Nimble's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[timeslip]

uh, wow. this is pretty incredible. The composition itself is stellar, the sounds are very fitting. It almost feels like staring up at the stars at night(or the beginning to some indie movie) and I cannot get enough of this. I am humbled to be your opponent this year and can only imagine what you're bringing to the table. please tell me what inspired you to write this(and maybe the changes, because they're pretty sweet :3)

acmeDyne responds:

Thanks! There was no specific inspiration for this one. I was fooling around on the guitar and it just sorta came out (two days before the deadline, lol).
I'm very impressed by your music and I won't be surprised if I'm knocked out in the first round again (really struggling with my entry). I can't wait to be done and have the time to listen all the submissions. See ya on the battlefield!

[LB - On My Wings]

This progression is very..pop-ish, for lack of a better word. The melodic line/instruments don't change much throughout the entire song, and although there are a few parts where this song does change, they're few and far between, usually only variating the drum rhythms.

Now, it's not to shoot you down or anything, but it's just my personal thoughts about what you could improve on for the next time. the production value is remarkable,the audio itself is very clean, and the instruments sound pretty good, but composition-wise you still have a good amount to learn, and it's okay if you do.

LazyBucks responds:

I hear ya.

I'll work on more variety for my next track.
Thanks!

[Paradox Palace- Zx]

The first thing I noticed was the awkward pan change in the beginning line,it is original in all sense of the word,but I just didn't like the constant change. That wah wah wah bass is pretty sweet though. One thing I'd like to say is that not changing the main synth makes things something to sleep to,but it's alright,since you're starting out. I do admire that you picked a simple major progression to keep throughout the song,since you are just starting out as a musician of this caliber. You're alright for just starting out,If you improve a bit more who knows what you could be :P

Review Request Club

ZxOOxZ responds:

Thanks aLOT! Im really working my hardest and yea, I hope so :D

[Xtronic]

This is a different kind of dubstep. I don't mean it in an informative way either(a good way). Anyways,you put a good amount of developing the song as it is,and I enjoy a beat like this. Great job on the key change too,I was just about to say something about variation and that just made it. One thing i didn't like too much was the Wubs during the second section. It felt...a bit out of tune. normally it is okay to have unrefined wubs,but it sounds like at that point it is dominating the song. thats just a personal irk though :P everything else is alright,except for the hi hat. Instead of it sounding like its closed,it sounds like it's loosely closed,and has that splashy effect. Overall,good job at a first attempt.

Review Request Club

ESTAR48 responds:

Thanks a lot! Well i think i made a mistake with hihats, my bad, im glad you liked it! Thanks again, your review is HIGHLY appreciated! :)

[~SW~ Dreamland Chronicles]

This is one hell of a chill beat(until 2:10)and it keeps itself together throughout the song. I did like the development that happened from the almost smooth jazz at the beginning to the imperial style transition,and then back.

One thing i kinda didn't like was the intensity of the snare in the middle of the song. it was alright for the tone change,but i didn't like it being SO fast,like mile-a-minute. that's the only thing i didn't like though,everything else is spot on.

Review Request Club

SkyeWint responds:

Hey there!

"This is one hell of a chill beat"
At the risk of sounding egotistic, yes. Yes it is. And it was quite fun to make sound almost as if a real drummer were playing it.

The transition between the two different styles was an imperial pain in the arse. I am REALLY glad I managed to pull it off though - took an insane amount of effort, thought, and time to put together.

"One thing i kinda didn't like was the intensity of the snare in the middle of the song"
Understood and agreed, it is one of the weaker parts.

"everything else is spot on."
:D Thanks!

And thanks for the whole review!

-Swint

[Piano Power]

Techno? oh,there it is!

Hmm.There really doesn't seem like there's much of anything special. it's a simple chord progression,that repeats,a simple unce unce drum beat,and the synths repeat alot of the ideas posted previously by the pianist.

i suggest in changing up the song alot. maybe you throw in a bridge progression right before the synths take over,make the piano solo a bit shorter(when i saw this was a techno song,i was confused,until i started actually hearing synths almost halfway through the song)and keep the piano in when the synths come in too! i mean,the song is called piano power,and even though the piano has a whole minute solo,the title should imply the focus,and it doesn't seem like it,really.

i also suggest in trying out drum fills at the end of melodic phrases because honestly,unce unce gets a bit boring after a while.

and finally,try to syncopate/switch around some rhythms that the piano has already instated if you're going to use them for the synths too. i try not to repeat phrases unless theyre choruses,or the main point of the song,and if that melody is your main focus of the song,thats cool,but in my opinion you should at least switch around the note values when the synth comes in,because the funnest thing about a melody is that there's more than one version within the song.

honestly,this is just run of the mill techno,with nothing really innovating the genre. i say try a bit harder.

kaiser185 responds:

Thanks for the feedback, and I get everything you are saying, so I guess I'd better address each point separately.

-Melodies and varying up the parts: This is a work in progress and many of the repeated parts are just there as placeholders, when I eventually finish the song I do plan on inserting a couple of new melodies that I didn't quite finish in time for this release, I mainly released this as a way to gauge the community's interest and to gather feedback which I cannot thank you enough for giving me.

-The beat: The drums and all the percussion is a placeholder, unfortunately I was getting some help with the drums but that person didn't come through so I ende up using a generic 4 on the floor till I finish the drums.

-The piano (or lack thereof in the later parts): What you heard is roughly about one third of the song, so I do plan on using more piano in the later parts.

-Switching around rythms and the like: As a newcomer to the whole music making scene I haven't really tried with having a dynamic or large set of rythms within the song, but I do plan on switching it up in the final release.

-Reusing melodies with different synths: I do try to vary my song as much as possible but since I'm going on a vacation I wanted to atleast finish a part of the song before I left, I will however say that they are like that for a reason and to ease transitions between syths and the piano parts.

And the two major concerns:
-That there isn't anything special and that it is just run of the mill techno:
I'd love to have a witty comeback or proof that would render your argument moot, sadly it is mostly true what you say, I do however state that I am fairly new to this genre and although I'd love to innovate and whatnot I still am by no means a master of composition or of anything musical, so I can't really go ahead and try to innovate without really being a "master" of something, which I hope I will be one day, but for now I'm quite proud of my music, and I see it as a personal accomplishment to get this far. I am constatly trying to get better at this, and soon I might become quite skilled at this, but for now I am doing my best with minimal knowledge.

This hopefully adresses your points.

-kaiser

P.S. I do understand that you may feel a bit mislead by the genre, however it really doesn't fir anywhere else and long piano intros/solos are becoming, if I may say so, part of my style of composing.

[State of Confusion [A-C]]

Huh?

I like it. It's very well made. I like how every phrase you try to add something new.if this is a recording,you guys sound pretty professional.which is an A+ trait to have. the thing i don't understand though,is the title of the name.usually,i only name my songs after i've completely finished them.this doesn't necessarily sound like you guys are confused,nor does it imply anything of the sort. perhaps have like intentional mistakes throughout the recording,or chords that just dont fit into the song.this sounds alot more like something you would listen to on a drive throughout the country,in my opinion. also,work on volume levels and dynamics.this song only has one volume right after the intro,which is loud. maybe tone it down a bit,and build up to a super-loud breakdown? other than that,you guys are on the right track. Great job!

Autumn-Collapse responds:

NimblekidX,

Thanks for your feedback! A long time ago, the song sounded more like a person was in a state of confusion and so that's why we named it that. But as we became better musicians, we made a lot of changes to the song after the fact and we haven't really bothered to go back and rename the song. It's just how we refer to it. We'll take into consideration that the name might not necessarily fit the song anymore.

As for the dynamics, I guess that the song exporting out of the studio didn't translate as well-- we mastered it so that the volume would increase and stay at a certain volume so that the song never clipped, and I guess because all of the audio is so loud it all stays at the same maximum volume that we've allotted for it to reach. We'll go back and fix it so that the volumes and changes in dynamics can be heard.

We're band students... we never hear the end of it from our director if we don't put enough dynamics in either our performances or creations. Thanks for pointing that out though!

Sincerely,
Autumn Collapse