Death-9's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[We Are Lost (full Vocals)]

What is this

Please, stop making music. Learn to use compressors, or at least how to EQ properly. The vocals are jarring and sudden, and very painful when they enter. Another complaint that I have with this is that it is terribly repetitive. I could count the total number of patterns in this song on my own two hands, and for an 8-minute song that's embarrassing.

Your effects and even your synths are over-used and contrived. It's completely unoriginal, and extraordinarily boring. The song's progression is simply tiring- it repeats entire sections with NO modification. You ought to at least spice it up a little bit, it's just terrible as it is.

I'm going to be honest, your song made me almost fall asleep, and not in a good way. The only reason i didn't go completely unconscious was because it was so poorly EQ/Mastered and so terribad.

statueofdiveo responds:

It's a club song. I've seen way more repetitive songs.

Can you do better?
Oh, and the entire songs is compressed
Are you wearing headphones?

[Ph0ne - Jew Golds (Hopeku rmx)]

Hopeku

you are a g0d amongst men, Hopeku. You bring light back into the world with your block rockin' beats. This is quite possibly one of the coolest psy/goa I have ever heard on NG. It's hard, driving, and awesome. This will certainly give the jews a run for their money :D

hopeku responds:

haha thanks Mr Death-9, you're as cheering as always!

Thanks for your comment, but we must admit there isn't much goa/psytrance music on newgrounds. The best i've heard yet are Ph0ne in psytrance and Zenon in Goa ;)

[[LC] -HellGrounds (Terror mix)]

awesome

this is some hardcore stuff
I love terror, and you've certainly done very well on this song :D
but I recommend you give a more powerful bass, speed it up, and freaking really let it rip.

otherwise, great job

[[LK] Euphoria]

eek

Good stuff here, but I'm really shocked this gets THAT MUCH praise. I have noticed that your mastering is really poor, which kind of ruins a very awesome song for me. And is it just me, or did you actually DELAY THE KICK!?!?!??! You NEED to duck your kick, and you NEED to compress, compress, compress. Way too much interference from different noises messes up your sound, and it's very foggy, not crisp and clean like it should be. My subwoofer is at 0 gain, and not even at it's loudest level, and it's just producing noise. And that's not even counting the sub-bass frequencies. This is obviously not a problem with my sub, because I've listened to this one other speakers, and it's still the same.

I think you have awesome skill, but you need to get better equipment so you can refine that skill. Learn about side-chains, compressors, limiters, multi-band compressors, and all the different types of EQ's. Unfortunately, that's where most artists usually fail, and that's what makes a good song into a GREAT song. Just play around with those things, and you'll find how to make your songs sound 10 times better. This sounds good to a normal person, but music publishers would be turned away almost immediately. If you can do all that, I think you would be a definite candidate for a record deal.

Kudos, and good job :D
Death-9

LK412 responds:

You are absolutely right. I know that ALL my songs are shittily mastered/mixed if not at all.

I never have gotten around to actually learning how to do it because 1. Im lazy 2. I dont know where to start, and 3. I'd rather spend my time making music rather than fine tuning it. I know its necessary, but im just never in the mood.

When school is out i will definitely read up on it, but as for now, im just winging it, and hoping that it doesnt sound too bad.

I dont know thats wrong with a delayed kick, i love them. =P

Thanks for the review. =D

[[LK] I Like To Move It (WiP)]

ouch

Good progression and all, but your mastering leaves MUCH to be desired. I heard ridiculous clipping, terrible ducking, and retardedly overpowering synths. The solo synth at like 1:00 and the kick drum were far too loud, and caused horrible overlap and mad clipping. Reverb was massively overdone, which probably contributed, too. Side chain the kick and synth (bass?) and you'd add 1. Otherwise this is simply really boring, which means you need to spend more time working on it.

And since you said you had trouble with the vocals, I (as a DJ) recommend you use something like Ableton to beatmatch your loops once you've made them. Make the main song normally, then take the vocals and add them however you want to in Ableton. You can then tweak with your samples etc even more if you feel like it. That's what I personally recommend from my experience, having used it a couple of times.

LK412 responds:

Thanks for the tip,

ive dropped this song, but your tips will really help me in future projects. Thanks a lot.

[Pico factory (Pico day)]

Well done

You really can't enjoy minimal techno unless it's longer, though. I'd like it if you expanded on this one. It's not that hard to make, just automate like, everything on maybe 3-4 instruments and throw in some random sounds. I'm sure an expanded version of this would be awesome

hopeku responds:

Haha you're quite right, but if I make more minimal song, then i'll just start a new project!

Thanks man!

[Psytrance, hallucinogen style?]

good

not necessarily Posford style, but more IM style. Later IM, though, not the old classics. This is not a bad song, but I think it needs more depth. More sweeps would certainly help, and matching another synth to your bassline would be a good thing, too. No climax, but that works with this song. I'd say the best part was about 0:35-ish.
Good progression and stuff, but the end part turned annoying. There wasn't enough going on compared to the earlier part, and it was very "shallow", there wasn't any depth to the sound at all.
I find no problem with your samples, but the kick isn't a very psy-esque kick. Doesn't really fit perfectly with the synths. Needs more highs to sort of fill it out.

Great job though, just fill it out a little more.

NATOSymmetric responds:

Thanks, i'll try and take all that into account for a next track, or perhaps do this one up...
i know what you mean about it being empty... tbh at the end i was just messing around with effects like the ring mod i used, and it kinda worked so i kept it there!
i Thought the new synth that came in at 0:27 sounded like hallucinogen so named it that! But its kinda weird that IM wer my fave band for like 5 years, and i used to listen to them absolutely tons, (they made me want to start making psytrance), so i guess some of their style has rubbed off onto me...
and about filling it out... that is really the thing i find hardest to do while making psytrance... i can never make it sound quite right :/ but i'll keep on trying!
thanks for the 10 as well!
what album are you talking about with IM? IM the supervisor, or later?
PM me, thanks alot

[-:YRX:-MachinRAa Black St]

Pretty Swell

Nice song you've got here. It has a pretty nice beat, and the synths you used were pretty awesome. I have to agree with the others, though, and say that you kinda broke the pace with the 2 pauses. You could use a "tape stop" glitch effect, and shorten the gaps to one beat. The glitch should cut of all the sound and sound kinda neat while the shortened break would help keep the flow going good. If you need a glitch effect plugin, try dBlue Glitch, it has some very nice effects, and it's freeware!

My 2 cents,
X-i-T

YouriX responds:

Yes i admit. that it wasnt that of a good idea to give to many break downs i guess i was just messing around or something. I will use your advice about the glitch seems like a cool idea ;)