Burn7's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Neon By the Bay]

This is adorable af, I sure hope some of those youtube "synthwave/chillwave" mix people hit you up for the vibes. Cause this kind of thing is fantastic and deserves to be spread.

Minor note but I really appreciate you cut out your swells for added effect (at like 1:50). Details, mate. That's what makes the difference.

Also: solid ass guitarwork. All the notes, no notes.

TeffyD responds:

thanks man, I appreciate the kind words! Would be sick to hear it in one of those chillwave mixes lol.

[THE YEAR 2000 - 2023 AIM Submission]

This had me at the first goddamn filtered synth, I'm such a sucker for solid drippy techno tones. This could absolutely work in JSRF or UT with no modifications at all. If 12 year old me heard this song he would download it and listen on repeat forever. Immaculate vibes as usual, Teflon friend.

TeffyD responds:

Hell yeah thanks! What is it about a 303 that makes it feel 20 years older than it is lol.

[Something Wicked This Way Comes]

This is in the interest of constructive feedback with no intention to be mean. Especially because I can hear the essence of what you're attempting with this. I went and listened to a few of the other tracks and they all seem to have similar tonal issues to this one. In short: this track sounds like it's recorded on a microphone in a different room and the music is playing from a speaker stuck inside an algae-encrusted fishbowl. And if that was the goal, you nailed it. But otherwise you're going to want to pay more attention to your mixing, especially considering your other tracks also seem to have similar issues.

1st - The vocals. The actual performance itself is really good. I like the intensity a lot. But there is 0 effective clarity. The compression is out of this world. If you're going to compress this hard, use a gate to cut out the recording noise. For example, at 1:18 you can intermittently hear what sounds like white noise cutting through and I want to say that's your vocal recordings not having a proper noise gate while also being compressed to high hell and back.

2nd - The instruments: I'm not sure how to start with this other than I think you're doing what I did when I first started writing music. I didn't EQ anything, I just slammed a bunch of sounds and things together and called it good. The amount of frequency clash is just way too much. I can hardly make out any individual component of what is in this song, which if that's the goal than again you nailed it. But otherwise if we're talking about the traditional goal of mixing which is to provide clarity to each individual component of your mix while meshing them neatly together... this needs help.

3rd - Your master bus: I swear to god you've put some kind of effect on your master. Either a Low Pass filter that's going over the entire thing or like some kind of Izotope Trash 2 effect but it sounds... Well, like a game boy speaker coming from inside a plastic garbage can. It sounds like 1990's sony walkman headphones inside of tub filled with soap. It sounds like it's being streamed on my Microsoft Zune in 2004 in a lake of acid. I'm only using analogies like this because I don't have any better goddamn words to describe this tone but I hope you're getting what I'm putting down. Again, if this the ultimate design goal was this kind of tone you're nailing it but I suspect it isn't.

If you didn't intentionally design this song to sound like a vinyl record that is currently on fire while playing through wet cardboard speakers in a '93 honda accord, please look into proper mixing and mastering techniques. I wouldn't have spent the time to write a review if I didn't think you had real ass raw talent as evidenced by your tracks. But if you don't cultivate your skills (or at least hire a mixing engineer) your stuff will continue to sound washed out, vacant and unsatisfying.

Finally, if what I said doesn't apply to you and you're specifically going for that washed out, nearly vaporware tone but with punky/hardcore/metal intensity: You're nailing it and completely ignore everything I said.

ADarkerBreed responds:

Thanks for the honest comment, I appreciate the feedback and criticism, especially the picture you're painting of a 93 Accord. Issues with sound design are something I run into, filling the gap between what's in my head, what develops as I'm working on a song, and what I actually want it to sound like.

Edit: I uploaded a new version, I hope it's a bit more sonically rich.

[The Watcher]

This track is absurdly incredible.

It's lush, it's thin, it's fast, it's slow. It's heavy, it's light. It's atmospheric, it's sonically punishing. It's beautiful, it's ugly. It's tense, it's relaxing. It's not even just music anymore. Just looking at your tags, then the genre you picked should be an indication this is not a normal song. I wouldn't even call it just a song, it's an art piece.

From the creative use of the sampled portions to the structure of the melodies, to the texture of the synths to the punch of the percs. Nobody I know creates sound in such a unique way as this. It's a portrait of talent in it's purest form. It's that feeling of "fucking gross" when you see two people kissing who are in love, that kind of raw unformed emotional chaos made manifest.

It's absurdly incredible.

but no cowbell 0/10 try again

Cacola responds:

FUCK


SHIT





COWBELL ALBUM TIME BOYS, PULL OUT THE PHONK SAMPLE PACKS

[Too Smooth To Groove ft. PredatorMusic]

I could tell from the first set of notes this was gonna groove. And ooooooh it's smooth. Such a clean vibe. This is the most anime cafe shit I've ever heard in my life.

The guitar playing is fucking clean, the synths are spectacular and even that minimal bass is just grooving as fuck.

EDIT - Had to add this cause I just got to the guitar solo and shiiiiiiiiiit it's pretty godlike. Okay now I'm done.

TeffyD responds:

Thanks I appreciate it! I didn’t notice until mixdown that it’s very anime citypop sounding.

[The Vanguard]

HOLY SHIT YOU STILL EXIST!

Dude I had no idea you were still around, I did a tribute cover of Vicodin a while ago thinking you had disappeared forever but I'm stoked to discover you're still busting out bangers. Dunno if you're into online collabs but I'd sacrifice orphans to work on something with ya someday.

Anyway, it sounds like you've seriously improved, both in tone, quality and mix. This stuff makes label tracks seem boring and complacent. As you always have lol.

PseudoSignal responds:

Hah that's awesome man! Thanks for your support and I'm glad ya found me. Make sure to follow me on YT and Spotify and all that - I'm working on a new EP now and the mix is better than this one :3

[Mechapuncher]

This track reminds me of a lot of the stuff from the LISA series but with a bit more direction and less freneticism.

Would highly recommend looking into OTT (over the top) multiband compression for your drums (xfer has a free plugin google it). Also do some EQ'ing on your stuff, a lot of those samples don't need that low end in there it's muddying your mix and making moments like 1:29 hit less hard. Also maybe consider looking into structuring a little more so the song becomes more of a journey and less of a loop? Idk, unless a loop-y feel was the thought here in which case: nailed it.

Keep doing what you're doing!

Boom-Kill responds:

Thank you for the feedback

[BASSHEAD]

This is weird. It does weird things to my brain. The L/R channel swaps and dissonance of it all is uhhhhhh awesome. I could absolutely hear this in the background of some goth ass cyberpunk cityscape.

Listened to a few other things you've dropped and it's all good, dunno how this system works nowadays but consider yourself scouted.

sWARtHEAD responds:

Thank you! More to come over the next bit, releasing my album “SUPERNATURAL SELECTION” here on NEWGROUNDS for creators and artists to use under Creative Commons!

[Terra]

Shit this is good. Like... Really good.

The little cutout at 0:17 just before the next measure is the kind of minor touch that turns a song from "good" to "great".

But the reason I'm writing anything is because the melody you made. It's absolutely fantastic. I'm a deathmetal diehard but I caught myself smiling and shaking my head in minor disbelief because WOW it was catchy. Better yet, you have a perfect countermelody reprisal that's just... Absolutely fantastic.

Would seriously highly recommend playing more with your knobs. I know what that sounds like, but I mean specifically ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release). As a line goes on, slowly increasing release or decay can REALLY add to a build effect. Also maybe try playing with portmentau (the glide between the notes) and it's timing as things go on. Automation is your BFF with this kind of music and could give it just that much more character.

ps3udo23 responds:

Thanks so much! I'll make sure to try out some stuff next time, was definitely thinking about playing with the ADSR more, thanks for the feedback :)