samulis's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[A New Future]

Breakdown:
Production: 20/30 (Average)
Composition: 19/30 (Average)
Instrumentation: 9/15 (Average)
Originality: 9.5/10 (Great/Incredible)
Interest: 13/15 (Great)

Total: 70.5/100 (Average) or 3.5 stars.

=======
Comments:
Some really nice usage of musical textures, but another unfortunate track in terms of usage of the potential of the stereo field. Even just some more slight phaser stuff or stereo field manipulation with delay or stereo creation plugins.

I think the recorders/whistles could use some additional vibrato, ornaments (including better usage of short versus long/staccato versus legato performances), or falls to emphasize the motion of notes and phrases- add a little over a whole note to give some interest and color (like this: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/623625). You have a lot of great ideas, but they are poorly organized, with lines that often stack and conflict with each other, vying for attention, but not in a contrapuntal way of "conversation", but more just like two people playing unconscious of the other, like a bunch of people doing solos at once with no one actually listening and working around each other. Make sure your layers interact and work with each other, rather than against.

Additionally, elements like the whistles (piercing, sharp) contrast too strongly with the attitude of the piece at times, especially when used in their upper register or in very fast, spread out lines- I would almost rather have heard the whistles used almost like backing brass going over guide tone lines and the like than like melody instruments. When the new guitar tone (not very well in time) comes in around 1:05 or so, the flutes should back the heck out of its way. Instead, they keep going on with high, and now quite annoying attention-grabbing melody stuff.

Also in that region and much more of the song, more work could be done to emphasize the harmony and chord progression. Much of the confusion of the 1:05 section is because you have like, five instruments playing quick melodic-esque lines with non-chord tones, and nothing more than a pad and occasional low notes on guitar to extrapolate chords. A substantial bass, even sampled, and some nice comping of chords on piano, or sampled strings, would help greatly.

Overall the flutes themselves do not move around much in their ranges, rather maintaining in a particular octave or so with a lot of repeated notes that just get a bit annoying after a while. The flutes, excluding the low one, all have very sharp hard tones. I would have gone with a more mellow tone- perhaps recorded them with a LDC or a ribbon mic if possible, and turned off some of those high chiffy ends (either with an EQ or by different mic placement, away from the chiff or pointed towards the holes), or considered using a softer flute, like a fife or a transverse flute, which would better match the chill tone. Let's face it, you have these pretty, un-distorted guitar lines and a soft piano and you're going in with what is more or less the supersaw of the flute family.

I really enjoyed the tone and mixing of the guitars. At first I was a little concerned it would be too roomy, but it worked out decently well.

Another concern was the performances. While they are all quite nice, some of them are not quite in time with the others, especially during the early climax portion of the piece, around 1:05. There's rhythms all over the place and very little lining up. There are a lot of ways to work towards fixing this- for example, always recording using ASIO (when on windows) between your audio interface and recording program, and set the latency as low as you can without artifacts/issues. Use a click track when playing (be sure you have headphones that don't "bleed" a lot of sound when doing this). Practice playing to a click track (it's really weird at first, but becomes second nature soon). Even just like, tapping to a click or strumming to a click when just chilling out is a great way to help internalize a steady tempo. Musicians who do a lot of playing, particularly in soloistic settings, tend to play with the beat quite a bit, and that's something you don't want when recording multi-track by yourself because it's hard as balls between latency and ambiguous lines to keep stuff in sync as it becomes rhythmically complex.

My last major issue was the reverb- this piece is washed out like New York after Hurricane Sandy. Washing out a piece is ok as long as it is minimalistic, but once you get to 1:05, it definitely isn't minimalistic and just becomes a bath rather than a listening experience. It becomes very hard to distinguish lines as it all just starts to blur into a mess. I say all this because I used to do this with my mixes all the time too. Over time, I've learned that wetter is not necessarily better, and I've turned from adding reverb to in many cases working to mitigate it. I'm not advocating a totally dry mix, but more fitting usage of a shorter, tighter reverb would really give the playing and the composition a chance to shine- I often view excessive reverb as a ploy to hide mistakes, and I'd be damned if I haven't done it at least a dozen times for exactly that purpose.

This is a solid piece, but I feel its lack of organization and mixing issues keep it from really being something great.

Rubric:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ngauc2015samulis/FinalRound/NyxTheShield.pdf

NyxTheShield responds:

A couple of things. They are not flutes, they are recorders, the limited range is a "flaw" of the instrument itself, i dont think it's valid to criticize that. Even the lowers note are at like, C5.

Also, for timing issues. I really, really, really HATE constant tempos. For me it's something that ever happens in real life and when done in a recording sounds extremely fake and mechanic. Same for the use of a metronome. That's in my opinion. Also, i choose to make it messy at the 1:00 minute mark ebcause thats what i wanted to express in the track itself. A sense of confusion. I want to tell an story with my music. A constant and tiddy timing wouldnt have expressed what i wanted. There isn't any latency issues tough, i recorded the guitars first and the flutes over them with an USB mic with >10ms of delay with propietary ASIO drivers, any latency issues you think there might be were left in in purpose, as i said above.

This is the first complain i have ever heard of my reveerbs, it's my signature. I would still call a single acoustic guitar with 2 recorders and 1 guitar with chorus minimalist. I don't like dry mixes for acoustic instruments, i just have to make them sounds more wet.

What do you mean by stereo field manipulations? I don't see a single problem wit the way i layered mi isntrument, i have a guitar (double tracked) to 80% to each side (obv with one side with a bit more, 85% iirc to not make it mono), flutes at 45%, 50% and center respectively and an occasional piano that covers the entire field when is alone with the guitar. I really can't see a problem with the stereo field in this track.

Overall i though i would be less dissapointed with the scoresheet in hand because the i would get why i got scored so low for a track , in my opiinion, was so good but i just feel even more dissapointed because most of the "flaws" that you point are just stilystical choices of mine.

[Breathe]

Breakdown:
Production: 19/30 (Average)
Composition: 27/30 (Great)
Instrumentation: 14/15 (Great)
Originality: 9/10 (Great)
Interest: 12.5/15 (Above Average/Great)

Total: 81.5/100 (Above Average) or 4 Stars

========
Comments:
A very well composed piece, like DSyk's other entries in the contest, but held back by the quality of the instruments in terms of production. As the samples used appear to be mostly if not entirely mono (although if they are EWQL SO, if my ears don't deceive me, that doesn't make much sense, as those are stereo... did you perchance try to pan the tracks or instruments yourself? You should never do that with EWQL SO, as all the mic positions come pre-panned for you) a lot more attention to mixing and careful use of reverb must be followed to create a work that is not too warm, bassy, or flat sounding, as this work unfortunately comes out rather intensely in all three. There is little "air" or "breath", rather ironically, in "breathe", and most of that breath comes from either the slight addition of room noise (to liven up the highs) or use of stereo samples. I think this piece would be vastly more emotionally appealing if it used stereo samples- there is a lot of interaction between lines that is left out when they are confined to their sides of the mix. For example, here's a piano piece with just one of the two mics (https://instaud.io/awH) versus both mics in stereo (https://instaud.io/7PB).

Compositionally, the piece is quite fabulous, and, I feel shows a very nice range of stylistic influences. I feel the quiet, gentle nature of the work does not make it boring, as so many works in that feel can. A good use of contrast, development, and form has made a solid work that is both an enjoyable listen (and re-listen) as well as a good example of refreshing and mature composition.

Rubric:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ngauc2015samulis/FinalRound/DSykMusic.pdf

DSykMusic responds:

Thanks for your review Samulis! You were right about it being EWQL SO and it being panned. I never knew about this! This tip has pretty much changed the way I set this library up. THANK YOU!

[Some of My Foolishness]

Score Breakdown:
Production: 18/30 (Average)
Composition: 26/30 (Great)
Instrumentation: 12.5/15 (Above Average/Great)
Originality: 10/10 (Incredible)
Interest: 13.5/15 (Great)

Total Score: 80/100 (Above Average), or 4/5 stars

========
Comments:
Mixing average at best, starting off great, then a few mic'ing hiccups, and then a muddy mess at 2:02 with too many contrasting lines, too much reverb, and not enough attention to mix.

Inconsistent distance from mic leads to inconsistent dry/room tone mixture creating a somewhat unpleasant effect of too much room at some points (like first "... and I see", versus the tone of the end of the verse before that... totally different tone, far too much boxy room). Should experiment with additional mic techniques/placements and angles to capture a less roomy tone (probably closer or in a drier room), and perhaps explore the possibility of stereo mic'ing/additional monophonic mixing techniques in the future.

Composition is pleasant, lyrics are nice. Flow of piece is well done. The digital piano elements were unfortunately quite lack-luster, and stylistically clashed with the very live, rough, acoustic sound of the rest of the track. I recommend exploring the plethora of free and affordable sampled percussion and pianos online.

A good rule of thumb I've heard from innumerable sources is to try to keep the number of independently moving lines below four at any time, and to always have one line be the dominant line. It's very important to have ANY stuff intended to be background stuff NOT be primarily more active, louder, or interesting than what is intended to be foreground stuff. Always try to use guide tone lines (moving to the nearest chord tone between chords) for background elements for best results. If a background element has a lot of non-chord tones, it will sound more like a melody or a counter-melody, hence foreground or middleground. Too many elements in one portion of the mix and it gets crowded... something I struggle with daily with my own style of music.

If a line is rhythmically unique compared to the main comping pattern, it should be brief, preferably connect with the main comping pattern on several beats and be around common tones with the current chords. If it acts like it's doing its own thing, then people will hear it as such and it'll literally sound like it doesn't belong in the piece. I'm speaking mostly about the piano at 2:02 here.

Otherwise, a very nice piece, with good singing, playing, and solid structure.

Rubric:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/ngauc2015samulis/FinalRound/Ceevro.pdf

Ceevro responds:

Wow! This is a wall of text worth considering! I thought I had my mic-placement pretty decent! And there are certainly some things I'm taking away from this with regards to composition...I'm thinking organic is the way to go for me, because I'm just not so good at controlling myself when I dive into the limitless possibility of synths. Things get crowded, as you said.

...And I'm really not a good pianist!

[~SW~ Data Transfer]

This is horrible. I hated every minute. Bad mixing. Bad mastering. Bad everything.

jk

I'm glad to see you got this out! Man, this thing was a rushed production for you, hahaha. Less than 100 hours? Skyewintrest? Can't be good! Really, this came out fantastic. Really nice contrast as always, great use of instruments and sounds.

SkyeWint responds:

Yeah, no kidding with regard to the rushed production. I still feel like it's one of my better pieces though, even with that rushed production.

...ironic that I submitted something technically dubstep for my first round piece two years in a row.

[\W/ Afterthought]

I'm going to buy you a stereo piano sample library one of these days... :P

SkyeWint responds:

All I gotta do is keep making piano pieces with this mono sample, eh? <3

srsly though this is great free piano soundfont.

[Automaton]

"Today, on How It's Made: Robots."

"The process begins with the technician selecting a sheet of steel that will form the outer body of the robot. He finds a piece that is large enough to form all the pieces needed for the exterior. Next, he uses a laser cutter to form the components needed. This process needs to be performed twice for each robot created, once for the main body and again for the peripherals."

Really man, sounds like background music for that show, ahha. Great work, and might I say, a style of thing I don't hear a lot from you, but still has that "steampianist" sound to it.

steampianist responds:

im reading this comment with a female voice that has a canadian accent

[Hollow]

It has an interesting modal sound to it... are you familiar with modal harmony? If not, it might be something interesting to explore around with. It almost has this non-western tone, like one of the Hurrian Hymns, such as the one utilized (with no relevance) for the theme of Charlemagne for Civilization IV (https://youtu.be/wqjgPBITiX4?t=83 or https://youtu.be/wqjgPBITiX4?t=183). Notice how the non-western non-standard scale steps and substitutions really color the sound of the piece. (if you're interested in learning more about the Hurrian Hymns, check out this: http://individual.utoronto.ca/seadogdriftwood/Hurrian/Website_article_on_Hurrian_Hymn_No._6.html - scroll down a bit for the musicy part).

I felt the use of effects and synthetic tones made the hybrid sound quite pleasant. I would recommend perhaps a bit more reverb on the choir and putting a bit more distance between the choir and the listener; right now it just feels a little close in the mix.

Compositionally it is quite nice. You have some good use of contrast. For even more, you may even want to consider some modulation or temporary tonicization in the middle... some tonal wandering is never a bad thing for audience retention.

NicholasCabraja responds:

Thanks man. I will certainly check out those links! I'm quite shy on the reverb on most of my tracks, but I'm trying not to hold back on it. The tone your hearing is from Logics Pros modal synth sculpture. :)

[Your Father's Blade]

This is a NGADM Round 3 Review.

First, a breakdown of the score:
Production: 28/30 (Great)
Composition: 23/30 (Above Average)
Orchestration: 13.5/15 (Great)
Originality: 8/10 (Above Average)
Interest: 13/15 (Great)

Total Score: 85.5/100 or 8.55/10 or 4.5 Stars (Above Average).

Rubric (w/ basic judge comments and explanation of categories):
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/draw/020112da245797b7369703b108762403

==========
The Good:
- Virtual instruments were pleasant sounding and used in a way that reflected their strengths carefully.
- There was a clean, clear, emotional arc to the piece.
- Production was for the most part realistic and very solid.
- The introduction and submergence of instruments within the texture was very carefully done and quite seamless. Nothing was jumpy or sticking out both orchestrationally and production-wise.

The Not-So-Good:
- Not a lot of harmony or counterpoint in the piece as a whole, mostly just unison or octave lines until around 2:30, then we get a very small bit. The optimal method to counterpoint is motion while one line is stable, so one line moves up to a whole note, then once it gets there, another line comes in and plays around, and vice versa, which you did around 3:15ish.
- The climax was not much of a climax... more like... the track got louder and more busy. The lead in was awfully long, maybe consider having two climaxes or having the lead up shorter and more concise? Also consider how to add more contrast between the leadup and the climax so we really feel it. Probably the best piece of advice: have a key change when the climax gets going in earnest (2:55). Try a few different modulations until one works (up a third, up a step, etc.). This practice of modulating essentially flips over the audience's "getting bored" hour glass, much the same as a very contrasting section would.
- With composition, consider having more variation with your chord progressions. There's a lot of fun things you can do with harmony- using 9ths, 7ths, secondary dominants, etc. I'd be glad to write in more detail about all the fun things you can do harmonically if you'd like, just shoot me a PM or something. Another good thing would be allowing more tonal ambiguity- having major chords in your minor key sort of thing. Getting your father's sword is a ceremonial, proud moment, but here it sounds like your dying, bleeding father is embracing you on a battlefield while handing you his sword and telling you to go fight for your family and kingdom.
- Think of more suitable ways to use percussion. You don't need to create a click track for your string players, they are perfectly capable of counting for themselves. We can borrow from Romantic and Classical traditions regarding percussion for this; consider using percussion not as a rhythmic/textural element, but as a functional, transitional element, like slight little accents here and there to follow the motion of the piece, and then utilize it in a modern rhythmic sense during the climax (starting at 2:55) to accent the change. This will give your piece more emotion and more dynamics. Also consider more varying percussion than taikos. Consider shakers, tenor drums, marching snares, bodhrain, etc.
- Regarding rhythms, consider experimenting with syncopated motifs on the drums. Often times it's what beats they don't play that are the most important of all.
- Brass were too quiet in the mix at 2:55. At that volume, they would have drowned out the entire rest of the orchestra without much effort, from experience. Chants are a bit too loud, even ignoring realism. I'm not endeared to chanting in music, but it can have its uses I guess. I would have prefered maybe some textural tenor and bass sustains going on in the background, like a pedal or something.

If one were looking for typical, modern trailer music, this would be it (albeit ~2 minutes too long). It more or less is exactly what one would expect to hear in a trailer for a game or movie today. If that is a good thing or a bad thing, that is for you to decide. My only advice is to not isolate yourself in one sound, especially if that sound is the most popular one, because all styles are fads and if you just follow the herd, nothing will distinguish you from John Doe who also makes traileresque epic cinematic music. However, it means you will probably have an easier time finding work until this certain style of cinematic falls away. There's nothing wrong to either approach, it's just a fundamental choice you have to make as a musician and as a businessman.

My two cents: think about ways to push beyond cliches and expectations and you will in turn have your own expectations broken as to what you can say musically. If you love this type of music, then don't just embrace it, elaborate and build up on it. Bring in more varied vocabulary. Hans Zimmer didn't get where he is by just doing the "in" thing, he took the "in" thing of the day and put his spin on it. That became wildly successful and now everyone else is doing it too.

Food for thought.

Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Samulis

EvilRaccoon responds:

I appreciate the comments, but the more I read form you, the more contradictory I find what you are saying, so it's almost impossible to determine what to take from it.

Harmony wise I had a lot going on, I'm not sure if you just picked up on the lower bass lines and thought they were repeating, but there is a break in the middle. Personally I thought the climax was there, and never just got busy. The voices came in, the percussion changed and strings pulled frontal. I didn't feel a key change would have been appropriate because that eludes to a turning point where my concept was growth and maturity.

I know you seen it as a proud moment, but I didn't want to go cliche. The title is "Your father's blade". The implication in the title is then that the father is no longer with us, and it was made to sound like the son is mourning. So it's not a cliche take. The blade is passed on by someone to his son to take on the burden, who trains with it. That's why it sounds the way it is. It's not a happy moment, and thought that was evident. In fact quite the opposite when our character is forced to embrace a destiny that he didn't want. For reasons above the track isn't full of pride because it doesn't take on the normality you would expect. I didn't think I had to spell it out. The key I felt was in the title, "Your" as it implies the father didn't pass it on himself.

You point out that it could be a trailer track, so then it should conform to trailer track timings and duration. However, later you suggest that i should push beyond cliches, and expectations and to embrace it. You compare my tracks to classic and contemporary practices saying that I could be more like the fundamentals of other musicians and businessmen. Putting them under the Not-so-good. Yet, completely contradicting yourself, you've told me that I've to push beyond cliches and expectations. So which is it?

I know you're still learning and studying. But you've told me that I've to push beyond the boundaries while maintain conforming to those cliches of classic and contemporary. It doesn't make sense.

[404]

This is a NGADM Round 3 Review.

First, here's a breakdown of your score:
Production: 18/30 (Average)
Composition: 27.5/30) (Great)
Instrumentation: 13/15 (Great)
Originality: 9/10 (Great)
Interest: 13.5/15 (Great)

Total: 81.0/100 or 8.1/10 or 4 Stars (Above Average).

Rubric (w/ rough judge notes and explanation of categories/score):
http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/draw/1bf2f7bf24ec92d1d83524315a3ca657
=========
The Good:
- Great composition! Really enjoyed the melodies, harmonies, and flow. There was definitely a lot of detail insofar as the writing is concerned.
- Instrumentation was quite solid, although I could have seen more use of other horns to flesh out the horn section (a 5 horn band perhaps).
- The actual playing on the live parts was clean and well done.
- Yep, sounds like Camo finally got off his bum for this contest. :P

The Not-So-Good:
- MONO drums... They sound like they were recorded with a single SM-57 on the other side of the room... very thin, no presence, very weak. HUGE loss in effectiveness of the song... and the saxes... yeah yeah, you know.
- I felt the mix wasn't very tight. Some of the instruments were way in my face (guitar, that clicky clack keyboard thing, etc), others were a mile away (drums, bass). Bass was weak, sounded less like a bass and more like a chill low pad, need more pop and impact.

Keep compos(ed/ing)!
-Sam

camoshark responds:

Hey Sam, glad to finally read your review, I was starting to think you might have forgotten! :P

Regardless, I agree with pretty much all you're saying, except for the bit about expanded brass arrangement. What we were going for this round was a different texture than standard large-scale fusion arrangements, and we intentionally created very little harmonization, despite the fact that there were always two instruments playing the theme. It's a style of sound that is more common in more modern fusion songs, and it'll probably sound better when I actually get a live sax (working on that as we speak) to play.

Regardless, it's more of a matter of taste at this point, and I'm glad you kept it as a minor remark rather than pulling points off for it. We're working on making a version 2 for this, and all points mentioned here and on other posts are being addressed (what with being blatant production errors due to lack of time and all), so expect a big upgrade in the next few weeks.

Thanks again for chiming in!

[Imminence]

Pleasant composition! I really enjoy the step-ish harmonies (some nice juicy chords in there!) and the orchestration is pleasant. Perhaps an oboe, flute, or soprano sax playing contrapuntal lines with the piano would be cool.

Would have brought out more of the tone of the marimba and less of the hit (use a softer dynamic layer or EQ? Try ribbon mic setting too.) and brought up the gain a little more.

The track reminded me of this piece from Civ III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2b7TQpyQY8

9/10 will think up civ references again.

Step responds:

OHAI. Thanks for reviewing ^_^.

"Pleasant composition! I really enjoy the step-ish harmonies (some nice juicy chords in there!) and the orchestration is pleasant."

I laughed at the Step-ish harmonies comment since it's so true. This is indeed reminiscent of previous harmonies I've done.

"Perhaps an oboe, flute, or soprano sax playing contrapuntal lines with the piano would be cool."

I tried to include some woodwinds in there but I just couldn't get them to fit... woodwinds are probably my weakest point, both in terms of amount of woodwind samples I have and in terms of how to write for them. I agree it would definitely fit though - the melodies have a lot of space between each note, so something else to fill it in would've been great.

"Would have brought out more of the tone of the marimba and less of the hit (use a softer dynamic layer or EQ? Try ribbon mic setting too.) and brought up the gain a little more."

Good thinking. Agree with you here too.

"The track reminded me of this piece from Civ III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2b7TQpyQY8"

Damnnn that track is awesome. And I am definitely hearing the similarity... it's almost uncanny and some points. TOTALLY GONNA SUE CIVILISATION FOR COPYING ME.

"9/10 will think up civ references again."

0/10 would file lawsuit again.

Thanks again for reviewing ^_______^.