Voltus's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Just For You]

Very nice, I'd like to hear more Instrumental music on Newgrounds but I get that it's expensive to record.

Anyway great song, I really like the vibe of it, like nyx said it instantly reminded me of arctic monkeys and other brit rock bands. You nailed the brit rock! The thing I don't really get behind is how monotonous this recording sounds, you have got a lot of change and it's well written from what I can make out but the mixing is monotonous, the drums sound the same neary all the way through as well as the guitars, there seems to not be alot happening sonically. I'd love to hear you guys perform life just to see how you play this song.

So my main gripe with the mixing is that the guitars seem to compressed and not dynamic at all, I mean sure they're heavily distorted but, I would have loved to see a little more dynamic range as well as frequency changes in there. The same applies to the drums, they also fill exactly the same spectrum in the frequency field all the time which kind of disturbes me after a while. And I think the hihat is a bit loud.

And also by the way try to write a little more detailed review next time you post in the R4R thread. It's purpose is to give critical feedback not just to write a "good job" on somebodys track to get back a "good job dude" on yours ;)

So yeah overall really nice song, but the mixing could be a little more diverse.

Voltus

JacquesandtheGiants responds:

Thank you for the awesome review and prime example of how things should be done. I often find it hard to review electronic music and art as I have no tallent in them and don't want to be talking about something I don't know much about. But you are totally right I need to pop on more detail and give better reviews. The 5 track ep cost us about £1000 and about 2 weeks recording + 2 weeks mixing then we sent it off to Pete mayher who masters U2's tracks and is considered the best in the country for an additional fee. Guitar has 12 tracks on this one We really did try to not skimp out on quality though it was a last min choice to record this at the time. Can't thank you enough for this :) il forward it to the lads and we will take everything into consideration when we are recording our first album towards the end of the year. We only play live in England at the mo but are hopping for tours in the us/ca/and the rest of the eu. Thanks again man best honest review we have had on this :) I'm hopping to recruit more groups like us into NG

[Memories]

The good:

Nice arrangement, you made it go places and your sounds all kind of fit together, you drum beat isn't just 2 bars so you have got a little bit of diversity which is nice. Also you used unusual sounds for the drums at times, I like that a lot. You have good fills and licks so it doesn't get boring.

The Bad:

Your mixing, and overall sound isn't very professional and in your face, your buildup snare at the 1 minute mark for example. It's too quiet/uncompressed and sort of comes unexpected. Also your "drop" or main theme after that feels too quite and not in your face enough, I mean you're doing drum and bass here, compress the shit out of it! And also your sounds while fitting pretty nicely together they just dont have that polish I expect of a good production, use more eqing, saturation and compression to get everything tighter and glued together. So work on your mixing and mastering.

There is something in there no doubt, but I guess you are yet too unexpierienced to get it out the right way. Make some improvements in your next track and I'll scout you :)

3/5

5TanLey responds:

Well thats what I call Review, many thanks :)

[Obsidian]

Damn Son!

Some Monstercat shit right here nicely mastered, sounds fat. The only thing that bugs me is how you arranged this track, your transitions arent as fluid as they should be. Also you could have a way huger buildup before your drops, this would have given it way more impact, they are havy as fuck but you just don't tease them enough.

anyway still nice track!

Saao responds:

Thanks for the pointers, if you want big build ups and drops listen to Pirate attack

[Oxygen (Breathe in)]

Too chill for those crazy and nasty bass sounds, could have done better with a heavier/more evil mood and athmosphere. But well mixed!

[Kiesza-Hideaway (Tahlin)]

Great, I like the original, I also like this one, maybe a bit mid heavy overall but it's nothing major!

Nice One!

Chozz responds:

Cheers man! Might send this one off for mastering!! Or spend a bit of time mastering it myself next month.

[Wrong Bus]

Hi so here's my review:

You have a nice soundscape at the intro a little too digital and thin soundwise though and it's also pretty long. The chordsound at 30secs is really thin. The kick and snare are pretty minimal nothing i like too much and nothing stands out as particularly awesome. The lead at 2:20 spices things up nicely. Then the breakdown which sounds disorientating and hasnt really got any clear direction and feeling. The beat after that is also pretty bland and nothing too special or ear catchy. The mix fits better though from there on out and everything gains a bit of momentum. The 16th sound at 4:20 (what a time to bring somethin in the mix!) is really nice though and sounds fat. And after that the outro is well done imho.

So you have a vibe going on with this track, there is emotion, but I think you could have come up with some more creative Ideas for the drums and layered your sounds a bit more so they gain some depth.

Overall you have nice tune here but nothing too special.
3.5/5

Lethal-Input responds:

"The 16th sound at 4:20 (what a time to bring somethin in the mix!) "

I lol'd at this part. Thanks for the thought out review! I tried to vary the drums at one point, but idk I just ended up keeping the simplicity. I thought it fit the song better although i'm sure it's possible to spice up the drums and make it fit the song well, I just wasn't able to do it myself.

[Groans of Misery]

nice one! I like the sounddesign and everything sounds fat and compressed and yeah just how I like my dnb tunes. nice bass, nice drums (even though they're not too special) and nice overall sound. I just don't really know what you went for in this. this song has no real message. it's just like "hey here I am, I sound fat and that's it!" so thats why no 5 stars. change it up a little, maybe even use some melodies and so on then you would get 5 stars.

so nice song keep it up will follow!
4/5

Stapless responds:

cheeers, glad you liked it :) will have to addmore melodic elements towards my tracks maybe, idk i shall experiment more. XD

[Every Man's Sky]

If you would make it a little housier with a 4/4 beat or something this could be a real banger! your chord progression is nice and this 1/8th note chordssound you used on top of it really sounds like the sky was pink by nathan fake. I really like it. the mixing didn't really hit the nail on the head in my opinion but I guess we would disagree on principle there. It's not that you have done some things wrong more like you went down another path I would have. But still I like it a lot!

4.5/5

Lethal-Input responds:

Yeah I also think the mix is off a bit. I listened to that "the sky is pink song" and I surprisingly liked it a lot! I wonder if you expected a 4/4 beat from this because of the song it reminded you of though ;). I usually do that type of beat, but I had heavy inspiration from 65daysofstatic's "Debutante", which also happens to remind me of the song you mentioned. Honestly if I were to remake this song, I feel like I'd try a different take on the mix. Thanks for the response!

[:RoXas- espeon]

around 3min snare stands out
overall mixing is too tame thrash it!
kick could push more more sidechain
nice ideas sounds different
kind of drags on pretty repetitive
nice sound design

overall nice track. you could have thrashed it way more in my opinion your mix and master seems very tame. give your kick a little more volume let it push everything away when it hits (sidechain) and drive the bass and drum hits really hard into the limiter. sure not everybody might like that but thats the sound of dubstep ;) your snare sound while fitting in when played in the drop section of your tune really stands out otherwise especially at the 3 min mark this is recognizeable. could have used some lp filtering to get it to sit in there more nicely. the idea of the song and the overall sound is quite unusual but was good composed. sound design was good as well. it just drags on a little too long for my liking you could have easily made the track shorter.

so overall nice track get your mixing fixed and arrange it a little snappier and this would be a great tune!
3.5/5

RandomDanceOfHappy responds:

there is side chaining on the bass end for the kick not so much on the punch
i get lots of complaints that my kicks are to strong lol first time ive heard not strong enough
not sure what u mean by tame on the mastering
canr stand drums hitting to hard in the limiter i try and avoid that by compressing a bit
repetative compleatly agree but was told to leave it via request of the requesty
ty ive been working on sound design lately glad u noticed n.n
ill try and fix the mixeing later c.c to tired of this song atm tho lol
ty for the review

[Hard Breaks]

this is a little too weird for my liking. work on your sounddesign everything sounds rather simple and bare. process your bass a lot more, layer your drums, make it unique. you mixed it pretty good though. use some effects on transitions, break it down change things up! I think my main pet peeve is the drums they just sound too generic and dead somehow.

overall ok but not good :/ 3/5

lantaren responds:

Sorry that you didn't like the drums, they were, by far, what I worked on the longest (and hardest) on this track. I agree that everything sounds simple and bare, not the easiest thing making interesting sounds that work together and don't sound like mud in the end, very aware that I need to work on that. Aside from that, dual-layered all of the drums, hand-eqing them to fit together. Not sure how much more layered than that you can get, but oh well. it does need break downs, transitions, and everything else you've said, I'm just not sure where to put them, exactly. Regardless, I'm glad that you took the time to review it.