nyxl's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chiptuneeee]

I'm enjoying the first half of the track. The playful introduction of the melody and development with some polyphony is great, as well as the variation starting around 0:51. Also, the melodies leave enough space to breathe so the chiptune sound does not tire the ears.
In the second half, it feels to me like the track does not really know where it wants to go. At 1:10 we are thrown back to the beginning (kind of unexpectedly for me, because of the buildup before), then the kick gets introduced to punch forward, but the melodic instruments do not drive the track forward.
So my suggestion would be to rethink the arrangement of the second half and combine some ideas of the first half (like the polyphonic melody and the arpeggiated driving chords) with some new ones, like the shift in tonality that happens at 1:35.

Positron832 responds:

You bring up some points I definitely can work on. Thank you for your feedback!

[FD - Finely Aged Space Cocktail]

The vibe that I get from the track fits your description perfectly. I really like how the mellow chords work together with the driving beat to create a relaxed atmosphere. The production is excellent, everything sits tightly together.

Some ideas:
The break from 2:02 would be a great space to introduce new ideas or bring some that are already there to the front and develop them a bit further (for example the "plops" around 2:26 or the mini-melody that comes back at the end of the break, but always kind of stays in the background).

The introduction of the bass after the break is interesting, but also kind of unexpected. The break before would allow hinting at it by letting the bass bite through here and there during the break already.

There seems to be an audio click around 2:52

ForgottenDawn responds:

Duly noted, thanks for your feedback~ 👍

[AIM 2021: Nobody & Stranger]

This really feels like it is inspired by the artwork, and it is a lovely song. Unfortunately, there is some severe audio clipping going on, for example around 1:30.

[Green Sun]

This is awesome - great instruments, vocals and production.

[AIM - Escape]

The production is flawless on this one and the atmosphere of the artwork is captured well in my opinion. I'm only missing a bit of character that would make this track different from others that want to capture a similar atmosphere.

[AIM - Journey To The Lighthouse]

The beginning is very atmospheric and I like the solo melody. Just the high strings are a little too loud in my opinion. The part around 0:46 also has a nice feel to it, though the melody in the strings could be a little louder compared to the chord tones.

The legato wind instrument starting at 1:10 is delayed a bit, which stands out because of the arpeggio playing at the same time. This is common with legato instruments and can probably be fixed easily by setting a negative track delay on the wind instrument (usually one has to experiment with values between -30ms and -150ms). The same problem occurs starting around 2:20 and in the brass starting around 3:43.

The part around 1:40 is great with the full orchestra repeating the theme.

The brass chords starting around 2:35 sound a little fake to me. Maybe because the notes are held so long. I don't think brass can play as "pads", unless maybe if they play really quietly.

The buildup to the finale has a nice brooding atmosphere. The finale itself could use a little more excitement dynamics-wise for me. Also, the percussion is a bit repetitive. There are some very good harmonic and melodic ideas in that part, too.

Now, my points are just some ideas for improvement. All in all, nice work - keep it up!

ZaazNG responds:

Thank you so much for your feedback! I will definitely keep all those tips in mind for the future, appreciate it a lot! Thank you for listening! :D

[AIM 2021 - out in the open air]

Great atmosphere and melodies. I really like this style and also the production is nearly perfect. Only the crash cymbals in the second half stand out a little too much for me.

[AIM - Pixel Daylight]

The sounds and reverb create a nice atmosphere. I feel like the different melodies aren't always working well together, for example around 0:49 I think they kind of clash.
The beginning is promising with the new synth starting around 0:09. However, beginning from ~0:20, I sometimes find it hard to follow where the music is going because there are so many things going on that do not feel very related to each other. For example, the arpeggio starting around 1:30 alone is already quite complex and not straighforward to grasp, and with the additional synth stabs (1:33 and 1:37) it becomes a bit messy to me.
I think you have some very nice sounds, just the way they work together could be improved in my opinion.

Zechnition responds:

This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for, thanks!

I think because of how familiar I am with the song a lot of the complexity disappears, which makes it a bit difficult for me to hear the places where the instruments are clashing. This is something I need to pay attention to more and train my ears to pick out. I've been implicitly assuming that new listeners would know how all the progressions would proceed, but now knowing that's not true, I can kind of see the aimlessness you're getting at.

[AIM - Facet]

Great vibes. A small remark: I feel like the kick and snare are sitting a bit weirdly in the mix (too dry?) in the part from 1:04

DarkHorseOrchestra responds:

Hey thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!

I'll be honest, I had been drinking a bit(or a lot) when I got around to mixing and mastering. It was close to the deadline and I was a bit scared I wouldnt make it, so things were done hastily.

I definitely hear what youre talking about and agree. As a whole, I regret the mixing I did on this in a lot of spots and will have to go back in after the competitions over to fix things.

Thanks again!

[AIM - Our Life.]

I love this - very different moods and great development of the piece. Some small ideas that came to my mind: The main motif is quite short. The rest of the piece is very beautiful development and atmospheric writing, but there is only one piece of memorable melody. This is fine, but I feel like a longer and/or second theme could make the entire piece more memorable.
In some parts, the left hand 1-5-8-5-10-5 arpeggio sounds a little robotic to me. Not sure if it's the timing or if maybe one could put place the arpeggio notes a bit more carefully, taking the right hand melody more into account and deciding which intervals to aim for between melody and arpeggio.
But these are just small suggestions, awesome work all in all!