InvisibleObserver's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Messin' around with synth]

My review, your song/audio clip.

If your having troubles writing melodies more then 3 notes, you likely lack music theory or knowledge, and a developed ear for music.

Lookup the 13 basic major/minor scales, find an image with all of their key signatures laid out, print it off and stick it behind your PC wall. Then when your writing just stick to the notes within the signatures and you'll be able to nearly hit random notes within the scale and it will sound more cohesive.

Low score cause... well it sounds incomplete, poor mix, simple drums and etc. Your learning, don't expect high scores. :P

ShredderJ responds:

Thanks for the review. I don't mind the score at all, I'm pretty new to this whole composing thing, and I want some feedback. I'll check out the scales.

[SCaNTRaX (dj JPA)]

My review, your song.

-Very short
-Intro is almost all of it
-Intro is really tackey
-Intro vocal could benefit from being cut up and fit to beat
-Perhaps reverse chain the volume output of the rest of the song to the voice so its always on top. Towards the 1minute mark it gets muddled in a bad way.
-Overall the mix is very murky
-Intro has far too much reverb stuff going on. This doesn't help the mix.
-Cut off freq ranges of instruments where they don't predominantly play

-Freq ranges themselves are rather diverse, song has a somewhat full sound
-While not my cup of tea, this is relatively likable minus the shortness of it. It ends as soon as it starts, but whats here is certainly palatable.
-The sample choice does suit the hardstyle genre

Overall I think with greater time investment and a little bit of mix/tech help, this could be quite the good song granted the genre/styel.

djJPA responds:

Thank you for your advice!
with the vocals, i tried a lot of reverb, sounded better but maybe that's just me.
I know this is hardstyle, but trance is really the closest thing to hardstyle based on the newgrounds genre choices here.

[Katlean and Ter amok - TTC CHG]

My review, your song.

Much stronger a beginning (then the other song I reviewed moments ago), more depth to the drums, instruments build gradually in a more melodic way.

Lot of intentional dissonance here, which comes across as that, builds atmosphere well.

Strings fill out the sound spectrum nicely.

Lot of weird syncopation going on wtih the low quality synth (its a 8bitish). There were some spots near 1:40 I felt it being removed would add some clarity.

2:15 is the strongest part of the song by far. The writing flows, builds, no dissonance, instruments are tuned to each other. Need more of this.

Make sure you take the time to avoid discordant writing, you've got the skill but I think more cleanup time is required. Getting more virtual instruments still stands as something that should be on your to-do list.

Don't let me low scores daunt you, I'm voting on a potential system here. :P

Calamaistr responds:

im not daunted :)
You hear the same as i, i also thought that some of the lipsquare in the latter end 'seemed cluttered but it also gives it a bit of how do i say it.. like it doesnt sound like a pre sample. People easily forget that these things have to be placed manually, and with thought behind it. I might remove it but i might also not, cause im sure you know how long rendering takes with heavy instrumentation.

I did pick the square to be retro on purpose since i also couldve gone through sytrus or vanguard for one. ;) I wanted it to be retro.

Thanks for your review man.

Greets -Cal.

[A time to a wonder - TTC CHG]

My review, your song.

Lot of effort here but your tool array really hurts this.

Sounds like lo-fi synths and midi. :(

Some of the synths are detuned from the other instruments which causes a lot of dissonance.

The mix is not present, which in a way lowers songs potential, but it is better to be unmixed then poorly mixed.

You need to look into getting some more insturment tools, and spend more time focusing on writing up a melody and slowly adding acompniment. A lot of this felt like the writing was done in quick layers that don't sync up.

Between the segments of the song, don't be afraid to leave longer gaps for things to fade out. It will help define the sections better and pace the song.

Calamaistr responds:

I disagree with the midi, but i intentionally used lowfi instrumentation (like some strings) together with hifi instrumentation, that afterall is the style of this album. (retroesque electronic, jazzy influences and hifi classical :) )

I got plenty instrument tools haha.

Ill pay some mind to the longer gaps next time, when i do piano works i actually do use these gaps but when youre working with more instruments its a little tedious to edit it afterhand, and in every piece of mine is alot of afterhand corrections trust me.

I dont know what you mean with mix in this. Isnt the mix just the volume and panning of individual instruments? Cause i did pay attention to it.

I think you just dont like the combination of instrumentation for the large part.
Thats ok. ;) Its misc for a reason.

Thanks for your review despite not liking it. :)

-Cal.

[Juggalette Style (explict)]

My review, your song.

There is very little production value in terms of mix here. Vocals are recorded alright, guitars not so much.

Electronic drums are far too loud, the synthy snare is obnoxiously loud.

The bass acoustic riff is highly repetitive and sounds dissonant with the other guitar rhythm.

Musically there is no progression.

Drums are not very diverse, rather cliche hiphop and repeititve, and in some spots near nonsensically on and off. I think near the 2:35 part its on and off for a bar at a time, it doesn't bode well for the overall flow of the song.

All of the vocal recordings are at different levels. You need to take all your vocal clips, normalize them, match up the volume to be even, and EQ them the same. Afterwards I'd recomend exporting that new vocal track for ease of further even editing.

Subtle reverb almost always helps vocals.

Lyrics themselves are goofy, the line about "Better think before you say any more" pretty much sums this up. Theres far too much miss, not enough hit in here. I don't know if this is suposed to be funny or not. I found it rather uncomfortably amateur and sloppy.

RedButcheress responds:

LIke I said in my comment I didn't actually do the music myself its a mate of mine.
I'm still learning how to work with audacity in terms of music and levels.

[Plane_Shift [Box-Killa]]

My review, your song.

Opens with some neat dissonant sliding flangey effectsm neat sound, though rather a-tonal. Not a crowd pleasing sound for drawing in the hordes of NG masses. That being said, I liked it.

Hi-pass filt drums introduce tem nicely, the snare grinds entrance while less then half a second long is a very sexy moment. I personally would have played out the mix of hi-pass drums and grinding, emphasizing a contrast between the two.

After that it falls into a 2-step drum and bass ryhtmhn with some rather nice rolls, and continuation of neat repeating synths. As you said, its only two chords and drums.

1:21 pad/string like sound fills things out nicely, though the lack of diversity in its melody doesn't support the song terribly well.

Overall, songs mixed professionally, as per usual with your works, but the song itself doesn't really go anywhere and is not dynamic. I still enjoyed it, but it has a somewhat incomplete nature to it.

Box-Killa responds:

yeah I agree with everything. This was more of an experiment on my behalf, just to see what I could do with 2 chords and a drum line :D

[Orchestral Theme 1]

My review, your song.

Very interesting take on trance, replacing the house/dance drums with a series of wood and metal percussion to create that primordial feel.

Synth strings swapped out for real strings, a minor detail most people might overlook, but it creates a very unique timbre of in terms of instrumentation.

0:48 is a wicked build up and break down.

0:55 love the vocals, most trance artists that use vocals take stock sounds and female voices, but this sort of 'worldly' tribal sound really sets you aside from the rest. Like your in your own quarantine of art.

1:10 wicked bridge and switch back to main refrain, as the listener its expected yet sounds great when it happens.

The bright sounding trumpet jabs are a wicked interpretation of the typical synthetic stab. This is by far the classiest, most unique trance song I've heard.

1:54 more chanting, it has such a primal feel to it that I can't help but think this would make for a great wedding song, really bring out the emotion.

2:36 the alto choir is a throw back to my youth. I remember when I sounded like that. This song plays on many levels including my nostalgia for the past.

Overall song structure is cohesive while fluidly transitioning, the ideal progression pace for comfortable, easy listening.

Great trance song Gravey, I hope you continue writing in this genre, you compliment it so well.

Gravey responds:

Wonderful to hear such a glowing review from the master of musical disaster, InvisibleObserver. I agree with you completely my friend, this is such a unique and extraordinary trance song. As you mentioned the synth strings really helps to create a unique timbre and sound for this piece.

And the chanting was definitely intended to give a feeling of love and warmth, hence you reference of this as a possible wedding song. It would definitely be fitting for a wedding. I could see a bride just aglow as she walks down the aisle with her father at her side, and her eyes locked on her groom up ahead.

I'm glad this conjures up memories of you in your youth. There was an intention for nostalgia and the effect for a longing of the past that I was trying to capture. That essence is so hard to nail down correctly, but I feel like I really did well with this piece in that department.

All in all, this is by far my best trance song. I feel like it is definitely a step above the other trance songs I've worked on in the past. :-)

Thanks for the great review!

-Gravey-

[Hymn of the ancients - TTC CHG]

My review, your song.

Your variety of instrument use and equipment seems to have expanded greatly. This clip has a few weirdly synced up sections, but for the most part is very very rich with neat little segments.

Weak points mainly lining up with the transitions.

0:53 to the end is very nice piano wise. Make sure the piano's dynamics are taken into account, the first half sounds like it would benefit greatly by being introduced with a lower volume.

Calamaistr responds:

The things i wanted to change (but i didnt want to drag on the night since it was getting late and just wanted it to be done in raw format) was the percussion mainly, i think it needs to proceed on the second entry and different than the part thats being repeated trice.

Imho the rest needs little fixing, perhaps some additional panned effects here and there.
Afterall its no more than a atmospheric track, i look forward in doing the battle themes already. (the first two prelude tracks slightly seem orchestral but the style i want to do this album in is actually a hybrid Folk and electronic. :)

Have you listened to the honor of hura already Invisibleobserver? Its technically better than this track. ;)

Thanks and greets, ill check out your new work sometime soon.

[[SxHx] N'thisisex]

My review, your song.

Intros with a wet reverb synth, which works, a sight automation instead of the instant snap might make for a smoother beginning.

The kick is a bit weak, I think if you were to play with its pogo to make its attack quicker, and mix it seperately to either have a volume priority over the lead synth it would contribute much better to the house feel.

The voice sounds very very cheap. It sounds like a text generator talking, and overall this song has a very Bennybenassi sound to it. The voice needs more mixing done to make it either unique or memorable. It sounds kind of weak. If you record yourself imitating the robot voice you can get a higher quality of audio, saying it on beat, and with your chosen inflections. Then proceed to bit crush it a bit for that scratchy pc sound (which will maintain a bass quality in the human voice), and vocode it for that synthetic sound. If I'm way off, then in future maybe just try that for the sake of it.

The vocals are kind of goofy, personally I don't like them, and I think from a business perspective un-smooth robots repeating sex isn't really super duper either. They need more of a fluidity to them to work them into the song to make them a little more cohesive to the overall song.

Drums overall sound like they have no panning done to them, and very little mixing. Rather simplistic rhytmhns played, there are some decent rolls of sorts throughout the song, but nothing particularily prominent. At about 2:02 its sounds very default-drum-preset-y to a very simple house/trance drum pattern. Not a strong sound. While they don't detract from the song, they aren't memorable.

Lead synth (and at higher parts sounds like its just playing on top of itself an octave up) sounds good. Only suggestion I'd make on tweaking the sound is to make its reverb and the original instrument have varied levels of stereo seperation so the audio has an in and out ping-pong sound. Helps get more mileage out of simplistic melodies.

Song would benefit from some other instruments, be it a deep bass or a few higher up clean synth stabs, it would add a lot more depth to the song.

Overall: Drums need more individual mixing to sound varied, and less preset like. Synth is interesting and could be tweaked a bit more to sound a bit more moving. Structure of song is simple, but thats the nature of house. Vocals goofy, felt on top of the song, not part of it. Overall overall: Not a bad song but does not stand out.

shesmackshard responds:

Thanks for the review!

The vox on this one wasnt as serious haha, you caught me. And the personally enjoyed the mixing on these drums *cries*

Thanks man! All is considered.