oChron1cTQ's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hyper | Instrumental |]

This is amazing!

First of all, I want to say that this song definitely matches the name.. which is something I have rarely achieved.

The chords and melodies are super happy and nice, with very nice layering and FX. I'm pretty sure I heard some saturation and EQing somewhere, but I don't really know exactly where it is in the track..

The drums are also very happy, and it definitely matches the vibe as well. I think you did a good job with sound selection, except I feel like the kick is a litttle weird. I remember having the same issue with a snare recently, when I checked the sample waveform it turns out the actual sound was delayed a little bit. However, this isn't very common for kicks, so it might just be me...

Bass/808 is suuuuper nice, love how it's heavy yet mixed well. The bass doesn't overpower the kick, which is awesome, and I like how it isn't just playing the same pattern as the kick, as people usually do in hip-hop!

Arrangement is simple but nice, love how in some sections the drums come out for a split section then come back in!

Mixing overall is great, my picky system didn't have too many issues. (although I ended up driving at a lower volume, it's no big deal)

9.5/10!

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you so much. Yes, I wanted the kick to sound very different and unusual. Thanks for saying that the bass is not too much. There is EQing and saturation on the drums, but also on the chords and melody.

[The Fools of April Collab EP]

The entire song is mixed and arranged very well, with suuuuuuuuuuuuuuperrrrrrrr good chords, leads, counter-melodies, bass, drums, etc.

But seriously, while the song is "severely unfunny", I absolutely love the description. "Drake Breakcore Remix???" Priceless..

10/10

Vmxplousion responds:

:P

I mean Drake is pretty silly I think

[In Da Coop (Feat. Peckers Cockson)]

Chords are very dark, super nice! What VST is this?

Melody is also nice! Really like the LFOs and EQing

Vocals are quite interesting!

Arrangement is simple but nice..

Drums are simple, but nice lol

808 has a nice pattern, but is honestly not mixed too well, my subwoofer went KABOOM

8/10!

EVLanche responds:

Most of the elements in this track come from a Cymatics sample pack I got a while ago. Haven't made Trap in literal years so I needed a little help ^ ^;

I got the 'vocals' from freesounds.org by looking up chickens!

I always like to be simple in my music and not over complicate things. Otherwise, I will get too excited and make a mud cake XD

The 808 was meant to be beefy and upfront since I believe a heavy 808 is kinda desired in this genre last time I was making it. That said, I've made every track with only a pair of headphones and a laptop with no speakers, so I don't know really know how bad it's ^ ^;

Thanks for the feedback!

[Waifu - ワイフ | Instrumental |]

Really nice!

Drums are 10/10!!!!!!!!!! Really nice and gritty!

Bass kind of took me back at first, but it really felt nice when the drums came in!

Chords, lead, and other melodies are really nice!

Arrangement is simple, but nice. I feel like it takes some inspiration from EDM and other house genres.

Name is.. well.. but the song is overall great! 9/10!

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you!

[You call this music?]

Nice patterns, chords, and melodies, also good arrangement; it's just good overall

However, the mixing I would say needs work.. I feel like (yet again) the bass is too much and a bit muddy where the high end is too quiet..

Anyways, still a nice song overall, 8/10

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you for your feedback. I have made efforts to make the low end less muddy in my songs. I reduced it by two decibels, but since I don't listen on your sound system, I am uncertain if this is the correct choice.

Please keep in mind that I prefer when the high end is quiet because I am not a fan of harsh tonality in the high end. I make music that I like. You have a vastly different listening system than I have, so for you, it sounds vastly different than it sounds on mine. That is not something that I can do anything about other than make it sound weird on my system, which would make it unenjoyable for me to make music, period. It is very difficult for me to completely change my production pipeline to specifically suit your needs.

Thank you, I am actively making efforts to incorporate your advice into my pipeline. I genuinely appreciate your help. However, it is challenging for me to make decisions based solely on your suggestions because I am not aware of your preferences for how the song should sound. Therefore, I ultimately end up making decisions from my own perspective.

[THE CITY]

SUPER nice sub-bass!

Makes it feel like really like THE CITY in a huge underground aquifer or cave!

The bass is really the best part, and I like how it's pretty much the only bassy element in the song, makes it sound less muddy.

The song itself though would benifet from some more percussion and ambience..

9/10!

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you, oChron1cTQ.

[CIRCUITRY CENTURY]

Couldn't listen to this much..

But hey, it seemed great, had really cool sound design! Sounds like something in a video game tbh.

The arrangement is SUPER reminiscent of DnB and House arrangement

Mixing was nice.. although I think the bass sounded kindof muddy.

Overall, pretty good!

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you so much! Sorry about the bass.

[Garden Spirit - Instrumental SLOWED REVERB]

Chords are so nice! They sound very analog. What VST did you use? Sounds kindof like June-6 by Arturia, or Spitfire LABS

Melody is very angelic and nice. What reverb/delay is that?

Mixing is good!

Arrangment is simple but nice.

Drums are very angelic, I like how the kick isn’t sidechained to the bass. Speaking of..

The bass is really nice! Although it kinda shakes my desk (I have a subwoofer), it’s really nice!

Strings are awesome!

10/10

UrbanFields responds:

Thank you so much!:)

I have a digital reverb pedal from Empress. It's actually a guitar pedal, but very clean and has stereo in- and outputs. Most of the clean/bright reverb sounds I use with this pedal. I'm also a fan of the Ableton reverb for more sounddesign things. Superplate by Soundtoys is also very nice, but I'm not sure anymore if I used it on instruments in this track, but I used it on the master after pitching everything down 6 semitones.

I have a Yamaha Reface CS synthesizer. Not too expensive and heavily underrated in my opinion. for chords/soundscapes I love to use this synth (especially with soft modulation and LFO on the pitch).

The melody is from my guitar again with the Empress Reverb, but because everything is pitched down so much, it sounds like a synth. I didn't put my guitar in an amp, but directly into my interface (RME Firefox), which has great sounding Midas pre-amps.

For the analogue sound i love to use real cassetedecks, but with this track I used Casette by Wavesfactory. I love this plugin for MANY different instruments and genres.

For the bass I used a selfmade bass from a friend of mine.

For sidechaining I use Soothe by Oeksound. This pluin is the holy grail for gettin rid of annoying frequencies, works as a de-esser and also as a sidechain. It creates room without pushing other instruments away.

Thanks again for your comment!!

[Grass]

WOW!

The drums, chords, melody and arrangement are all done very well! At this point, I'm pretty sure what VSTs you used.. there really isn't much else to say! Everything is done very well! But then, why is this a 8.3/10..?

The bass is WAY too loud for me.. even at 8% volume, it hurts my ears and makes my desk vibrate. To prevent this from happening, I would strongly suggest the use of a spectrum analyzer like SPAN. Also, sidechain the kick to the bass. I can't hear the kick very well, so that would help. Just so none of your fans (in this case, me) have any issues in case they are listening on some special equipment. The 3d-printer on my desk is on one knee! Not to say anything mean though, I definitely understand how this would happen, as I used to not use any kind of spectrum analyzer, and only realized how much of a problem it was when I started using a subwoofer. Still, the bass pattern itself is very nice!

8.3/10!

P.S. How did you get your thumbnails???? I need to know!

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you, sorry about the bass. I make the thumbnails in Krita.

[Cool Gum]

Very interesting!

Sounds quite similar to the other song you released earlier, <<Berry>>.

The chord progression and/or melody is very interesting, I haven't seen anyone else mix and write chords like that!

Drums are analog, sounds like something in a 16-bit video game.

Counter-Melody is interesting as well.

Arrangement is simple, but is very unique! The arrangement at the end (the last section where there are no drums, right before the last drop), takes a lot of inspiration from beat switches imo. Almost like there would be a beat switch, but it's swapped out with another drop. I really enjoy it, earned you a higher rating!

Mixing, effects and ear candy is good per usual.

9.2/10!

Aalasteir responds:

Thank you so much! I am really grateful to hear you think the chord progression and melody are very interesting.