BreadKing's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lineage]

Work on mixing and other things that I told you! Good job!

[Retro Chiptune]

Scouted :) It seems that this is just a simple test, so I wont critique as harshly. I guess its a good simple track to hear. Definitely wont call it chipstep though, it just seems like chiptunes to me :/

[Sidestep]

One of, if not, my favorite song on this platform! Sidestep's tone is so mysterious, like the far edges of space itself. Everything seems elegantly composed into one full masterpiece. The ambient-like sounds in the beginning give me so nuch atmosphere, and the 1st drop is an impact! Its sounds so fitting, and it gives me the feeling of being in a vortex. The 2nd drop feels a little off, but its still good. Reminds me of space warfare. Overall, this is one of my favorite songs on Newgrounds. I really hope that you make something along the lines of this if you would, perhaps a Sidestep 2. Although, I hope you don't put much pressure this time as I've heard you had a lot of stress making this piece, and I would totally understand if you declined to make a sequel. Other than that, Have a Good Day :)

[Careless Night]

So there are some improvements from "Unstable". For one thing, nothing feels awkward or abrupt here, so that's definitely a good for me. However, the piano melody gets a little old, although when introduced, it sounds really good. At 2:01, I believe it changes a little, and so it sounds much better than the other piano melodies before it. Also, Im not a huge fan of the instrument that appears around 2:22. Other than that, this song is pretty decent. Im not sure if this is better or worse than Unstable, both have their goods and bads.

At least you nailed the genre this time :D

Erso responds:

There are actually two melody patterns constantly (or not that constantly) changing each other. I was too lazy to introduce some more patterns cuz it needs new bass, new chords n stuff... ;)

The 2:01 melody is the 2nd pattern, but it was introduced in the beginning too. At 00:29, to be clear.

I don't actually know about the instrument at 2:22. It didn't sound more awful than some soundbanks I found in the sawer plugin.

So, thanks for your review again. I'll try to introduce more things next time.

[Unstable]

Its okay in my opinion. Although better than what I can make, there were a few things in the song that stuck out. One was that the beginning classical part feels a bit off if you know what I mean. It feels awkward in a way, and the strings feel too short. So generally, I didn't really like the beginning parts, (and some of the later parts where this is used). However, when the music nears its climax, the whole track generally sounds much better. Some very small things like the organ at 0:41, and the harp / string-like instrument at 0:43 and 1:35 add a very nice touch to the music. The bassline is pretty good sounding, although not as aggressive as I hope it would be. 1:49 to 2:13 is easily my favorite part of the whole song. It gives me such a serene and happy-go-lucky emotion, and is overall a nice mix of orchestral and electric themes. 2:13 onward is the same portion as the beginning. At the second drop I believe at 2:41, it sounds interesting. The pad at 2:52 is sooooo perfectly timed. Overall, the second drop is kind of like the first, however, it isnt exactly the same rehashed thing, so it doesnt seem repetitive. Then, the end of the song starts at 3:09, and although it uses the melody that I criticized in earlier parts of the song, I feel it seems more necessary here as it is a simple end to the song, so a melody like this makes good sense.
The mixing here is top point. No dissonances and such, (Unlike a certain song that may or may not be Pirate Bossfight). Also, the song stays non repetitive throughout, and also at the same time, it has a constant melody.
Overall, the song is okay in my opinion, actually a little above average. Also, I wouldn't call this dubstep as the drops and bassline are pretty weak and quiet unlike in a typical growling, and angry Xtrullor piece. I would call this a hybrid of orchestra and probably a standard electronic genre. Its not really dubstep though. Although, I may be stereotyping the genre of dubstep at this point.

I hope you take this comment as sonething constructive, and that you improve. I hope i did not hurt you in any way. I truly want you to get better, just like you did to me. So thanks. :)

Erso responds:

Wow. I had never seen such reviews until this one under my works. Thank you for taking the time to write this. Yeah, I admit I stink at making angry bass/sound effects yet simply because I haven't learned enough how to use them. For now it's just kind of dumbstep 8)

The beginning parts, yeah, they do stick off of the rest of the song. Even the 'Unstable' thing doesn't help here. (I guess?)

And yes, thanks for your constructive review. This will help me a lot when I'll make my new work. ;)

[3spoopy5me (halloween trapstep)]

Amazing! Its saddening how you're barely notice when you should be! The bass here is amazing, and everything is beautifully orchestrated, especially the sfx. I loved the iconic violins cue! Btw what software do you use?

aaronmusslewhite responds:

Hey thanks so much! Glad you liked it!

I use ableton to produce in, sometimes I mix in pro tools (lately especially) but this song was mixed in ableton as well. I usually use Izotope Ozone to master and sometimes various UA plugins but since Ozone 8 dropped I've been using it pretty exclusively, tho starting with this song I've had access to a summing amp and some hardware mastering eqs and compressors that I use as well as the software.

I use a lot of different softsynths, Massive and Serum mostly but sometimes Nexus, Sylenth and Z3ta+. The realistic instruments in this are from EastWest.

[Sugarland (Maz)]

Its okay. The percussion at the beginning goes for a little too long in my opinion. And the beat is kinda stale in my opinion. Also, you used the default sytrus plugin which is kinda lazy in my opinion, by I understand that this is your first piece anyway so ya. Overall, this is a good step in the right direction! Keep on going :)

[U233-687 "ADAM"]

I love it! It has a very vast and dream-like feel to it. My only concern is that the drum sometimes gets a little loud, but other than that, it is wonderful.