AXTTXA's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[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

[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. :)

[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!

[-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.

[A Grave Intensity]

Sick as the sickest!

Copying stuff from NG greats? Hum... dunno xD I don't listen to that many NG songs on an average basis, only occasionally. I think I get what you mean. People aspire to be like their idol NG artist, but they often end up becoming them and not themself as their own composer. Perhaps that's not what you meant? Eh maybe, maybe you meant like rhythm patterns and maybe bassline styles (I make techno so that's all i really know xD) haha. I think most of the good reviewers on NG, and the listeners too, understand what you mean though.

Personally, I believe that that sort of "drive" you had, or perhaps still have, to make something "unheard of" really pushed this song into what it is. I've never heard of anything like it. At first it was just piano, then those long low notes, keeping the song going. Then you introduce a nice snare, where you even change the pitch of? Or that's the other drum thingy/snare/kick/i-really-don't-know -since-i-don't-play-drums. Nice kick too; I like how it sounded sort of like footsteps and had a lot of echoed repetitions of the initial kick. The violin part, mixed with the long low notes (i'm guessing bass? xD) create nice contrasts. Good panning choice too ;P. If an ensemble plays this they know the setup now, at least partially. Those like arpeggios on the piano; nice. They're sort of like the whipped cream on a cake. Not the main thing, but what makes the cake, the cake, hence, the song, the song ;P. I don't know what to say about the notes and the melodies. They all sounded nice with each other, like harmonies if that's the word. Nice mmm... arpeggiator in the beginning around :30 or :40. lol maybe it's a sequencer, or an arpeggiator not arpeggiating. I like that part around 1:20 where the main drum beat kicks literally into a drum solo, but then transitions into being a primary accompanist almost, to the piano, which doesn't even happen to have that much going on as a melody since it has just those arpeggios. Ah whatever maybe that didn't make sense. What I'm really saying is that the song was cool. :D

So you want to know how to improve? Hm.... Dunno really. This song's got a nice balance of instrument variety and note pattern variety (like your drums). I've only got suggestions for you to try, possibly in future songs. I suggest trying out some key changes, or at least trying out altering your base line. Not sure if you did do a key change or alter the base line around the end, but oh well. Those two can definitely easily add a spark back into your song if you want to make a trance song or a really long song, something like that. The base line also helps make the listener unable to say "oh it's a repeating baseline" if you make the base line prevalent enough in the length it's played for. Another idea, try variating the piano, as that "drum solo" first begins. Maybe just change the end note of each measure of that slow pattern the piano's playing (talking about 0:53 ish). Also, based on that idea, you could use more octaves on the piano. Right now I'm hearing something like a note sequence of 1 2 3 - | 1 3 2 - | 1 4 3 - | 1 4 5- | or so. instead you can try and make that last rest of each measure be like an octave lower, or maybe a major/minor third lower, or even an octave lower and then major/minor third lower (i call it octave +2. guess it's octave -2).

Maybe add in more panning variety too? Your panning already makes the song different then... I dare to say about 50% of NG songs at least (lol maybe not a substantial percentage). A nice trick you could try with the panning would be to change the sides of panning each measure, and though doing that only, sounds chopped up, you could make the 4th beat of a measure and the 1st beat of the next have a panning going from say Left to Center to Right.

Dunno if you're using FL Studio, but you could also perhaps add some more reverb to the piano, or use automation clips for filter effects (maybe on the bass since it's got the longest notes).

Yeah, that's all I really got to say. Just saw you've got a lot of potential, and the song's real good too

dietsnapple135 responds:

Wow, quite a long review, I like those :D. I'm glad you liked how it turned out, the song really doesn't follow any normal song setup, it pretty much constantly changes. When I meant most people are trying to be like the NG greats, if you look at the best people on NG's, they have their own, distinct sounds, that make them stand out, people trying be like them, often aren't going to find this sound, or get enough personal confidence to develop their own.

I do use FL Studio, but the FL reverb is way too forward, loud, and cheesy. The Piano actually has a shit load of reverb on it, but the reverb is pretty subtle compared to what FL users are used to. I think people flood their songs with bad reverb all too often.

So, thanks for the detailed review, and awesome :D

[Dj Niamek | Awaken]

O.O! holyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

holy crap shoot man! dude you're like a living composing god! DJ - Babokon just showed me your page and told me he inspired you, and you're making songs this good? dang man, better than me, then again, who isn't? Had to review this man, this song is too good. I heard you used ONLY Sytrus? Dang man, you know how to work your instruments and resources. This stuff is godly trance and there's so much depth to the sound. Sickest gates and strings, dang i thought i looked through all 500 or so instruments of Sytrus. Guess I just didn't realize how well they could be used. Listen man, this song is just a perfect blend of various instruments and melodies. Won't be able to tell my favorite part of this song for a couple of weeks until i've listened to this like a hundred times.

Soaring long notes and literally perfect mastering. I can barely hear the kick at some of the intense/busier parts, and it doesn't really matter. The melodies are so breathtaking and jawdropping at those moments no one could really care about a basic quarter note playing kick drum. The bass is super deep and still high enough to distinguish the notes and the piano sounds as if it's lost but has a direction, if you understand what I'm saying. Well, if you don't, I meant it in a good way ;P.

The song's just so good man what the *************************************
********** i hate you you're so good! This song has climaxes and falling moments (are there any? well the climaxes pass away so smoothly i can't tell), escalations, all working together perfectly and in the right amount of occurrences at the right intervals. This is like a paragon piece of art for anyone, no matter if they are a composer or a listener. Hundreds of memories can flow through one's head just by listening to this song once, and tons of ideas and imagery just from these sick notes.

Keep it up man, you'll be on top of NG for a long time if you can just get one song (if you haven't already) onto Top 5 weekly and you get tons of people favoriting you.

5/5, 10/10, Downloaded, Reviewed, Favorited, Jaw-dropped, Partially reinspired, and Mentally Face-slapped.

-AXT

Silta responds:

HAHA
Thank you sooo much for this review! :D The end made my burst out laughing... glad to know I have at least a few people who love this stuff :) I'd personally never thought quite THAT highly of this, considering how my newest piece is turning out... but I love this review and thank you for your thoughts :)

And thank you, Babokon ;P

-N