling that I think you were trying to convey. But there are several instruments that I feel are missing. Two of the most noticeable are that the drums need some high-hats or some other driving force. As well as some sort of modulation to maintain interest.
The other component that I felt was missing was some sort of outstanding pad during the main chorus of the song (first half), after the voices came in this was cured. Unfortunately though, the song felt empty during the first half, and I could see you losing a large amount of your audience right off the bat because they aren't patient enough to listen through the entire song.

I loved the melody work and the bassline though, that seems to be your strong suit in most of your songs. Keep up the good work, if you do decide to make some changes to this song please let me know, I'd like to hear it.
-Aaron.

SFaPiL2 responds:

Yup, I wasn't entirely convinced of it from the start... but know I notice how bad the beginning sounds. The melody's WAY too basic.

I didn't notice the hi-hat problem with the drums (I simply noticed how repetitive they were + they didn't really stand out, as you said =__=). Good to know.

Agree with the missing pads as well.

Don't really know if I'll work on this one. There'd be little gain fixing it.

Thanks for the feedback, Aaron

[Glory [SFPL]]

Similar

This has a similar composition to Final Toll, though it was written before. So I guess Final Toll has a similar composition to this. I think that this was well constructed, but you definitely mastered your technique with your latter style. By the way, do you mind if I ask where you got these sounds from? Sound pack or otherwise? Anyways, wonderful work once again. The only advice that I would have for improvement would be a pitch change or something of that nature. After staying along the same key for to long the song can become redundant when looped.
-Aaron.

SFaPiL2 responds:

I made a similar structure to "Empire's Gates"... maybe TOO similar and too repetitive as well (I was experimenting with the fading).

I used Nexus Vst for the presets.

Yes, pitch bend would be a nice touch, but I still need to figure out the way to do it with Nexus. The slide effect can't be directly applied to the Vst.

[The Final Toll]

Yes.

This track makes me smile.
The composition of the instruments is outstanding. One of the most epic sounding orchestral blend of melodies and harmonies that I have heard in a long time. Your mastering was great as well, I found absolutely no problems in this song except for one: It's not long enough :P. I WANT MORE EAR JUICE.
Absolutely fantastic work my friend, keep it up, and I'll try to keep reviewing all of your new songs :).
You're a budding artist dude, you're going to be famous.
-Aaron.

SFaPiL2 responds:

It was a request. I simply added 30 more seconds from "Boss Battle" to make it a 60 second loop.

Lol, "budding artist" my hairy ass ^__^. YOU're the artist around here, that's for sure. (I saw so many new songs in your account... gotta check 'em out soon!)

[80 (WiP)]

Loools!

I love this.
80's ftw.
This track has such an epic sound to it.
I'd love to work on it haha.
Great job my friend.
-Aaron.

SFaPiL2 responds:

I extended it some more a while back and couldn't help but smile to it ^__^. Once I'm done with it I'd love to pass you the flp.

[.from the moon yours truly.]

Lol, so why aren't you famous yet?

Good work again my friend.
There's too much to this song to describe, definitely compelling to the mind and soul.
- Aaron.

VegetarianMeat responds:

Not enough cowbell :(

[Leisure Avenue]

Wow

Dude, I can't believe this song isn't in the weekly top 5.
Great. Absolutely wonderful beat work.
I love these kinds of tunes, great chill sound you've got going to, mixed with some nice jazzy vibes.
Remindes me of Stunna, and the whole Chicago crew.

Could easily be converted into a dubstep version if you really wanted >;).
You've got a knack for methodics and fluid representation.
Keep up the good work.

-Aaron.

bladerunner627 responds:

Haha, thanks man. I listen to a lot of Stunna's stuff, his show is great too :).

As far as it not being on the charts, it's probably because it's not really DnB and the fact that it's probably too chill for most of the NGer's taste anyways, lol. That and it simply might not be that great, I dunno, it's difficult to judge your own songs. Glad you like it though!

There's some things I'd like to change but I still haven't had the time to get around to do them.

Regarding a dub-step version, do what you'd like with it =D.

[The Venomous Fangs Of Creed]

Well.

I feel bad giving such a low score, considering you left such a nice review for me. But unfortunately this song needs lots and lots of work, though the idea is original, and I like the guitar melodies.

Pros:
Guitar is interesting, not too repetitive.
Heavy metal vibe.

Cons:
Okay, this song needs to be completely remastered.
The kick is over-driven, the high-hats are muddied out from the cymbols and the crash, the crash is extremely overdriven, the guitar and bass are muffled, and the harmonies are at the wrong pitch. There isn't really a consistent beginning, middle, or end. It just seems like the verses are mixed up, and there isn't really a flow. Though I can hear the intent, it is just poorly mixed.

Things you should do:
Cut out some of the lower frequencies from the kick, compress your drums, lower the crash volume. Also try lowering the volume of the bass, and try to clear up some of that muddy low end frequency stuff. Maybe clear up the song so it follows a 4/4 pattern, and try and rework the flow. Change the volume of your bass and guitar so that they aren't the same, whats happening is you've got both sounds playing at the same level and they are creating a really unpleasing harmonic. Maybe even pan the bass slighty to one side, and the guitar to the other, NOT FULLY, but just a little bit, and that would clear up some of that weird harmonic. It would widen the song and it would sound much better.

It needs a lot of work, but I like the idea.
-Aaron.

HakitaSasaki responds:

Thank you for this long and informative comment. Ill think about those stuff when I do a new song. And you can give me a bad score even if I gave you 5/5. But one thing troubles me... There is no bass in the song...

[Prehistoric Platformer [1:30]]

XD :o :p

For some reason this reminds me of cartoons I used to watch as a little kid. It really does sound prehistoric, almost dinosaur like. I really like the sounds that you used, but this song could still use a bit of work... The only thing that really bothered me is the pad that you started the song out with at the beginning. I feel like it gets a bit repetitive throughout the song. I think if you added like 4 varieties of that pattern, it would sound so much better. But other than that, I like this song, it's very interesting, not something you hear everyday haha.
5/5 9/10
-Aaron

SFaPiL2 responds:

Yup, it's very repetitive and I'm not happy of how it turned out now. I'm rather impulsive when submitting stuff to NG. Sometimes I don't think twice and just press the "submit" button.

I think there are just 4-5 layers in it. Too little.

The truth is that after I made the main tune (the pad in the beginning) I really liked how it sounded and decided to build over it with some presets I had in mind and that's about it.

Thanks for the score, but I don't think I deserve it. I would've given it a 7/10 and 2.5/5=>3/5. I don't mind if you give me low scores really.

Anyway, thanks for your time. Much appreciated ^__^

[Boss Battle [loop]]

Wow man.

Such great work you're making now, I love this little loop.
The violins are touching, they harmonize perfectly, the chorus is great, and I like the bells, it just adds that epic sounding touch.

Although this song is absolutely wonderful, I'd have to agree with a review below me, I'm not sure if this is necessarily "boss music." But, I can see it as like a victory screen after defeating the boss. Now, if you were going to make this into a boss battle loop, I would say to add some grimey bass (not too much, but you know what I mean) and some hard hitting drums, with some sort of inspiring, yet dark, synth or guitar. Either way, this is a great loop, and nobody could deny that. Just out of curiousity, how much time did you spend on this little tune? Because whatever you did it turned out perfectly, and you should continue doing it!
Wonderful man, just wonderful.
-Aaron

SFaPiL2 responds:

"Victory screen after defeating the boss":
Seriously? I didn't think of it that way. For some reason the dark sounding brass and the bell sounds gave me the impression of something a bit dark and dramatic.

Thanks for the tips. I've been trying to extend it, but the drums are giving me a hard time. My other big problem now is also finding an alternative melody to add in order to NOT make it repetitive (which I tend to do). I seem to have lost the "inspiration" so to speak :o(.

Answering your question ("how much time...") with complete honesty, it took me around 2 hours to make:
Tulip Town
Tulip Town (2)
Boss Battle [loop]
The Empire's Gates
(another two 'songs' I didn't submit)

I kind of did them in parallel. I tend to go by ear when I make music, so when I was tired of one song I'd go on to making a new one and then (after a while) go back to the previous one or make something else. I don't always have such luck/inspiration, but it happens sometimes ;o).