Jacob's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Crisis Mental]

This is hecks weird, and I love it. I would have enjoyed something a bit less sharp for the kick and snare - maybe a scooping bass alongside the kick (which could be the same, but quieter), making a sound similar to a deep droplet of water. A bit more white noise, perhaps fading and being choked by a bitcrush, would have been cool for the snare. Some variation in the beat would have also been pleasant, as well as a bit of glitching in both rhythm and pan. Trip it up a bit more, you feel?

Production isn't half bad, aside from how much the kick hurts my ears. Although, messing with LPF and HPF as well as some sweeping peaks would have been cool.

Keep this up! You can get weirder, and I'm looking forward to hearing where that goes.

GeometryDashMau5Kids responds:

Well thank you :), the truth I try to improve in the music, including more in the experimentation and be a little more original (is what I try to do). :D
Thank you for supporting me and I will do what I like and not go for trends. :3

[Locked Up]

I dig the pizzicato violin at 0:25! Might like a lil reverb on that rim, to fit it into the space. Maybe add a cello to the left ear after this section, to accompany the violin.

Does this mean we should expect to escape another simulated situation?

PuffballsUnited responds:

That reverb was definitely needed!

[Roland stuff]

I really need to get some Roland stuff going!
Nintendo never goes out of style.

I love the moog that comes in at :41.

[Koji Kondo - File Select (SM64) [∀malgamation Bootleg]]

Nice! A little more emphasis on the beat would've really brought this home, since we're going with something trappy. That way, you transform the melody from something saccharine to something peppy. It'll help alleviate the repetitive nature of a loop.
Taking the melody out for a spin, using sound effects from the game to pull us into something else for a second would have also been great.

Nice work!

Skiddle responds:

Heh, yeah you're right about the sound effects. I couldn't find any really (I made this mainly offline & i don't have data lmao), but thanks for your great review Jacob :D

[Байна уу (Baina uu)]

There you are!
I really like the ambient pad you've got here. Really puts me in a cool place. This is actually super Video Game oriented. You gave us the mood and atmosphere, then layered a melody and a beat.

I sort of wanted a higher synth, maybe alto or soprano, to come in at 1:04. Something to fill in the rest of the mix, opening it up a bit. Could also include a woodblock or more present vibes there. As the track is, it sounds like I'm stuck at a spot early in the game, and I really want to move forward.

The percussion is cool, and mostly sits quite nicely in the mix. Not a huge fan of the double taps on the snare, but I can dig it.

Good shit! I'd like to hear you return to this one sometime. It's a really nice sound.

Skiddle responds:

Heh, I just made something super quick, not really folloowing anything. And I always appreciate your kind words!

(I was working on a new song when caustic decided to crash & delete every pattern placed, but not deleting notes aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

[H 2 OH NO! (Helito6x3)]

Careful with those levels! FL Studio Mobile has a pretty solid limiter, but it's still important to leave headroom for swells. I'm noticing a lot of mud in the low end as well - maybe take some of those water sounds down, and EQ the low end out of the sounds that don't require it. You can automate that, too, if you need to leave them for the beginning and end but make room once the main lead comes in, either :45, :58, or as a transition between those two spots.

I'm into the composition, though! The drums are a little boxy and out of place - maybe bring in some more liquid fx for percussion? But the leads are awesome, and I like a lot of the pads.
Overall, solid work. Just needs a little extra attention.

[NK - Fracture (Palicraft Remix)]

This is nice. That snare is great for most the track, but it doesn't work super well as a lead-up to the drop. Sounds a bit forced, especially since it's not one of those supercut snares from the excessively loud period of dubstep.

I like the haus style bass for the dub, although I would've liked to hear more pan play. Even the offbeat vocal sample ('bounce', is it?) switching from one ear to the other would've been cool. Just something to give it a little more bounce and shuffle. Some 16ths on the hats could've helped, too.

Palicraft responds:

I'm making a note here: more panning (and better snares). Thanks for your feedback!

-Edit- The vocal sample was more like 'Dial'.

[Lugubrious Cacophony In The Middle East]

Ha! It's a villainous soundtrack, and all mankind be the antagonist.
I really dig this. Makes me want to play Mastermind: WC.

EdKempeper responds:

Hello ! Thank you very much for this review ! yeah, it's very different from what I do usually...

[~ SameBrain - Inquisitor (Arcz Remix) ~]

I think a little velocity work on the piano at the beginning, as well as more reverb (take out some of the dry mix) would be a good help. I'm not a huge fan of the kick nor snare that come in after, but I do really like the woodblocks. I'd probably have panned the blocks to the left, maybe get a snare with a little less on the tail end, and give the kick some more punch. I get where you meant to go with it, but it sounds a little odd on the low end.
I like the drop quite a bit, but there's nothing on the low end! You've also got hella headroom up above that you could fill if you liked. But I definitely need a bass in there. Some of that percussion, particularly hats, could be panned to the sides. The left in particular feels neglected.

I'd layer a sub bass into the second drop as well. I like that drop a lot, too, but it's not full. The hats could be dual-panned to the far right and left, which would help make it run.

Good start, man! You've definitely got potential and an air. Keep playing around.

ArczMusic responds:

To be honest, this is by far the best feedback I’ve gotten on something, and I really appreciate you taking the time to criticize my work. So thank you :) but yeah, I usually do layer a sub over everything now and I try and make the drops a little more full with higher and lower frequencies, especially bass. Also, referring to the parts about the left end being neglected, I don’t think I actually panned anything, which I do need to start doing.

[Snapski - Trial No Error (NG Version)]

Love that shaker at 0:21.
Really big sound, like a grand journey; sort of starts of feeling like morning, and gradually moves onward to the golden hours. I really like all of your percussive choices - very Tarzan with the woodblocks.
The ending sort of left me with blue balls, but I'm willing to bet that the next track fulfills the want.

SnapskiMusic responds:

Expect some high energy and deep thumps with the next release.