Afterfall's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[I Am Bassracer]

Interesting start, but that intro section goes on for wayyy too long. I got very bored around 50 seconds in, wanting some kind of change or build.

The section that comes after that isn't really a new section, but rather the omission of certain sounds for a period of time.

Did you artificially increase the volume of the climax at 1:45? Because the sudden jump in volume is very awkward and actually dampens the energy that the climax could have had.

There are some very interesting ideas in this piece, and the sounds you are using, although very basic, work well with eachother.

You definitely need to work on your mixing skills. The levels of the different sounds here are all over the place. Compare the last part of the song to the first minute, notice the huge change in volume? You may think this increased loudness adds excitement, but there are much better ways to achieve that.

I also urge you to explore progression, change and the introduction of new sections in a piece of music. Try adding new musical sections, without just taking away or adding elements.

Sorry if I'm being too harsh, just trying to give constructive criticism. You're welcome to do the same for my music too :)

junkster775 responds:

WOW! I can't tell you how happy I am to have received advice like this. It is super helpful! I am definitely going to be working on that, it is still a learning experience for me. And to answer your question, I see now the volume jump I didn't see late last night, it wasn't intentional, it was just a lot of instruments got added at once. I will be lowering that and I am going to try and improve the song some.

The advice is super helpful and MUCH appreciated. I am still new to all this. And I would be happy to criticize your music as well. I'll check it out soon. :)

Thanks again!

[.^7]

Nice sounds! It has a very nice, spacey, atmosphere. The low bit-rate makes this very annoying to listen to though. Your snares might just sound a bit more harder because of the compression, which you could achieve without a low bitrate. :/

Is this a work in progress or just a short piece? Because you've tagged it as a loop, but it doesn't work loop at all haha. What with the fade out and everything... This track would make a very nice loop for a flash game, otherwise I strongly suggest you extend this :)

yagru responds:

yeah, definitely a work in progress :P i'll work with the compression a lil more and see what i can do. i'll let you know if i make any more progress, thanks for the review!!!

[The Middle Children]

Metallic Goodnessss

Great track, I especially like your combination of drillstep style drums with very melodic elements. The bass is nice, although not very interesting or unique. All of the elements sound really metallic and it works really well for this piece.

The intro is really nice. I love the percussion and little drum hits that hyper-actively start and stop, cutting through the quiet yet unnerving atmosphere. I was enjoying the intro a lot until the classic "kick drum gets faster and faster until the drop" section kicked in. That's just a personal opinion though, I never like them unless they're used really creatively. (even though I have done it myself as well lol)

The switch-up at 3:06 is a very nice touch that helps keep the energy up through the repetition.

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum to the very enjoyable intro, the ending is too sudden and disappointing, and ruins the atmosphere you created up until that point. I reckon this track could be greatly improved with a more consolidated feel, to focus more on the highlights. And I think the track could have benefited a lot from a better thought-out outro that retains the same mood and atmosphere.

Overall a well constructed track with a nice intro and a very solid atmosphere. The nice metallic sound-design and the melodic elements make up for the slightly repetitious arrangement. The ending is very disappointing though.

I followed you on soundcloud, looking forward to heae your next track!

jandaman responds:

Yeah the bass is continuing to be a weak point in my dnb producing...my monitor speakers have a pretty weak bass response, so every other dnb song i listen to for reference all sound pretty similar in the bass section. Definitely something I need to work on...

Well i can't say I've been listening to drum'n'bass long enough to start exploring the non-traditional techniques - stuff like the standard amen break, short break before the drop and the classic "kick drum gets faster and faster until the drop" techniques still do it for me :D i'll get bored eventually, and i'll start exploring new ideas

Yeah the switch up sounds pretty cool, but i'm regretting not having done more with it :(

Yes the ending seems to be a pretty common criticism...the truth is i got very lazy towards the end of this song, so i just did me a copy paste job and left it at that :/
Regretting it now, as I knew i would
So yeah, i agree with everything that you say about the outro...very disappointing

Cheers for the kind words though mate :) I'll be sure to check out your stuff on soundcloud

Merry Xmas :D

[California Girl]

Everything you make has my foot tapping lol

Was pulled right into the mood of the track at the very beginning. I really like the strings sounding a little distant and the guitar (by contrast) being right at the the front of the mix.

The piano part is very nice and feels very emotional and the occasional clashing notes have a nice effect, but I think there are some notes that are repeated unnecessarily. (That's purely personal taste though.) I also really don't like the ending. I like sudden endings if they work effectively, but the ending in this piece comes out of no where and doesn't fit well. The loud guitar strumming that comes in at 2:10 was very harsh through my sennheiser's, but I probably had them up too loud at the time.

I really like the percussion here, both the rhythm and the instrumentation.

The reasonably small amount of elements in this piece work really effectively together, without leaving.. bad space (because space can be a good thing too lol) in the piece, sonically or musically, which is something I have trouble pulling off.

Have you heard any Penguin Cafe Orchestra? Something about this piece kind of... Resonates in the same way as some of their music does. Even though this isn't your more frequent, dramatic orchestral style is still feels very much like movie music, or at least music that allows me to easily picture fictional scenarios in my head that follow along with the changes in the piece.

Great work with this piece, I haven't heard of Simon Jeffes, but after hearing this piece I am inclined to listen to his music. I look forward to listening to this piece tomorrow through my big speakers. This has made me want to listen to my Penguin Cafe Orchestra collection lol.

D3vilsheep responds:

Simon Jeffes actually created the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He died back in 1997 but the band continues to perform new works. I'm glad you caught the sound I was going for -- not surprised since you have remarkable taste. The ending is abrupt but symbolic, so I can leave it without it bothering me. I'm still working hard on getting a good instrumental sound, so I greatly appreciate your review. Thanks. :)

[Riders of the Sun]

You got my foot tapping again...

The percussion here is fucking fantastic.

The long intro works well in my opinions, and makes the climax all the more satisfying. And the ending is absolutely perfect. Well done on this one... This piece made me want to listen to your entire collection again.

D3vilsheep responds:

Hey thanks! Yeah the flow here is much better than the Crescent piece, but I think it's because I didn't try to fit in a billion ideas. And yeah, the percussion is sick -- I'm really enjoying creating these exotic rhythms...stand by for more percussive-based tracks.

[Sky Runner]

Im here to inflate your ego to unimaginable levels

That transition at 0:46 put a massive smile on my face haha...

The electronic beats that come in half way are very fitting. I was not expecting them either, so there is a surprise element there that was really nice. I really enjoyed the build ups sprinkled throughout., and that mood change right at the end was absolutely spot-on.

This piece made me think of Rainbow Six 3, not so much the soundtrack, but the mood of the game. The electronic beats also probably triggered that comparison.

I always try to think of constructive criticism to give people, but I really don't have any negative things to say about this... Firstly because I am musically incapable to do so, and secondly because I think this is just really, really good. The only thing I can think to say is that the title doesn't really match the mood of the music, for me anyway. (Although most of my music just has completely random titles that my friends come up with....)

D3vilsheep responds:

You know what...I'm feelin' the Rainbow Six today. Raven Shield was the SHIT.

[Hills Through Blue Glass]

Yessss

Very soothing, but also ever so very slightly mysterious. Definitely very well mixed. It sounds bright, wide and vivid. I don't know how you get your music to sound so close to a real orchestra... Every sound is perfect, honestly.

I am seriously having trouble coming up with any constructive criticism for your new work.

Also, all your stuff is in my ipod, however would you rather the artist name be "D3vilsheep" or Josh Miller? haha...

D3vilsheep responds:

All the train/station samples in this track are from an Australian line. Maybe you can hear the Hornsby reference at the very end as it's fading out. I don't care what my tags are at this point -- as long as I'm on your iPod that's good enough for me. :)

[Rock 'em (WIP)]

!!!

An amazing improvement from the last version of this track!!!! I especially liked the intro.

I will say, however, that you may have pitched down your snare samples too much. You can really hear it, and it brings the whole track down. You can have really bassy snares without having to pitch them down so much. And if my ears aren't failing me, you seem to have left some other snares pitched higher, creating this wierd "chord" effect. Or maybe that's just me.

Anyhoodles, this track is still amazing, I honestly can't wait for the final version :)

Skela responds:

I didnt pitch any of the snares down, I just beefed them up with processing.
It's a matter of taste I guess, I love beefy snares.
Thanks for the review.

[TG10 (WIP)]

^_^

First off, I played your remix of ghost-busters at a party a few weeks back and they went fucking nuts. Can't blame 'em :)

I'm really starting to get interested in your music. There really aren't very many quality producers in this style of dnb, but you certainly fit the bill! Your last track mellow man was really catchy and well produced, but it had a wierd intro, lacked a bit of variation the sub was a bit weak, but I can see here you're definitely improving.

It's hard to review unfinished pieces but... I do really like this, the melody and chord progression is catchy and simple; very pleasing to the ears. And the sounds and synths match perfectly. The drums are very nice and punchy but maybe just a TAD too loud in the mix (but that just might be to do with the quick compressor you "slapped" on lol). The drop and build up is also very good, and gives a sweet release when the main beat punches back in.

I only hope that from here on out you add some variation to the track. In Mellow Man, after the second drop, it really felt like it was about to splash into a slightly darker or different section, but instead it just kicked back into the main melody.

I also noticed that you recycled some of the sounds here from Mellow Man. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with using old synths and samples, but don't over do it. A well known artist on NG (Waterflame, you've probably heard of him) does this a lot and it can really brings his music down sometimes.

Honestly, I'm really looking forward to the full version of this. And sorry for the long review. Keep it up!

...btw would it at all be possible to get a hold of that snare sample? Or if you could tell me where you got it from? That's not in the default reason libary is it? I havn't dived into there in ages. Oh and don't you dare look at my page lol, I'm not kidding. Everything on there I made EONS ago and frankly, its all shit.

Skela responds:

Thanks for the big review!
The snare is from a combination of various snares, artist secret, sorry cant reveal :P

[Side Effect - Alien Opera]

I Love it!!!

I honestly have no criticism for this track. But perhaps that is because I usually don't listen to this type of music.

I love the powerful drums, they really shake you. The transitions between sections are well made and work very well. And that guitar sample! Oh man when I first heard it come in, so powerfully, at 0:40 I hit the download button straight away. I could hear the epicness that was about to come.

To me, the mastering on this track is superb! I am hopeless at it so I'm probably not the best person to ask... But to me, this sounds extremely professionally produced. All the sounds are clear, nothing is really pushed into the background and it doesn't sound squashed at all; very natural.

Although, as you said, the bass is very monotone, and there really only is 3 main repetitive chords, I still found this to extremely catchy. I won't be surprised if I start humming this in the shower.

I don't know where the voice samples are from, but they suit the track perfectly. Oh and I know what you mean about having to convert music into low quality! I HATE the 8MB limit on NG. *glares*

FANTASTIC job on this mate, please keep making music :) And thanks for reviewing my track as well. Is there anywhere I could get higher quality version of this? I honestly love listening to this.

Voted 5, downloaded, favorited and loved. XD

phar-NL responds:

glad you like it that much manXD
but actually, the guitar wasn't a sample:p it's the result of some crazy screwing-around in subtractor (one of the synths in reason)
the voice samples are from Tron by the way.
and uh yes, somewhere in the near future you can get it in higher quality, i can put it on rapidshare or something for you, i'll pm you about it.
but only if you tell lots of peoples how ace this is^^ no jk