Waidmann's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Rust Vandetta]

Man.

I like your start...very chilled and pretty house-like. Although i have some concerns as to what happens after the :32 mark.

In my opinion i think you need to revamp the drums. Your Snare got alittle too much high freq on it...which i think is cool...but maybe lower the volume on it...so you can kinda outline the kick drum more...and make the whole perc track sound balanced. The Rev hat sounds okay although its very....loud. The way i like to do my revs an such is to put them under heavy reverb, lower their volume and let the verb do the tricks...potentially it couold do wonders...but i dunno what your scheme was for this track so ima let it go lol. but i would lower the volume of the revhat just for the safe side.

The leads are cool...synths add up pretty nicely. The whole track has that house feel...its put together pretty nicely so nothing to talk about there.

All in all i think its just a little problem with your mixing...thats it :)

Food For Thought.
Keep it Up.

ThePal responds:

I've heard the "snare bug" from quite alot of people already. I think i'll take it to work and edit that for sure.
And outlining the kick out more could also do a improvement now where I think about it, to give a more stable rhythm, maybe?
Reverbing the Rev's up more you say? The fact actually is, I took a normal crash just as you say, and reverbed it out long so it sounded like a Rev Crash. Same with the noise buildup. Not sure if it should be reverbed once more, though.

Thanks for the constructive critism though, it's very appreciated! :D

[Techno uplifter]

You're getting better.
Your tracks make a lot more sense now. Only issue i have is your melodies.
Some of them sound out of key...and that's okay...more practice will eliminate that.

Other than that you're doing a great job in improving.

Keep it up.

DESHIEL responds:

Care to remix this? :D

[The Next Level(hardstyle)]

Hey man!

Like the idea behind the track :)

Although i hear some complicationts with the track.

I think the vocals need to be touched up..like eq'd to the point where they sound really crisp and defined...

Also the gabba kick...Not bad of a choice..but i think maybe you could layer some. (2 is usually sufficient) But im not saying to do it right away..im just saying that you could do it progressively.
Like keep the one that starts at roughly 50 seconds. But then at the second drop you could sort of layer it and make it really hardcore.

Also i dont hear alot of bass :L sure the kick on its own can provide the bass punch needed for a hardstyle track to thrive...but i just hear the kick track going in with the hard lead and fx. (also some percs) what im saying is that in this case..the kick can provide enough of that punch for that "head bang" ya dig?

Plus i think that the hardsyle lead can lose some reverb..not alot...but a little bit...cuz it sounds like the reverb tail is drowning whatever comes later in the track

but overall the track was really well produced.

Food For Thought!
Keep up the good work!

(check out my track "Miracle Call" ...its not much but its what i meant when i said all of the above(sort of))

DJT3chnic responds:

Not quite sure what you're talking about with the Gabba Kick but, alright. The vocals do need some EQing, will get to it. As far as bass is concerned, from my experience Hardstyle cut lows with everything except for the kick. Some FXs will have Bass yes, but most leads always cut the bass. Either way, thanks for the feedback and criticism. I do appreciate it.

[Evolution of Time]

Hey man.

The lead that starts off the track (in my opinion) doesnt really fit into the whole ambient sphere that this track should be. i cant really place in what exactly they CAN be used for..but not here.

The orchestral element was a good way to reinforce the ambient element. (it was actually saving your ass lmao) But thats what i think.

I think that you should work on your mastering a bit...in this case you could make your percussions sound a little more punchy..and crisp.

When you got time...check out my ambient stuff. (all in all in an ambient artist as well...and im just trying to help a brother out)

Food For Thought.
Good Work.

JP-SuperFresh responds:

lmao

my ass has been saved!

[Survive Until The Sunrise]

Hey man.

Theres a few things i'd like to point out.

The sidechained padline that starts at 0:30 is quite overbearing compared to the rest of the track.
Maybe consider lowering its volume in the mix and sort of try to "blend" it in with the rest of the track. (Maybe use EQs to make it more of a background thing)
The vocal track that starts at the same time can be louder, plus it can have a little more reverb as well...(also EQ'd)make it really fly you know?

Percussions are okay. I think the clap can be alot louder though.
Also.
The sidechained bass that comes in at 1:38...it gets overbearing as well (meaning that your vocals..and the rest of your elements are basically getting "drowned" by that bass)...my suggestion, sink the volume of that sidechained bass a bit...and mix it with a nice sub-bass to give it that nice bass boost. Usually it wont be too loud or too quiet (just right ;)

Also try some transition use. A nice soft transition works best with some soft whitenoise that goes under some sort of filter (experiment!). Or reverbated vocals. (again, experiment)

Food For Thought!

Keep it up.

crazydaydreamer responds:

Thanks for your thoughtful food response! I'm going to experiment with the various tips you gave me. I'm glad you pointed out the volume issues especially, as i was having trouble getting an objective view of it.

Again, great advise. I look forward to stepping up my game.

[Tzu - D.O.W.]

Hey man!

This track feels...great!
I mean the intro is quite amazing to me :) The melody is soft and unnerving...of course i think what would make this track really fly is maybe some more soft pads...(with good, soft reverb) and match them in unison...or maybe search up some gregorian chants on the web...slice em and use that sort of element to maybe fill this song more..i think

The drums are good to me...but i much preferr that rich sounding "Skrillex kick"...fat yet nice enough for the ears lol...

Food For Thought!
Keep it up man!

Tzunami responds:

Thanks a lot Waidmann. One thing about my drums is that I've been getting used to using kits instead of samples, though, if the project needs it, I'll layer some samples on those to make them better. I could agree with the soft and subtle pads, I didn't want to be too effect heavy with the mix, but I did want to add a couple more elements to the song, just couldn't figure out what I could of used.

Thanks again for the review.

[NugZeh - House Sample]

Real good House my friend.

Must say that the pads in the track are nice and soft...just it should be in a good house track.
Also the lead plucks are a great selection...nice notes :)

One thing i think would make this track really fly.
Sidechaining.
Maybe add another sort of a "Lead Pad" that you could merge with the track...but sidechained...this will make the track sound bigger and more full. (thus ,in my opinion...better)

I was also wondering if i could use this piece for maybe a remix..or another track....featuring your name of course.

Keep it up :)

Nugit responds:

sure go ahead

[SheSmacksHard - The Brain]

OOOOH! So close man.

Bro..i've done some dubstep in my time and i gotta say only the following.
TRACK NEEDS A DROP!

Whatever starts at 0:32 is NOT A DROP (but your fucken close bro)
I know that it sounds intimidating...but its possible...with practice (which also sounds kind of intimidating)
Try implementing things like Risers, maybe some whitenoise risers or steady pitch shifters..
In my opinion a good element for a drop in this particular track would be a heavy Reverb kick.
But thats my opinion.

The main element is quite catchy so you may wanna keep it as it is. (but change it up a bit for good measure)
But since this is a finished project...maybe you could implement all of the stuff that ive mentioned here for future production.

Food For Thought.
Good Luck.

shesmackshard responds:

While I deeply appreciate your input, I strongly disagree. sure other artists use elements such as those you've mentioned to compliment their drops, but by no means does that define it. I've used all your elements before on several tracks, but as I said, it certainly does not define a drop. every song is, and should always be, unique.

thanks for listening.

[First Techno ~Arrival]

Hey man...

The song itself has motive. (And thats a ,pretty much, very important oart in any song)

The bass is good.
The leads are great.
Beat falls good with the whole track.
2 things i think need looking at.

Mastering.
And that crash that you keep playing at almost every 6/8 of a measure (could be off by a couple of bars but...whos countin')...bottom line is...i think it would be better if you play that crash at key transition points of the song. (by that i mean where your transitions would generally go...and thats for you to decide ;)

Food For Thought.
Good Luck.

MidnightSugar responds:

I am glad you like the bass. I am glad you like the leads. I am glad you like the beat.
Sadly, I thought that was all there was to a song. Much to learn.

Thanks for the review.