seel's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Kirby Gourmet Race (GaMetal)]

This is clipping pretty bad

Pretty cool material, but you've got to do something about your "mastering" (master fader to +24dbfs?), mix is rather dull as well, lots of overpowering low end and clipping drums.

TheJonnyDeath responds:

This song was never mastered, and if you'd of read the commentary you'd know that I'm well are this mix isn't the greatest, it's about 2 years old from when I very first started.

Thanks for listening! :)

[Delicious Nutritious Vodka]

Pretty cool concept you've got here

Some instruments sound a bit dissonant though, perhaps try arranging them all in the same key to begin wit. Also the bass frequencies are pretty much overpowering the whole mix. The audio advertisement thread sent me here, go there and check out some stuff, or my stuff, I don't care, just pay it forward.

WerewNC responds:

Yeah, I might have overdone the whole jazzy dissonance thing, but I warned you about that in the advertisement thread. I'll take it easier on the weird chords next time I write something that swings.

All the instruments are in the same key. I wrote it in notation software (MuseScore), not in a digital audio workstation, so I've got to manually write in all the accidentals.

Dang, I almost cranked the bass up more 'cause I thought it had a cool line. Glad I didn't. Listening to it again, I've got to admit, it is really loud. I'm still getting used to a new sample library I'm using, and it turns out it moved the bass clarinet part down an octave, which might make it even more bass heavy. I sorta like the solo an octave lower though, so I won't be changing it. I'll try to take it lighter on the bass next time. I might even edit it down in this if the mood strikes me.

I reviewed two songs when I posted on the advertisement thread, but I'll review yours also. Thanks!

[RiRi's Song]

Dope beat

This is just begging for lyrics, some of the instruments in the background could be a bit louder though.

JackRocker responds:

i'd love to hear some lyrics on this. it's just that i'm not really popular enough on this site to get the attention of any MCs. i agree, i wish i could get some of those instruments to be louder, but i'm still pretty new to this whole thing. it was hard enough for me to EQ it to the point that you couldn't hear the drums in the original sample :/

still practicing though. who knows, maybe one day i'll be an expert :)
thanks a lot for the review!

[Rehash]

Sounds pretty cool

Very 90's video game-esque, the bass is very fatiguing though, it could be a bit quieter on the parts where the strings aren't playing because it's too dominant in the mix. Didn't really loop seamlessly, mostly because of the silence at the but that's easy to edit out.

I came here from the audio advertisement thread, all I ask of you is to go there once in a while and check out some stuff.

mrmcduts responds:

meah too long for a loop i guess anyways i just changed it to song

[The Horizon.]

Pretty cool material

Production sounds alright. Mixing is lacking a lot sadly, sounds very flat, dry and muffled, lacking punch and oomph.

RyanRoxx666 responds:

Thank you very much for constructive criticism.

I'll take this in to account and we'll attempt to make use of what you've said to help improve our tracks to come.

[Stickerbrush Symphony (DKC2xM)]

Pretty out of tune

a lot out of tune, bends, single notes and the ilk, have you intonated properly and tuned the guitar between takes? And like someone else said your tone is pretty bad, it's muddy and it sounds scooped and thin.
Other than that, this is a pretty swell idea, Sticherbrush Symphony being my absolute favourite DKC song.
You should really work on getting the notes right and improving your tone (better interface, better mic, new strings and what not) and try rerecording it some time.
Merely trying to help here, not bash, I hope to see an improved version in the future.

Pure-Metal-UTA responds:

Although I played the right notes and tuned my guitar before playing as I usually do, I don't tune my floyd rose correctly. I just try to tune it as fast as I can so I can get to playing which is the wrong way. I figure doing that would cause my guitar to detune faster, but that hasn't been the case normally. It still detunes, but it takes a helluva long time. That said I should probably tune it correctly and see how that improves things.
The bends and tone I agree with both you and HighBallers so there's not much argument there.
Thanks for the review!

[Techno Realms Reloaded]

I'm not into techno at all

But this was pretty darn sweet! Totally chillout and easy going. It could use some compression and limiting though, the volume is quite inconsistent. Sometimes it's super low and the all of a sudden it's pumping like hell. But as far as material goes you did a good job.

thebigtarget1 responds:

Sure i could look into some stuff. Its kinda supposed to jump to huge at some points though and soft at others. working on a replacement that just has a few more interesting things and tweaks too if you wanna tune in later as well.

[Monochromatic]

Production really does a lot

You should consider getting some proper production, mixing and perhaps even mastering. The material was pretty good, but the production kills it for anyone who can't look past that.

leario responds:

Thanks for commenting, again though this was recorded with a flip video camera and at the moment we don't have enough to invest in a better recorder this was just to showcase the song.