aslal's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Somnambulant]

It's a cool song, I really liked the intro. That vocal, though, is jarring. I agree with below (except with it being a choir, it sounds like one person), it needs reverb. In addition, may I suggest breathing points? That could add towards the sound and make it less jarring and maybe more realistic. If you were going for a choir, then I'd try adding several vocal layers either detuned a bit (never tried this, may be painstakingly unbearable) or have chords be sung out.

I really like what you did with the noise in the beginning, making it sporadic and almost like a high-hat. The ending isn't too bad, but maybe changing the notes that the guitar is playing for the fade-out to make it seem more melodic. That's what I would do if I could, but it's your song, and you may like it like that. Different tastes and whatnot.

Overall, this song is nice to listen to. It's a cool-sounding track, but I would like to hear that voice become less jarring.

Azhthar responds:

Thanks a lot! I will try to go a bit deeper into the track and revise the voice if I find time ;)

[Dust]

I like the atmosphere that you set in this song. It's desolate and eerie, which the simplicity of the song helps highlight. As Angelsosa said, I can see this as a game BGM, just looped perfectly.

Most of this eerieness comes from the airiness of the whole track with the background effects. In addition to this, the tensions and dissonance (I want to say dissonance, but I may be a bit off) from the main instruments help to create a desolate feeling to the airiness instead of a feeling of safety. I'd definitely improve on this track at a later date; it seems like a winner.

However, I don't believe it's mastered quite that well. I would like to hear the instruments more crisply in the beginning, yet at the same levels as in the interlude and second part. Perhaps something can be done with velocity and decay levels on a filter? I don't know, I'm probably wrong, but I really like where this is going. Keep it up!

SoTJake responds:

Thank you very much. Yeah, mastering is most definitely my greatest weakpoint when it comes to making music right now. I'll try to improve my skills, though.

[Battle Hymn of the Trollpublic]

One-man trollchestra. The creator of the BGM of the internet.

All joking aside, this is beautiful

samulis responds:

TANKS LOL 7/7 GOOD REVVUW!

[APC - Ascension]

At 1:00, the main piano bit gets a bit overlapped by the other tracks. However, the piano shouldn't be too loud on your breakdown at 1:30, so what I would personally do is boost the piano volume a bit and turn down the velocity.

From 1:30 to 4:00 is basically two minutes and thirty seconds of bliss. I may be a bit biased here, but this is exactly what I like, songs that have mellow bits (or are even mellow throughout the whole song). I also like how you pulled that off without having anything get too boring or repetitive (a problem I admittedly have a lot).

It seems like your song is more instrumental than a dance beat. Excluding the intro, your drum patterns come off more as filler than the actual "filler" itself. This isn't a bad thing in my eyes, it just means that it's more of an instrumental-driven track than a dance one, which is always a good thing in my book.

I know you asked for a review on the EQ of your drums, but I can't listen to how your drums sound because I don't have headphones that I can listen with right now (sigh). However, I think the drums are kind of boring. It's just a basic kick-hat-clap-hat pattern. I would've loved to hear some variation in there, maybe having more percussion or something of that sort.

Overall, I give this 4.5 out of 5 stars.

APerfectContrast responds:

Thanks a lot man.
I agree with what you say about it being more instrumental than a track you would hear in clubs or see people dancing to. To be honest it was mostly influenced by a lot of deadmau5' tracks because i really like how alot of his tracks are atmospheric but at the same time they play really well at festivals.

About the percussion, I guess it's just something that comes down to taste. I definitely see your point about the drum pattern being boring. I kind of agree with you here because sometimes i can sit down and listen to a really repetitive 9 min progressive house track and love every second of it, and other times it just bores me after about the first 2 or 3 minutes. It just depends on mood i guess.

I'm working on a lot of other tracks at the moment and one of them is another progressive house track and hopefully I can get that deadmau5 kind of style going on in it like i intended for this track, haha.

Anyway, thanks for the review man :)

[Lukes Theme]

This song reminded me of Strobe, except much louder. I like how the fell is pretty chill, but the transition to creepy should be a little smoother, perhaps over a 4-bar period, instead of sudden.

BlackParchment responds:

You're right, seems to be upsetting everyone... oh well you have given me the next idea for my next song.

[Rache]

This is good, but if you add lyrics to break up the similar parts, it would get my full 5 stars.

fire118 responds:

I don't know what you mean by simmilar parts.

[Harry Potter Theme Gone Wrong]

Man, memories of music class. We were based on this. I still have the sheet music.

FairSquare responds:

Haha, cool

[City in Disguise]

It definitely sounds post-modern, I'm not too sure about the trance part, it's a mix of more than just trance. The beats sound like something out of hip-hop, the arpeggio sounds trance, later in the track the beats go from hip-hop to drum-and-bass-like. At about 2:00 and 3:40, that synth sounds a bit glitchy. It's just a whole bunch of genres, and I like it.

GershBeats responds:

Haha who needs genres anyways! I always have a bit of trouble picking which genre to submit under. Anyways, thanks for the kind words and rating!

[---[Battery Acid]---]

This, it's really nice. I liked the strings, how they kind of cut out. I also liked the plucks quite a bit, me being a prog house guy. At 1:19, the bassline that kicks in is nice too. My only problem is that it's too short, but sometimes short is a good thing.

Juicebomb responds:

I appreciate the feedback aslal! There's a reason for the shortness; the album I'm working on will use this song as an outro, of sorts. Like I said, thanks so much for the review.