Mrmilkcarton's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Orchestral Theme 2]

So thin :-/

I'm no orchestral master, not really a composer (yet*) but you've got a song hidden under some high quality instruments. So why the 7? It's your use of reverb. I'm not saying you do it in every song you've made but a fair share of them have this similar style of mixing/mastering/reverb.

You are hiding some very powerful elements in your song. Just because you have great instruments doesn't mean they don't need work of their own. Your drums are covered in so much reverb they lose all the power they had stored up. Its not a bad idea to use one reverb for all the instruments (using a send channel) but how much you let the instruments have is a matter of preference and taste. Honestly I give my drums little reverb and if I do I make sure the reverb doesn't mask their low end and power.

In my honest opinion you have too much reverb on the Staccato Strings. I never felt Staccato strings should have alot if they are a big portion of the driving force. As of right now I feel like I'm sitting back and listening to it as if I were in an audience rather then being engulfed in the music. Could just be another preference of mine but, completely up to you. If people like it/buy it you are obviously doing something right.

So in short, in the future I'd like to hope that you would take into consideration how much reverb you give each instrument. Their placement in the song and how they can bring the listener to a more tense or emotional feel.

Good luck in the future.

Gravey responds:

Good information here. I've been playing around with things trying to figure out what I need to work on in order to improve my sound. I'll definitely keep your suggestions in mind in the future. Good stuff here for sure.

Thanks for the review.

-Gravey-

[loans - honky annoying]

lol..

I like the raw random feeling of this song - except that scratch loop thump thing quickly got on my nerves - without it though I think it's a rather pleasant little random ditty you got going on there :)

-shawn-
March 3, 2010
Author's Response:

Hah. It was supposed to get on your nerves, the song was my submission for the 'annoying song' contest!

[xKore - Morning Coffee (NG)]

Always love it

<3

Rig is right about the drums missing something. Can't always rely on the frequency reading gotta use those ears. Something about this song that keeps you listening to the end. I think it is the interesting choice of synthes that give the song character. The drums add alot of character too later, almost a mix of a drum set and house style drums. Love it to the end lol.

Seeing as you make NG mixes what do you do with the other 3 to 4 minutes I know you have there for DJ intro/outros?

Anyway the only thing that really kinda bothered me is the "guitar" like synth that plays the lead. There's something about it that just sound clear. Almost seems like you cut some of the highs.
Look forward to more.

[-:YRX:- ChaozAura]

A girl?

Let me start off by saying a few things. Constructive criticism, if you don't want to read it then skip my review. If you think there is no room for improvement then don't read my review.. I'm only trying to help and not trying to hurt your feelings.

Anyway starting off 7/10 not a bad score. Average score if you think about it. Nothing wrong with that, it's not great and it is not bad. Now I'll explain my opinion.

Starting with the name, I don't suggest copying ParagonX9 with a serious song name.
The song starts off. You have way too much reverb. Drums don't need reverb. Why you have so much reverb on everything is beyond me. You destroy the mix by adding reverb that everything no longer fits. Through out the song there is a ton of ducking from the limiter. Things are peaking and the quality is being lost. Limiters are there to keep the random peaks down not the entire song.

So the structure of the song is... interesting. The intro kinda loses me. It's not a hit just a 4 to the floor kick. You reuse it later but, I'll get into that soon. The drums get turned down when the pad comes in, not sure if it is the limiter or you.

Half way at 1:15 or so you do the same thing at the intro. It makes no sense for the transition. It just seems like you want to do something else then go a whole other direction. After this transition it sounds like you listened to a bit too much ParagonX9. The melody behind the main melody is oddly similar to one of his songs. Structure wise this whole transition has very little in common with the intro.

The drums that come in don't have as much reverb as you did before (good). The snare is a bit loud and the pattern never changes. Adding more synthes to crowd your mix won't make the song anymore interesting without a little variation in other elements. I can't tell if your drums are just a loop or something in the beat maker. The synth at 2:10 crowds the mix to the point that you can barely hear the piano and the saw.

Overall average song. If you want a cleaner mix I suggest less reverb. Reverb and delay are the easiest way to crowd a mix if you don't do it properly. Not enough will make a song bland and too much will make a song hard to listen to for a long time.

Cheers.

YouriX responds:

Dont worry i can take a hard review every now and then. As long as you dont be a dick about it :P
Anywho, You pointed out some good things that i could work at. And i geuss i have to go easy on the reverb. But the reason behind this is to give a certain ambient feeling to it. Guess i have to find a other way to do that :P

All in all thanks for the constructive review.

[Desperate Religion (ATB Remix)]

Some minor issues

From time to time in the song you can hear the limiter pushing back on the volume. Try to mix the sounds so they don't push the wall too hard.

Going to take a wild guess and say you used Nexus for a good portion of the synths in the song. No problem with that but, they can be heard if they aren't covered up. The kick is cool, a bit rough on the loudness but trance can be a blend of anything you want. Sidechain one note basslines are great and all but don't offer enough variation. Maybe a bit too much sidechain for the whole song but, that just may be your style.

Really liked the vocal chop, very nice addition. At about 5:30 it started to drag a bit, some swells and sweeps might help keeping it from being overly repetitive.

Overall the song is enjoyable, some mix issues, a little bland in some areas but vocals can be tough to work with. You used the vocals nicely and they never got lost.

Keep up the good work, makes me wish I could figure out my own vocal song.

Blizzaine responds:

I don't use a limiter

It fucks up songs, I mix everything as loud as I feel needed.

Also listening to my songs on shitty walmart speakers or shitty freq cutting headphones tends to make people think this, Don't know why

[-[ SummerBreeze ]-]

Review

You distort on the pad a little. I also hears a loop in there. Last your supah saw could be a bit stronger (layers?). Cool song though.

Can I has you're virus C plz?

FlamingFirebolt responds:

I have no idea how the distort got there, maybe has to do with the recording rather then the synth. And yes i probably should have layered the supah saw. Strangely enough i chopped up several loops to make a loop? Oh god ineffective paradox.

*Hands over viru--- wait a minute! >: l

[Bridging Worlds]

This is a short review.

Remove some of the reverb on either the kick or the barely audible timpani and the mix will become cleaner. Right now something is causing the reverb to just create too much background noise taking away from the strings. Good melody overall just fix it up a bit and you'll have a nice piece.

Marks-a-lot responds:

There is a lot of reverb, I'll try toning it down a bit. thanks for the review and advice.

[-[ Wings ]-]

Awesome percussion

I don't think anything is wrong with the percussion fits just right. Sounds good and beats my percussion if you ask me by far.

The intro sounded great but maybe a tad too much reverb on the percussion. Your kick seems like you have it down.

1:00 ish you bring in a bass thing. It sounds like it has some reverb on it not a fan of low basses and reverb. Try layering in the future with high mid and low bass. Try to keep it mono in the low end too.

2:00 padbreak down. Not enough going on at this point. 20 seconds is too long for just a pad and a few synthes here and there. Try some atmospheric sounds and FX along with a more layered pad to get a good filling sound.

2:30 Nexus saw, this saw just sucks for trance. It is way to harsh in my opinion and doesn't float in the mix like a good saw lead could. Makes a good happy hardcore lead but just isn't what a trance song (in my opinion) needs.

3:00 Everything sounds good the bass still seems a little to on top of the mix with the reverb.

4:00 to outro. You've got your outro down sounds fine to me.

The overall mix was good but some synthe layering couldn't do any harm. A good airy sound makes trance a good listen. While it had a strong idea the melody was nothing to go gaga over but it was nice. Arp melodies are hit and miss for me.

Cheers.

FlamingFirebolt responds:

Reverb is gods gift to men but also a curse. It either makes sound phat and in general, really nice or makes the whole song sound weird. I didn't use much reverb but it's fairly noticable on the percussions like the snare/rimshot thingy.
Your right on the kick though it sometimes has trouble holding up but i didn't want it to be too strong either. I think i balanced it enough but oh well :).

Low bass + small reverb = phatness. It certainly did help without reverb but maybe i overdid it? I dunno. but i never thought about the whole Layerinh mid high and low thing, thanks for that !.

I should have made the whole break with some more details and tension. Maybe some more FX or other synths. Or maybe the bass rolling on only 1 note. But it didn't really fit, so i couldn't be bothered anymore and moved to the chorus :). Afterwards i was like, Meh it's alright. I don't like making breaks in the first place but i'll keep that in mind in my next project.

I know :( Nexus saws are way too cheezy, i tried to EQ it a little but no hope. For now, i don't have anything else that is better. Geuss i have to go soul-searching in the forest known as the internet again.

The bass stands in the spotlight in this song. I didn't want the lead to steal the show because then it would end up being something .. else.. For now i mainly focused on the beat ( percussions etc. ) and the bass giving it a slightly housey-tribalish percussion sound to it. That's why the melody/lead is kinda left out.

What defines a good producer from a regular one, is that he carefully makes each part and never leaves one in dust. I Geuss that's what i did wrong.
I should focus more on the entire song instead of each part.

Thanks for your input, i hope you like my next song more :). I'll try to make it sound airy but i never succeed. So bleh. Geuss you will have to wait :P.
Till then Mrmilkcarton, Till then..

-firebolt-

[Kazmo - Going Home [2009 Rev.]]

I likes it.

I'm stingy on my pianos sadly soundfonts are not the greatest for quality. I also have a tendency to love pianos with a good strong reverb on them. The dryness of your piano takes away from the overall mix for me. Anyway I'll do this the easier way and go by times.

Intro - Offbeat bass hurray. I'm sure you could do a little better. The plucky synthe's delay could use more feedback to give a wider feeling. The reverb on it doesn't seem to be too strong either (if any).

0:28 - Piano enters and eh not a fan of it I hear some reverb but not the strong saturated sound I have in mind. Plucky synthe still kind of takes over the overall mix.

1:00 - Percussion has wowed me but overall it's fine. You keep interest with the transitional style sounds which is awesome good job on that.

1:30 You have a new lead it seems I like this one with the pad behind it. The plucky synthe comes back in still in need of better delay (in my opinion).

2:15 Not sure what this new synthe is but it widens up the mix a bit. Arp in the background is good not too loud or too quiet just the right amount. Your bass is still offbeat and the mid to high end range is losing in the fight for the mix. Your bass sounds filtered because of it's lack of higher frequencies, try layering more then one bass some at different octaves.

2:40 The piano is brought back in, this time it fits a little better since the mix has more going on then before.

3:15 Synthe breakdown/lead?

3:40 Back to where we started, not much to say an outro is an outro.

The things I liked outweighed the things I didn't which is hard now n' days to find that among newgrounds. Try to work on your bass it's interesting but it's not a "how can I achieve that" kind of bass. Try layering since and working with longer delays.

Everything is just my opinion as is everyone's review so don't take anything to heart. I tend to review songs I like anyway.

Kazmo responds:

I'm glad you like it!

I personally felt that the offbeat bass fit the song quite nicely, and it's not always off beat either, I mix it up. I look into the pluck synth, I had to mess around with it because it was conflicting with the new lead at 2:15, so I had to mono-lize it a bit, I'll try and spread the reverb out more.

I didn't have alot of reverb on the piano b/c it was ringing too much in the whole mix, and then I was getting some balance issues with the reverb. Sorry you don't like the piano all that much, and I'll have to go against you on soundfont quality, I haven't found anything that sounds more realistic, feel free to check out my one song called Changes, it's under Classical. That's a soundfont :P

Glad the percussion didn't bore you :D

At 1:30, that's actually the same lead as at the beginning, just with a pad behind it. I enjoyed making that pad, it's rather full.

All my synths are 3xOsc, I really seperated the sound on it so that it covers the whole mix, as a lead should :3 The arp was a thing I decided to put in near the end, I felt that I needed to make the climax more interesting with some moving parts in the background. Concerning the bass, I didn't want too much mids and highs on it, or else it can conflict with the synths.

Thanks for the review Mrmilkcarton! It was quite the review, and I'll look into a few of the things you pointed out.

[-+[Somewhere Out There-Duet]+-]

Autotune?

When listening to the song it almost seems like autotune was being used. Mostly the transition from one word to another was where it seemed to falter. I dunno if it is just me but bothers me not knowing if it is or not.

Overall the song is well produced even if I'm not a fan of Disney music. You two should certainly do more together.

Cayler responds:

Sorry, no auto-tune. That would be rude to my co-artist. Hey, Celine Dion sure sounds like she's got auto-tune going all the time. lol I guess we can take that as a compliment. :P There is compression, reverb, and a little chorus but not much. Maybe it sounds digital because of those effects. When I sing, I like to practice avoiding humanized note transitions, so that may also be why it sounds auto-tuned. Thanks for the compliments and review. :D