Mrmilkcarton's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Feels Like Water (Original Mix]

boots and cats boots and cats boots and cats boots and cats boots and cats boots and cats boots and cats boots and cats

I like it.

Sequenced responds:

yes

[TMFO3 -7: Wake up honey.]

I really like the dynamics in this song. The piano sounds great and I like that you use some synthes to support it. Only complaint I have is maybe checking the panning on the bass guitar. I would keep it mono and centered or at least closer to the center then it is now. You also get a little distortion with the kick. The musical idea is great though. Really really like the piano.

:D

Calamaistr responds:

I putted the bass guitar slightly to the left so it would make synergy with the blunted jazz guitar that plays on the right, so the track feels fuller.

Also the distortion you speak of is an intentional very low pitched scraping hit to force the piece to be darker, especially considering the buildup toward the all out horn repetition of the main melody.

I wanted there to be a feeling of it being unbearable, the goodbye' this track represents.

:)

thanks for your review.
-cal.

[Game Over(R) - Mr. KaOs]

Compression

The mix sounds like it could be good without all the compression on the master track. When some instruments come in there's alot of limiting going on keeping the track from clipping. Nothing distorted but some of the quality was lost.

Try some sidechaining on the bass, it'll help the kick fight through the mix and add some dynamic variation.

Sounds like you sampled skrillex a little. Sweet XD

Try turning things down then use compression and limiting to bring them back up on the master bus. This way you can still get some nice compression but keep the quality of your track. My rule of thumb when trying to have a loud instrument in the track without the master clipping is to turn everything else down and compressing it right.

Takes some time but your heading in the right direction.

SteveKaOs responds:

I agree. I didn't do any extra fine tuning to the mastering of this so some things are a little crunchy. I just finished the mastering now and I'll have it uploaded. Yeah I added the skrillex thing at the end there cuz I love the effect of it. It's all just playing around man, I really liked your track so I wanted to go and make a house version of it to see what it sounded like. The critiquing always gets me serious into it though so I had to finish the mastering haha. Check around again man, you might like the mastered version better.

[[Fiji] Buzzsaw - instrmntl mix]

Through monitors

I don't have a sub but that shouldn't be a problem on monitors.

I'll start of with your kick, click click click click. That's what I hear, it has no bass to it :(. Sounds like you have a sub bass in there. The notes are too low for you to honestly hear but I'm sure you could feel it on speakers with a sub.

To go back to the kick though, the kick in electro is the first and fore most important instrument of the whole track. If it's not pumping, powerful, and killing the crowd your bass isn't going to hit as hard.

Check out the track Lick The Rainbow by Mord Fustang. That kick hits hard and fits just right with bass.

Other then this your track has a good vibe, just needs a better kick and possibly a snare to compliment.

MrFijiWiji responds:

on my headphones, it sounds fine. actually sounds pretty big. but i actually respect your opinion, you are one of the more legit producers on the site. im not going to necessarily gonna entirely disagree with this one. I really do need some monitors, but im too young to work :(... thatll change in a few months. so i expect to get some actually quality monitors by spring. but right now im stuck here with my seinheisser headphones. but also, im using two different kicks in this song. the one in the breakdown, i made sure, is far more less prominent. I didnt want to take away from the surrealism and ambiance i was going for on my breakdown. but in the bridge, intro, and drop i use a far heavier kick whiich from my limited equipments perceptions is quite bassy. thank you for the review. u sir are an awesome producer! u get a plus from me!

[SR - Otamatone (Sine Remix)]

Ambient!

Wasn't expecting to get an ambient song, and one so soon. Love the guitar when it hits. Adds an awesome power to it.

Thank you for the remix :DD

SineRider responds:

thanks man. I had a lot of fun remixing this. I've never heard of a otamatone, but checked it out after I heard your tune. that thing is... interesting XD

[xKore - Beast Mode]

Inspiring

Man you make me want to make Dumbstep, cause it is sooo good.

xKore responds:

just listened to your tune on YT, keep up the good stuff, man.

[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-

[-: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