sigma16's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Moonbeam]

Collaboration between my two favourite artists? Yes please! What I find interesting is I can tell who made each section of the song based on the styles alone, as a result I do think it feels a bit patchwork in some areas but I dont mind that much. Suffice to say this one is going in my playlist, hope its the first of many between you two.

[-Aero City-]

Huge improvements here, seriously they are huge. I not only love this compositionally but your mixing is certainly making massive progress. My only complaint is that I would pan the leads so they aren't in the centre (Because it overwhelms the bass and make the centre sound a bit crowded) but otherwise this is solid, a place for everything and everything in its place!

Keep it up :)

Preds responds:

Your reviews are always great, but they're better when they're 4 stars + hahaha, thank you so much man, I appreciate it :D

I'll work on my weakness man.

[-Daybreaker-]

Damn, this one is nice! Nothing I love more than breakbeats + a funky bassline and good chords, and you absolutely nailed that here :) Good job!

Waterflame responds:

Nice, thank you! :)

[-Afterlands-]

I have really mixed feelings on this one honestly. There's some sections I really like and there are sections that I really hate personally and there is more of the latter. There is a lot of stuff I would have done differently.

First of all I don't like the transition at 0:14, the sound is very distorted (Possible a stylistic choice) and fades in way too quickly. Other than that the intro is really solid. It starts to drastically fall apart to me at 0:44. I really really don't like the synth vocall-y sound you used here at all. It doesnt sound that nice and it basically hogs all your attention from the baseline or actual melody since it sounds really detuned and loud in the mix (Maybe better levelling and EQ would have remedied this a bit). I would have used more of a pad with longer attack or a soft pluck with high reverb.

I really like the melody that comes in at 0:59, its really good actually and even the synth choice here is a good one. I just cant get over how grate-y the other sound is.

1:14 is all right, although the arp could have had a bit more variation, the root note in it going down in pitch to match the chord progression, it would have made it sound a bit more dynamic rather than just have it return to the same root each time.

You could have included some sort of progressive automation on the bass during the post chorus between 1:28 and 1:43. Maybe have the volume decrease over time along with some sort of distortion/resonance riser at the end, just to put a bit more emphasis on the transition going into the next section because it is a lot quieter in contrast.

The second half of the track just sounds like a mess to me, its dubstep I get it but it doesnt feel very organised like a lot of dubstep does, its just chaotic and in this case its not really a good thing. I cant say what I would have done here because I cant do dubsteppy stuff myself at all, in fact the second half of the track probably would have been completely different had I made it.

In my opinion this is definitely one of your weaker tracks, but as long as you work on what you potentially did wrong then its a win either way.

[-First Steps- [Hyperstacks OST]]

I think this is the highest rating Ive ever given you and you deserve it, this one is definitely your best work IMO. Its really hard to find any faults really, the only one I really notice is that the bass doesn't stand out too much and struggles in some sections. Particularly at 1:09 and again at 3:12 when the section is repeated.

Melodies are improving, so a plus there :) keep it up!

[Restore]

Pretty damn nice, although I think your mixing could use a bit of work.

Levels need to be managed better since the drums and pads are way too loud drowning out pretty much everything else in the track. The main sections have pretty much zero head room and clip an absolute ton. The kick could maybe use a bit of compression too to make it pop a bit more in the busy sections.

The sounds and composition are pretty solid, you just need to work on levelling (Just change the volumes of mixer channels). This one is a bit too loud.

Hyenaedon responds:

Yes for sure! It was hard to notice deep into the song but after releasing and hearing it more it definitely needs more work there. It's especially more difficult with song like this with lots of tracks and such. But for next time, I will definitely work on 'mixing' it up =P

Thanks for the feedback dude, it's super awesome to get =)

[-Mysterious-]

You keep getting better with each track you make!

I cant really comment on any melodic structures since most of them are very simple and work in this track, which actually makes it better because I know for a fact that melody writing is your weakest aspect right now.

Also I wouldn't recommend panning the bass if most of its body is around the same range as your kick. Instead I would side chain it with the kick to prevent frequency clashing because having a bass side panned can be a bit heavy on the ears. I only really side pan a bass if most of it is more towards the mid range. Everything else is well balanced and crisp, I don't hear anything struggling to stand out at all.

Seriously, keep up the hard work! It will pay off one day ;)

Preds responds:

That's a good thing to hear!

Yeah this song, I mean, its pretty simple to be honest. I'll say it will be one of my many weaknesses :(, I always struggle so hard to find a new melody...

I'll try that next time, also yeah, I had bad times with the bass on this one, its really hard to work with a loud bass and not so loud synths D: but I slowly managed to get it done.

Thanks for the feedback as always, its very useful and I appreciate this so much :D. Hope to listen more from you too.

[-Pink Spring- (2014)]

I really like this one, a nice throwback to your old upbeat style whilst still sticking with emphasis on rhythm and bass rather than melody like your newer stuff. I feel it is a really good balance between them.

I especially like the tone set by the chord progression which comes in at 0:26. Its quite unique and different from a standard upbeat progression and I might have to try it myself at some point.

Also there's the classic high reverb xylophone... amazing.

The only downside is it gets a small bit repetitive when the main section kicks in, but that doesn't really matter for background listening, which I do whilst I'm studying ;)

Waterflame responds:

Thanks! Yeah, this was made for a runner game back then, so it was made with that in mind, it was supposed to be droning in the background of a level and possibly loop 1-2 times.

[-Perfect City-]

Not bad at all! Still room for improvement though.

First of all spend more time working on your melodies, they still sound a bit confused and random (like someone just improvising on a keyboard). Try listening to other stuff for reference or watch some music theory on melody building. Also the flutey sound at 0:48 really cuts through you like nails on a chalk board, needs EQ and levelling.

Id try to experiment with different basslines and add more variation because having the same bassline or very similar ones throughout make the song get boring eventually. For example with the bass at the start have a variation that goes up in pitch before returning to the root note again as well. I don't really have any problems with the mix, it sounds solid to me.

One thing you could give me a few lessons on is making breaks, you are an absolute wizard there.

Second collab attempt fell apart as well... thinking about attempting a third at some point if you are cool with it.

Preds responds:

Thanks for the constructive criticism again!

I'll try to improve all this in my next songs!

[Summer Rain]

How to make an EnV-style track: Write an 8-16 bar melody, loop it the whole way through on different timbres and layers, profit?

I think you did a good job here, its repetitive as hell but that's just how EnV makes his stuff so I say mission accomplished haha. (not really my cup of tea personally though)

I don't know what it is about your style in particular but even in a song like this it gets me going, whether its the way you compose melodies or the synths you use it all just comes together in its own weird unique way. It all sounds very crisp, the best way I can describe it.

I'm glad your last two tracks weren't just one offs before you went back into hibernation, I'm looking forward to hearing more stuff in the future :)

DevinChin responds:

Haha thanks sigma, that's exactly what I was going for with this one. Glad you enjoyed it though! And yeah, hopefully I'll get another track done before the next semester starts :)