TeHLoY's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Beautiful Dreams [Trance]]

Totally blown away.

I'm amazed. You've done a seriously good job at this, you're one awesome musician.

I think I'll do the time-style review again. It's really fun.

0:19 : Nice effect there, I like how the sweep turns into a saw synth. It's seriously very cool.

0:31 : Woah. Jumping straight into the beat. Great synths, plucks, bass and rhythm.

0:57 : Nice touch with that synth, it really makes the energy of the song rise by another bar. It's really subtle, but enhances this whole thing a lot.

1:30 : Nice break. The whole song just becomes really distant, with pads taking over now. Honestly, the sweep kind of takes over, but it fades away pretty quickly

1:55 : Nice synth here, I also like the 8-bit style of it, and the melody.

2:08 : Final part! Great job here, it's just great.

3:06 : Bassline... is awesome.

In a nutshell, pretty much the only problem with this song is that it's too short. I was hoping for a second part when it ended.

But anyway, nice progression (really unique, actually), melodies and rhythm really top that off, and synths are really well made. It's a wonder why you aren't famous on newgrounds yet, I think this is possibly my favourite song from you.

You deserve 11 stars for this.

PrEmoEffect responds:

Man, I LOVE your reviews! They're so fun to read. I shall do a comment by comment review.

:19: I'm actually really glad that you noticed that because I wasn't sure if I made it to subtle.
:57 Likewise, I was not sure if the volume was too low, or if the sound was the right sound, but I'm glad that it does fit well.
1:30. I agree. I could work a bit more on the mixing with the pads. (I will work on this next time)
1:55 I also was unsure about this part, but your positive comments helped a lot.
3:06 That bassline was really hard to make. There's a lower bass, and a high bass. Really, they are just modifications of the same synth. I made the low end less punchy but added more compression. The high end had some eq edits and a couple of other additions. (overdrive I think)

Anyways. Thank you so much for the amazing review. I will give you my opinions on some of your tracks.

[unburst]

Hmm..

Pretty good song, I do find the guitar playing messy, and kind of low quality. Perhaps mixing will help.
But this is sad, I like the chord progression in this. Pretty decent.
Voted a 5 cause there was a zero on it.

LfunkeyA responds:

the quality is good, the playing is intentionally sloppy (to an extent).

[Impossible to Convey (Orig)]

Totally awesome.

00:21 I like that effect, really brings the beat into place.

00:41-1:04 Great buildup. Everything is adding up to something...

01:01 The way the chord changes is great. I like how it pulls away from the

01:36 Woah. Awesome breakdown. The song almost goes down to near silence, yet maintaining a beat. Really nice job here. Though it didn't really build up much energy before breaking down.

02:03: Hmm. Going a different direction from what I expected, huh?

02.04: Back into the beat. Yea!

02.04-02:31: Once again, tension is rising. Something awesome is going to happen!

02:31 Neat little piano melody here, it's great.

03:29 Really cool. The part I was really waiting for. All the energy in this song just flows through here.

4:26 Crap. It's ending soon. =/

Overall, it's another masterpiece you've made. Honestly, I find your other song, Unfortunate Truth slightly better, but this does show what you can do. Great progression, nice house beat and bass, and nice chilly piano do make a good song.
Actually, I find the main synth a bit weird, it sounds choppy in a way, but in another way, it does complement the house beat really well. And the sweeps, they really enhance the progression, you really have a way with them. They just appear at perfectly the right time, and really draws the listener's attention to the progression.

I can't find any flaws in this song, it's almost perfect. Perfect ten to you, and great mix of trance and house in this song.

Oh, I don't think I can hear the reverse reverb piano, despite listening to this a couple of times. Maybe my headphones aren't that good, or it was overpowered by the rest of the instruments.

PrEmoEffect responds:

See, I told you that I'd get around to this. So from the timed comments, it seems that you liked the song. I did a shorter intro because it's for ng. I personally prefer longer buildups that, as you commented on, build up more energy. The song could also have a more complete outro so it doesn't feel like it ends so suddenly.

Again, I'm still learning. I have focused really heavily on basses lately, and I'm where I want to be with them, but I'm still lacking on leads. The other thing is trying to get them to sit well in the mix, especially when using high freq percussion as I do.

The reverse reverb is a subtle effect that's most noticeable at 3:00. It's easier to hear with increased volume. It basically is a reverb that swells up into the piano right before it's played.

As always, thanks for the great review.

[Presage [Film Score]]

Epic?

That was a mind-blowing two minutes. Never knew you made orchestra music. =P

This song really has great melodies. Everything, from the strings to the pianos have a really neat melody. Only thing is that the snare drum seems a bit weird here, in when it plays.

The chord progression is really unique. No 'cookie cutter' progressions that seem to be overused in every single pop song. You're really showing off your knowledge of music theory here, and it really fits the mood of this song.
Honestly, I find the breakdown into a simple piano melody was a bit too sudden, the strings should show a sign of a breakdown, in terms of chords or simply a decresendo.

The string sounds seem really high quality, like you've hired an orchestra to play it for you. Honestly, it does seem to overpower the rest of the song at some points, but it's way better than the cheesy string sounds I have heard. The pads in the background when the piano plays is really cool too, you're just taking advantage of dynamics. Speaking of dynamics, when it comes to film scores, I realize there isn't much of a point to maximize the volume of the song, as there is no 'loudness war' to compete with, for the song isn't trying to sound louder than the other songs in the film. So dynamic range in film scores is a really important aspect, you want the listeners to follow through the song from its softest to loudest parts of the song.

Overall, this is a fantastic piece, I'm really amazed by what you can do.
P.S. I doubt this is actually trance. Go change the genre to classical.

PrEmoEffect responds:

Wow great review. Bear in mind that this is my first attempt ;) About the snare, I would agree, that it's not very structured. I wasn't quite sure how to go about the percussion since I'm so used to trance and house. I will work on that for the future though.

Thank you for commenting on the break down. I wasn't too sure if it worked. I was aiming for something sudden, but in a song (with no film score) I guess it doesn't work as well. I think in this case, a decrescendo would sound much better. Again, something for me to work on.

And it's interesting that you mentioned the use of dynamics. I hadn't quite thought of that yet. It's an excellent point. You're right, in electronica, max volume is essential, and mixing revolves around that, but in classical and film score, the quiet parts are often the best ones, giving the listener chills.

Thank you so much for the review, it was incredibly insightful, and helpful. (also, thanks for pointing that out. I'm just so used to doing that :p)

[[MAS] Classic Dusk]

OH MAH GAWD!!!!

Freaking epic!~!!

Awesome compilation of electric guitars, strings, synths, brass and drums!

It's a wonder why don't you get more fans, your music is awesome! If you keep on posting songs and spreading the word, you'll definitely become one of the top artists on newgrounds. In fact, try to promote your stuff to flash artists on this site, your orchestral music will really attract a lot of animators and game makers which make great stuff.

Suddenly, with just a few of your songs, you've made it into my list of favourite artists. Keep up this great work! I'll be helping to spread the word about you, but just one person can't do much.

[+- Phases of Time -+]

Epic?

I noticed you've improved a lot since my absence from the audio portal.
This is just plain epic, I can really hear the song progressing from really relaxed to extremely intense.
There's a lot of great song melodies, chained together into a song almost to perfection. Drum rhythms are also great, I really have nothing bad to say about anything.
I suppose the clipping was done on purpose...
Perfect 10 for this. It's great.

[Dj Avenger - Tired Of Waiting]

Hmm...

Your mixing seems to have improved! Pretty good, but I can hear some clipping when the volume gets too loud.
I think this song can still be improved, I find the beat a bit weird, it seems like the clap is on the 1st and 3rd beat. Every trance song (or electronic music, for that matter) has it on the 2nd and 4th beat. I'm not saying that it's bad, but it just doesn't really match.
You can probably decrease the amount of Fx in this song, I hear the backward sweep way too often.
Also, I noticed there weren't any instruments that were composed for bass. The only bass in this song is from the kick drum, maybe you can create a simple off beat bass, to fill up the gaps between each kick.
But I can definitely see that you've improved a lot since I last talked to you, great work on this. Good job!

avengerofsok responds:

Yeahm, I was trying to be experimental with the percussion. Also, about the bass, I simply didn't add a bass track because I was in a hurry. I plan on editing the file with a bass track in the next few days. I wanted to get this uploaded before 11 so I could get to work.

About the FX, there's only one backwards sweep in the whole song. Though I do feel like I abused sweeps in general. I might hold off a bit on that in the final.

And the clipping, Should I just put a more domineering limiter on the master track?

Thankies! =)

[Village Theme]

Hmm..

Beautiful piano, I just love how the song progresses as other instruments like strings just add on.
Perfect day at a village, huh?

Maverlyn responds:

It's a wondefull day :)

["Journey - Reloaded" - Collab.]

Beautiful...

I really love this piece...The strings really complement the piano in this piece..

Your music's awesome! Another artist to add to my favourites! ^^

And popular genres like Classical and Trance seem to get a lot of people randomly going to every song and dropping a zero on them. The score really doesn't matter, and you should find a way to get more people to listen to your music...
Point is, score doesn't really matter, it's what people actually say about it.

XayberOptix responds:

Aww thanks for standing by me and my music! You're right about the score in that it really doesn't matter what people vote but instead what people say about it. Again, thanks for your support and for listening! It truly means a lot to me!

[Epic Bells Carol]

Not bad....

I think the beginning was a bit slow. Overall, the melodies and instruments you chose were great.

This could definitely have better mixing. Certain instruments are too loud, like the bell sound. Instruments also seem to be competing for volume...

But overall, this song is pretty good. The violin sounds were a nice touch. =)

GamekrazzyProduction responds:

This version of the song tends to sound wierd when I increase the tempo... so I kept it at 140. As far as the instruments go, they are suppose to be competing as far as volume goes... Thanks for the review.