AXTTXA's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Forest Moonlight [WIP]]

I am no master in Ambient analysis; however, I will tell you, I have seen Dimrain47 turn the previous conceptions about techno (thoughts that it consisted of Daft Punk, and other genres with "electronic features" (not that they're bad)) into wider conceptions, as he definitely redefined Techno, and now the lucky NGers and youtubers that have discovered his music have another side to their definition of "Techno."
Now, for you, I just want to say you're in the process of redefining "Ambient." Not saying you have completed it all and it's all said and done, but I'm also saying, you've started and you haven't stopped because of completion or success yet, and through that, I mean to say you could potentially continue on this ambient path, and you should continue on this path, because if people could see the two sides of "Ambient" like this, and there other preivous notions about Ambient music, then you have done a fine service to the aural community.
About the music? honestly just perfect; 3:37 the fade in volume is a little loud at first is what I'd say, but that's about it really. Piano's good, progression is good, instruments and effects are good, for the most part the fade ins and outs are good too, so yeah ^^

[DJ Babokon: Silver Lining]

Transitions and melodies at their finest! Man just gotta say again, this was the first time seeing NG's new look as this song was playing and it's just the perfect theme song for NG's website in its entirety you know? Just got this feeling that everything's going to be good on the site because everything's by everyone hah. What I really have to applaud for you in this is that there was NO snares at all! I mean, at least I think 99% of the song had no snares! I probably haven't listened to your most recent songs or two or so, but from what I remember a few months ago, or at least last year-ish, you had snares there to boost your transitions, which is normal yeah, even I do it a lot as you remember. Sure they sometimes had the same rhythm, but I can't blame you; it's basically 1 measure of a snare playing 1 note with different rhythms; there's not much that you can settle on to be different from your last song or other the next guy's song, but to take the snares out completely? That's like unheard of in half of this world of music, and that's a heck of a stepping stone into professional sounding music, which this song clearly exhibits. As you said, swerving emotions. You've got what, sidechains, piano ostinato (repetition) with direction and build generated by trance-inspired arpeggios, the feel of house songs with those long notes (0:23) (sorry if i'm describing house incorrectly; i don't listen to it often), and phasing/flanging or whatever too, and not to mention good reverb on whatever the electronic sounding acoustic instrument is that you got around the one minute mark. And that's just the beginning! In the middle now you take on a more serious side to trance and your roots (i think? 1:25 just sounds a lot like you for some reason), which definitely boosts your uniqueness as DJ-Babokon haha. Then you've got your gates to help spur your song back to the original theme you intro-ed in the beginning, and then high quality strings (jealousy!), and bam your orignal theme is back! This time in half time though, which with the kick playing only every half note, and less activity going on from your instrumental arsenal, now we can hear that you've got like a perfect sounding drum set too, not to mention the rest of the perfect sounding instruments...
Oh and nice harmonic ending ;P.

Hm well overall it's probably the mastering that people like PAY legit money for; I couldn't agree more that you can master your stuff on your own now, I mean well you haven't asked me for mastering help in ages, so you've probably figured out mastering a fair while ago. Your high pass filter effects are in the right places, and differ a little from each other, so it doesn't feel like it's the same effect happening over and over again - good. Yeah... you're picking out the right notes for the right feel too, along with the right rhythm, the right instruments, the right tempo.. .okay you get it, it's right and perfect in every way for this style. I like how you emphasized the clap velocity in the beginning; definitely distracts the listener in the right way as you get your instruments ready to give some ears their well-worthwhile eargasms.

You better reply with more than one word man!
Still, loving the song though; 10/10 (5/5 and 5/5 now I guess) and downloaded ;P
-AXT

DJ-Babokon responds:

Thanks! And I DID use a snare, It's barely audible though. I layered it with the clap to get a fuller sound. :D

I love your awesome lengthy reviews! I read all of it. Basically all I can say now I thanks for noticing every individual part of the song and putting it into text. lol :)

I expect some more music from you!

-DJ Babokon

[At the Speed of Light]

Eargasm occured at the speed of light you mean ;)

Simply can't praise the fact that another song is out by you Dimrain, and also that it's so great! Sounds like everything from your past originals comes back in different forms in this one; like Jetstream! and Cloud Control put together, and Speed Trance in Underpants a little too; love the ABAB ish style you use with the beginning with that raw sounding synth and the solo-ing one; very nice :D. Your solos, as godly as they were before, are so f-ing mindblowing like never before, as i'm hearing all these chords split up, in split seconds, as you go through your characteristic pattern of managing to find every single perfect 16th note to put next to each other to make a solo have that one and only Dimrain feel. Also, in a way the song reminds me of Operation: Evolution, how there was the sense of a different story here and there, and then different things happening as the song progressed. In this one, you've got like of course the galaxy warp-speed feel, and upbeat pumping sound, and then you've got that transcendental sounding melody (doesn't even make sense what i'm saying but w/e) and then you contrast it perfectly with darker tones, wiping the smile off the listeners face as you put awe back on it. Even with the simpler sounding melodies like 0:50, you put so much effort into the background action (which is clearly visible) that it just flows so perfectly, until you shatter it with groundbreaking solos again, not to say that i didn't like it of course ;P. Key signature changes happening before i can even recuperate from the awesome sound of just one change haha; loving the piano too; you've always been and always will be, the best at putting fast and slow, light and dark, realistic (piano/drums) and electronic (synths), all together perfectly and flawlessly, no matter what the time is that you post it haha

10/10 5/5 Downloaded :D
-AXT
(Sorry if my review sounds overly-happy and like i'm in love with you, which of course i'm not :)

[Bacon DuBacon (wip 1)]

Pretty nice :D

Sounds really smooth and very good like always; that sidechain does sound good xD. the melody at 0:29 sounds good; just clipping to fix; no problem for you, right? xD

DJ-Babokon responds:

indeed lol

[Operation: Evolution RMX]

Awesome job man haha -high five lolz

Congratz on finishing the rest of the remix man! haha; it truly sounds better than i could have ever imagined it would sound. You did a nice job with the overall sound of each and every instrument (I am in love with the drums we have haha; thanks for putting in certain drum lines in certain parts that gave the song a different feel, like at 3:33 and 3:45). Dang I just love what you did what the drums at those parts to go along with the melody part i remixed. I was wondering if you'd get the right drum feel at 3:45 to go along with my part, and man did you get them right! Haha. Nice additions on all your parts (and my parts too in some places if I'm not mistaken? haha). Good job on all the drumming during the high pass transitions; I can hear a lot of differences from your old songs in these high pass transitions + I like that like whoosh effect; makes this song have more unique high passes than other songs :D.

Sort of wished I had done more on that 4:04 solo; but it was pretty hard to deal with and keep the same feel lolz. I think at 4:32 onwards we could have done a lot more with it; but still, thanks for finishing the remix in the first place! haha. Probably add like some octave tricks or panning/playing around with the rhythm on the 8th note part at 4:32; then create some new harmony at 4:44 (the 4:32 part actually continues at that 4:44 part transposed a half step up; never noticed it til i listened to the original like a million times for this haha).

Oh and.. currently, I wouldn't have been able to work on this really either because we both know my comp sucks at handling FL's CPU usage lol; lately every form of audio from my computer chops up like every 3 seconds; even in FL (RAM keeps spiking or whatever). So thanks for rendering it too lol; your rendered versions always had better sound that mine for some reason. I feel like all of the instruments originated from your comp so they sounded better there? haha

yeah well thanks for finishing it xD... I LOVE IT! haha (hope dimrain does too when he sees this :D

-AXT

DJ-Babokon responds:

LOL HIGH FIVE YEAAAHHHH.
Haha and yeah I just did a dubstep beat for those parts. :)

[[TC] Chaoz Annihilator]

Paragon is going to be happy haha

Love how you combined your own style with your signature strings bringing in the introduction, then slowly bringing in those.. hits or whatever you call them at 0:24 that make the song sound like it speeds up/gains intensity. Then you hit it with the drums and the sounds characteristic of ParagonX9, while putting yourself still in the picture on the side with your strings adding a nice contrast to the rhythm.

Like the rest, can't wait for the full version! I sense the end of this demo could take the path of some intense stuff or like one of those slow standstill pad moments; really open ended ending you got there that's leaving us all guessing what you'll do! Haha.

-AXT

[Daylight Train Crossing]

Dude I still remember when i heard Before Midnight

the remix i mean haha. Well not quite in the mood for a review, though i must say, Yes, the simple songs are quite often remembered. though i have to say i really don't like kiss fm, and those songs are simple and in turn remembered haha. But really, simple songs = win. Usually. Complex songs... = mind blow win but take a long time to make and... sometimes just have some minor fault that makes them not a win. Downloaded this song a while ago, and the concept of the train bell sound and side chain does feel like a train xD. hum... i do wish the piano would have some.. stronger variation. When it first comes in, the piano is playing one note each measure like whole notes, and then a few sprinkles of notes are added in occasionally, until 1:46. Replaying the exact melody of the piano when it was playing whole notes, I find that it follows the same exact structure. I don't find that as a huge problem, and listeners probably don't either, though I sort of wish that you could change that structure of that piano melody a little bit. Like as I hear it, as four measures progress, the melody has this sort of feeling of descending along the piano. Every once in a while if you could throw in the piano ascending as the four measures come to the end, I think that could add a nice little touch to the song. Perhaps making the melody part into insane triad chords could work and sound nice? :D? though that would not really be ideal to play anymore. Really there's no problem with it, and i find from my own experience that expanding upon the whole note melody kind of idea into the main melody to be a very powerful way to generate melodies. And you could come up with a great melody in your head too, then break it down like you're working backwards from the middle of a song to the beginning.

Overall I really liked the feeling of this song :). Simplicity at its best here :D

-AXT 10/10 5/5 Downlaoded. I guess I did review it, eh? haha

Yodamanjaro responds:

haha yeah you did, you reviewed the crap out of it. Sad to say that I won't be making any further changes to this, I started to but I've come to accept this version as the last of it. I appreciate the thoughts though, wasn't a terrible idea you had with the piano.

Again, it's simple. That's the way I'd like to keep it too.

[Fighting (FF7 Cover)]

Pretty Dang Sick

I remember hearing this melody a few times before around on youtube and this sounds nice lol. I was just listening to this til I heard you playing one guitar part with a lot of fast notes while simultaneously playing another part, so that was some good audio syncing and harmony :D. I was actually just thinking about a song I've been working on, and you just inspired me to put in a melody mixed of the original melody in that song and another melody. Sorry this review wasn't really related, but thanks for the song to give me the inspiration! :D

ArtificialFear responds:

Cool! I'm happy to know that I've inspired someone!

[DJ Babokon - Kuratsuki (WIP 2)]

lol cool

Pretty good scale i suppose. What's with you and picking foreign scales o.O lol I'm sure the scales actually have real names, right? Like D Harmonic Minor and whatnot? Ionian and Aeolian modes? Maybe you don't know what i mean. Anyhow loving the dubstep style :D. Sounds like Shifting Sands with a makeover. The scale-like build up around 0:35 was pretty cool; since most electronic songs do something like that, but the drum roll at the climax of it was pretty cool :P. The part at 0:50 is pretty cool cause it sounds like the note value gets sort of doubled every beat, but it doesn't. then at 1:22 it's sort of similar but more hardcore sounding and with like some scream. Any way to make your dubstep drums sound any different? Not the sound, but the rhythm I mean. I hear that rhythm in plenty of dubstep songs... Maybe utilize a hat in your drumline? The drumline at 0:50 is more unique than at 1:18, though yes at 1:18 that drumline fits the section more than 0:50's drum line would. That scream/voice sound sounds like "ai ya" literally... only majorly distorted and lowered pitch... how coincidental? maybe not lol.

Bring out that piano at the end. Maybe make it playing chords? Can hardly tell if it's playing chords or not xD

DJ-Babokon responds:

Thanks! Appreciate it Brandon. :D The scale is called Akebono in C minor. Thanks for the drumline tips and the piano advice! IDK, what's with the foreign scales and whatnot, I just like trying new things. :)

*AHEM* Unlike you lol *AHEM*

[-Snowbound-]

Discerned what you've been trying to pinpoint on

At least I hope so anyhow xD. There's a major difference in the sound and sound quality of this song compared to Winter Solstice. Solstice starts off faster and has the ritardando at the end, but that's not really what I'm getting at at all. The way you use the bells/percussion in Snowbound is similar to that part that keeps repeating in Solstice, yet the bells have a lot of reverb, and sound like icicles rather than an instrument. Also, the instruments you used in this song were more... mellow and lower I'd say. Mellow as in they're not like a strong and piercing instrument such as a super saw, but softer attacking instruments like say a bass. As your instruments are playing the melody, the bells and bass are adding depth and continuation in the feeling of the winter. The bells continuously playing could be considered annoying by some people. However, I find it to be realistic, as in winter when you actually see some like icicles and the day is hot enough, they'd just keep dripping water. I'd say icicles would keep dropping but eventually there'd be no icicles to drop from roofs xD. To complete the snow-like ness you had back in Winter Solstice, you also used that other kind of bell that i don't know the name of. It's like there's little bells on some kind of ring you hold with your hand and it's like "jingle bells;" the sound of it I mean.

Anyhow I'm really just saying that the depth of this song is much deeper, both soundscape-wise and feel-wise. The long notes give the song a more somber and slow feel rather than faster, short notes would (pretty sure you were aiming to use slow and long notes, right?). the faster, moving parts where you did use fast notes you utilized your percussion instruments excellently both dynamically and note wise; good :P. i like how the piano also played in this arrangement, as the piano just seemed so fitting in this scene of instruments.

10/10 5/5

-AXT

ChronoNomad responds:

Thank you very much for such an impressively thorough review! You've clearly given Snowbound a lot of attention in order to write this, and I both appreciate and commend the time and effort you spent expressing your opinion. I loved reading every single word of it. You have essentially hit upon the very reasons why I like this even more than its sister piece, Winter Solstice.

The bells can signify a number of things, and they're all pretty much ice related. To me it denotes the way that light plays in and around each icicle, making them shimmer and bounce reflective beams that are both lovely and blinding, as well as how they drip slowly and purposefully when the sun warms them just enough to send shimmering droplets down to form a layer of ice on top of the snow or whatever they fall upon.

Incidentally, the name of the instrument you're looking for is jingle bells (yep, just like the song). Sometimes they are referred to as reindeer bells or sleigh bells, but it's all basically the same thing. They're just such a perfect instrument for this Winter-inspired jam that to leave them out would have almost felt like sacrilege. Piano is simply my favorite instrument, so I incorporate it into just about everything I do.